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S8EP:2098 Faith & Mental Health · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  It's monday and you know what that means welcome to have faith let it begin
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  podcast of inspiration it's a podcast of hope it's a podcast of faith and it's
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  a podcast of friendship here is your host,
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  Angel Santana, and special co-host, Dr. E.
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  We're a three-packed off time. That's it, man. Let's rock and roll in three, two, one.
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  Have Faith, Let It Begin starts right now.
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  Faith and mental health. Good morning.
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  Welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin. My name is Angel. I'm your host.
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  With me today, it's a Monday.
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  Dr. E is back. And today's topic is one that affects so many of us.
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  It's faith and mental health.
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  You know, we live in a world that often feels overwhelming.
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  Stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness can weigh heavy on our hearts.
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  But here's the good news.
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  God cares about every part of us, not just our spiritual walk,
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  but our emotional and mental well-being too.
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  This morning, I was able to look, well, this past week, I was able to look at
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  a scripture that really made me wanna do this episode.
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  It came from Psalms and it says, remind us the Lord is close to the brokenhearted
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  and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
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  So that verse tells us that God doesn't distance himself when we struggle.
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  Instead, he draws us closer. He knows our battles and he equips us with his
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  presence, his peace, his people, including doctors.
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  Hmm. Dr. E's here. Counselors, pastors, and friends. That's why today Dr.
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  E is going to have a pivotal role.
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  And he's joining us here as always for his important conversation together as
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  we reflect on how faith and mental health work hand in hand. So Dr.
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  E, before I get you to welcome back and all this, I want to start you with one
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  question and then I'll let you go right into it.
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  When we talk about mental health in faith context, some people still feel a stigma.
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  Why do you think it's important for us as believers to openly address mental health struggles?
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  Welcome back, Dr. E. Well, thank you for having me, Angel.
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  I love my days with you, and I love my family here at Have Faith,
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  Let It Begin. So hello, everybody.
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  So many things that I want to say. So let's just start when the chips are down.
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  So my favorite story, which I know it's a cliche, and I know everyone has heard
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  it a million times, but I'm going to say it anyway.
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  It's the beautiful little, I would say, poem about footsteps, right?
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  So you have the footsteps in the sand, and you say to God, you know,
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  Hey God, I'm, I'm noticing my life.
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  I'm seeing my life as, as these footprints in the sand. And when things were
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  good, you know, you were right next to me and you were walking next to me, but what the heck, man,
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  when things were bad, when I had experienced loss and suffering and pain and
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  disease and illness, and then all
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  of a sudden there's only one set of foot footsteps, you, you abandoned me.
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  Like, where did you go, dude? And it was like my son.
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  I didn't abandon you during those tough times. I actually carried you.
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  So I just wanted to kind of throw that in there as something that kind of hit
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  my heart, struck my heart when you were talking.
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  I do have a very, very deep and deep opinion, a strong opinion about mental health resources.
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  So I just lost recently a cousin, a dear cousin, someone that I grew up with
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  as an only child, as close to a brother as I could possibly have.
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  And I spent all my summers with him when my mother would ship me out to keep
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  me out of the gangs of Patterson, New Jersey.
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  She sent me out to the suburbs of Missouri and I would spend the entire summer with my cousin, John.
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  And, you know, we just had memory. I mean, those were the best times of my life for sure.
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  And he recently passed away. But the sad part was he spent his entire life pretty
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  much, you know, a victim of severe mental illness.
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  And his father, who was a clinician who a wonderful, famous surgeon,
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  you know, really didn't have a real belief system in the value of getting mental health assistance.
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  And he saw it more as a weakness. So as a result, my cousin never really got
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  the mental health resources that he required. And he spent, let's see,
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  if we left college in our early 20s, so he died at 65.
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  So he spent 40 years, you know, suffering with undiagnosed and untreated mental
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  illness and suffered tremendously.
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  And everyone who touched him suffered because we had to watch him suffer and
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  he made us suffer because of his mental illness as well.
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  So I am sad to say that that was the way it was.
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  The good news is mental health is now being.
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  Taken seriously. So depression, which leads to suicide, anxiety,
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  you know, all of these things that are coming out now as real addictive disorders,
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  alcoholism, and things that were thought of as weaknesses are now finally being
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  recognized as being a, you know, a real thing, a medical illness, the same as you could,
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  you know, see leukemia or see a broken bone or see something, you know, on the body.
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  We're hoping that this will be a trend that will continue and people will not
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  be afraid or stigmatized to try to achieve health, you know,
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  mental health or get mental health resources and interventions.
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  The problem is there's not a lot of resources out there.
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  There's too many people suffering with mental health issues and too few practitioners.
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  So if you do live in an area where you do have mental health disparities or
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  lack of access, you know, you really need to dig deep.
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  And I was going to say, Angel, we did a podcast on the Croc podcast of a very,
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  very amazing young woman whose father committed suicide. and she gave us a lot
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  of information about that.
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  Perhaps you could maybe somehow share the suicide hotline.
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  I don't remember the three numbers, the digits, but maybe you could share that
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  with our family here in case people are really suffering with depression and need a resource.
