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Speaker 1: Life Audio. What if your disappointment isn't proof that God failed,

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Speaker 1: but is proof that your story isn't finished. That's what

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Speaker 1: we're talking about as we continue this Hope series that

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Speaker 1: we're doing here on the pod. Let's dive in. Hello, Hello,

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Speaker 1: Hello ladies and gens, and welcome to this week's episode

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Speaker 1: of the Bottom Beloved Podcast. As always, it's a girl

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Speaker 1: Kirby Kelly, and we are in part two of our

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Speaker 1: Hope series where we are talking about all things hope.

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Speaker 1: We have hope as an acronym hope, So go back

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Speaker 1: and listen to last week's episode where we talked about

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Speaker 1: the letter h which is hurt, how to continue to

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Speaker 1: have hope in the middle of the hurt. Today we

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Speaker 1: are talking about the letter OH for outlook, and we'll

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Speaker 1: get to that in a second. But the reason why

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Speaker 1: we are doing this series here on the podcast is

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Speaker 1: because of my newest book, my second book, The Fabric

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Speaker 1: of Hope, How God Weaves Redemption into every Season, come

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Speaker 1: out April seventh, literally just a few weeks away, and

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Speaker 1: this is how we are kicking off and celebrating my

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Speaker 1: book coming out, which is crazy literally pushing out a baby.

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Speaker 1: If you can tell in my third trimester. Poray for

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Speaker 1: me pushing out a book and a baby in the

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Speaker 1: same month, which is insane. Do I recommend only if

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Speaker 1: God calls you to it, ha, because uh, it just

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Speaker 1: so happened that that happened, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: But I'm excited for the book to come out, and

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Speaker 1: I'll have all the info down below. Fabric of hoopebook

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Speaker 1: dot com is where you can pre order it if

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Speaker 1: you're listening before April seventh, and you can get all

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Speaker 1: my freebies. I'll talk more about that at the end,

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Speaker 1: but for now, the Fabric of Hope. Go get your

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Speaker 1: copy today, make me and my publisher's brout. But today

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about outlook. What do I mean

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Speaker 1: by that? One of the hardest things that we can

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Speaker 1: deal with when it comes to going through seasons of

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Speaker 1: suffering is our perspective, our outlook of the situation. And

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Speaker 1: there is a difference. There is a difference between having

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Speaker 1: a biblical, hopeful outlook of what we are going through

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Speaker 1: and reconciling that and not having that outlook, not having hope.

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Speaker 1: I have gone through seasons without hope, and I have

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Speaker 1: gone through seasons with hope. Specifically the hope of Christ,

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Speaker 1: my hope in Jesus, my hope in who He is,

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Speaker 1: not myself, not my circumstances, not other people or systems

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Speaker 1: or places or things, but my hope being in God.

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Speaker 1: So today, that is what we're talking about, hope in

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Speaker 1: the outlook when God's plans look different than yours, because

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Speaker 1: how many of us know that sometimes God's will does

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Speaker 1: not go our way. I have a whole chapter about

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Speaker 1: that in the book. So let's talk about disappointment. Let's

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Speaker 1: start there, because disappointment is not just about what happened.

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Speaker 1: Disappointment is also about what did happen? And I think

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Speaker 1: disappointment is one of those things that can really shake

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Speaker 1: or make and mold our outlook on life and God

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Speaker 1: and the situations that we go through. Right, Disappointment about

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Speaker 1: you know, how God didn't answer the prayer that you prayed,

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Speaker 1: or he didn't open the door that you thought would

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Speaker 1: be open, or he didn't heal you when you thought

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Speaker 1: or how you thought you would be healed. You know,

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Speaker 1: maybe the relationship didn't last, or the timeline that you

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Speaker 1: thought was his will wasn't and now you're left with disappointment.

