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Speaker 1: So this podcast that you're listening to right now is

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Speaker 1: sponsored by my friends at Twining's Tea. Now I know

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Speaker 1: that everybody has become a coffee drinker. Everybody in the world,

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Speaker 1: it seems it's spending a whole lot of money on

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Speaker 1: coffee each day. I, however, love tea and I love

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Speaker 1: good tea. I love to brew a cup of tea.

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Speaker 1: I even use the loose tea and a tea strainer.

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Speaker 1: Twinings Tea has the best selection of teas. Oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: they are so delicious tonight. What am I drinking tonight?

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Speaker 1: This is their Pomegranate and raspberry herbal tea. M m hmm.

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Speaker 1: Not too sweet, just delicious. And they've got so many varieties,

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Speaker 1: over fifty varieties of tea to choose from. So thank

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Speaker 1: you to the folks at Twinings Tea who sponsored this

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Speaker 1: podcast and make it possible to share these thoughts with you.

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Speaker 1: And today I want to talk to you about the

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Speaker 1: very foundation of love. If you look at an old,

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Speaker 1: old building, if you've ever gone to a historical site,

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Speaker 1: if you've ever seen buildings that are hundreds of years old,

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Speaker 1: or even thousands of years old, you'll notice they have

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Speaker 1: a strong foundation. They're not built on shifting sands. They're

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Speaker 1: not They're not built with a flimsy little foundation. They

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Speaker 1: are built on a solid foundation. And when a building

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Speaker 1: has a good foundation beneath it, it can withstand so

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Speaker 1: much above it, the winds, the rains, the storms. The

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Speaker 1: same is true for our relationships. When you have a

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Speaker 1: solid foundation beneath your relationships, your relationship with your significant other,

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Speaker 1: your relationship with your friends, your relationships with your children.

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Speaker 1: When there is a solid foundation beneath those relationships, they

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Speaker 1: will weather the challenges of life, the heartache, the loss,

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Speaker 1: the storms of addiction, the storms of infidelity, all those things.

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Speaker 1: You can weather those storms if there is a strong foundation.

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Speaker 1: And what is that foundation made of? What does that

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Speaker 1: foundation look like? I believe it's made of loving yourself,

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Speaker 1: of knowing that you are a precious, oh so precious

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Speaker 1: gift to this world, that you were created by a

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Speaker 1: loving God for a purpose. I got a letter from

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Speaker 1: a listener. They put it, they posted it on Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and it just touched my heart in such a way. Um,

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Speaker 1: a listener says, dear Deliah, I've been debating sending a

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Speaker 1: message for quite some time over the past year and

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Speaker 1: a half, I got myself into a very toxic, very

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Speaker 1: abusive relationship with the man twenty four years older than

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Speaker 1: I am. Sometime in mid September, I was mopping the

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Speaker 1: floor at my work. I heard you on the radio

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Speaker 1: consoling a girl whose story was very similar to mine.

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Speaker 1: It brought me to tears. It made me see what

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Speaker 1: this man was doing and putting me through was not

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Speaker 1: something anyone should have to deal with. That the names

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Speaker 1: he called me and the untrue accusations were not something

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Speaker 1: I deserved. The help of my family and your comforting words,

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Speaker 1: I managed to move away from him. I filed a

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Speaker 1: restraining order against him to ensure my safety and my

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Speaker 1: peace of mind. I guess the reason I'm in this

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Speaker 1: letter to you is to just say thank you. Thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for helping me and hopefully other people

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Speaker 1: here the truth. Thank you for being a constant voice

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Speaker 1: of reason throughout my life. Thank you from the bottom

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Speaker 1: of my heart. God bless you and everything that you do.

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Speaker 1: You saved my life, and I will be eternally grateful.

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Speaker 1: You helped a twenty year old girl in a small

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Speaker 1: town walk away from something she was convinced she was

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Speaker 1: forever trapped in wow. When you know that you know that,

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Speaker 1: you know that you are not an accident, that you

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Speaker 1: don't have to figure out who you are, that God

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Speaker 1: has already figured that out, and that you are a

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Speaker 1: wonderful creation, that you are an amazing created being, and

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Speaker 1: that you were created for a purpose. When that is

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Speaker 1: the foundation of who you are, every relationship built upon

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Speaker 1: that foundation will be strong. And I mentioned earlier, I

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Speaker 1: believe it's impossible to have healthy love, romantic love, or

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Speaker 1: love for our kids or whatever. It's impossible to have

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Speaker 1: strong relationships when the foundation of our life is faulty.

