Latest / Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast / How to Hold On to Hope in a World Full of Fear and Despair
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio. Have you ever felt life knocked you down
- 0:08Speaker 1: so hard you weren't sure you'd even get back up again.
- 0:11Speaker 1: Today's guest, Greg Horn knows that kind of pain firsthand.
- 0:15Speaker 1: After losing three close friends to on aliving themselves and
- 0:20Speaker 1: experiencing the devastating collapse of his own business, marriage, and home,
- 0:24Speaker 1: all within twenty four hours, Greg was left at rock bottom,
- 0:28Speaker 1: but God met him there. Today on your Hope Field Perspective,
- 0:31Speaker 1: Greg shares how to move from fear to hope, how
- 0:34Speaker 1: gratitude can transform our outlook, and how we can live
- 0:37Speaker 1: each day with a renewed sense of purpose. Welcome to
- 0:41Speaker 1: your Hope Field Perspective with doctor Michelle Banks and where
- 0:43Speaker 1: our goal is to restore hope, renew minds, and empower
- 0:46Speaker 1: listeners to live in your God given identity. I'm so
- 0:50Speaker 1: thankful when you choose to spend a few minutes of
- 0:52Speaker 1: your week with us. Today we're going to be talking
- 0:54Speaker 1: about how to hold on to hope in a world
- 0:56Speaker 1: full of fear and despair. We'll dive into that right
- 1:00Speaker 1: after this brief word from our sponsor. Fear, loss and
- 1:06Speaker 1: heartbreak can strip the joy out of life, leaving us
- 1:09Speaker 1: wondering if hope is even possible. My guest today, Greg Horn,
- 1:13Speaker 1: has lived through some of life's deepest valleys, losing friends,
- 1:16Speaker 1: his marriage, his business, and even his home in a
- 1:20Speaker 1: single day. Instead of allowing fear and despair to write
- 1:24Speaker 1: the end of his story, Greg chose to trust God
- 1:26Speaker 1: and share a message of encouragement with others who are hurting.
- 1:30Speaker 1: On this episode of Your Hope Field Perspective, Greg and
- 1:32Speaker 1: I will talk about how to face fear head on
- 1:35Speaker 1: the role of gratitude and healing, and practical ways to
- 1:39Speaker 1: embrace the truth that hope is always there. So I
- 1:42Speaker 1: felt compelled to start off this episode with a familiar verse.
- 1:45Speaker 1: It comes from Romans fifteen thirteen. May the God of
- 1:49Speaker 1: all hope fill you with all joy and peace as
- 1:53Speaker 1: you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with
- 1:56Speaker 1: hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Greg Horn
- 1:59Speaker 1: is best known as an encourager, coach, motivator, and speaker.
- 2:03Speaker 1: He speaks regularly to organizations, civic groups, and churches on
- 2:07Speaker 1: the topics of fear, gratitude, and hope. He also hosts
- 2:10Speaker 1: the radio show and podcast Hope Is Here, which I've
- 2:13Speaker 1: had the honor of being on a broadcast daily Monday
- 2:16Speaker 1: through Friday and multiple radio stations in central Kentucky. His ministry,
- 2:20Speaker 1: Hope Is Here, began in December twenty seventeen from a
- 2:24Speaker 1: holy discontent that was growing within him after losing three
- 2:28Speaker 1: friends to unliving themselves. I'm excited to share his story
- 2:33Speaker 1: with you today. Welcome to the podcast.
- 2:35Speaker 2: Greg, Hey, Michelle, thanks for having me. It's an honor
- 2:37Speaker 2: to be with you. You are such a wonderful guest.
- 2:40Speaker 2: And our Hope Is Here a program had a lot
- 2:42Speaker 2: of wonderful feedback, and I'm so thankful that we both
- 2:44Speaker 2: have just maybe our word, we all have a word,
- 2:47Speaker 2: is hope, and so I'm thankful to be able to
- 2:49Speaker 2: hopefully provide some hope today for your listeners.
