Better Together

God's Heart for Family - Episode 1076

July 14, 2025 | S7 E1076 | 0:30

Sheila Walsh, Naomi Raine, Nicole Binion, Kirsten Watson, and Elyse Mahan share how God’s heart for family goes beyond biology, where strangers become brothers and sisters through faith and love.

#Family #Faith #KingdomofGod #Adoption #Love #Unity #Worship #BodyofChrist #Loneliness #Reconciliation #Relationships #PersonalStory #Divorce #Redemption #Forgiveness #Season

Closed captions

Show Timecode

Better Together | God's Heart for Family - Episode 1076 | July 14, 2025

Family can be large or small,
00:00:00.390 --> 00:00:02.625
Loud and loving, or distant and difficult.
00:00:00.390 --> 00:00:05.762
Today, we're learning about god's heart for family.
00:00:05.762 --> 00:00:08.364
Come on, join us.
00:00:08.364 --> 00:00:09.132
♪♪
00:00:09.132 --> 00:00:37.293
Well, we get to talk about family this week and family by
00:00:37.293 --> 00:00:41.965
God's design.
00:00:41.965 --> 00:00:43.233
And when i think about family, i know a lot of people, you
00:00:43.233 --> 00:00:45.969
Know, depending on when we think of our biological
00:00:45.969 --> 00:00:48.872
Families or the homes that we were raised in, we've all had
00:00:48.872 --> 00:00:51.608
Different experiences, and sometimes the word family can
00:00:51.608 --> 00:00:54.811
Be triggering for people.
00:00:54.811 --> 00:00:56.346
For me, i'm so, you know, i'm very grateful
00:00:56.346 --> 00:00:59.182
I was raised in a home
00:00:59.182 --> 00:01:02.385
Mom and dad were married.
00:01:02.385 --> 00:01:03.820
We were involved in the church.
00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:05.755
I was raised in the church.
00:01:05.755 --> 00:01:06.823
My grandparents were pastors.
00:01:06.823 --> 00:01:08.558
I had just one sibling, you know, just-- we had a small
00:01:08.558 --> 00:01:11.394
Family, but we, you know, we always had, we always gathered
00:01:11.394 --> 00:01:15.665
For holidays.
00:01:15.665 --> 00:01:16.633
We did life together.
00:01:16.633 --> 00:01:17.767
You know, i grew up in a time
00:01:17.767 --> 00:01:20.036
Where families lived near each other.
00:01:20.036 --> 00:01:23.006
Right? like, when you look back to the 1970s, 1980s, i mean,
00:01:23.006 --> 00:01:26.509
Both sets of grandparents lived nearby.
00:01:26.509 --> 00:01:29.412
We'd spend the night at my grandparents on friday nights,
00:01:29.412 --> 00:01:31.781
Me and my brother, and just so we did life with our family.
00:01:31.781 --> 00:01:35.051
For me, raising my children, we had a different situation
00:01:35.051 --> 00:01:38.121
Because we didn't live near grandparents.
00:01:38.121 --> 00:01:39.789
But so i had good familial relationships and, you know,
00:01:39.789 --> 00:01:44.527
Aunts and uncles and grandparents present in my life
00:01:44.527 --> 00:01:46.930
And my parents present.
00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:48.598
I think, you know, as we grow older, like, that's such a
00:01:48.598 --> 00:01:51.568
Great foundation, but as we grow older and maybe still have
00:01:51.568 --> 00:01:55.438
Solid relationship with siblings or cousins, but, you
00:01:55.438 --> 00:01:58.141
Know, you kinda grow apart.
00:01:58.141 --> 00:01:59.342
Yeah. and so i'm so grateful that my parents made it a
00:01:59.342 --> 00:02:04.547
Priority to go to the house of the lord, that i was raised in
00:02:04.547 --> 00:02:08.751
The house of god.
00:02:08.751 --> 00:02:10.019
And the relationships that i formed there were life changing
00:02:10.019 --> 00:02:14.390
And set me on a path that, honestly, you know, some of my
00:02:14.390 --> 00:02:18.828
Family relationships, biological family
00:02:18.828 --> 00:02:20.930
Relationships, wouldn't have set me on that path.
00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:23.499
And so i'm so grateful for
00:02:23.499 --> 00:02:25.735
The relationships that were formed.
00:02:25.735 --> 00:02:27.737
I have one dear friend in particular.
00:02:27.737 --> 00:02:30.540
She and i, you know, have been best friends since we were,
00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:32.775
Like, fifteen.
00:02:32.775 --> 00:02:33.977
And in church. we didn't go to school together, but we
00:02:33.977 --> 00:02:36.913
Went to church together.
00:02:36.913 --> 00:02:37.847
And we were involved.
00:02:37.847 --> 00:02:39.082
You know, our church it was a lot of illustrated sermons
00:02:39.082 --> 00:02:42.018
And productions and stuff, and we were always involved.
00:02:42.018 --> 00:02:44.921
And the house of god brought us together.
00:02:44.921 --> 00:02:46.689
We formed this friendship.
00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:48.024
And all of these years, we have been so close.
00:02:48.024 --> 00:02:52.061
You know, my family, my
00:02:52.061 --> 00:02:54.030
Children have been like her children.
00:02:54.030 --> 00:02:55.598
I mean, she--
00:02:55.598 --> 00:02:56.499
We don't even live in the same state.
00:02:56.499 --> 00:02:57.767
We haven't for fifteen years.
00:02:57.767 --> 00:02:59.135
But she you know, we show up for each other at every season
00:02:59.135 --> 00:03:04.274
Of life. every milestone of life.
00:03:04.274 --> 00:03:07.343
She has been there. wow.
00:03:07.343 --> 00:03:09.178
For my kids.
00:03:09.178 --> 00:03:09.979
She's been, like, you know,
00:03:09.979 --> 00:03:10.913
Kind of an unofficial godmother.
00:03:10.913 --> 00:03:12.649
Mhmm.
00:03:12.649 --> 00:03:13.816
I'm just so grateful for relationships and people that
00:03:13.816 --> 00:03:16.552
You become actually closer to than your own biological
00:03:16.552 --> 00:03:20.723
Family in some in some senses.
00:03:20.723 --> 00:03:23.192
The those relationships that are formed
00:03:23.192 --> 00:03:25.361
In the house of god.
00:03:25.361 --> 00:03:26.529
And, you know, her mom has just recently passed away,
00:03:26.529 --> 00:03:30.500
And so we're actually getting ready to to go and celebrate
00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:33.136
Her life, you know?
00:03:33.136 --> 00:03:34.504
But it's been so great to to be there for one another
00:03:34.504 --> 00:03:39.776
Throughout the years.
00:03:39.776 --> 00:03:41.044
And so i'm grateful not just for, you know, the household i
00:03:41.044 --> 00:03:46.215
Was raised in that, you know, i had a family, parents that
00:03:46.215 --> 00:03:49.686
Stayed together in marriage and worked it out
00:03:49.686 --> 00:03:52.588
Through the hard times and stayed together, kept us, you
00:03:52.588 --> 00:03:56.926
Know, rooted in the lord.
00:03:56.926 --> 00:03:58.861
But i think personally now as as a parent of young adults and
00:03:58.861 --> 00:04:03.533
Teenager, you know, raising our family, our kids in the house
00:04:03.533 --> 00:04:08.004
Of god has been number one priority for my husband and i
00:04:08.004 --> 00:04:10.973
Because we know the value and
00:04:10.973 --> 00:04:14.510
That it has brought to our life.
00:04:14.510 --> 00:04:17.447
God's ultimate purpose, i think, the family unit,
00:04:17.447 --> 00:04:20.249
Specifically for marriage, but i think it extends out to his
00:04:20.249 --> 00:04:23.286
Body, to point people to him.
00:04:23.286 --> 00:04:26.289
How we treat each other, how we love each other, how we care
00:04:26.289 --> 00:04:29.359
For each other, how we say i'm sorry, how we forgive, how we
00:04:29.359 --> 00:04:32.829
Restore, are all the things that i feel like
00:04:32.829 --> 00:04:37.200
Should be a display of god's love.
00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:39.402
I mean, it's just that simple.
00:04:39.402 --> 00:04:40.570
And we have to work all of that out in our human way.
00:04:40.570 --> 00:04:45.208
That really is beautiful and points people to all the things
00:04:45.208 --> 00:04:49.045
That god wants to show us while we live here on earth before we
00:04:49.045 --> 00:04:52.014
Get to spend eternity with him.
00:04:52.014 --> 00:04:54.150
I know we're gonna talk about a lot of things this week
00:04:54.150 --> 00:04:56.486
From our, you know, the relationships within our own
00:04:56.486 --> 00:04:59.922
Biological families and all of that, but also bringing into
00:04:59.922 --> 00:05:03.726
The conversation what the family of god has meant to us
00:05:03.726 --> 00:05:06.629
And how it has formed us and and been, you know, such a gift
00:05:06.629 --> 00:05:11.167
So i feel like i will be shouting that from the
00:05:11.167 --> 00:05:11.634
To our lives.
00:05:11.634 --> 00:05:11.901
Mountaintops, like, until, you know, until the day i pass from
00:05:14.904 --> 00:05:18.107
This world into, you know, the presence of god, literally,
00:05:18.107 --> 00:05:23.279
That the house of god, no matter what, and i know there's stuff
00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.083
In modern day church, and a lot of times people have an
00:05:27.083 --> 00:05:29.485
Aversion now to
00:05:29.485 --> 00:05:31.387
To the family of god.
00:05:31.387 --> 00:05:32.989
Oh, you know, i've been-- i've got church hurt.
00:05:32.989 --> 00:05:34.924
I've been wounded.
00:05:34.924 --> 00:05:35.958
But i just contend that there is so much life
00:05:35.958 --> 00:05:40.763
Found there.
00:05:40.763 --> 00:05:42.265
And so, anyway, that's--
00:05:42.265 --> 00:05:44.934
That's my story about about, you know, family.
00:05:44.934 --> 00:05:50.406
But how do y'all feel?
00:05:50.406 --> 00:05:51.541
What do you think about this thing called family?
00:05:51.541 --> 00:05:54.410
I love the fact
00:05:54.410 --> 00:05:55.578
That you talked about the importance of the body of
00:05:55.578 --> 00:05:57.680
Christ because that was huge for us.
00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.382
My brother, my sister, and i, we were-- we lived in a little
00:05:59.382 --> 00:06:02.618
Coal mining town, and our house
00:06:02.618 --> 00:06:05.721
Backed onto a huge catholic church.
00:06:05.721 --> 00:06:08.524
And even though i was only
00:06:08.524 --> 00:06:10.359
Five, i got to know the the priest.
00:06:10.359 --> 00:06:12.528
He was such a sweet man.
00:06:12.528 --> 00:06:13.996
Yeah. and he would let me come into the balcony when little
00:06:13.996 --> 00:06:16.432
Girls were taking their first communion, and they'd all come
00:06:16.432 --> 00:06:18.734
Out looking like little brides.
00:06:18.734 --> 00:06:20.102
Yeah.
00:06:20.102 --> 00:06:21.003
But at five, my father died by suicide.
00:06:21.003 --> 00:06:23.806
Mhmm. so we left town, and we moved back to where my mom
00:06:23.806 --> 00:06:26.642
Lived when she was a child.
00:06:26.642 --> 00:06:28.478
And my sister and i-- my brother was too little, but my
00:06:28.478 --> 00:06:31.380
Sister and i knew nobody.
