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Sherri McLeroy: He Came Back Different… and It Changed Everything · Why I Believe

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to Why I Believe.
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  Today our featured guest is Sherry McLeRoy.
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  Sherry is a principal of a large Christian school outside of Atlanta and the author of Purposefully Made.
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  Sherry, thank you so much for being here today with me.
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  I can't imagine a better person I'd like to kick off this podcast with than you.
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  We've known each other for quite a few years.
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  We met at Maxwell Leadership Certified Team.
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  Tell us more about you.
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  Yes, well thank you so much for inviting me to be on your podcast and I'm excited to tell you more about me.
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  I am a career educator.
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  I've been in the field of education for over 35 years and I've worked as a teacher, a literacy specialist.
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  uh
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  Curriculum Director, Principal Assistant Principal, and right now I currently am serving as a Principal at a very large Christian school north of Atlanta.
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  And it's been a really great place to get to weave my faith in with the world of education.
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  uh Teaching and learning are my jam, and then my faith is such a huge part of my story.
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  I grew up as one of four children and had parents that were super
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  influential in my faith journey.
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  So when we talk about my faith story and why I believe that's going to come out as we probably talk today a little bit.
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  And so that'll be fun.
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  And then I just, you know, when you're trying to get to know people and you want to know a little bit more about them, they call me in my workplace, they call me the queen of fun.
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  And I just love to spread joy and be cheerful in all circumstances.
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  And so
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  Life is really hard, but I try to find the joy in every moment and help flip the script a little bit, maybe work on that growth mindset of, you know, what's the silver lining?
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  And so a lot of my story and the stories that I tell on different angles have to do with the joy and how God's worked in my life uh through hard times.
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  Like my life has not been a cupcake walk.
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  There has been
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  trials and tribulation and struggles that have happened along the path.
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  So I'm just thankful for the opportunity to get to know you better and share a little bit more of my story.
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  Yeah, thank you.
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  I love that.
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  The queen of fun.
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  So tell me, how do you incorporate fun in a faith-based school?
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  What do you do?
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  How do you work that for your students?
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  Okay, so well, here's one really concrete example.
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  This week it's Valentine's Day week.
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  Next Saturday is Valentine's Day.
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  And one of the things that I do, we have an ice cream store here called Brewster's Ice Cream.
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  I don't know if they have it where you live, but they make really delicious ice cream.
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  And so every year the tradition at my school is that sometime during the week of Valentine's Day, I hire Brewster's to come and I serve every student in the school ice
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  cream.
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  to show them that I love them.
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  So they of course think that that day is the best day ever.
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  in fact, when I first came here, it was started long before I came, but I was like, that is one of the most fun practices that a principal of a school can do.
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  So that's one way.
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  then also, you know, growing up, uh I grew up kind of in a more traditional home and traditional churches.
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  And I...
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  I didn't think being a believer in Jesus looked very fun because of watching some of the people that I interfaced with at church.
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  It felt like just it was all rules driven versus grace and joy and the God I know, like he's a God of joy.
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  And while there's hardship, like he's my strength.
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  Like the joy of the Lord is my strength.
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  persevering and pushing through hardship.
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  um I just want to help people see that being a believer can be fun.
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  So some of the ways I guess I do that, I love to bring the fun.
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  if I'm creative, so if I can find a way to pour into people that's creative or spark a moment, like there's a book I read called The Power of Moments and I do believe we have
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  options.
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  We've got this really creative God.
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  and I don't think he puts us in a box.
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  He wants us to use our creativity to find ways to glorify him and make being a believer in Christ attractive to other people.
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  And so I look for fun ways just to spark that creativity and make it fun.
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  And I keep thinking about this week because of Valentine's week, but we just came off of, we did two full days of spiritual emphasis and I hire an entertainer.
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  and he is kind of a comedian.
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  He comes in and does two full days of just pure fun.
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  We go to Skyzone and jump on trampolines at the trampoline park.
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  We have snowball fights in the gym with fake snowballs and it's kind of like dodgeball, but I want kids and adults to realize that, you know, life's hard, but Jesus can make your
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  life more fun.
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  And that's where I think I get that title is just any way we
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  can infuse fun into the situation or make it better to make children and adults realize, you know, this journey, there's this great big God who loves us and walking with him is a
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  joyful experience, not a drudgery.
