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Prayer that changed a marriage with Scott and Joanne Williams · Christian Business Growth Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast.
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  I'm here with Scott and Joanne Williams.
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  So tell me, folks, how did you get started in business?
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  Hello, it's uh this is my wife Joanne.
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  And together we have 1111 marriage, where we do uh ministry to marriages.
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  And I guess you'll find out in the next couple of minutes why it's so important to us.
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  But it wasn't uh we just woke up one day and said, uh let's start a marriage ministry.
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  Our story began uh and it just dawned on me that our 35th anniversary will be this coming Sunday.
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  And
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  Not been a point A to point B um adventure, but it has been an adventure.
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  And I'd say we're better today than than we've ever been.
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  But uh that's really the the beginning.
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  Um, you know, 35 years ago Duran and I grew up in the church, um, separate churches, little country churches.
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  And we went on to have, you know, three beautiful young children, and then about uh 19 years ago, uh
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  Know our world was turned upside down.
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  And uh I lost my sister in a car accident the day after her uh 32nd birthday.
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  And it you know, being my only sibling, I was looking after my parents, just getting the estate looked after, and that took some time.
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  And and it was about a year later that uh I just started questioning everything.
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  Um, questioning my faith, questioning
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  My marriage, um, anything, I probably created new boxes to check if I was gonna question something.
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  And it was at that time, you know, looking back that we had a good marriage, but there wasn't a lot of depth.
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  The root, the roots were not really deep.
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  And uh so for the next two and a half years, I ended up leaving, stepping uh away from the home, away from my family, away from Joanne.
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  And we were actually separated for two and a half years.
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  And it was during that time, uh, and this is where the business piece is kind of birthed, is Joanne not only was praying for restoration in our marriage, but she was praying that
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  one day we would do marriage ministry together.
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  I still today and I think of when I whenever I take my last breath, I'll still say that that was a a crazy prayer.
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  Uh even today, after seeing what God has done, and what you'll hear about shortly, is uh an incredible, it's just turning uh opening your hands up to to Jesus and saying, uh I I
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  give them to you.
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  Um and I give my marriage to you.
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  And but to specifically pray like
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  Literally 19 years ago, that we would one day do marriage ministry together.
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  Uh, I still I have no other word to describe other than crazy.
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  Or I guess I could say but God.
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  And so fast forward, as we Joanne and I did, and uh there's a whole story there, but Joanne and I did, by the grace of God, we came back together and it was really like
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  starting all over again.
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  And we had a dear couple that stepped into our mess and
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  walked alongside of us.
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  Uh it was a pastor and his wife from actually another church that that chose to really step in.
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  And now they are dear, dear friends.
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  we've seen it come full circle where we've been able to do marriage ministry in their church to their leadership.
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  But uh about seven or eight years ago, Joanne and I were asked to start leading the marriage ministry within our own church.
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  And it was at that time
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  We're like, wow, here we are, um, doing exactly what she had been praying for so long ago.
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  And uh, and it has been such a blessing, such a privilege, uh, such a weighty responsibility to be able to have the uh the leadership in our church allow us to minister
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  and speak into marriages in our church.
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  And so we had like say we've been doing that for seven or eight years, and uh
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  This is awesome.
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  And we were open to whatever uh where God led, but it was it was the answer to prayer, or so we thought.
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  And this year, so I had run my had my own business for over twenty years and through a series of events, um, you know, COVID being one of them, but uh in January of this year I
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  ended up in the hospital with a significant health um problem and
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  And during that time, everything, it was literally the first week of January 2026.
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  And in one week, uh, I was in the hospital.
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  We didn't know what was gonna happen.
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  We lost the business.
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  And uh so went into the hospital, came out of the hospital a number of days later, and uh, you know, fully healed now.
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  But uh that's when Dre and I are looking at each other and saying, now what do we do?
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  And
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  That's where eleven eleven marriage was birthed.
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  And uh it wasn't what we planned, but again, but God, yeah, we are so excited and we've just seen God opening and providing and uh he's been so so faithful.
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  Uh and we've been so so discouraged at times.
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  And I've joked and said, you know, I'm I think I'm down into single di single digits now where I wanna quit uh each day, but um
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  But we just see the faithfulness and the hand of God in it all.