00:06:31.380 --> 00:06:32.548
We didn't have any all of-- our old friends were gone.
00:06:32.548 --> 00:06:35.551
But we went back to this little church that my family had been
00:06:35.551 --> 00:06:38.888
In for generations.
00:06:38.888 --> 00:06:40.623
And suddenly, it was as if--
00:06:40.623 --> 00:06:42.391
It wasn't like we didn't have family.
00:06:42.391 --> 00:06:44.627
Suddenly, we had this huge family.
00:06:44.627 --> 00:06:46.395
Yes.
00:06:46.395 --> 00:06:47.697
Because i look back and i think of my, you know, my uncle jim,
00:06:47.697 --> 00:06:50.132
My aunt maury, my aunt aileen, my aunt none of them were
00:06:50.132 --> 00:06:52.468
Actually blood relatives.
00:06:52.468 --> 00:06:53.569
Yeah. but they became family for us.
00:06:53.569 --> 00:06:56.639
They just stepped in.
00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.040
And i love there's psalm 68, i have always loved.
00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:01.844
But let me read a couple of the verses because it's
00:07:01.844 --> 00:07:05.214
So beautiful.
00:07:05.214 --> 00:07:06.349
Psalm 68:4 says, his name is the lord.
00:07:06.349 --> 00:07:10.620
Just pause right there.
00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:11.721
Yeah. love that.
00:07:11.721 --> 00:07:12.522
Rejoice in his presence, father
00:07:12.522 --> 00:07:14.423
To the fatherless, defender of widows.
00:07:14.423 --> 00:07:17.226
Yes. this is god whose dwelling is holy.
00:07:17.226 --> 00:07:20.730
God places the lonely in families.
00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:23.699
Yeah. he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:28.638
God is a defender of the widow
00:07:28.638 --> 00:07:30.540
And he is a father to the fatherless.
00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:32.909
And yet the way that the body of christ gathered around us,
00:07:32.909 --> 00:07:36.078
It was a powerful thing.
00:07:36.078 --> 00:07:37.346
Like every christmas, every one of our aunts or uncles would
00:07:37.346 --> 00:07:40.917
Step in and help my mom.
00:07:40.917 --> 00:07:42.285
I never-- i know now, technically, we were poor
00:07:42.285 --> 00:07:45.555
Because we lived in government provided housing, and we got
00:07:45.555 --> 00:07:49.392
Free school meals and free school uniforms.
00:07:49.392 --> 00:07:51.427
I never felt poor--
00:07:51.427 --> 00:07:52.762
Yeah. because of the family of god around us
00:07:52.762 --> 00:07:55.831
That just made life rich, you know?
00:07:55.831 --> 00:07:59.268
Yeah. it's beautiful.
00:07:59.268 --> 00:08:01.137
I think the benefits of family are acceptance,
00:08:01.137 --> 00:08:05.942
Love, having a safe place to land.
00:08:05.942 --> 00:08:12.615
Also, you know, there's a scripture that says iron
00:08:12.615 --> 00:08:15.151
Sharpens iron.
00:08:15.151 --> 00:08:16.586
And i think within family, we can find that as well,
00:08:16.586 --> 00:08:20.356
Relationships that
00:08:20.356 --> 00:08:21.624
Challenge us and make us better.
00:08:21.624 --> 00:08:25.328
And i, you know, i think if we don't find those things in
00:08:25.328 --> 00:08:29.332
Our natural family, my greatest encouragement is to get
00:08:29.332 --> 00:08:33.903
Connected to the body of christ
00:08:33.903 --> 00:08:36.172
Within a local church community and
00:08:36.172 --> 00:08:40.643
Find ways to connect with the family of god in that way.
00:08:40.643 --> 00:08:44.747
Because the beautiful thing is we can find those things,
00:08:44.747 --> 00:08:48.050
Acceptance, love,
00:08:48.050 --> 00:08:50.019
Iron sharpening iron, all those things within the context of
00:08:50.019 --> 00:08:54.490
Church family as well.
00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:56.392
I have a similar upbringing.
00:08:56.392 --> 00:09:00.129
My brother and i, only children in the house, parents that
00:09:00.129 --> 00:09:04.834
Loved each other and worked through all the things, right,
00:09:04.834 --> 00:09:07.470
Stayed together, raised us in church, but i-- and i think,
00:09:07.470 --> 00:09:11.340
You know, comparing myself to some other of my friends'
00:09:11.340 --> 00:09:16.846
Situations, and well, they would really be comparing us
00:09:16.846 --> 00:09:19.515
Like, you're so lucky because you have two parents and you go
00:09:19.515 --> 00:09:22.351
To church and you have something to believe in, and
00:09:22.351 --> 00:09:24.520
That was beautiful, and i really thought that i had it
00:09:24.520 --> 00:09:27.890
Until i started to meet other
00:09:27.890 --> 00:09:30.059
People, and i have those friendships.
00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:31.527
So i'm hearing your story like, i have those friends.
00:09:31.527 --> 00:09:33.963
I have friends from when i was seven years old that i'm still
00:09:33.963 --> 00:09:37.700
Like, we go out, and i'm like, these are my friends. y'all have
00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:38.234
Friends with now.
00:09:38.234 --> 00:09:38.501
Known me longer than almost
00:09:40.436 --> 00:09:42.505
Anybody other than my natural family.
00:09:42.505 --> 00:09:44.807
Right? and if i'm honest, i'm gonna call them before i call
00:09:44.807 --> 00:09:48.511
My brother.
00:09:48.511 --> 00:09:49.745
Right. like, please, i don't wanna tell you.
00:09:49.745 --> 00:09:51.881
Yeah. but yeah.
00:09:51.881 --> 00:09:54.450
I'm really realizing how blessed i am to have had both,
00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:57.920
You know, and to have had a natural family that was strong
00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:00.890
And to raise me in the things of god.
00:10:00.890 --> 00:10:03.292
Right? but then also this other family, this surrogate family
00:10:03.292 --> 00:10:06.729
That comes along to be with you, to walk with you, and to
00:10:06.729 --> 00:10:10.900
Really teach you about life and love.
00:10:10.900 --> 00:10:13.369
Because one of the things for me is like, you know, you can't
00:10:13.369 --> 00:10:15.938
Choose your natural family.
00:10:15.938 --> 00:10:18.741
You know, like, nobody chooses where they're gonna be born,
00:10:18.741 --> 00:10:21.577
Who they're gonna be born to, and what the family issues are.
00:10:21.577 --> 00:10:25.481
And sometimes, and i know a lot of people feel stuck in
00:10:25.481 --> 00:10:28.217
Whatever family they have, but i think the lord is, like,
00:10:28.217 --> 00:10:31.053
Beyond that, right?
00:10:31.053 --> 00:10:32.755
Beyond what you were placed in.
00:10:32.755 --> 00:10:34.323
And there's reasons for that, and the lord can work in all of
00:10:34.323 --> 00:10:37.426
What we didn't choose.
00:10:37.426 --> 00:10:39.161
But then, there's there are moments and opportunities come
00:10:39.161 --> 00:10:41.964
Where you actually get to choose or be chosen, right, by
00:10:41.964 --> 00:10:45.568
Someone and you see just another level or layer of god's
00:10:45.568 --> 00:10:49.872
Love and his intention for family.
00:10:49.872 --> 00:10:51.707
I'm literally like, oh.
00:10:51.707 --> 00:10:53.576
It's beautiful to think that god loves us so much that
00:10:53.576 --> 00:10:56.545
He gives us family, and then he allows us to discover
00:10:56.545 --> 00:10:59.949
Family. so that's family.
00:10:59.949 --> 00:11:01.650
I love that.
00:11:01.650 --> 00:11:02.618
Family-- discover family.
00:11:02.618 --> 00:11:03.919
You're born into, and then the family that, i like that, that
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:06.288
Choose you.
00:11:06.288 --> 00:11:07.056
Mhmm. that's that's powerful.
00:11:07.056 --> 00:11:09.525
God's design for family reflects his love towards us
00:11:09.525 --> 00:11:12.928
Because it is literally
00:11:12.928 --> 00:11:17.666
What we need.
00:11:17.666 --> 00:11:19.135
Right? we need and we were created and made to be with
00:11:19.135 --> 00:11:24.540
People, to be in community.
00:11:24.540 --> 00:11:26.308
That is the way that we grow.
00:11:26.308 --> 00:11:28.410
That is the way, that we develop.
00:11:28.410 --> 00:11:30.946
It's the way that we, discover and become, who we're supposed
00:11:30.946 --> 00:11:36.552
And so nothing really happens outside of family.
00:11:36.552 --> 00:11:36.952
To become.
00:11:36.952 --> 00:11:37.219
And i think, you know, my textbook answer would normally
00:11:39.588 --> 00:11:42.391
Be, you know, it's because he loves us that he puts us in a
00:11:42.391 --> 00:11:46.495
Family because we're his family.
00:11:46.495 --> 00:11:47.963
But i think beyond that, it's like, no, we were created to
00:11:47.963 --> 00:11:51.133
Commune with other beings in order to develop and to become
00:11:51.133 --> 00:11:55.671
Exactly who we were called to be.
00:11:55.671 --> 00:11:57.339
It's literally evidence of his actual love for us, that we
00:11:57.339 --> 00:12:02.645
Would have what we would need in order to thrive.
00:12:02.645 --> 00:12:05.648
For me, growing up in australia as a pastor's kid, kinda
00:12:05.648 --> 00:12:09.084
Similar, just growing up in the house of god.
00:12:09.084 --> 00:12:11.187
Mhmm. i'm the youngest of three.
00:12:11.187 --> 00:12:12.655
I give off youngest child vibes.
00:12:12.655 --> 00:12:14.623
I know that.
00:12:14.623 --> 00:12:16.025
Well aware.
00:12:16.025 --> 00:12:17.026
That makes sense.
00:12:17.026 --> 00:12:18.260
You know, sometimes when you meet the youngest child and
00:12:18.260 --> 00:12:19.361
You're like, wow, you're so responsible.
00:12:19.361 --> 00:12:20.262
Yes. my husband is a youngest child.
00:12:20.262 --> 00:12:22.031
And then you meet me and you're like, you are the youngest.
00:12:22.031 --> 00:12:24.300
We get it.
00:12:24.300 --> 00:12:27.036
And my sister is a producer in australia.
00:12:27.036 --> 00:12:30.472
My brother's a lawyer.
00:12:30.472 --> 00:12:31.640
And i'm the one that kind of carried on in ministry.
00:12:31.640 --> 00:12:35.411
But my parents never put that pressure on us.
00:12:35.411 --> 00:12:38.147
And it's funny, like, that you don't choose the
00:12:38.147 --> 00:12:41.050
Story that you're born into
00:12:41.050 --> 00:12:42.418
Because every family has a story.
00:12:42.418 --> 00:12:44.320
And we just took my now family, my two girls, i'm a stepmom, a
00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:49.291
Bonus mom to two little girls,
00:12:49.291 --> 00:12:51.527
Took the whole family to australia to meet their cousins.
00:12:51.527 --> 00:12:53.929
Oh, you did?
00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:54.563
In december.
00:12:54.563 --> 00:12:55.764
Yeah. being able to go home, and it's so crazy.
00:12:55.764 --> 00:12:58.500
I'm now a mum.
00:12:58.500 --> 00:12:59.869
And i have responsibility.
00:12:59.869 --> 00:13:03.005
Yet step foot into my family home and
00:13:03.005 --> 00:13:07.509
Before i can kick my shoes off for my mum to put away, i
00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:12.181
Just returned to being that youngest child.
