6 | Part 2: Testimonies of 'The Lifeline'

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Welcome to the I Can.

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He Can podcast the podcast

for literally anyone.

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However, if you are a woman, you're

probably the person listening on the

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other side of that speaker right now.

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I'm your host Sarai, And you'll

pretty much get to know everything

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about me, including the things that

make me say I can't, but also the

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things that remind me that he can.

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So without further ado, let's

jump into today's episode.

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I.

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All right, you guys welcome back to,

I Can't, he Can episode six, part two.

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thank you so much for tuning in again.

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Happy Monday once more.

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And I really, really hope that you guys

are enjoying this series and listening

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to other people's stories and testimonies

and how they came closer to Christ.

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Um, but in part two, we're going

to hear, some testimonies that I

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personally do relate to a bit more.

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it's because I was not

always a devout Christian.

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And yes, I did always believe in God.

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But hearing some parts of the next

two testimonies really, really

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made me think back to some of

the dark times in my own life.

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But it also allowed me to remember

the silver lining in all of those

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trials, and that is that there is

salvation, there is joy, there is peace.

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There's a lot of good things in

Christ in the end, but of course,

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we must have faith and we must

endure the things of life in order.

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To cross that gate of glory.

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So without further ado, I'm going

to introduce, the first testimony.

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Now this one, is a friend

of mine from high school.

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We did some extracurricular activities

and she was a year older than me.

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So once she graduated,

we kind of lost touch.

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But of course, thanks to social

media, we've always stayed in touch,

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So I'm really grateful for that.

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And especially this past

year, just growing in, the

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faith and having my own walk.

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She actually reached out to me a few times

and, shared some kind words and I had

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no idea that she was also a Christian.

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But, she definitely offered a lot

of, beautiful words and advice to me.

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So I'm really grateful for that.

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And.

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Her testimony was shared

with me in writing.

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I didn't have a recording, so I can't

really express as well as I would

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like to However, I will say that the

things that have occurred to her are

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very dark, very traumatic, and, um.

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Just the fact that she even was

willing to share some of these things

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that are very, very personal things.

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I really hope that I can touch someone

and make you realize that your situation

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maybe is not or was, not that bad, but

it's okay because even if it was that

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bad, we do come out on the other side.

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Thanks to Jesus.

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Okay, so she titled her Testimony.

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God carried me through and she

writes, for 12 years I was stay at

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home mom, fully devoted to my family.

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I stood by my husband through deployments

and a traumatic trucking accident that

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left him having to relearn how to walk.

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I poured my life into marriage

and motherhood, believing that

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love and commitment were enough.

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But one day everything changed

and I became a victim of physical,

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emotional, mental, and financial abuse.

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Even I found myself in the middle of

domestic violence, a criminal case

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involving a well-trained comeback veteran.

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Wow.

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That's already just that

right there is a lot.

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So I can only imagine what that was like.

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But let's continue.

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I fought two custody battles

for both of my children.

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Phase two child support cases, going

through a painful divorce and surviving

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a foreclosure all while living hundreds

of miles away from the place that I call

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home and away from my only support system.

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My family, I had no recent work experience

because I was a stay at home mom for

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12 years, only a high school diploma

and a mountain of legal, emotional,

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and financial obstacles ahead of

me, and yet in the midst of it all.

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I became a registered behavior

technician and RBT for short.

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How?

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Honestly, because God carried

me when the storms came, when

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everything seemed to fall apart,

he reminded me of this promise.

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Deuteronomy 31, 8.

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The Lord himself goes before

you and will be with you.

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He will never leave you nor forsake you.

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Do not be dismayed.

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Do not be discouraged

throughout every court hearing.

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Every sleepless night, every

wave of fear and doubt, Jesus

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was and always will be there.

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He is my peace amid chaos, my strength

when I had none and my hope, when

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things looked hopeless, I'm not

fully healed and I am not all the way

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there, but I am no longer where I was.

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I'm rebuilding, standing firm,

claiming victory and believing

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in his divine restoration.

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I'm not alone.

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God sees me.

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He loves.

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And he is writing my story.

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I had to take a second there.