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  And uh so that was how we ended up in business, Lyle, uh as Mary eleven eleven marriage as uh as a Christian business ministering to marriages.
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  Wow.
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  So God took rough situations to put you back on his path.
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  That's kind of powerful.
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  'Cause so many people they they fall and they just keep falling.
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  They never get back up.
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  It sounds like you got kept getting back up and God kept aligning you and bringing you back to his path.
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  And the fact that you have a wife that's praying for you is powerful.
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  That is amazing.
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  I would argue that God through Joanne is the one that the reason that we kept getting back up.
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  But there needed to be and I would I think we can support each I think we do support each other well now and when we're a little discouraged we but at that time I was not the one
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  pursuing God.
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  I was running as far and as fast as I could from God.
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  Yet she was there and she was still praying and she was so yeah, and
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  We get to celebrate thirty five years next Sunday, by the grace of God.
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  That's awesome.
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  Well, Miss Joanne, tell us what God is currently doing in your business, and you can of course feed to that story.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, I I don't ever get tired of hearing of how God worked and how he really r has restored our marriage.
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  Um, that story never gets old.
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  It's not always fun to relive kind of some of the things and the pain that happened during that time, but uh, you know, without the pain, we don't get to see the redemptive side of
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  it um either.
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  So
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  Uh yeah, just knowing that our life is, you know, has been and and still is in God's hands and that He has good plans for us and for our marriage and moving forward and just yeah,
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  there's even though there's uncertainty and we're you know we're building something new, I guess, to to put that spin on it, to to that perspective of seeing like, oh.
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  we get the opportunity to build something new that is a direct answer to the prayers that you know we've had for so long.
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  And just knowing that God has um been so faithful and it's humbling to think that God would choose us to, you know, be ministers for Him.
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  It's, you know, like you said at the beginning of this podcast, you know, it's God's podcast first and you just want to steward it well.
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  And that's the way we feel about this ministry, that it's
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  Uh yeah, it's it's our lives being used toward it, but at the same time, it's uh it's God's story in us, and how can we use that story to impact other marriages?
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  And so God has been showing us ways that that can be possible for years now, and now we're just doing it on a little bit more of an official basis together.
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  So it's exciting.
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  Um I think
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  The way that faith has kind of impacted the way that we lead and the way that we serve marriages and serve God's church and serve even our leadership as we come alongside
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  couples within uh the church setting.
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  Um, not all of them are, but a lot of the couples that we're working with are kind of uh within the the church setting.
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  Christian couples who, because we've come at it from a position of faith, it's usually Christian couples that
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  that like that.
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  Um they want to get, you know, back to a more solid footing when it comes to their faith and their marriage.
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  but I would say like uh the impact that that faith has on the way that we lead and the way that we serve.
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  One of the things that came to my mind is just the releasing of control of the outcome.
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  So we can walk along with a couple, we can point them toward truth, we can point them toward Jesus first and foremost.
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  We can share our experience with them and tell them the things that have impacted our marriage and the things that kind of were were turning points for our marriage when we
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  were very broken.
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  Uh but the outcome isn't on us.
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  We can share, we can lead, we can point in the right direction, but what they do with that information, I mean you'd like to think that if they're coming to us in the first place,
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  they're coming for advice and they're like looking for any kind of small thing to hold on to.
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  Uh, but at the end of the day, what they do with that and whether they pursue Jesus and and surrender their marriage to him uh isn't
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  an expectation that we have to put on ourselves.
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  We don't have to beat ourselves up if they choose not to or things don't go well.
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  If they're both not invested fully.
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  and if they're both not surrendering their hearts and their lives and their mar their side of the marriage to the Lord, then um
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  You know, that's not our responsibility to make sure that there's fruit.
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  It's only our job to plant seeds, to do the things that God has called us to do, and to love them where they're at, and sometimes to get our hands dirty and get in the trenches
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  with them, like people did for us.
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  Um, but then to leave the outcome up to the Lord to, you know, faith faithfully pray for them and and to let God do what only He can do in their hearts and lives.
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  That's great.
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  And just for somebody who's out there who's listening, who's struggling in their marriage, but they're afraid to reach out, they're afraid to tell anybody about it, what would you
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  tell that person?
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  that's I'm so glad you asked that.
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  Cause one of the things that we often say is that we really want to we don't like it that it's normal that people struggle in their marriage, but we know that people struggle in
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  their marriage and it's pretty commonplace, sadly.
