Better Together

See Failure as Opportunity | Better Together Episode 1160

April 24, 2026 | S8 E1160 | 50:59

God turns what we perceive as "failure" into opportunities to grow. Your mistakes and weaknesses are the very places God redeems for good. When you fully depend on Him, what once held you back becomes a stepping stone to deeper freedom and purpose. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

#Weakness #Redemption #SpiritualGrowth #Purpose #Freedom #Transformation #Faith #TrustGod #Overcoming #Encouragement #Hope #Failure #Disappointed #Hopelessness #Unbelief #Mother #Parenting #PersonalStory #Resurrection #Calling #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #DonnaPisani #AlexandraHoover #SusieLarson

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Better Together | See Failure as Opportunity | Better Together Episode 1160 | April 24, 2026

- there is no such thing as failure in god's eyes.
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When we step out in faith, we can only fail forward.
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Where we see mistakes and weaknesses,
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God sees opportunities to move on our behalf.
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And when we are weak, he is made strong.
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Come on, join us.
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[music]
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- i'll never forget the night that i was baptized.
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I was 16 years old, and i'd given my life to christ
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When i was 11.
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But i wanted to understand why baptism was really significant.
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And so, our pastor had classes, which i went to all the classes
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And read all about them.
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And then, from the moment--
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It was always done at the sunday evening service in our church.
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And we wore white robes and came in and sat in the front row.
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And literally, from the moment i walked into the sanctuary,
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I started to sob, not just cry, i mean, i started to sob.
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It was just overwhelming to me.
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And, you know, my friends were with me who were being baptized,
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And they're like, "are you okay?”
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And i'm like, "yeah, yeah.
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I'm good, i'm good.”
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But it just felt like something huge was going to happen.
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And i remember going up the steps
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And into the baptismal pool,
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And our pastor, he would always have a verse.
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He would pray before the service and say, you know,
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"lord, will you give me a verse for each person?”
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And as i came out of the water, the verse
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He gave me was from john's gospel.
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He says, "you did not choose me, but i chose you,
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That you abide and your fruit will abide.”
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And there was something about that.
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And i think probably because i had felt so unchosen as a child,
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The fact that god was saying, "now, this wasn't your idea,
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Sheila, this was my idea.
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I chose you,”
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Was really overwhelming to me.
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But then, in the years that went on,
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Because i had ignored a lot of the things
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That were painful in life because they seemed too hard
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To deal with--
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I mean, particularly when it comes to things like depression
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Or any kind of mental illness, we don't talk
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About that a whole lot within the church.
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We certainly didn't back then, you know,
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When i was dealing with it.
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And it was very hard for me to hold on to that verse.
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I said, "lord, you said that my fruit would abide.
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But if i fall apart, nothing's going to be left.”
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And i'll never forget,
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I mean, the one day where i went from literally being
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On television in the morning,
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And by that evening, i was in the locked ward
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Of a psychiatric hospital, thinking,
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"i don't know how i did it, but i ruined everything.”
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That had been god's plan.
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God had said, "this wasn't your idea, sheila.
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I chose you.”
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And now, i have so hugely disappointed you
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And let you down.
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And i will look back on that month
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That i spent in a psych ward as one
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Of god's greatest gifts to me.
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I discovered the son of god will give you a gift
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That makes your hand bleed when you open them,
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But inside is what you've been longing for all your life,
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A relationship with him based on nothing you bring to the table.
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And over that month, it was like this slowly stripping away
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Of all the things i'd believed about myself
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And the wrong ways i'd believed about god.
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I always thought it was a quid pro quo thing.
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I'll do this, and then you'll do that.
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And as long as i don't do this, then you won't do that.
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And it was just like relearning.
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And i remember when i was going back onto the 700 club
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To say goodbye to people because i was going to go back
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To seminary, because i went to seminary the first time
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To write down everything i need to do to make sure god loves me.
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I thought, "no, i want to go back,
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And i want to understand everything
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Christ has already done.”
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And so, i met with the production team that morning,
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And they were a little nervous because, you know, i mean,
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I've just spent a month in a psych hospital,
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But the basic thing was maybe don't tell people
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Where you were.
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Maybe just, you know, tell people you were really tired,
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And you need some rest.
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And they were trying to protect me,
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You know, protect your reputation.
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And i said, "you know what?
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Not being able to tell the whole truth
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Is what really got me in trouble.
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So, for the rest of my life, i just need
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To keep telling the whole truth.”
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And so, that morning, i told people, you know,
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Where i'd been and what god was teaching me.
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And the interesting thing was, maybe, i don't know,
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Two or three weeks later, by then i'm out in california,
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And i'm in seminary, one of the girls from 700 club called me,
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And she said, "you're just not going to believe this.
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We got over 5,000 letters from people saying she just
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Told my story on television and didn't self-combust.”
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And what i discovered was something
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That i believe with everything in me,
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Our brokenness is a far greater bridge
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To other people than our pretend wholeness ever is.
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And i think sometimes we think we have to be like god's pr
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Agents, almost like we have to protect his reputation,
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As opposed to saying, "no, here's what's true.
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And in the mess of all that was true,
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Here's how god met me and transformed everything."
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- i think all throughout the scriptures,
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We see a temptation for us, humanity people to hide.
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I think we are really good at hiding.
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And i think we're good at hiding
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Because it is an easy way to self-protect from, again,
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Maybe being exposed from the things that feel weak,
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Or ugly, or gross, or too much for the world.
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And yet, god even goes after us in our hiding.
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He goes after us because he knows
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That the enemy would love nothing more than to isolate
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And discourage us, right?
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We are the most discouraged when we are isolated.
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We are the most discouraged when we are hiding in shame.
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And so, i want to encourage you, friend,
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That thing that you feel like is weighing on you,
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Take it to god.
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Be honest with him about it.
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Surrender it at his feet.
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Know that he saw it.
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He loves you even in the midst of it.
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Nothing is too broken or too far gone
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For god to restore or redeem.
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- that was really something last night
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That i found really interesting because i noticed
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Something i'd never noticed before.
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In mark's gospel, mark chapter 8, it's the story
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Of jesus healing a blind man.
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I've known this story since i was a little girl
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In sunday school, but there was something
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That i noticed i'd never noticed before.
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It says, "when they arrived at bethsaida,
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Some people brought a blind man to jesus,
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And they begged him to touch the man and heal him.
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Jesus took the blind man by the hand
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And led him out of the village.
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Then, spitting on the man's eyes,
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He laid his hands on him and asked,
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'can you see anything now?' the man looked around.
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'yes,' he said, 'i see people, but
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I can't see them very clearly.
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They look like trees walking around.'
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Then jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again,
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And his eyes were opened.
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His sight was completely restored,
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And he could see everything clearly.'“
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What i found myself asking the other night,
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Talking to the holy spirit about is, why
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Did jesus take him out of the town?
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If you think of all the miracles
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That jesus did, came across somebody who was lame,
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Across somebody who was by the pool, you know,
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He would touch them immediately and heal them.
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But it says that jesus took the blind man by the hand
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And led him out of the village before he prayed for him.
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And i was like, "well, what's that about, lord?”
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And then, i went over to matthew's gospel,
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And jesus is talking about all the different miracles he
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Has done in certain places, and he says,
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"what sorrow awaits you, korazin and bethsaida!
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For if the miracles i did in you had been done in wicked tyre
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And sidon, these people would have repented
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Of their sins long ago.”
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And i thought, "sometimes i wonder if to move on with god,
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We have to move out of places of unbelief.”
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You know, it was like in bethsaida
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Where jesus had done so much,
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And they still refused to believe.
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They still wouldn't acknowledge who he is.
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They refused to believe.
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And when this blind man is there,
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And jesus says, "no, let's get out of here.”
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I'm going to take you to a place
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Where we can be free of that, and then i'm going to heal you.”
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That just made me think to be careful,
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To be so careful in terms of what we take
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In, what we listen to, what company we keep even.
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You know, we can get caught up in conversations with people
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That are not edifying, they don't bring us
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Closer to the lord.
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And i think in these days, when i know it's the same
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For all of you, there's nothing,
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Nothing in life i want more than to bring glory to god, nothing.
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It's like my scripture verse is acts 20:24,
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"my life is worth nothing to me now
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Unless i use it for finishing the work assigned me
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By the lord jesus christ, the work of telling others
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About the marvelous grace of god.”
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And i think, "lord, help me by your holy spirit
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To remove myself from places where unbelief is easier,
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To find myself and put myself in situations
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Where i'm with people who love you, people who encourage me,
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And i can encourage them.”
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Because i think if jesus had to take a man out of a place
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Because of their unbelief--
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And i think sometimes we forget how easy it is, particularly
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These days with social media and stuff,
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Where we're just getting--
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And people are exposing this person and that person.
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But i think we get caught up in that, and then we start to read,
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Well, what happened to him then?
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What happened to her then?
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And i think, "no, if i want to move on with the lord,
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If i want to keep following after jesus,
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I want to remove myself from places of unbelief.”
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I thought that falling apart would be the end of everything.
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And it wasn't until everything fell apart,
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I discovered how much i was loved.
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It was like i felt like--
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You ever read the "velveteen rabbit,”
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You know, where all your fur's been loved off?
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It doesn't happen to people who have to be carefully kept.
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And i thought, "lord, let me not be carefully kept in terms
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Of wanting to get it all right and be seen
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To be doing it all right.”
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Because when we bring our failures,
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Perceived or otherwise,
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To the lord and he redeems them,
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Then other people's lives are impacted.
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- you know, i've worked in radio a long time,
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And i've seen some pretty high-profile leaders rise and
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Then fall, and i've gotten to talk with them
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After, and i asked them what happened.
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And they said, "you know, i got so busy working for god,
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I stopped walking with god.”
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And i think that when you walk through times of failure,
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When you fall on your face, scripture says,
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"take heed if you think you stand, lest you fall.”
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I think you're safest just after you've blown it,
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Because dependence on god is our superpower.
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When we start to think we've got
00:10:28.951 --> 00:10:30.252
This, we are walking on thin ice.
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When you get to a place of dependence, scripture says,
00:10:32.521 --> 00:10:35.858
"blessed are the poor in spirit,”
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Which means blessed are those who know their need.
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Theirs is the kingdom of god.
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When you get to that place of brokenness,
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You get to that place of your limits,
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And you press in to know god more, you say,
00:10:45.234 --> 00:10:47.570
"i might have my limits, but god, you have no limits,
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And i'm dependent on you,”
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And you're able to speak out loud about your limitation
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And god's unlimited power over your life,
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People are drawn to you, and they're drawn to god.
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- you know, i think about what i get to do today
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And the ministry i've been able to kind of walk out in my life.
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And i don't think i would have a way to connect with women
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At all had i not walked through the things i'd walked
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Through in my life.
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And it is incredibly painful.
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And for many years, i did perceive it as weakness.
00:11:19.068 --> 00:11:21.337
And i think that regardless whether you are 20 years old
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Or you're 80 years old, i think there are limiting beliefs,
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Right, that the things that have happened to us become failures
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That we have to live into, and they
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Become the narrative of our life.
00:11:32.281 --> 00:11:34.216
And i don't know, i think the lord for me very early
00:11:34.216 --> 00:11:37.520
On in my faith just said, "everything you have walked
00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:40.589
Through will become a vessel.