- 2:52Speaker 1: I think you will. Greg. What I have come to
- 2:55Speaker 1: find out is that frequently our ministry is our birth
- 2:59Speaker 1: out of our own pain and our wounds or our
- 3:01Speaker 1: own needs. So if you would, would you take us
- 3:03Speaker 1: back in time to the events that brought you great
- 3:06Speaker 1: pain and basically then changed the trajectory of your life
- 3:09Speaker 1: and ministry.
- 3:11Speaker 2: Yeah, rewind the clock back March nineteen ninety seven. I
- 3:15Speaker 2: had a ten million dollar company, one hundred employees working
- 3:18Speaker 2: with me. It was gonna be a millionaire in my
- 3:20Speaker 2: mid thirties. And one day it started raining, and it
- 3:23Speaker 2: rained and it rained. It was like Noah's art proportions.
- 3:27Speaker 2: And so it was about two days before I could
- 3:30Speaker 2: get into my business, and I called my insurance agent,
- 3:33Speaker 2: and I had every type of insurance. It sept for
- 3:36Speaker 2: flood inshirts, and so there hadn't been a flood in Kentucky.
- 3:39Speaker 2: This was in Synthiana. Kentucky had been a flood in
- 3:42Speaker 2: eighty nine years. Nobody had flooded shirts. So I went
- 3:46Speaker 2: going to be a millionaire a mid thirties, to be
- 3:48Speaker 2: a two million dollars in debt overnight. But I prayed
- 3:51Speaker 2: about it and felt like God said, you know, you
- 3:53Speaker 2: got one hundred people depending on you for a job
- 3:55Speaker 2: and a small community in Kentucky, and you need to
- 3:58Speaker 2: try to reopen. So I got a maximum flood disaster
- 4:02Speaker 2: loan and was able to reopen in miraculous twenty one days.
- 4:06Speaker 2: A few months later on the Chamber of Commerce business
- 4:08Speaker 2: Person of the Year award, and then I was My
- 4:11Speaker 2: story of coming back and opening was featured in a
- 4:13Speaker 2: John Maxwell book called Felling Forward, and so I thought
- 4:16Speaker 2: this was going to be an ultimate comeback story God,
- 4:19Speaker 2: and we're going to give you all the glory for
- 4:20Speaker 2: what you've done. But fast forward about four years later.
- 4:23Speaker 2: Fortunately I can overcome the two million dollars of debt
- 4:26Speaker 2: and the most humbling moment of my life. I had
- 4:28Speaker 2: to file bankruptcy. So I lost my business. I knew
- 4:31Speaker 2: it was going to lose my home because I put
- 4:33Speaker 2: it up for the flood disaster loan, but I wasn't
- 4:35Speaker 2: expecting what happened when I went home that night, and unexpectedly,
- 4:39Speaker 2: my wife said, Hey, I hate that to your bad day,
- 4:41Speaker 2: but I'm leaving you and I wanted divorce. So I
- 4:44Speaker 2: lost my business, my home, and my marriage in about
- 4:46Speaker 2: a twenty four hour period. And this, I don't know
- 4:50Speaker 2: how i'll say it, but I was hopeless.
- 4:52Speaker 1: I think many of our listeners and viewers can relate
- 4:55Speaker 1: to that feeling of hopelessness. How did you find the
- 4:59Speaker 1: strength to move forwards from such devastating loss.
- 5:03Speaker 2: Well, I'd like to say there was one thing, but
- 5:05Speaker 2: I've kind of found in my life it's usually kind
- 5:07Speaker 2: of a culmination of things. One my faith became real
- 5:10Speaker 2: and I was personally. I went on Sunday mornings, I
- 5:12Speaker 2: was even a good Christian gave ten percent of my
- 5:14Speaker 2: income at either Yet, if I'm honest, the other one
- 5:17Speaker 2: hundred and sixty seven hours a week, we're about me.
