1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: Life Audio. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,160 Speaker 2: You are listening to The beck and Cook Show with 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 2: your host, Beckett Cook. For more information about Beckett and 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 2: his ministry, visit his website at Beckettcook dot com. To 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: help support the podcast, visit Patreon dot com slash the 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:29,479 Speaker 2: Becket Cook Show. Please consider subscribing to the podcast and 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 2: leaving a five star rating. 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 3: Hey guys, welcome to the show. Today. 9 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,599 Speaker 4: I have a special guest, Kaway Ferreira, and he has 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 4: an amazing story of God's mercy in his life. 11 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 3: It's fascinating. But first award from our sponsor. Please welcome 12 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 3: kawait Hi beck It. 13 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: It's awesome to be here. 14 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,279 Speaker 4: Good to have you on. Good to have you on. 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 4: We had some trouble with the Wi fi, so but 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 4: we're all squared away. So I want to jump right 17 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 4: into your story. You were born in Japan and you 18 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 4: live there until you're nine years old. Why where tell it? 19 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 4: Tell me about your childhood and why you were born 20 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 4: in Japan because you're not Japanese, yest. 21 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:32,680 Speaker 5: Yeah, So my family is Brazilian, but my grandpa from 22 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 5: my mom's side, we are He is Japanese, and so 23 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,119 Speaker 5: that kind of makes me a little bit Japanese. There's 24 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 5: no real reason why I was born in Japan. I 25 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 5: think my parents just wanted to go there. I think 26 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 5: because he was living there. So we went there. And yeah, 27 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 5: they had me in Japan. 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 4: What part of Japan. 29 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 5: The city I was born in, it's called and it's 30 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 5: like right in the belly you know, it kind of 31 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 5: looks like a dragon Japan. 32 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: It's kind of right on the belly of the dragon. 33 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,519 Speaker 4: Okay, because I yeah, I lived in Tokyo for a year. 34 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 4: But so and then and you lived there until you 35 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 4: were nine years old? What so, what did your So 36 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 4: your parents just worked there? Your dad worked in Japan? 37 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 5: Yes, they both did. They both worked there. They had 38 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 5: very difficult jobs there. They were they worked in like 39 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 5: the Toyota factories actually building the cars, you know, like 40 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 5: the car parts and everything. 41 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: And in Japan, like. 42 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 5: As a foreigner because they're not citizens of Japan, and 43 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 5: as a foreigner, things are very hard, very difficult, and 44 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 5: so they Deepanies. 45 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 3: Don't like foreigners very much. Yeah I don't. 46 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, And so they worked there, like my mom 47 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 5: worked at in the day and then my dad worked 48 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 5: at night, you know, and I'd be like going through 49 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 5: babysitters basically, but yeah, it was tough. It was tough 50 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,679 Speaker 5: for them there and then yeah, at nine years old, 51 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 5: they decided to move to to America connect. 52 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 4: And but what was your childhood like, Like, what was 53 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,239 Speaker 4: your family life like? Were your parents like you know, yeah, 54 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 4: how were they? 55 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 3: How were they? 56 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:22,839 Speaker 1: Yeah? So they were. 57 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 5: The thing with my parents is like, for example, I 58 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 5: see a lot of people who have, like I hear 59 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 5: a lot of childhood stories that I'm like, Oh, my goodness, 60 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 5: Like I feel so bad for you. You know, my 61 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 5: parents weren't really like that. Like they weren't bad parents, right, 62 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 5: but they had a bad habit. 63 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: Of yelling a lot. 64 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 5: And I was always very sensitive and so that yelling, 65 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 5: like really, that's that's one thing that really made me 66 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 5: feel just unsafe. And and so that I haven't realized 67 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 5: how much that affected me until very recently, you know, 68 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 5: like did it When a child feels safe, that's that's 69 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 5: so important. And when you don't have that, it actually 70 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 5: like affects much more than than you'd think, you know. 71 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: And so yeah, and. 72 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 5: So I didn't have that, like I guess stability right 73 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 5: off the bat. And because of that, I think it 74 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 5: made other issues in my life worse. 75 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,720 Speaker 3: You know, what were they yelling about? 76 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 5: Just like when they would correct me or when they 77 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 5: would you know, tell me not to do something. It 78 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 5: wasn't really like I don't do that. It was just 79 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 5: kind of just a lot of just like going to 80 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 5: yelling very easily, you know, like the escalation was very 81 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:54,119 Speaker 5: very fast. And for a child, of course, that's that's yeah. 82 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, So and both your parents were like that with you. 83 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, both my parents were like that. Now they. 84 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 5: Have yeah, yeah, now like they're they're very different. They 85 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 5: they don't yell at all. I have younger sisters and 86 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 5: you know, I see how they treat them, and it's 87 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 5: it's very different now, which you know, thank god they're 88 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 5: both Christians, so so glory be to God for that. 89 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: Yeah. We we we've worked through that already, you know. 90 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,720 Speaker 4: Okay, So then you moved to Connecticut when you're nine 91 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 4: years old, and what that must have been like dramatic, 92 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 4: a dramatic change for you. 93 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: It was a dramatic change. 94 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 5: And you know, I again that's something that I haven't 95 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 5: really like processed until recently, but it was it was 96 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 5: a lot of cultural shifts, right because my my family 97 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 5: is Brazilian, like we act like Brazilians, and I was 98 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 5: living in a country that was, you know, Japanese, extremely opposite. 99 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 3: Of it's very Brazili, yeah. 100 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 5: Exactly, and and then coming to America having to adjust 101 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:10,840 Speaker 5: to that. What I noticed recently was that I I 102 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 5: really have never really felt like I fit in, you know, 103 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,239 Speaker 5: not just because of the same sex attraction, but also 104 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 5: because of like cultural differences. Like my like, I was 105 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 5: always very Brazilian in my way of being, you know, 106 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 5: but I think I was very shamed just for that 107 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 5: because I was very extroverted. I guess these are stereotypical things, 108 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 5: but very extroverted, very touchy, I guess. And I think 109 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 5: like Americans are. They're not like the coldest, right, but 110 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 5: they are. They tend to be a little more chilled 111 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 5: out than Brazilians from from what I've seen. 112 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 3: Well, it depends on what part of the country. 113 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 4: Like in Connecticut they're probably colder, but in like. 114 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:53,839 Speaker 5: This very. 115 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: Yeah that's true. 116 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 5: But yeah, so I think, yeah, that played into it, 117 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 5: the culture shift. That's kind of how I was affected 118 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 5: by it. 119 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 3: And why did your parents move to America at the 120 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 3: United States? 