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Speaker 1: And that is shaping your outlook of how you perceive

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Speaker 1: God and suffering and life in general. And when those

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Speaker 1: things don't happen or don't go our way, we can

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Speaker 1: grieve that, we can grieve that loss, because I think

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Speaker 1: some of us only equate grief to being the loss

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Speaker 1: of a person. But grief is also change. It's also

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Speaker 1: disappointment unmet expectations that we had, and that is something

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Speaker 1: to grieve, expectations that we had, you know. And that's

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Speaker 1: where where faith can get complicated too, where we can

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Speaker 1: begin to ask did I do something wrong? Where now

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Speaker 1: this is how God is repaying me or responding to me.

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Speaker 1: Did I hear him wrong? Did I mess up his will?

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Speaker 1: Did God change his mind? Can I even trust him

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Speaker 1: with the future if I don't understand my past or

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Speaker 1: my present? But I want to read what Proverbs chapter sixteen,

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Speaker 1: verse nine says. It says in their hearts Let me

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Speaker 1: say that again. In their hearts, humans plan their course,

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Speaker 1: but the Lord establishes their steps. Think about that. In

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Speaker 1: their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes

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Speaker 1: their steps. That verse. It sounds comforting, It sounds real good.

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Speaker 1: Maybe you've even heard your past or preach on that

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Speaker 1: before until like it sounds good. Until God actually comes

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Speaker 1: in and he plans your steps and they are planned

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Speaker 1: in a different direction. You're like, no, no, no, God,

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Speaker 1: I want to I want to avoid this thing. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to have to go through this season. I

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Speaker 1: don't want to take a dip from this mountaintop and

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Speaker 1: go into the valley to get to the next mountain top.

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Speaker 1: Why are you establishing my steps in this direction? This

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Speaker 1: is not computing. This does not make sense to me.

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Speaker 1: But the thing is is that God's ways are higher

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Speaker 1: than our ways. That sounds so Christian, and it's because

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Speaker 1: maybe that has been the verse that people have justified

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Speaker 1: what you've gone through is. But let's actually land there

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Speaker 1: and like sit there for a minute and talk about that,

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Speaker 1: because that is the reality, right, that God's will and

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Speaker 1: ways can be very different from our own. But that

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they're not good or that good can't

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Speaker 1: come from it when it doesn't go how we expected. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so let's start with Isaiah fifty five eight through nine.

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Speaker 1: It says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor

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Speaker 1: are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, as the

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Speaker 1: heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways

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Speaker 1: higher than your ways? And my thoughts than your thoughts.

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Speaker 1: We quote this verse a lot, all right, you maybe

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Speaker 1: quoted it with me. But what we don't always say

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Speaker 1: is higher doesn't mean easier. Higher doesn't mean faster, Higher

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean more comfortable. It means different. And different can

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Speaker 1: feel like loss, It can feel like change. It can

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Speaker 1: feel like disappointment when it doesn't line up with our

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Speaker 1: expectations of what we think is good, better and best

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Speaker 1: for us, by our own understanding, by our own timeline

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Speaker 1: and definition. Sometimes God's plan looks like the long road

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Speaker 1: instead of the shortcut. It looks like the valley right

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Speaker 1: instead of the mountaintop. It looks like waiting instead of

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Speaker 1: immediate breakthrough. If you've been walking with the Lord for

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Speaker 1: a while, or maybe you've grown up in church, you've

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Speaker 1: probably heard of Psalm twenty three before. It's a very

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Speaker 1: famous psalm, one of my favorite ones. And I actually

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Speaker 1: I execute the whole thing in the book like we

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Speaker 1: take it verse by verse and we go through it,

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Speaker 1: and I love it. But I want to read what

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Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three, verse four says. It says, even though

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Speaker 1: I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

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Speaker 1: I will fear no evil for you are with me.