00:11:40.589 --> 00:11:42.758
You will be a conduit.”
00:11:42.758 --> 00:11:43.759
And i have had such steady faith in that.
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.494
Out of all the things i have not grown into with the lord,
00:11:45.494 --> 00:11:49.365
This particular thing, i think he had to teach me right away
00:11:49.365 --> 00:11:52.601
Because it is true.
00:11:52.601 --> 00:11:53.536
You see it all throughout scripture.
00:11:53.536 --> 00:11:54.937
Our entire life is made up of the things
00:11:54.937 --> 00:11:57.106
That we've walked through.
00:11:57.106 --> 00:11:58.607
There would be no glory to give had we
00:11:58.707 --> 00:12:00.709
Not had a need for a savior.
00:12:00.709 --> 00:12:03.212
There would be no worship to give if we were the ones
00:12:03.212 --> 00:12:05.381
That were to be worshiped.
00:12:05.381 --> 00:12:06.715
And so, i think for many of us, as we walk through failures,
00:12:06.715 --> 00:12:10.553
The reminder that jesus is saying,
00:12:10.553 --> 00:12:12.421
"i need you to get to the very end
00:12:12.421 --> 00:12:14.523
Of yourself so you can see me.
00:12:14.523 --> 00:12:16.325
You cannot win on your own.”
00:12:16.325 --> 00:12:17.860
And i think when we try to win on our own or have success
00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:20.863
Or not fail, which i want to speak to that a little bit
00:12:20.863 --> 00:12:23.933
Because i think for many, you know,
00:12:23.933 --> 00:12:25.334
There have been many times in my own life
00:12:25.334 --> 00:12:26.468
Where i see somebody else and i'm like,
00:12:26.468 --> 00:12:27.670
"god, how'd they get there?”
00:12:27.670 --> 00:12:29.405
You know, the success and the perceived success,
00:12:29.405 --> 00:12:32.675
The perceived peace, the perceived whatever.
00:12:32.675 --> 00:12:34.877
And the lord has to remind me very often,
00:12:34.877 --> 00:12:37.313
He's like, "i did not put them there.
00:12:37.313 --> 00:12:39.515
And if i did put them there, it's none of your business.
00:12:39.515 --> 00:12:41.550
I want you to work on the things i've given you
00:12:41.550 --> 00:12:43.586
And audit the things i have called you to.”
00:12:43.586 --> 00:12:46.589
I think there's a lot to say around looking at the moments
00:12:46.689 --> 00:12:49.725
In our lives and asking god, "yeah,
00:12:49.725 --> 00:12:51.060
What do you want to do with it?
00:12:51.060 --> 00:12:52.795
What are you teaching me about myself and you in this?”
00:12:52.795 --> 00:12:55.664
And realizing that our whole life is meant to give him glory.
00:12:55.664 --> 00:12:58.868
Our whole life is meant to say, like, look what god has done.
00:12:58.868 --> 00:13:01.770
If nothing happens, there's nothing.
00:13:01.770 --> 00:13:04.506
If i say give alex glory, give sheila glory,
00:13:04.506 --> 00:13:07.643
Right, give laurie--
00:13:07.643 --> 00:13:08.510
No, it is the lord who has done it.
00:13:08.510 --> 00:13:10.212
It is the lord who will continue to do it.
00:13:10.212 --> 00:13:12.248
And so, he will allow us to get into positions
00:13:12.248 --> 00:13:15.384
Where our weakness is exposed
00:13:15.384 --> 00:13:17.586
Because we have to be able to say,
00:13:17.586 --> 00:13:19.455
"i could not do it.
00:13:19.455 --> 00:13:20.890
I could not get myself out of the bed.
00:13:20.890 --> 00:13:23.492
I could not heal my marriage.
00:13:23.492 --> 00:13:25.094
I could not redeem my own physical body.
00:13:25.094 --> 00:13:27.096
I could not.
00:13:27.096 --> 00:13:28.297
But let me tell you who has.”
00:13:28.297 --> 00:13:29.665
I think that's the end goal.
00:13:30.332 --> 00:13:31.567
I think that's what christ wants us to see.
00:13:31.567 --> 00:13:33.102
And the more that we allow him to position us in those places,
00:13:33.102 --> 00:13:36.805
I think the more he will give us access to people
00:13:36.805 --> 00:13:39.341
Who need to hear it.
00:13:39.341 --> 00:13:41.176
There was a woman in target years ago,
00:13:41.176 --> 00:13:42.511
And i had just kind of started walking
00:13:42.511 --> 00:13:44.246
In my gift of discernment.
00:13:44.246 --> 00:13:45.547
And the lord had given me a prophetic word for this woman.
00:13:45.547 --> 00:13:47.283
And i was like, "lord, really?
00:13:47.283 --> 00:13:48.317
In target?
00:13:48.317 --> 00:13:48.951
What a weird place.”
00:13:48.951 --> 00:13:50.052
I was like, "i don't want to do this round.”
00:13:50.052 --> 00:13:51.687
I'm like, "i don't know her.”
00:13:51.687 --> 00:13:53.188
And, you know, i'm very careful with moments like
00:13:53.188 --> 00:13:55.224
That, making sure i am hearing from the lord
00:13:55.224 --> 00:13:56.926
And it is his voice.
00:13:56.926 --> 00:13:57.927
And so, i'd seen a woman who was working
00:13:57.927 --> 00:13:59.128
,and layla was very young, my oldest daughter,
00:13:59.128 --> 00:14:01.497
And i could just see the weight on her.
00:14:01.497 --> 00:14:04.867
I could see that she--
00:14:04.867 --> 00:14:06.201
I mean, she was going through an incredibly challenging season,
00:14:06.201 --> 00:14:09.305
And the lord said, "i need you to go up to her, and i need you
00:14:09.305 --> 00:14:12.007
To tell her that i saw what happened,
00:14:12.007 --> 00:14:15.611
That i was with her when it happened,
00:14:15.611 --> 00:14:16.879
And that i am doing a new thing in her life.”
00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:18.380
It was very clear.
00:14:18.380 --> 00:14:19.748
I said, "layla, i got to go talk to this lady over by the bras.”
00:14:19.748 --> 00:14:23.319
[laughter]
00:14:23.319 --> 00:14:25.120
And so, we walk, we pass the shoe section,
00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.190
Head over to the left, and i'm like, "hey, i gotta talk to you.
00:14:28.190 --> 00:14:30.626
I know this is so crazy.
00:14:30.626 --> 00:14:31.794
And the lord knows you're walking through something.
00:14:31.794 --> 00:14:33.929
And he wants me to tell you that not only--
00:14:33.929 --> 00:14:36.065
I've experienced something similar,
00:14:36.065 --> 00:14:37.333
I'm not sure what it is, but he's doing a new thing.
00:14:37.333 --> 00:14:40.569
He saw it happen.”
00:14:40.569 --> 00:14:41.537
And she instantly, i mean, fell apart.
00:14:41.537 --> 00:14:43.872
We prayed together.
00:14:43.872 --> 00:14:45.040
You could see the overwhelming peace
00:14:45.040 --> 00:14:47.776
Just kind of fall over her.
00:14:47.776 --> 00:14:49.778
And at that moment, i thanked god for the many times
00:14:49.778 --> 00:14:52.581
That i'd endured moments in my life
00:14:52.581 --> 00:14:54.049
Where i'd gone to him to learn his voice,
00:14:54.049 --> 00:14:56.418
And to learn what suffering meant,
00:14:56.418 --> 00:14:58.354
And to lean into it in the moment so i
00:14:58.354 --> 00:15:00.456
Could be an encouragement to her.
00:15:00.456 --> 00:15:02.224
I think that's what it's all about.
00:15:02.224 --> 00:15:03.325
- yeah.
00:15:03.325 --> 00:15:04.326
- and using it, you have to practice it.
00:15:04.326 --> 00:15:06.428
I think sometimes we let failure stop us.
00:15:06.428 --> 00:15:09.331
We define ourselves by it, but we don't practice it.
00:15:09.331 --> 00:15:11.533
And we want the gift set that looks like an oak tree,
00:15:11.533 --> 00:15:14.036
And god's like, "here's an acorn."
00:15:14.036 --> 00:15:15.404
- quite literally.
00:15:15.404 --> 00:15:17.673
There's your tree.
00:15:17.673 --> 00:15:20.442
- and you're like, well--
00:15:18.574 --> 00:15:21.877
Because then you flip from realizing you've been entrusted
00:15:21.877 --> 00:15:25.414
To feeling entitled.
00:15:25.414 --> 00:15:27.082
And entitled is, if you give me more of this,
00:15:27.082 --> 00:15:30.052
Then i'll use what you've entrusted me with.
00:15:30.052 --> 00:15:32.087
And god's like, "no.”
00:15:32.087 --> 00:15:33.422
God has never given me anything that looks like an oak tree.
00:15:33.422 --> 00:15:36.025
Somebody stole my husband's phone several years ago
00:15:36.025 --> 00:15:39.428
On capitol hill.
00:15:39.428 --> 00:15:41.096
He had the where's my phone app, so we could follow it.
00:15:41.196 --> 00:15:43.899
And we were watching it go down to the subway
00:15:43.899 --> 00:15:46.335
And go to like a really bad section in dc.
00:15:46.335 --> 00:15:48.837
So, we called the phone company,
00:15:48.837 --> 00:15:51.507
And they were like, "there's nothing we can do.”
00:15:51.507 --> 00:15:53.275
So, we're like, "okay, we're gonna go get our phone.”
00:15:53.275 --> 00:15:55.010
So, we called the phone from my number, and some guy answers it.
00:15:55.010 --> 00:15:59.114
And i said, "this is my husband's phone.”
00:15:59.114 --> 00:16:00.949
And he said, "oh, i bought it off a guy
00:16:00.949 --> 00:16:02.985
In the metro for $200.”
00:16:02.985 --> 00:16:04.753
And we said, "well, we'll come back and give you $200.”
00:16:04.753 --> 00:16:06.955
It was just easier to pay $200 for this phone.
00:16:06.955 --> 00:16:09.091
So, we go down into--
00:16:09.091 --> 00:16:11.160
We're pretty sure he's the guy that stole it.
00:16:11.160 --> 00:16:12.861
But anyways, so we go down into the worst part of dc.
00:16:12.861 --> 00:16:16.198
We pull up, dennis rolls down his window.
00:16:16.198 --> 00:16:18.834
The guy comes over to the car, and the guy's like,
00:16:18.834 --> 00:16:20.369
"i'm telling you right now, don't stay here too long.
00:16:20.369 --> 00:16:23.038
It's not safe.”
00:16:23.038 --> 00:16:24.239
And i looked at him, and i started sobbing,
00:16:24.239 --> 00:16:25.941
And i said, "god just gave me a word for you.”
00:16:25.941 --> 00:16:28.210
And i started giving him this word, and he started sobbing.
00:16:28.210 --> 00:16:31.113
And so, then we gave him $300 for the phone
00:16:32.081 --> 00:16:35.317
Because we're like, "if he's doing this--”
00:16:35.317 --> 00:16:37.820
And then, we were able to pray with him and lead him to jesus.
00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:41.056
So, you talk about god flipping a failure, you know?
00:16:41.056 --> 00:16:45.561
- we want to hear from you.