121 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 5: So in twenty eleven, there was that big tsunami that 122 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 5: happened in Japan, and we weren't like directly affected by that, 123 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 5: but they kind of just took it as kind of 124 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 5: like a sign and they were like, you know what, 125 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 5: let's just like they already kind of wanted to leave 126 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 5: Japan because it was so hard to work there, and 127 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 5: so they just said, you know what, let's just let's 128 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 5: just go. 129 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 3: You know, well, why didn't they Why didn't you guys 130 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 3: just move to Brazil. 131 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: Because Brazil is also. 132 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 5: Not as easy as not not that America is easy, right, 133 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 5: but it's still difficult in Brazil as well in terms 134 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 5: of work and everything, and so you know, it's I 135 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 5: guess that immigrant vision of like the American dream, and 136 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,960 Speaker 5: so they kind of wanted to go for that, and 137 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 5: they've already had those desires before, you know, of like 138 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 5: going to America, and they just kind of took that 139 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 5: opportunity that happening and just carried on with it. You know, 140 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 5: there was no like real reason to come. It was 141 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 5: just more opportunity, right. 142 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 4: And then so what was school like when you were 143 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,240 Speaker 4: in the United States, like in Connecticut or because then 144 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 4: you moved to Massachusetts at another point, But what was 145 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 4: high school like junior high and high school. 146 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 5: Like for you, Yeah, so junior high in high school, 147 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 5: I was already in Massachusetts. In Connecticut, I only stayed 148 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 5: there for like two years junior high and high school. 149 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 5: For me, it was like in the beginning, right when 150 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 5: I was like younger, still in middle school, I did 151 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,079 Speaker 5: experience some like bullying, right like because of the way 152 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 5: I acted and like just like you know, the the 153 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 5: regular teasing that people experience, like oh, you know, you 154 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 5: don't act like like me, or like you don't you know, 155 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 5: you don't like the things I like. So you know, 156 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 5: I'm gonna call you gay and I'm gonna these sort 157 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:20,199 Speaker 5: of things, and yeah, so I experienced that. That was 158 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 5: kind of more in middle school. But because I experienced that, 159 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 5: and again, like I'm I've always really been like really sensitive, 160 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 5: I decided to just kind of shut down, right Like 161 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 5: my my mind subconsciously just kind of started shutting down 162 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 5: and just like becoming very like, you know, just closed 163 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 5: off and I'm not really expressing myself, not really acting 164 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 5: like myself because I really hated that like I was 165 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 5: perceived in the way that I was, you know, I 166 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 5: was I really hated that I was you know, called, 167 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 5: you know, gay, and you know all the other worst 168 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 5: things and so yeah, I that caused like in middle school, 169 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 5: that's when I started shutting down. And when I went 170 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 5: through high school, that's when I started to sort of 171 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 5: adopt like a new persona and just like be like 172 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 5: a different person, a person that people wanted to talk 173 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 5: to and to, you know, to to be around. Yeah, 174 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 5: that that led to some success in high school, but 175 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 5: ultimately it was still very empty because I knew people 176 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 5: talk to me or you know, I guess even just 177 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 5: tolerated me because I was acting like somebody else. So 178 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 5: I never really felt like myself, you know, like I 179 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 5: never really it got to the point where, because that 180 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 5: happened so early in my life, I I'm still going 181 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 5: through kind of a process of like discovering what I like, 182 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,040 Speaker 5: you know, and what I like to do, what I 183 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 5: enjoyed doing, what I want to pursue because of how 184 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 5: much I really like stuffed that down and tried to 185 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 5: ignore that part of myself that you know, that caused 186 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 5: like people to say thanks to me or whatever. 187 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll be right back after this short break. 188 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 4: And were your parents your parents were Christians? Were you 189 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 4: raised in a Christian home? 190 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 5: So my parents. When we first got to Massachusetts, we 191 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 5: already had like that sort of the mindset of like, Okay, 192 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 5: we love Jesus, right, Like, they had that conscious of Christ, 193 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 5: but they didn't really like pursue God. They didn't you know, 194 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 5: they didn't really so like ultimately know, they weren't really Christian. 195 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 5: But we did like thank God for our lives, you know. 196 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 5: But it's only when we got to Massachusetts that we 197 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,959 Speaker 5: started to go to church. And and that's when I 198 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 5: started to like actually understand a little bit more about God. 199 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 5: That's when I was like, I think eleven or twelve 200 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 5: at that time, and so I ever since I was young, 201 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 5: I really like I always believed in God, you know, 202 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:21,199 Speaker 5: even when I was younger. I have memories of me 203 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 5: talking about God. And when I first started getting exposed 204 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 5: to like what it means to be a Christian. Right 205 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 5: when we started going to church, I started to learn 206 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 5: more about God. But the only issue was that my 207 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,000 Speaker 5: church it was kind of stagnant spiritually, you know, the 208 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 5: first church that we went to, and it didn't have 209 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 5: like at any basically any discipleship going on. And so 210 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 5: when that happens, as especially for children like you start 211 00:12:58,679 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 5: to perceive. 212 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 1: God in the way that you view the world. 213 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 5: And so for me, I was always just very fearful, 214 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 5: very anxious, right for all the reasons that I've talked about, 215 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 5: And so I would like perceive God, view God as 216 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 5: this judge and this you know, this just like. 217 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:22,040 Speaker 1: Strict judge. 218 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 5: You got to do what I tell you, you know, 219 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 5: and you got to do it well or like you're 220 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 5: not right before me. And I've always wanted to honor 221 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 5: God and to please God. I've always wanted to I 222 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,839 Speaker 5: think I've always wanted to do everything right for God 223 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 5: because I was like God was basically all that I had. 224 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 5: Like God to me was always like, you know, if 225 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 5: nobody else loves me, I know God loves me. But 226 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 5: because I had that view of life, I thought, well, 227 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 5: this is a conditional love, you know, and I have 228 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 5: to maintain that love. I have to do the right 229 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 5: things like go to church, read your Bible, pray so 230 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 5: that God does. 231 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 1: Not leave me. You know. That was kind of my 232 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:02,839 Speaker 1: view of God. 233 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:10,439 Speaker 5: And that only kind of started breaking through when I 234 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,439 Speaker 5: was like nineteen years old, which was when I really 235 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 5: decided to seek God with everything. Yeah, do you want 236 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 5: me to get into that or do you want to 237 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 5: ask me? 238 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 4: But in the meantime, well in the meantime though, before 239 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 4: we get to that, So, how did you deal with 240 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 4: wanting a relationship with God but also being having this 241 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 4: you know, homosexual desire? 242 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 3: Like what how did you deal with those two things? 