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Transcript

For the Family Intro · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_02: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd like to welcome everyone to season two of our podcast.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a new year, lots of new opportunities in front of us.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as we enter into 2023, I know that a lot of people start with New Year's resolutions, words for a new year, lots of plans and ideas for things that they want, how they want the new year to be different.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, Elizabeth, when you enter into a new year, do you have any practices for coming up with resolutions or having, do you have like a word of the year that you ask the Lord for or that you contemplate?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like what kinds of things do you do?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what have you done, if you don't mind sharing, for this year?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yes and no is the answer to that.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um I in years gone by, I was very disciplined about taking time away in December and just kind of spending some time reflecting on the last year and asking God, kind of, you know, what is his heart, what is his word, who does he want to be for me in the new year?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um I realized this December, December of 2022, um, that I hadn't done that in the last couple of years.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: And part of that is like all of us, our lives got thrown into a blender in 2020.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and next thing I am looking up, and we're about to be in 2023.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so I realized I really hadn't done that since 2019.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so I started to sit down with God and do that one day, sitting out on my back deck on a nice day here in Alabama.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, the only thing I felt was dread.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I can't do another year of this.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like the last two years have been really hard, and I can't just plow my way through another one of them.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's I was like, okay, God, we obviously um have some talking to do.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so I did spend some time asking him what his word would be for me.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and what I sensed was the word joy.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: And at first I was like, awesome! That means 2023 is gonna be different.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: Joy, that's a great word, and it is kind of in some ways the opposite of the word dread, which is what I was feeling.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then as I sat there with it for a minute, the first two verses that came to my mind were um, for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, that doesn't sound like fun.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then the other one was uh count in all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay, I'm also not real excited about this word joy for 2023.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm like, okay, God, I'm I'm gonna sit with you in it.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, we're just what 10 days into a new year, so I have not spent a whole lot of time on this word joy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: But as I have done some reading in the Bible uh about joy and just kind of pondering it, I one thing I have been struck by because I did kind of a word search to see like how often does joy or rejoice come up in the Bible versus the word happy, because that those are two different things.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: And um, joy is in the Bible, or the word rejoice is in the Bible, like over 400 times.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay, so God, joy is important to you.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, happy only shows up 10.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, well, God, if I'm really honest, I want a year that is happy.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's you know, that happy sounds a whole lot more happy sounds more like Disney World.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I want a Disney World year where there's a whole team of people that are committed to me having a great experience while I'm there.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And that's not what you're saying my word is, you're saying my word is joy.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so just continue to sit with that.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the things I've kind of been unpacking and and coming to understand also is the opposite of joy is not sadness.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Because as you read all of these verses about joy, it's a lot more about being able to have joy because you know who God is, regardless of where you find yourself.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm kind of chewing on and just kind of getting my hands around the idea that the opposite of joy is unbelief and not believing that God can show up and not having the expectation that he's going to.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because if I know my rescuer is going to be there for me, I can walk through the hard thing because I know just wait till you see what God does.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be awesome.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: And if I'm not having joy, regardless of my circumstance, what I'm starting to kind of process through is I'm not believing that God is gonna be there.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: So um probably a lot to unpack about joy in my life in 2023, um, because the circumstances of my life have not changed.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: There are still some really hard things that uh I am having to walk through.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm having to struggle with how in the day-to-day, and it's not just the big things of life, it's just I'm irritated.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like we talked about the dishwasher last time, and I'm grateful that most people on our podcast poll voted with us that yes, there is a right way to load a dishwasher.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: So it's having joy when the dishwasher's not loaded the way I want it, you know, and so it's yeah, it's gonna be an interesting year.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, um, but yeah, I do to get back to your original question, I do typically in some form or fashion, I don't make resolutions because I have one of the loudest inner critics of anyone I know.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so setting myself up for a goal just to criticize myself that I didn't make it does not work for me.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: But it's much more about um broad ideas of, yeah, I probably need to eat healthier than I did last time uh this year, or or those types of things.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't set a goal that I have to achieve um because I will just spend a lot of time beating myself up.