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Speaker 1: Well, hey, they're friends. Just a quick heads up that

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Speaker 1: I am taking a tiny little break and I'm also

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Speaker 1: getting ready for our Lent series which begins in the

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Speaker 1: middle of February. So this is a replay of one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite scriptures. I do hope that you'll settle

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Speaker 1: in and enjoy it. God has something new for us

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Speaker 1: every time we hear his word. So here you go,

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Speaker 1: life audio. Well, hey they're friends. I'm Jody Nisnick, and

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Speaker 1: welcome to our new year's series. It's just a little

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Speaker 1: space to reflect on the goodness of God and how

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Speaker 1: He is leading us as we enter into this new

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Speaker 1: season together. We're going to take a quick break for

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Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors, and then we'll be right

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Speaker 1: back for our meditation. We will be doing our meditation

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Speaker 1: today using the Lectio Divina method of scripture meditation. And

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Speaker 1: if that's new to you, well, first, I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: you're here, and second, I want to invite you to

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Speaker 1: head into the show notes so that you can download

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Speaker 1: the free Electio Divina Guide, a journal that I've made

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Speaker 1: for you. It outlines exactly what Lectio Divina is, where

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Speaker 1: it originated, and what you can expect from this meditation

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Speaker 1: method and it'll give you a little space to take

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Speaker 1: some notes on your meditations. I will also guide you

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Speaker 1: every step of the way as we have this time

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Speaker 1: with the Lord now. So with that, let's go ahead

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Speaker 1: and get started. So the first thing we want to

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Speaker 1: do is just settle in preparing our heart and our

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Speaker 1: mind and our body to be present with the Lord.

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Speaker 1: So to do that, I just want to encourage you

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Speaker 1: to just start by taking some deep in and out breaths.

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Speaker 1: As you breathe in, just ask the Lord to help

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Speaker 1: you be mindful of him, ask him to help you

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Speaker 1: let go of any distractions so that you can be

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Speaker 1: present here. As you exhale, I want to invite you

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Speaker 1: just to notice what is it that feels like it's

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Speaker 1: weighing on you today, and ask the Lord to just

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Speaker 1: hold on to that for you. So keep taking deep

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Speaker 1: in and out breaths, and as you do, let me

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Speaker 1: pray for us. Oh Lord, we ask that you would

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Speaker 1: be present with us now. We know that you are

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Speaker 1: always with us, but we ask that you would just

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Speaker 1: help us be really aware of your presence right now.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, we pray that you would guide and lead

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Speaker 1: us into your word, that it would become living and

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Speaker 1: active in our lives. Lord, we ask that your spirit

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Speaker 1: would help us notice what we need to notice, and

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Speaker 1: that you would help us know how to apply what

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Speaker 1: you reveal to us into our lives. And we pray

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Speaker 1: that you would do this so that we can grow

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Speaker 1: closer to You, so that we can know more of You,

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Speaker 1: so that we become more like Jesus. And we pray

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Speaker 1: this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, today we

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Speaker 1: are meditating on a few verses from Psalm twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: and this psalm is one of courageous trust. It's written

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Speaker 1: by David, who found himself pursued by enemies who were

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Speaker 1: threatening his life, and in this psalm he expresses confidence

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Speaker 1: in the Lord and in the Lord's abilities over his

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Speaker 1: enemy's abilities. I think it's probably hard for us to

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Speaker 1: really understand exactly what David was really facing, but I

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Speaker 1: think at the core, when everything was stripped away for

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Speaker 1: him and he was facing danger, he had to make

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Speaker 1: a choice do I trust you God over everything else?

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Speaker 1: And in this moment he courageously trusted God, which is

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Speaker 1: what we want to do as well. So the first

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Speaker 1: time you hear these words, I encourage you just to

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Speaker 1: listen to them, just so you know where this passage

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Speaker 1: is headed. So this is our first reading of Psalm

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Speaker 1: twenty seven, Verses one through three and thirteen through fourteen.

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Speaker 1: Today we are in the new International version. The Lord

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Speaker 1: is my Light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?

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Speaker 1: The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom

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Speaker 1: shall I be afraid when the wicked advance against me

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Speaker 1: to devour me. It is my enemies and my foes

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Speaker 1: who will stumble and fall though an army besiege me.

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Speaker 1: My heart will not fear though war break out against me.

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Speaker 1: Even then, I will be confident. I remain confident of this.

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Speaker 1: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the

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Speaker 1: land of the Living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong,

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Speaker 1: and take heart, and wait for the Lord. As I

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Speaker 1: read the passage for you a second time, we want

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Speaker 1: to ask the Lord to help us. Notice something in

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Speaker 1: the passage, a word, a phrase, perhaps even an idea,

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Speaker 1: and whatever it is that seems to grab your attention,

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Speaker 1: I want to just encourage you to go with it,

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Speaker 1: to write it down or to hold onto it in

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Speaker 1: your mind. And we're going to trust that that is

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Speaker 1: where the Holy Spirit is leading us today. Sometimes it

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Speaker 1: feels really clear. Sometimes it feels like it could be

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Speaker 1: one of many different things in the passage. And so

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Speaker 1: I want to encourage you just to try not to

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Speaker 1: overthink it too much, not to find the very best

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Speaker 1: word in the passage, but just to let something come

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Speaker 1: to you and go with it. God will use it.

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Speaker 1: So with that, this now is our second reading of

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Speaker 1: Psalm twenty seven, verses one through three and thirteen through fourteen.