243 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 5: Yeah? So for me, I think, like, like I said, 244 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 5: I always really suppressed myself and that included also like 245 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 5: not just my emotions, but because I I wanted to 246 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 5: honor God so much, I suppressed like everything like my anger, 247 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 5: my my sadness because in my mind, like growing up, 248 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 5: I knew that these things would lead to sin, and 249 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 5: so I just suppressed the crap out of it, you know. 250 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,840 Speaker 5: And I just like was like, Okay, no, I can't 251 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 5: feel anger and I can't feel sadness like I'm because 252 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 5: I know this is going to like lead me in 253 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 5: a bad way, and so I'm not going to feel it, 254 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 5: you know. And that sort of included the the you know, 255 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 5: same sex attraction. I really just suppressed it. And but 256 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 5: of course, like I throughout that time, I developed a 257 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 5: pornography addiction, and so but that's the thing, right, so 258 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 5: I guess I have to get into that so it 259 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 5: can make sense So when I was like eleven or twelve, 260 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 5: I was exposed to pornography. It was straight pornography, and 261 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 5: that was my addiction for like a year. But then, 262 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 5: you know, after like something's happened in my life whatever, 263 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 5: I kind of fed my same sex attraction and I 264 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 5: got addicted to homosexual pornography. 265 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: And then. 266 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 5: But in my mind, right in my like child of mind, 267 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 5: I I knew I had desires for like women as well. 268 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 5: So I didn't really like I always thought like, okay, 269 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 5: that part of me is going to go away, you know, 270 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 5: that part that part is going to like go away soon, 271 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 5: Like I don't really have to pay too much attention 272 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 5: to it. And so I never really like consider myself gay. 273 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 5: You know, I've never like took on that label for myself. 274 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 5: But it was definitely something that like there was like 275 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 5: a lot of shame there of course. Yeah, And so 276 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 5: I didn't really balance it well because I know, I 277 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 5: know that was the question, how did I balance it. 278 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 5: I didn't really balance it well. I think I kind 279 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:03,360 Speaker 5: of just suppressed it and and yea try to ignore it, 280 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 5: you know. 281 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,920 Speaker 3: So Kawai, tell me about the. 282 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 4: You had a girlfriend for six months and then something 283 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,199 Speaker 4: happened with that that led to these stomach problems, like 284 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 4: talk about that. 285 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 5: Yeah, So when I was around like fifteen, I had 286 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:24,879 Speaker 5: dated this girl. And I say that very lightly. It 287 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:26,880 Speaker 5: wasn't really a relationship. We kind of just hung out 288 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 5: with our friends. But I had dated this girl and 289 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 5: something happened with her where I was kind of put 290 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 5: in a very like humiliating sort of situation. 291 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 4: And basically, you were you were at a party where 292 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 4: she like kind of did she kind of humiliated you 293 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 4: at a party? 294 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 5: Yes? Yeah, and thank you. Yes, that's what happened. And 295 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 5: I remember when that happened been I felt like this 296 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 5: something I've never felt before, which it was kind of 297 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:11,640 Speaker 5: like a pit in my stomach, but it's something I've 298 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 5: never felt before, and so I would like I felt 299 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 5: like I had to just get out of there, Like 300 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 5: I felt like somebody like stabbed me in my stomach, 301 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 5: and I was just like, oh my God, like there's 302 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 5: something I've never felt before. It felt so intense. And 303 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,199 Speaker 5: ever since that happened, I noticed that I started to 304 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 5: get these like random stomach paints and these stomach aches. 305 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 5: And I already tried, like everything I tried to eliminate 306 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 5: all these foods from my from my diet. I tried 307 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,440 Speaker 5: getting tested for like you know, like all these things 308 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 5: like crones, celiac, whatever, but nobody knew what was wrong. 309 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,320 Speaker 5: Like I didn't have any any issue. I even had 310 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 5: an endoscopy done, and the doctor she told me that 311 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 5: I had like the stomach of it like an old man. 312 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 5: And she said that I had like a pre cancer 313 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 5: because of like how much it randomly just started hurting, 314 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:15,639 Speaker 5: you know, and it was just really irritated. And so 315 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 5: I had that for like a really long time. And 316 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 5: the Lord started showing me that because there was one 317 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 5: day where I prayed and I said, Lord, you know, 318 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 5: if you took this away from me, I could do 319 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,400 Speaker 5: so much more for you, because it's something that really 320 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 5: kept me from doing much like I would have to 321 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 5: plan my days around my stomach, you know, pretty much 322 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 5: because if it started hurting, like I really just couldn't 323 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,120 Speaker 5: be around anybody, like I didn't want to be around anybody. 324 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 5: So it really it really messed me up. It really 325 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 5: affected me. But again nobody knew why. And so I 326 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 5: told the Lord that, and he told me, Cowie, even 327 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 5: if I took the pain away, that wouldn't fix the issue, 328 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 5: because the issue is a fear of man, you know, 329 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 5: it's a fear of man. And so that's when I 330 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,439 Speaker 5: started to like slowly trace back, you know, when it 331 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 5: started and how it started. And I realized that, like 332 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 5: the pain was just like a symptom, a symptom yes 333 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 5: of like shame basically and just fear of getting shamed 334 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 5: or fear of humiliation. And so I would like brace 335 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 5: myself or prepare myself so that I wouldn't be put 336 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 5: in that position again, you know. And slowly God started 337 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 5: to work in my heart and sort of heal, heal this, 338 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,080 Speaker 5: like teaching me how to stop being so anxious, right, 339 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 5: because like I, like I said, I was very anxious 340 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 5: as a child, and I was always fearful. I never 341 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 5: felt safe, you know, and so God was just slowly 342 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 5: started to teach me how to feel safe and you know, 343 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 5: how to not be worried about things that are going 344 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 5: to happen. 345 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: Right. 346 00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 5: The Bible says, don't worry, you know, do not. 347 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 3: Be anxious or anything. 348 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 4: But in everything, my parents application make a request known 349 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 4: to God exactly. Yeah, And so what happened, so, like, uh, 350 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 4: you said that you started seeking God for three months. Yes, 351 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 4: you texted a friend and talk about that. 352 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 5: Okay, So I was at this church event, and this 353 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 5: church event there was you know something I don't want 354 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 5: to get too into it, but at this. 355 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 4: Point, but at this point was your was the stomach 356 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 4: Were you healed at this point of the stomach issue? 357 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 5: No, not yet, not yet, Okay, it was still there. 