Better Together

Gratitude Renews Your Mind - Episode 1117

November 18, 2025 | S7 E1117 | 52:34

Practicing gratitude can literally rewire your brain! We begin to see our circumstances through God's lens of eternity and develop defiant hope. Our darkest days can become testimonies of God's faithfulness and radical love! | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

#Thankfulness #Gratitude #Transformation #Death #Loss #Grief #Suffering #Cancer #Healing #Praise #Hope #Anger #Forgiveness #Community #Faith #Faithfulness #Love #Trials-HardTimes #Complaining #RenewingtheMind #Choices #Sacrifice #Testimony #FruitoftheSpirit #WordofGod #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #HollyWagner #NonaJones

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Better Together | Gratitude Renews Your Mind - Episode 1117 | November 18, 2025

No matter what happens, you get to choose what you think about.
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And when we face difficult situations, expressing
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Gratitude can shift our perspectives and open
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The door to hope.
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Come on. we need to talk about this.
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♪♪
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Looking back at it, i realized there was never a season
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That i wanted to quit until this one.
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Or i never really wanted to quit pastoring people.
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This was the season that about killed me, just was so tragic.
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And for me, it started with the death of my dad.
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I was very loved by my father.
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Every dream i had, he encouraged or funded, you know,
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And i was told every day that i was loved.
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And i'm aware of what a gift that is.
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My dad, he fell and hit his head and had a brain bleed, so--
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Oh my goodness.
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So i'm trying to grieve the loss of my dad and just
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Trying to, you know, deal with all the emotions.
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And then, um, phillip's identity gets stolen, my husband's
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Identity gets stolen.
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So then they hack in through his email account and get to
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Our bank account and stole it.
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So stole our savings account, and because of how it was done,
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The bank wasn't liable.
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And so the fbi got involved and all that.
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And then philip gets diagnosed with cancer.
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I mean, this is all within like it was like one month the next.
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It was just all within, like months of each other.
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And then he gets diagnosed with cancer and it was on his head.
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And so the treatment was brutal.
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And, you know, many people know the treatment of cancer is just
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Almost worse than the disease, right?
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So, so brutal for him.
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And so he just had no immune system.
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So then he started catching everything that you
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Could possibly catch.
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And then one of the things was this nerve disorder like
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Shingles, which ended up being the worst case they'd ever seen.
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And he couldn't really function for 5 or 6 months.
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Then my daughter made a really horrible, painful decision.
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And so i'm trying to lead a church, right?
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I'm trying to still mourn the loss of my dad and process this
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Financial loss and, you know, trying to be a wife.
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And so i'm trying to do all of this.
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And i was pretty much not
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Getting an a plus in all of them.
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And i needed some grace, you know, from the people in my
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World, many of them whom, when i first met them, they'd been
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A hot mess. and then,
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And then god's grace brought healing.
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So now i needed some of that grace back.
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But i didn't get it, right. i just got-- i did not get it.
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And then one of my dearest friends just betrayed me like
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An absolute stab in the back.
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And, um, so i was so angry and hurt, and i, i found myself
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Sitting on the couch in our living room, and i'm such an
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Extrovert, as you know.
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Um, i mean, if you come near me, i'm touching you.
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I'm very peopley. i love people, all that.
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But in this season, i didn't want to talk to people.
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I just wanted to watch one more thing.
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I just was fully disconnected.
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I didn't even have, like, a root of bitterness happening.
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I had a tree. it was like, i was bitter.
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I was cynical about people, but i was just like, cynical.
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And my husband came into the kitchen one day and i was just
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Sitting again on the couch and he comes in and he brings this
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Jar and he puts it in our kitchen.
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And he said, every day
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He said, we're going to write something that we're grateful
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For, and we're going to put it in this jar.
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And i said, you go ahead on.
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And then he got those the colorful kind of post-it
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Notes thinking that would make it more fun for his
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Very extroverted wife.
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And i just was so angry.
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And i was looking at that ridiculous jar, and i just--
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And i knew he was going to look.
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So i remember walking down the next morning and i'm looking at
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That jar and i'm angry and
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I'm staring at it, and i have nothing.
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There's nothing.
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Every time i tried to think i just kept getting angrier.
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And i'm looking at it. i'm staring at it.
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And eventually i go, okay, you got to come up with something.
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So i peel off the purple one and i write down in there
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Coffee, and i put coffee in that jar.
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Anybody else grateful for coffee?
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I'm still grateful for coffee.
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But i feel like for four days, it was
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I walked down there, coffee. for four days, it was coffee.
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And then i looked out the window.
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I was like, huh? sunshine.
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As if that's unusual where we were living.
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So, sunshine.
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And then eventually it became my home and
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My health eventually became other things.
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But you know what?
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There wasn't one moment that i felt it.
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There wasn't one moment when i felt gratitude.
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It was a decision.
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So every day i walked to that jar and i wrote something down
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To be grateful for, and that broke something in me.
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I don't know if maybe it was after 2 or 3 weeks,
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All of a sudden it broke that, the tree of bitterness kind of
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Just started dissolving the, the, the angry face, the, um,
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You know, the complaining face.
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There's this man named, um, doctor dale robbins.
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I remember reading something that he wrote, and he said,
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I used to think people complain
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Because they have problems. he says,
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But i've come to realize they
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Have problems because they complain.
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And so i realized that
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Complaining doesn't change anything.
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It just amplifies the discord and discontent that we have.
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Right. yeah.
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And then in this time, i was reading through the psalms,
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As you do. right.
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In these hard seasons, psalm 77, the author of psalm
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77 said, wrote, i complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
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So then i went, okay, holly.
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Maybe the reason that you're feeling so overwhelmed is
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Because you're spending most of your life complaining.
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The words that are coming out are complaining about the
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People, about the situation, about the sick--
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You're spending most of your time complaining instead of, as
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We talked about yesterday, in all circumstances, give thanks.
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Yeah, right.
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He's not saying to thank god for the circumstance because
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The circumstance is terrible.
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These were terrible circumstances.
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Yeah. he's saying in them.
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So i feel like that that
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Discipline of just finding something
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And being grateful for it and putting it in that jar, which
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We still have--
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And in fact, philip started another one.
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So it's still, years later
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It is a habit for us now.
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I love that.
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To find something to be grateful for.
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And it's funny.
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It's like this-- now he got the big one.
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So and it's all these colorful little post-its.
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And i mean, some people might do a journal.
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I'm not a journaler.
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So, um, but something, i just feel like,
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What's something that we can do to snap that?
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So that worked for me.
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I loved holly's story about the gratitude jar.
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I loved it because she was very honest about it.
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You know, it wasn't like, oh, i just thought one day, wouldn't
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It be lovely to have a gratitude jar?
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And i could just be grateful all the time?
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No, i mean, her husband, philip, who's a darling man, he
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Started it and holly was in a really, really dark, dark place
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Where so many things had gone wrong and she just didn't
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Want to do it.
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But there's something about dragging your will in line with
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God's will that shifts things inside you, you know?
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In, um, romans chapter 12, it talks about you and i being
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A living sacrifice.
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The trouble with that is sometimes we can crawl back off
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The altar when it gets too hot.
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What holly chose to do was to stay on the altar, no matter
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How uncomfortable, and to ride out.
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And the first thing she wrote out was coffee.
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And that's a big amen for me right there.
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But it's something that i'm going to start at home.
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I'm going to get my own gratitude jar for
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My husband and i.
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Gratitude changes the neural pathway so it changes--
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It renews your mind to something else.
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It renews your mind to see things differently in people.
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Yeah, right.
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Be transformed by
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The renewing of your mind.
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Because the pattern of this world is to complain.
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The pattern of this world is to grieve what was lost and stay
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So focused on what should not have happened.
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And it was so wrong.
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The pattern of this world is
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Anger and bitterness and resentment.
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But the transforming power of that renewal is, like you said,
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I choose.
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And that's that's really what it is.
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It's the mental,
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It's the cognitive process of focusing my mind.
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I could think on 100 different things that are
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Wrong, or i could choose to
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Find the two things that are right.
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And i'm not saying that's easy. no.
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Right, because it's way easier to find whether even talking
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About yourself, it's way easier to look in the mirror and find
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The things you don't like about yourself
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Than the two things that are good.
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It's way easier to look at a friend and find the nine things
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That irritate you than the-- so--
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And you'll find more company there.
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Yeah, 100%.
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Well, i'm just saying more people--
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Yeah. i mean, you can talk about the things you're
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Grateful for, but if you talk about something, you complain,
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You gather a crowd that comes around it.
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I thought it was interesting.
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I was immediately just kind of just preparing,
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Um, romans 12:2 comes to mind and i go just digging around.
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And i was digging a little deeper and going into the
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Greek, and i was like, okay, i'm just digging in, god,
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What did you intend in this?
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What is going on in this?
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And there's actually a split in there.
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This word nous, n-o-u-s,
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It actually has, um, it is translated mind.
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But in romans 12:2, there is a mental attitude in it.
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Um, okay. so i mean--
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Romans 12:2?
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Romans 12:2, so being transformed by the renewing
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Of your mind. it talks about your
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Dispositions, your values, your beliefs.
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So where we think that our mind is detached from the feelings--
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And it can be those moments where it's like i choose, i've
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Got to lean into, and i'm going to write it down even though
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I don't feel it.
00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:52.648
But it also starts challenging my beliefs about, god,
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Did you bring this?
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Yes. did you?
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Is this because of you?
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You could have stopped it.
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I mean, it's going to wrestle all of those things out.
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And i'm like, god, you're in this very present place.
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God, you want something whole about me, that
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You care about all of me.
00:10:10.132 --> 00:10:11.834
And so it does mean that i still get to bring my feelings,
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Even if they're juxtaposed.
00:10:14.637 --> 00:10:16.806
Yeah, like, i know you've asked me to do this, but this is
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How i'm feeling.
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It doesn't mean bringing it and tucking my feelings behind
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My back like, okay, god, i'm so grateful.
00:10:24.280 --> 00:10:28.050
I'm not mad at all.
00:10:28.050 --> 00:10:29.318
Like, i'm so grateful. you know?
00:10:29.318 --> 00:10:31.120
He's like, no, bring them both before me.
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I think that's why
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It's called a sacrifice of praise.
00:10:34.156 --> 00:10:35.758
It is. because i think sometimes if you're in a beautiful
00:10:35.758 --> 00:10:38.794
Worship service or something, it's easy to praise.
00:10:38.794 --> 00:10:41.230
But a sacrifice of praise is where nothing's going
00:10:41.230 --> 00:10:43.966
The way you think.
00:10:43.966 --> 00:10:45.568
I mean, i hate the all that happened to you, holly.