00:16:46.228 --> 00:16:48.630
- connect with us on social media to ask a question
00:16:48.630 --> 00:16:51.366
Or share a prayer request.
00:16:51.366 --> 00:16:52.868
- let's encourage one another and get better together.
00:16:52.868 --> 00:16:56.171
- let's keep the conversation going.
00:16:57.005 --> 00:16:59.174
You can find the better together podcast
00:16:59.174 --> 00:17:01.210
On your favorite listening platform.
00:17:01.210 --> 00:17:03.312
Subscribe today.
00:17:03.312 --> 00:17:08.001
[music]
00:17:08.250 --> 00:17:13.555
- one of the questions i sometimes get asked is
00:17:14.556 --> 00:17:16.592
People who've maybe walked through something and said,
00:17:16.592 --> 00:17:18.927
"you know, when do i know it's the right time
00:17:18.927 --> 00:17:20.395
To tell my story?”
00:17:20.395 --> 00:17:22.231
To me, it's the difference between wounds and scars.
00:17:22.231 --> 00:17:26.168
You know, you walk through something, and it's a wound,
00:17:26.168 --> 00:17:28.470
And it's deep, and it needs healing.
00:17:28.470 --> 00:17:30.906
And then, when you've walked through something long enough,
00:17:30.906 --> 00:17:33.008
And you discover it's no longer an open wound, it's a scar.
00:17:33.008 --> 00:17:36.512
And to me, scars are proof that god heals.
00:17:36.512 --> 00:17:39.748
And if you've walked through enough of that process,
00:17:39.748 --> 00:17:41.450
And you feel like the lord has brought real healing,
00:17:41.450 --> 00:17:43.852
And that it's just a scar, a reminder now,
00:17:43.852 --> 00:17:45.954
Then maybe it's time for you to start telling your story.
00:17:45.954 --> 00:17:49.958
[music]
00:17:50.292 --> 00:17:53.128
- we had just moved to washington, dc.
00:17:53.228 --> 00:17:54.897
We hadn't been pastoring that long,
00:17:54.897 --> 00:17:56.198
And we had congressional leaders calling us
00:17:56.198 --> 00:17:57.933
In to pray with them.
00:17:57.933 --> 00:17:59.101
So, it was beautiful because they were finding jesus,
00:17:59.101 --> 00:18:01.103
And we didn't go in with an agenda,
00:18:01.103 --> 00:18:03.038
We just went in to pray with them.
00:18:03.038 --> 00:18:04.540
They were learning how to hear the voice of god.
00:18:04.540 --> 00:18:06.642
The one congressional leader, congressman from the midwest,
00:18:06.642 --> 00:18:10.078
Said to us, "hey, i want--
00:18:10.078 --> 00:18:11.446
I so love this.
00:18:11.446 --> 00:18:13.115
I'd love for this to be an example
00:18:13.115 --> 00:18:14.716
Where people from the church can come and just pray with us.
00:18:14.716 --> 00:18:17.186
We just need guidance.”
00:18:17.186 --> 00:18:18.754
So, he said, "i'm going to do a gathering
00:18:18.754 --> 00:18:20.522
With congressional leaders, some church leaders,
00:18:20.522 --> 00:18:23.625
And just talk about prayer, church and state,
00:18:23.625 --> 00:18:25.761
Stuff like that.”
00:18:25.761 --> 00:18:26.728
So, because dennis and i led together,
00:18:26.728 --> 00:18:27.963
And i was the female part, and he'd never seen a female
00:18:27.963 --> 00:18:30.732
In leadership like that before, he's like,
00:18:30.732 --> 00:18:32.367
"would you be willing to do it?”
00:18:32.367 --> 00:18:33.735
Well, we'd only been in dc for two years.
00:18:33.735 --> 00:18:36.138
I mean, talk about fear of man.
00:18:36.138 --> 00:18:37.639
I had huge fear of man.
00:18:37.639 --> 00:18:38.874
So, it's like, "sure, i'll do it.”
00:18:38.874 --> 00:18:40.442
And so, i thought, "i'm going to wear a white--”
00:18:40.442 --> 00:18:42.544
Remember the white power suits, big shoulder pads.
00:18:42.544 --> 00:18:45.414
So, i go in, i'm the only female on this all-male panel,
00:18:45.414 --> 00:18:49.785
Very distinguished pastors from large churches,
00:18:49.785 --> 00:18:52.754
Congressmen, senators, and me.
00:18:53.455 --> 00:18:55.290
And i'm like, "lord, i am sure i'm going
00:18:55.290 --> 00:18:56.758
To fail the whole feminine part of humanity by things i say.
00:18:56.758 --> 00:19:01.063
I know i'm going to say something stupid."
00:19:01.063 --> 00:19:02.798
- taking us all down.
00:19:02.798 --> 00:19:03.565
- so, anyways, we get through.
00:19:03.565 --> 00:19:05.601
They're asking a lot of questions.
00:19:05.601 --> 00:19:07.769
And we kind of get through this whole panel discussion.
00:19:07.769 --> 00:19:10.906
And it's that time of the month, and i have a white suit on.
00:19:10.906 --> 00:19:14.776
So, i'm like--
00:19:14.776 --> 00:19:15.978
So, i've gotten through that, but i still don't want
00:19:15.978 --> 00:19:17.546
To disgrace all of the feminine side of humanity.
00:19:17.546 --> 00:19:20.382
So, i get up to rush out to the restroom.
00:19:20.382 --> 00:19:22.551
And on my way out, a senator comes up to me said,
00:19:22.551 --> 00:19:24.987
"i loved what you said.”
00:19:24.987 --> 00:19:26.388
He said, "would you and your husband be willing to come
00:19:26.388 --> 00:19:27.889
And pray with me?”
00:19:27.889 --> 00:19:29.091
And i said, "yes.”
00:19:29.091 --> 00:19:30.025
He said, "could you give me a card?”
00:19:30.025 --> 00:19:31.326
Well, i'm thinking about is i got to get to the bathroom.
00:19:31.326 --> 00:19:33.362
So, i pulled out a pink sanitary pad.
00:19:33.362 --> 00:19:36.331
- that's great.
00:19:36.431 --> 00:19:37.599
- and we both looked at it, and i said,
00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:40.035
"well, i could write my name, and
00:19:40.035 --> 00:19:42.537
You would never forget who i am.”
00:19:42.537 --> 00:19:44.740
But--
00:19:44.740 --> 00:19:45.540
- that's incredible.
00:19:45.540 --> 00:19:47.175
- so, anyways--
00:19:47.175 --> 00:19:48.844
So, that would be enough.
00:19:49.444 --> 00:19:50.679
I have so many examples of saying the wrong thing
00:19:50.679 --> 00:19:53.048
On a platform with a microphone in my hands.
00:19:53.048 --> 00:19:55.484
That would be enough to stop me.
00:19:55.484 --> 00:19:57.586
But god gave me an acorn.
00:19:57.586 --> 00:19:59.321
And he said, "you got to plant it, and you got to water it,
00:19:59.321 --> 00:20:01.990
And you got to be rest assured that i'm not defining you
00:20:01.990 --> 00:20:05.193
By that failure, as long as you learn some things from it.”
00:20:05.193 --> 00:20:08.530
I think failure is one of the biggest weapons the enemy uses
00:20:08.530 --> 00:20:11.833
Because the number of people watching the show right now,
00:20:11.833 --> 00:20:14.703
If everybody grabbed a hold of that acorn
00:20:14.703 --> 00:20:16.638
And started planting it, we'd see massive revival.
00:20:16.638 --> 00:20:19.408
- amen.
00:20:19.408 --> 00:20:21.209
- i think the first time when failure really hits,
00:20:21.310 --> 00:20:23.779
It's very hard to see that initially as an opportunity
00:20:23.779 --> 00:20:26.948
Because you're living with the reality.
00:20:26.948 --> 00:20:28.984
One of the great things about being a christian is it's
00:20:28.984 --> 00:20:30.886
Not supposed to make you more weird,
00:20:30.886 --> 00:20:32.888
It's supposed to make you more fully human.
00:20:32.888 --> 00:20:35.223
So, if something happens, if you fail or someone fails you,
00:20:35.223 --> 00:20:38.260
Accept the fact that it's going to hurt,
00:20:38.260 --> 00:20:40.329
And bring that to the lord.
00:20:40.996 --> 00:20:42.197
You don't have to pretend.
00:20:42.197 --> 00:20:43.799
One of the things that was so important to me as a mom
00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:45.834
When my son was growing up was to tell him,
00:20:45.834 --> 00:20:48.003
"you know, the bigger the mess, the faster you run home.
00:20:48.003 --> 00:20:51.573
You don't have to try and clean yourself up to come.
00:20:51.573 --> 00:20:53.742
Just come as you are, and we can work through this.”
00:20:53.742 --> 00:20:56.244
And i think it's the same with the lord.
00:20:56.244 --> 00:20:57.479
Allow that failure to hit.
00:20:57.479 --> 00:20:59.548
Feel it.
00:20:59.548 --> 00:21:00.482
You know, you don't have to be afraid
00:21:00.482 --> 00:21:01.650
Of feeling what's going on in your life.
00:21:01.650 --> 00:21:04.252
But then, you can take those broken pieces
00:21:04.252 --> 00:21:07.322
And say to the lord,
00:21:07.322 --> 00:21:08.423
"ok, i'm giving this to you because i believe
00:21:08.423 --> 00:21:11.360
That you do beautiful things with broken things
00:21:11.360 --> 00:21:14.296
When we give you all the pieces."
00:21:14.296 --> 00:21:16.665
- you know, one of the aspects of failure that comes to my mind
00:21:16.765 --> 00:21:19.501
That comes more naturally to me would be self-sabotage,
00:21:19.501 --> 00:21:22.270
You know, i think where you preempt an outcome
00:21:22.270 --> 00:21:24.973
Because you're so afraid, you know?
00:21:24.973 --> 00:21:26.675
And this story's hard for me to share just
00:21:26.675 --> 00:21:29.211
Because i don't want the stigma attached to me
00:21:29.211 --> 00:21:32.547
That i deal with chronic affliction, but i do.
00:21:32.547 --> 00:21:35.317
I always say i'm a healthy person resisting affliction.
00:21:35.317 --> 00:21:37.619
I'm not a sick person trying to get healthy.
00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:39.688
But the reality is i deal with some things every day,
00:21:39.688 --> 00:21:41.957
And they're hard.
00:21:41.957 --> 00:21:42.958
And so, people with chronic neurological
00:21:42.958 --> 00:21:45.527
Lyme apparently also can't process mold.
00:21:45.527 --> 00:21:48.830
And so, for a number of years in a row,
00:21:48.830 --> 00:21:50.365
I was exposed to black mold.
00:21:50.365 --> 00:21:52.267
And so, while i was on the air, my tongue was going numb,
00:21:52.267 --> 00:21:54.736
My chin was going, and i was losing cognitive function.
00:21:54.736 --> 00:21:57.873
I was like, i was putting wrong words in my sentences.
00:21:57.873 --> 00:22:00.308
I did an mri, and i had seven areas of brain damage from mold
00:22:00.308 --> 00:22:03.845
That my body could not process.
00:22:03.845 --> 00:22:05.514
That was 10 years ago.