- 5:20Speaker 2: I mean, I listened to a lot of back then
- 5:21Speaker 2: you didn't have podcasts, but Christian radio programs, people like
- 5:24Speaker 2: Chuck Swindahll, doctor David Jeremiah, Charles Stanley, Joyce Meyer. I mean,
- 5:29Speaker 2: so many people, but I have to meet. Most of
- 5:32Speaker 2: my life was kind of focused on me, so my
- 5:35Speaker 2: faith I really leaned into it. I wanted to find
- 5:37Speaker 2: out if the Bible was real. I had a good
- 5:39Speaker 2: Christian counselor that really helped me. So therapy helped family,
- 5:42Speaker 2: some friends also took a pharmaceutical to something to help
- 5:46Speaker 2: me kind of get over the hunt. For about ten
- 5:48Speaker 2: months at last, not least started exercising like a madman.
- 5:52Speaker 2: I had really not taking care of my temple with
- 5:54Speaker 2: all the business and all the stress of that, and
- 5:57Speaker 2: I wasn't exercising regularly. So it was really kind of
- 6:00Speaker 2: a culminational things. Faith, family, friends, therapy, and exercise and
- 6:06Speaker 2: medicine so kind of all rolled in one. But I
- 6:09Speaker 2: would have to say, if you said one thing honestly,
- 6:11Speaker 2: my faith in Jesus is what really kept me alive
- 6:15Speaker 2: during that season.
- 6:16Speaker 1: So what I'm hearing from you is that that healing
- 6:19Speaker 1: journey multifaceted. It wasn't just one thing. It wasn't the
- 6:23Speaker 1: Bible burst band aid, it wasn't just the exercise, It
- 6:27Speaker 1: wasn't just going to church. It was all of those
- 6:31Speaker 1: facets working together, which I think is so important for
- 6:35Speaker 1: the audience to hear. Sometimes we need medication, Sometimes we
- 6:39Speaker 1: need to look at our diets. Sometimes we need counseling.
- 6:42Speaker 1: And what I love about the stories in the Bible, Greg,
- 6:44Speaker 1: and I think you would agree, is that Jesus healed
- 6:47Speaker 1: in many different ways. And that's okay, that's good. But Greg,
- 6:51Speaker 1: I also know that fear can be paralyzing. How have
- 6:56Speaker 1: you personally learned to overcome fear and step forward and hope?
- 7:02Speaker 2: Well, I think the biggest thing is to face those fears.
- 7:05Speaker 2: You know, the enemy sometimes once you get humped up
- 7:07Speaker 2: and just play it safe and things. You know, I
- 7:09Speaker 2: heard acronym fvar many years ago. Face face false expectations
- 7:14Speaker 2: appearing real, and so I think fear, we see it,
- 7:17Speaker 2: but so many times it's not real. And eighty percent
- 7:19Speaker 2: of things we fear don't happen. But I really did
- 7:22Speaker 2: truly press into my faith and face those fears. And
- 7:25Speaker 2: as I was having daily quiet times, there were certain
- 7:28Speaker 2: Bible verses that just became life versus to me to
- 7:31Speaker 2: help me face those fears of trying to start my
- 7:34Speaker 2: whole life over again, both vocationally, personally and so like
- 7:37Speaker 2: Psalm twenty eight to seven. The therapists that I worked with,
- 7:40Speaker 2: he encouraged me to read the Book of Psalms. Would
- 7:43Speaker 2: go to bed at night, just start reading Psalms, starting
- 7:45Speaker 2: chapter one, just read until like God had spoke to me.
- 7:49Speaker 2: And I cried myself to sleep many nights those first
- 7:51Speaker 2: couple of three weeks, and Psalm twenty eight to seven
- 7:54Speaker 2: became one of my life verses. It says, the Lord
- 7:56Speaker 2: is my strength and my shield. My heart trust than
- 8:00Speaker 2: you Lord, and I am helped. And I would write
- 8:02Speaker 2: it on a posted note. I would stick it on
- 8:04Speaker 2: my bathroom mirror, so I saw it first thing in
- 8:06Speaker 2: the morning when I was getting ready. I put in
- 8:08Speaker 2: the dashboard of my car. I put it on my laptop.