358 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 5: And this was before like I even knew God really 359 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 5: like this before this is this moment at the church 360 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 5: event was kind of what inspired me to like actually 361 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 5: like seek God. Right because at this church event, I 362 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 5: noticed like my pastor's heart, and I noticed these other 363 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 5: pastors who were there, and they were just like loving 364 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 5: the people right they were. They were showing how much 365 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 5: they loved the people there. And I saw that and 366 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 5: I was like, man, like I still don't understand how 367 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 5: they have this love and you know, and so I 368 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 5: made a decision that day because what I did was 369 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 5: all fear based, right, like I read my Bible, I 370 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:51,960 Speaker 5: prayed every day, but it was all because I was 371 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,919 Speaker 5: so scared that God would leave me, and and so 372 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 5: I didn't understand this love that they had for people 373 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 5: because I was doing everything based on fear, right, And 374 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,719 Speaker 5: so this inspired me to like, okay, you know what, 375 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 5: I'm gonna seek God with everything. And so I decided 376 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 5: to just, you know, every night, go to my room, pray, 377 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,880 Speaker 5: read my Bible, or just just pray and cry out 378 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 5: to God. It's funny because during this time, I actually 379 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 5: stopped reading my Bible and I just said, you know what, 380 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,399 Speaker 5: like Lord, I just needed to show me who you 381 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 5: are and I needed to just you know, come and 382 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 5: fill my heart up and you know, help me understand 383 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,159 Speaker 5: what these people understand, because I still apparently don't. And 384 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 5: so after like around three months, I texted this friend 385 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,879 Speaker 5: because I felt like God was telling me to text 386 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 5: him because he needed help. And I texted him and he, 387 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 5: you know, I helped him out, so he actually didn't 388 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:59,879 Speaker 5: need help. But then he asked about my my sexuality. 389 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 5: And it's funny, right, because I heard God and I 390 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 5: obeyed him, and then somebody comes and to me, that 391 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 5: felt kind of like getting exposed in a way because 392 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 5: I've never talked about that with anybody before, and so 393 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 5: I kind of deflected what he asked me. But then 394 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 5: that made me very I'm not sad, but like kind 395 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 5: of just like anguished, you know, and I was like 396 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 5: Lord like. And so what I did that day was 397 00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,840 Speaker 5: I went to God to do my daily encounter. And 398 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 5: that was the first time after I told God, you know, Lord, 399 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 5: this is making me feel bad, you know, like I 400 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,439 Speaker 5: like everybody always says this about me, you know, like 401 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 5: why can't I just just chill? You know. And that's 402 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 5: the first time that God actually encountered me. And he 403 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,880 Speaker 5: I basically felt like, uh, what I think I said 404 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,160 Speaker 5: this to you? But I felt like like the jealous 405 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 5: love of God. Right, Like there's that song how He 406 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,239 Speaker 5: Loves Us and and and one of the lyrics is 407 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 5: he is jealous for me, and that's what I felt like. 408 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 5: I felt God just embrace me. That was the first 409 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,120 Speaker 5: time I felt like like like I felt the Lord saying, 410 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 5: you know, like I can't believe people make you feel 411 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,679 Speaker 5: this way about who I made you, you know, or 412 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 5: how I made you. And that was the first time 413 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 5: I was like, wow, like this is the love of God. 414 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 5: You know. It's like it's hard to describe, but yeah, 415 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:41,120 Speaker 5: that was That was the first time I really encountered God. 416 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 5: That was what set me set me on a journey 417 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,359 Speaker 5: to to actually desire to pursue Him and not just 418 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 5: pursue him based on fearing and all that stuff. 419 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 4: And and God, you said that. God said, like you 420 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 4: heard God say something about like you need to heal correctly. 421 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 5: Yes. So during this encounter is very intense because I 422 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 5: felt like God was throwing a lot at me, right, 423 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 5: I felt that embrace, and then I felt God like 424 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 5: just like like I kind of understood everything that I 425 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 5: went through, you know, like the purpose of everything that 426 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:20,199 Speaker 5: I went through, and I like the Lord l just 427 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 5: like prophesied over my life. And he said one one 428 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,040 Speaker 5: of the things he said, waskw wait, now take the time, 429 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 5: take the time to heal correctly. And the reason he 430 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,919 Speaker 5: said that was because I I'm always have I've always 431 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 5: been somebody who like if I want to do something, 432 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 5: I'm gonna do it, you know, like, and I want 433 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 5: to do it, and like I'm very like anxious in 434 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 5: a way of like going on and doing it quick, 435 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 5: you know. 436 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 3: Being proactive, like you want to be proactive. 437 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 5: Yes, exactly. And so in my mind, you know, like 438 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,439 Speaker 5: I was like, Okay, now I'm ready. Now I'm gonna 439 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 5: I'm gonna do something for God, you know what I mean, 440 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,800 Speaker 5: Because I've always wanted to, right, But I never knew 441 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,640 Speaker 5: the right time, and I felt like, you know what, 442 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 5: like I just encountered God, now now is the time, right, 443 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 5: So I'm gonna I'm gonna start making some YouTube videos. 444 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,040 Speaker 5: And I started making these YouTube videos kind of disregarding 445 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 5: what the Lord told me right and take the time 446 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 5: to heal correctly. And I had made these YouTube videos. 447 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:30,120 Speaker 5: It helped some people. But after like seven months, I 448 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 5: started to get burned out and I started to to 449 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 5: just like have no motivation, you know, pretty much. And 450 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 5: I remember there was this one one day where I 451 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 5: had like kind of like a fight with my dad 452 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 5: for yeah, it was kind of an argument, and I 453 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 5: got up, like I left my house, went to this 454 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 5: random parking lot. And at this point, like God was 455 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,760 Speaker 5: already telling me about how I needed to feel my 456 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,719 Speaker 5: emotions because I've suppressed myself a lot, Like I told you, 457 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 5: I've always suppressed myself a lot. And God was telling me, 458 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,160 Speaker 5: you know, you got to feel things out. You have 459 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,719 Speaker 5: to process things. You cannot just ignore them, right. And 460 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 5: so at that moment, like I was very angry. I 461 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 5: knew I needed to let it out. I needed to cry, right, 462 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 5: but I couldn't, And so I was there in the 463 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 5: car for like thirty minutes, and I was like, okay, Lord, 464 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 5: Like I tried, I tried crying, you know, but it's 465 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:34,840 Speaker 5: not coming out. And so I kind of give up 466 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 5: and I go on my phone and on my phone 467 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 5: a video pops up and it's this man. The title 468 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 5: is something like like stop doing Christian things or something 469 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 5: like that, and so I clicked on the video and 470 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 5: the guy basically said like, you don't have to do 471 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 5: anything Christian to earn God's love. You don't have to 472 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 5: do things for God to earn his love. You know, 473 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 5: you don't have to to do work to earn his love, 474 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 5: to earn your position as a child before him. And 475 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 5: that is when I started crying. And I was like wow, 476 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 5: Like I was just doing these videos because, you know, 477 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 5: I felt like I needed to do something for God. 478 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 5: Not because I actually wanted to, you know what I mean, 479 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 5: Not because I was, you know, doing it from a 480 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,920 Speaker 5: place of like overflow, but because I have this thing 481 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 5: where I keep trying to earn his love and I 482 00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 5: keep trying to to maintain his love, which is ridiculous. 