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  Wow, Sherry, I've never heard an educator talk about so much fun in their lives, especially serving ice cream at school, right?
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  Let's give them all the sugar and let's do this.
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  Yeah.
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  Woo.
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  Right.
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  But I love how you do that.
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  I love how you bring the joy of God in because God, as you know, is love.
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  Right.
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  And we spread that.
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  We share that.
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  And it's so amazing.
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  Now, one of the things that you said uh when we talked about previously to this was that even though you were brought up in a church family,
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  You felt like you inherited God and not necessarily chose God.
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  But there was a story, something that happened with your brother that made you feel differently.
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  Can you share that with us today?
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  sure I would be delighted to.
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  growing up, my parents, every time the doors were open at the church, our family was there.
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  And a little bit, in a little bit of a way, I would have rather been doing other things than sitting in Bible lessons or hang out.
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  And I usually was a little bit mischievous.
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  I'm one of four kids and my older brother, his name is Eric, he's a great guy.
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  He and I
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  We didn't always see eye to eye on everything.
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  Sometimes siblings, you can have that sibling thing where siblings, sometimes you do get along and sometimes you don't.
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  Eric and I, when we were kids, we did not get along very well.
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  We would kind of do a battle of the wits and sometimes there was punching involved or pinching or whatever.
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  Just we were...
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  we were not always very kind to one another, but he was kind of mean to me.
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  He had a very different temperament than I did.
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  was more fun, like a high I on a disc profile and he would I would say probably was a high D, you know, very driven, very focused, and he didn't always mince his words, so he would
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  just tell me exactly what he thought and not really care if he had plowed me over in the process.
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  And so as we were going to church, you know, I was made to go versus choosing to go.
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  There was a period of time where my parents sort of wanted me to go through like confirmation classes and you know declare my faith as my own and I wasn't ready to I
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  thought this does not seem very fun and I really wanted I want to have a life that's fun.
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  I thought I'd have to give up every fun thing everything that looked attractive and fun.
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  So anyway, I resisted actually ran out of the church on the day of confirmation classes because I wasn't gonna live a lie and I wasn't gonna confirm that I believed something.
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  that deep in my heart I knew I wasn't ready to make a commitment at that point to God.
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  I was in middle school and I was like, no way, this does not look fun.
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  And so about two years later, my older brother got invited by a friend who they invited him to go on a mission trip with them with their church and he went.
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  And when he came back, he had had a transformational life experience on that mission trip.
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  and he came back, he had an encounter with Jesus and he had this new relationship and who he was, it was like a complete turnaround.
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  I was like, who are you and what did you do with my brother?
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  I like this version better.
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  He was loving, kind and honestly, he asked me to forgive him for some of the mean, you know, the mean things.
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  He didn't ever abuse me, so I don't want you to think that, but he was just kind of a jerk to me when we were little.
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  But when he came back, was like, this is a different brother than the one who went away a week ago on this mission trip.
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  And so he started telling me about the difference between going to church and then having a relationship with a God who loves you.
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  And I watched him.
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  I was a little wary of it.
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  I thought, I wonder how long this will last.
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  Is this for real?
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  Hmm?
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  The relationship that I had with him changed.
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  My mom, my mom used to send us to, she'd call it camp and we'd get there and it would be like a Bible study camp.
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  I just couldn't believe it.
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  But he and I together were dropped off at camp one year.
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  They, hey, we're going to camp.
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  I thought I was going to go get to see cute boys and hang out with friends by the pool.
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  And I got there and it was this intensive week long immersion into a
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  Bible study, a Bible camp.
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  And so my brother and I both were there and we would kind of hang together because we didn't know anyone else at this camp.
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  And I realized that his life had been completely transformed and it was so attractive and so much fun to watch that relational transformation that I wanted to know more about it.
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  And so I kind of for about six months watched him to see if it was going to stick and if it was real and authentic.
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  And it was, it was a transformed life right before my very eyes, a person that lived in my home.
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  And so after that, I made my own decision.
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  I was like, you know, if this is what being a believer can look like and sound like, then it looks like it's a lot more fun than it did before.
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  So what have I got to lose?
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  I'm going to try it.
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  And so, you know, I asked, I believe we received the gift of salvation through Jesus by
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  you know, inviting him in to be part of our life and living a life worthy of a calling that he has on us.
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  And so it was kind of fun.
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  My brother at that point started pouring into me versus, you know, like deposits and withdrawals.