- 8:10Speaker 2: I even put it in my wallet because looking you know, financially, God, hey,
- 8:14Speaker 2: you know you gotta be my strength and chill because
- 8:16Speaker 2: I've lost everything. And then Proverb chapter three, verses five
- 8:20Speaker 2: and six became another life first year in that season,
- 8:22Speaker 2: it says, trust the Lord with all your heart and
- 8:24Speaker 2: lean not on your own understanding, but in all your
- 8:27Speaker 2: ways acknowledge God, and he will make your pastraight. He'll
- 8:31Speaker 2: direct them. And so those two verses there really just
- 8:34Speaker 2: became kind of a compass for me when I was
- 8:36Speaker 2: in fear to stand on look God's words said, even
- 8:39Speaker 2: though I did feel fearful, I could stay hopeful as
- 8:43Speaker 2: I read God's word and didn't give in to my
- 8:46Speaker 2: feelings of fear.
- 8:47Speaker 1: Yeah, you and I have that in common with how
- 8:49Speaker 1: when I was going through a really despairing time in
- 8:52Speaker 1: my life, I wrote out the scriptures that spoke to
- 8:55Speaker 1: my heart, and like you, I had them plastered everywhere.
- 8:58Speaker 1: They were on my bathroom mirror and on my night standing,
- 9:01Speaker 1: on the dashboard of my car. But as a neuropsychologist, Greg,
- 9:04Speaker 1: what I appreciate about that is that scripture talks about
- 9:09Speaker 1: the fact that faith comes by hearing and hearing by
- 9:13Speaker 1: the word of God. So as we would read those scriptures,
- 9:16Speaker 1: you and I both were infused with the hope that
- 9:19Speaker 1: only comes from our Savior. I want to talk more
- 9:22Speaker 1: about hope and how you would define that in a
- 9:24Speaker 1: biblical context. Right after this brief word from our sponsor, Greg,
- 9:32Speaker 1: how would you define hope in a biblical context. I
- 9:36Speaker 1: know how the world looks at hope. They try to
- 9:38Speaker 1: find hope through their job, through their relationships, through their
- 9:42Speaker 1: bank account. But how would you define it?
- 9:44Speaker 2: Well, Well, the Bible verse that you opened up with Romans,
- 9:46Speaker 2: Chapter fifteen, verse thirteen. When I started Hope Is Here
- 9:49Speaker 2: Ministries back in December of twenty seventeen, that was the
- 9:52Speaker 2: foundational verse. And until I started hopeus Here really have
- 9:56Speaker 2: to plead ignorance, I wasn't familiar with that verse. I
- 9:59Speaker 2: love the book Romans read it, but just you know
- 10:01Speaker 2: how it is the Holy Spirit speaks to you in
- 10:03Speaker 2: different seasons of life when you need God's word. And
- 10:06Speaker 2: so I think that verse just sums it up that
- 10:09Speaker 2: God the source of all hope and will give you
- 10:12Speaker 2: peace and joy. But the key part is those words
- 10:14Speaker 2: right after that you will give you peace and joy
- 10:16Speaker 2: as you trust in Him. And so I think biblical
- 10:20Speaker 2: hope it's when you say you know what God, even
- 10:22Speaker 2: though I don't see you working, and I don't feel
- 10:24Speaker 2: you working. I'm going to trust you because you are
- 10:27Speaker 2: my source of hope. And then I love the second
- 10:30Speaker 2: part of that verse. And I think so many times
- 10:32Speaker 2: as Christians, yes we should be meek and humble, but
- 10:35Speaker 2: I think a lot of times we don't stand in
- 10:37Speaker 2: faith and power. And the second part of that verses,
- 10:40Speaker 2: not only can we have hope, we can overflow with hope.
- 10:43Speaker 2: And one version he says, overflow with confidence hope by
- 10:47Speaker 2: the power of the Holy Spirit. And you know, I
- 10:49Speaker 2: love how Jesus described the Holy Spirit. He would leave
- 10:51Speaker 2: us a comforter and a counselor. And so when you're
- 10:54Speaker 2: in fear, when you're hurting, man, I need some comfort
- 10:57Speaker 2: and I need some wisdom. Just ask the Holy Spirit
- 10:59Speaker 2: to help you, and all will God give you hope.