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Um, you know, I said in the first episode

that I wanted the words to be perfect

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and I tried to, make notes and I had

even sent my friend, a few follow up

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questions to kind of fill in the blanks

of her childhood, et cetera, et cetera.

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But, um, reading it back.

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Uh, was perfect.

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Like there was nothing else to add.

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Um, but the only thing I know is

that she is such an amazing mom.

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Like you could never even imagine that

she has been through all of these things.

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She works full time, she

homeschools her girls.

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She is there for them 24 7.

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And even though there are times when

I'm sure that she's tired and she's

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exhausted, she's still so resilient.

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And honestly, I'm pretty sure

that that's because she has

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got backing her up all the way.

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So,

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oh wow.

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That was a tough one.

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That was a tough one, you guys.

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Um, I'm all choked up, but.

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I told you that there was some heavy

stuff anyhow, these testimonies

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are not just supposed to like,

make you cry or make you feel bad.

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They're not supposed to do that.

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It's supposed to trigger something

in your soul, in your heart,

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somewhere where you can remember

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There is always light at

the end of the tunnel.

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So I truly, truly hope

that listening to these.

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Can stir something up in you

and continue to give you faith

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and hope for your future.

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Now the next story I'm going to share

is one of my closest friends, I've known

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her since middle school, uh, through high

school and then in particular when we

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were, having our own little businesses.

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We got very close and she is remained

such a great friend throughout that time.

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But.

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Most recently we've been brought

even closer together because we

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have both, decided to follow God.

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And a lot of the time, like I look

at our friendship and I say, wow,

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we are so similar in so many ways.

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Personalities, maybe not so much,

but Our lives just kind of, I feel

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like are very parallel to each other.

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And I'm so grateful because it's amazing

to have, not just, my best friend

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Brandy, but to have so many people now

in my life who also have similar walks.

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So without further, I'm gonna keep her

name private because she does share

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a few details that are more personal.

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but this friend of mine.

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Was raised partly in Cuba and then came

here to Florida at a very young age.

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she did not have a very strong religious

background, so like the first two

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testimonies were, one of them was

in a Christian school and then her,

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the family was always in church.

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I don't believe that

this was her situation.

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So she is pretty new.

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to the Christian life just like me now.

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My friend, unfortunately had her

father dealing with, issues of

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alcoholism when she was growing up.

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I believe that there may

still be some of that as well.

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perhaps not as much, but, if you

can just imagine what that must be

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like growing up as a young child

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It is difficult.

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It's difficult to have to deal with a

person who has that sort of problem, but

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my friend also feels that her mom also

somewhat enabled him for a long time.

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So all in all, this picture that I'm

trying to paint is still a loving

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family, but there were definitely

hard times there, for that reason.

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Now, like I said, she's newly Christian.

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She doesn't really have a specific,

you know, come to Jesus moment

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or a moment that, she could say,

oh, this was the, the very moment

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where I knew that God called me.

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She said that she was called for

so long, but she kept denying him

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and she kept pushing him aside.

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She knew that he was there,

but she perhaps wasn't ready.

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last December, a relative

of her fiance passed away.

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Unfortunately, and even though

she wasn't a blood relative, she

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still cared for this person deeply

and she remembers her kindness.

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And most of all, she

remembers that she loved God.

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She was Christian and baptized,

and she was about 14 years old.

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she was always carrying herself

with so much grace and she

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just treated life differently.

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she did get sick rather sudden, and

just a few months later, that's it.

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She, she had passed away.

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But even though that she didn't know

her for very, very long, she still

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managed to mark her and she just

managed to leave her with that kindness.

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And she remembered that.

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so after she passed away, my

friend realized that she does

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not know how to handle death.

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She shut down, she.

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Didn't find it in herself

to even go to the hospital.

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in her last moments, she wasn't able

to really be there for her fiance.

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And from what she explained, her

fiance and that family member had a

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good relationship, but he was really

affected and she still wasn't able to

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be there during the time of her death.

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So imagine the person you're

going to marry is sad.

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They're needing.

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Consolation and you don't

necessarily even have words like

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that's a tough situation to be in.

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That can also build

frustration on the other end.