00:13:12.181 --> 00:13:14.383
It's so crazy how even, like, for a second, you get back
00:13:14.383 --> 00:13:16.485
Around the family.
00:13:16.485 --> 00:13:17.753
And you can have chosen family after that and built family.
00:13:17.753 --> 00:13:20.890
And yet there is something about the dynamics, which i
00:13:20.890 --> 00:13:24.093
Just think is hilarious, for my story anyway, that we don't get
00:13:24.093 --> 00:13:27.463
To choose a story we're born into.
00:13:27.463 --> 00:13:28.931
But the beauty, i think, of god is the redemption stories that
00:13:28.931 --> 00:13:32.735
He works in through friends that become family.
00:13:32.735 --> 00:13:35.037
Yeah. and he continues to write those relationships.
00:13:35.037 --> 00:13:40.743
God wants us to do life
00:13:40.743 --> 00:13:42.044
Together because we are better together.
00:13:42.044 --> 00:13:44.213
Connect with us on social media and share your favorite
00:13:44.213 --> 00:13:46.782
Moments from today.
00:13:46.782 --> 00:13:47.783
We can't wait for you to join us.
00:13:47.783 --> 00:13:50.419
Let's keep the conversation going.
00:13:50.419 --> 00:13:53.155
You can find the better together podcast on your
00:13:53.155 --> 00:13:55.591
Favorite listening platform.
00:13:55.591 --> 00:13:57.326
Subscribe today.
00:13:57.326 --> 00:14:02.000
When i look back on my family, i was very sheltered as a
00:14:04.701 --> 00:14:08.605
Church kid growing up, thinking i knew everything.
00:14:08.605 --> 00:14:11.641
And at 24, moved from my child my childhood bedroom
00:14:11.641 --> 00:14:17.013
In my childhood home in
00:14:17.013 --> 00:14:18.915
Australia to los angeles, california.
00:14:18.915 --> 00:14:22.185
Wow. and only knew philip and holly, who were my pastors for
00:14:22.185 --> 00:14:26.656
So many years.
00:14:26.656 --> 00:14:27.290
And i worked at oasis.
00:14:27.290 --> 00:14:28.825
And i remember sitting on that blow up bed that i literally blew
00:14:28.825 --> 00:14:32.729
Up at two am that first night.
00:14:32.729 --> 00:14:34.731
And you can't write it.
00:14:34.731 --> 00:14:35.832
Like, you can't write it.
00:14:35.832 --> 00:14:36.833
And i remember being like, what have i done?
00:14:36.833 --> 00:14:39.002
Like, my bad.
00:14:39.002 --> 00:14:41.204
Like
00:14:41.204 --> 00:14:41.805
Right. this ain't it.
00:14:41.805 --> 00:14:43.039
You know?
00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:44.307
And yet through that season of incredible loneliness, that
00:14:44.307 --> 00:14:49.145
Verse that you just read, i never got it.
00:14:49.145 --> 00:14:51.648
And i don't know that i would have ever got it had i not been
00:14:51.648 --> 00:14:56.052
Completely alone, a lost girl in a big city, with my family
00:14:56.052 --> 00:15:00.991
Still back in australia.
00:15:00.991 --> 00:15:02.258
Yeah. like, i could go home at any moment, but i think that
00:15:02.258 --> 00:15:04.894
God had to take me on a different kind of journey.
00:15:04.894 --> 00:15:07.097
Yeah. and through that, have a best friend that is literally
00:15:07.097 --> 00:15:10.500
Like a sister.
00:15:10.500 --> 00:15:11.801
Yeah. and have had family being built through that story, and
00:15:11.801 --> 00:15:16.539
Then now having a blended family.
00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:18.508
Yeah.
00:15:18.508 --> 00:15:19.809
I just think it's so beautiful that he really in my version,
00:15:19.809 --> 00:15:22.512
It says, makes a home for the lonely.
00:15:22.512 --> 00:15:25.448
The kindness of god that he builds a home around you,
00:15:25.448 --> 00:15:29.185
That he is home.
00:15:29.185 --> 00:15:30.520
And then wherever we go, he's
00:15:30.520 --> 00:15:32.188
Like, i'm gonna build it around you.
00:15:32.188 --> 00:15:33.757
So no matter what season you find yourself in, no matter
00:15:33.757 --> 00:15:37.527
What friendships that felt like family at once, you have
00:15:37.527 --> 00:15:40.296
Outgrown or have been displaced or there's been heartbreak
00:15:40.296 --> 00:15:44.034
There, even in church families.
00:15:44.034 --> 00:15:46.036
There's so much of that.
00:15:46.036 --> 00:15:46.903
Right?
00:15:46.903 --> 00:15:48.238
But he still commits to that, i'm gonna build a home
00:15:48.238 --> 00:15:51.307
Where you are.
00:15:51.307 --> 00:15:52.542
And that, to me, has been my story of the girl that knew
00:15:52.542 --> 00:15:56.846
Everyone her whole life, always known as pastor michael's
00:15:56.846 --> 00:16:00.083
Daughter, then moves to a city where no one knows my name.
00:16:00.083 --> 00:16:03.219
And yet it was in that place that god was like, i see you.
00:16:03.219 --> 00:16:06.489
Mhmm. i'll be your home, and
00:16:06.489 --> 00:16:07.624
Then i'll build home around you,
00:16:07.624 --> 00:16:09.059
I think, yeah,
00:16:09.059 --> 00:16:10.727
It's the kindness of god
00:16:10.727 --> 00:16:13.363
In family. so good.
00:16:13.363 --> 00:16:16.633
Moving from sydney to los angeles, it was such a jolting
00:16:16.633 --> 00:16:21.871
Experience, right, from being known my whole life by the same
00:16:21.871 --> 00:16:24.908
People, from being pastor mike's daughter everywhere i
00:16:24.908 --> 00:16:27.477
Went to now finding myself feeling like a lost girl in
00:16:27.477 --> 00:16:30.747
A big city.
00:16:30.747 --> 00:16:32.982
I knew the church could be family, but it's a whole
00:16:32.982 --> 00:16:37.187
Different thing when you really experience them being family.
00:16:37.187 --> 00:16:40.023
Like, read in acts about the early church and them selling
00:16:40.023 --> 00:16:42.559
What they had and meeting everyone's needs and breaking
00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:45.195
Bread every day, but i just remember,
00:16:45.195 --> 00:16:47.664
I remember holly showing up to my house and being like, we're
00:16:47.664 --> 00:16:52.035
Going on a hike.
00:16:52.035 --> 00:16:53.203
And if you know holly wagner, that was a really good
00:16:53.203 --> 00:16:54.637
Impression of that.
00:16:54.637 --> 00:16:55.939
I remember friends calling me to make sure i had a place to
00:16:55.939 --> 00:16:58.942
Go for thanksgiving.
00:16:58.942 --> 00:17:00.243
I remember people coming to my house to build ikea furniture
00:17:00.243 --> 00:17:04.581
And me just looking around and being like, these strangers
00:17:04.581 --> 00:17:07.217
That don't even know me, i can't even help them.
00:17:07.217 --> 00:17:10.587
I can't offer them anything.
00:17:10.587 --> 00:17:12.088
I feel lost myself.
00:17:12.088 --> 00:17:14.991
They just just wanna be here?
00:17:14.991 --> 00:17:17.460
They they just wanna help me?
00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:19.462
It's actually a very humbling experience, and yet
00:17:19.462 --> 00:17:23.900
Isn't it what
00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:24.601
We're all called to do?
00:17:24.601 --> 00:17:26.269
I think when you've experienced the church, people being family
00:17:26.269 --> 00:17:29.973
That you weren't born into, when you've experienced the
00:17:29.973 --> 00:17:33.476
Church being the family built around you, the place that god
00:17:33.476 --> 00:17:36.813
Sets you in so that you're no longer lonely, it does bring a
00:17:36.813 --> 00:17:40.383
Whole new responsibility, nay, passion
00:17:40.383 --> 00:17:43.019
To also be that for other people because now i live in a
00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:47.757
Town where there's college students that have also moved
00:17:47.757 --> 00:17:50.126
Away from home.
00:17:50.126 --> 00:17:50.827
And now in this season in my
00:17:50.827 --> 00:17:52.195
Life, i get to be that for them.
00:17:52.195 --> 00:17:54.297
We have a young girl living with us this summer because i
00:17:54.297 --> 00:17:58.401
Know what it's like to move away from home.
00:17:58.401 --> 00:18:01.971
And so now i wanna do whatever
00:18:01.971 --> 00:18:03.339
I can to create home for other people.
00:18:03.339 --> 00:18:07.143
And i would love to invite you to do the same for someone else
00:18:07.143 --> 00:18:11.214
In your world too.
00:18:11.214 --> 00:18:13.049
It's crazy because from the beginning, god was with family.
00:18:13.049 --> 00:18:16.419
He was with people.
00:18:16.419 --> 00:18:17.854
Yeah.
00:18:17.854 --> 00:18:18.454
He was never alone.
00:18:18.888 --> 00:18:20.190
And so it makes sense that we have this kind of yearning to
00:18:20.190 --> 00:18:22.592
Be with and to be a part of something.
00:18:22.592 --> 00:18:25.728
And to your point, like, you don't get to choose.
00:18:25.728 --> 00:18:28.431
We know that god chose our situation.
00:18:28.431 --> 00:18:30.166
He chose our parents.
00:18:30.166 --> 00:18:31.434
But what that plays out for us in our life, we don't really
00:18:31.434 --> 00:18:34.103
Know, but we do know that he doesn't waste anything.
00:18:34.103 --> 00:18:37.540
And so all of those things that we experience in our families
00:18:37.540 --> 00:18:41.444
Plays out in a different way as we get older, and we get to
00:18:41.444 --> 00:18:43.813
See, like, how god is gonna still use that for his kingdom
00:18:43.813 --> 00:18:46.716
And for his glory.
00:18:46.716 --> 00:18:47.984
And so i think for us, like, very similar to you all, i grew
00:18:47.984 --> 00:18:50.720
Up with both parents in the home, went to church, then
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.356
Married a person who took me away from home.
00:18:53.356 --> 00:18:57.126
Oh, man.
00:18:57.126 --> 00:18:57.727
A wonderful nfl player.
00:18:57.727 --> 00:18:59.329
I love him dearly.
00:18:59.329 --> 00:19:00.863
Yeah. but it's just my my comfort zone of being close
00:19:00.863 --> 00:19:04.334
To family was taken away.
00:19:04.334 --> 00:19:06.502
Yeah. and so that was really tough for sixteen years to have
00:19:06.502 --> 00:19:10.940
To create family everywhere you went.
00:19:10.940 --> 00:19:13.610
And so for me, i'm kind of like, let's go deep fast, like,
00:19:13.610 --> 00:19:17.847
Tell me about your life.
00:19:17.847 --> 00:19:18.881
I don't know how long we have to be here.
00:19:18.881 --> 00:19:22.485
And i think the lord has used that in a way to say that,
00:19:22.485 --> 00:19:24.988
Kirsten-- like, i have a brother, love him dearly, but
00:19:24.988 --> 00:19:28.491
I've always wanted sisters.
00:19:28.491 --> 00:19:30.093
And i see my daughters, i have two, well, i have three girls, and i
00:19:30.093 --> 00:19:33.630
See how they bicker, but how they love each other, and i
00:19:33.630 --> 00:19:35.531
Just say, oh, i wish i had that.