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: But it's more about the overarching theme of what did I do in 2022 that I don't want to continue to do in 23, or what did I learn in 2022 that I do want to carry into 2023 with me?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: But it is really just a good time.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: It does kind of feel like a fresh start and a good time to kind of go, okay, let's assess where we are and and how we can continue to grow.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: So do you have anything that you typically do, Kimberly?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's just too hard.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I'm super encouraged just by hearing you reflect on the word joy and and thinking about that.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there have been years, obviously, where I've done lots of different things.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Probably the last couple of years for me, I um a couple of years ago, probably gosh, probably five, six, seven, eight years ago now, um, I'd gotten a planner that helped me articulate daily goals and quarterly goals.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um and I just grew frustrated with it.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um not because I don't want to have those things, but because I was, I don't know.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: I I it I don't know if it's in my hardwiring my personality or what, but it just it works great for some of my friends, but for me it wasn't working well.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just was like, I need to take a step back and figure out a different way to approach goals because I do want to have goals.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, one of the things that I did do at the end in December over um, I took some time off from work um and just spent some time with family and chilled out a little bit.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I did do was kind of reflect on, like you were mentioning, um what went really well and what did I accomplish?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: What were some of the goals that I reached, and what were some of the things that I feel really good about um as far as 2022.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of reflected back um and took some time to just celebrate.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: That that is huge.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: These things that that these were good things that were reached and accomplished and um sought after and pursued and um regarding relationships and goals and all sorts of things.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So um for me, when I enter into a new year, one of the things that I am finding is that it's easier for me to kind of settle into the first week or two of the new year before I really go, okay, what do I want this new year to be about?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know if that's just there's a lot of energy going into the new year.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've just been with you've most of us have just been with family and we've been going and doing lots of different things.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, for me, I'm spending the next week or two just kind of going, okay, what do I want 2023 to look like?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and kind of just gradually moving into the year, I guess, so to speak.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I don't think, you know, like there's no obviously we both would think there's no right or wrong way to do it, but what I do think is a good principle is just being intentional about reflecting and looking forward um and encouraging one another with that.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I'm real encouraged to hear your word, and it'll be fun or interesting to watch it unfold.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Be sure to remind me what my word is when I start getting cranky.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I agree with you.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think it is it is a nice rhythm of life to kind of hit the reset button in January.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I I like you have had to give myself a bit of a break because um there's the performance side of me wants to go, well, it's January 1st, so we gotta, you know, hit the ground running, it's a new year, you know.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we immediately have to start doing things different.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's just more of an ebb and a flow of life that just like you kind of even see in agriculture, the this is the season where the ground is kind of silent from what we can see.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot going on underneath the surface, but there is a resting period to even to the way crops grow.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so I actually have kind of taken some of that from you when you're like, I'm just gonna kind of ease myself into the air.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, that is a brilliant idea.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: I I like that.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Kimberly.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: That give yourself permission that you know, eventually the rhythm gets back, especially if you have kids in school and they're just now getting back into school or or whatever it is, there is kind of this take the pressure off that everything about your life has to change immediately the first week of January, because we make resolutions.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, um, and with my word joy, the other thing I would say that I I immediately, when I heard that word, I thought what I had to do to produce it.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and some of it is I do need to make choices to have a heart of gratitude, to have a heart of faith.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that there I do have a part in it, but I had to have God pretty quickly remind me that joy is a fruit of the spirit.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and in several places in scripture, God says that he will give us his joy.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so it is also kind of shifting my focus towards, okay, what can I do to not get in the way of God's joy coming through me?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: And um there that can be most tested in my life uh in my immediate family, uh, whether that's between me and my husband and our kids or with my parents or whatever.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think it is awesome that you and I had decided before I knew my word was joy and before all of this that we were gonna take some time, the first part of the year, in this uh second season of our podcast, to focus on the book for the family.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, I'm about to go into a big old laboratory of joy.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I think every family is a good laboratory.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um whether we like it or not, some days we love to go into our lab classes and other days we hated it, right?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, family is it's essential.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it's the foundation of things.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think about growing up and I think about a lot of the TV shows that you saw on television, we had all these 30-minute sitcoms, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of 30 minutes, you had this family that had a problem and they figured it out.