00:10:45.568 --> 00:10:48.070
Yeah. and yet, the way that you have stewarded your suffering,
00:10:48.070 --> 00:10:51.774
That, to me, is the whole point of our christian life.
00:10:51.774 --> 00:10:53.976
It is. that we steward the suffering well so that--
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And it becomes an offering to the lord.
00:10:57.313 --> 00:11:00.549
Gratitude rewires my mind for
00:11:00.549 --> 00:11:03.285
Victory, regardless of my circumstance.
00:11:03.285 --> 00:11:06.989
Literally, it's actually because, um,
00:11:06.989 --> 00:11:10.359
This is what's so interesting is when science catches up to
00:11:10.359 --> 00:11:13.662
The bible, is that when your words, the very things you're
00:11:13.662 --> 00:11:16.766
Saying, are building a neural pathway.
00:11:16.766 --> 00:11:20.402
They're speaking and treading a path towards victory.
00:11:20.402 --> 00:11:26.142
Now imagine that also means that my worries will tread a
00:11:26.142 --> 00:11:29.145
Path as well.
00:11:29.145 --> 00:11:30.412
And if i've spent a long time worrying, then that path has
00:11:30.412 --> 00:11:33.215
Got a deep groove in it.
00:11:33.215 --> 00:11:34.283
And that's why it doesn't take much.
00:11:34.283 --> 00:11:35.684
That train can leave the station, it's no problem.
00:11:35.684 --> 00:11:38.154
But now i'm building a new pathway.
00:11:38.154 --> 00:11:39.922
It's renewing my mind.
00:11:39.922 --> 00:11:41.657
It's giving my mind a new path to go down.
00:11:41.657 --> 00:11:45.427
And that sets me up in an entirely different way.
00:11:45.427 --> 00:11:49.398
Eventually there can be, when i continually to speak, um,
00:11:49.398 --> 00:11:53.068
Thankfulness and gratitude for the places that i'm in, that
00:11:53.068 --> 00:11:55.938
The circumstances that i'm in, now i the same way that you
00:11:55.938 --> 00:11:59.809
Can immediately go down the track with a worry, you can
00:11:59.809 --> 00:12:02.344
Actually go down that same track easily with gratitude.
00:12:02.344 --> 00:12:04.980
God, i'm so grateful.
00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:06.081
God, i know you've done this.
00:12:06.081 --> 00:12:07.416
God, i can speak your word over this.
00:12:07.416 --> 00:12:09.018
I can declare your victory over
00:12:09.018 --> 00:12:10.553
This even though i haven't seen it.
00:12:10.553 --> 00:12:12.488
And so i love the fact that that god is saying
00:12:12.488 --> 00:12:15.758
In that passage in romans 12:2, it isn't just
00:12:15.758 --> 00:12:18.661
About your mind.
00:12:18.661 --> 00:12:19.695
It actually is a mental attitude in the greek.
00:12:19.695 --> 00:12:22.731
And it literally is going to transform your your
00:12:22.731 --> 00:12:25.134
Dispositions, your values, your beliefs and your words.
00:12:25.134 --> 00:12:28.470
And so i just love that it's all encompassing and that god
00:12:28.470 --> 00:12:31.774
Didn't leave us helpless, but
00:12:31.774 --> 00:12:33.542
He has shown us how to become victors,
00:12:33.542 --> 00:12:36.545
Um, well, really, how to walk out being victors, because
00:12:36.545 --> 00:12:39.415
That's a done thing for us.
00:12:39.415 --> 00:12:41.684
I was in the airport the other day and my flight was delayed
00:12:41.684 --> 00:12:44.520
For the second time, and this lady said, um, i've seen you
00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:48.324
On better together.
00:12:48.324 --> 00:12:49.758
Do you have time for a cup of coffee?
00:12:49.758 --> 00:12:50.860
And i said, apparently i do. apparently.
00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:53.596
So we sat down and she started telling me her story, and it
00:12:53.596 --> 00:12:57.166
Was about her putting her husband through medical school.
00:12:57.166 --> 00:12:59.768
She was a nurse, but then she took a back step to make sure
00:12:59.768 --> 00:13:02.705
He could finish.
00:13:02.705 --> 00:13:03.906
And then he left her.
00:13:03.906 --> 00:13:06.175
You know, i went off with a younger woman and as she's
00:13:06.175 --> 00:13:09.612
Talking to me, there's tears rolling down her face.
00:13:09.612 --> 00:13:12.348
And i asked her, i said, when did this happen?
00:13:12.348 --> 00:13:14.750
She said, 22 years ago.
00:13:14.750 --> 00:13:17.019
22 years ago. wow.
00:13:17.019 --> 00:13:19.622
And it was like she had just--
00:13:19.622 --> 00:13:22.258
It was stuck. yeah.
00:13:22.258 --> 00:13:24.026
Because of how unfair life is.
00:13:24.026 --> 00:13:27.029
Yes. i remember with christian when he was little, you know,
00:13:27.029 --> 00:13:30.399
One day he came home from school and he was so upset
00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.668
Because one of his friends had said something about him
00:13:32.668 --> 00:13:35.137
That wasn't true. and the teacher believed him.
00:13:35.137 --> 00:13:37.206
And he was like, mom, he is no longer my friend and he is
00:13:37.206 --> 00:13:40.576
Off my prayer list.
00:13:40.576 --> 00:13:42.011
And i'm like, yeah.
00:13:42.011 --> 00:13:43.112
Now that is the--
00:13:43.112 --> 00:13:44.213
First of all the fact that he had a prayer list.
00:13:44.213 --> 00:13:46.548
I said, i totally get that.
00:13:46.548 --> 00:13:47.917
But later that night i said to him, christian, will you go get
00:13:47.917 --> 00:13:51.320
That bag of flour that i got the other day in costco?
00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:53.589
And it's like this huge bag of flour.
00:13:53.589 --> 00:13:55.791
So he went and got it.
00:13:55.791 --> 00:13:56.892
And i said, you and i are going to go for a walk.
00:13:56.892 --> 00:13:58.694
And we started to walk way around the lake and eventually
00:13:58.694 --> 00:14:03.165
He said, mom, do we need this?
00:14:03.165 --> 00:14:04.867
Are we there yet?
00:14:04.867 --> 00:14:06.402
I'm like, no, we're going to need this.
00:14:05.434 --> 00:14:08.537
And after a while, he just flopped down on the grass with
00:14:08.537 --> 00:14:11.373
This bag of flour and he said, i can't do this anymore.
00:14:11.373 --> 00:14:13.509
I said, maybe that's what it
00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:14.343
Looks like when you can't forgive.
00:14:14.343 --> 00:14:17.112
You're the one out here carrying the flour.
00:14:17.112 --> 00:14:19.381
You know, life is not fair.
00:14:19.381 --> 00:14:21.550
But forgiveness is god's gift to us to live in a world
00:14:21.550 --> 00:14:24.820
That's not fair.
00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:26.121
It's not like god's trying to make you forgive so you can be
00:14:26.121 --> 00:14:27.990
A good christian.
00:14:27.990 --> 00:14:29.124
But it's like,
00:14:29.124 --> 00:14:29.959
It's almost like a coping mechanism
00:14:29.959 --> 00:14:31.827
God gives us because i said, your friends probably been
00:14:31.827 --> 00:14:34.463
Asleep for 20 minutes, and we're out here with this bag of
00:14:34.463 --> 00:14:36.832
Flour, but you get to bring it to the foot of the--
00:14:36.832 --> 00:14:39.568
It doesn't mean that what your friend said was okay.
00:14:39.568 --> 00:14:41.437
It wasn't okay. i'm sorry that happened,
00:14:41.437 --> 00:14:44.640
But you're not stuck because i think
00:14:44.640 --> 00:14:46.909
I wonder how many of our friends are stuck.
00:14:46.909 --> 00:14:50.145
I recently went through a friendship breakup, and it was
00:14:50.145 --> 00:14:54.016
Incredibly difficult.
00:14:54.016 --> 00:14:55.951
Um, it was a friend who i
00:14:55.951 --> 00:14:58.153
Imagined us growing old together.
00:14:58.153 --> 00:15:00.723
I imagined that even in the painful event that we lost our
00:15:00.723 --> 00:15:04.360
Husbands, that we would maybe end up living together and, you
00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.363
Know, being friends for the rest of our lives.
00:15:07.363 --> 00:15:09.365
And so when the friendship ended, um, it really
00:15:09.365 --> 00:15:12.368
Threw me for a loop.
00:15:12.368 --> 00:15:13.736
And i spent quite a bit of time just in a state of, um, almost
00:15:13.736 --> 00:15:17.973
Like, suspended emotion.
00:15:17.973 --> 00:15:19.975
I was afraid to feel how i felt, which was betrayed.
00:15:19.975 --> 00:15:23.979
Um, but in that i just began to give thanks.
00:15:23.979 --> 00:15:26.715
I said, lord, i thank you
00:15:26.715 --> 00:15:27.616
For the years of friendship that we had.
00:15:27.616 --> 00:15:29.752
I thank you for the laughs that we experienced.
00:15:29.752 --> 00:15:32.021
I thank you for all of the
00:15:32.021 --> 00:15:33.756
Joyous times that we had together.
00:15:33.756 --> 00:15:35.758
And i chose to focus on that because in giving gratitude to
00:15:35.758 --> 00:15:40.295
God for what good had been, i was able to release my future
00:15:40.295 --> 00:15:44.933
From the pain of the friendship
00:15:44.933 --> 00:15:46.568
Breakup, and that helped me to heal.
00:15:46.568 --> 00:15:49.938
We are better together because of you.
00:15:49.938 --> 00:15:52.041
Connect with us on social media to join the conversation.
00:15:52.041 --> 00:15:54.943
Let us know what god is doing in your life.
00:15:54.943 --> 00:15:57.312
We can't wait to hear from you!
00:15:57.312 --> 00:15:59.748
Let's keep the conversation going.
00:15:59.748 --> 00:16:01.984
You can find the better together podcast on your
00:16:01.984 --> 00:16:04.353
Favorite listening platform.
00:16:04.353 --> 00:16:06.088
Subscribe today!
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00:16:10.009 --> 00:16:13.296
You know, we have this--
00:16:16.266 --> 00:16:17.500
We have this amazing, god-given brain, and there are these
00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:21.071
Connections in there like these neural pathways.
00:16:21.071 --> 00:16:23.540
And basically we get in habits.
00:16:23.540 --> 00:16:26.409
And so we can get these habits that will stay the same,
00:16:26.409 --> 00:16:29.112
So we can get in a rut, if you will, in our thinking
00:16:29.112 --> 00:16:31.915
And in how we do life.
00:16:31.915 --> 00:16:33.249
And the only way to get us out
00:16:33.249 --> 00:16:34.484
Of that rut is to do something different.