00:19:35.531 --> 00:19:37.166
But then i look back at my life, and god has given me so
00:19:37.166 --> 00:19:39.369
Many sisters.
00:19:39.369 --> 00:19:40.003
Wow. yeah.
00:19:40.003 --> 00:19:40.903
They all live in different states.
00:19:40.903 --> 00:19:42.272
Right.
00:19:42.272 --> 00:19:43.106
And they all do different things.
00:19:43.106 --> 00:19:44.407
But he has provided the thing that i've always longed for in
00:19:44.407 --> 00:19:47.010
Community, in friendship, and deep relationship.
00:19:47.010 --> 00:19:50.913
He has provided that even though it didn't look the way
00:19:50.913 --> 00:19:54.651
That i thought it would look for family.
00:19:54.651 --> 00:19:56.286
And so i just love it.
00:19:56.286 --> 00:19:57.487
We'll talk about this this week, but like, god's design
00:19:57.487 --> 00:19:59.889
Was for us to be with his
00:19:59.889 --> 00:20:01.491
People, with people in community.
00:20:01.491 --> 00:20:04.193
One of the things i love about when god talks about us being
00:20:04.193 --> 00:20:07.830
Adopted into his family, i always thought that was a nice
00:20:07.830 --> 00:20:13.369
Concept, but i didn't understand how profound it
00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:15.672
Really is, you know, in scripture.
00:20:15.672 --> 00:20:17.307
Like in romans 8, it says, this is verse 26,
00:20:17.307 --> 00:20:20.043
And i love this.
00:20:20.043 --> 00:20:21.144
I have relied on this passage this week.
00:20:21.144 --> 00:20:23.212
Because you know, i've just had a hard week, you know,
00:20:23.212 --> 00:20:25.648
Just a week where everything that i thought was gonna fall
00:20:25.648 --> 00:20:28.384
Into place fell apart.
00:20:28.384 --> 00:20:30.520
Everything that i thought was clear became foggy.
00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:35.158
And it's just been one of those weeks where just every morning,
00:20:35.158 --> 00:20:35.658
Mhmm. yeah.
00:20:35.658 --> 00:20:35.925
I found myself-- i love to listen to worship music, but
00:20:37.794 --> 00:20:40.530
I found out i have to.
00:20:40.530 --> 00:20:43.666
It's like the encouragement of, like, the fact what you do,
00:20:43.666 --> 00:20:46.869
Naomi, and what you do, nicole, that you invite us as your
00:20:46.869 --> 00:20:50.540
Sisters into the presence of god
00:20:50.540 --> 00:20:52.709
Has been so wonderful for me this week.
00:20:52.709 --> 00:20:55.078
But this, i love this.
00:20:55.078 --> 00:20:56.779
Is romans 8:26, and
00:20:56.779 --> 00:20:58.448
The holy spirit helps us in our weakness.
00:20:58.448 --> 00:21:02.618
Hallelujah. yes.
00:21:02.618 --> 00:21:03.386
Thank goodness. yes.
00:21:03.386 --> 00:21:05.021
For example, we don't know what god wants us to pray for.
00:21:05.021 --> 00:21:07.557
That's right.
00:21:07.557 --> 00:21:08.658
But the holy spirit prays for us with groanings
00:21:08.658 --> 00:21:10.460
That cannot be expressed in words.
00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.028
And the father who knows all hearts knows what the spirit is
00:21:12.028 --> 00:21:15.832
Saying, for the spirit pleads for us believers in harmony
00:21:15.832 --> 00:21:20.036
With god's own will.
00:21:20.036 --> 00:21:21.904
And we know that god causes everything to work together for
00:21:21.904 --> 00:21:24.674
The good of those who love him and are called according to his
00:21:24.674 --> 00:21:27.944
Purpose for them.
00:21:27.944 --> 00:21:29.212
And i just realized that's a different passage than the one
00:21:29.212 --> 00:21:31.848
I intended to read, but it's a wonderful passage.
00:21:31.848 --> 00:21:34.016
I was like, i was trying to make the connection.
00:21:34.016 --> 00:21:36.486
Was like, yes, i'm great.
00:21:36.486 --> 00:21:37.520
Now i would read the one that i meant to read.
00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:39.522
This is great.
00:21:39.522 --> 00:21:41.424
This is romans 8:15
00:21:41.424 --> 00:21:42.725
So you've not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.
00:21:42.725 --> 00:21:47.230
Instead, you received god's spirit when he adopted you as
00:21:47.230 --> 00:21:51.434
His own children.
00:21:51.434 --> 00:21:52.435
Yeah. now we call him abba father.
00:21:52.435 --> 00:21:55.571
And i think of just over the beginning of the year,
00:21:55.571 --> 00:21:59.909
Reading through all the gospels again, and that one time when
00:21:59.909 --> 00:22:02.378
Jesus refers to god as abba.
00:22:02.378 --> 00:22:05.114
Mhmm. you know, when he's on his knees, face down in the
00:22:05.114 --> 00:22:07.917
Garden, about to face what none of us will ever have to face
00:22:07.917 --> 00:22:11.187
Because of what he chose to face, that he calls abba father.
00:22:11.187 --> 00:22:15.124
It's the most personal.
00:22:15.124 --> 00:22:16.426
And i remember the first time i was in israel hearing children
00:22:16.426 --> 00:22:20.129
Running in the market calling
00:22:20.129 --> 00:22:21.197
Abba abba and thinking, oh my gosh.
00:22:21.197 --> 00:22:23.833
You know, it just kinda brought that to life.
00:22:23.833 --> 00:22:25.835
But it's such an intimate thing.
00:22:25.835 --> 00:22:27.103
And the thing i love about the law in those days was that i
00:22:27.103 --> 00:22:30.206
Could, if i had two children and then i adopted a daughter,
00:22:30.206 --> 00:22:34.777
If i wanted to, i could write those two children out of my
00:22:34.777 --> 00:22:36.946
Will, but i could not write the adopted one out of my will.
00:22:36.946 --> 00:22:39.415
It was my law that when you were adopted, you have, you
00:22:39.415 --> 00:22:43.786
Belong forever.
00:22:43.786 --> 00:22:45.221
And nothing can change that.
00:22:45.221 --> 00:22:47.423
Because i think of people watching, listening in and
00:22:47.423 --> 00:22:49.592
Thinking, i'm glad so many of you grew up in places where you
00:22:49.592 --> 00:22:52.962
Were loved and felt welcomed, but that's not my story.
00:22:52.962 --> 00:22:57.400
It's not my experience.
00:22:57.400 --> 00:22:59.268
But when you finally see who jesus is and you're adopted
00:22:59.268 --> 00:23:03.439
Into that family, it's forever.
00:23:03.439 --> 00:23:06.175
Yeah.
00:23:06.175 --> 00:23:07.043
And it's a different relationship.
00:23:07.043 --> 00:23:08.244
Yeah. even the word, i mean, like, i called my dad dad.
00:23:08.244 --> 00:23:11.080
Right? but i think when i really understood that, it was
00:23:11.080 --> 00:23:14.383
Like when i prayed to god, it was just like, daddy.
00:23:14.383 --> 00:23:16.652
Like, it was just something like, abba feels so much
00:23:16.652 --> 00:23:19.655
More personal like, you know me better than anyone else.
00:23:19.655 --> 00:23:22.391
And so when we're adopted into
00:23:22.391 --> 00:23:24.293
That, the spirit comes within us,
00:23:24.293 --> 00:23:26.028
It's like, oh, man.
00:23:26.028 --> 00:23:28.197
Like, it's a-- it's different.
00:23:28.197 --> 00:23:30.266
Yeah. it's different to be known that way.
00:23:30.266 --> 00:23:32.935
I have a beautiful niece and nephew who have been adopted
00:23:32.935 --> 00:23:37.206
Into my brother's family.
00:23:37.206 --> 00:23:39.141
They were adopted from birth, and they
00:23:39.141 --> 00:23:44.313
Have every benefit that a biological or natural child
00:23:44.313 --> 00:23:50.152
That would have been born to them.
00:23:50.152 --> 00:23:51.954
They they receive all of those same benefits of being in the
00:23:51.954 --> 00:23:57.059
Household of my brother.
00:23:57.059 --> 00:24:00.363
And i think that is what we see with the lord, that
00:24:00.363 --> 00:24:05.368
We have been adopted into.
00:24:05.368 --> 00:24:08.371
That means those of us who were not jewish by birth.
00:24:08.371 --> 00:24:12.108
Right? the israelites that were the
00:24:12.108 --> 00:24:16.379
People of god
00:24:16.379 --> 00:24:17.747
Now because of what jesus christ has done for us being
00:24:17.747 --> 00:24:20.650
The final sacrifice for all of mankind to bring us
00:24:20.650 --> 00:24:26.022
Redemption and bring us back into relationship with the
00:24:26.022 --> 00:24:30.126
Father, we have now been
00:24:30.126 --> 00:24:32.562
Adopted into that people of god.
00:24:32.562 --> 00:24:35.565
We have been grafted in to the
00:24:35.565 --> 00:24:38.301
Family of god through jesus christ.
00:24:38.301 --> 00:24:41.137
And so as we just look at natural adoption here within
00:24:41.137 --> 00:24:46.409
Families, we can see how god, we receive every benefit, every
00:24:46.409 --> 00:24:53.649
Gift that god has for his children
00:24:53.649 --> 00:24:57.486
We receive that by being adopted into the family of god
00:24:57.486 --> 00:25:00.890
Through the sacrifice of jesus christ.
00:25:00.890 --> 00:25:04.527
Our daughter-in-law has a beautiful story.
00:25:04.527 --> 00:25:07.964
She has never known her biological parents.
00:25:07.964 --> 00:25:10.366
She was adopted.
00:25:10.366 --> 00:25:11.267
She was in an orphanage in romania.
00:25:11.267 --> 00:25:13.235
Wow. wow.
00:25:13.235 --> 00:25:14.470
And her parents who adopted her, from from were from new
00:25:14.470 --> 00:25:18.441
Jersey, but her mom who adopted her was romanian and wanted a
00:25:18.441 --> 00:25:22.511
Romanian baby.
00:25:22.511 --> 00:25:23.713
Wow. wow.
00:25:23.713 --> 00:25:25.014
So she was adopted.
00:25:24.447 --> 00:25:26.282
She was almost two years old, a little before she was two.
00:25:26.282 --> 00:25:30.453
And, you know, first of all, the orphanage i mean, those
00:25:30.453 --> 00:25:33.656
Stories, if you've ever heard anything about just the
00:25:33.656 --> 00:25:35.758
Romanian orphanages, i mean, she was cared for, but, you
00:25:35.758 --> 00:25:38.494
Know, it was like, you're in the crib most of the time, and
00:25:38.494 --> 00:25:41.030
There were so many
00:25:41.030 --> 00:25:42.999
Children that were-- but adopted by parents that
00:25:42.999 --> 00:25:47.203
Loved her, raised her, you know, in the house of god.
00:25:47.203 --> 00:25:52.375
Like, how god, of course, adopts us, but when and you
00:25:52.375 --> 00:25:57.480
See that in people's stories were you like this.
00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.250
Where it's like, man, what would her trajectory, what
00:26:01.250 --> 00:26:01.651
You know?
00:26:01.651 --> 00:26:01.917
Would her life had been?
00:26:04.887 --> 00:26:06.522
You know, it could have gone a million different ways, but,
00:26:06.522 --> 00:26:09.525
Like, to be chosen, to be, you know, adopted and to be raised
00:26:09.525 --> 00:26:16.465
In a family who love the lord.