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: They worked it out at the end of 30 minutes.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody loved each other.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I go, that's just not real life.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um no.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and so when we think about being in a family, uh, there's a lot of different things at play there.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um a family is definitely a complex system.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's a it's a complex group of people that interact with one another, they influence one another, their behavior uh affects one another's behavior, it affects one another's emotions and feelings and thoughts.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: A family's interconnected.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um and that leads to a whole lot of things in our daily lives.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So with our families being interconnected and affecting one another the way that we do, what that means is that we we have a culture in our family.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when we say that there's a family system, there's a family culture, there's a way that we interact in our family systems, and then we look at other family systems and they interact differently.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we're like, well, that's interesting.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's, you know, it at the heart of it, when I think about scripture, I think of, you know, God established the family system.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: He um he put it together, he designed us to be in family with one another.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: He calls the church the family of God.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's an importance to the family.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a there's an aspect of which I think we we grow and we are sanctified through the relationships with the family.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: We um I think of in, I think it's Hebrews where you talk about spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do that apart from relationship.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the foundation of relationships is in family.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we have broken families, obviously, and we have blended families, we have Christian families, we have non-Christian families, we have uh, you know, I mean, there's lots of words that we could put in front of family to describe it, but at the heart of it, there's a family system.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and in that family system, there are foundational relationships that that set the stage for how each of us will live our life.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: It we are taught our values, we are, there's nature and nurture that comes and how we develop through our family system, um, and all of those things are the foundation for how we how we live practically in this world.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the books that has tremendously impacted me through the father's business has been the booklet for the family.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have a copy of that, I would encourage you to check it out.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we'll give you info at the end of the podcast of where to do that.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: But it it's been a tremendous resource for me, um, primarily as I've done a lot of youth ministry and family ministry, but it's also been really critical in my own family life and praying for my family.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we had the opportunity not long ago to talk with Sylvia, Elizabeth's mom, a little bit more.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we asked her to tell us um about the family and how the for the family booklet came to be.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And um, as we walk through the next couple of weeks, we're gonna be walking through the booklet for the family, and we're gonna be including excerpts from Sylvia where we've had conversations with her about um various aspects of the family.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so um one of the questions that I asked Sylvia was I I told her how impactful it the book had been for me in my life and my ministry, and I asked her to tell me a little bit more about how For the Family came about.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so this is what she had to say.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sylvia, one of the books that really ministered to me, um, as I've done a lot of youth ministry and family ministry and just even in my own family life has been the book for the family.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, can you tell me a little bit about how For the Family came about?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's absolutely amazing because you're single.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's very true.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're exactly right.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: But you live in a family and you're in the family of God.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: So um maybe it resonated with you on those levels.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: What was the question?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: It it res yeah, yeah.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: It resonated with me so deeply because I I so care about the family and I and I see my own family story, and I see how our the we're the family.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You you know, you've said before, we're the family, we're the family of God.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and for the family has been such a good resource to give so many struggling parents for me.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um when you're in youth ministry, you are also in family ministry because those uh young people are in the the milieu of a family, all of them.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh could be one parent family or two parent family or grandparents or whatever, but that they came from a family and they are living in a family in some some way or other.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so what made you think, what made you decide to put together a separate booklet, so to speak, called for the family?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, honestly, prayer potions can be daunting.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's 365 pages, and that's a lot.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's not everybody's ready for that.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So for the family, it's a more shorter, more manageable um uh set of prayers and um situations.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Sylvia, I know that you have um raised your children and had grandchildren, and you're uh you know an older woman now who's seen a lot of family life.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you think you would say looking back to some of the younger moms today?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I think I would say hang in there, baby.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not always gonna be like this.