00:16:34.484 --> 00:16:36.719
And so that's where gratitude comes in.
00:16:36.719 --> 00:16:38.655
When we are grateful, it shifts the focus from us to others.
00:16:38.655 --> 00:16:44.727
It shifts the focus from us to
00:16:44.727 --> 00:16:47.063
Who god is, and it will change everything.
00:16:47.063 --> 00:16:49.299
So i just want to encourage you again today,
00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:51.201
You've heard us say it a million times,
00:16:51.201 --> 00:16:53.670
Find something to be grateful for.
00:16:53.670 --> 00:16:56.039
It brings me back to this idea of renewing the mind, because
00:16:59.676 --> 00:17:03.980
We always have the opportunity to do that.
00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:06.783
But it's a question of whether
00:17:06.783 --> 00:17:07.684
Or not we do. that word renew,
00:17:07.684 --> 00:17:10.253
I had to preach on this a little while ago.
00:17:10.253 --> 00:17:12.589
And it's composed of two pieces.
00:17:12.589 --> 00:17:14.624
So there's the prefix re which means to go back.
00:17:14.624 --> 00:17:17.727
And i remember the holy spirit told me to
00:17:17.727 --> 00:17:19.095
Look up the definition of new.
00:17:19.095 --> 00:17:21.064
And i was like, i know what new means.
00:17:21.064 --> 00:17:22.799
Like it just means like never existed before.
00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.435
But when i looked up, the definition it said never
00:17:25.435 --> 00:17:27.637
Existed before or previously existed.
00:17:27.637 --> 00:17:30.640
But just now, coming into awareness,
00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.443
And so renewing the mind is really going back and
00:17:33.443 --> 00:17:38.181
Discovering what was always there
00:17:38.181 --> 00:17:41.484
But it's just now coming into awareness.
00:17:41.484 --> 00:17:43.653
So in your case, what i'm thinking about is it's like,
00:17:43.653 --> 00:17:47.023
You know, when you're in the midst of the pain and the
00:17:47.023 --> 00:17:49.559
Resentment and the bitterness, the sunshine was there.
00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:53.263
Yeah. the coffee was there.
00:17:53.263 --> 00:17:55.165
Yeah. thank god. the health was there.
00:17:55.165 --> 00:17:57.066
Like it was there.
00:17:57.066 --> 00:17:58.535
But we're not aware because our mind has not yet been renewed.
00:17:58.535 --> 00:18:02.138
That is so good.
00:18:02.138 --> 00:18:03.373
And so for all of us, i think in these situations where
00:18:03.373 --> 00:18:07.610
We're just like, oh, the renewal is inviting the holy
00:18:07.610 --> 00:18:12.148
Spirit to make you aware of what is already there.
00:18:12.148 --> 00:18:15.518
It was always there. when he showed me that i was like,
00:18:15.518 --> 00:18:18.721
That's what it is.
00:18:18.721 --> 00:18:19.956
That's why we can be grateful in all situations, because
00:18:19.956 --> 00:18:22.158
There is always something-- always.
00:18:22.158 --> 00:18:24.527
To be grateful for.
00:18:24.527 --> 00:18:26.629
I think a lot of times we let our minds control how we feel,
00:18:26.629 --> 00:18:32.168
And we can go way down the road in something not realizing
00:18:32.168 --> 00:18:36.272
That i already have the victory in the areas that i'm having
00:18:36.272 --> 00:18:41.110
Such a bout with.
00:18:41.110 --> 00:18:42.545
And if we just can stop and renew our minds like jesus
00:18:42.545 --> 00:18:46.449
Tells us to, it's already there.
00:18:46.449 --> 00:18:49.052
You missed it back then.
00:18:49.052 --> 00:18:50.019
We need to rewind and renew.
00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:52.622
Rewind and renew because god had the the victory for you all
00:18:52.622 --> 00:18:58.127
Along, and we just chose not to live in that mindset of i
00:18:58.127 --> 00:19:02.332
Already have the victory.
00:19:02.332 --> 00:19:03.866
I'm already conquering that.
00:19:03.866 --> 00:19:05.768
I am already an overcomer.
00:19:05.768 --> 00:19:07.870
I don't have to go down this trail and let my emotions
00:19:07.870 --> 00:19:11.241
Dictate my actions.
00:19:11.241 --> 00:19:12.508
I don't need to get in trouble down the road just because
00:19:12.508 --> 00:19:14.510
My mind's not right.
00:19:14.510 --> 00:19:15.979
I need to stop and relive and renew.
00:19:15.979 --> 00:19:19.849
I love that that god has already won the victory for us.
00:19:19.849 --> 00:19:23.353
The battle is the lord's.
00:19:23.353 --> 00:19:24.721
We don't have to worry near as much as we do at all because
00:19:24.721 --> 00:19:29.092
We can renew our minds.
00:19:29.092 --> 00:19:30.627
And so i pray for you today that we're quick,
00:19:30.627 --> 00:19:33.896
I'm praying that i get more quick to catch it and to stop
00:19:33.896 --> 00:19:37.967
Going down the road of torment in our minds and
00:19:37.967 --> 00:19:42.272
Just be able to stop and rewind, renew and let's go.
00:19:42.272 --> 00:19:47.277
As part of being able to say even the prayer of god, i don't
00:19:47.277 --> 00:19:51.080
Know how it's going to look,
00:19:51.080 --> 00:19:53.016
I don't see how this is all going to work together.
00:19:53.016 --> 00:19:55.752
I don't even understand where you can find good in this.
00:19:55.752 --> 00:19:58.921
But you do.
00:19:58.921 --> 00:20:00.023
Like, i don't have to--
00:20:00.023 --> 00:20:01.090
You know, that's the-- understanding isn't,
00:20:01.090 --> 00:20:04.360
You know, your gratitude isn't based upon your understanding,
00:20:04.360 --> 00:20:08.031
You know.
00:20:08.031 --> 00:20:09.165
And that to me, is where really, even when paul gets
00:20:09.165 --> 00:20:11.467
Into that, do not be anxious about anything
00:20:11.467 --> 00:20:13.303
But in everything, by prayer and petition,
00:20:13.303 --> 00:20:16.105
With thanksgiving. with thanksgiving.
00:20:16.105 --> 00:20:18.841
Like put it in, put your prayer and petition in an
00:20:18.841 --> 00:20:22.312
Atmosphere of thanksgiving
00:20:22.312 --> 00:20:24.314
Because i can have my prayers and my petitions that aren't in
00:20:24.314 --> 00:20:27.150
An atmosphere of thanksgiving, you know, and because then i'm
00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:30.687
Going to get to a place where
00:20:30.687 --> 00:20:31.954
My heart is going to get guarded.
00:20:31.954 --> 00:20:34.090
Yes. that my he's going to guard my heart.
00:20:34.090 --> 00:20:36.693
He's going to protect my peace.
00:20:36.693 --> 00:20:38.494
But it's the thanksgiving that activates the peace.
00:20:38.494 --> 00:20:40.930
It's the environment.
00:20:40.930 --> 00:20:42.565
So that's what he said.
00:20:42.565 --> 00:20:43.599
So philippians 4:7 says, if you do this, you will
00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:46.302
Experience god's peace, which is more wonderful than the
00:20:46.302 --> 00:20:49.305
Human mind can understand.
00:20:49.305 --> 00:20:50.807
His peace will guard your hearts.
00:20:50.807 --> 00:20:52.175
And as we know, that's a military term, means it will
00:20:52.175 --> 00:20:54.444
Stand guard.
00:20:54.444 --> 00:20:55.478
His peace standing guard around your hearts.
00:20:55.478 --> 00:20:57.413
But the whole thing starts with if you do this.
00:20:57.413 --> 00:20:59.515
Yes. so what's the this? the verse before which says don't
00:20:59.515 --> 00:21:03.119
Worry about anything.
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.587
Instead, pray about everything and tell god what you need and
00:21:04.587 --> 00:21:08.191
Thank him for all he's done.
00:21:08.191 --> 00:21:09.625
Yes. so if we want the peace that passes all understanding,
00:21:09.625 --> 00:21:12.829
Then we have to pray and tell god.
00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:14.630
And i remember in that time i went for a walk and
00:21:14.630 --> 00:21:19.736
I was, you know, i remember walking, crying, that whole
00:21:19.736 --> 00:21:23.906
Thing, just going for a walk.
00:21:23.906 --> 00:21:25.141
And i remember saying, god, who--
00:21:25.141 --> 00:21:27.510
I just need to call a friend and talk to her.
00:21:27.510 --> 00:21:30.546
And i just-- just to like, help me.
00:21:30.546 --> 00:21:32.682
And he said, why don't you talk to me?
00:21:32.682 --> 00:21:35.318
Why don't you talk to me?
00:21:35.318 --> 00:21:37.286
And so, right, talk to you.
00:21:37.286 --> 00:21:39.956
And then so it says, so pray, and then be grateful.
00:21:39.956 --> 00:21:43.659
Yes.
00:21:43.659 --> 00:21:44.694
So gratitude, even when things aren't resolved
00:21:44.694 --> 00:21:47.797
Because peace doesn't mean nothing is wrong.
00:21:47.797 --> 00:21:51.100
It means some-- peace.
00:21:51.100 --> 00:21:52.168
Means someone is with me.
00:21:52.168 --> 00:21:53.236
Yeah. right?
00:21:53.236 --> 00:21:54.437
And so i think that's the place i had to come to, that
00:21:54.437 --> 00:21:56.439
If i want the peace that passes all understanding,
00:21:56.439 --> 00:21:58.975
Then i had to do those things.
00:21:58.975 --> 00:22:00.176
I had to actually talk to god more than i was venting.
00:22:00.176 --> 00:22:03.513
Right? and i can vent with the best of them.
00:22:03.513 --> 00:22:06.282
Yeah. and--
00:22:06.282 --> 00:22:07.350
Yes, you can. [laughter] and be grateful.
00:22:07.350 --> 00:22:10.186
Well, what that says to me is that you can't be anxious and
00:22:10.186 --> 00:22:13.489
Grateful at the same time. exactly.
00:22:13.489 --> 00:22:15.491
You know, when we are being grateful, when we are
00:22:15.491 --> 00:22:19.762
Giving god thanks, when we're finding something to be
00:22:19.762 --> 00:22:22.899
Grateful for, it's not--
00:22:22.899 --> 00:22:24.567
That doesn't mean that we're ignoring the situation.
00:22:24.567 --> 00:22:26.569
It doesn't mean that we're ignoring the pain.
00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:28.304
So i when i was in the middle of that devastating time, it
00:22:28.304 --> 00:22:31.674
Wasn't-- i wasn't trying to
00:22:31.674 --> 00:22:32.775
Ignore the pain or the heartbreak.