- 11:02Speaker 2: He's going to help you overflow with confident hope. So
- 11:05Speaker 2: I think Roman's fifteen thirteen, Man, that is an anchor
- 11:08Speaker 2: right there for biblical hope for me.
- 11:10Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. You know, my husband and I
- 11:12Speaker 1: have had a conversation many times, and we're not theologians,
- 11:16Speaker 1: but we've talked about the difference between faith and hope
- 11:19Speaker 1: and The way he's talked about it with me is
- 11:21Speaker 1: he looks at faith as based on something we've experienced.
- 11:26Speaker 1: We've experienced God coming through in the past for us,
- 11:30Speaker 1: but hope is that forward looking, And like you said,
- 11:34Speaker 1: it's we're putting our faith in something we can't see yet,
- 11:38Speaker 1: but believing that God's word is true. Before the break,
- 11:42Speaker 1: we were talking about fear, and fear is based in
- 11:44Speaker 1: something that is often not true, but when our hope
- 11:49Speaker 1: is in God, it's based on something that is certain. Greg,
- 11:54Speaker 1: you and I have both lost friends tragically, and I'm
- 11:58Speaker 1: wondering what you would say to someone who, maybe right
- 12:01Speaker 1: now a listener or a viewer, feels like their situation
- 12:05Speaker 1: is beyond redemption. Certainly you hit rock bottom losing so
- 12:10Speaker 1: much in a twenty four hour period. What would you
- 12:12Speaker 1: say to the person who's listening now and feels like
- 12:14Speaker 1: that's me. My circumstances might be different than Greg, but
- 12:18Speaker 1: that's how I feel.
- 12:20Speaker 2: Yeah, great question. You know I used to hear Romans
- 12:22Speaker 2: eight twenty eight in college, and I was kind of
- 12:24Speaker 2: far from God. I was in a fraternity, I lived
- 12:27Speaker 2: in the men's basketball dormit the University of Kentucky, which
- 12:30Speaker 2: was a big deal if you're living in the state
- 12:31Speaker 2: of Kentucky. I'd hear Romans eight twenty eight from our pastor.
- 12:35Speaker 2: I'd be out laid at night two three, but I
- 12:36Speaker 2: showed up at church because I had a mom that
- 12:38Speaker 2: I knew would ask me later that afternoon, did I
- 12:41Speaker 2: go to church? And so I'd hear our pastor, Sure,
- 12:44Speaker 2: Romans eight twenty eight, All things work together for those
- 12:47Speaker 2: who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
- 12:51Speaker 2: And i'd hear that. I go, yeah, yeah, okay, you're right, sure,
- 12:53Speaker 2: And yet I was far from God, but God was
- 12:56Speaker 2: still planning that seed of that Bible verse in my hit.
- 12:59Speaker 2: And I'd hear that Bible verse back then as a
- 13:02Speaker 2: twenty year old guy. I would sit there and think, Okay,
- 13:04Speaker 2: yet some things work together, but not all. I mean,
- 13:07Speaker 2: come on, really, then, I'd say, as I got lawyer,
- 13:09Speaker 2: so okay, well, maybe most things work together. But I
- 13:12Speaker 2: can really say with all my heart that now fast forward,
- 13:17Speaker 2: when all of that just you know, tragedy happened in
- 13:20Speaker 2: my life, all those traumatic events, I can tell you
- 13:22Speaker 2: now on the other side of it, twenty years later,
- 13:25Speaker 2: that all things do work together. And right now you
- 13:28Speaker 2: may not understand why you know, and that's obviously the
- 13:31Speaker 2: thing that say want you to do is to ask why,
- 13:34Speaker 2: as we both know that sometimes it's side of heaven,
- 13:36Speaker 2: we're not going to know the answer. But I really do,
- 13:39Speaker 2: truly believe in my life's a living testimony many wonderful
- 13:42Speaker 2: guests like yourself. My hope it's your program is that truly,
- 13:46Speaker 2: if you will give your situation to God, no matter
- 13:49Speaker 2: how hopeless it may look, no matter how hopeless it
- 13:52Speaker 2: may feel, no matter how great the pain may feel,
- 13:55Speaker 2: that God truly will use all of it for His
- 13:58Speaker 2: glory and give you a testimony to help be a
- 14:01Speaker 2: blessing and make ripples in other people's lives.