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And you, it can get very

sticky just depending on the

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emotions of, of both persons.

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So anyway, my friend didn't even know

what to say, around her kids either.

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Like it was just complete and

total shutdown on her end.

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Like how would she even begin to explain

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That someone is, is passing away.

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Like how do you do that with children?

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And she tried her best,

to put it all aside.

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And she was able to go to the viewing.

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And it's at this point that she says she

had a moment of clarity and she realized

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that maybe part of the reason she doesn't

know how to cope in these tough times

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and tough moments is because she has

been filled with anger and resentment.

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For other people in her life and

she doesn't have space to keep all

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these other new emotions for things

that she's not used to having.

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And guys, you have to understand, like

not everyone can compartmentalize.

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Some people do and yes, it's easier

for some and not for others, but people

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don't function that way sometimes.

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And we are unfortunately not taught things

as simple as forgiveness when we're young.

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So.

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Those things stay stuck with us.

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And holding onto that resentment and

anger for whatever it is that happened

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to you in the past really does take up

a lot of your heart, and it can affect

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how you react to things emotionally.

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So in this instance, my friend.

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Struggled with something

that is inevitable in life.

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She was struggling with that death, and

she's still struggling with the idea of

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death and how to help others around her.

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So she needed to make space and our glory

to God that that's exactly what she did.

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So she acknowledges that, that this

anger led to her making some bad choices.

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And she started analyzing everything

from her past and what had happened.

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And as she was growing up and now even

as an adult, lying, resentment, even

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cheating, straying away from her first

marriage, it's just a rabbit hole.

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Of things and tough times and it's truly

tough to come out of when you're there.

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But she realized that God was

handing her a rope to hold onto,

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When she sent me her testimony.

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She said those exact words, God was

handing her a rope to hold onto.

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Now when she said that, I just

immediately broke down in tears.

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I heard it in her voice, and as she

said those words like I was wrecked.

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Because even though our

situations were different, it

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looked exactly the same to me.

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We were both drowning in our

mistakes, but there he was time

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and time again with that rope.

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He had that lifeline waiting for us Now.

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Some time passes and my friend

in January, she decides that that

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same feeling is following her.

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She remembers the rope, the lifeline,

and she knew that in her heart she wanted

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to make a change and work on her faith.

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So she didn't want to be angry.

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They started going to church.

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Her and her family, her fiance works on

Sundays, so she kind of took this day

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to go and have some time for herself.

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little by little She did become more

interested is how she was explaining it.

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She began to open up her mind to

the thought of following Jesus.

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Now she was new just like me.

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it's like this feeling of being

uncomfortable is slowly being

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shed, and it's because we aren't

set apart yet, and she let go.

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Some of that anger, she started

reading her Bible, started

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getting more in her word.

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But there were still two very big

things that she knows attributed to

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bettering her relationship with Christ.

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And that was forgiving, letting go and

apologizing for the things of the past.

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So first, she reached out to

her daughter's dad, and in a

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long message, she freed herself.

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She acknowledged that their

downfall was not one-sided.

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She knew that she had been

angry for a long, long time.

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And that he was also angry as well.

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but she knew that she had strayed from

the marriage She acknowledged that

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and they agreed that their goal would

always be to raise their children.

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Well, whether they made

it together or not.

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Now, the second big thing that she

had mentioned was that she asked

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her father, who again I mentioned

earlier, struggles with, alcohol.

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She asked him to forgive her.

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I did not ask for the full details of

that conversation and what that was like.

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'cause it's very personal.

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But you can put two and two

together and see how that would

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be a strained relationship.

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So she asked for forgiveness

and she also forgave him.

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And that's important because

now walking in Christ, we

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understand that the addictions

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And the things that we struggle with like

that are of the enemy and of the flesh,

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and all we can do is forgive and continue

to pray that God would intervene and

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give him the will to be freed from that.

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So in doing these two things.

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Acknowledging her own shortcomings,

forgiving others shortcomings,

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letting go of the past struggles,

and moving forward in faith.

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She quite literally took off a decade's

worth of weight from her shoulders.