00:26:16.465 --> 00:26:20.002
You know, her parents are both actually, you know, have have
00:26:20.002 --> 00:26:22.371
Gone to heaven.
00:26:22.371 --> 00:26:23.673
They were a little older when they adopted her, and she was
00:26:23.673 --> 00:26:26.709
An only child, you know, in in that household.
00:26:26.709 --> 00:26:28.911
But, man, now she's adopted into my family.
00:26:28.911 --> 00:26:31.180
Totally. and, you know, i i think when our when our kids
00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:34.083
Get older and get married, it's a unique thing.
00:26:34.083 --> 00:26:36.886
I remember because our our oldest son got married in
00:26:36.886 --> 00:26:39.822
Twenty twenty, and i'm like, oh, wow, this is like, you
00:26:39.822 --> 00:26:43.459
Know, this is when my daughter-in-law that i just
00:26:43.459 --> 00:26:45.828
Shared, who was adopted, came into the family.
00:26:45.828 --> 00:26:48.364
And it's like, oh, now suddenly
00:26:48.364 --> 00:26:49.765
This person is a part of our family.
00:26:49.765 --> 00:26:52.501
And we got, you know, of course, we had about a year or
00:26:52.501 --> 00:26:54.570
So to get to know her.
00:26:54.570 --> 00:26:56.038
But i'm like, oh, okay, i have another daughter.
00:26:56.038 --> 00:26:58.307
And i want to treat her like she's our-- i mean, i want to
00:26:58.307 --> 00:27:02.244
Truly have that relationship, that she is a daughter.
00:27:02.244 --> 00:27:04.947
But it does take time, right, for that to grow in your heart.
00:27:04.947 --> 00:27:07.883
And so it's so beautiful now, like, five years down the road.
00:27:07.883 --> 00:27:10.519
Like, man, she is just such a treasure to me, not just
00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:15.091
Because she's married into the family, but because of the
00:27:15.091 --> 00:27:17.626
Relationship that she and i have.
00:27:17.626 --> 00:27:19.228
But it's just such a beautiful story of redemption, how the
00:27:19.228 --> 00:27:22.098
Lord placed her in family.
00:27:22.098 --> 00:27:24.800
Yes. and now she's placed in our family.
00:27:24.800 --> 00:27:28.971
And, anyway, it's so good.
00:27:28.971 --> 00:27:31.006
I'm sorry.
00:27:31.006 --> 00:27:32.341
I'm thinking about the
00:27:32.341 --> 00:27:33.109
Scripture you accidentally read.
00:27:33.109 --> 00:27:34.877
Yes. yes.
00:27:34.877 --> 00:27:36.112
And how everything works together for good.
00:27:36.112 --> 00:27:37.747
That's right.
00:27:37.747 --> 00:27:38.781
And that's, like, that's the way that god works.
00:27:38.781 --> 00:27:41.817
It's like whether you're in the fairy tale family or, you know,
00:27:41.817 --> 00:27:47.757
The horror story family or no family at all or had family
00:27:47.757 --> 00:27:52.728
And lost family or, you know, whatever it is, found family,
00:27:52.728 --> 00:27:57.032
The lord is always working us together to keep us in
00:27:57.032 --> 00:28:00.069
Community and keep us together that we might grow and learn
00:28:00.069 --> 00:28:03.606
Ultimately who he is.
00:28:03.606 --> 00:28:06.142
It says in psalms that he sets the lonely in families.
00:28:06.142 --> 00:28:09.712
He builds a home for those that don't have a home.
00:28:09.712 --> 00:28:13.115
And he has set people in families, but if you are
00:28:13.115 --> 00:28:16.318
Finding yourself with empty
00:28:16.318 --> 00:28:17.720
Chairs at a table, i've been there.
00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:20.890
I remember when i lived in los angeles and felt the physical
00:28:20.890 --> 00:28:24.894
Pain of the absence of family.
00:28:24.894 --> 00:28:27.263
And yet in that season, for me, i saw god building family
00:28:27.263 --> 00:28:31.534
Around me.
00:28:31.534 --> 00:28:33.169
People calling me to check on me, people inviting me over to
00:28:33.169 --> 00:28:35.738
Their house for dinner, strangers that became friends
00:28:35.738 --> 00:28:38.541
That became family.
00:28:38.541 --> 00:28:40.643
And so i guess i just would want you to know if you are
00:28:40.643 --> 00:28:43.078
Someone that feels like you have no family, god's heart is
00:28:43.078 --> 00:28:46.081
Absolutely, whether you see it right now in this season or
00:28:46.081 --> 00:28:48.484
Not, to to set you in a family.
00:28:48.484 --> 00:28:52.188
Look for the ways that he's inviting you to a table with
00:28:52.188 --> 00:28:55.825
People that maybe right now feel like strangers.
00:28:55.825 --> 00:28:58.928
But if you say the awkward yes, watch as they become friends
00:28:58.928 --> 00:29:03.332
That become family for you because
00:29:03.332 --> 00:29:07.136
God's hearts are saying for all of us to set those that feel
00:29:07.136 --> 00:29:10.940
Lonely in families.
00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:13.442
And as you were first saying about the kids, like, in
00:29:13.442 --> 00:29:16.145
The village saying abba, that kinda feels so regular for what
00:29:16.145 --> 00:29:20.983
Is special to us.
00:29:20.983 --> 00:29:21.884
Yeah. know?
00:29:21.884 --> 00:29:23.118
When i hear the the word abba, i'm like, you know, like,
00:29:23.118 --> 00:29:26.055
That's like immediately doe eyed.
00:29:26.055 --> 00:29:27.623
You know?
00:29:27.623 --> 00:29:28.791
It's like, god.
00:29:28.791 --> 00:29:29.592
I don't i'm not thinking dad.
00:29:29.592 --> 00:29:31.160
I'm and i think about my brother.
00:29:31.160 --> 00:29:32.461
My brother's older.
00:29:32.461 --> 00:29:33.162
I'm the younger one too.
00:29:33.162 --> 00:29:34.230
Okay. and i don't think i give younger--
00:29:34.230 --> 00:29:36.165
I can see it. i mean you know?
00:29:36.165 --> 00:29:38.467
I can see it.
00:29:38.467 --> 00:29:39.602
But i like, my brother still calls my father daddy.
00:29:39.602 --> 00:29:45.107
And every time he says it, there's something in me that's
00:29:45.107 --> 00:29:48.077
Like, whew.
00:29:48.077 --> 00:29:49.378
Like, i'm not, like, weirded out by it because i've
00:29:49.378 --> 00:29:52.481
Been hearing him say that for a
00:29:52.481 --> 00:29:53.649
While, but that was, like, [deep voice] daddy.
00:29:53.649 --> 00:29:54.950
You know, it's like, mommy and daddy is different than, like,
00:29:54.950 --> 00:29:58.754
Little boy daddy.
00:29:58.754 --> 00:29:59.788
And i love that he still calls our father daddy.
00:29:59.788 --> 00:30:03.759
And i do too.
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:04.994
And, you know, i think because, you know, it's a mom woman
00:30:04.994 --> 00:30:07.463
Thing now, i'm like, ma but when i'm in trouble and when
00:30:07.463 --> 00:30:10.666
Stuff is going wrong, it's giving, mommy, i need you to
00:30:10.666 --> 00:30:13.469
Pray with me.
00:30:13.469 --> 00:30:14.303
Like, mommy,
00:30:14.303 --> 00:30:15.137
I need you to tell you what it is.
00:30:15.137 --> 00:30:16.572
And it's that relationship.
00:30:16.572 --> 00:30:17.940
So i don't know if y'all remember, like, we went through
00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:20.576
A phase when i was probably in my early twenties where people
00:30:20.576 --> 00:30:24.513
Started to say daddy god
00:30:24.513 --> 00:30:27.383
In public.
00:30:27.383 --> 00:30:28.584
And there was, like, a split.
00:30:28.584 --> 00:30:31.053
It was, like, you know, remember the whole dress thing?
00:30:31.053 --> 00:30:33.055
Is it blue and black or white and gold?
00:30:33.055 --> 00:30:34.757
It was like a big thing.
00:30:34.757 --> 00:30:37.059
Like, people were like, some people were like, don't do it.
00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:39.395
I'm like, i'm a --
00:30:39.395 --> 00:30:40.329
You know?
00:30:40.329 --> 00:30:41.430
And other people are like, i just love daddy god.
00:30:41.430 --> 00:30:43.332
Right? yeah.
00:30:43.332 --> 00:30:44.967
Passion on both sides.
00:30:44.967 --> 00:30:46.702
Right? and i think i was you know, because i could see all
00:30:46.702 --> 00:30:48.938
Sides of something,
00:30:48.938 --> 00:30:49.805
I'm like, i understand both sides.
00:30:49.805 --> 00:30:51.440
Right? right.
00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:52.675
But i thought that there was something so beautiful about
00:30:52.675 --> 00:30:55.678
Being able to publicly be intimate yes.
00:30:55.678 --> 00:30:59.381
With our father.
00:30:59.381 --> 00:31:00.382
You know?
00:31:00.382 --> 00:31:01.717
Because and, you know, this is-- i don't wanna get too far, but
00:31:01.717 --> 00:31:05.387
I love when jesus teaches the disciples how to pray,
00:31:05.387 --> 00:31:07.890
Everything is our.
00:31:07.890 --> 00:31:09.191
Our father, who art in hallowed be your name.
00:31:09.191 --> 00:31:11.393
Your kingdom come, right?
00:31:11.393 --> 00:31:12.528
He's like, give us this day, our daily bread.
00:31:12.528 --> 00:31:15.831
We are taught to pray
00:31:15.831 --> 00:31:18.267
Collectively as a family, as an us.
00:31:18.267 --> 00:31:20.569
Not that this is just my god.
00:31:20.569 --> 00:31:22.838
Yeah.
00:31:22.838 --> 00:31:23.839
But in america, we are very, like, me, my, i,
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:26.942
Only me and jesus, you know,
00:31:26.942 --> 00:31:28.744
And my, and i just gotta go to church.
00:31:28.744 --> 00:31:30.045
And i can, you know i won't be too controversial, but i, you
00:31:30.045 --> 00:31:33.048
Know, i believe in gathering together, not forsaking the
00:31:33.048 --> 00:31:36.685
Assembling of the brethren.
00:31:36.685 --> 00:31:38.954
That is a part of what it means to be a believer because that's
00:31:38.954 --> 00:31:41.957
God's intended design, right, for family and for humanity,
00:31:41.957 --> 00:31:45.794
Right, that we would be together.
00:31:45.794 --> 00:31:47.596
And so there's this understanding of like, oh, we
00:31:47.596 --> 00:31:50.432
Can be intimate with our
00:31:50.432 --> 00:31:52.167
Father, our dad, our daddy together.
00:31:52.167 --> 00:31:56.872
And that, i think we have to start normalizing that and
00:31:56.872 --> 00:32:00.109
Letting that be okay.
00:32:00.109 --> 00:32:02.444
There's this, i think, need to be okay for corporate intimacy
00:32:02.444 --> 00:32:06.915
And realizing that we are all family and it's okay to start
00:32:06.915 --> 00:32:10.719
To relate to god as our father.
00:32:10.719 --> 00:32:13.555
Right? that we are in this family, that he has made us
00:32:13.555 --> 00:32:15.824
Orphans into family and sons and daughters.
00:32:15.824 --> 00:32:19.895
And i think when we really sink deeply into that, there's a lot
00:32:19.895 --> 00:32:24.133
Of identity things.