483 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 5: And so that was a big breakthrough for me. From 484 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 5: that point on, God started to you know, he continued 485 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 5: to work in my heart. I started to learn what 486 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 5: sonship meant and being a child of God and accepting 487 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 5: that life is a process, it's a sanctification is a process, right, 488 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 5: And we have a hard time, I think, understanding that 489 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 5: because the Bible says behold for I am Holy, right, 490 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 5: and so we read that, we're like, oh, okay, so 491 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 5: you know, we can't do anything or we're gonna end up, 492 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 5: you know, in hell. But God, more than anybody else, 493 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 5: understands that it's a process. He understands that you're human. 494 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 5: And honestly, for a long time, I really hated my humanity, 495 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 5: right because I've always wanted to honor God. I've always 496 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 5: wanted to please God, and my human desires always like 497 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 5: really frustrated me. I'm not even talking about like same 498 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 5: sex attraction, you know, just in general, Like I hated that. 499 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 5: I like there were moments where I would, you know, 500 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 5: like get angry at somebody or like I hated that 501 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,479 Speaker 5: I would feel sad and then want to sin, right, 502 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 5: because that's that's why we seek sin. It's for comfort 503 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 5: and pleasure. And so I just hated my humanity. 504 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 4: And it's like Paul Paul in Roman seven when he says, 505 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 4: why do I do the things. 506 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 3: I don't want to do? That kind of thing? Yes, exactly, 507 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 3: if that's Romans. 508 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 5: But yeah, anyway, yeah exactly. And you know the best 509 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 5: thing I've ever learned from God is that he meets 510 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 5: you where you are at, and that he meets you 511 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 5: in your humanity. Right, Jesus Christ literally comes down and 512 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 5: meets you in our humanity. It's amazing. It's you can't really, 513 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 5: you can't make that up. Yeah. 514 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,080 Speaker 4: And so but then you were your your dad hired 515 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 4: you as a consultant, or your dad hired you and 516 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 4: you worked with him, and he your dad had a 517 00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 4: consultant who was like a marry He was a man 518 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 4: who was married to a man. 519 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 5: Is that correct, Yes, So what happened was I started 520 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 5: working with my dad at his company and he hired 521 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:51,800 Speaker 5: this consultant, like a business consultant for like general business 522 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:56,760 Speaker 5: operations and employee relations and all that. And what he 523 00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 5: didn't know though, was this consultant was married to a man, 524 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:06,920 Speaker 5: so it was a gay couple. And so he kind 525 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 5: of spoke to all the employees in one on one 526 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 5: just to kind of like help people, you know, and whatnot. 527 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 5: And so when it came to for my turn to 528 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 5: speak to him, he that's when he kind of revealed 529 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 5: to me, you know, that he was married to man. 530 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 5: I was like, oh wow, okay. And so, in my innocent, 531 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 5: in my innocent mind, in my innocent heart, I at 532 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 5: this point, I was already you know, like very much 533 00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 5: had my relationship with God, but I still had my 534 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 5: pornography struggles, right, my same sex attraction struggles. However, I thought, 535 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 5: you know what, like I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna 536 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 5: try to help him. You know, I'm gonna say, hey, 537 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 5: because something about this person was that he was even 538 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 5: though he had this relationship with this man, with this 539 00:32:56,000 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 5: other man, he was he still considered himself a Christian, right, 540 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 5: but he kind of accepted the fact that, like he 541 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 5: he accepted that the idea that you know, God will 542 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 5: that he's right before the Lord in that lifestyle, right, 543 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 5: living in that lifestyle. And so, like I said, in 544 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 5: my innocent brain, I thought, you know what, let me 545 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 5: try to help this guy. And so I tell him 546 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 5: I share with him, Hey, man, you know, like it's okay, 547 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 5: Like I understand you. I deal with these desires as well, 548 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 5: but you don't have to live like this, you know, God, 549 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 5: like God can sustain you, right. And I didn't even 550 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 5: hide the fact that I that I had my my addictions. Still, 551 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 5: I was very open about it. I was just like, 552 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 5: you know, we just gotta take it one day at 553 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,800 Speaker 5: a time. We just gotta proceed and you know, like 554 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 5: and and trust God. And so that was my biggest 555 00:33:53,400 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 5: Mistake's what's telling him that? Because after he kind of 556 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 5: started to like, you know, work in the company and whatnot, 557 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:11,120 Speaker 5: we became close professionally, and he sort of felt like 558 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 5: he had like a sort of liberty to joke around 559 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 5: with me, right, and to to like make jokes right like, oh, 560 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 5: you know, even if if you don't identify or like, 561 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:26,239 Speaker 5: even if you if you don't practice, you still are gay, 562 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 5: you know what I mean, If even if you don't 563 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 5: act on it, you're still gay. And of course that's 564 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:39,600 Speaker 5: not how I identified, right, But that really started to 565 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,320 Speaker 5: bother me. It's really started to get into my mind 566 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,719 Speaker 5: because the main issue was, Okay, well, here I am 567 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 5: telling this man he doesn't have to live like this, 568 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:52,240 Speaker 5: but I'm still struggling with it, you know, and God's 569 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 5: not right from my perspective back then, God's not helping me, 570 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 5: you know, He's not taking this away from me. So 571 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 5: you know, that's why his words kind of started to 572 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,399 Speaker 5: affect me in that way. And you know, I told 573 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,880 Speaker 5: him to stop a few times with those jokes, but 574 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,400 Speaker 5: it took kind of like a freeze out for it 575 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:21,319 Speaker 5: to stop anyways, And so I was like having to 576 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:25,320 Speaker 5: deal with him sort of every day, right, and I would, 577 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 5: you know, in front of him, I'd be like, you 578 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,600 Speaker 5: know what, like that's not right, and you know, I 579 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 5: don't agree with you. But then at home, I'd be like, lord, like, 580 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:40,560 Speaker 5: if he's wrong, why am I still you know, struggling 581 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 5: with this? Why why why am I still dealing with this? 582 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 5: If I'm literally telling him what you can do? Why 583 00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 5: is it hasn't that been done for me? Right? And 584 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,080 Speaker 5: this led me to like a big spiral, right, a 585 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,640 Speaker 5: big spiral because one of the things about me that 586 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 5: I've learned is that because I suppressed a lot of 587 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 5: my emotion, I always tried to rationalize everything, and that 588 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,960 Speaker 5: was my escape. Was just like, Okay, if I don't 589 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 5: want to feel that, so I'm going to think about it, 590 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 5: you know, and I'm going to find an answer, and 591 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,759 Speaker 5: that's going to be good enough. But the thing with 592 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 5: you know, this topic is that nobody knows what's going on. 593 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 5: And so I would obsessively search up why does homosexuality happen? 594 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:25,000 Speaker 5: You know, what caused the same sex attraction? 