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Speaker 1: Notice what this says. It doesn't say around the valley

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Speaker 1: of the shadow of death. Maybe not you know your

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Speaker 1: top bucketless location to go to. It says through the valley.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna fear because You're going to be with

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Speaker 1: me through the valley. God doesn't always remove the hard

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Speaker 1: season or the hard circumstance. And I can't give you

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Speaker 1: the exact why as to why he allowed certain things

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Speaker 1: with your specific Niche nuanced life and situation and environment

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Speaker 1: and choices and all those things. But this is why,

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Speaker 1: I do you know. He refuses to leave us alone

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Speaker 1: in the middle of that place. He refuse us to

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Speaker 1: He refuses to leave us alone in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the valley and to just leave us in the valley.

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Speaker 1: He walks us through the valley. That means that that's

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Speaker 1: not the end, and that means that we are not abandoned.

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Speaker 1: And I think some of us need to hear that

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Speaker 1: today that the place that you are in, maybe it

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Speaker 1: feels perpetual, maybe it feels like this is this is

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Speaker 1: my lot in life. This is what it's always gonna be,

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Speaker 1: this is how it has always been. But God walks

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Speaker 1: us through the valley. He walks us through it, he does,

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Speaker 1: and I love that. And this is where outlook really matters,

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Speaker 1: because I have a whole chapter in the book dedicated

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Speaker 1: to this concept of what if versus even if? And

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Speaker 1: I really want to highlight that today because I think

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Speaker 1: it's in the middle of the valley that we can

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Speaker 1: really get stuck on the what ifs of what if

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Speaker 1: this is my whole life? This? What if? This is

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Speaker 1: what it looks like forever and shifting to a place

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Speaker 1: of even if, knowing that God walks us through the

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Speaker 1: valley and gets us to a place where there is

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Speaker 1: green pastures and still waters and a table set before us,

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Speaker 1: like he delivers us to those places of rest and

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Speaker 1: restoration and refreshment and revival, even if you feel just

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Speaker 1: dead inside. He does that. But while we are in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the valley, we can begin to have

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Speaker 1: a different outlook of shifting our perspective from what if

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Speaker 1: faith to even if faith. And this is what I mean,

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Speaker 1: what if faith says I'll trust God if he fixes it,

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Speaker 1: you know, like, what if this happens, I'll believe God

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Speaker 1: is good. If this turns out the way that I

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Speaker 1: want it to all worship if the outcome makes sense,

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Speaker 1: that is what? What if faith conditions us to have

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Speaker 1: an outlook for where It's like these things have to

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Speaker 1: happen in order for me to believe. But even if

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Speaker 1: faith begins to shape our outlook to say, you know,

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Speaker 1: even if this doesn't change, even if it hurts longer

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Speaker 1: than I hoped for, even if God's plan looks different

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Speaker 1: than mine, I will still trust in him even if

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Speaker 1: these things happen. Why Because God is who he says

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Speaker 1: he is. Okay, and this is important. We need a

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Speaker 1: hope in who God says that he is because he

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Speaker 1: is faithful to that. We're not putting our hope in

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Speaker 1: our circumstance, in our season in the valley. We're not

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Speaker 1: even putting our faith in the mountaintop. Okay. Our faith

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Speaker 1: and our hope need to be in who God is

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Speaker 1: through it all, because He will always be merciful to us.

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Speaker 1: He will always be kind, he will always be just,

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Speaker 1: he will always be present, he will always be faithful,

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Speaker 1: he will always be holy, he will always be kind,

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Speaker 1: he will be a comforter like He will always be

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Speaker 1: who he is because he can't help not being who

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Speaker 1: he is, he is unchanging and faithful to his word.