00:32:24.133 --> 00:32:25.401
And it doesn't matter whether i had the fairy tale or the
00:32:25.401 --> 00:32:27.770
Horror story, that i'm actually from the from before he knit me
00:32:27.770 --> 00:32:31.507
In my mother's womb, i was being i was knit in his mind.
00:32:31.507 --> 00:32:35.110
Was was he
00:32:35.110 --> 00:32:36.045
Knew me.
00:32:36.045 --> 00:32:37.312
You know, like, there's this family that predates all of it.
00:32:37.312 --> 00:32:40.315
-all of it.
00:32:40.315 --> 00:32:41.016
-and allows us to really see
00:32:41.016 --> 00:32:42.785
How he works everything together for good.
00:32:42.785 --> 00:32:45.054
You know i have never noticed that?
00:32:45.054 --> 00:32:46.655
The prayer is our father, who art in heaven?
00:32:46.655 --> 00:32:49.058
I mean, how many times in my life have i prayed that and yet
00:32:49.058 --> 00:32:52.127
Not really honed in on the fact
00:32:52.127 --> 00:32:53.595
That it is a corporate, it's a together.
00:32:53.595 --> 00:32:56.131
I think that's really powerful, naomi.
00:32:56.131 --> 00:32:57.699
Yeah, it is.
00:32:57.699 --> 00:32:59.068
The god that we serve, the father in the our father, is
00:32:59.068 --> 00:33:03.172
The one who knew us before our earthly father ever did.
00:33:03.172 --> 00:33:06.442
And so when we pray to him and we, ask him for help, we're
00:33:06.442 --> 00:33:10.112
Asking not our earthly father,
00:33:10.112 --> 00:33:11.814
We're asking the father of the universe,
00:33:11.814 --> 00:33:13.816
The one who created all to come in
00:33:13.816 --> 00:33:16.118
And meet us in a place
00:33:16.118 --> 00:33:17.352
With a person who knows us better than we know ourselves.
00:33:17.352 --> 00:33:20.923
That changes everything because it means that we can be honest
00:33:20.923 --> 00:33:21.356
And i think
00:33:21.356 --> 00:33:21.623
And open handed like, is what i'm struggling with.
00:33:23.659 --> 00:33:26.095
This is what i'm happy for.
00:33:26.095 --> 00:33:28.097
This is where i need help.
00:33:28.097 --> 00:33:29.364
And we can go to the person who can really answer all of the
00:33:29.364 --> 00:33:32.501
Questions that we have.
00:33:32.501 --> 00:33:35.037
Be the first to know all the latest better together updates.
00:33:35.037 --> 00:33:38.941
Visit bettertogether.tv
00:33:38.941 --> 00:33:40.442
To sign up for our weekly emails and never miss
00:33:40.442 --> 00:33:43.679
The latest news.
00:33:43.679 --> 00:33:46.004
And the way you see god shows me how to see god in a new
00:33:49.553 --> 00:33:55.226
Like, i think about when i watch my dad sit with my
00:33:55.226 --> 00:33:55.626
Light too.
00:33:55.626 --> 00:33:55.893
Brother watching sports or when i watch them talk about random
00:33:58.729 --> 00:34:03.100
Stuff that i don't really understand, i still see a
00:34:03.100 --> 00:34:06.003
Different side of my dad that i can appreciate.
00:34:06.003 --> 00:34:08.005
When i see him with his grandbabies, it's in a whole
00:34:08.005 --> 00:34:11.909
Now, new season, when i see him with my kids who have been
00:34:11.909 --> 00:34:12.243
New way.
00:34:12.243 --> 00:34:13.377
Adopted into our family
00:34:16.347 --> 00:34:18.516
And he treats them like there was never an adoption process
00:34:18.516 --> 00:34:22.653
In the first place, i see a whole new light.
00:34:22.653 --> 00:34:25.656
And so when we cut ourselves off from the our father, i
00:34:25.656 --> 00:34:29.393
Think we cut ourselves off from seeing the facets of who the
00:34:29.393 --> 00:34:33.264
Father is and
00:34:33.264 --> 00:34:35.032
I love that idea of it.
00:34:35.032 --> 00:34:37.201
I think when you were talking about the redemption story of
00:34:37.201 --> 00:34:40.171
Because we were saying before, like, we're born into the story
00:34:40.171 --> 00:34:42.406
Of a family, but i love that, like, the accidental verse you
00:34:42.406 --> 00:34:45.943
Read is so real.
00:34:45.943 --> 00:34:47.211
Like, was an accident.
00:34:47.211 --> 00:34:48.746
And i thought about joseph when you were reading that, when his
00:34:48.746 --> 00:34:51.415
Brothers came back, what you meant for evil.
00:34:51.415 --> 00:34:53.584
God brought her around for good.
00:34:53.584 --> 00:34:54.752
And there was a unification.
00:34:54.752 --> 00:34:56.120
There was a reconciliation of family.
00:34:56.120 --> 00:34:58.889
And i think about all the years.
00:34:58.889 --> 00:35:00.891
So, i'm growing up in a sheltered church environment.
00:35:00.891 --> 00:35:04.094
My parents were together.
00:35:04.094 --> 00:35:05.329
They both had broken pasts, but it was kind of like this
00:35:05.329 --> 00:35:07.331
Beautiful story of, like, we should have gotten divorced in
00:35:07.331 --> 00:35:09.733
Our first couple of years because, goodness gracious, but
00:35:09.733 --> 00:35:11.735
By god's grace,
00:35:11.735 --> 00:35:12.803
And they're hilarious and amazing.
00:35:12.803 --> 00:35:15.906
But so i kinda grew up with this beautiful view of family,
00:35:15.906 --> 00:35:19.176
Moved to la, get married, and my husband leaves before a year
00:35:19.176 --> 00:35:23.747
Of even being married is done.
00:35:23.747 --> 00:35:25.282
And so my idea of family is shattered, rebuilding my life
00:35:25.282 --> 00:35:29.253
In los angeles, but for seven straight years of praying, of
00:35:29.253 --> 00:35:33.991
Believing, of being in between family.
00:35:33.991 --> 00:35:37.094
And god was building family.
00:35:37.094 --> 00:35:39.096
We'll talk about and we have been talking about what that
00:35:39.096 --> 00:35:41.398
Looks like.
00:35:41.398 --> 00:35:42.433
And there was beauty, so much beauty in that.
00:35:42.433 --> 00:35:43.901
I could tell so many stories of people that became so close to
00:35:43.901 --> 00:35:48.205
Family with me in la that
00:35:48.205 --> 00:35:50.407
Lived on a futon in a family i didn't even know from our
00:35:50.407 --> 00:35:52.776
Church when i first moved back from the divorce in la and
00:35:52.776 --> 00:35:56.847
Really understood what it meant to have people that were
00:35:56.847 --> 00:35:59.350
In it with you.
00:35:59.350 --> 00:36:00.784
Wasn't fancy, wasn't flashy, but we laughed more in those
00:36:00.784 --> 00:36:03.787
Six months than ever.
00:36:03.787 --> 00:36:05.589
Popcorn and m and m's, that's where i learned that snack on
00:36:05.589 --> 00:36:07.791
A sunday night.
00:36:07.791 --> 00:36:08.792
Like, things like that.
00:36:08.792 --> 00:36:09.627
Families have little things.
00:36:09.627 --> 00:36:10.894
But seven years, i'm going, god, i could have kids by now.
00:36:10.894 --> 00:36:15.432
God, if this hadn't have happened, i would be raising my
00:36:15.432 --> 00:36:18.235
Own family by now.
00:36:18.235 --> 00:36:19.503
God, i could have a five year old.
00:36:19.503 --> 00:36:21.005
I remember in my journal writing one day, it's been
00:36:21.005 --> 00:36:23.107
Three years, i could have had a three year old, but will i ever
00:36:23.107 --> 00:36:25.709
Get a family again?
00:36:25.709 --> 00:36:27.011
Thinking my idea of family had been shattered.
00:36:27.011 --> 00:36:29.913
And what i didn't know was that tim, my husband, lived in
00:36:29.913 --> 00:36:35.719
California about twenty minutes away from me.
00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:38.355
We never met.
00:36:38.355 --> 00:36:39.590
Wow. and my oldest, zara, was born in february of twenty
00:36:39.590 --> 00:36:45.929
Eighteen, which was during the divorce process.
00:36:45.929 --> 00:36:49.667
Wow. so every time i would pray through tears, god, why don't
00:36:49.667 --> 00:36:53.671
You see me?
00:36:53.671 --> 00:36:54.405
Why won't you give me family?
00:36:54.405 --> 00:36:55.673
God, i could have a three year old.
00:36:55.673 --> 00:36:57.574
I did.
00:36:57.574 --> 00:36:58.275
I just didn't know her yet.
00:36:58.275 --> 00:36:59.543
And the story that god writes in family is a story that we
00:36:59.543 --> 00:37:03.681
Don't get to read
00:37:03.681 --> 00:37:05.416
Until it's being written in our lives.
00:37:05.416 --> 00:37:07.618
Yeah. and i wish i could go back to elyse in 2018
00:37:07.618 --> 00:37:10.521
And 2019 and be like, hey.
00:37:10.521 --> 00:37:12.089
It's coming.
00:37:12.089 --> 00:37:12.990
Yeah. god is your family, it's real.
00:37:12.990 --> 00:37:15.793
And i know that he's bringing family here.
00:37:15.793 --> 00:37:18.162
So i guess for the person that is sitting and to be like, the
00:37:18.162 --> 00:37:22.333
Enemy is, like, don't even listen to this week because
00:37:22.333 --> 00:37:24.268
That doesn't apply to you.
00:37:24.268 --> 00:37:25.235
They've had great families and whatever--
00:37:25.235 --> 00:37:26.737
Right. i get it.
00:37:26.737 --> 00:37:28.439
Like, i get the feeling of wanting to separate yourself
00:37:28.439 --> 00:37:32.376
From everyone else's story because yours is more painful,
00:37:32.376 --> 00:37:35.179
Or there's things happen that no one else understands.
00:37:35.179 --> 00:37:38.282
I think what i've learned about family is that god has never
00:37:38.282 --> 00:37:41.518
Done writing the story.
00:37:41.518 --> 00:37:42.720
Yeah. he's never done writing the story.
00:37:42.720 --> 00:37:45.122
And even when you think he's done with writing the story,
00:37:45.122 --> 00:37:47.658
It gets better.
00:37:47.658 --> 00:37:48.726
Yes. thank you, lord.
00:37:48.726 --> 00:37:49.526
And there's more pain. yes.
00:37:49.526 --> 00:37:50.894
And then there's more redemption.
00:37:50.894 --> 00:37:52.262
Yeah. right.
00:37:52.262 --> 00:37:52.996
There's just more to the story.
00:37:52.996 --> 00:37:54.732
Yeah. yeah.
00:37:54.732 --> 00:37:55.866
And so i think as we go throughout this week talking
00:37:55.866 --> 00:37:58.035
About family,
00:37:58.035 --> 00:38:00.070
My prayer is that there would be a reignited belief and hope.
00:38:00.070 --> 00:38:04.708
Yeah. a refilling of our cup.
00:38:04.708 --> 00:38:07.344
Yeah. a refilling of everyone watching's cup to say, god,
00:38:07.344 --> 00:38:12.950
Open my eyes to the family you've placed around me.
00:38:12.950 --> 00:38:15.252
That's right. yeah. that's right.