00:22:32.775 --> 00:22:35.511
I just was in the middle of that, trying to find something
00:22:35.511 --> 00:22:37.780
To be grateful for.
00:22:37.780 --> 00:22:39.248
So i'm just suggesting to you the same. i'm not discounting
00:22:39.248 --> 00:22:42.218
The the very real suffering or real pain that you might be
00:22:42.218 --> 00:22:45.855
In the middle of at all.
00:22:45.855 --> 00:22:47.156
I'm not trying to discount or
00:22:47.156 --> 00:22:48.424
Belittle it or make light of it.
00:22:48.424 --> 00:22:50.793
I'm just suggesting that to help us get through it, we have
00:22:50.793 --> 00:22:54.797
To do what paul says.
00:22:54.797 --> 00:22:56.098
The apostle paul says to in all things, in all circumstances,
00:22:56.098 --> 00:23:00.536
Be grateful.
00:23:00.536 --> 00:23:02.472
I remember, um, matt asking rick warren, you know, what was
00:23:02.472 --> 00:23:06.509
It like, man, when you wrote purpose driven life?
00:23:06.509 --> 00:23:09.512
You're selling a million books a month, a million books
00:23:09.512 --> 00:23:13.816
A month. a month.
00:23:13.816 --> 00:23:15.885
A million a month.
00:23:15.885 --> 00:23:17.820
And rick said, you know what i remember about that time?
00:23:17.820 --> 00:23:21.491
He said, i remember hearing that,
00:23:21.491 --> 00:23:25.661
He said, but what i remember most is holding my wife's head
00:23:25.661 --> 00:23:28.564
Over a toilet as she was
00:23:28.564 --> 00:23:31.100
Getting chemotherapy treatments.
00:23:31.100 --> 00:23:34.036
He said, that's what i remember.
00:23:34.036 --> 00:23:35.771
And he said, in our lives, we've got two tracks.
00:23:35.771 --> 00:23:38.674
Yeah, you're going to be anxious.
00:23:38.674 --> 00:23:40.543
This track is over here.
00:23:40.543 --> 00:23:42.311
Grief, all the disturbances of
00:23:42.311 --> 00:23:45.047
Life, all your circumstances, everything.
00:23:45.047 --> 00:23:46.949
And then there's this path of joy.
00:23:46.949 --> 00:23:49.218
And they both coincide at the same time.
00:23:49.218 --> 00:23:51.320
I'm going to stay over here.
00:23:51.320 --> 00:23:52.421
I'm going to choose joy.
00:23:52.421 --> 00:23:53.923
Pick what track you want to live on today.
00:23:53.923 --> 00:23:56.225
Yeah. and that's real life.
00:23:56.225 --> 00:23:57.693
It's like at every moment, in every moment, we simultaneously
00:23:57.693 --> 00:24:03.232
Have the choice.
00:24:03.232 --> 00:24:04.700
Yeah. and we have to choose what we focus on.
00:24:04.700 --> 00:24:08.504
We have to make a decision what we're going to focus on.
00:24:08.504 --> 00:24:10.640
We recognize the craziness and we choose where am i going to
00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:14.810
Focus my attention.
00:24:14.810 --> 00:24:16.145
Like the philippians 4:6-7,
00:24:16.145 --> 00:24:17.880
Like i memorized that because it was such a blessing when the
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.816
Lord showed me, because i was reading that scripture for
00:24:20.816 --> 00:24:23.486
Years, you know, pray with supplication and the peace of
00:24:23.486 --> 00:24:26.022
God. i would always miss with thanksgiving.
00:24:26.022 --> 00:24:29.292
So i would be like, okay, i gotta pray about this
00:24:29.292 --> 00:24:30.927
And pray about this.
00:24:30.927 --> 00:24:32.061
And i would pray about things and i would rise as
00:24:32.061 --> 00:24:35.031
Anxious as i was when i went down to pray and god was like,
00:24:35.031 --> 00:24:38.267
That's because you're not-- what what thanksgiving does is it
00:24:38.267 --> 00:24:41.637
Requires you to take an inventory of god's past hast
00:24:41.637 --> 00:24:45.641
Faithfulness and goodness.
00:24:45.641 --> 00:24:47.009
That's what it requires.
00:24:47.009 --> 00:24:48.644
And so when i go before the lord and i'm praying about this
00:24:48.644 --> 00:24:50.580
Thing that is crazy while i'm simultaneously voicing god,
00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:54.650
I remember when you did this.
00:24:54.650 --> 00:24:55.952
I remember when you did that.
00:24:55.952 --> 00:24:57.420
That's why in the old testament there are so many examples of
00:24:57.420 --> 00:24:59.956
Those stones of remembrance, right?
00:24:59.956 --> 00:25:02.258
It's like where god did this thing and we're going to we're
00:25:02.258 --> 00:25:04.093
Going to put stones here to
00:25:04.093 --> 00:25:05.628
Remember what happened at this place.
00:25:05.628 --> 00:25:07.964
We don't do that. well, yeah we do.
00:25:07.964 --> 00:25:09.999
We call it a jar and put post-it notes on it.
00:25:09.999 --> 00:25:12.168
You do.
00:25:12.168 --> 00:25:13.202
But i would guarantee you that most people,
00:25:13.202 --> 00:25:16.806
Yeah, most people don't.
00:25:16.806 --> 00:25:18.174
Like, we we're so fixated on what's going wrong.
00:25:18.174 --> 00:25:20.876
We don't have a journal where
00:25:20.876 --> 00:25:21.978
We're like, okay, this happened today.
00:25:21.978 --> 00:25:23.813
This happened today.
00:25:23.813 --> 00:25:24.780
Look, i thank god for this.
00:25:24.780 --> 00:25:25.548
I thank god for this, because
00:25:25.548 --> 00:25:27.116
That's when we go through trials,
00:25:27.116 --> 00:25:28.751
We can open it up.
00:25:28.751 --> 00:25:29.819
Yeah. when our heart
00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:32.054
Is broken and we can't see a way out, we can open it up.
00:25:32.054 --> 00:25:34.757
And i remember on october 3rd, 2020,
00:25:34.757 --> 00:25:39.562
The lord did this.
00:25:39.562 --> 00:25:40.930
I can see how on this the lord did this, and now it's
00:25:40.930 --> 00:25:44.166
Encouraging me because i remember.
00:25:44.166 --> 00:25:47.303
Yeah. so good.
00:25:47.303 --> 00:25:49.138
When we are in a season where it feels like things are out of
00:25:49.138 --> 00:25:51.574
Control, when we're in a season where things like things are
00:25:51.574 --> 00:25:53.943
Just so uncertain, what gratitude does is it causes us
00:25:53.943 --> 00:25:57.947
To take an inventory of god's past faithfulness, of god's
00:25:57.947 --> 00:26:01.951
Past goodness, and that can
00:26:01.951 --> 00:26:04.253
Help to activate hope within us.
00:26:04.253 --> 00:26:07.523
The bible says that those who hope in the lord shall renew
00:26:07.523 --> 00:26:11.761
Their strength.
00:26:11.761 --> 00:26:12.762
They shall mount up on wings like eagles.
00:26:12.762 --> 00:26:15.264
They shall run and not grow weary.
00:26:15.264 --> 00:26:17.333
They shall walk and not faint.
00:26:17.333 --> 00:26:18.801
And so what happens is
00:26:18.801 --> 00:26:19.902
Gratitude unlocks the power of hope.
00:26:19.902 --> 00:26:22.872
And that's why i say it is a gift that we give to ourselves
00:26:22.872 --> 00:26:26.642
By remembering god's goodness in the past.
00:26:26.642 --> 00:26:29.912
Here's what's interesting is even if it's not happening
00:26:29.912 --> 00:26:32.548
Into my own story. yes.
00:26:32.548 --> 00:26:34.717
So we overcome by the blood of
00:26:34.717 --> 00:26:36.485
The lamb and the word of our testimony.
00:26:36.485 --> 00:26:38.754
So when you tell me your testimony, when you tell me the
00:26:38.754 --> 00:26:41.390
Goodness of god that's happening, i get--
00:26:41.390 --> 00:26:43.659
I can even point to it if i'm not seeing it in yours.
00:26:43.659 --> 00:26:46.929
It says that, you know, the testimony of jesus is the
00:26:46.929 --> 00:26:50.132
Spirit of prophecy.
00:26:50.132 --> 00:26:51.434
Yeah.
00:26:51.434 --> 00:26:52.735
So i could literally shift the environment i'm in because i'm
00:26:52.735 --> 00:26:55.304
Like, if you did it, you're saying i can do it.
00:26:55.304 --> 00:26:58.741
I'm grateful that you showed me this, because that
00:26:58.741 --> 00:27:01.977
Means that you're inserting hope.
00:27:01.977 --> 00:27:03.779
You're inserting something. planting in your garden.
00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:06.248
Exactly. and i do love the realness of paul in here
00:27:06.248 --> 00:27:11.887
Of saying, do not be anxious.
00:27:11.887 --> 00:27:13.789
Well, what does that mean?
00:27:13.789 --> 00:27:14.924
Because we're going to struggle with being anxious.
00:27:14.924 --> 00:27:17.226
Jesus saying, do not worry.
00:27:17.226 --> 00:27:19.095
Well, i wonder why.
00:27:19.095 --> 00:27:20.362
Yeah. fear not.
00:27:20.362 --> 00:27:21.864
Could it be that maybe
00:27:21.864 --> 00:27:23.799
Somewhere i might have a reason to worry?
00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:26.602
Or there's something--
00:27:26.602 --> 00:27:27.703
So also, can you just feel normal today? like that
00:27:27.703 --> 00:27:31.173
You don't feel like i'm the
00:27:31.173 --> 00:27:32.274
Only one who struggles with this?
00:27:32.274 --> 00:27:33.709
I'm the only one who has anxiety.
00:27:33.709 --> 00:27:35.544
And even when you look in the offerings,
00:27:35.544 --> 00:27:37.646
Um, so the where the thanksgiving offering is tucked
00:27:37.646 --> 00:27:41.550
Into is actually in the fellowship offering.
00:27:41.550 --> 00:27:44.386
Then you have the peace offering, and then you have
00:27:44.386 --> 00:27:46.388
The thanksgiving offering.
00:27:46.388 --> 00:27:47.723
It's like a turducken, like
00:27:47.723 --> 00:27:50.993
So literally the turkey with the duck and the chicken.
00:27:50.993 --> 00:27:53.562
If you've never had one, it sounds like a party in
00:27:53.562 --> 00:27:56.298
A turkey. pretty much.
00:27:56.298 --> 00:27:58.167
And they all get crammed in there.
00:27:58.167 --> 00:27:59.468
But to think about that, when i'm bringing this in, i'm
00:27:59.468 --> 00:28:02.471
Trying to get to this.