00:22:05.514 --> 00:22:06.615
So, seven years of the last 10 were very hard.
00:22:06.615 --> 00:22:09.251
But once i got detoxed, they just said,
00:22:09.251 --> 00:22:11.119
"your body can't process mold.”
00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.121
So, i'm like a mold detector.
00:22:13.121 --> 00:22:14.556
I can tell you in five to 10 minutes
00:22:14.556 --> 00:22:16.158
If there's mold in a building, like my head goes numb
00:22:16.158 --> 00:22:18.794
Or my vision will blur.
00:22:18.794 --> 00:22:20.128
The thing is, if it just made my body ache, i wouldn't care.
00:22:20.128 --> 00:22:22.531
But it causes inflammation in the brain.
00:22:22.531 --> 00:22:24.699
And then, they said, "you can't keep exposing your brain to it,
00:22:24.699 --> 00:22:27.102
Because it's dangerous, right?”
00:22:27.102 --> 00:22:28.637
So, i'm taking a risk every time i go speak,
00:22:28.637 --> 00:22:32.140
Because sometimes you're in hotels that are not good.
00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:34.810
It was a few years ago.
00:22:34.810 --> 00:22:36.278
Kevin and i were walking into one of our rooms.
00:22:36.278 --> 00:22:38.880
We were at a huge, beautiful camp.
00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:40.515
And we're in the room.
00:22:40.515 --> 00:22:41.883
And so, no one's with us, but i have to whisper for some reason.
00:22:41.883 --> 00:22:43.819
I'm like, "i'm going to quit speaking.”
00:22:43.819 --> 00:22:46.588
And he's like, "what?”
00:22:46.588 --> 00:22:47.622
I'm like, "i think i think after these next
00:22:47.622 --> 00:22:49.024
Few that we have contracts for, you know?”
00:22:49.024 --> 00:22:51.259
And he's so smart.
00:22:51.259 --> 00:22:52.027
He's like--
00:22:52.027 --> 00:22:52.694
He didn't say anything.
00:22:52.694 --> 00:22:54.029
So, the next morning i--
00:22:54.029 --> 00:22:55.197
- wise man.
00:22:55.197 --> 00:22:55.831
- yeah, he's very smart.
00:22:55.831 --> 00:22:56.765
So, i do my thing, i do my message,
00:22:56.765 --> 00:22:58.600
And then there's a break before the next session,
00:22:58.600 --> 00:23:00.469
And there's this long line.
00:23:00.469 --> 00:23:02.170
And i'm behind my book table, and i'm such an introvert,
00:23:02.170 --> 00:23:04.840
So i'm one on one.
00:23:04.840 --> 00:23:05.807
I'm just--
00:23:05.807 --> 00:23:06.541
I hold your face, you know?
00:23:06.541 --> 00:23:08.176
And all of a sudden, this sassy woman
00:23:08.176 --> 00:23:10.212
From the back catches my eye.
00:23:10.212 --> 00:23:11.713
It's like everybody else faded to gray,
00:23:11.713 --> 00:23:13.248
Because she had, like, orange, reddish pants on,
00:23:13.248 --> 00:23:16.952
And this silk blouse with golds and purples,
00:23:16.952 --> 00:23:18.920
And then the sassy, silky gold scarf.
00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:21.623
I'm watching her, and she's like a mile away.
00:23:21.623 --> 00:23:23.892
What is happening?
00:23:23.892 --> 00:23:24.659
Because she's just coming at me.
00:23:24.659 --> 00:23:26.127
She gets to the book table, and i'm like dumbfounded.
00:23:26.127 --> 00:23:28.396
She leans over the table.
00:23:28.396 --> 00:23:29.764
She's in my face, and she says, "suzie larson, you listen to me.
00:23:29.764 --> 00:23:33.034
Don't you even think about quitting speaking.
00:23:33.034 --> 00:23:35.370
God is the one who called you.
00:23:35.370 --> 00:23:36.805
He's the one who sustained you.
00:23:36.805 --> 00:23:38.139
It is not your call to call.”
00:23:38.139 --> 00:23:39.774
And i looked at kevin.
00:23:39.774 --> 00:23:40.675
He's like, "i didn't tell anybody.
00:23:40.675 --> 00:23:42.511
- angel of the lord.
00:23:42.511 --> 00:23:44.546
- and i was looking for her after,
00:23:45.380 --> 00:23:47.215
And kev's like on the way out, "leave it to god
00:23:47.215 --> 00:23:49.117
To give you a sassy little angel.”
00:23:49.117 --> 00:23:51.686
But i'm telling you what, it confronted me so deeply
00:23:51.686 --> 00:23:55.357
Because i was trying to s elf-protect,
00:23:55.357 --> 00:23:58.093
Which was self-sabotage,
00:23:58.093 --> 00:23:59.561
Which i was preempting a failure, right?
00:23:59.561 --> 00:24:01.329
And it's hard for me that i have these things because
00:24:01.329 --> 00:24:05.901
Before sickness, i was an athletic type of person.
00:24:05.901 --> 00:24:09.471
I hate this.
00:24:09.471 --> 00:24:10.605
I can't tell you how much i detest my weaknesses.
00:24:10.605 --> 00:24:12.908
But then, one of the beatitudes says,
00:24:12.908 --> 00:24:14.409
"blessed are the poor in spirit,”
00:24:14.409 --> 00:24:15.710
And it means blessed are those who know their need.
00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:18.113
And one day, the lord showed me, you know,
00:24:18.113 --> 00:24:19.614
We come to christ by knowing our need.
00:24:19.614 --> 00:24:22.117
You have to admit a need before you have a savior.
00:24:22.117 --> 00:24:24.419
And i would submit, that's how you grow too.
00:24:24.419 --> 00:24:27.188
So, now when i come to the edges of my weakness,
00:24:27.188 --> 00:24:29.491
Because they are what they are, and i have to let people think
00:24:29.491 --> 00:24:32.093
What they think, just means more of the kingdom to inherit.
00:24:32.093 --> 00:24:34.996
If i can live into that and be ok with it,
00:24:34.996 --> 00:24:38.066
Then i can watch him make up the difference, you know?
00:24:38.066 --> 00:24:40.702
And the people who are safe and who will love me
00:24:40.702 --> 00:24:42.871
For my defective self--
00:24:42.871 --> 00:24:44.639
You know, my hubby keeps saying,
00:24:44.639 --> 00:24:46.207
"you're not defective, you're effective.”
00:24:46.207 --> 00:24:47.842
And he's like, "you have to let that be okay."
00:24:47.842 --> 00:24:49.978
- that's really good.
00:24:49.978 --> 00:24:51.313
- it's hard, hard for me to talk about because i don't want
00:24:51.313 --> 00:24:52.847
To be known that way.
00:24:52.847 --> 00:24:54.215
- we boast in our weakness
00:24:54.215 --> 00:24:55.417
Because in that he's made strong.
00:24:55.417 --> 00:24:58.186
- i have hated my weaknesses for so long.
00:24:59.120 --> 00:25:02.424
And i don't know, i felt a lot of shame
00:25:02.424 --> 00:25:04.826
And weakness around my weaknesses.
00:25:04.826 --> 00:25:07.228
It felt very--
00:25:07.228 --> 00:25:08.229
It felt like it would expose me, right?
00:25:08.229 --> 00:25:12.567
Like it felt like exposure to who i really was,
00:25:12.567 --> 00:25:14.869
Like i was gonna get found out if people really saw
00:25:14.869 --> 00:25:18.173
Who i was and how broken i was.
00:25:18.173 --> 00:25:20.175
And the lord had to really shake me up in that and say,
00:25:20.175 --> 00:25:23.678
"hey, do you care more about what i have to say about you,
00:25:23.678 --> 00:25:27.449
Or do you care more about what people have to say about you?”
00:25:27.449 --> 00:25:29.718
And that, for me, was one of my biggest weaknesses, truly.
00:25:29.718 --> 00:25:32.988
Like, i had to get to the end of myself
00:25:32.988 --> 00:25:35.457
In that and say, "oh, right.
00:25:35.457 --> 00:25:37.425
God actually loves me so much so that he takes
00:25:37.425 --> 00:25:40.695
All of my weaknesses and uses them,”
00:25:40.695 --> 00:25:43.765
Not because i'm something for god to use,
00:25:43.765 --> 00:25:45.934
But because he's that good that he'll come in and redeem things
00:25:45.934 --> 00:25:49.304
That only he can.
00:25:49.304 --> 00:25:50.639
Like, he's not waiting for us to experience weakness and pain.
00:25:50.639 --> 00:25:53.408
No.
00:25:53.408 --> 00:25:54.576
He's looking for ways in which he can take our weakness,
00:25:54.676 --> 00:25:57.379
Our humanity, because he knows we are broken,
00:25:57.379 --> 00:25:59.614
And he comes in and says, "let me show
00:25:59.614 --> 00:26:01.983
You what i can do with that,”
00:26:01.983 --> 00:26:02.951
Because that's the kind of god he is.
00:26:02.951 --> 00:26:04.419
- i know that god will diminish our resources.
00:26:05.453 --> 00:26:08.189
He'll diminish whatever he needs so that he gets the glory
00:26:08.189 --> 00:26:11.026
For everything.
00:26:11.026 --> 00:26:12.661
And so, that's the best place to be, right?
00:26:12.761 --> 00:26:16.097
And so overcoming--
00:26:16.097 --> 00:26:18.033
You're just an overcomer.
00:26:18.033 --> 00:26:19.100
- thank you.
00:26:19.100 --> 00:26:19.801
- absolutely.
00:26:19.801 --> 00:26:20.969
- you're an overcomer.
00:26:20.969 --> 00:26:22.504
In your weakness, look what god does through you, you know?
00:26:22.504 --> 00:26:28.009
And so, you can never fail when you walk by faith.
00:26:28.009 --> 00:26:33.048
You always win.
00:26:33.515 --> 00:26:35.216
A little birdie told me that.
00:26:35.216 --> 00:26:36.551
You always win if you walk by faith.
00:26:36.551 --> 00:26:38.453
I always say that god's office is at the end of our rope.
00:26:38.453 --> 00:26:41.389
So, there's resources, everything that we need.
00:26:41.389 --> 00:26:44.526
I'm pretty sure he'll let us try to get on it.
00:26:44.526 --> 00:26:48.229
And that's when we can really mess things up in our life.
00:26:48.229 --> 00:26:51.800
- when you look at the kind of original word,
00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:53.902
When paul talks about that thorn in the flesh, i mean,
00:26:53.902 --> 00:26:57.605
The word that they use in the greek, he begged.
00:26:57.605 --> 00:27:00.275
It wasn't just like, "dear jesus,
00:27:00.275 --> 00:27:01.609
If it's possible, take this away.”
00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:03.778
It was serious intercessory three times,
00:27:03.778 --> 00:27:07.615
"lord, i beg you to take this away,”
00:27:07.615 --> 00:27:10.418
And then this realization.
00:27:10.418 --> 00:27:11.920
And it's so funny because at one point,
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:14.255
When christian was still living with us,
00:27:14.255 --> 00:27:16.257
When he was, i don't know, 16 or 17,
00:27:16.257 --> 00:27:18.693
And i was putting clean sheets on his bed, and i looked up,
00:27:18.693 --> 00:27:21.229
And i realized that he put that text right above his head.