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  He started depositing into me versus these withdrawals that were happening.
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  And he was depositing spiritual truth that he had been learning because he started devouring his Bible and growing in his faith.
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  And then he
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  would turn around and teach me and I started growing in my faith.
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  And so it was very special to know that he had such an instrumental part.
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  My mother also had a huge impact.
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  She was very invitational in her approach, even though she'd sign us up for Bible camps.
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  uh She was strategic as a mom at not forcing us to follow this God that they believed, but
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  we would go with them and we got to see and she was also a person who helped me see that following Christ could be a really fun journey and a relational journey.
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  And so kind of started for me back in eighth grade, that faith journey of making it my own, that this isn't my mom and dad's belief anymore.
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  Like they wanted it to be mine, but until I chose on my own that, this means something to me.
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  um
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  You know, I kind of was wandering.
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  would just, I would show up because I had to, because the car went there and you know, I was made to go.
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  But then watching that relationship with my brother and, then even understanding what my mom had been trying to do all those years, it dawned on me and made sense.
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  And ever since then, I haven't really looked back.
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  I've kind of become a leader in faith circles.
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  and still, I'm still pretty close to my brother doesn't live.
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  here in Atlanta.
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  He lives in Houston and I don't get to see him very often but when I do connect with him I've had the opportunity as we've gotten older to tell him how much it meant to me that he
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  came back changed because his change in his life changed my life.
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  know through the Lord working in both of us.
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  That's beautiful.
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  And I think you hit it right on the head.
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  Like you made that choice, right?
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  God wants a relationship with all of us, but we have to choose that back.
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  And so many people don't feel worthy of that relationship, right?
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  But he doesn't call on the perfect.
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  He calls on the ones that say yes and he perfects that calling and what his mission is for you, right?
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  He gives you the tools and equips you to do what he wants you to do.
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  But I think that's beautiful.
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  Yeah.
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  Cause I think so many people are like, I don't feel worthy.
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  Why me?
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  Right?
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  I've had those same conversations, right?
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  I didn't feel worthy.
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  Why me?
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  I don't understand.
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  But when you say yes, everything begins to change.
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  Yes.
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  Life is like a series of events.
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  Me too.
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  Me too.
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  I love that too.
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  because I was opposite of you.
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  I didn't grow up in a church family.
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  I started going because my friends were going to a youth group and I thought, that was really cool.
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  And then it wasn't fun again.
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  And then, you know, I think we go through seasons just like we do with every aspect of our life.
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  We go through seasons and.
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  You know, when I finally said yes, amazing things started happening.
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  But you said you were really tested when your husband lost his job.
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  Mm.
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  that God showed up for you in miraculous ways.
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  Tell me more.
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  He did.
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  Okay, well, so it's been about 11 years ago now.
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  My husband had had this really fantastic job with the Coca-Cola company here in the Atlanta area.
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  And Coca-Cola, I still drink Coca-Cola.
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  In fact, I have my little Coke Zero like right here.
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  I'm not endorsing, I'm just saying I still love their products.
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  uh But Coca-Cola is pretty notorious for reorganizing and laying off workers.
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  And so we had suffered as a family.
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  uh
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  three different layoffs through Coca-Cola and then my husband would get hired back.
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  And so the third one, em he was about to reach his 50th birthday and I think that they offered packages to people who were, you know, nearing retirement years.
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  So what ended up happening, we kind of lived paycheck to paycheck.
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  My son was born with a birth defect and we had had a lot of
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  debt from surgeries that we were paying off from when he was a baby and he was in the NICU and just a whole bunch of things to that part of my story.
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  And so we were finally kind of breaking even, but we were still kind of living paycheck to paycheck.
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  And when my husband's job got eliminated from the Coca-Cola company, they basically offered him a little retirement package or he could try to find another job within a three
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  month period, a window.
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  in Coca-Cola in a different department because they reorg everything.
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  And his dad had just died two months before from brain cancer.
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  And he also had suffered this traumatic hearing loss incident where an air tool went off inside of his ear.
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  So he he hit this period where he was really kind of depressed, you know, like so many of us will wrap our identity up in our jobs.
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  And he had done that a little bit.
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  uh
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  And then just losing his dad, was two, I mean, it was three really big, the loss of some hearing, like three kind of loss, loss, loss, uh too close together.
