WEBVTT - Embracing The Most Difficult Times 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:05.560 So in addition to being on the radio every night, 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:09.719 I've decided that I want to do a podcast. I'm 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.280 going to do a podcast, at least one a week 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.640 for you with you, where we explore in a little 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:20.240 more depth some things we talk about on the year 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.480 at night. See on when I'm on the radio at night, 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.680 I can only talk for a few minutes because you know, 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.720 we have to play those songs which I love and 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.360 which are great. But there's so much more that I 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.760 want to say. There's so much more that I want 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.400 to share and explore with you. And so we're going 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.520 to be doing a podcast, maybe one a week, maybe 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.360 two or three a week, who knows, depends on how 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.440 inspired I am right now. I am inspired to talk 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.960 about the new year, about hopes and dreams and goals 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:57.200 and aspirations. And the folks at Twining's t have asked 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.880 if they could be the sponsor of our podcast. So 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:06.399 we've created this broadcast podcast. You can listen anytime you want. 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.080 It doesn't have to be at night, and you can 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.440 pause and stop the podcast and think about what we're 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.000 talking about. You can come back to it, you can 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.640 share it with friends, and I would invite you to 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.800 fix yourself a lovely cup of Twinings tea while we talk, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.440 while we share, while we have this conversation. Okay, Twinings 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.160 Tea is delicious. It's got a history like you would 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:36.440 not believe. They traveled the world looking for the finest tea. 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:41.400 Is the finest herbs, the finest spices, the finest ingredients 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:48.520 to put together these delicious, wonderful, warming Twinings tea. So 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.960 thank you to Twinings Tea for being our sponsor to 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.000 the podcast. So the new year is upon us, this 0:01:55.080 --> 0:02:01.000 new month, peace, joy, good health, happiness, universal wishes. Everybody 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.920 is thinking about. It's a new year, a clean slate, 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.280 an opportunity to begin again. And we ask you to 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:12.200 share some of your specific hopes and dreams and goals 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:18.240 for And Nita wrote to me and this just really 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.960 broke my heart. But um, I know many of you 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:28.960 will relate. Nita says, my husband has cancer. So my 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:33.680 hopes and dreams are for another moment, another day, another month, 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:39.160 another year with my love enjoying our life together moment 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:45.280 by moment, we are thankful for another year together. Nita, 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.080 Thank you for sharing that, Thank you for writing that. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:54.200 Anyone who has loved a person who is critically ill, 0:02:55.240 --> 0:03:01.080 seriously ill, or terminally ill, knows that feeling. And let's 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.640 be honest, we're all terminally ill. Every person born on 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:10.160 this earth will eventually die. But some people are told 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.399 sooner than others. They know that it's coming. That's that's 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:20.079 what a diagnosis is. A diagnosis like that where it's 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:25.560 like a head's up, this is coming. But for many 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.160 of us who have lost loved ones, we didn't get 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.120 the heads up. It was an accident, it was a 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:37.960 plane crash, it was an infection, something that happened that 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:44.080 you weren't prepared for. I know that feeling, Nita, of 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:52.400 praying for one more day, facing those excruciatingly beautiful but 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:59.920 numbered days. It's it's a holy time. It really is. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:04.680 Is when you are walking through those treasured days with 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.800 someone you love, it's holy. It's like you shut the 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:12.200 world out, you really do. You shut the world out 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:16.960 and you focus on what really matters, and that's the 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.880 love that you share, the memories that you've created, the 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:29.760 conversations that you've had. You recognize, you are acutely aware, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.800 like a not just a magnifying glass, but like a telescope, 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:41.760 like a powerful microscope. You are acutely aware of how 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.760 precious every moment is and what a gift every moment is, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:54.320 and you become so enriched by letting your walls down 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:59.080 and letting that person all the way in, Because when 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.720 you know that time short, when you know that the 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.640 angels are one day going to come and take your 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.560 loved one home to Heaven, I hope you know that. 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.320 I hope you at least have that peace. When I 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.800 was young, before I made a commitment to God and 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.240 had faith, I lost my brother and I didn't know 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:26.520 where he was. I didn't have a belief system. I 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.880 wasn't raised with the belief system. I didn't have a 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:36.679 belief system, and I was so crushed, not knowing, not understanding, 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.120 not having any peace about what happened to my brother 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:45.400 and his young wife. They were in their twenties. After 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.920 I did a whole lot of reading and a whole 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:52.120 lot of exploring, and a whole lot of investigating into 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.240 a multiple multitude, I should say, of different belief systems, 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.320 I came back to where my brother had been all along. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.240 My brother had a very strong faith. He and his 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:08.400 wife used to go to churches and sing and perform 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.359 and share their story. He had a very strong faith, 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.160 and he tried to share it with me dozens of times, 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:16.479 and I didn't want anything to do with what he 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.400 had to say. I thought he was being I thought 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:24.120 he had been brainwashed. I thought he had lost his backbone. 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.520 I thought that everything he was saying was contrary to 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.360 my very progressive thoughts. I was in my early twenties, 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.200 and I thought I knew it all. But after my 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:40.080 brother and his wife died and I started exploring different theologies, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:45.320 different belief systems, I found myself right back where my 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:51.919 brother had been. I found my faith through losing my brother, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.159 and I found that everything he said rang true in 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.800 my heart. Everything he had tried to tell me rang true. 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:05.320 And I asked God into my heart, and my faith 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:11.800 became the cornerstone of everything that I do. And in 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.520 finding that faith, I also found so much peace in 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.720 knowing where my brother and his wife were. And since then, 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.840 God has called my mom home, my dad home, my grandparents. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.680 I became the oldest person in our immediate family when 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:32.000 I was thirty five. Thirty five years old, and I've 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.680 lost a child, I lost a son, but I have 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:39.800 that peace of knowing where my family is and knowing 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.080 that I will be with him one day. But when 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:48.480 you are walking through that process of caring for someone, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:53.000 loving somebody who has been told there's there's no cure, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:58.640 there's there's nothing more the doctors can do, and your 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:02.720 living moment by moment, hanging on to each moment. When 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:07.240 you are walking through that that process of watching someone 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.760 you love, whether it's your spouse, your partner, your child, 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:17.880 your parents, your best friend, when you are watching them battle, 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.680 using all their energy to just get through the day, 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.200 and you want to take away their pain. How many 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.040 of us have prayed God, just take it away and 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:32.400 put it on me, especially when it's your child. You 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:38.680 are so focused on how precious each and every moment is, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.640 and it shows you how foolish the rest of life 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.800 can be. When you are holding the hand of someone 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:52.760 you love who you know is dying, suddenly you realize 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.080 it doesn't matter what kind of car you drive, or 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.120 if your hair is perfect or not, because there's his 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.520 fallen out, and you realize how much of our time 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:08.840 and energy is wasted, flushed down the toilet on foolishness. 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:15.840 When you are walking through that process, as Nita our 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:21.559 listener who wrote sharing her her gratitude for every day 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.000 with her husband who has cancer. When you are walking 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.440 through that process with someone you love, you realize that 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:34.920 all that matters is love. All that matters is love 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.160 and the moments that you share and the depth of 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:46.600 your connectedness to that other person. So, if that is 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.000 what you're going through, if you are facing this new 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.559 year and walking through that process with someone you love, 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.600 or maybe you're the one who's who's sick, maybe you're 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.439 the one that has the diagnosis and the doctors are 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:04.160 not giving a lot of hope. Please please let the 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:06.520 people in that you love. Let them all the way in, 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.280 even though you don't want them to hurt, even though 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.640 you want to protect them, even though you want to 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.520 be strong for them because you don't want them to 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.560 suffer with you, Let them in, Let them all the 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:23.600 way into your heart. I hope this podcast has touched 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:28.320 your heart given you encouragement for this new year as 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.480 we uh, as we stand in this first month, this 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.439 month of January and look forward to the months, the weeks, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.640 the days ahead, I hope you have been encouraged, and 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.160 I hope you listen to my radio show every night. 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:46.880 I hope you visit my website, Delilah dot com and 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.000 look for more podcasts to come.