00:27:21.229 --> 00:27:25.066
"my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
00:27:25.066 --> 00:27:27.302
And i went into the bathroom just to kind of clean up.
00:27:27.302 --> 00:27:30.105
And he had the same text on his bathroom mirror.
00:27:30.105 --> 00:27:33.174
And i said, "that's really interesting, babe.
00:27:33.174 --> 00:27:35.076
Why do you have that text there?”
00:27:35.076 --> 00:27:36.411
And he said, "because i stutter.”
00:27:36.411 --> 00:27:38.613
He went through a time when he stuttered.
00:27:38.613 --> 00:27:40.949
And he said, "i've asked god sincerely,
00:27:40.949 --> 00:27:44.919
Begged him, please take this away.
00:27:44.919 --> 00:27:47.455
And for whatever reason at the moment,
00:27:47.455 --> 00:27:48.990
He said no, but he gave me this.
00:27:48.990 --> 00:27:51.926
So, i live in this."
00:27:51.926 --> 00:27:53.328
- what an exceptional young man.
00:27:54.028 --> 00:27:55.764
- you know, i wish everybody could be with me
00:27:56.765 --> 00:27:58.600
On a better together morning.
00:27:58.600 --> 00:28:00.201
[laughter]
00:28:00.201 --> 00:28:01.336
You talk about feeling unqualified to do something.
00:28:01.336 --> 00:28:04.672
It's like, "god, if you don't give me something to say,
00:28:04.672 --> 00:28:07.776
I'm just going to stick my foot in my mouth,
00:28:07.776 --> 00:28:10.078
Because i don't, in myself, have the confidence
00:28:10.078 --> 00:28:13.848
That i am a great speaker and can bring great things to life,”
00:28:13.848 --> 00:28:17.585
But my confidence is in god.
00:28:17.585 --> 00:28:20.555
And sometimes i've thought--
00:28:20.555 --> 00:28:22.323
I've seen people that have great gifts,
00:28:22.323 --> 00:28:24.959
And i see them, i just think, "oh man,
00:28:24.959 --> 00:28:26.761
I wish i could just speak like that.
00:28:26.761 --> 00:28:28.763
If i could just get that thought across, i know i could--
00:28:28.763 --> 00:28:31.299
I sit in this pod, and i think, "man,
00:28:31.299 --> 00:28:33.601
That could have been said so much better by somebody else.”
00:28:33.601 --> 00:28:37.238
But god, i know god can use it if i just give it to him,
00:28:38.439 --> 00:28:42.977
If i have the faith enough to sit here in this chair
00:28:42.977 --> 00:28:45.847
And speak to you.
00:28:45.847 --> 00:28:47.182
I am walking by faith.
00:28:47.182 --> 00:28:49.384
This is my faith in action, just sitting here doing that.
00:28:49.384 --> 00:28:53.021
So, i encourage you.
00:28:53.021 --> 00:28:54.722
God loves to use somebody who doesn't think
00:28:54.722 --> 00:28:57.458
They can do it on their own.
00:28:57.458 --> 00:28:59.527
- but i think of all the people who are watching us today
00:28:59.627 --> 00:29:02.230
Who think, "i'm disqualified.”
00:29:02.230 --> 00:29:04.232
And it's like, no, you either can listen to what somebody else
00:29:04.232 --> 00:29:08.503
Says about, or you can listen to who the lord says you are.
00:29:08.503 --> 00:29:11.172
And god loves to use the weak things
00:29:11.172 --> 00:29:12.807
Of this world to confound the wise.
00:29:12.807 --> 00:29:14.442
- absolutely.
00:29:14.442 --> 00:29:15.777
I was sitting here just thinking about all the different women
00:29:15.777 --> 00:29:19.013
Who are watching.
00:29:19.013 --> 00:29:20.315
And i think we all carry a different version of a weakness
00:29:20.315 --> 00:29:23.985
And a different story of a weakness.
00:29:23.985 --> 00:29:26.020
And one of the ones for me was motherhood.
00:29:26.020 --> 00:29:30.658
And not motherhood in and of itself,
00:29:31.492 --> 00:29:33.528
But the fear and the weakness that
00:29:33.528 --> 00:29:35.663
Because of how i was raised,
00:29:35.663 --> 00:29:37.565
I wouldn't know how to mother.
00:29:37.565 --> 00:29:38.867
And i carried years and years of that fear, and limitation,
00:29:40.134 --> 00:29:45.673
And shame around the calling of motherhood,
00:29:45.673 --> 00:29:51.279
And lived with so much fear of the generational
00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:56.150
Implications of that.
00:29:56.150 --> 00:29:57.285
Like, how am i going to come into this?
00:29:57.285 --> 00:29:59.087
And, you know, i would seek god and was so angry with him
00:29:59.087 --> 00:30:02.857
About the deck of cards that had been handed.
00:30:02.857 --> 00:30:06.561
And i'm like, "how do you want me
00:30:06.561 --> 00:30:07.629
To mother out of such an empty place?
00:30:07.629 --> 00:30:10.732
Like, how do you want me to be a wife and a mother?
00:30:10.732 --> 00:30:12.700
And you've given me this thing and these gifts,”
00:30:12.700 --> 00:30:14.769
And just felt led to encourage the women
00:30:14.769 --> 00:30:17.372
Who come from a background where you feel
00:30:17.372 --> 00:30:19.173
Like there's nothing you can do with it.
00:30:19.173 --> 00:30:20.575
I think we're all living testimonies
00:30:20.575 --> 00:30:23.177
Of what god can do with a yes.
00:30:23.177 --> 00:30:25.713
And i am the most unlikely in all the ways to have the family
00:30:27.015 --> 00:30:33.154
That i do and the life that i do, but i have seen god do it
00:30:33.154 --> 00:30:37.926
Because of my yes, not out of my own
00:30:37.926 --> 00:30:39.861
Will, or strength, or power.
00:30:39.861 --> 00:30:42.297
Certainly not because i think at every corner,
00:30:42.297 --> 00:30:45.333
I was confronted with a pain, or a challenge,
00:30:45.333 --> 00:30:49.070
Or a memory of how ill-equipped i
00:30:49.070 --> 00:30:51.572
Am to do the things i've been called to do.
00:30:51.572 --> 00:30:53.408
So, god has been so faithful.
00:30:53.408 --> 00:30:57.111
And saying, like, "hey, your weakness has been perfect
00:30:58.246 --> 00:31:00.581
In my power, and accessing god's power
00:31:00.581 --> 00:31:02.650
Through my weakness has been the greatest gift.”
00:31:02.650 --> 00:31:04.218
And i think there are many women who are watching this today,
00:31:04.218 --> 00:31:07.789
Probably saying to themselves, "like, i'm counted out.
00:31:07.789 --> 00:31:10.625
I'm counted out.
00:31:10.625 --> 00:31:11.626
Like, i don't even put me in the race,”
00:31:11.626 --> 00:31:12.961
And yet god has given you gifts, and testimonies, and dreams.
00:31:12.961 --> 00:31:17.799
And you might be the woman in your life
00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:19.968
Who generationally changes the pace
00:31:19.968 --> 00:31:22.136
And the spiritual rhythm in your home.
00:31:22.136 --> 00:31:23.738
And you might be the friend in the friend group
00:31:23.738 --> 00:31:26.007
Who changes things because of your testimony
00:31:26.007 --> 00:31:28.409
And the things you walk through.
00:31:28.409 --> 00:31:29.877
Learn to walk in the weakness that god's given
00:31:29.877 --> 00:31:32.280
You so that he can be made perfect.
00:31:32.280 --> 00:31:34.048
There's so much power and so much freedom
00:31:34.048 --> 00:31:36.617
When we can say like, "yeah, that is my story.
00:31:36.617 --> 00:31:38.553
I didn't know how to do those things,
00:31:38.553 --> 00:31:40.321
But let me tell you what god did.
00:31:40.321 --> 00:31:41.556
Like, let me explain to you how he has shown up,
00:31:41.556 --> 00:31:44.258
Because it certainly has not been me, it has been the lord.”
00:31:44.258 --> 00:31:46.995
And i think there's so much power in that.
00:31:46.995 --> 00:31:48.596
- you're talking about remembering redemptively,
00:31:48.596 --> 00:31:50.431
And that's just exactly what you did, is you remembered a broken
00:31:50.431 --> 00:31:53.134
Story redemptively, and now there's so much weight
00:31:53.134 --> 00:31:55.770
To your words.
00:31:55.770 --> 00:31:57.672
- ephesians 2:10 says, "for we are god's masterpiece created
00:31:57.772 --> 00:32:01.142
Anew in christ jesus so that we can do the wonderful
00:32:01.142 --> 00:32:04.312
Things he planned for us long ago.”
00:32:04.312 --> 00:32:05.947
I like to say that you're not what
00:32:05.947 --> 00:32:07.915
You do, you're someone god loves.
00:32:07.915 --> 00:32:10.051
But because you're someone god loves,
00:32:10.051 --> 00:32:11.786
He's got great things for you to do.
00:32:11.786 --> 00:32:13.621
And you'll never really even feel like your fullest self till
00:32:13.621 --> 00:32:16.457
You're partnering with god to live out the high call
00:32:16.457 --> 00:32:18.893
Of god on your life.
00:32:18.893 --> 00:32:20.094
And so, when you start to first and foremost learn
00:32:20.094 --> 00:32:21.996
To live loved, suddenly your heart will beat in rhythm
00:32:21.996 --> 00:32:24.665
With his, and you'll get a vision and a passion
00:32:24.665 --> 00:32:27.368
Because your heart will beat for his heart for the world.
00:32:27.368 --> 00:32:30.438
And as you just keep taking the next steps,
00:32:30.438 --> 00:32:32.607
God will lead you into the fullness of your calling.
00:32:32.607 --> 00:32:35.009
You don't have to make it happen.
00:32:35.009 --> 00:32:36.544
He's the god who moves mountains and open doors.
00:32:36.544 --> 00:32:38.746
So, live loved, follow his lead, just keep taking the next step,
00:32:38.746 --> 00:32:42.550
And you will live a miraculous life.
00:32:42.550 --> 00:32:44.619
I promise.
00:32:44.619 --> 00:32:45.253
In fact, god promises.
00:32:45.253 --> 00:32:46.621
Trust him.
00:32:46.621 --> 00:32:47.889
You're a masterpiece, and you're created for great works.
00:32:47.889 --> 00:32:50.792
- through those testimonies just means god wants to do it again.
00:32:50.892 --> 00:32:53.895
God wants to do it for you.
00:32:53.895 --> 00:32:55.663
God wants to do it for everyone.
00:32:55.663 --> 00:32:57.832
God wants to redeem.
00:32:57.832 --> 00:32:59.133
He has redeemed our stories.
00:32:59.133 --> 00:33:01.235
He has written the final chapter.
00:33:01.235 --> 00:33:03.871
What he starts, he finishes.
00:33:03.871 --> 00:33:06.174
And he gets to see the end from the beginning.
00:33:06.174 --> 00:33:08.776
When it's all said and done, i think we can all look back
00:33:08.776 --> 00:33:11.712
At our lives and look at the worst things
00:33:11.712 --> 00:33:14.015
That have happened to us and say,
00:33:14.015 --> 00:33:15.550
"had it not been for that, i would not be where i am today.