00:38:15.252 --> 00:38:16.487
And help me to believe again that you can redeem even my
00:38:16.487 --> 00:38:20.224
Story, what the enemy meant for evil, like, that you would
00:38:20.224 --> 00:38:23.694
Bring around for good.
00:38:23.694 --> 00:38:24.928
Because is that not the story of family that he writes?
00:38:24.928 --> 00:38:28.465
I've seen the lord write my family's story by taking
00:38:28.465 --> 00:38:34.171
These imperfect moments, these
00:38:34.171 --> 00:38:40.010
Beautiful mistakes
00:38:40.010 --> 00:38:42.513
And bringing them together and weaving this amazing story.
00:38:42.513 --> 00:38:48.285
And i don't-- i think i was younger and i'd seen this show.
00:38:48.285 --> 00:38:52.122
I don't know why this is what i think about, but i think about
00:38:52.122 --> 00:38:54.458
I think it was like an episode of family matters, there was
00:38:54.458 --> 00:38:56.527
Like this family quilt
00:38:56.527 --> 00:38:58.595
That was being woven by the grandmother.
00:38:58.595 --> 00:39:01.231
And i remember thinking that's how god's,
00:39:01.231 --> 00:39:07.337
Like, weaving together my family story, that he takes a
00:39:07.337 --> 00:39:11.341
Patch of each and every single
00:39:11.341 --> 00:39:13.143
Person's life and and weaves it together.
00:39:13.143 --> 00:39:16.079
And, i remember, like, carrying that imagery with me
00:39:16.079 --> 00:39:19.983
Throughout my life.
00:39:19.983 --> 00:39:21.118
And now when i look at, the patches, right, that my
00:39:21.118 --> 00:39:24.254
Grandparents have left and my aunts and uncles and my
00:39:24.254 --> 00:39:27.357
Parents, and now myself, and in in my children's lives and what
00:39:27.357 --> 00:39:33.063
Can come together for us to have a beautiful family and for
00:39:33.063 --> 00:39:36.800
There to be, like, this big, almost display of artwork, of
00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:40.537
How god moves.
00:39:40.537 --> 00:39:41.805
It's like, oh, like you were literally just piecing all the
00:39:41.805 --> 00:39:44.808
Things together, that might not seem like they go together, but
00:39:44.808 --> 00:39:48.545
They're actually making a beautiful, wonderful quilt of
00:39:48.545 --> 00:39:51.482
Of god's story.
00:39:51.482 --> 00:39:53.550
And it's not too late.
00:39:53.550 --> 00:39:55.252
It's one of the things
00:39:55.252 --> 00:39:56.386
I realized the last few months, that there can be,
00:39:56.386 --> 00:39:58.922
Like, my nephew got married in london last august, and so
00:39:58.922 --> 00:40:02.359
Barry and i flew over.
00:40:02.359 --> 00:40:04.027
And i hadn't seen my sister and my brother for quite a long
00:40:04.027 --> 00:40:07.297
Time, since my mom's funeral.
00:40:07.297 --> 00:40:08.732
We all got together for dinner the night before.
00:40:08.732 --> 00:40:12.302
And growing up, my sister found me a pest.
00:40:12.302 --> 00:40:15.205
I'm sure i was a pest.
00:40:15.205 --> 00:40:16.273
I would never believe that. no. no way.
00:40:16.273 --> 00:40:17.941
Yeah, i was totally a pest.
00:40:17.941 --> 00:40:19.476
Not possible.
00:40:19.476 --> 00:40:20.477
We shared a bedroom until she got married.
00:40:20.477 --> 00:40:22.846
And i would, like, i remember bringing home a mouse and put
00:40:22.846 --> 00:40:26.316
It in a box under the bed and then discover the mouse was
00:40:26.316 --> 00:40:28.151
Pregnant, so i had eight mice.
00:40:28.151 --> 00:40:29.419
She was not-- i know.
00:40:29.419 --> 00:40:30.554
I was that kind of sister.
00:40:30.554 --> 00:40:31.922
No. yeah.
00:40:31.922 --> 00:40:32.956
I was that sister.
00:40:32.956 --> 00:40:34.191
She and i have, i mean, i've always loved her, but she's
00:40:34.191 --> 00:40:35.959
Always been like, you're really you're weird.
00:40:35.959 --> 00:40:38.061
And i'm like, i know.
00:40:38.061 --> 00:40:39.696
But i'm fine.
00:40:39.696 --> 00:40:41.431
But my brother,
00:40:41.431 --> 00:40:43.133
When he was little, i just adored my brother.
00:40:43.133 --> 00:40:45.602
I spent all my allowance on my brother.
00:40:45.602 --> 00:40:47.237
But over the years, we just kinda-- we didn't see much of
00:40:47.237 --> 00:40:50.974
Yeah. and suddenly, there i am, his son, his only child, is
00:40:50.974 --> 00:40:51.408
Each other.
00:40:51.408 --> 00:40:51.675
Getting married.
00:40:53.810 --> 00:40:55.078
And we're at this dinner, and i'm still aware that there's
00:40:55.078 --> 00:40:58.348
Something just kind of a little off.
00:40:58.348 --> 00:41:01.084
And i asked him something because
00:41:01.084 --> 00:41:03.387
He's now sitting together about that.
00:41:03.387 --> 00:41:05.489
And he said, do you really want to know?
00:41:05.489 --> 00:41:08.392
And i was like, yeah, i really want to know.
00:41:08.392 --> 00:41:12.563
And he told me something that i had said once, and honestly, i
00:41:12.563 --> 00:41:16.133
Didn't even remember it, but it had really wounded him.
00:41:16.133 --> 00:41:19.269
And to be able, by the grace of god, to sit there with my
00:41:19.269 --> 00:41:24.841
Younger brother and say, please forgive me.
00:41:24.841 --> 00:41:28.211
You know, there's just-- i think that's one of the things i love
00:41:28.211 --> 00:41:31.315
Most about being part of the family of god and part of our
00:41:31.315 --> 00:41:34.217
Own families, is that we get to
00:41:34.217 --> 00:41:36.853
Say, you know what, i was wrong.
00:41:36.853 --> 00:41:38.689
Please forgive me.
00:41:38.689 --> 00:41:39.856
Or, you know, it's changed since that.
00:41:39.856 --> 00:41:42.125
And it's just it feels like a gift.
00:41:42.125 --> 00:41:45.162
And i think, you know, so often we just kind of plow through
00:41:45.162 --> 00:41:47.698
Life and think, yeah, that wasn't great, but it's, you
00:41:47.698 --> 00:41:50.334
Know, la dee da.
00:41:50.334 --> 00:41:51.668
Yeah.
00:41:51.668 --> 00:41:52.402
But now god is teaching me how
00:41:52.402 --> 00:41:54.438
To get rid of all the old wallpaper
00:41:54.438 --> 00:41:56.807
That's, you know, papered onto our souls, you know, and
00:41:56.807 --> 00:41:59.643
Replace it with his grace and his mercy, and i'm just blown
00:41:59.643 --> 00:42:04.648
Away by the goodness of god.
00:42:04.648 --> 00:42:06.249
Isn't that beautiful?
00:42:06.249 --> 00:42:07.718
Yeah. never too late.
00:42:07.718 --> 00:42:10.821
Never too late.
00:42:10.821 --> 00:42:12.556
I think one of the most challenging things to do is to
00:42:12.556 --> 00:42:16.927
Reconcile within family.
00:42:16.927 --> 00:42:19.262
You know, sometimes they can just be, can even just be
00:42:19.262 --> 00:42:22.833
Something as simple as an
00:42:22.833 --> 00:42:24.301
Unkind word that was spoken or misunderstanding.
00:42:24.301 --> 00:42:27.304
And sometimes it's tempted just to let it go and think, you
00:42:27.304 --> 00:42:30.040
Know what, let's just let it go.
00:42:30.040 --> 00:42:31.942
But i discovered in my own life that when you do that, you
00:42:31.942 --> 00:42:35.579
Leave these little wounds and these little gaps.
00:42:35.579 --> 00:42:38.215
And so for me, i have learned the gift of being able to say
00:42:38.215 --> 00:42:43.053
To someone really close to me,
00:42:43.053 --> 00:42:45.689
Whether it's my husband or my son or another member of my
00:42:45.689 --> 00:42:48.759
Family, when i know that i've said something or there's been
00:42:48.759 --> 00:42:51.061
Some misunderstanding, just to
00:42:51.061 --> 00:42:52.863
Say, will you please forgive me?
00:42:52.863 --> 00:42:54.698
I think it's important for people to understand, to see
00:42:54.698 --> 00:42:57.334
That we understand that whether we meant it or not, it still
00:42:57.334 --> 00:43:00.537
Cost them something.
00:43:00.537 --> 00:43:01.972
And asking to be forgiven is a beautiful gift.
00:43:01.972 --> 00:43:06.376
I mean, you think about things that
00:43:06.376 --> 00:43:07.744
You live with, those wounds or memories.
00:43:07.744 --> 00:43:10.814
Especially with family.
00:43:10.814 --> 00:43:11.815
With family. mhmm.
00:43:11.815 --> 00:43:13.183
That you're like, can i ever get over this?
00:43:13.183 --> 00:43:15.919
And i do think what's beautiful about god is the more we know
00:43:15.919 --> 00:43:19.656
About him, the more we look at that wallpaper and be like, i
00:43:19.656 --> 00:43:22.759
Don't want that anymore.
00:43:22.759 --> 00:43:23.460
Yes. right.
00:43:23.460 --> 00:43:24.895
Either i gotta forgive this or ask for
00:43:24.895 --> 00:43:27.564
Forgiveness for this because i don't want that anymore because
00:43:27.564 --> 00:43:29.666
I've seen the side of god.
00:43:29.666 --> 00:43:31.268
I've seen the side of my father that i wanna be more like, and
00:43:31.268 --> 00:43:35.772
I can't do that because of this other stuff.
00:43:35.772 --> 00:43:38.141
And so i think when we're with family, we get to see the
00:43:38.141 --> 00:43:41.044
Father, we get to see how our brothers and sisters are are in
00:43:41.044 --> 00:43:44.314
Relationship, it helps us to look back and say, you know,
00:43:44.314 --> 00:43:47.150
This is something i need to deal with.
00:43:47.150 --> 00:43:48.652
Yeah.
00:43:48.652 --> 00:43:50.287
Because i wanna look more like the person you've called me to.
00:43:48.985 --> 00:43:52.489
Yeah. right.
00:43:52.489 --> 00:43:53.790
And i think that's what it does in family when we can do that,
00:43:53.790 --> 00:43:56.159
Whether it's our biological family, our new family, because
00:43:56.159 --> 00:43:59.096
We are people.
00:43:59.096 --> 00:44:02.365
You can't keep the old wallpaper.
00:44:02.365 --> 00:44:04.501
You can't keep it and do something new.
00:44:04.501 --> 00:44:05.902
You can't. even if you want to
00:44:05.902 --> 00:44:08.638
Use new wallpaper, it's gonna be clunky.
00:44:08.638 --> 00:44:09.773
You really gotta scrape that thing up.
00:44:09.773 --> 00:44:11.108
And i'm thinking, oh.
00:44:11.108 --> 00:44:12.609
Yeah. and sometimes you have to replaster the walls and sand
00:44:12.609 --> 00:44:15.712
Things down that might be rough.
00:44:15.712 --> 00:44:17.380
Even the patch up.
00:44:17.380 --> 00:44:18.248
Yeah. sometimes it's still a process.
00:44:18.248 --> 00:44:20.450
Right.