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  And so he sort of started spiraling a little bit prior to that, about a year and half before that happened.
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  I had been working for a very large public school district in the state of Georgia and kind of was working my way up.
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  through the ranks in that district and a school had, a brand new school for kids with dyslexia had approached me.
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  They wanted a Christian leader to be their first principal.
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  And so I said yes, feeling like I was called.
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  Well, when my husband's job got eliminated, when you say yes to a startup, um there's no money.
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  And so I ended up, his journey caused me to have to rethink.
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  where I thought I was going to be.
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  And so I had to start finding a job at a time of the year when it wasn't a good time to find a, an educator job.
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  You know, typically we go school years, um, but this was in, he got let go in January and then I started looking for a new job and God just showed up in amazing ways.
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  I started praying.
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  was like, Lord, I would just really like, I knew my husband was in no place at that moment.
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  He could not even go for an interview.
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  He was wounded, angry, all those stages of grief.
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  from the three losses that he had gone through, I knew that I was gonna have to pivotally, my career option to support my family at that point in time.
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  And I still am supporting my family.
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  We're 11 years out and he's now a handyman doing work for people and he's had several odd jobs since that time.
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  But the good part about it is when we didn't have anything, there were these miracles that would keep.
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  that God would have happen in my life that reminded me, I see you.
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  And some people I think believe differently, but sometimes I feel like I hear God almost speak to me and it comes in the form of he'll start with daughter.
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  And I'm like, yes, but like, there's no one around.
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  So I'm kind like, okay, I'm listening.
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  What do you have for me?
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  But when I got my new job, I started working here where I'm at now.
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  Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, Georgia.
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  They had been without a principal for two years.
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  And I came in and was like the most celebrated human being on the planet.
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  And I was like, look at God, this is, it's so When I came though, I didn't really tell anyone the financial state that we were in, the severance package wasn't long lasting.
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  It was in the time when Obamacare kind of became a thing.
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  so insurance benefits.
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  We had been on my husband's insurance benefits because um the little school I was working at that was a startup school didn't have any insurance benefits.
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  And so like all the things we sort of take for granted, we were having to put a lot of money out to be able to just illegally cover our family.
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  uh anyway, what happened, there was this one day, because these are so special, these little stories.
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  was like, look at how God showed up.
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  There's one day in the first two weeks of my job here, you know, there's a lag sometimes when you start working at a new place and when your first paycheck comes.
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  And so the last paycheck had already been spent and had run out.
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  My husband and I had gone into very conservative mode of we're not putting anything on our credit cards.
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  We're going to live cash only.
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  We're going to eat the food that's in the refrigerator or the freezer.
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  And like until I got that first paycheck, we, we were not spending any money because we didn't have any to spend.
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  And we weren't going to go into further debt to do that.
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  Now we weren't destitute.
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  We had not lost our home or anything, but for us, this was a really huge, shocking change.
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  So there was one morning where my husband was like, Hey, we have run out of milk and there's no bread and there's no cereal.
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  And I'm like, well, there's chicken in the freezer.
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  You could defrost a piece of chicken and eat that.
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  And you're just going to have to do without cereal and milk.
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  I don't get paid for another week.
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  And he's like, that didn't match what he was hoping for that day.
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  I get in my car, I sit in my car and my car is on empty.
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  And so I just breathe this prayer and I'm like, Lord, you know, I'm your daughter and I heard you talk to me and I changed jobs and did all this stuff and I heard your voice.
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  So I'm going to ask you to provide and I'm going to ask you to provide supernaturally.
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  And I don't know what that's going to look like.
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  I don't know, but I believe you can.
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  I believe you called me and I believe I'm walking in the way that you want me to walk right now.
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  And so I got in my car.
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  I had been the last one to leave my new job the day before because I was onboarding and I had left like really late.
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  It was after dark and I had driven home and I usually like to be the first one at work.
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  I get up really early and arrive to work early.
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  So I walked in with my key and unlocked my door.
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  and I sat down at my desk and laying on top of my desk there was a $50 gift card to a local grocery store.
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  And so started crying and I'm like, oh my gosh, like I was the last one to leave last night.
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  I was the first one to get here today.
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  Like did God just open the heavens and drop this grocery store gift card?
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  And so anyway, I wept that day and I quickly called my husband and I'm like, you're not gonna believe it, but God's got us.
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  I'm like, there's a $50 gift card.
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  I'll stop today.