595 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 2: Uh? 596 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,680 Speaker 5: And I would see all these theories and all these things, 597 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,840 Speaker 5: but nothing was coherent right. There was no like, oh, 598 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,439 Speaker 5: this is why this happens. There's no like one way 599 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,719 Speaker 5: to put it. And so that really messed with me. 600 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 5: It really frustrated me because I had all these points 601 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:47,480 Speaker 5: that I could think of, but nothing was coherent, right, 602 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 5: And so I was like dang, like, and then I 603 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 5: started to get this like anger towards God. You know, 604 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 5: I started to be like, Lord, like I can we 605 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,080 Speaker 5: can explain everything. It seems like we can explain everything 606 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 5: else except this, right, And and so I was just like 607 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 5: you know, being real, Like it got to a really 608 00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:17,560 Speaker 5: bad point where like I never considered leaving God, but 609 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:22,799 Speaker 5: I I did have many arguments with him. And you 610 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 5: know what, that's a wonderful thing, by the way, right, 611 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 5: because that's how you create intimacy with the Lord. It's 612 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:31,640 Speaker 5: you have to speak with him, you have to air 613 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 5: things out right. He like, I said, well, that's what 614 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 5: exactly speaking of, which during that time where I was 615 00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 5: having these struggles, these this sort of obsessive researching about 616 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,839 Speaker 5: this that lasted about a year and a half, and 617 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 5: during that whole year and a half, the Lord just 618 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 5: told me to read Palms, Read Palms, Read Palms, read 619 00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,719 Speaker 5: some and so that's the only book that I read 620 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:05,120 Speaker 5: that whole year and a half. And you know, that 621 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 5: was like that was my life. When David says, you know, 622 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,640 Speaker 5: how long Lord do I have to stay in this 623 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 5: bed weeping? You know, how long do my tears have 624 00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:16,319 Speaker 5: to be my food? That was my whole life for 625 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 5: a year and a half, you know, just because I 626 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,319 Speaker 5: was so like obsessed with this topic and trying to 627 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,440 Speaker 5: resolve this. You know, I tried to find an answer 628 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:28,200 Speaker 5: because I thought in my head, if I can find 629 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:33,399 Speaker 5: the answer to homosexuality, then like it's but then there 630 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 5: is like a solution. That was like my my my 631 00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:37,600 Speaker 5: thought process, it's like if I can find the cause, 632 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 5: I can find a solution. And so yeah, it got 633 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:49,080 Speaker 5: to the point where the Lord said, okay, caw wait, stop, 634 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,320 Speaker 5: like chill, You're done, You're done looking at this trying 635 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,880 Speaker 5: to figure things out, and I was like, okay, all right, 636 00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:58,720 Speaker 5: and I really got to the point where I was exhausted. 637 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:05,080 Speaker 5: I was like, yeah, okay, fine, And it's crazy how 638 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,440 Speaker 5: the enemy. I just remember, like it's crazy how the 639 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 5: enemy really he really, he's sneaky. I remember during that 640 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:16,400 Speaker 5: time when I was obsessing over this, I started to 641 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,520 Speaker 5: get angry at God, right, and like I said, I 642 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:22,759 Speaker 5: started to argue with him. But it got to the 643 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,920 Speaker 5: point where I knew in my conscious mind when I 644 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 5: was going to a place of when I was losing reason, right, 645 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,760 Speaker 5: because you start questioning God because you're struggling with something, 646 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 5: but then you start you start trying to be a 647 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,240 Speaker 5: social justice warrior for others, right. And so for example, 648 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 5: in my feed sometimes on Instagram, I have a point here. 649 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:45,799 Speaker 5: I know it's kind of all over the place, but 650 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 5: in my feet on Instagram sometimes there's like videos of 651 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 5: like these poor children in Africa, like struggling with like 652 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:58,000 Speaker 5: tumors or starvation, right, And so I remember when sometimes 653 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 5: I'd be like thinking about my struggle and be like Lord, 654 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 5: you know, like you don't take this away, and you know, 655 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,279 Speaker 5: like how do you expect people to follow you if 656 00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 5: it's this difficult, right, how do you expect And I 657 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 5: started talking talking about these kids, how do you expect 658 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,319 Speaker 5: these kids to follow you, you know, and to have 659 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 5: this faith that you're asking of me when they're like 660 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 5: dealing with things that are even worse than I'm dealing with. Right, 661 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 5: And I just start trying to like just really just 662 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,600 Speaker 5: fight with God. And I remember when I when I 663 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,839 Speaker 5: was having this argument, I remember God put in my heart. 664 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:35,240 Speaker 5: He said, he said, how do you know the faith 665 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:38,799 Speaker 5: that I'm requiring of them? He said, how do you 666 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:42,399 Speaker 5: know that I'm requiring the same faith from you as 667 00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 5: as I am from them. I was like, oh, okay, 668 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:52,319 Speaker 5: that's fair. I was still angry though. I was like, 669 00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 5: you got me, but I'm still bad at you, bro anyways, 670 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:57,879 Speaker 5: And so yeah, and so I got to the point 671 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 5: where the Lord just told me, you know how, he stopped, like, 672 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,240 Speaker 5: you need to chill now. And I was like, okay, fine, 673 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,640 Speaker 5: you know I'm gonna I'm gonna chill now. And and 674 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 5: God just started to two like he told me to 675 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,280 Speaker 5: stop thinking about it, right, stop thinking about the struggle, 676 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 5: stop thinking about the temptation. And I was like, okay, 677 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 5: all right, And I remember during this time. 678 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:30,240 Speaker 1: Was when. 679 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,200 Speaker 5: I went to the Send. I don't know if you're 680 00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 5: familiar with the Send, but the Send is like like 681 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 5: a big Christian conference and there's like multiple speakers. And 682 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,640 Speaker 5: one of the speakers there was Francis Chan and he 683 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 5: was talking about the verse in Romans that says not 684 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:52,360 Speaker 5: good at memorizing verses, but something along the lines of 685 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,239 Speaker 5: there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are 686 00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:59,319 Speaker 5: in Christ Jesus. And he was preaching that verse, and 687 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,720 Speaker 5: I remember he's said a lot of pastors are scared 688 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,360 Speaker 5: of preaching this because they think they'll preach this and 689 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 5: then people start going off the rails, right, people will 690 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:12,680 Speaker 5: start sinning everywhere because you know, there's no condemnation. But 691 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:17,520 Speaker 5: the truth is that verse was the beginning of me 692 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:21,400 Speaker 5: becoming set free from my addiction from my same sex attraction. 693 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 5: That verse helped me to stop judging myself, right. I 694 00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:33,319 Speaker 5: started to look at myself in the way that God 695 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,279 Speaker 5: looked at me, and I started having grace for myself. Hey, 696 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:38,440 Speaker 5: you know what the Lord says, There's no condemination for 697 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:40,960 Speaker 5: me even when I sin, So I'm not going to 698 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,920 Speaker 5: feel bad about myself, right, because what I would do 699 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:48,400 Speaker 5: is after I looked at pornography or something, I would 700 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 5: like give myself space between God. It's exactly what Adam did, right, 701 00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:54,000 Speaker 5: he said, Oh I hate the fruit. Now I'm going 702 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:57,560 Speaker 5: to run away. And I thought, for some reason in 703 00:42:57,600 --> 00:43:02,040 Speaker 5: my human brain that if I just did that, that, 704 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,040 Speaker 5: you know, like, I'm gonna give myself like I don't know, 705 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:06,520 Speaker 5: like a day between me and God and and things 706 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 5: will reset or something. And so I thought I couldn't 707 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,200 Speaker 5: like come to God right right after I've sinned, right 708 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:17,239 Speaker 5: because like now I'm like unholy, right, as if that's 709 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 5: what made me unholy, But of course not. And so 710 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:26,560 Speaker 5: and so that those intervals, right as I meditated on 711 00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:30,440 Speaker 5: that word, they started to become shorter. And you know, 712 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:32,920 Speaker 5: there'd be days where I, you know, I watch pornography 713 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 5: and I just like put my phone out and be like, 714 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:39,440 Speaker 5: oh Lord, I'm sorry, and I just start talking to 715 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,160 Speaker 5: God and developing a relationship with God, you know what 716 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:46,359 Speaker 5: I mean, because that's what it's about. That's what it's about. 