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She felt brand new and she

wanted to take her faith to the

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next level and get baptized.

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So she signs up for the August 24th

baptism, which would be later this month.

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And.

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When she does, she gets a message a

few days later saying, thank you for

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signing up for baptisms on June 1st,

and she was honestly a little confused.

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So she says that looking back

at that now, she realized that

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this was, God not letting her

put off this moment any longer.

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She had to do it now

without thinking about it.

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She even decided to keep that

mistake from August 24th to June 1st.

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So she joined the church in

their life groups and everything

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was set for her to be baptized.

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And again, it was a moment of clarity and

she could see this as God's rope, that

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lifeline that she didn't know she needed,

but now she wanted, so now it's different.

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Before she kept pushing it away, and

now she was grabbing onto it for dear

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life and she would not change that date.

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she trusted that mistake from

the church, she took the plunge.

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when I tell you, fully accepting

Christ, I mean, fighting your flesh

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every day, doing things differently.

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It's freeing.

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It's truly, truly freeing.

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You feel completely different.

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And even my friend, I see it too in all

of her posts on Instagram, like she does

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not look like the same person to me.

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She really doesn't.

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And I'm sure that I don't look

the same to my own family.

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But She told me the story as well of

how she went to Nashville last year.

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She had a blast.

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they partied, they had fun, had some

drinks and she had a great time.

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But she goes again this year now in July

that just passed It was a similar outing.

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They partied a bit, still had

fun, still had a good time,

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but she felt out of place.

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She said she felt weird.

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She was questioning the large amount

of people, sometimes even the music.

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And yeah, it was nice.

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But again, she said it didn't hit how that

music hit before it just was not the same.

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And she says that it had to be her.

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In her own words.

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And I quote, it was not the

same because I am not the same.

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And she has had more peace now

in her life than ever before.

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she's wedding planning.

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Congratulations my friend.

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Um, I don't think that anyone could

have peace while they're wedding

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planning, but she still found that.

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In Jesus.

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: 00:18:38

She found that and she is living

it and she's at peace because she

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: 00:18:42

gave her life and troubles to him.

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: 00:18:44

She knows that even though she's always

turned away from him, he proved to her

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: 00:18:49

that he would always throw her that

rope, his lifeline, not to mention

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: 00:18:53

being able to be baptized with her

fiance on the same day on June 1st.

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: 00:18:58

God moved so much in their lives

in such a short period of time

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that they shared that day together.

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: 00:19:05

What a beautiful way to

enter into their marriage.

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: 00:19:09

Fully focused and centered in Christ.

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: 00:19:12

The old unstable foundation is no more.

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: 00:19:15

The gaps are finally filled with

what we all need, and that's Jesus.

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: 00:19:21

And so my friends, fellow listeners,

unbelievers family, whoever's

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listening, whoever tuned in.

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: 00:19:27

I hope that you enjoyed these last

two episodes, part one and part two.

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: 00:19:32

Let me tell you, being a

storyteller is nothing.

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: 00:19:35

There is no substance in putting

words into sentences and telling

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: 00:19:39

a story that has no takeaway.

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: 00:19:41

But these four stories that I have

told you in part one and two, the

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: 00:19:46

takeaway is that this is real life.

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: 00:19:49

This is real life.

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: 00:19:50

This could be your life

today, tomorrow, or next year.

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: 00:19:54

Heck, I mean, you're probably living

something like that right now.

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: 00:19:57

who is to say that six months from

now your own spouse or your own best

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: 00:20:01

friend won't say you've changed so much,

and yes, you're absolutely correct.

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: 00:20:07

We should.

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With God.

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: 00:20:09

We change, we transform.

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: 00:20:10

We are redeemed and we are saved.

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: 00:20:13

Our faith grounds us.

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: 00:20:14

It calms our anxieties.

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: 00:20:16

Our obedience can lead us to peace.

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: 00:20:19

our prayers can give the strength we

need that we didn't even know we had.

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: 00:20:25

This is what following

Christ is all about.

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It's loving and trusting a God

who will do what No one else can.

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: 00:20:34

I hope that this has blessed you.

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I thank you all for tuning in,

and until next time my friends.