00:33:15.550 --> 00:33:18.453
Look what god has done."
00:33:18.453 --> 00:33:19.487
- that's exactly right.
00:33:19.487 --> 00:33:20.288
- look what the lord has done.
00:33:20.288 --> 00:33:21.656
And so, failure is not final.
00:33:21.656 --> 00:33:25.159
And i don't think you can ever fail when you walk by faith
00:33:25.259 --> 00:33:28.362
Because we're always failing forward.
00:33:28.362 --> 00:33:30.298
We're always going forward.
00:33:30.298 --> 00:33:31.933
And when you just step out and trust god,
00:33:31.933 --> 00:33:34.635
Failing is not doing anything.
00:33:34.635 --> 00:33:36.504
The failing part is not trying, getting up.
00:33:36.504 --> 00:33:38.539
The bible says that a righteous man stumbles,
00:33:38.539 --> 00:33:42.110
But he gets back up.
00:33:42.110 --> 00:33:43.878
We're encouraging you to get back up
00:33:43.878 --> 00:33:46.314
And pray that your faith is strong.
00:33:46.314 --> 00:33:49.150
And when we see each other going through things,
00:33:49.150 --> 00:33:52.420
Or i see sheila going through something,
00:33:52.420 --> 00:33:55.256
I pray that her faith is strong, and that doesn't fail.
00:33:55.256 --> 00:33:59.660
And to think that jesus would do that for us and
00:33:59.660 --> 00:34:05.233
That we were given the holy spirit to overcome,
00:34:05.233 --> 00:34:09.003
And the same spirit that raised christ from the dead lives
00:34:09.003 --> 00:34:13.307
On the inside of us, dwells there.
00:34:13.307 --> 00:34:15.877
He's not there just watching us try to get through life,
00:34:15.877 --> 00:34:19.747
Suffering through life.
00:34:19.747 --> 00:34:20.748
He's there to help us overcome.
00:34:20.748 --> 00:34:22.683
He's there to help us guide.
00:34:22.683 --> 00:34:23.918
He's there to lead us and guide us into all truth
00:34:23.918 --> 00:34:27.555
And revelation.
00:34:27.555 --> 00:34:28.723
And i kind of say the worse it is, the better it is.
00:34:28.723 --> 00:34:32.426
- that's the mystery of the kingdom of god.
00:34:33.394 --> 00:34:34.629
- that's the mystery of the kingdom of god,
00:34:34.629 --> 00:34:36.330
Because it's amazing.
00:34:36.330 --> 00:34:37.732
All of it's amazing.
00:34:37.732 --> 00:34:39.033
You can be amazed at god in the worst season of your life.
00:34:39.033 --> 00:34:42.537
And god will get the glory for it all.
00:34:43.404 --> 00:34:45.973
- you just need some spiritual mamas saying to you,
00:34:45.973 --> 00:34:49.477
"you can do this.”
00:34:49.477 --> 00:34:51.145
And at this juncture of my life,
00:34:51.145 --> 00:34:54.015
Everything i walked through was so worth it.
00:34:54.015 --> 00:34:57.185
Even the mistakes i made, even the stupid
00:34:57.185 --> 00:34:59.620
Things i did that god redeemed.
00:34:59.620 --> 00:35:02.323
So, worth it.
00:35:02.757 --> 00:35:04.091
And whether you're a mama who didn't have an example or a mama
00:35:04.091 --> 00:35:06.227
Who did have a good example and still felt like i was failing,
00:35:06.227 --> 00:35:09.230
Failure is always going to be right there trying
00:35:09.230 --> 00:35:10.998
To tell you a different story.
00:35:10.998 --> 00:35:12.567
But just get up and keep going.
00:35:12.567 --> 00:35:14.235
- grace is sufficient for you.
00:35:14.235 --> 00:35:15.703
- i am with you today, mothers and fathers out there.
00:35:16.837 --> 00:35:20.541
You might feel like a failure.
00:35:20.541 --> 00:35:22.210
You know what?
00:35:22.210 --> 00:35:23.444
With god's help, you can be the best mom
00:35:23.444 --> 00:35:27.248
And the best dad by just being you.
00:35:27.248 --> 00:35:30.051
God will help you.
00:35:30.051 --> 00:35:32.019
Give your child exactly what he needs.
00:35:32.019 --> 00:35:34.288
He made you for that child.
00:35:34.288 --> 00:35:35.656
He made that child for you.
00:35:35.656 --> 00:35:37.692
And so, he's giving you a gift.
00:35:37.692 --> 00:35:39.894
He's giving you gifts to take care of.
00:35:39.894 --> 00:35:42.496
And so, i just bless your life today.
00:35:42.496 --> 00:35:44.298
I bless your life with the words that god says over your life,
00:35:44.298 --> 00:35:49.036
That you can do all seasons through christ
00:35:49.036 --> 00:35:51.305
Who strengthens you,
00:35:51.305 --> 00:35:53.174
That you have the holy spirit within you to lead you,
00:35:53.174 --> 00:35:55.977
To guide you, to help you raise your kids.
00:35:55.977 --> 00:35:59.213
All the things that you have to take the discipline
00:35:59.213 --> 00:36:01.949
And all the things that you need to do today, god will help.
00:36:01.949 --> 00:36:05.353
The holy spirit will help you, and you
00:36:05.353 --> 00:36:08.623
Are the perfect parent for that child.
00:36:08.623 --> 00:36:10.458
[music]
00:36:10.458 --> 00:36:16.130
- i remember as a young mom, hooked up to iv
00:36:17.131 --> 00:36:19.934
That was costing us hundreds of dollars a day,
00:36:19.934 --> 00:36:21.669
Taking place in our refrigerator where food should have been.
00:36:21.669 --> 00:36:24.805
And i wondered if there was any kind of plan or future,
00:36:24.805 --> 00:36:27.275
If there was anything that i could do.
00:36:27.275 --> 00:36:28.776
And i remember the lord just speaking in my heart, going,
00:36:28.776 --> 00:36:31.012
"how about instead of focusing on what you can't do, focus
00:36:31.012 --> 00:36:33.681
On what you can do?”
00:36:33.681 --> 00:36:34.915
So, i started to think, "i can pray.
00:36:34.915 --> 00:36:36.417
I can send notes.
00:36:36.417 --> 00:36:38.519
I can love.
00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:39.453
I can speak god's truth to my boys.”
00:36:39.453 --> 00:36:41.789
And i'm telling you, that made a difference.
00:36:41.789 --> 00:36:43.391
I did what i could do instead of focused on what i couldn't do.
00:36:43.391 --> 00:36:46.260
Many years later, as a radio host,
00:36:46.260 --> 00:36:48.062
I got to interview joni eareckson tada.
00:36:48.062 --> 00:36:50.164
And she talked about when she had the diving accident,
00:36:50.164 --> 00:36:52.833
She broke her neck as a young teen.
00:36:52.833 --> 00:36:54.835
When she got moved to her home, and she said the days blurred
00:36:54.835 --> 00:36:58.039
Together, she fell into a deep depression because she thought,
00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:00.274
"what use am i to god now?”
00:37:00.274 --> 00:37:02.176
Someone came to visit her and said,
00:37:02.176 --> 00:37:03.544
"joni, now remember a day with the lord is like a thousand
00:37:03.544 --> 00:37:06.047
Years, and a thousand years is like a day.”
00:37:06.047 --> 00:37:08.082
She said, "i've heard that so many times
00:37:08.082 --> 00:37:09.650
Before, and i knew that a day is like a thousand years,
00:37:09.650 --> 00:37:13.054
But i never thought a thousand years is like a day.”
00:37:13.054 --> 00:37:16.023
And it was like the lord spoke to her heart and said,
00:37:16.023 --> 00:37:18.492
"joni, i'm such a god of multiplication.
00:37:18.492 --> 00:37:20.895
You can bear a thousand years' worth of fruit in a single day.”
00:37:20.895 --> 00:37:24.165
You know, god is not bound by time.
00:37:24.165 --> 00:37:25.966
So, whatever you're in, whatever circumstance feels binding,
00:37:25.966 --> 00:37:29.470
You must know that your prayers move mountains.
00:37:29.470 --> 00:37:32.640
Your thoughts towards god can't even come close
00:37:32.640 --> 00:37:35.343
To his thoughts towards you.
00:37:35.343 --> 00:37:36.744
You can bear so much fruit in the place that you're in.
00:37:36.744 --> 00:37:39.714
And if i were you, i would focus on what you can do rather than
00:37:39.714 --> 00:37:43.150
On what you can't do,
00:37:43.150 --> 00:37:44.385
Because you'll be amazed at how effective and fruitful
00:37:44.385 --> 00:37:46.654
You can be as a believer if you trust god right where you live.
00:37:46.654 --> 00:37:50.191
- be the first to know all the latest better together updates.
00:37:51.492 --> 00:37:55.329
Visit bettertogether.tv to sign up for our weekly emails
00:37:55.329 --> 00:37:59.100
And never miss the latest news.
00:37:59.100 --> 00:38:02.999
[music]
00:38:02.999 --> 00:38:08.576
- there is no weakness and no inadequacy
00:38:09.477 --> 00:38:12.813
That is too big for god to redeem.
00:38:12.813 --> 00:38:14.982
Let me tell you of my own life, being sexually abused as a child
00:38:14.982 --> 00:38:19.186
And being told over and over again that it was my fault,
00:38:19.186 --> 00:38:22.423
And honestly, the number of failures i've had in my life,
00:38:22.423 --> 00:38:26.026
Things i wished i had done perfectly that i didn't.
00:38:26.026 --> 00:38:28.896
God is the redeemer.
00:38:28.896 --> 00:38:30.631
Don't think that you're too far gone or too far broken.
00:38:30.631 --> 00:38:33.734
I want to speak to you right now.
00:38:33.734 --> 00:38:35.503
God can heal, restore, redeem anything.
00:38:35.503 --> 00:38:38.606
All you got to do is turn towards him,
00:38:38.606 --> 00:38:40.441
Because he's already inviting you in, and say,
00:38:40.441 --> 00:38:43.144
"god, have your way.”
00:38:43.144 --> 00:38:45.679
[music]
00:38:46.013 --> 00:38:48.015
- aren't you grateful for the failures?
00:38:48.916 --> 00:38:50.351
- oh, totally.
00:38:50.351 --> 00:38:51.685
But what i love about that, i can't remember who mentioned it,
00:38:51.685 --> 00:38:53.788
But when jesus is talking to peter,
00:38:53.788 --> 00:38:55.856
When he turns and says, "satan has asked to sift you.”
00:38:55.856 --> 00:38:58.893
And then, he goes on to say, "and when you come back,
00:38:58.893 --> 00:39:02.563
It's like he already knew.
00:39:03.197 --> 00:39:05.099
Peter, this is going to happen.
00:39:05.099 --> 00:39:07.101
You're going to feel this way, and you're going to fall flat
00:39:07.101 --> 00:39:09.537
On your face, and it's going to seem like everything's over.
00:39:09.537 --> 00:39:11.705
But when you come back, it's like--”
00:39:11.705 --> 00:39:14.308
I think of people like the lord who speak that over right now.
00:39:14.308 --> 00:39:18.779
Yeah.