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  Like send me a list of the under $50 things that we need.
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  And on the way home from work today, I'll pick up just a couple of groceries.
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  I'm like, God's got us.
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  Like we're going to be fine.
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  So it was great.
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  I got milk and bread and cereal and two or three other things.
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  Came home the next day.
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  I'm praying because my car's on empty.
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  And I'm like, Lord, my car's telling me that I only have enough gas in the tank to get to work.
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  I don't have enough to get back home.
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  And I believe, like you provided yesterday, so I'm gonna trust you that you're gonna provide today too.
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  And so I get in my car, drive to work, walk in, and there is a $50 gas gift card laying on my desk.
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  And I cry again, and I'm like, okay, Lord, you got me.
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  I'm trusting you, I believe you.
• 23:35
  I drove this old Jeep Grand Cherokee and we are the kind of family that when we buy a car we drive it, we pay it off, and we drive it until it won't drive anymore.
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  Well this old Jeep Grand Cherokee was to the point that it almost couldn't be driven anymore but I loved it and didn't want to sell it and we didn't have the money for new
• 23:56
  car.
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  And that week a part broke on my Jeep.
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  And I'm like, Lord, this is crazy.
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  Like look at all these things.
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  And I'm like, okay, even in this, like I trust you, you, you've had me, you provided food, you provided gas, like will you provide whatever it's going to take to fix and repair this
• 24:18
  broken part on my car?
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  And so my husband, he's pretty handy.
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  He's mechanically minded.
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  And so he, he's doing research, trying to figure out what might've broken on the car.
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  Cause the light came on.
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  And so he texted me at work that day and he says, Hey, he's like, I know we're not using our credit cards.
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  He's like, but I've found a part that I think will fix your Jeep.
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  It's $5 on Amazon for 98.
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  Like, and he's like, we don't have any Amazon points, but he's like, I'm going to put it on the credit card.
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  And we're trying to hold each other accountable.
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  So I was like, okay, but don't buy anything else off of Amazon.
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  Cause we don't want to in trouble financially.
• 24:56
  It's like a, it is.
• 24:59
  like, but if you think you can fix it and we won't have, you know, debt on a car, like, okay.
• 25:05
  And I'm like, and in the meantime, let's just pray that God provides, you know, the $4 and 90 whatever cents that day I walked out to that great Jeep Grand Cherokee and I hadn't
• 25:14
  told anybody this, like, this is where, know, God is just, he's got you.
• 25:19
  I walked out to my car and somebody had taken a $5 bill and accordion folded it and had lifted the handlebar on my Jeep and this $5 bill is flapping in the wind.
• 25:29
  when I go out and open the door to my Jeep, $5.
• 25:32
  And I got in the car and at that point I couldn't contain, I was so overcome with the goodness of God in seeing my need before I even, before I had even voiced it, you know?
• 25:46
  And so I just feel like he just shows up.
• 25:49
  There was another time that same year, the former school that I had been at, I had really given my life to starting a brand new startup school.
• 25:57
  and had really impacted families that felt desperate because their kids had been struggling in public schools because their kids had dyslexia.
• 26:06
  People did not know how to help them learn to read.
• 26:08
  there it was uh first grade through eighth grade school.
• 26:12
  And so I'd have fourth and fifth grade kids who had never learned to read.
• 26:15
  And when you finally teach a kid how to read that has struggled, parents and families are very grateful.
• 26:22
  So anyway, I went to a football game.
• 26:25
  I had been at my new school for about a month and I went to, my son went to a school across the street from my former school and I went, he was in the marching band, I went to
• 26:35
  be a band mom and I'm sitting up in the stands and one of the families from the other school I had been, that I had been the principal of, saw me and came out, the little girl
• 26:44
  gave me a hug, the mom and dad were like, we miss you so much, we, you know, how is everything?
• 26:50
  So I told them one or two of these stories about how God had provided and.
• 26:55
  just how much I appreciated that they had been praying for me.
• 26:58
  And they're like, well, we miss you like crazy.
• 27:00
  You know, we're so glad God's with you.
• 27:01
  We've been praying for you.
• 27:02
  So I went, sat up in the stands to do my band mom thing.
• 27:06
  And all of sudden the dad of this little girl, he walks up to me and I'm an expressive.
• 27:12
  So I was like using my hands, talking to my band mom friends.