00:28:02.471 --> 00:28:03.739
But it's interesting that it's within a fellowship offering
00:28:03.739 --> 00:28:07.076
Where i don't want to--
00:28:07.076 --> 00:28:08.377
Like you said, the last thing i wanted to be around was people.
00:28:08.377 --> 00:28:11.213
Yeah.
00:28:11.213 --> 00:28:12.314
And so literally in a fellowship offering now, i
00:28:12.314 --> 00:28:15.151
Still don't have-- i'm not even thankful yet.
00:28:15.151 --> 00:28:17.086
Then there's a peace offering,
00:28:17.086 --> 00:28:18.621
That guarding of my heart and mind.
00:28:18.621 --> 00:28:20.990
There's something that surpasses what i understand.
00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:24.059
Yeah.
00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:24.794
And then here--
00:28:24.794 --> 00:28:25.795
And it's actually not a required offering.
00:28:25.795 --> 00:28:27.663
Yeah.
00:28:27.663 --> 00:28:28.697
Thanksgiving offering wasn't a required one.
00:28:28.697 --> 00:28:30.900
It's one that you got-- you get to choose.
00:28:30.900 --> 00:28:33.068
You had to choose it. you had to choose.
00:28:33.068 --> 00:28:35.004
Gratitude is a choice.
00:28:35.004 --> 00:28:36.172
That's the thing that was
00:28:36.172 --> 00:28:37.606
Actually powerful to me.
00:28:37.606 --> 00:28:39.475
There's something only i can give god.
00:28:39.475 --> 00:28:43.546
Yes. nobody else has all those
00:28:43.546 --> 00:28:45.381
Particular places that you've walked.
00:28:45.381 --> 00:28:47.550
And he knows-- that's good.
00:28:47.550 --> 00:28:49.285
That there's something only i can give you.
00:28:49.285 --> 00:28:52.021
And that, to me, is like, god,
00:28:52.021 --> 00:28:55.157
I want to give this to you.
00:28:55.157 --> 00:28:56.192
So here's god,
00:28:56.192 --> 00:28:57.560
Here's god up there experiencing you now.
00:28:57.560 --> 00:29:02.064
So we get to experience god in everything and anything,
00:29:02.064 --> 00:29:06.135
But our free will
00:29:06.135 --> 00:29:08.070
Choosing to glorify god, choosing to be thankful,
00:29:08.070 --> 00:29:12.608
That's god getting to experience us.
00:29:12.608 --> 00:29:16.011
Can you imagine giving him incentive?
00:29:16.011 --> 00:29:18.347
Incentive to bless my life by through thanksgiving
00:29:18.347 --> 00:29:22.518
And praise and worship?
00:29:22.518 --> 00:29:25.454
Bringing a sacrifice of praise.
00:29:25.454 --> 00:29:27.590
Um, i think this is an important time to say, um,
00:29:27.590 --> 00:29:32.428
The very beginning of that statement really stepped in on
00:29:32.428 --> 00:29:35.631
When i don't feel like it.
00:29:35.631 --> 00:29:37.900
Um, and sometimes that's a, it's a real hard place because
00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:41.370
It's not in the absence of our feelings, um, that
00:29:41.370 --> 00:29:45.007
We're grateful.
00:29:45.007 --> 00:29:46.242
I really think that you can bring all of it to the lord.
00:29:46.242 --> 00:29:49.278
You can bring the very place that i don't feel worthy of
00:29:49.278 --> 00:29:51.814
This, or i feel shame around this, or actually, i'm mad at
00:29:51.814 --> 00:29:54.817
You or i'm-- whatever it is god's saying it isn't--
00:29:54.817 --> 00:29:59.288
You're going to feel all different kinds of things
00:29:59.288 --> 00:30:01.290
In life, and that's just the truth of it.
00:30:01.290 --> 00:30:03.893
Like, i'm not always on 10 or 100 or whichever number is
00:30:03.893 --> 00:30:07.930
For the day, you know?
00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:09.465
But god's saying, but will you choose?
00:30:09.465 --> 00:30:12.768
And sacrifice is a choice.
00:30:12.768 --> 00:30:14.937
And romans talks about being a living sacrifice
00:30:14.937 --> 00:30:18.574
And sometimes being grateful
00:30:18.574 --> 00:30:21.677
It does come at a cost.
00:30:21.677 --> 00:30:23.679
Like god, this is hard and i don't see it and i don't know
00:30:23.679 --> 00:30:27.483
What to do about it, but i'm going to give it to you.
00:30:27.483 --> 00:30:31.220
I'm going to give it to you because you're good, even
00:30:31.220 --> 00:30:33.422
Though this is not good.
00:30:33.422 --> 00:30:34.690
Because you're for me
00:30:34.690 --> 00:30:35.958
Even though these nobody in this scenario feels like it's
00:30:35.958 --> 00:30:39.428
There for me, that i can actually look at that
00:30:39.428 --> 00:30:42.231
And i actually think that
00:30:42.231 --> 00:30:43.232
That sacrifice, it actually means something.
00:30:43.232 --> 00:30:47.503
And then even like what you said, like our stories overcome
00:30:47.503 --> 00:30:51.073
Word of the testimony was part of what you mentioned.
00:30:51.073 --> 00:30:53.042
And so how it encourages to hear people's story.
00:30:53.042 --> 00:30:57.479
I can take your story and put it in my gratitude journal and
00:30:57.479 --> 00:31:00.516
Write it and put it in my post-it note in the jar.
00:31:00.516 --> 00:31:02.918
Proverbs 31, one of the verses in there, it says,
00:31:02.918 --> 00:31:04.820
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is
00:31:04.820 --> 00:31:07.456
The law of kindness.
00:31:07.456 --> 00:31:08.757
And that word is hakham, which
00:31:08.757 --> 00:31:10.759
Basically means a divine perspective.
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:12.895
So what it's saying is that we should be capable of opening
00:31:12.895 --> 00:31:15.764
Our mouth and giving a divine perspective, which will always
00:31:15.764 --> 00:31:20.069
Include gratitude. yeah.
00:31:20.069 --> 00:31:21.670
Like always.
00:31:21.670 --> 00:31:22.738
I want to say something about you.
00:31:22.738 --> 00:31:25.274
So during that hard time of her life, she overcame.
00:31:25.274 --> 00:31:31.046
Right.
00:31:31.046 --> 00:31:32.348
And was stepping out and doing amazing things and having these
00:31:32.348 --> 00:31:37.052
Beautiful nights of and conferences in the dolby
00:31:37.052 --> 00:31:41.757
Theater where we do the oscars in california.
00:31:41.757 --> 00:31:44.660
That was your gratitude in action.
00:31:44.660 --> 00:31:48.697
That was what was in your heart.
00:31:48.697 --> 00:31:50.866
That was your faith in action, doing those things.
00:31:50.866 --> 00:31:55.237
And i love you for that because you have changed so many
00:31:55.237 --> 00:31:58.607
Women's lives through that.
00:31:58.607 --> 00:32:00.642
When you were going through some of the worst hell that
00:32:00.642 --> 00:32:03.879
You've ever been through, and i love you for that.
00:32:03.879 --> 00:32:06.348
Thanks, friend.
00:32:06.348 --> 00:32:07.349
Well, you were there.
00:32:07.349 --> 00:32:08.283
You were there.
00:32:08.283 --> 00:32:09.218
I have a picture of us from the back.
00:32:09.218 --> 00:32:11.186
Yeah, it's hanging in our house.
00:32:11.186 --> 00:32:13.188
It is.
00:32:13.188 --> 00:32:14.456
I have it in my house too, us from the back at the dolby.
00:32:14.456 --> 00:32:15.924
And during that season from--
00:32:15.924 --> 00:32:18.994
I love what holly did in the midst of her nightmare, she
00:32:18.994 --> 00:32:23.465
Starts thinking of other people, and she finds the
00:32:23.465 --> 00:32:26.668
Scripture in proverbs 31:15.
00:32:26.668 --> 00:32:28.837
It says she rises while it is yet night.
00:32:28.837 --> 00:32:33.075
And that's what she did.
00:32:33.075 --> 00:32:34.543
And so she started having these conferences called she rises.
00:32:34.543 --> 00:32:38.213
And that's exactly what she needed.
00:32:38.213 --> 00:32:40.582
She started giving out what she needed.
00:32:40.582 --> 00:32:43.218
She needed some encouragement.
00:32:43.218 --> 00:32:45.154
She needed some peace and joy in her life.
00:32:45.154 --> 00:32:47.556
And so she reached out and started giving peace and joy
00:32:47.556 --> 00:32:50.793
And encouragement to others.
00:32:50.793 --> 00:32:52.327
And i think that's such a key in our lives that we give
00:32:52.327 --> 00:32:55.431
What we need.
00:32:55.431 --> 00:32:57.599
I think we miss the when i'm grateful,
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:00.636
It's literally me handing everything, the situation and
00:33:00.636 --> 00:33:03.172
Everything to him, and he can finally do something with it.
00:33:03.172 --> 00:33:05.707
It's no longer clenched in my hands.
00:33:05.707 --> 00:33:07.543
Yeah. so when you finally were able to just go-- and it
00:33:07.543 --> 00:33:11.180
Sometimes it's not in the-- you know, it's like take it.
00:33:11.180 --> 00:33:13.715
When you hand it over. take it.
00:33:13.715 --> 00:33:14.750
Yeah. when you hand it over, it's all yours.
00:33:14.750 --> 00:33:16.485
You can do whatever you want to with it.
00:33:16.485 --> 00:33:18.554
And now the lord's like, oh, wonderful, you've actually
00:33:18.554 --> 00:33:21.890
Given it to me
00:33:21.890 --> 00:33:23.192
Permission because he is not--
00:33:23.192 --> 00:33:25.561
He puts free will in us.
00:33:25.561 --> 00:33:27.096
Yeah. he's not going to impose his will.
00:33:27.096 --> 00:33:29.798
He's going to say, hey, whenever you're ready, i am
00:33:29.798 --> 00:33:33.035
Willing to to intervene and be a part of this.
00:33:33.035 --> 00:33:36.004
But as long as our ungratefulness actually,
00:33:36.004 --> 00:33:39.842
Um, enslaves us.
00:33:39.842 --> 00:33:41.310
Yeah. locks us up and says to him,
00:33:41.310 --> 00:33:43.579
No, thank you.
00:33:43.579 --> 00:33:44.680
Well, then we just become like
00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:45.681
The murmuring children of israel.
00:33:45.681 --> 00:33:47.749
The murmuring, complaining.
00:33:47.749 --> 00:33:49.318
Here they were rescued.
00:33:49.318 --> 00:33:51.687
They weren't grateful for it. anyway,
00:33:51.687 --> 00:33:53.589
I was just like them.