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Speaker 1: So if he is faithful, then he needs to be

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Speaker 1: faithful to all those things. Like it is simple logic,

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Speaker 1: it is simple math. Because of the final word that

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Speaker 1: God says about himself in his word, we can cling

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Speaker 1: close to that. We can cling to that. I love

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Speaker 1: what Habakic three seventeen through nineteen says. It says, though

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Speaker 1: the fig tree does not bud and there are no

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Speaker 1: grapes on the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I will be joyful in God, my Savior, the sovereign Lord,

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Speaker 1: is my strength. That's not denial of hardship and going

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Speaker 1: through hard things and you know, not seeing growth and

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Speaker 1: fruit in the way that the author of Habacca expected.

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Speaker 1: It's devotion, though, it's devotion to God because God is

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Speaker 1: who he says he is. You know, this fig tree

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Speaker 1: isn't blossoming, but my God is still faithful and he

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Speaker 1: is my strength. That's not pretending that things are okay.

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Speaker 1: God's not asking us to pretend and to put on

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Speaker 1: a fake performance. He is asking us to choose to

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Speaker 1: trust him and his character when things do get confusing,

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Speaker 1: when they don't make sense when it really does feel

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Speaker 1: like the Valley of the Shadow of death, we can

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Speaker 1: still actually truthfully hope in God, and we can continue

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Speaker 1: to choose to have an outlook of God being our

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Speaker 1: redeemer and still that He still has time to rewrite

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Speaker 1: our stories and repurpose them for good. He like both

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Speaker 1: can exist. That I'm in this place that's hard, but

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Speaker 1: I am hoping for what you can do based on

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Speaker 1: who you are and who you have always been your patterns. God,

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Speaker 1: you are faithful, You've always been faithful. But how does

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Speaker 1: God use the valley to change our point of view?

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Speaker 1: Because I really think that the valley is one of

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Speaker 1: those things that we want to rush through, But God

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Speaker 1: uses that place to refine and build faith within us.

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Speaker 1: That is unlike anything else I know. For me, the

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Speaker 1: seasons where I went through some of the hardest stuff

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Speaker 1: that I've ever gone through, and I write about it

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Speaker 1: in the book Things that y'all don't even know about

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Speaker 1: that I went through. It's like that is where my

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Speaker 1: faith was strengthened and purified because the only constant was

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Speaker 1: God and he was faithful in all of his ways

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Speaker 1: when everything else failed me and the faith that I

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Speaker 1: had put in it, the hope that I had put

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Speaker 1: in those things. I couldn't hold the weight of my hope.

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Speaker 1: But God can because He's actually true to who he is.

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Speaker 1: I one hundred percent understand that the valleys are uncomfortable.

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Speaker 1: They feel like delay, they feel like detour, they feel

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Speaker 1: like discipline. Sometimes they feel like disappointment. But valleys do

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Speaker 1: something very important for our faith. They strip away the

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Speaker 1: illusion of control. Valleys deepen our dependence. I'm the only

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Speaker 1: one who is dependable God, and they clarify what really matters. Okay.

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Speaker 1: Romans one of my favorite books of the Bible. I

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Speaker 1: love it, and Romans eight eighteen says this. It says,

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Speaker 1: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing

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Speaker 1: with the glory that will be revealed in us. It's

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Speaker 1: not because suffering is small. It's because God's redemption is

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Speaker 1: so much bigger than our suffering. We can have this outlook.

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Speaker 1: God's redemption is so much bigger than what we are

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Speaker 1: going through right now, that we can actually hope that

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Speaker 1: when He is in the picture, and he's the one

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Speaker 1: leading our steps and establishing our because His ways are

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Speaker 1: higher than our own. When life throws lemons at us,

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Speaker 1: and we get curveballs left and right, and we're just

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Speaker 1: trying to just dodge it. It's like He will navigate

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Speaker 1: us through it faithfully we can have real confidence in

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Speaker 1: His redemption. Sometimes God allows our plans to unravel so

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Speaker 1: that our trust can actually be rebuilt on Him, on

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Speaker 1: what matters, on what will actually hold firm. It can

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Speaker 1: reveal where we have misplaced our hope, what we have

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Speaker 1: turned to instead of God, The idols in our life

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Speaker 1: that are comfortable that we think we can control, that

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Speaker 1: seem consistent just because it's tangible right here, right now.