• 27:16
  And he, taps me on the shoulder and then in my, he grabs my hand and he puts a check in my hand.
• 27:25
  And I turned around and I'm like, what's this for?
• 27:27
  He says, it's just our way of saying, thank you.
• 27:30
  Thank you for pouring in.
• 27:31
  And so I was like, well, you're welcome.
• 27:33
  said, I love your family.
• 27:35
  I hated to leave.
• 27:36
  I loved your daughter and I'm so thankful I got to be part of her story.
• 27:41
  So he hugs me.
• 27:43
  The little girl hugs me.
• 27:44
  They run back down to go sit with their people in the football stadium.
• 27:48
  And one of my band mom friends says, what's in your hand?
• 27:51
  Look at it.
• 27:52
  And I looked down and it was a $1,000 check.
• 27:56
  Wow.
• 27:57
  you for pouring in and I just like I the stories of how God just kept showing up in that season where I felt like the world was falling apart and he just kept saying I've got you
• 28:09
  I've got you and it ended up being it ended up being so fun to see how he kept showing up what he was going to do next so I don't know I could tell story after story but those are
• 28:20
  like the ones that blew me away and I was like
• 28:22
  Look at him, he just, he's with us, he's for us.
• 28:26
  He's gone before this hard part in our story and he brings joy when we could sit around and be depressed over the shape that we're in or the life that we're having to live.
• 28:38
  I am going to choose to trust that he's gonna keep showing up and keep providing and I'm gonna keep saying yes to what he tells me to do because he's God and I'm not.
• 28:48
  And so anyway, sorry, I probably talked too much on that.
• 28:51
  you're good.
• 28:51
  You're good.
• 28:52
  I think it's great.
• 28:53
  mean, you're just sharing exactly what this whole podcast is about is like, why do we believe and where he's where has he showed up in our everyday lives?
• 29:01
  And the thing of it is, is you know what?
• 29:04
  God talks to me, too.
• 29:06
  And I listen because I've learned what happens when we do listen, right?
• 29:10
  All good things.
• 29:11
  And it's not always going to be perfect.
• 29:13
  Life's not going to be full of roses if we believe, but that doesn't mean.
• 29:18
  that we just stop believing.
• 29:19
  And when we put our trust, we put our faith and we surrender ourselves and our worries to God, he shows up in big ways every time.
• 29:28
  You just gotta listen and you gotta build that relationship with God.
• 29:31
  Now, before I let you go, I do want to give you a chance to plug your book.
• 29:36
  I usually don't want to do this on this podcast.
• 29:39
  It's not about business, but your book is related to this podcast.
• 29:42
  I love the book.
• 29:43
  I got it for my daughter right after it came out.
• 29:45
  She loves the book.
• 29:47
  So just give us a brief rundown.
• 29:49
  And there's one line, and I'll let you say it, that is repeated throughout the book.
• 29:52
  And please share.
• 29:54
  Yes, thank you.
• 29:55
  right.
• 29:55
  Well, so the book came from, well, my mom's in heaven now.
• 30:00
  And after she passed away, I started writing and journaling just to process my grief.
• 30:07
  And the book actually was a poem that I wrote one day from a little phrase that she used to tell me.
• 30:15
  And the book is called Purposefully Made.
• 30:17
  And when I was a little girl, I will say this, start out, I...
• 30:20
  I struggled with believing that God had a purpose for my life.
• 30:25
  um I struggle with feeling like I was any good at anything and some of that stemmed from my brother and things he would say to me as I shared earlier like when you know the words
• 30:35
  matter words we say to one another em but anyway this little poem that I wrote I kept playing with it it ended up I was like okay I felt like Lord the Lord wanted me to turn it
• 30:46
  into a story to help other kids that maybe were struggling with figuring out their purpose and he wanted me to use the phrases that my mom
• 30:55
  and the strategies that my mom used to help me discover that God has a purpose, he has a plan, he's our biggest supporter, he's our biggest fan.
• 31:03
  And what he does is he's wired each of us with these beautiful gifts and beautiful attributes and temperaments.
• 31:11
  And our job is to discover what those attributes and purposes are and then go after them and impact the world for good.
• 31:19
  And so every day I want my life to be this offering that I'm giving up to others.
• 31:25
  people and for me he called me to work with children and adults in the education world and
• 31:32
  And that's where my impact and my purpose is.
• 31:35
  That's one of them.