00:33:53.589 --> 00:33:55.691
In order to give thanksgiving to god, you have to first shift
00:33:55.691 --> 00:33:59.161
Your perspective away from yourself onto him.
00:33:59.161 --> 00:34:03.732
Uh, when we thank god, it's because we're thinking about
00:34:03.732 --> 00:34:06.335
Who he is, what he has done.
00:34:06.335 --> 00:34:08.704
We're thinking about his character and his faithfulness.
00:34:08.704 --> 00:34:10.906
And because of that, we think about who he is,
00:34:10.906 --> 00:34:13.709
It really does make our circumstances seem relatively
00:34:13.709 --> 00:34:17.279
Small in compared to his omniscience and his omnipotence
00:34:17.279 --> 00:34:21.250
And his omnipresence.
00:34:21.250 --> 00:34:22.551
And i do think it's important to maintain that perspective.
00:34:22.551 --> 00:34:27.389
Join the conversation on our
00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:28.924
Bettertogether together youtube channel.
00:34:28.924 --> 00:34:31.026
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00:34:35.006 --> 00:34:37.400
One of the things i believe very strongly is it is okay not
00:34:41.004 --> 00:34:45.275
To be okay.
00:34:45.275 --> 00:34:46.309
I spent so many years trying to be perfect.
00:34:46.309 --> 00:34:49.546
I wanted to be perfect for god until i realized i'm not
00:34:49.546 --> 00:34:52.782
Called to be perfect.
00:34:52.782 --> 00:34:54.217
I'm called to follow one who is perfect.
00:34:54.217 --> 00:34:56.953
You get to come as you are.
00:34:56.953 --> 00:34:58.254
And i think when you realize that, there is such freedom
00:34:58.254 --> 00:35:01.424
In knowing you're loved right now, just the way you are.
00:35:01.424 --> 00:35:05.895
We want the fruit of the spirit, right?
00:35:09.165 --> 00:35:11.367
So galatians 5:22, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,
00:35:11.367 --> 00:35:15.171
Forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
00:35:15.171 --> 00:35:16.806
Gentleness, and self control.
00:35:16.806 --> 00:35:17.974
We want we want those things.
00:35:17.974 --> 00:35:20.176
But so i'm not a gardener, like, not by any stretch of
00:35:20.176 --> 00:35:22.612
The imagination, but i was studying this, um, text
00:35:22.612 --> 00:35:27.550
And the lord prompted me to research just how to grow the
00:35:27.550 --> 00:35:31.921
Best fruit, like just from a gardening standpoint.
00:35:31.921 --> 00:35:34.757
And i was like, okay, so i find out that in order to grow the
00:35:34.757 --> 00:35:39.028
Best fruit, you need fertilizer that's really high in nitrogen.
00:35:39.028 --> 00:35:43.032
And the fertilizers that are highest in nitrogen are, um,
00:35:43.032 --> 00:35:47.203
Manure and blood meal.
00:35:47.203 --> 00:35:48.938
Blood meal is a dry powder that
00:35:48.938 --> 00:35:51.841
Is made from, um, slaughtered pigs.
00:35:51.841 --> 00:35:55.211
It's their blood literally. wow.
00:35:55.211 --> 00:35:57.413
So if you want to grow the best fruit, you have to fertilize it
00:35:57.413 --> 00:36:02.518
With the worst things.
00:36:02.518 --> 00:36:04.721
And i think many of us have found ourselves in situations
00:36:04.721 --> 00:36:07.790
Where we're like, i don't want this.
00:36:07.790 --> 00:36:10.159
This doesn't feel good.
00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:11.761
I don't like it.
00:36:11.761 --> 00:36:12.996
But those are the exact conditions where the fruit of
00:36:12.996 --> 00:36:15.632
The spirit grows the best
00:36:15.632 --> 00:36:17.433
If we learn to invite the
00:36:17.433 --> 00:36:19.802
Spirit of god into the situation.
00:36:19.802 --> 00:36:21.271
And that's the deception.
00:36:21.271 --> 00:36:22.805
The deception is that we just stay in the anger.
00:36:22.805 --> 00:36:26.109
We stay in, you know, just the grief of the situation.
00:36:26.109 --> 00:36:29.545
And the lord is like, i just would love for you to invite me
00:36:29.545 --> 00:36:32.382
In, because the key is even if you have the best
00:36:32.382 --> 00:36:35.551
Fertilizer, it's the lord that controls the climate.
00:36:35.551 --> 00:36:39.656
It's true.
00:36:39.656 --> 00:36:40.657
Right? so you can have the best fertilizer.
00:36:40.657 --> 00:36:41.958
That doesn't guarantee you're going to have the best fruit.
00:36:41.958 --> 00:36:43.693
It's the lord that controls the
00:36:43.693 --> 00:36:45.028
Climate and the atmospheric conditions.
00:36:45.028 --> 00:36:46.396
So we have to invite god into it.
00:36:46.396 --> 00:36:48.765
And he's waiting.
00:36:48.765 --> 00:36:50.199
That's the part that just boggles my mind.
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:52.802
Well, just even think about it like this.
00:36:52.802 --> 00:36:54.070
We all wish that life was mountaintop,
00:36:54.070 --> 00:36:56.272
Mountaintop, mountaintop, heaven.
00:36:56.272 --> 00:36:58.941
Yeah.
00:36:58.941 --> 00:37:00.076
Right? but it's mountaintop, valley.
00:37:00.076 --> 00:37:02.979
Mountaintop. but fruit doesn't grow on
00:37:02.979 --> 00:37:04.881
Mountaintops. fruit grows in the valley.
00:37:04.881 --> 00:37:06.249
That's right.
00:37:06.249 --> 00:37:06.849
Right. so who we are,
00:37:06.849 --> 00:37:08.351
And this is the part that's hard--
00:37:08.351 --> 00:37:10.253
That's so hard, right?
00:37:10.253 --> 00:37:11.187
-- it's being forged in the hard times.
00:37:11.187 --> 00:37:13.156
So, like, there's other aspects of you that are coming out
00:37:13.156 --> 00:37:16.159
And being forged right now.
00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:17.794
There was aspects of me that were being forged that will
00:37:17.794 --> 00:37:20.096
Sustain me on the the next climb.
00:37:20.096 --> 00:37:22.632
Yeah. right?
00:37:22.632 --> 00:37:23.633
So who we are is being forged
00:37:23.633 --> 00:37:24.901
In the manure pit in the valley.
00:37:24.901 --> 00:37:27.870
Yeah. right.
00:37:27.870 --> 00:37:29.038
Yeah, but i do think god doesn't expect us to be excited
00:37:29.038 --> 00:37:33.476
About the pain, right?
00:37:33.476 --> 00:37:34.711
Like, there are some people who are just like, oh, yes,
00:37:34.711 --> 00:37:36.813
Give me the pain.
00:37:36.813 --> 00:37:38.114
I don't think he expects us to be excited about the pain, but
00:37:38.114 --> 00:37:41.918
I do think that he's waiting for us to rejoice in his
00:37:41.918 --> 00:37:46.723
Faithfulness and his work in the situation.
00:37:46.723 --> 00:37:50.126
And so it is okay to come to the lord.
00:37:50.126 --> 00:37:53.196
It's okay to come to the lord and say, you know what?
00:37:53.196 --> 00:37:55.031
And i've done it. like, god, i can't talk to you right now.
00:37:55.031 --> 00:37:59.302
Yeah. i just can't.
00:37:59.302 --> 00:38:00.703
Like my heart is so heavy.
00:38:00.703 --> 00:38:02.839
I know you're in this.
00:38:02.839 --> 00:38:03.673
I know you're with me.
00:38:03.673 --> 00:38:04.941
But i need you to give me the grace to just know
00:38:04.941 --> 00:38:09.212
That i can't talk to you right now.
00:38:09.212 --> 00:38:10.713
And you know what's amazing is even in that, i felt his love.
00:38:10.713 --> 00:38:14.784
Yeah. i felt his love in those times where i was like, i just--
00:38:14.784 --> 00:38:19.055
I have something in me right now where i know you could have
00:38:19.055 --> 00:38:21.991
Done something about this, but you didn't.
00:38:21.991 --> 00:38:23.593
And i don't understand why. i can't talk to you right now,
00:38:23.593 --> 00:38:26.095
But i still felt his love.
00:38:26.095 --> 00:38:27.497
And it was like i think about my boys.
00:38:27.497 --> 00:38:29.966
There have been times when my boys were upset with me and,
00:38:29.966 --> 00:38:33.069
Um, my youngest son--
00:38:33.069 --> 00:38:35.171
I actually have a picture on my phone--
00:38:35.171 --> 00:38:36.706
He was so upset one day that he went to his room and he wrote a
00:38:36.706 --> 00:38:40.109
Sign and he put it on his door and he said, dad and tj do not
00:38:40.109 --> 00:38:44.547
Come in my room.
00:38:44.547 --> 00:38:45.815
Mom can come in my room, but
00:38:45.815 --> 00:38:47.550
Nobody else can come in my room.
00:38:47.550 --> 00:38:48.751
I need to calm down.
00:38:48.751 --> 00:38:49.986
Then you'll see
00:38:49.986 --> 00:38:51.187
He put, p.s. mom, don't come in my room.
00:38:51.187 --> 00:38:54.557
I need to calm down.
00:38:54.557 --> 00:38:56.626
I loved him so much that i let him have his space, but when he
00:38:56.626 --> 00:39:00.596
Was ready to come out, i was right there.
00:39:00.596 --> 00:39:02.765
Yeah, and that's how the lord is.
00:39:02.765 --> 00:39:04.300
And if i'm that way with my child, knowing he doesn't want
00:39:04.300 --> 00:39:06.335
To talk to me right now--
00:39:06.335 --> 00:39:07.770
Yeah. and god is all love,
00:39:07.770 --> 00:39:10.940
Oh, man.
00:39:10.940 --> 00:39:11.741
Yeah.
00:39:11.741 --> 00:39:13.042
You know, scripture talks about the treasures of darkness, the
00:39:13.042 --> 00:39:14.977
Things that you come out of the dark places with.
00:39:14.977 --> 00:39:18.147
Because i can remember
00:39:18.147 --> 00:39:19.782
I think yesterday you talked about psalm 34,
00:39:19.782 --> 00:39:22.885
The lord is close to the brokenhearted.
00:39:22.885 --> 00:39:25.154
But it's only when you're brokenhearted you realize
00:39:25.154 --> 00:39:27.156
How close he is. oh, man.
00:39:27.156 --> 00:39:29.158
Because that's where i discovered it.
00:39:29.158 --> 00:39:30.760
I mean, i discovered it in a psychiatric hospital on the
00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:34.096
Floor, thinking i'd blown it,
00:39:34.096 --> 00:39:36.532
Thinking i'd never be loved again.