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: And all too soon those little ones grow up and get out on their own, and you need to make investment.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: My father-in-law said to me, You love them a lot when they're young, but when they get older, pray for them and put them under the influence of someone whose values you share.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a very, very valuable piece of information because there comes a time in a young person's development when peers and even teachers and uh uh coaches and other people for a time have more influence with the young people than their parents do.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's sound advice.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was for me.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I'm just listening to mom's advice there is exactly how they raised us.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: I I grew up having, you know, in my elementary years, they would adopt a college student that lived uh near our house, going to university somewhere, but was from far away.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so we I would look up to godly college students that would come over to our house for Sunday lunch.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then as I got into my high school, my college years, they were forever holding Bible studies with young married couples and encouraging those young married couples to invest in the generation below.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that's one of things I love the most about this idea of family is just how generational it is.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: And also that there's your biological family, but there are so many different ways that we create family for ourselves as we get older that are not necessarily we're not necessarily related to them, but they are family to us and they are our people that we go to.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I love that For the Family is not just about getting married and having kids.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And in some ways, I think um I understand why we named it for the family, because there is a focus of that in parts of the book, but uh in some ways I wish it had a different title because it's for everyone, whether you're single, married, widowed, um, whether you have kids or don't have kids, there are so many rich things to be praying, not only for your family of origin, but the the greater community, the family that you find yourself in.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and as we, I kind of was kind of flipping through the opening introductory pages of the book, preparing for this podcast.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I hadn't done that in a while.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just be honest.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I've, you know, I've was around when these books were written and they've been a part of my life for so long.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: But as I was reading through and thinking back to where my mom was when she was writing it, and she's talking about in the first couple of pages about the things that you need to do to prepare your own heart so that you can then be the one who's investing in.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Your family, and you know, even her opening line of praying for your family is the most vital, unrelenting, frustrating, neglected, and rewarding assignment of a parent.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I read through some of her descriptions of things that she was encouraging other people to do as they prayed for their family, and I'm like, Oh, yeah, I remember that.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, she used to record prayers either down on four by six cards that she could put in her pocket and carry with her or even audio.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: Back then it was cassette tapes, so she would record cassette tapes of prayers that she could play in the car because she was a really busy mom.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like she had three kids to raise and husband to take care of.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I still look at her and go, How did you do all of that?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: And also have dinner on the table every night.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I I don't understand how she was able to do all of that.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so, but what the whole uh theme that I learned from her watching her life, and as I read back through the introductory pages of For the Family, it just really came alive to me is that she just kept inviting God into whatever she was doing in her life.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's something that I need to be more mindful of is in in the mundane task of the day and the different places and how I'm expecting behavior out of children, husband, parents, whoever.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I want them to act a certain way, and I want them to live their life a certain way, but how much am I investing in praying for them so they have the spiritual resources necessary necessary in order for life change to occur?
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of like I'm asking my family members to run a marathon and not giving them any water.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: So um I I have been convicted and will continue to be convicted as we go through these podcasts of the many ways that I expect a lot, but how much am I investing?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's a whole lot easier to sit back and expect, right?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Than to take the time to invest right um and really set a platform underneath the people in my life, whether I'm related to them or their friends or coworkers or whoever else in my sphere, my community, my family, how much am I setting up a platform underneath them spiritually so that they can become who God wants them to be?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if I think if both of us are honest, Elizabeth, I'm not even sure we would be sitting here having this conversation had it not been for both of our moms praying regularly for us and fervently.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, absolutely.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just to be able to give that back and encourage others to do that in their family systems and in their like, like you said, all of life, all relationships.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and when we think about prayer specifically for the family, for the people that we love, for the people we're in relationship with, for all of us, because I mean, obviously Sylvia said this, like, I'm single, and yet this is a book that has ministered to me so incredibly much.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like like you just said there at the beginning of the book, she says it's vital, it's unrelenting, it's frustrating, it's neglected, and yet it is so rewarding.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so as we walk through this book over the next couple of weeks, what we want to do is just kind of kind of go with the flow that I think um you guys put together here, which is just thinking about how do we need to set ourselves up for praying?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do we need to recognize who God is, um, check in on ourselves, why like, you know, why is prayer important?