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Speaker 1: If you look around and you see that the relationships

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Speaker 1: in your life are not solid, trusting, loving, honoring, respectful,

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Speaker 1: then maybe you need to do some work on that

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Speaker 1: foundation to get it solid. So you know that, you

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Speaker 1: know that, you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt,

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Speaker 1: that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, that you have

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Speaker 1: great worth. Do you know if there was a computer

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Speaker 1: that could do all the things your brain can do,

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Speaker 1: it would be as big as the state of Texas,

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Speaker 1: Maybe bigger. Isn't that a amazing You are an eternal, precious,

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Speaker 1: wonderful being wrapped in skin with blood and guts and

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Speaker 1: sinew and bones and mistakes and personality quirks and all

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Speaker 1: those things that make you human. But to you are

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Speaker 1: a miracle. And when you know that in the very

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Speaker 1: core of your being, when you know that, everything gets easier.

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Speaker 1: So as we talk about learning to love and respect

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Speaker 1: and honor yourself, I don't want you to think that

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Speaker 1: I am encouraging you to be selfish or self centered.

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Speaker 1: In fact, love is what is left once all the

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Speaker 1: selfishness is taken out. Selfishness is not love, but self

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Speaker 1: love is so important. You have to learn to accept

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Speaker 1: who you are. You have to learn to accept who

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Speaker 1: you are and who you aren't. And that's a hard

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Speaker 1: thing to do. That's a hard thing to do when

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Speaker 1: you think you always wanted to be a dancer or

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Speaker 1: a painter or an ast or not. Maybe you thought

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Speaker 1: you always wanted to be a parent, and you're looking

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Speaker 1: at life going you know, I'm probably not going to

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Speaker 1: get pregnant or I'm not going to be a father,

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Speaker 1: And the reality of accepting life on life's terms and

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Speaker 1: accepting yourself on life's terms can be difficult. It can

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Speaker 1: be challenging, but you have to you have to accept

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Speaker 1: who you are who you are not, and you have

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Speaker 1: to learn to cherish who you are. What makes you unique,

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Speaker 1: what makes you special, What gifts and talents, skills and

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Speaker 1: insights you can offer the world. You have to dig

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Speaker 1: deep and figure out what it is that sets you apart,

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Speaker 1: that makes you unique. And don't you dare say to yourself,

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Speaker 1: were out loud, nothing, Delilah, there's nothing that makes me unique?

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Speaker 1: Because that is a ball face. Lie, there is something.

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Speaker 1: There are some things. There are many things about you

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Speaker 1: that are just precious or wonderful. Your sense of humor,

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Speaker 1: your taste, your outlook, your attitude, your ability to connect

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Speaker 1: with strangers, your ability to organize, your talents, how you draw,

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Speaker 1: how you sing, how you dance, how you ski, how

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Speaker 1: you skate, how you have no fear, or how you're

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Speaker 1: paralyzed by fear, which makes you very cautious, and you

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Speaker 1: look at things carefully, honor that, honor who you are

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Speaker 1: and who God intends you to be, and then use

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Speaker 1: your gifts to make this world a better place. We

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Speaker 1: will be back with more podcasts in the future. There

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Speaker 1: are several you can download and listen to. We started

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Speaker 1: doing this the first of the year to kick off seventeen,

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Speaker 1: and I love sharing these thoughts with you. If there's

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Speaker 1: something specific you would like to hear me talk about,

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Speaker 1: or something specific you would like to hear me address

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Speaker 1: in depth, right to me through my website Delilah dot

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Speaker 1: com and say, Delilah, I'd love to hear you explore

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Speaker 1: whatever it is in a podcast this year, because we're

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Speaker 1: going to be sharing these with you all year long,

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Speaker 1: and do me a favor, share them with your friends,

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Speaker 1: invite your friends to go download them. They're absolutely free. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they're free because the folks at Twinings te sponsored this

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Speaker 1: podcast you and have to pay a thing for it

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Speaker 1: because they did. So. If there's something special you'd like

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Speaker 1: to hear me speak on, go to um Delilah dot

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Speaker 1: com and just send me a note a suggestion, and

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Speaker 1: I'll see if I can't do that for you this year.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for letting me be a part of your world.

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Speaker 1: And remember, when you slow down to love someone, start

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Speaker 1: with yourself. So damn unless someone