00:39:36.532 --> 00:39:38.501
And suddenly it's like this
00:39:38.501 --> 00:39:40.470
Overwhelming sense of the closeness.
00:39:40.470 --> 00:39:43.906
I mean, actually, i wrote him at the back of my bible,
00:39:43.906 --> 00:39:47.510
Never knew you lived so close to the floor.
00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:49.712
Yeah.
00:39:49.712 --> 00:39:50.880
Because i'm so used to worshiping god in his majesty,
00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:52.715
As we should.
00:39:52.715 --> 00:39:54.116
But i discovered the truth of the lord is close to the
00:39:54.116 --> 00:39:57.119
Brokenhearted and saves us her crushed in spirit.
00:39:57.119 --> 00:40:00.823
When that's exactly how i felt.
00:40:00.823 --> 00:40:02.892
And the presence of christ in that place.
00:40:02.892 --> 00:40:06.028
I wouldn't exchange that for anything.
00:40:06.028 --> 00:40:08.164
I would not have signed up for it, but i would not change it.
00:40:08.164 --> 00:40:10.566
How would we know he was the great comforter--
00:40:10.566 --> 00:40:13.903
Absolutely.
00:40:13.903 --> 00:40:14.804
If we didn't go through those places?
00:40:14.804 --> 00:40:16.305
How would we know
00:40:16.305 --> 00:40:17.673
That he is the the mender of broken hearted
00:40:17.673 --> 00:40:22.044
If we didn't ever experience that? how would we know we had
00:40:22.044 --> 00:40:25.114
Love or the fruit of the spirit if it wasn't called upon,
00:40:25.114 --> 00:40:28.484
Or joy, or all if it wasn't called upon?
00:40:28.484 --> 00:40:32.121
So i think everything that we go through is a question, who
00:40:32.121 --> 00:40:35.925
Do you say that i am?
00:40:35.925 --> 00:40:38.928
Being grateful doesn't always change the circumstances,
00:40:38.928 --> 00:40:42.231
Because you can find yourself in a place where there's no
00:40:42.231 --> 00:40:45.768
Control over what's going on, but it changes--
00:40:45.768 --> 00:40:48.704
To me, it changes my heart toward them.
00:40:48.704 --> 00:40:50.773
When i know that god is always with me, then even when i don't
00:40:50.773 --> 00:40:54.176
Understand everything that's
00:40:54.176 --> 00:40:55.411
Going on, somehow being grateful--
00:40:55.411 --> 00:40:57.713
And it's honestly it's just our way of saying to the lord,
00:40:57.713 --> 00:40:59.749
You know what?
00:40:59.749 --> 00:41:00.716
I trust you and you're worth it.
00:41:00.716 --> 00:41:03.085
I think trust is what love looks like.
00:41:03.085 --> 00:41:05.922
You know, it's so easy to say,
00:41:05.922 --> 00:41:07.089
I love the lord, and that's great.
00:41:07.089 --> 00:41:09.258
But when you put that into action and trust and
00:41:09.258 --> 00:41:12.662
Thanksgiving, then i think that's what transforms us.
00:41:12.662 --> 00:41:16.766
For me,
00:41:16.766 --> 00:41:18.000
I feel like i can't not say this, but it's just like we
00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:21.304
Have an obligation then, right?
00:41:21.304 --> 00:41:22.805
So the bible says that the holy spirit comes alongside us so
00:41:22.805 --> 00:41:26.042
That then we can come alongside someone else.
00:41:26.042 --> 00:41:29.045
So we take comfort
00:41:29.045 --> 00:41:30.112
To comfort others, right?
00:41:30.112 --> 00:41:31.147
It's to comfort others so that we've what we
00:41:31.147 --> 00:41:34.517
Experience from him,
00:41:34.517 --> 00:41:35.851
So in the middle of our dark time, in the middle of our
00:41:35.851 --> 00:41:38.054
Valley, in the middle of the heartbreak, when we open our
00:41:38.054 --> 00:41:42.291
Heart like it took me a minute to do that
00:41:42.291 --> 00:41:43.960
We experience his comfort.
00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:45.695
And it's so that.
00:41:45.695 --> 00:41:46.963
Yes. so that.
00:41:46.963 --> 00:41:48.698
Right. and so i remember this walking into a store one time
00:41:48.698 --> 00:41:52.168
And, you know, most of you know that i had breast cancer myself
00:41:52.168 --> 00:41:56.339
20 years ago.
00:41:56.339 --> 00:41:57.039
So navigated that journey.
00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:58.541
And i remember walking into a store one time and i saw a
00:41:58.541 --> 00:42:02.278
Woman who i could tell was in the middle of it, like she was
00:42:02.278 --> 00:42:06.382
In the middle of the journey,
00:42:06.382 --> 00:42:07.917
Just the hair and the situation.
00:42:07.917 --> 00:42:09.819
I could just tell and i just thought, do i say anything?
00:42:09.819 --> 00:42:15.024
Here she is trying to shop or whatever.
00:42:15.024 --> 00:42:17.159
And i said, no, you do.
00:42:17.159 --> 00:42:18.894
Yeah. so i just remember walking up to her and i just
00:42:18.894 --> 00:42:22.131
Said, because at this point i was probably 12 years out.
00:42:22.131 --> 00:42:24.800
I said, i just want you to know, this is what
00:42:24.800 --> 00:42:26.936
12 years out looks.
00:42:26.936 --> 00:42:28.237
And she just started sobbing, like she just needed somebody
00:42:28.237 --> 00:42:32.041
To give her hope. so alone.
00:42:32.041 --> 00:42:34.143
Right. so i just feel like sometimes the challenges of
00:42:34.143 --> 00:42:37.146
Whether it's in the nicu, yes, it did things in us and it
00:42:37.146 --> 00:42:41.217
Should if we have any sort of relationship with jesus,
00:42:41.217 --> 00:42:43.686
But it's so that. yes.
00:42:43.686 --> 00:42:45.421
Right. it's so that that i could go-- so for her like i
00:42:45.421 --> 00:42:48.157
Grabbed her hand and we prayed and then just and i wiped her
00:42:48.157 --> 00:42:51.160
Tears and so and it was just a moment.
00:42:51.160 --> 00:42:53.696
It was just a moment.
00:42:53.696 --> 00:42:54.864
But i just think maybe we should keep our eyes open
00:42:54.864 --> 00:42:57.767
For those moments.
00:42:57.767 --> 00:42:59.168
Right? the moments where there's people who are
00:42:59.168 --> 00:43:01.370
Struggling in an area that-- like we all have, we've all
00:43:01.370 --> 00:43:05.708
Been through stuff.
00:43:05.708 --> 00:43:06.976
And so what wisdom do i have?
00:43:06.976 --> 00:43:09.545
What compassion do i now have
00:43:09.545 --> 00:43:11.414
Because i navigated this hard thing where i can open my mouth
00:43:11.414 --> 00:43:15.117
And share with someone and bring peace to a situation?
00:43:15.117 --> 00:43:18.821
See things you would have missed before.
00:43:18.821 --> 00:43:20.289
So i know there's women who are watching that who have
00:43:20.289 --> 00:43:22.558
Navigated abuse, like real abuse, and they have gotten
00:43:22.558 --> 00:43:26.562
Freedom and found healing.
00:43:26.562 --> 00:43:27.763
Well, what i know is because god is not going
00:43:27.763 --> 00:43:30.766
To waste anything.
00:43:30.766 --> 00:43:31.967
So there's a woman in your circle of influence who will
00:43:31.967 --> 00:43:34.203
Need to know what you know.
00:43:34.203 --> 00:43:35.638
She'll need to know the wisdom of how you got through that.
00:43:35.638 --> 00:43:37.773
There's women who, you
00:43:37.773 --> 00:43:39.575
Know, got their advanced degrees.
00:43:39.575 --> 00:43:41.744
Well, what i know is that there's a young college student
00:43:41.744 --> 00:43:43.846
Who's thinking of quitting because
00:43:43.846 --> 00:43:45.915
She needs to know what you what you know.
00:43:45.915 --> 00:43:47.416
So i feel like sometimes the things that we go through, if
00:43:47.416 --> 00:43:50.586
We're not careful, we'll just start focusing inward on
00:43:50.586 --> 00:43:53.689
What this did in me.
00:43:53.689 --> 00:43:55.491
And yes, it did great things in me and i am,
00:43:55.491 --> 00:43:57.960
I am much stronger today and my faith in god is much more real
00:43:57.960 --> 00:44:02.098
And much more genuine and much stronger.
00:44:02.098 --> 00:44:04.166
Today i have confidence that he is the lifter of my head.
00:44:04.166 --> 00:44:07.336
So yes to all of that.
00:44:07.336 --> 00:44:09.105
And it's made me open my eyes to see who else might be there,
00:44:09.105 --> 00:44:14.543
And so that i can now come alongside.
00:44:14.543 --> 00:44:17.880
Healed people heal people. yes.
00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:20.716
Don't you ever forget that what you're going through now, or
00:44:20.716 --> 00:44:23.519
What you've been through, god can't redeem.
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:26.756
God will use it to glorify.
00:44:26.756 --> 00:44:28.891
He never wastes a sorrow.
00:44:28.891 --> 00:44:31.026
He never wastes a tear.
00:44:31.026 --> 00:44:33.195
He will use it to pour out of you
00:44:33.195 --> 00:44:35.898
Love and hope to the people
00:44:35.898 --> 00:44:38.033
Around you and the people in need.
00:44:38.033 --> 00:44:41.036
As you were speaking, what struck me is you know how
00:44:41.036 --> 00:44:42.772
Sometimes things will happen and people won't say anything
00:44:42.772 --> 00:44:45.508
Because they're like, well, i just don't know what to say.
00:44:45.508 --> 00:44:47.376
A lot of times we don't know what to say because we've never
00:44:47.376 --> 00:44:49.211
Walked that road.
00:44:49.211 --> 00:44:50.045
When you've walked that road,
00:44:50.045 --> 00:44:52.314
You know what to say.
00:44:52.314 --> 00:44:54.650
Because you experienced people not knowing
00:44:53.315 --> 00:44:57.386
What to say.
00:44:57.386 --> 00:44:58.220
And you know what encouraged you?
00:44:58.220 --> 00:44:59.789
I think that's so beautiful
00:44:59.789 --> 00:45:00.723
And i hope people take that to heart.
00:45:00.723 --> 00:45:02.424
Sometimes what happens is shame will cause us to be like, well,
00:45:02.424 --> 00:45:05.427
I don't want to tell anybody. like whether it comes to
00:45:05.427 --> 00:45:07.630
Abuse or you had mentioned in another episode about even like
00:45:07.630 --> 00:45:10.065
Filing for bankruptcy and things like, like there are so
00:45:10.065 --> 00:45:12.268
Many people having those struggles and they feel alone
00:45:12.268 --> 00:45:14.537
And they feel like a failure. to have someone who's walked that
00:45:14.537 --> 00:45:17.239
Road and can say, honey, it's okay.
