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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to your Daily Prayer, a podcast

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Speaker 2: dedicated to helping you find the words you need to

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Speaker 2: connect with your Father in Heaven. No matter what is

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Speaker 2: going on in your life today, you can trust that

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Speaker 2: God wants to hear from you. Right after this short

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Speaker 2: word from our sponsor, people pray through today's prayer to

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Speaker 2: run to instead of from God. Together a prayer to

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Speaker 2: run to instead of from God, written by Laura Bailey,

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Speaker 2: read by Carrie Iberg. Pick me up and throw me

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Speaker 2: into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm.

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Speaker 2: I know that it is my fault that this great

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Speaker 2: storm has come upon you, Joanah one verse twelve. Have

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Speaker 2: you ever tried to outrun God? I have a few times. Actually,

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Speaker 2: spoiler alert. You can try to hide, but God will

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Speaker 2: always find his children. The first time I tried to

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Speaker 2: outrun God was when I went off to college.

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Speaker 1: Choosing a school that was a few hours away.

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Speaker 2: I thought I was safe for my parents' constant intervention

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Speaker 2: in my spiritual life.

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Speaker 1: After a few interactions with.

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Speaker 2: Well meaning friends to keep me on the straight and narrow,

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Speaker 2: I decided to run further. So I spent my sophomore

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Speaker 2: year in Scotland. I had a relatively guilt free year,

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Speaker 2: but upon returning to the States, I thought bombarded with

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Speaker 2: questions about my faith walk This led me to take

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Speaker 2: a job in Montreal, Canada, two thousand miles away for

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Speaker 2: any of my family and friends. I wanted the freedom

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Speaker 2: to do whatever I wanted to do and wasn't planning

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Speaker 2: to answer to them or well God, for that matter.

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Speaker 2: Submitting to God and meant living life devoid of pleasure.

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Speaker 2: Christianity was a laundry list of rules that held me back. Ironically,

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Speaker 2: while avoiding a suppressive relationship with God, I increasingly felt

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Speaker 2: more depressed and alone in the world. It was exhausting

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Speaker 2: pretending that everything was okay. All this freedom ultimately led

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Speaker 2: to a breakdown that set me sobbing in my boss's office,

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Speaker 2: packing my bags, and arriving back at my childhood home

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Speaker 2: just hours later. As children, one of the first stories

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Speaker 2: we learned about is Jonah's attempt to run from God.

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Speaker 2: Jonah disobeys God, gets thrown off a boat, and is swallowed.

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Speaker 1: By a whale.

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Speaker 2: I mean, did Jonah really think he could outrun God

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Speaker 2: and God would not find him? Jonah knew he could

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Speaker 2: never escape God's call. When the storm came, he knew

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Speaker 2: it was a result of his actions. It was not

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Speaker 2: until he was literally in the belly of a big fish,

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Speaker 2: alone and totally dependent on God's mercy that he surrendered

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Speaker 2: to God's will for his life. I have never been

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Speaker 2: in the belly of any giant fish, but I have

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Speaker 2: experienced life in the bottomless, dark pit of despair, sinking

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Speaker 2: deeper and deeper. I screamed silently for some one to

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Speaker 2: wrap their arms around me, to save me from myself,

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Speaker 2: and to lift me out of the hole I had

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Speaker 2: dug for myself, And like Jonah, I knew I was

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Speaker 2: in the wrong boat. The life I lived was not

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Speaker 2: the life God intended for me. It seemed easier to

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Speaker 2: make my own way than to trust and.

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Speaker 1: Obey a heavenly father. I couldn't outrun God.

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Speaker 2: He chose me to beat his daughter and pursued me

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Speaker 2: until I surrendered to his call of loving grace. No

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Speaker 2: matter how heart I tried to push him away, the

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Speaker 2: Lord relentlessly pursued me. After I visited my family and

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Speaker 2: made the decision to return to the South permanently, I

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Speaker 2: gave notice to my job, severed a relationship that I

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Speaker 2: knew from the beginning was wrong for me, and spent

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Speaker 2: those last months and a beautiful city completely alone, but

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Speaker 2: not without hope.

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Speaker 1: The Christian walk is difficult.

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Speaker 2: We must stop denying the truth and confess that we

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Speaker 2: need help. We must open our hearts and minds to

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Speaker 2: hear and obey God's word, even when it leads us

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Speaker 2: to act contrary to all feeling and instinct. We can resist,

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Speaker 2: rebel and run, but that only provides temporary relief. Total

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Speaker 2: surrender enables us to abide in the comforting arms of

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Speaker 2: our Father's grace and mercy, as well as in his

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Speaker 2: infinite love and protection. Let's pray Heavenly Father, you are

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Speaker 2: a God who pursues, grateful that you never give up

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Speaker 2: on your children. Scripture tells us that you would lead

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Speaker 2: the ninety nine to save the one. Lord, we ask

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Speaker 2: that if anyone is running from you, that you would

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Speaker 2: open their hearts and.

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Speaker 1: Minds to receiving you. Lord.

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Speaker 2: We pray for those who are worried over wayward spouse's children, friends,

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Speaker 2: and family members. We ask that you give them strength

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Speaker 2: to speak boldly in love to encourage their loved ones

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Speaker 2: to return to You.

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Speaker 1: Lord.

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Speaker 2: We ask that those who are trying to escape your

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Speaker 2: presence quickly turn.

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Speaker 1: Back to you. We love you, Lord in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Speaker 2: Your Daily Prayer is a production of Life Audio and

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Speaker 2: Sale Media. If you haven't already, be sure to follow

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Speaker 2: the show in your favorite podcast app so you never

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Speaker 2: missed an episode. For more faith tiled inspirational podcasts, visit

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Speaker 2: us at lifaudio dot com.