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Speaker 1: But God is the only one who can author and

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Speaker 1: rewrite your story. Hope doesn't mean that you're going to

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Speaker 1: understand everything, but it does mean that you have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to trust in someone, and that someone is Jesus,

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Speaker 1: and he's the most faithful person that you can trust,

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Speaker 1: the one that is sitting at the right hand of

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Speaker 1: the Father right now, who has a front seat to

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Speaker 1: the redemption story that God wants to weave into your story.

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Speaker 1: Who is our advocate, our mediator, our great high priest.

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Speaker 1: If you know anything about the context of the Old

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Speaker 1: Testament in the Book of Hebrews, Okay, we might not

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Speaker 1: be able to see what God is doing in the

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Speaker 1: middle of our mess from our point of view. But

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Speaker 1: this is why a heavenly hopeful outlook matters. Because we

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Speaker 1: are weighing and bedding and putting all of our hope

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Speaker 1: in the God who is always faithful. It carries us

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Speaker 1: through when we can't see what's ahead, our hope in

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Speaker 1: the one who does, who does, who knows all things

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Speaker 1: and can work all those things for good. I love it.

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Speaker 1: I love him. He's omniscient. He's the only one who

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Speaker 1: has this outlook and perspective of what good can come

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Speaker 1: from it. And he's asking us to trust in him.

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Speaker 1: He's inviting us to hope in him, knowing that there

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Speaker 1: is something greater to be had, there's a greater ending.

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Speaker 1: But when we step out of that, out of trusting him,

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Speaker 1: and we try and put it in our own hands,

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Speaker 1: that's when we end up with more disappointment, more disillusionment.

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Speaker 1: When we derail off the path and it's like he

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Speaker 1: was about to lead you up the mountainsis and now

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Speaker 1: you're actually wandering in the valley, prone to wander. Lord,

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Speaker 1: I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

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Speaker 1: Y'all know that him. Here is my heart, Lord, take

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Speaker 1: and seal it. Give God your heart, and give God

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Speaker 1: your hope today, because he is the only one who

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Speaker 1: can protect it and heal it and also redeem it

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Speaker 1: and still hope into it. He is the God of Hope.

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Speaker 1: If you've ever read Romans fifteen thirteen, may the God

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Speaker 1: of Hope fill you with all peace and all joy

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Speaker 1: as you trust in Him, that you may overflow with

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Speaker 1: the hope that the whole the power of the Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit gives us. Like that is what it's talking about.

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Speaker 1: And this is a huge part that like that actually

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Speaker 1: is the cornerstone verse of my book, The Fabric of Hope.

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Speaker 1: This book isn't about pretending that God's will is easy

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Speaker 1: and that we're always quick to agree with it and

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Speaker 1: obey it. At times, it's hard to trust God's plans

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Speaker 1: when it doesn't look like mine. It's hard, but we

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Speaker 1: get to learn about trusting in his faithfulness even when

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Speaker 1: the path feels unfamiliar and unknown, and end up learning

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Speaker 1: and affirming that God is really God, and he really

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Speaker 1: is all these things that he says that he is.

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Speaker 1: He really is good and true and faithful and more.

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Speaker 1: And if this episode and specifically, the concept of having

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Speaker 1: a heavenly and hopeful outlook resonates with you if you're

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Speaker 1: like Danga, is actually an area that I need to

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Speaker 1: grow in because my glass is so half empty. There

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Speaker 1: is a crack at the bottom of my glass where

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Speaker 1: it's like all the lemonade has just poured out, the

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Speaker 1: lemonade that I've tried to make with life's lemons. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of bitter. I can assure you that God will

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Speaker 1: give you an overflowing hope as you trust in Him,

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Speaker 1: just like Roman's fifteen thirteen promises us, and I'd write

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Speaker 1: about that, and I hope to help you have that outlook,

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Speaker 1: Like actually genuinely developed the mind of Christ in that

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Speaker 1: way through reading the book. Because this book isn't about

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Speaker 1: controlling the outcome of your life. We cannot do that.