717 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:51,040 Speaker 5: It's a relationship with the Lord. And you know, something 718 00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,399 Speaker 5: that that that's in my heart and that I want 719 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,759 Speaker 5: people to understand is just how close you can become 720 00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,839 Speaker 5: to the Lord, just how how much of a friend 721 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 5: God can be to you. You know, religion really kills 722 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:07,240 Speaker 5: that that understanding that that we have of God. God 723 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 5: is your friend, he is your father, and he's not 724 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:14,439 Speaker 5: There's nothing you can do to take yourself away from 725 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 5: his presence unless you take yourself away from His presence, right, 726 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:26,759 Speaker 5: And so that that sort of understanding of how I 727 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 5: cannot earn my sonship and I cannot take away my 728 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:35,360 Speaker 5: sonship right before God, that sort of understanding really broke 729 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:41,160 Speaker 5: me free from this addiction, right, this pornography addiction, like this, 730 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,400 Speaker 5: this hole that I had in my heart, the reason 731 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,319 Speaker 5: why I sought that out started to break, right. And 732 00:44:47,719 --> 00:44:51,840 Speaker 5: you know, around this time there was still the question 733 00:44:51,960 --> 00:45:00,560 Speaker 5: of like of homosexuality and same sex attraction. And it 734 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:05,439 Speaker 5: was around this time where I found your channel, right, 735 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 5: and I watched a lot of the videos, right, and 736 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:13,320 Speaker 5: none of them really talked about like like there was 737 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:15,600 Speaker 5: a lot of testimonies which were so good, but at 738 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,400 Speaker 5: the time that I was like trying to find an answer, right, 739 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,560 Speaker 5: there was nobody talking about the answer. So I was like, Okay, 740 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:26,080 Speaker 5: this is not how gonna help me. But then around 741 00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:32,719 Speaker 5: this time you posted the video with doctor Nickelosi, and 742 00:45:32,800 --> 00:45:36,800 Speaker 5: he talked about so many points that I had already 743 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:40,320 Speaker 5: thought about, right, but that I couldn't connect, and he 744 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,480 Speaker 5: talked about all of it. He explained it in such 745 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:46,320 Speaker 5: a good way, and I was like, oh wow, okay, 746 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,400 Speaker 5: that that makes so much sense. Right, just some of 747 00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:54,040 Speaker 5: them is like, uh basically right, an overarching theme is 748 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,160 Speaker 5: like just an insecurity in your masculinity. 749 00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:57,960 Speaker 3: Yeah. 750 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:03,400 Speaker 5: And that was like a big deal for me because 751 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:09,640 Speaker 5: I was like, okay, wow, I I realized how much 752 00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:14,480 Speaker 5: that fueled my same sex attraction. And so I started 753 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 5: to after seeing that video, right, and after things started 754 00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,319 Speaker 5: to make a little more sense. And by the way, 755 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 5: God only allowed me to see that video after I 756 00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:26,920 Speaker 5: rested in him. Right, we want answers, We want answers, 757 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:29,680 Speaker 5: and God says, chill, you gotta chill, you gotta you 758 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 5: gotta wait for his time, right, And so finally had 759 00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:37,640 Speaker 5: some answers, right, And I was like, okay, Lord, you 760 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,520 Speaker 5: know what, I'm just gonna bring it to you. I'm 761 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:42,799 Speaker 5: just gonna bring it to you. And I started to 762 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:47,239 Speaker 5: bring uh, you know, these insecurities that I started to 763 00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,440 Speaker 5: realize I had, you know, like about my body or 764 00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:53,239 Speaker 5: or my yeah, just like my way of being right, 765 00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:55,160 Speaker 5: like oh, I'm not like you know, like man enough 766 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,760 Speaker 5: or whatever. And I started bringing this to the Lord 767 00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:02,279 Speaker 5: and he started to just heal my heart. Like that's 768 00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:03,920 Speaker 5: the best way you can put it, is like he 769 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:09,040 Speaker 5: started to heal my heart and and like that same 770 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,439 Speaker 5: sex attraction. That that for me, right, I'm not gonna 771 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,839 Speaker 5: speak for a bunch of people because everybody's different, but 772 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 5: for me, a big thing was like man, I just 773 00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,080 Speaker 5: I that what fueled that for me was just like 774 00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:25,399 Speaker 5: an insecurity in myself, in my manhood, you know. When 775 00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:30,760 Speaker 5: I was younger, Like I remember, I I fantasized about 776 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,799 Speaker 5: like a relationship with a girl. I really did, and 777 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 5: I really wanted that, but I felt like I was 778 00:47:36,880 --> 00:47:39,600 Speaker 5: enough for a girl. Like that was a genuine thought 779 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,799 Speaker 5: I had, was like I'm just not enough for for 780 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:43,640 Speaker 5: a girl. I'm not man enough for a girl, so 781 00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:46,120 Speaker 5: like I have to settle for guys, which you know 782 00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:50,600 Speaker 5: doesn't make any sense logically, But it's all these like 783 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:53,080 Speaker 5: weird wounds we have, you know, these traumas we have, 784 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,560 Speaker 5: and the way we make sense of it as kids, 785 00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:58,439 Speaker 5: which usually doesn't make any sense. There's no truth to it, right, 786 00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,040 Speaker 5: But that's how we reason things out. And you know, 787 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,200 Speaker 5: God just started cleaning my heart out and cleaning my 788 00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:09,520 Speaker 5: heart up, and these desires just started to fade away. 789 00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:12,720 Speaker 5: And it's really insane. Now I want to make something clear, 790 00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:16,239 Speaker 5: Like I'm not saying like I don't have temptation anymore, right, 791 00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:21,560 Speaker 5: but I can say that I'm free from that hole 792 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:23,399 Speaker 5: that I had in my heart. I don't have that 793 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:29,040 Speaker 5: like that need for it anymore. Right, Paul says, be 794 00:48:29,160 --> 00:48:32,200 Speaker 5: careful if you are, you know, standing not to fall. 795 00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:36,560 Speaker 5: That just means like be aware of the environment you're in, 796 00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:39,319 Speaker 5: be aware of you know, don't be dumb, you know, like. 797 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,359 Speaker 3: If yeah, if yeah, bless you fall. 798 00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:45,839 Speaker 5: Yeah yeah. So like I'm not here saying like, oh 799 00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:51,399 Speaker 5: I'm mister, like you know now I'm together. Yeah, Like. 800 00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:54,960 Speaker 4: Uh, but. 801 00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:58,839 Speaker 5: Like I I I can say that I'm set free, 802 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:02,120 Speaker 5: you know what I mean, Like I have that understanding 803 00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:04,520 Speaker 5: that the Lord literally sent me free, the Lord healed 804 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,640 Speaker 5: my heart. I don't have that that hole in my 805 00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:13,160 Speaker 5: heart anymore. You know. And people they're very they want 806 00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:16,520 Speaker 5: black and white answers, right. I remember I recently posted 807 00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:19,040 Speaker 5: a video talking about my story a little bit and 808 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:23,960 Speaker 5: some guy comments and he said the comment was kind 809 00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:26,799 Speaker 5: of funny. He said, man, this is a long video. 