00:39:18.779 --> 00:39:19.814
Falling down, thinking, "i promised the lord
00:39:19.814 --> 00:39:22.249
I'd never do this, and here i am.”
00:39:22.249 --> 00:39:24.084
But when you come back, god will use your story
00:39:24.084 --> 00:39:27.154
To strengthen your brothers and sisters.
00:39:27.154 --> 00:39:29.290
- i love the story when jesus rose again, and he says--
00:39:29.290 --> 00:39:34.295
Here's peter that has denied him.
00:39:34.295 --> 00:39:36.163
He has disqualified himself for all eternity.
00:39:36.163 --> 00:39:39.934
You've blown it.
00:39:39.934 --> 00:39:40.901
I have done the worst of the worst.
00:39:40.901 --> 00:39:42.703
Think of how he felt.
00:39:42.703 --> 00:39:44.371
You know, here i'm going to die with you.
00:39:44.371 --> 00:39:46.006
I'll die for you.
00:39:46.006 --> 00:39:47.308
And then he, you know, cusses and rejects jesus.
00:39:47.308 --> 00:39:51.979
And jesus says, "go tell my disciples to meet me,
00:39:51.979 --> 00:39:55.649
And then get peter.”
00:39:55.649 --> 00:39:56.484
[crosstalk]
00:39:56.484 --> 00:39:59.720
Because nothing is going--
00:39:59.720 --> 00:40:01.522
God does not forget destiny and purpose in your life.
00:40:01.522 --> 00:40:05.426
- i think that's so important to remind women
00:40:05.426 --> 00:40:07.862
That god is coming after you.
00:40:07.862 --> 00:40:10.364
He's got a calling over your life.
00:40:10.364 --> 00:40:12.166
He wants you to move forward more than anyone.
00:40:12.166 --> 00:40:14.802
He wants you to heal more than you do, right?
00:40:14.802 --> 00:40:17.571
And so, to remember that there is--
00:40:17.571 --> 00:40:19.807
God had a purpose from the very beginning of time for your life,
00:40:19.807 --> 00:40:22.610
For your destiny, for your--
00:40:22.610 --> 00:40:24.411
Even in the midst of your failures and pain, right?
00:40:24.411 --> 00:40:26.847
- and why do we know that?
00:40:26.847 --> 00:40:28.415
Because of the cross.
00:40:28.415 --> 00:40:29.316
- because of the cross.
00:40:29.316 --> 00:40:30.451
Absolutely.
00:40:30.451 --> 00:40:31.118
Because of the cross.
00:40:31.118 --> 00:40:32.586
- he already stakes his claim on humanity.
00:40:32.586 --> 00:40:36.090
- so, from my personal experience,
00:40:36.924 --> 00:40:39.026
I have seen failure in a completely different way
00:40:39.026 --> 00:40:42.096
Than i used to when i was younger.
00:40:42.096 --> 00:40:43.797
So, i'm 66 this year, and i used to see failure as final.
00:40:43.797 --> 00:40:47.635
It defined me.
00:40:47.635 --> 00:40:48.736
I would spend days overthinking, regurgitating,
00:40:48.736 --> 00:40:52.973
And thinking about what could have,
00:40:52.973 --> 00:40:54.708
Should have, would have been better.
00:40:54.708 --> 00:40:55.776
But i have discovered failure is not final.
00:40:55.776 --> 00:40:58.546
And god, if you look through the scriptures from genesis
00:40:58.546 --> 00:41:01.782
To revelation, god gets the glory
00:41:01.782 --> 00:41:05.085
When we are unable to produce on our own.
00:41:05.085 --> 00:41:08.556
It makes us lean into him even more so than
00:41:08.556 --> 00:41:11.792
We would have if we hadn't had a failure.
00:41:11.792 --> 00:41:13.827
And so, for me, every single failure now,
00:41:13.827 --> 00:41:16.764
I'm like, "what did you want to teach me?
00:41:16.764 --> 00:41:18.632
What do i need to do?
00:41:18.632 --> 00:41:19.500
What are you doing inside of me?
00:41:19.500 --> 00:41:21.101
And how do i need to see this situation differently?”
00:41:21.101 --> 00:41:23.737
And i'm grateful for the failures.
00:41:23.737 --> 00:41:26.407
I'm grateful for them because they helped me to see god,
00:41:26.407 --> 00:41:29.176
And myself, and my situation completely different.
00:41:29.176 --> 00:41:32.079
- there's the death, right?
00:41:32.746 --> 00:41:34.348
And then, there's this resurrection piece of it.
00:41:34.348 --> 00:41:36.016
Oh, he dies for us, but then he also resurrects.
00:41:36.016 --> 00:41:37.851
And with that resurrection, we resurrect.
00:41:37.851 --> 00:41:39.920
- that's right.
00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:41.055
- our vision for life and our purpose resurrects,
00:41:41.055 --> 00:41:44.124
And our hearts heal.
00:41:44.124 --> 00:41:45.559
- and then, that resurrection comes
00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:47.328
Where he sends the holy spirit to dwell us.
00:41:47.328 --> 00:41:49.463
- yes.
00:41:49.463 --> 00:41:50.497
- because resurrection isn't just a noun
00:41:50.497 --> 00:41:52.766
Or an event, it's a verb.
00:41:52.766 --> 00:41:55.102
It is a practice and a lifestyle.
00:41:55.102 --> 00:41:56.870
So, living, not just living resurrected,
00:41:56.870 --> 00:41:59.473
But jesus told mary, "go tell my brothers
00:41:59.473 --> 00:42:02.276
That i've risen from the dead.”
00:42:02.276 --> 00:42:03.377
He put resurrection in her mouth.
00:42:03.377 --> 00:42:05.412
So, he's speaking resurrection over our failures, right?
00:42:05.412 --> 00:42:09.450
God, bring life out of whatever feels like death right now.
00:42:09.450 --> 00:42:13.053
- there's so much mercy tucked into that story.
00:42:13.053 --> 00:42:16.624
Because i don't think if he included,
00:42:16.624 --> 00:42:18.559
If they hadn't said, "go tell the disciples and peter,”
00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:21.362
I don't think he would have gone otherwise.
00:42:21.362 --> 00:42:23.230
He would have thought, "no, i really blew it.
00:42:23.230 --> 00:42:25.165
I'm sure they all want to go."
00:42:25.165 --> 00:42:26.400
- i think they probably said like,
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:27.835
"hey, jesus asked for you by name."
00:42:27.835 --> 00:42:29.837
- yeah.
00:42:29.837 --> 00:42:31.238
- think about that, like, jesus asked you by name.
00:42:31.338 --> 00:42:34.208
And peter was probably like, "i don't want to go.
00:42:34.208 --> 00:42:36.143
He's probably mad at me.”
00:42:36.143 --> 00:42:37.244
And they're like, "no, no, he specifically asked
00:42:37.244 --> 00:42:39.546
For you by name, and he wants to see you.”
00:42:39.546 --> 00:42:42.483
What a calling, what a reminder, like god calls us by name.
00:42:42.483 --> 00:42:45.719
- and then when jesus is making breakfast on the beach,
00:42:45.719 --> 00:42:48.689
And peter's like--
00:42:48.689 --> 00:42:49.923
I can just see him just, you know,
00:42:49.923 --> 00:42:51.125
Paddling through the water.
00:42:51.125 --> 00:42:52.259
I mean, how hasty he is anyway to get to jesus.
00:42:52.259 --> 00:42:55.796
A lot of scholars say that jesus brought him back
00:42:55.796 --> 00:42:57.865
To a charcoal fire to have a new sensory experience
00:42:57.865 --> 00:43:00.167
Because that's where he failed.
00:43:00.167 --> 00:43:02.136
And they just said there's going to be a neurological connection
00:43:02.136 --> 00:43:04.338
Because there's charcoal fires everywhere in those times.
00:43:04.338 --> 00:43:07.174
So, every time he has a sudden reminder.
00:43:07.174 --> 00:43:09.677
And so, here he recommissions him with that smell
00:43:09.677 --> 00:43:12.880
Of charcoal fire in his nose.
00:43:12.880 --> 00:43:14.181
I mean, how beautiful.
00:43:14.181 --> 00:43:15.249
God will bring you back to propel you forward,
00:43:15.249 --> 00:43:18.152
To redeem it, to redeem the story.
00:43:18.152 --> 00:43:20.487
- because peter had gone back to fishing.
00:43:20.487 --> 00:43:22.423
So, jesus had called him a fisher of men,
00:43:22.423 --> 00:43:24.425
And he's like, "forget this.
00:43:24.425 --> 00:43:25.726
I'm going to go back to what i know,
00:43:25.726 --> 00:43:27.027
What i know is comfortable and feels good.”
00:43:27.027 --> 00:43:29.830
And jesus still shows up on the shoreline, has a fire burning,
00:43:29.830 --> 00:43:33.667
And then hasn't forgotten, and then redeems and restores it
00:43:33.667 --> 00:43:37.438
Because it's only going to be what?
00:43:37.438 --> 00:43:39.073
Just a couple of weeks later that he's going
00:43:39.073 --> 00:43:40.441
To be preaching to thousands.
00:43:40.441 --> 00:43:42.209
- yeah.
00:43:42.209 --> 00:43:43.243
- moving into his calling.
00:43:43.243 --> 00:43:45.279
But isn't that--
00:43:45.279 --> 00:43:46.213
It is stunning.
00:43:46.213 --> 00:43:47.081
And i think that god does that.
00:43:47.081 --> 00:43:49.116
He takes the very smell of failure and redeems it.
00:43:49.116 --> 00:43:52.653
- makes it a fragrance.
00:43:52.653 --> 00:43:53.454
- yeah, an aroma.
00:43:53.454 --> 00:43:55.489
- i love that jesus is always saying, "come.”
00:43:56.523 --> 00:43:59.793
He's never pushing.
00:43:59.793 --> 00:44:01.595
He's never forcing himself on you.
00:44:01.595 --> 00:44:03.263
He's always drawing you close.
00:44:03.263 --> 00:44:05.265
Come, you know?
00:44:05.265 --> 00:44:06.767
The future is bright.
00:44:07.334 --> 00:44:09.470
The kingdom of god is here right now.
00:44:09.470 --> 00:44:12.139
And everything, every decision that we make right here
00:44:12.139 --> 00:44:14.975
And now is a part of the kingdom of god.
00:44:14.975 --> 00:44:18.178
So, it's important what we do now.
00:44:18.178 --> 00:44:20.147
So, if you fall, then get up again.
00:44:20.147 --> 00:44:22.483
Get up and do it again.
00:44:22.483 --> 00:44:24.284
Just keep going.
00:44:24.284 --> 00:44:25.285
If you don't know what to do, do the last
00:44:25.285 --> 00:44:27.554
Thing jesus told you to do.
00:44:27.554 --> 00:44:29.156
The last thing you heard, the last thing you felt,
00:44:29.156 --> 00:44:31.425
Do it again.
00:44:31.425 --> 00:44:32.726
You know, and let god take your nothingness, your inability,
00:44:32.726 --> 00:44:37.331
Your incapability, your empty, your bitterness, your struggle,
00:44:37.331 --> 00:44:44.838
Your pain, and let him let you realize
00:44:44.838 --> 00:44:48.742
He's already redeemed it.