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:19.642
Yeah. let me tell you what we don't need is somebody to walk
00:45:19.642 --> 00:45:21.544
Up to you and go, you know what, honey?
00:45:21.544 --> 00:45:23.078
All things work together for good.
00:45:23.078 --> 00:45:24.613
We don't need that.
00:45:24.613 --> 00:45:25.681
Yeah, to weaponize scripture.
00:45:25.681 --> 00:45:26.415
We don't need that.
00:45:26.415 --> 00:45:27.783
We need you to be able to say i walked that road.
00:45:27.783 --> 00:45:30.719
I walked that road.
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:31.654
And here's my number.
00:45:31.654 --> 00:45:33.622
Yeah. if you need somebody to talk to.
00:45:33.622 --> 00:45:35.524
Yeah, well, what that does is it places the seed in the soil.
00:45:35.524 --> 00:45:39.695
Yes. and that soil, that seed in the soil is in a dark place.
00:45:39.695 --> 00:45:43.566
Yes. you don't get to see that.
00:45:43.566 --> 00:45:44.934
You're not seeing the fruit of it.
00:45:44.934 --> 00:45:46.202
And, you know,
00:45:46.202 --> 00:45:47.369
But i was thinking about that
00:45:47.369 --> 00:45:48.404
When you said about the manure.
00:45:48.404 --> 00:45:50.773
And what are we going to do?
00:45:50.773 --> 00:45:52.041
And it can sit on the top of your soil, or it can actually
00:45:52.041 --> 00:45:54.844
Go down and fertilize that seed.
00:45:54.844 --> 00:45:56.645
And i just love hearing just the normality around listening.
00:45:56.645 --> 00:46:01.317
You know, you can watch this and you can think, oh, you
00:46:01.317 --> 00:46:04.720
Have this, you have this title, you have this.
00:46:04.720 --> 00:46:07.056
Whatever it is, you have no idea what i faced today.
00:46:07.056 --> 00:46:11.093
And i just hear each of our
00:46:11.093 --> 00:46:12.595
Stories and think, oh, none of us,
00:46:12.595 --> 00:46:15.731
None of us are sheltered from pain.
00:46:15.731 --> 00:46:18.133
No, there's no out.
00:46:18.133 --> 00:46:20.269
There is no out. i'm going to pray.
00:46:20.269 --> 00:46:22.338
Yes, yes.
00:46:22.338 --> 00:46:23.639
Oh, father, we are so grateful for your presence.
00:46:23.639 --> 00:46:27.009
Um, spirit of god, we are grateful that you do come
00:46:27.009 --> 00:46:30.813
Alongside, that you bring comfort.
00:46:30.813 --> 00:46:33.616
And just in the midst of whatever challenge.
00:46:33.616 --> 00:46:36.752
And i thank you that you are equipping us to then turn
00:46:36.752 --> 00:46:39.288
Around and bring comfort to others.
00:46:39.288 --> 00:46:42.358
And, father, we are grateful.
00:46:42.358 --> 00:46:43.659
We're grateful for our lives.
00:46:43.659 --> 00:46:45.828
We're grateful that just for the the freedom that we have to
00:46:45.828 --> 00:46:50.799
Make choices, we are grateful, god, we're grateful that you
00:46:50.799 --> 00:46:53.202
Are the lifter of our heads.
00:46:53.202 --> 00:46:54.370
We're grateful for your presence.
00:46:54.370 --> 00:46:56.372
Father, help us every day to look for things that we
00:46:56.372 --> 00:46:59.575
Can be grateful for.
00:46:59.575 --> 00:47:01.043
Open our eyes to see.
00:47:01.043 --> 00:47:03.712
As you say in the psalms, open
00:47:03.712 --> 00:47:04.980
Our eyes to see the wondrous things.
00:47:04.980 --> 00:47:06.782
Open our eyes to see god,
00:47:06.782 --> 00:47:09.051
All that you have done for us.
00:47:09.051 --> 00:47:10.986
And father, i pray for every, every person listening.
00:47:10.986 --> 00:47:14.089
And i ask god that you would remind them,
00:47:14.089 --> 00:47:17.226
Remind them of who they are.
00:47:17.226 --> 00:47:18.727
Remind them that there are things to be grateful for.
00:47:18.727 --> 00:47:21.630
And i pray, god, that we will make the decision to enter
00:47:21.630 --> 00:47:24.900
Your courts with thanksgiving, that it is thanksgiving that
00:47:24.900 --> 00:47:28.237
Will flow freely off of our lips.
00:47:28.237 --> 00:47:30.105
Forgive us, god, where we have been complainers and we choose
00:47:30.105 --> 00:47:33.642
Instead to be the grateful ones.
00:47:33.642 --> 00:47:36.712
Yes, god. because we are grateful, god.
00:47:36.712 --> 00:47:38.647
We're grateful for jesus.
00:47:38.647 --> 00:47:40.015
We're grateful for forgiveness.
00:47:40.015 --> 00:47:42.751
We're grateful. thank you.
00:47:42.751 --> 00:47:44.653
Amen. amen. amen.
00:47:44.653 --> 00:47:48.757
Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team
00:47:48.757 --> 00:47:51.560
Can pray for you.
00:47:51.560 --> 00:47:56.432
Hey everyone!
00:47:59.234 --> 00:48:00.502
We are answering your questions at behind the scenes better
00:48:00.502 --> 00:48:04.139
Together today and um,
00:48:04.139 --> 00:48:06.342
Okay, i have a question for you.
00:48:06.342 --> 00:48:08.377
Okay. tammy sent us this question.
00:48:08.377 --> 00:48:09.945
Hey, tammy, thanks for actually sending us questions.
00:48:09.945 --> 00:48:13.482
Um, she asked this.
00:48:13.482 --> 00:48:14.783
She goes, i was raised with the word, but i still do not know
00:48:14.783 --> 00:48:17.987
How to stop this negative talk in my mind.
00:48:17.987 --> 00:48:19.855
How can i stop this garbage from happening?
00:48:19.855 --> 00:48:23.425
Well, first of all, tammy,
00:48:23.425 --> 00:48:24.893
I want to just say how normal it is.
00:48:24.893 --> 00:48:27.096
Like, i think if we-- we sit in these moments and we think,
00:48:27.096 --> 00:48:30.165
I know what to do.
00:48:30.165 --> 00:48:31.600
I've heard this.
00:48:31.600 --> 00:48:32.468
I've heard the word 100,000 times.
00:48:32.468 --> 00:48:34.603
You know, i should know better.
00:48:34.603 --> 00:48:35.871
And really, it's that
00:48:35.871 --> 00:48:36.739
Condemning voice that isn't the lord.
00:48:36.739 --> 00:48:39.074
Um, that isn't the holy spirit.
00:48:39.074 --> 00:48:41.243
Now, the conviction that says, i know i don't--
00:48:41.243 --> 00:48:43.612
This negative thinking isn't helping me.
00:48:43.612 --> 00:48:45.814
What can i do? how can i shift that?
00:48:45.814 --> 00:48:47.750
There's one thing to hear and grow up around the word, and
00:48:47.750 --> 00:48:51.453
It's another thing to actually start using it as a weapon, to
00:48:51.453 --> 00:48:55.190
Literally putting it in your hand and saying, okay, god,
00:48:55.190 --> 00:48:58.227
What can i do with this?
00:48:58.227 --> 00:48:59.928
What can i do to start shifting my negative thinking?
00:48:59.928 --> 00:49:02.431
And it can happen in really practical ways by writing it
00:49:02.431 --> 00:49:05.968
Down on cards and putting it on your mirror and putting it on
00:49:05.968 --> 00:49:09.204
Your dashboard and the lock screen on your phone.
00:49:09.204 --> 00:49:11.607
Okay, let's be honest, the lock screen is probably going to get
00:49:11.607 --> 00:49:13.776
The most attention, you know.
00:49:13.776 --> 00:49:15.377
But can i say it first?
00:49:15.377 --> 00:49:16.645
Can i do something about it and actually act with his word
00:49:16.645 --> 00:49:20.783
Instead of feeling guilty that i know his word says that i
00:49:20.783 --> 00:49:23.786
Shouldn't be thinking, you know-- and really
00:49:23.786 --> 00:49:26.255
Understanding why the word doesn't want us to worry or
00:49:26.255 --> 00:49:29.324
To be anxious is because it hurts us.
00:49:29.324 --> 00:49:31.727
Not because it's like, oh, it just wants to tell me i'm
00:49:31.727 --> 00:49:34.229
Being bad or you're wrong.
00:49:34.229 --> 00:49:36.131
It's really there to change my heart and to,
00:49:36.131 --> 00:49:39.334
To protect me.
00:49:39.334 --> 00:49:40.569
And so i think there's an opportunity in really practical
00:49:40.569 --> 00:49:43.639
Ways, um, that the word gives us to put that weapon in your
00:49:43.639 --> 00:49:46.442
Hand of the word of god.
00:49:46.442 --> 00:49:47.810
Yeah. what she said.
00:49:47.810 --> 00:49:49.078
And then i would also add, if you're really brave and, um,
00:49:49.078 --> 00:49:53.549
Maybe have a friend that's trustworthy or even better, a
00:49:53.549 --> 00:49:57.820
Mentor or someone who's a little further along the
00:49:57.820 --> 00:50:00.823
Journey and you give them permission to challenge
00:50:00.823 --> 00:50:04.393
Sometimes when the words that come out of your mouth or are
00:50:04.393 --> 00:50:08.997
Negative or critical, or just give them a little bit of
00:50:08.997 --> 00:50:11.667
Permission to not beat you up, but just to say, hey, you want
00:50:11.667 --> 00:50:14.903
To phrase that differently, or you want to think differently
00:50:14.903 --> 00:50:16.839
About that, just giving somebody else permission.
00:50:16.839 --> 00:50:19.575
I think i've done my best growing in jesus when i've
00:50:19.575 --> 00:50:24.146
Actually brought community in along the journey.
00:50:24.146 --> 00:50:26.782
That's so good.
00:50:26.782 --> 00:50:27.716
Not to do it alone i think is is huge.
00:50:27.716 --> 00:50:31.320
Join our conversations anytime, anywhere.
00:50:31.320 --> 00:50:34.123
Download tbn+ to stream your favorite episodes.
00:50:34.123 --> 00:50:39.695
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00:50:39.695 --> 00:50:43.532
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00:50:43.532 --> 00:50:47.169
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Gratitude Renews Your Mind - Episode 1117

November 18, 2025 | S7 E1117 | 52:34

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