- 14:05Speaker 1: When you were going through that devastating experience, we have
- 14:08Speaker 1: a choice. We can either lean into God or we
- 14:11Speaker 1: can walk away. Were there ever moments when you just
- 14:14Speaker 1: wanted to turn your back on the Lord and go,
- 14:17Speaker 1: how'd you let this happen? Why did you let this happen?
- 14:19Speaker 1: What good is going to come out of this?
- 14:21Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I was angry a God that there were
- 14:24Speaker 2: times I would just pray when I went to sleep,
- 14:26Speaker 2: I don't want to please, don't let me wake up tomorrow. God,
- 14:28Speaker 2: I just I can't handle this pain. My business, my home,
- 14:30Speaker 2: and unexpectedly my marriage, I mean, finances are gone, I
- 14:33Speaker 2: mean everything. And I didn't want to wake up. I
- 14:36Speaker 2: just really, Yeah, there was definitely those moments, and then
- 14:39Speaker 2: I can remember wanting to go back and maybe think
- 14:42Speaker 2: I could numb some of the pain. One time I
- 14:44Speaker 2: went into adult entertainment club and as soon as I
- 14:48Speaker 2: sit in there, the Holy Spirit convicted me so strong,
- 14:50Speaker 2: so this is not where your key link in comfort's
- 14:52Speaker 2: going to go. And literally, in thirty seconds, I turned
- 14:55Speaker 2: around and walked right back out. And so, yes, there
- 14:57Speaker 2: were things that was angry, and I turned from God.
- 15:00Speaker 2: But as I leaned into him, as you said, leaned
- 15:02Speaker 2: into Jesus, he just slowly but surely started healing the
- 15:06Speaker 2: broken pieces of my heart, and in my mind, it
- 15:09Speaker 2: just started restoring and rebuilding the foundation that I stand
- 15:14Speaker 2: on today over twenty years later.
- 15:16Speaker 1: What are some of the daily practices you recommend for
- 15:20Speaker 1: those who feel overwhelmed by fear or hopelessness.
- 15:24Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing, and I started this
- 15:27Speaker 2: before God called me in the ministry, is just making
- 15:29Speaker 2: sure the first thing in the morning you have quiet
- 15:31Speaker 2: time with God, I'm a esp and God loves sports,
- 15:34Speaker 2: and that would be my thing. I had to go
- 15:36Speaker 2: turn the coffee pot on and turn on ESPN and
- 15:39Speaker 2: have that on watch a little bit of that for
- 15:41Speaker 2: I jumped in the shower and go to work. And
- 15:43Speaker 2: I had somebody that was kind of mentoring me, and
- 15:45Speaker 2: they challenged me and said, you know, man, you know,
- 15:47Speaker 2: are you having a daily quiet time? And all, honestly
- 15:50Speaker 2: I wasn't. It was just kind of sporadic. I was
- 15:52Speaker 2: in a men's group. So I mean I did the
- 15:53Speaker 2: church thing fairly well for a guy. And I said,
- 15:56Speaker 2: this is before God called me the ministry. But when
- 15:59Speaker 2: I made that quiet time with God starting with a
- 16:02Speaker 2: devotional book. Also, somebody child you just to read whatever
- 16:05Speaker 2: the day of the week was in Proverbs. So if
- 16:07Speaker 2: today is the twenty ninth, then read chapter twenty nine,
- 16:10Speaker 2: thirty one chapters and Proverbs thirty days, thirty one days
- 16:13Speaker 2: and months and to do that over and over. And
- 16:16Speaker 2: that became a foundation for me there. And so there's
- 16:20Speaker 2: no substitutent. I hear people say, well, I'm not a
- 16:22Speaker 2: morning person, Well I would still challenge that, just to say, man,
- 16:25Speaker 2: I want to fill my heart and soul my mind
- 16:27Speaker 2: with God's word first in the morning doesn't have to
- 16:30Speaker 2: be an hour, Okay, I mean started, I was starting
- 16:32Speaker 2: with ten minutes, then it became fifteen minutes. And yet
- 16:36Speaker 2: God just started speaking and was so amazing. So many times,
- 16:39Speaker 2: like in those proverbs, I would have something happen in
- 16:41Speaker 2: my business job that would just all of a sudden,
- 16:44Speaker 2: I can hear God saying, Hey, remember what I shared
- 16:46Speaker 2: with you. Be quick to listen, slow to speech, loa
- 16:49Speaker 2: to become angry. Just so many things that God's word
- 16:51Speaker 2: help me apply in my secular job at that time.