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  Uh, but we really want to normalize people just raising their hand and saying, like, we're not doing okay, we really need some help.
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  And sometimes within a church setting.
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  That can be looked down upon, especially if you're in a place of leadership, leading teams within your church, you're a pastor within a church.
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  Uh, but the enemy is attacking marriages everywhere, especially marriages who are omission for the kingdom.
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  And so just to be able to normalize to say, like, we get it, we we know that marriage is hard, the enemy is attacking, God's plan for marriage is good.
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  Uh but everything in society and culture and the enemy, all of that is working against our marriages.
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  And so just to come alongside people and say, you're not alone.
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  You're not in the you're not in this alone.
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  We're in this together.
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  We're gonna come alongside.
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  We don't ever want you to feel isolated.
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  That's one of the biggest tools that the enemy will use is to make people feel isolated.
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  I know because I was there back in that in that season that Scott described of me not wanting to, you know, raise my hand and say, I really need some help here for my own self,
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  as you know, for our kids, leading them through that season, and obviously for my husband.
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  we we were in a in a pretty dark place and sadly at the time we didn't feel that we had really anyone that would could help and so we just don't ever want a couple to feel that
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  they don't have somebody that they can go to for help there's no shame in struggle if anything it shows you that you're a threat to the enemy and his plans uh so you know the
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  enemy's gonna leave
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  marriages alone that aren't doing anything for the kingdom, usually.
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  Right?
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  So he's gonna spend his time, spend his attention, his and his attacks on the marriages that are uh a threat to him and the marriages that have the the biggest potential uh for
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  for good in the world and for the Lord's work.
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  So
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  That's our approach.
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  We would never want a couple to feel that any problem is too big or too small.
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  Um, it would take a lot to shock us.
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  You know, the stories that we hear from from couples uh that are causing struggle within their marriages.
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  It um there's really no end to it.
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  And so we just don't ever want anyone to feel that they that they can't get help.
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  That there's any shame in that, because there isn't.
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  and that there's um first and foremost, that there is I don't, I couldn't be convinced that there is anything beyond redemption.
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  I but I believe that anything can be redeemed.
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  God's created marriage, it's his idea, it's his plan.
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  And even when we do everything within our power to mess it up, God is still greater than our mess.
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  So that's what I would want people to know.
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  Good, thank you.
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  Now we're gonna take a shift into our business growth segment.
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  So, what's your tips on helping people grow their business as a Christian?
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  As I even as I was listening to Joanne there, I one of my favorite Bible characters, Lyle, is uh Joseph.
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  And we know his story, or most are f are familiar with his story that we'd be listening.
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  But at the end, um he said what man meant for evil, God meant for good.
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  And I think we see that thread and it it's not unique to us.
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  It's not unique to our story.
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  We're all humans.
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  We all make mistakes.
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  Um
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  some significant and and it's sin at the end of the day it's sin.
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  Um and that's why we end up in the place that we do.
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  But even as I look back over our story and never did we we we dream that we would be we would have a marriage ministry like that would be what we do as our livelihood.
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  Uh and I'm a I'm a huge fan of of Craig Rochelle and uh so to those that are
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  you know considering a a Christian you know outward faith-based business he says uh if it's not God's time uh you can't force it but if it is god's time you can't stop it and
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  you know there's scripture to back that up we you know we we make our plans but God orders our steps and
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  I think what happens, yeah, and in our case in particular, is we thought we were doing what we were, we had kind of hit the pinnacle of this marriage ministry that Joanne had
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  prayed for so long ago.
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  But as I had said earlier, we were always open to wherever he was leading.
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  And I it might have been a little bit of me.
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  I I don't know as I look back, and maybe it'll become clearer.
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  Uh, you know, we had a successful business, things were going well, and I think
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  We were kind of relying on that and comfortable in that.
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  And uh we had a couple, we were actually doing an interview a few years ago, and uh the lady said uh towards the end of the interview, she said, do not ever minimize your story.
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  God can use your story and don't ever accept for n as just normal what God has done in your marriage and in your relationship and your family and what he's brought us to today.
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  So
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  As as you're working whatever space God is leading you into, and if you're a marketplace leader, you can be a Christian business leader, and uh it doesn't matter, our son's an
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  electrician, you it the gamut, you can be a doctor, you can have impact.