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Speaker 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall

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Speaker 1: I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life.

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Speaker 1: Of whom shall I be afraid? Win? The wicked advance

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Speaker 1: against me to devour me. It is my enemies and

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Speaker 1: my foes who will stumble and fall an army besiege me.

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Speaker 1: My heart will not fear, though war break out against me.

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Speaker 1: Even then I will be confident. I remain confident of this.

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Speaker 1: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the

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Speaker 1: land of the Living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong,

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Speaker 1: and take heart and wait for the Lord. So take

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Speaker 1: a moment now and ask the Lord, how does what

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Speaker 1: you drew my attention to apply to my life? Right

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Speaker 1: now now, as I read the passage for you a

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Speaker 1: third time, this time. We want to notice again whatever

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Speaker 1: we noticed in the second reading, and we're going to

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Speaker 1: take another step with the Lord and respond to him.

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Speaker 1: However he may be inviting us to respond. Some possible

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Speaker 1: ways there could be an invitation to us is by

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Speaker 1: noticing a sin that we need to confess and repent

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Speaker 1: of a step of trust. We need to take a truth,

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Speaker 1: we need to remember a time to worship God and

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Speaker 1: be present with him, or something else entirely. But I'll

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Speaker 1: give you space after the reading to have that time

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Speaker 1: with the Lord. So this now is our third reading

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Speaker 1: of Psalm twenty seven, verses one through three and thirteen

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Speaker 1: through fourteen. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

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Speaker 1: Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of

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Speaker 1: my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the

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Speaker 1: wicked advance against me to devour me. It is my

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Speaker 1: enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall though

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Speaker 1: an army besieges me. My heart will not fear, though

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Speaker 1: war break out against me. Even then, I will be confident.

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Speaker 1: I remain confident of this. I will see the goodness

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Speaker 1: of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait

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Speaker 1: for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait

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Speaker 1: for the Lord. So take some time now to respond

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Speaker 1: to God. And now for our final reading. I want

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Speaker 1: to invite you just to receive it in resting, resting

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Speaker 1: in the secure confidence that God is with you. No

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Speaker 1: matter what is happening. You have nothing to be afraid

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Speaker 1: of because He holds you and your ultimate eternal future

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Speaker 1: secure in him. So just rest in His goodness, rest

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Speaker 1: in His love, and rest in the fact that He

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Speaker 1: is capable. This is our final reading of Psalm twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: verses one through three and thirteen through fourteen. The Lord

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Speaker 1: is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?

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Speaker 1: The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom

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Speaker 1: shall I be afraid? Win the wicked advance against me

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Speaker 1: to devour me. It is my enemies and my foes

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Speaker 1: who will stumble and fall though an army besiege me.

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Speaker 1: My heart will not fear the war breaks out against me.

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Speaker 1: Even then I will be confident. I remain confident of this.

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Speaker 1: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the

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Speaker 1: land of the Living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong

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Speaker 1: and take heart and wait for the Lord. Oh Lord,

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Speaker 1: thank you for these words in this psalm, and thank

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Speaker 1: you for David and his ability to courageously trust you

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Speaker 1: when he was in really terrible circumstances. And so Lord,

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Speaker 1: we draw from his words of truth and ask that

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Speaker 1: you would help us to be courageously trusting of you

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Speaker 1: no matter what is happening, because you are our salvation.

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Speaker 1: You are the stronghold of our life, and you are capable.

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Speaker 1: So Lord, whatever we're going through, help us to cling

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Speaker 1: to the truth that David clung to his confidence that

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Speaker 1: he would see your goodness in the land of the Living. Lord.

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Speaker 1: We want to see your goodness, and so we asked

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Speaker 1: that it would come help us to remain strong as

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Speaker 1: we wait on you. And Lord, we pray that you

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Speaker 1: would come quickly to our aid, be with us today,

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Speaker 1: carry us through, and help whatever truth it is that

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Speaker 1: you reveal to us, just to root deep into our heart.

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Speaker 1: We pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, friends,

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Speaker 1: just a few quick things before we close. I just

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Speaker 1: want to remind you that we've created a special series

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Speaker 1: of guided reflections to help you enter into this new

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Speaker 1: year with intention. I know we're a few weeks in,

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Speaker 1: but I just want to encourage you. It is not

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Speaker 1: too late to spend some time looking back over the

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Speaker 1: last year and assessing where you are in the present

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Speaker 1: and asking God how he wants you to move forward.

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Speaker 1: So this series of reflections, we're calling it a guided retreat,

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Speaker 1: but you can do it over few mornings, you can

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Speaker 1: do it over a long afternoon, or you can do

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Speaker 1: it over a full day. However it works in your schedule.

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Speaker 1: You'll find a link to the retreat information in the notes.

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Speaker 1: I do want to remind you that there is a

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Speaker 1: small cost for this, but if for some reason that's prohibitive,

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Speaker 1: just let me know. I'll make sure you get one.

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Speaker 1: I also want to give a quick shout out to

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Speaker 1: our partner, Life Audio. If you go to lifeaudio dot

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Speaker 1: com you'll see all their other Christian podcasts. And I

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Speaker 1: also want to say thank you to those who have

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Speaker 1: left reviews recently. I read every single one of them

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Speaker 1: and they are so deeply encouraging to me. So thank you,

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Speaker 1: and please keep reviewing and sharing the podcast. Finally, thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining me on so much more because we

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Speaker 1: really do believe Jesus has so much more to say

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Speaker 1: to us, and we are creating space to listen. H