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Speaker 1: Been there done that, try it failed. It's about trusting

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Speaker 1: the God who knows what is good and can bring

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Speaker 1: good out of any season you're going through, trusting in

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Speaker 1: the one who has always been the redeemer of ruin.

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Speaker 1: So if you're in a season where your plans look

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Speaker 1: completely different than God's plans and things look a little

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Speaker 1: different than what you initially hoped for and prayed for.

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Speaker 1: I want you to know you are not forgotten, You

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Speaker 1: were not abandoned. You don't have to remain lost in

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Speaker 1: that place in the valley wandering. Okay, you might be

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Speaker 1: in the valley, but so is God. And I think

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Speaker 1: that's great is that when God is in the valley,

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Speaker 1: a deeper work can begin to happen, Greater fruit can

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Speaker 1: begin to grow, more faith can begin to flourish. Hope

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Speaker 1: doesn't say I understand. Hope says God, I trust you

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Speaker 1: when I don't because I know who you are, even

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Speaker 1: though I don't know what this is, what I'm going through,

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Speaker 1: what I'm navigating, I know who you are as my leader,

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Speaker 1: as my guide, as my God. That is what Hope communicates.

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Speaker 1: And in next week's episode, we're continuing with the Hope

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Speaker 1: series and we're going to move to the next letter,

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Speaker 1: which is PE and that peace stands for purpose, and

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Speaker 1: specifically we're going to talk about can God really use

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Speaker 1: everything that has hurt me for a greater purpose? Because

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Speaker 1: maybe you're doubting that today, but you don't have to

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Speaker 1: doubt it any longer. Give me a week the episode

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Speaker 1: will be out, or maybe you're listening to this in

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Speaker 1: the future and it's like, oh wow, I can binge

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Speaker 1: watch and listen to all these episodes. Do it. And

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Speaker 1: while you're at it, if you scroll down to the description,

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Speaker 1: I will have the link to my book where you

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Speaker 1: can pre order it or order it depending when you're

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Speaker 1: listening to it, and you can get all the freebies

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Speaker 1: that come with the pre order season. I have a

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Speaker 1: devotional teaching series, like a five part devotional teaching series.

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Speaker 1: I have a Bible journaling prayer guide of how to

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Speaker 1: find hope in your season and situation you're going through.

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Speaker 1: Plus you get to read the first three chapters for free,

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Speaker 1: but you have to plug in your order information on

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Speaker 1: fabricofhopebook dot com. You just scroll down, you put in

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Speaker 1: your order info, and you'll get all of those freebies

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Speaker 1: along with your copy of the book. We love that.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited for y'all to get your hands on it.

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Speaker 1: It's literally coming out in just a few weeks, and

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Speaker 1: then a few weeks after that, my baby's coming out. Ah.

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Speaker 1: So if you think about me, pray for me, because

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Speaker 1: I have the highest of hopes for this season that

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Speaker 1: God is just gonna tie a beautiful pink bow because

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Speaker 1: I'm having a girl as just redemption to everything that

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Speaker 1: I've gone through and everything that you'll read about in

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Speaker 1: the book. So it's really cool to have written a

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Speaker 1: book and to still be living it out and to

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Speaker 1: still see God redeeming all things. And I know he

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Speaker 1: can do that for you too. But until next week,

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Speaker 1: I love you, and I'll see you here again for

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Speaker 1: the third part of this series. But until then, I

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Speaker 1: love y'all. Bye. For more life giving, faith based podcast

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Speaker 1: just like this one, check out lifeaudio dot com, a

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Speaker 1: proud partner of the beloved podcast