• 31:36
  And then as a wife and a mother and a follower of Christ, and then even in the Maxwell leadership journey, like leadership is my jam.
• 31:44
  I love leading other leaders, especially in the education space.
• 31:49
  And so I look around at the gifts that he's given everyone and this book purposefully made it.
• 31:53
  basically goes on a little introspective journey with a child to help them.
• 31:59
  asks questions like, you know, it, it,
• 32:02
  the way different people are wired and helps them realize, okay, if I'm really good at dancing, does God want to use my skills in dance?
• 32:09
  Like somehow to be part of the purpose for impacting the world for good.
• 32:14
  Or, you know, my husband's a tinker and so there's a page in there about maybe perhaps you like to tinker and take things apart.
• 32:21
  He likes to do that.
• 32:22
  And so that's a special way of being smart.
• 32:25
  The book rhymes.
• 32:26
  I like rhyming books, uh being a former literacy coach.
• 32:30
  know, the prosody of words and books, you know, the rhythm of reading is really important being a former literacy coach.
• 32:37
  So I tried to make it a book that hopefully would.
• 32:40
  have some repeated phrases because young children love to repeat and join in the story.
• 32:45
  But at the back of the book, probably one of my favorite parts is I added some coaching questions just for parents or caregivers or teachers who might read it in a classroom to
• 32:56
  get other kids who maybe were like me, who didn't recognize the goodness inside of them or didn't think that there was a purpose that, hey, what am I good at?
• 33:06
  What are my strengths?
• 33:07
  Because maybe that's exactly what God wants to use
• 33:11
  to hone and refine and then turn it around and be the way that I impact the world.
• 33:16
  And so there's questions to ask about other people or to help your friends because what I realize is being an educator and especially being a principal, sometimes children are
• 33:26
  brought to my office for things that they might not.
• 33:29
  um
• 33:30
  might not, might rather have not been brought to my office.
• 33:33
  However, when I get them in here, I want to see the good in them.
• 33:37
  Every kid has good in them.
• 33:39
  And so many people are put down or bashed or they, all they hear is the negative self-talk that maybe they've been told by someone else.
• 33:48
  But what I believe is we have this unique opportunity to speak great words of life into other people.
• 33:54
  And that's really, honestly, that's what the book's heartbeat is, is how can we speak life?
• 33:58
  How can we help other people
• 34:00
  discover their purpose.
• 34:02
  have a new book coming out too.
• 34:03
  I've been working on a devotion book for teenagers and it's on the same topic.
• 34:07
  It's 52 weeks to help discover your purpose and that one will be coming out probably by summertime but it'll be for older kids instead of a picture book.
• 34:16
  But yeah, that book was a really uh it was a way to honor the memory of my mother.
• 34:22
  and how she poured into me.
• 34:23
  And then hopefully a way that for generations to come, maybe when I'm long gone, they'll still be kids who will recognize and receive the fact that God has a plan for their life
• 34:34
  and that he's cheering them on.
• 34:35
  He created them and he knows why they, why he created them.
• 34:39
  He knows the purposes he has for them and their job is to discover it and go after it.
• 34:46
  I love that.
• 34:46
  That's so beautiful, Sherry.
• 34:48
  Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story.
• 34:51
  Share with us how you're making God quote unquote fun for the kids so that way they make the choice to choose God and to choose that relationship versus inheriting it.
• 35:03
  Thank you so much.
• 35:04
  I really look forward to your new book coming out and I hope you have a blessed day.
• 35:09
  Thank you, Michelle.
• 35:10
  I love what you're doing and I love the space you've created for people to tell why they believe because we all believe for different reasons, but the fact that we do believe and
• 35:19
  that we get to be part of this great journey together is so much fun.
• 35:23
  So thanks for creating time and space and just even your willingness to invite me to be on your show with you.
• 35:30
  uh You're such a joy bubble and it's been fun to watch you grow and you discover the purposes.
• 35:36
  that God has for you.
• 35:37
  Since I've known you, I keep watching.
• 35:39
  like, look at her soar.
• 35:40
  She's discovering the purposes God has.
• 35:42
  So I'm just, I want you to know I'm a cheerleader and a fan and I appreciate you and just the time and space you've created for me to be able to be part of your story.
• 35:53
  Thank you, Sherry.
• 35:54
  Thank you and I you feel better.
• 35:55
  Alright.