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: How do we pray powerfully?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: How do we check in our hearts, uh, make sure that we are where we need to be as we approach Him, recognizing who God is, and then and then putting on the armor and and recognizing the battle that prayer is, and then specifically walking through how do we pray for our husbands, our wives, what if we're a single parent, praying for children, blessing our family, and then working through generational bondages, forgiveness, releasing, and doing all of this praying, recognizing that God is greater and it's under his authority.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so those are some of the, we're just gonna kind of highlight some of those, the this resource as we walk through these next couple of weeks.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: And my hope for you as you walk with us um listening to this podcast is that this will encourage you, as we were talking earlier about the new year, to just be intentional.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that's a that's a good word when we think about January.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like you, you know, I think Elizabeth, you mentioned earlier, it's a fresh start and we feel that.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it still may be that you're in the midst of darkness and hard situations and difficulties, many of us are, but just it's a fresh start.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's turning the new page.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's the fresh page of a journal, it's the new page of a book.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is an opportunity to just be intentional about saying, maybe I haven't done this great in the past, or maybe I have done it really well, and I just want to continue.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: But how can we begin to pray intentionally for those that we love dearly and deeply, for those that we are burdened for, for those that we care for?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so my hope, our hope for you and for us is that as we walk through this, that we will uh be encouraged, that we will learn more, that we will um be intentional about taking some of these steps that we're gonna walk through, and that we will just again remember that it is rewarding and it is vital.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and the Lord will bless us and he will bring us joy and he will bring us peace, and he will be the great I am in this journey of praying for our family.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the other thing that we want to do, Elizabeth, if you want to talk about this, we want to we want to hear some questions that people have too.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we would love to hear.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe you have a specific question about something going on in your family that uh you want to ask us about or just in general, as you've read through for the family, there's something that you'd like some clarification on.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: We would love to be collecting questions from you.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: And one of our podcasts coming up soon will be a question-answer time where we take questions that you have um about either praying for your family or other situations going on in your life, and we want to be able to share um just our wisdom and and what we think the scripture has to say about those things with you.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: So if you would like to uh submit a question to us, it's very easy to do.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: You can either go to our website, which is thefathersbusiness.com, and on the contact link, you can just send us a question, or you could email uh me at infothefathersbusiness.com.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I would really also want to encourage y'all who are going to be following along with us in this podcast, if you don't have a copy of the of For the Family, you are able to order those from us.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that is the cheapest place to find it is on our website um at thefathersbusiness.com.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: It is also available for sale on Amazon, but um, you'll pay a little bit more for it there uh due to Amazon fees.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_02: But also we have uh For the Family as an ebook, which is available um from Amazon on their Kindle app, um, which you don't have to have uh the Amazon fire or whatever to do that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you have a PC, you can they give you a piece of software where you can download it and you can read it.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: So um one of the things I'm gonna do is for the month of January, while we are having uh this discussion about For the Family, we're lowering the price of that ebook to 99 cents, which is the cheapest Amazon will allow us to make it, so that everyone has an opportunity.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you would like to own a copy of For the Family, it'll cost you right at a dollar.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then you could have it on your phone or your tablet or where wherever you uh look at things, you can download the Kindle app and read it that way.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we really want you to be a part of this conversation with us.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we would love to hear your feedback and your comments that you want to share with us as we go through this book together.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you also have uh social media, that's another place to engage with us.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have a Facebook page.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: We also have Instagram with the Father's Biz, that's the Father's Biz B-I-Z.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you can find us on Instagram.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna try to engage there with some social media posts, and you can always um ask us questions there, send us a DM, a direct message, um, or engage with any of the social media reels and stories and things like that that we have available.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so be looking for those.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we really do want to hear your questions and um and engage with those with real life situations.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we look forward to the series.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we look forward to the next couple of weeks and talking with you.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um we will we will see you again next time.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Check us out at thefathersbusiness.com or follow us at the Father's Biz on Instagram and Facebook.