810 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:34,279 Speaker 5: So are you gay or not? And you know, it's like, man, 811 00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,239 Speaker 5: you're focusing on the wrong thing. You're focusing on the 812 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:40,600 Speaker 5: wrong thing. It's not about your sexuality. Man, God wants 813 00:49:40,600 --> 00:49:43,360 Speaker 5: your heart. He wants your heart. And I think people 814 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:45,600 Speaker 5: just want a black and white answer because it's easier 815 00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:54,080 Speaker 5: to help them support their worldview, right. But I can 816 00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:57,080 Speaker 5: only share what I've lived right with the Lord, and 817 00:49:57,120 --> 00:50:01,080 Speaker 5: that's the beauty of our testimony. 818 00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,920 Speaker 4: Yeah, and then what and so did your parents liked? 819 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:06,600 Speaker 4: Do your parents did they know about all this? Now? 820 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:08,399 Speaker 5: They do? 821 00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:10,920 Speaker 1: They do know. 822 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,440 Speaker 5: They're they're a little hesitant. It's funny because they're Brazilian, 823 00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:19,160 Speaker 5: you know, and in brazil culture, like you can still 824 00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,120 Speaker 5: you can still die for being gay, you know, like 825 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,279 Speaker 5: in Brazil, like people will literally like kill you. And 826 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:28,640 Speaker 5: so they're very like they're not scared. They were just 827 00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,919 Speaker 5: very like hesitant. They were like, Okay, well make sure 828 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:34,120 Speaker 5: you're doing this, you know, because you feel the Lord 829 00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,880 Speaker 5: is leading you. Because well we also go to a 830 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:42,359 Speaker 5: Brazilian church as well. And so even though I'm I'm 831 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:43,200 Speaker 5: in mass Now. 832 00:50:46,800 --> 00:50:48,239 Speaker 4: You know even though you're in wait, what did you 833 00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:49,680 Speaker 4: say when even though what. 834 00:50:50,040 --> 00:50:54,040 Speaker 5: Even though I'm in Massachusetts? Now, yeah, I go to 835 00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:56,959 Speaker 5: a Brazilian church. And so they were kind of just like, okay, well, 836 00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:00,759 Speaker 5: you know, be prepared for what's to come. And they're right, 837 00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:03,879 Speaker 5: the devil is a liar, the devil is dirty. 838 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:09,040 Speaker 4: And now what and what's happened with your stomach problems? 839 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:10,200 Speaker 3: Are they gone? 840 00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:20,319 Speaker 5: So? Right? So I had this this relates to my 841 00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:25,959 Speaker 5: to my my testimony, right, So I after the Lord 842 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,879 Speaker 5: started to sort of push me forward and you know, say, hey, Kyi, 843 00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:33,760 Speaker 5: you should start sharing your testimony. I was like, okay, Lord, 844 00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:36,440 Speaker 5: I'm gonna start sharing my testimony. And I was gonna 845 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:38,480 Speaker 5: stay it in front of my whole youth group, right. 846 00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:40,719 Speaker 5: But then I remember that there's some people that I'm 847 00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:42,680 Speaker 5: so close to, and I was like, you know what, 848 00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:44,680 Speaker 5: I'm not gonna like drop this bomb on them because 849 00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,680 Speaker 5: at this point, nobody really knew anything right about the 850 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:52,279 Speaker 5: same extraction, pornography, addiction, none of that, And so I 851 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:53,960 Speaker 5: was like, I'm not going to just drop this this 852 00:51:54,040 --> 00:51:56,640 Speaker 5: bomb on them. I'm gonna speak to my close, my 853 00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,400 Speaker 5: close friends first. And so I gathered them up this 854 00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:06,560 Speaker 5: one day and I spoke with them, and I spoke 855 00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,439 Speaker 5: with them. They were very They received me in such 856 00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:13,240 Speaker 5: a wonderful way. They were so loving. And I remember 857 00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:15,360 Speaker 5: as we were leaving, two of them were in my 858 00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,960 Speaker 5: car and because we're going to go somewhere. And then 859 00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,000 Speaker 5: one of them he called me while I was in 860 00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:23,759 Speaker 5: the car and he was like, hey, Kywi, I know 861 00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:26,160 Speaker 5: that you talked a little bit about your stomach issues, right, 862 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:31,120 Speaker 5: and I think we should just pray for your stomach. 863 00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:35,840 Speaker 5: And I was like, okay, awesome, And so you know, 864 00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,280 Speaker 5: we all just prayed. We all prayed and prayed and prayed. 865 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:42,320 Speaker 5: And that raw feeling that I had in my stomach, 866 00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:44,719 Speaker 5: because my stomach at this point was very damaged, right, 867 00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,080 Speaker 5: But that raw feeling that I had in my stomach, 868 00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:52,680 Speaker 5: it literally went away like during that prayer, and I 869 00:52:52,719 --> 00:52:54,640 Speaker 5: felt the Lord tell me, like, Kwie, the more you 870 00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,200 Speaker 5: share your testimony, the more I'm going to heal your stomach. 871 00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:01,040 Speaker 5: Because the issue with my stomach was always just like 872 00:53:01,120 --> 00:53:05,279 Speaker 5: the fear of man right and humiliation and shame. It's 873 00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:09,560 Speaker 5: like that's what that all kind of became somatic, right, 874 00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:14,719 Speaker 5: and then it manifested itself in my stomach, and so 875 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:18,319 Speaker 5: people ask me like, oh, is your stomach healed? Now, 876 00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:21,840 Speaker 5: I believe the Lord healed my stomach from the damage 877 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:30,640 Speaker 5: it had. However, my issue is I have to position 878 00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:37,319 Speaker 5: myself so that I don't get tempted into fearing man, right, 879 00:53:37,360 --> 00:53:41,640 Speaker 5: get tempted into being ashamed, because when I do, my 880 00:53:41,719 --> 00:53:44,520 Speaker 5: stomach it hurts a little bit, you know. And that's 881 00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:47,440 Speaker 5: so it's such a it's so interesting because you know, 882 00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:49,759 Speaker 5: again people want to make things like and white. Right, 883 00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:53,600 Speaker 5: Oh is your stomach healed or not? The Lord he 884 00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:57,200 Speaker 5: healed the damage. I believe that, but he's not going 885 00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:02,440 Speaker 5: to take away something things because he wants us to 886 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:05,880 Speaker 5: learn from it, right, he wants us to to grow. 887 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:11,279 Speaker 5: And growth it comes through, you know, living life and 888 00:54:12,080 --> 00:54:15,879 Speaker 5: living through the difficult things and just walking all these 889 00:54:15,920 --> 00:54:19,920 Speaker 5: things out with him. And so yeah, I believe the 890 00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:24,480 Speaker 5: Lord healed my stomach. But I have the conscious consciousness, 891 00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:28,520 Speaker 5: the awareness that I have to remember too to be 892 00:54:28,600 --> 00:54:31,200 Speaker 5: who God has called me to be, right, somebody who's 893 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:34,919 Speaker 5: bold and who's courageous. Right, That's that's what my name means. 894 00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:38,360 Speaker 5: It means strong, brave, and courageous. And it's so funny 895 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:42,920 Speaker 5: because the devil tried to literally, you know, kill that 896 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,799 Speaker 5: in me ever since I was a kid. Yea. And 897 00:54:45,840 --> 00:54:49,680 Speaker 5: so the Lord really he's amazing. 898 00:54:51,160 --> 00:54:56,720 Speaker 4: Well, praise the Lord. That's awesome, Kawe. I'm I'm happy 899 00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:00,239 Speaker 4: for you. I'm happy that you that the Lord just 900 00:55:00,280 --> 00:55:03,600 Speaker 4: showed you what the root of all these issues were 901 00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:06,359 Speaker 4: and that he's working all this out with you, like 902 00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:11,719 Speaker 4: it's amazing. And yeah, well, everyone just keep praying for 903 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:15,440 Speaker 4: Kawai to continue to grow in that and like to 904 00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:18,680 Speaker 4: be healed of all of this shame and like that 905 00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:22,399 Speaker 4: he's felt since a child. It's this shame and fear 906 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,560 Speaker 4: of man. So thank you for coming on the show 907 00:55:25,600 --> 00:55:26,560 Speaker 4: and sharing your story. 908 00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:29,560 Speaker 5: Kahway. Thank you, Becky. This is awesome. 909 00:55:30,120 --> 00:55:31,279 Speaker 3: Wait, don't touch that dial. 910 00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:35,000 Speaker 4: Please like and subscribe, and also please consider becoming a 911 00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:38,600 Speaker 4: patron on Patreon for as little as five dollars a month, 912 00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:41,040 Speaker 4: you can really help us out on the show. The 913 00:55:41,080 --> 00:55:44,239 Speaker 4: link is below and we so so appreciate it. 914 00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:49,920 Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you for listening to this episode of 915 00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:53,640 Speaker 2: The Beckett Cook Show. Your support makes this content possible. 916 00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:58,040 Speaker 2: All episodes of The Beckett Cook Show are also available 917 00:55:58,080 --> 00:56:02,800 Speaker 2: on YouTube. More information about Beckett and his ministry. Visit 918 00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:06,240 Speaker 2: his website at Beckettcook dot com. 919 00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:08,279 Speaker 4: Thank you to the team at Life Audio for their 920 00:56:08,320 --> 00:56:09,319 Speaker 4: partnership with us. 921 00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,040 Speaker 3: If you go to lifeaudio dot 922 00:56:11,040 --> 00:56:14,040 Speaker 4: Com, you will find more faith centered podcasts about prayer, 923 00:56:14,120 --> 00:56:15,799 Speaker 4: Bible study, parenting, and more