00:44:48.742 --> 00:44:50.077
It's already done.
00:44:50.077 --> 00:44:51.211
Receive the gift that god has given,
00:44:51.211 --> 00:44:54.148
That jesus died for you on the cross.
00:44:54.148 --> 00:44:56.683
Receive the gift of life.
00:44:56.683 --> 00:44:58.519
It's like, it was just in the last day or two, someone said,
00:44:58.519 --> 00:45:01.388
"it's like i saw a picture of people that had gone to hell,
00:45:01.388 --> 00:45:06.226
And there was this huge gift that they
00:45:06.226 --> 00:45:08.395
Had rejected sitting there beside them.”
00:45:08.395 --> 00:45:11.231
God has given us this gift of redemption, of salvation,
00:45:12.399 --> 00:45:17.104
And we've ignored it when it's sitting right there.
00:45:17.104 --> 00:45:20.641
And so, open it up.
00:45:20.641 --> 00:45:22.075
Receive the perfect gift that jesus died for you.
00:45:23.076 --> 00:45:26.480
You stumble, that's just a way of life.
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:29.082
The bible says we'll do that, that we stumble,
00:45:29.082 --> 00:45:32.186
We get back up again and go with god.
00:45:32.186 --> 00:45:35.222
- you know, you hear so many stories about people coming
00:45:35.322 --> 00:45:38.192
To the end of their dream.
00:45:38.192 --> 00:45:39.393
We took it to the end, and then it just failed.
00:45:40.394 --> 00:45:43.130
But then, this opportunity opened up,
00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:45.866
And you just think, "had it not died and had it not failed,
00:45:45.866 --> 00:45:50.771
You would not be where you're at today.”
00:45:50.771 --> 00:45:53.273
I encourage you, you've got to keep going.
00:45:53.273 --> 00:45:56.410
When something seems like it fails, say,
00:45:56.410 --> 00:46:00.347
"that is seed in the ground.
00:46:00.347 --> 00:46:02.149
I took that step of faith.
00:46:02.149 --> 00:46:03.450
That is seed sown.
00:46:03.450 --> 00:46:05.252
I give that to the lord.”
00:46:05.252 --> 00:46:07.487
All the pain, all the hard work,
00:46:07.487 --> 00:46:09.523
Everything that we put into that,
00:46:09.523 --> 00:46:11.491
We're going to bury it now,
00:46:11.491 --> 00:46:12.726
And we're going to wait for resurrection life
00:46:12.726 --> 00:46:14.761
To come out of the ground
00:46:14.761 --> 00:46:16.063
Because i have sowed that seed in faith
00:46:16.063 --> 00:46:18.565
Believing that god will resurrect something far beyond
00:46:18.565 --> 00:46:22.002
What i've ever imagined or dreamed or even prayed for.
00:46:22.002 --> 00:46:25.806
God can do that.
00:46:25.806 --> 00:46:27.207
- so, that's our prayer, everyone,
00:46:27.975 --> 00:46:30.811
That we will move forward with god, you know,
00:46:30.811 --> 00:46:33.480
That we will have this one thing,
00:46:33.480 --> 00:46:34.982
This one thing i've asked of the lord,
00:46:34.982 --> 00:46:37.150
This one thing paul said i know, that we will follow after him,
00:46:37.150 --> 00:46:41.388
That we will close our ears to the distractions of the world,
00:46:41.388 --> 00:46:45.259
And there's so many of them at the moment,
00:46:45.259 --> 00:46:47.394
And learn how to redeem our time,
00:46:47.394 --> 00:46:49.596
Be in places that will bring us closer to jesus,
00:46:49.596 --> 00:46:52.432
Spend time in things that will help us understand his heart
00:46:52.432 --> 00:46:55.802
For us, and stay with us, better together community,
00:46:55.802 --> 00:46:59.940
Because we've only just begun.
00:46:59.940 --> 00:47:02.042
Let's pray.
00:47:02.442 --> 00:47:04.244
Lord, how do we find the words to even begin to thank you
00:47:05.445 --> 00:47:09.349
For everything that you have done and for who you are?
00:47:09.349 --> 00:47:12.953
I know that we'll never get it down here.
00:47:13.887 --> 00:47:16.590
What it must have been like for you to leave the worship
00:47:16.590 --> 00:47:20.494
Of all the myriad of angels, the beauty of holiness,
00:47:20.494 --> 00:47:26.366
And be willing to come down and walk where we walk,
00:47:26.366 --> 00:47:30.704
And experience what we experience, and be rejected,
00:47:30.804 --> 00:47:33.507
And to be betrayed, and to go and to do it all, and still
00:47:33.507 --> 00:47:38.412
On your final words from the cross is, "father, forgive them.
00:47:38.412 --> 00:47:42.950
They don't have a clue what they're doing.”
00:47:42.950 --> 00:47:45.285
Lord, i just pray right now for our whole community.
00:47:46.386 --> 00:47:49.656
Lord, we just want to say together,
00:47:49.656 --> 00:47:51.558
We want to move on in you.
00:47:51.558 --> 00:47:53.927
We want our lives to glorify you.
00:47:53.927 --> 00:47:57.230
Lord, help us just burn up everything
00:47:57.230 --> 00:48:00.667
In our life that's not pleasing.
00:48:00.667 --> 00:48:02.636
Let it burn away.
00:48:02.636 --> 00:48:03.870
Let it fall away, lord, as dross.
00:48:03.870 --> 00:48:06.340
We want to know that one day, we'll actually get to stand
00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:10.143
Before you and see you face to face,
00:48:10.143 --> 00:48:12.913
And we want our life to have left things that matter,
00:48:14.014 --> 00:48:17.517
Not hay and straw and stubble, those jewels
00:48:18.518 --> 00:48:21.922
That we can make into a crown and cast at your feet
00:48:21.922 --> 00:48:25.258
Because you are worthy.
00:48:25.258 --> 00:48:26.860
And we thank you, lord.
00:48:26.860 --> 00:48:28.729
Thank you for loving us.
00:48:28.729 --> 00:48:30.430
In jesus' name.
00:48:30.897 --> 00:48:32.332
Amen.
00:48:32.332 --> 00:48:34.634
- connect with us on social media
00:48:35.435 --> 00:48:36.970
And let us know how our team can pray for you.
00:48:36.970 --> 00:48:39.573
[music]
00:48:39.906 --> 00:48:45.112
- dorothea, who watches us on youtube, right?
00:48:46.146 --> 00:48:48.582
I love that.
00:48:48.582 --> 00:48:49.716
"i have walked with god since i was a teenager,
00:48:49.716 --> 00:48:51.785
But my life has felt like one failure after another.”
00:48:51.785 --> 00:48:54.788
I feel you, girl.
00:48:54.788 --> 00:48:56.823
"i have fasted and prayed, and i feel like god enjoys ignoring
00:48:56.823 --> 00:49:00.127
My prayers and rubbing my failures
00:49:00.127 --> 00:49:02.429
In my face every time he blesses someone else
00:49:02.429 --> 00:49:05.232
With the things i have been asking him for, for years.
00:49:05.232 --> 00:49:08.668
How do i stop feeling this way?"
00:49:08.668 --> 00:49:10.670
- gosh.
00:49:10.670 --> 00:49:11.772
First of all, dorothea, our hearts are with you.
00:49:11.772 --> 00:49:14.074
That is so hard.
00:49:14.074 --> 00:49:15.442
I have to say, i mean, i wish we could sit down with you
00:49:15.442 --> 00:49:18.111
And have a cup of coffee and talk to you face to face.
00:49:18.111 --> 00:49:21.515
But it sounds to me like the enemy is trying to torment you,
00:49:21.515 --> 00:49:24.484
You know, because you're trying to do everything,
00:49:24.484 --> 00:49:26.053
You're fasting and you're praying,
00:49:26.053 --> 00:49:27.220
And you're still feeling like, you know,
00:49:27.220 --> 00:49:28.555
I'm an absolute failure.
00:49:28.555 --> 00:49:29.890
That is not who jesus says you are.
00:49:29.890 --> 00:49:31.358
- that's right.
00:49:31.358 --> 00:49:32.526
- he says that you're loved, you're his daughter,
00:49:32.526 --> 00:49:34.594
That you are treasured, that you're seen, that you're known.
00:49:34.594 --> 00:49:38.298
And sometimes it takes--
00:49:38.298 --> 00:49:39.633
I don't know whether they used to use wallpaper in venezuela,
00:49:39.633 --> 00:49:42.269
Where you grew up, but in scotland,
00:49:42.269 --> 00:49:43.470
Where i grew up, we wallpapered every wall.
00:49:43.470 --> 00:49:45.472
If you ever tried to take wallpaper off,
00:49:45.472 --> 00:49:47.574
It is so hard because it's been stuck on there.
00:49:47.574 --> 00:49:49.576
You have to scrape and scrape.
00:49:49.576 --> 00:49:51.044
It's the same with our minds sometimes.
00:49:51.044 --> 00:49:52.546
We're so used to the things that are stuck there,
00:49:52.546 --> 00:49:55.615
But it takes time and intentionality
00:49:55.615 --> 00:49:57.717
To scrape the lies off and replace them
00:49:57.717 --> 00:49:59.486
With the truth of who god says you are.
00:49:59.486 --> 00:50:01.588
- yeah, that's so good, sheila.
00:50:01.588 --> 00:50:02.923
I would add to know that the enemy is an accuser.
00:50:02.923 --> 00:50:06.760
Like, that's who he is, right?
00:50:06.760 --> 00:50:08.628
And so, in jesus' name, remind yourself in those moments,
00:50:08.628 --> 00:50:11.231
Take an audit of what you are believing,
00:50:11.231 --> 00:50:13.366
And remind yourself that, as sheila said,
00:50:13.366 --> 00:50:14.835
You are his beloved daughter.
00:50:14.835 --> 00:50:16.570
Your failures, even the worst of them, sis,
00:50:16.570 --> 00:50:19.005
Are moments where god is waiting to redeem them.
00:50:19.005 --> 00:50:21.408
Every moment in your life that has felt like it's too far gone
00:50:21.408 --> 00:50:23.577
Or a failure, god has already made a way
00:50:23.577 --> 00:50:26.079
And has a purpose for it.
00:50:26.079 --> 00:50:27.414
And truly, the more that you're able to rehearse that truth,
00:50:27.414 --> 00:50:30.517
You'll be able to see just the beauty of god
00:50:30.517 --> 00:50:32.319
In your life so much more clearly.
00:50:32.319 --> 00:50:33.854
- we're with you, dorothea.
00:50:33.854 --> 00:50:34.988
- we're with you, girl.
00:50:34.988 --> 00:50:36.223
- watch better together on the go.
00:50:37.057 --> 00:50:38.992
Download the free tbn+ app to stream
00:50:38.992 --> 00:50:42.162
All of your favorite conversations.
00:50:42.162 --> 00:50:44.331
Stream full episodes of better together on demand.
00:50:45.432 --> 00:50:48.468
Go to bettertogether.tv to stream
00:50:48.468 --> 00:50:51.104
All of our latest conversations.
00:50:51.104 --> 00:50:54.074
[music]
00:50:54.407 --> 00:50:54.407

See Failure as Opportunity | Better Together Episode 1160

April 24, 2026 | S8 E1160 | 50:59

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