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  But if if you want to have a faith-based Christian business, one you you
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  In anything we do in life, we we have to allow the Lord to lead.
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  And Joanna said this: like, wherever the Lord is leading, if we don't need Him in it, then it's not big enough, and it's definitely not from the Lord.
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  And so even in Isaiah, um, it says, What the Lord Almighty has has purposed, who can stop it?
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  And so there are times.
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  It we're we don't we'll admit right now, we don't have it completely figured out.
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  I don't know that we always will.
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  Uh, you know, you're always I from COVID, I hate the word pivot, but we it's still used.
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  So we you know, we even as we're just figuring things out and we're we're making little pivots.
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  And there's times where we see we clearly see God going, Yeah, this is this is where I want you.
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  And again, we make our plans, but then the Lord orders our steps and then it and we we try it.
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  And it doesn't mean we like, yeah, we may have failed at that piece, but it doesn't mean we were in sin and had stepped outside of the Lord's will.
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  So I would really encourage anyone that's listening that it you will not have it all figured out.
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  But if you open up your hands and you say, Lord, this is yours anyways.
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  This is it's not Lyle's podcast, it's your podcast.
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  And for some crazy reason, because I would change this Lyle in a heartbeat, but that he wrote the story.
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  And he said, I'm gonna work through my people.
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  I think he could have done it a lot better on his own, but he's chosen to use some somebody goofy like me, someone awesome like Joanne or whatever.
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  And he says, I'm gonna work through you in spite of all your insecurities, in spite of all your faults, everything.
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  I am choosing, and what a privilege for him to work through us.
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  It's amazing when you look at the Bible.
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  Right.
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  that uh what the results of that are.
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  Well it's biblical.
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  Look in the Bible how many mess ups he uses.
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  So you're you're riding in there with everybody else.
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  Yeah, well I j I joke.
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  I said I have me Joseph was one of my favorite Bible carriers.
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  When I Joseph, I mean, at the early on he he tells his brothers he's gonna bow down.
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  I'd say there's a little bit of pride going on there, even back in the beginning.
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  So maybe God was knocking that out of him through the but even uh Peter and and David, I mean, what a mess up David was, you know.
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  But at the end of his life, he was a man after God's own heart.
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  So
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  Yeah, our pastor just did a sermon on David and Bathsheba is powerful.
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  First time I've seen a pastor lay it out and just put those kind of parameters on men specifically, because men are the leaders of the household.
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  And if you're not being that leader, you're you're missing the point.
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  But well that's a whole nother ballgame.
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  Anyway.
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  So as we end up, what is a little bit of wisdom that you'd like to leave us with and how can someone get in touch with you folks?
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  Gonna leave that with Joanne because she is the wise one.
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  Yeah.
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  yeah, I this sort of springboards off of some of the things that Scott just said, uh reminding us that until God is in it and and breathes on that thing, you know, that dream
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  that he puts in our heart, it's really just a plan.
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  Uh and we have decided that we don't want to just walk in our own plans, we want to walk in our calling.
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  and that's where the power is.
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  Like that's where things turn from just like um something to do with your time and maybe do some good in the world for people and for marriages in our in our case.
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  but to turn that from you know a profession into a calling and a mission, um when God is in it, it just it changes everything.
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  So
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  And I had also written down the same verse that Scott just quoted.
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  So I'm going to say it again, Proverbs 16, verse 9.
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  We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
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  And that is just really kind of the hinge piece that changes, you know, it changes everything.
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  So uh, and and not saying like, God, please bless what we do, but show us clearly what you're already doing and let us let us have the privilege of.
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  being the hands and feet of Jesus and and stepping into stories and making a difference in in the work that God is already doing.
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  Like he doesn't need us, but like Scott said, we get to.
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  And that is a huge honor.
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  And we we just want to steward that so well.
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  So
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  And how can people get in touch with you folks?
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  We have a website, 1111marriage.com.
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  It's spelled out 11 with the number 11marriage.com and email info at 1111marriage.com.
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  We're also on Instagram and Facebook at 1111marriage.
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  And so you can find us in all those places.
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  We'd love to hear from you.
• 22:17
  Yeah.
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  Thanks for being with us today.
• 22:19
  Thank you, Lau.
• 22:20
  Thank you.