00:44:20.450 --> 00:44:21.084
Whew. that-- alright.
00:44:21.084 --> 00:44:23.019
Yeah. yeah.
00:44:23.019 --> 00:44:25.088
Yeah. and then it's called becoming more like jesus.
00:44:25.088 --> 00:44:27.357
That's right.
00:44:27.357 --> 00:44:28.091
Right? right.
00:44:28.091 --> 00:44:29.392
Yes. i mean, that is what when we are his daughter, his son,
00:44:29.392 --> 00:44:34.498
We are in this process, we submit to the process of being
00:44:34.498 --> 00:44:38.502
Made into his image.
00:44:38.502 --> 00:44:39.770
And i you know, when you look at all of the one
00:44:39.770 --> 00:44:43.573
Anothers in scripture, like, love one another, bear with one
00:44:43.573 --> 00:44:47.511
Another, forgive one another, serve one another, like, all i
00:44:47.511 --> 00:44:51.414
Mean, i've kind of just recently been just become
00:44:51.414 --> 00:44:54.417
Convinced that i don't think there's anything, any conflict
00:44:54.417 --> 00:44:58.054
That can't be solved.
00:44:58.054 --> 00:45:00.991
There's no conflict that humbling myself
00:45:00.991 --> 00:45:03.727
Yes. yes.
00:45:03.727 --> 00:45:04.995
And coming in low and going, i am i am so sorry,
00:45:04.995 --> 00:45:09.633
I did not, like, how can i serve you in this moment?
00:45:09.633 --> 00:45:12.903
Like, truly becoming more like jesus.
00:45:12.903 --> 00:45:16.540
And, you know,
00:45:16.540 --> 00:45:18.375
Our flesh, and our will, and we're, you know-- i know.
00:45:18.375 --> 00:45:21.711
We're in this process, and we're all in a different part
00:45:21.711 --> 00:45:24.281
Of the journey.
00:45:24.281 --> 00:45:25.148
But i'm like, lord, it is the truth.
00:45:25.148 --> 00:45:28.084
Becoming like jesus and humbling ourselves within our
00:45:28.084 --> 00:45:33.023
Own natural families, within
00:45:33.023 --> 00:45:34.758
Our church families, just in life.
00:45:34.758 --> 00:45:36.927
I mean, how can-- i anyway, the lord has been dealing with me
00:45:36.927 --> 00:45:40.163
Personally with that so deeply.
00:45:40.163 --> 00:45:43.133
So we are grateful that jesus can truly take anything
00:45:43.133 --> 00:45:48.138
And work in all of it.
00:45:48.138 --> 00:45:50.640
Mhmm. in all things, god works.
00:45:50.640 --> 00:45:53.410
The niv version, i think, says it that way.
00:45:53.410 --> 00:45:55.412
When we surrender to him that he is really, he is writing
00:45:55.412 --> 00:45:59.216
The best story. yeah.
00:45:59.216 --> 00:46:00.784
That he is making something beautiful in our lives and in
00:46:00.784 --> 00:46:04.721
The lives of those around us.
00:46:04.721 --> 00:46:07.357
Throughout the seasons in life, i think it's been more
00:46:07.357 --> 00:46:11.795
Significant, not what i've learned, but honestly,
00:46:11.795 --> 00:46:15.098
Sometimes what i've had to unlearn.
00:46:15.098 --> 00:46:16.867
Sheila mentioned tearing down that old wallpaper before
00:46:16.867 --> 00:46:19.803
You replace it.
00:46:19.803 --> 00:46:21.104
And this last weekend, my
00:46:21.104 --> 00:46:22.906
Family and i just bought a home.
00:46:22.906 --> 00:46:24.374
We just moved into a new home.
00:46:24.374 --> 00:46:26.276
And, well, i don't if you can tell this about me, but i'm not
00:46:26.276 --> 00:46:30.180
Much of a handy girl.
00:46:30.180 --> 00:46:31.448
And so i tried to drill some holes and i drilled them in the
00:46:31.448 --> 00:46:33.917
Wrong spot.
00:46:33.917 --> 00:46:35.151
And so as i was-- as sheila was talking about it, i was
00:46:35.151 --> 00:46:37.554
Thinking back to that.
00:46:37.554 --> 00:46:38.788
I can't just paint over holes and expect it to be fine.
00:46:38.788 --> 00:46:41.758
I actually have to have to fill the holes.
00:46:41.758 --> 00:46:44.828
You can't just try to cover something up if that something
00:46:44.828 --> 00:46:48.565
Is a gaping wound or a gaping hole as much as you can just
00:46:48.565 --> 00:46:52.569
Keep covering up old wallpaper and expecting it to look fresh.
00:46:52.569 --> 00:46:56.306
And i think sometimes in the seasons of our life,
00:46:56.306 --> 00:47:00.443
It's important not just to say hello to new people, but
00:47:00.443 --> 00:47:03.713
Honestly, maybe to say goodbye to some people where it's not
00:47:03.713 --> 00:47:06.983
That the relationship was wrong.
00:47:06.983 --> 00:47:09.085
It just might have been a seasonal one.
00:47:09.085 --> 00:47:10.720
And that for me has been such a huge revelation.
00:47:10.720 --> 00:47:15.592
Looking back, i actually can see one of the most important
00:47:15.592 --> 00:47:18.528
Reasons for me to move from sydney to los angeles was
00:47:18.528 --> 00:47:22.332
Because my home had become wherever my parents were, and
00:47:22.332 --> 00:47:25.969
Maybe even so much so that they were the voice of god in my
00:47:25.969 --> 00:47:29.706
Life, that i needed to personally experience what it
00:47:29.706 --> 00:47:32.008
Looks like to tear down old wallpaper of familial ties in
00:47:32.008 --> 00:47:35.812
Order to truly understand what it looks like for god to be my
00:47:35.812 --> 00:47:39.649
Home, for a new intimacy with him.
00:47:39.649 --> 00:47:42.652
Because if you've ever been in a season where god is all you
00:47:42.652 --> 00:47:45.255
Have, you do understand at the end of the day that he really
00:47:45.255 --> 00:47:48.925
Is all you need.
00:47:48.925 --> 00:47:50.193
But the only way we have that revelation is is to be in a
00:47:50.193 --> 00:47:53.463
Place where we really need god to show up.
00:47:53.463 --> 00:47:56.299
And so when i look through the seasons of my life where
00:47:56.299 --> 00:47:58.668
There's been transitions into new seasons, more than saying
00:47:58.668 --> 00:48:02.505
Hello to new people, first, there does have to be a
00:48:02.505 --> 00:48:06.676
Shedding, and that comes grief and that comes discomfort.
00:48:06.676 --> 00:48:10.513
But at the end of the day,
00:48:10.513 --> 00:48:11.448
In order for god to do something new,
00:48:11.448 --> 00:48:14.851
There is a necessity to let go of something old.
00:48:14.851 --> 00:48:18.054
What i love about what i'm experiencing right now
00:48:18.054 --> 00:48:21.992
Is it feels okay.
00:48:21.992 --> 00:48:25.095
I feel like when we have family issues, when there are moments
00:48:25.095 --> 00:48:28.598
And things that we're working through with the lord,
00:48:28.598 --> 00:48:31.101
Sometimes you don't even have the words to say because i'm
00:48:31.101 --> 00:48:33.503
Feeling us struggle through
00:48:33.503 --> 00:48:37.507
What to say, what not to say.
00:48:37.507 --> 00:48:38.875
And i just for anybody that's watching
00:48:38.875 --> 00:48:41.811
I just want you to know it's okay.
00:48:41.811 --> 00:48:44.080
Like, even the people you think might have the word like,
00:48:44.080 --> 00:48:46.282
Because we're here, right, because we can say words.
00:48:46.282 --> 00:48:50.987
Sometimes it's so layered, it's so deep, and you don't even
00:48:50.987 --> 00:48:55.125
Have to have the words, but accidental scripture again.
00:48:55.125 --> 00:48:58.194
Yes. the father is interceding
00:48:58.194 --> 00:48:59.963
For us, and he's praying for us.
00:48:59.963 --> 00:49:02.198
And so, like, i just loved that moment because what i was
00:49:02.198 --> 00:49:04.501
Seeing is and everything doesn't need to be shared in
00:49:04.501 --> 00:49:07.137
Order to be forgiven or moved on. you know what i mean?
00:49:07.137 --> 00:49:09.472
And so i was just loving that, and i love that god is in the
00:49:09.472 --> 00:49:12.509
Midst of it.
00:49:12.509 --> 00:49:13.243
I feel his presence so heavily.
00:49:13.243 --> 00:49:15.512
I know you're gonna pray, but i just, you know, wanted to say
00:49:15.512 --> 00:49:17.881
That to somebody who might be feeling like, i have to know
00:49:17.881 --> 00:49:20.083
What to say.
00:49:20.083 --> 00:49:21.117
I have to know how to have that conversation.
00:49:21.117 --> 00:49:22.085
No, you don't.
00:49:22.085 --> 00:49:22.786
Holy spirit is interceding.
00:49:22.786 --> 00:49:23.953
Maybe ask him and leave it up to him.
00:49:23.953 --> 00:49:28.158
That's good.
00:49:28.158 --> 00:49:29.092
Yes, ma'am.
00:49:29.092 --> 00:49:29.893
Yes and amen.
00:49:29.893 --> 00:49:30.894
So let's pray.
00:49:30.894 --> 00:49:32.996
Father, we thank you.
00:49:32.996 --> 00:49:34.531
God, we thank you that you have placed us in family.
00:49:34.531 --> 00:49:39.436
Whether our natural family, whether it was, as naomi said,
00:49:39.436 --> 00:49:43.807
Horror story or fairy tale,
00:49:43.807 --> 00:49:46.176
God, you redeem our lives.
00:49:46.176 --> 00:49:48.378
You waste nothing.
00:49:48.378 --> 00:49:50.246
And so we're so grateful that we can come to you and with
00:49:50.246 --> 00:49:53.750
Everything that we carry from our childhood, from our,
00:49:53.750 --> 00:49:57.654
Teenage years, from our young adulthood, god, all the things,
00:49:57.654 --> 00:50:00.723
The things that were maybe done to us and the things that we
00:50:00.723 --> 00:50:03.560
Have done, god, we just bring them to you fresh again and
00:50:03.560 --> 00:50:08.031
We say, will you continue to
00:50:08.031 --> 00:50:10.300
Work in us and write our stories?
00:50:10.300 --> 00:50:13.103
We, just surrender fresh to you today.
00:50:13.103 --> 00:50:16.473
And we thank you that you have placed us in family and help us
00:50:16.473 --> 00:50:22.212
To love one another well and serve one another well and to
00:50:22.212 --> 00:50:26.950
Ultimately become the reflection of your son, jesus,
00:50:26.950 --> 00:50:30.687
In the earth.
00:50:30.687 --> 00:50:31.387
We thank you in jesus' name
00:50:31.387 --> 00:50:33.156
We pray today, amen.
00:50:33.156 --> 00:50:35.291
Amen.
00:50:35.291 --> 00:50:37.594
Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team
00:50:37.594 --> 00:50:40.430
Can pray for you.
00:50:40.430 --> 00:50:43.867
Stream full episodes of better together on demand.
00:50:43.867 --> 00:50:47.604
Go to bettertogether.tv
00:50:47.604 --> 00:50:49.439
To stream all of our latest conversations.
00:50:49.439 --> 00:50:49.439

God's Heart for Family - Episode 1076

July 14, 2025 | S7 E1076 | 0:30

Closed captions

Share