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  Well, I'm glad you brought that up because as you know, our family here at Have
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  Faith, Let It Begin knows that when we're not doing an episode together,
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  we're doing your podcast called The Crock Podcast, Citizens Reunited to Overcome
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  Cancer, which actually just aired an episode yesterday. But.
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  On our off week, I thought it'd be fitting to bring that episode as a rewind
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  episode. So that's why I did it.
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  Kind of integrated us together because I think that we're in that month of mental
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  health awareness month.
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  So I thought it'd be a good time to bring it up.
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  So yes, that will be an episode that I put a link in our description for our podcast here.
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  But I want everybody on Half Faith, let it begin to know that I'm going to explain
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  to you during the course of this week when you can catch that episode,
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  which will be coming up on a Rewind special. But I have a question for you, Dr. E.
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  So, Tom, I've got a question for you as a doctor. From your perspective as a doctor.
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  How can, and it's okay if you don't feel comfortable answering this,
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  how can faith, in your opinion, and modern medicine work together instead of
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  being seen as a separate or opposite path?
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  Yeah, well, my personal journey, I mean, I was faith-based from,
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  you know, even before I walked into medical school.
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  As a matter of fact, I believe to this day, now that I'm almost 40 years into
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  the field, that the only reason that I'm a doctor is through God's intervention.
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  I really believe that there was a path that was plowed for me.
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  I was that little car that was in a blizzard that happened to be lucky enough
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  to be behind that big plow with the salt coming out.
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  And I was the safest person in the world. I really feel that.
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  So I've always had that integrated into my world. Now, how I've used it has
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  been, unfortunately, not as structured or as thorough as I probably would like.
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  I have a colleague, we've spoke about him before, Frank Imbrato,
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  who used to practice in the area.
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  He actually had such great experience.
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  Holy Spirit driven, like he was so moved and driven by the Holy Spirit,
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  he would actually sit and kneel and pray with patience, you know,
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  and I have not been able to achieve that.
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  It's just not in my comfort zone, but you know, I do feel very comfortable talking
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  about God and my higher power and my faith to anyone who I feel necessary to listen.
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  That's another podcast by itself, by the way. And we should probably get Frank
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  on with you. I would love that. If we could find him.
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  But I hope I answered your question. But from my perspective,
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  back to the mental health, you know, it is frustrating when I do have a patient
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  who really is struggling and depressed, and they really need some help.
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  And we go through, like the nurses go through this beautiful inventory,
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  like it's about 30 questions and they are really detailed.
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  Did you ever want to hurt yourself, you know, how, you know,
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  talk about your mood, the whole thing.
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  And then we add up these numbers and we find out, wow, this patient is truly
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  at risk for, for self-harm.
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  And like, all we can do is maybe send them to the behavioral health,
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  you know, floor, and they probably put them in the hospital for two days and
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  what they get out of that. I have no idea.
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  But if a person came into the emergency room, you know, having a seizure or
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  having a heart attack or having a stroke.
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  It's like you call, you call the code, code, code Noro, you call the code STEMI,
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  you call, call all these things.
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  And all of a sudden 30 people show up and they just kind of take this person
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  and there's just this orchestrated ballet, right?
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  It's like a, a beautiful, you know, dance of all these great practitioners that
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  come and take care of these poor sick people, But we don't have that for mental health.
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  And, you know, we should probably get a mental health practitioner on,
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  you know, to go through that.
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  But in honor of mental health month, right? Mental health, you know.
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  I agree. And I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and your heart with us today.
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  Let's close out this way. Friends, remember that faith and mental health,
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  which is the title of today's episode, are not your enemies.
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  They are threads woven together by God who cares about your whole being.
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  And we can sit here and talk about the pros and cons. We can sit here and talk
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  about the ifs and what ifs and what have yous or which path we could or couldn't take.
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  We can talk to Dr. Ian and he can tell us that, you know, he may not be comfortable
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  talking to a patient about God.
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  But I believe that even if a doctor doesn't want to or can't speak to you about
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  their faith, because maybe of that situation, they are already providing you faith.
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  You know why? Because God gave them the talent, the gift to who they have become
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  to be. So this is our prayer for you today.
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  We ask God and we thank God for being near to you, especially if you're brokenhearted,
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  if you're dealing with depression.
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  For those that are listening today who feel anxiety, anxious,
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  tired, or overwhelmed, may you find peace, peace in your presence,
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  peace in the presence of God.
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  Remind each other that you're not alone and that help is here and hope and healing
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  are within reach through you and the resources that we or you can provide.
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  Strengthen your mind, restore your spirits,
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  have faith, and let us walk each day knowing that we are deeply inspired by
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  one another and we're deeply loved by one another and God loves you for who you are.
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  So as always, remember to stay safe.
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  Remember that you matter and never forget.
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  Have faith, let it begin, baby. Have a good one, guys.
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  Hey, Have Faith family. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends.
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  Visit our website, havefaithletitbegin.com. We would love to hear your feedback.
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  Thank you.
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  Music.