- 16:55Speaker 2: The second thing now that we have available is podcast
- 16:58Speaker 2: like yours in mine, so many of those. I'm in
- 17:01Speaker 2: the showering, I'm getting ready in the morning, things like that.
- 17:04Speaker 2: Just filling my heart and mind with God's words and
- 17:06Speaker 2: hearing stories. It's like yours, and just like me, we
- 17:09Speaker 2: both have guests because we all know everybody's got a
- 17:12Speaker 2: story right now.
- 17:13Speaker 1: Yeah, Greg and your experience, What do you think the
- 17:16Speaker 1: relationship is between gratitude and resilience?
- 17:21Speaker 2: Wow, I don't think you can have one without the other.
- 17:24Speaker 2: I think to be resilient you have to be gratitude
- 17:27Speaker 2: to be grateful. You know, one of the things that
- 17:28Speaker 2: God showed me several years ago. There could be ten
- 17:31Speaker 2: things going on in your life, ten things, and you
- 17:34Speaker 2: know what, eight of them are good? But what do
- 17:36Speaker 2: we focus on just those two out of all those
- 17:39Speaker 2: things that are going so well? And I really really
- 17:42Speaker 2: just try to start out. I started this year in
- 17:44Speaker 2: COVID a few years and I did it every day,
- 17:46Speaker 2: and I do it most days. Now I will profess
- 17:49Speaker 2: I'm not doing it every day, but I try to
- 17:50Speaker 2: do it at least four or five days a week. Firstly,
- 17:52Speaker 2: when I roll out of bed in the morning, I
- 17:54Speaker 2: get on my knees and I thank God and I
- 17:56Speaker 2: love Saw one eighteen verse twenty four says this is
- 17:59Speaker 2: the day the Lord has made. I shall be glad
- 18:02Speaker 2: and rejoicing it. And I remember my mom as the
- 18:04Speaker 2: first Bible verse I remember learning as a kid, my
- 18:06Speaker 2: mom will come in and raise the shades and say
- 18:09Speaker 2: that verse. And the fourth fifth grade kid, I didn't
- 18:12Speaker 2: want to hear that, you know, But now that's a
- 18:14Speaker 2: bill verse. I know because that's how she had me
- 18:17Speaker 2: start my day. And now as an adult, I do that.
- 18:20Speaker 2: And being on my knees and starting that and then
- 18:23Speaker 2: I also thank God for three or four things that
- 18:25Speaker 2: happened the day before, reflecting and thinking, and then I
- 18:28Speaker 2: thank you for some opportunities like this morning, I did that,
- 18:31Speaker 2: and I thank him for the opportunity to be a
- 18:33Speaker 2: guest on your program and share the hope that we
- 18:35Speaker 2: can all have in Jesus. So I think it starts
- 18:38Speaker 2: with that gratitude and then the resilience part. I mean,
- 18:41Speaker 2: you know, it's a choice, and we don't like to
- 18:43Speaker 2: talk about that that sometimes in the faith based world.
- 18:45Speaker 2: But I was a college basketball coach at Western Kentucky
- 18:48Speaker 2: University back in the nineties, and I worked for one
- 18:50Speaker 2: of Rick Bettino's assistants, Ralph Willard, and I learned a
- 18:53Speaker 2: lot about mental toughness and part of being resilience does
- 18:56Speaker 2: it requires a choice. You have to be mentally tough
- 18:59Speaker 2: and it's not warm fuzzy. But I mean, my Goodness
- 19:02Speaker 2: said all that Jesus went through, he had to be
- 19:04Speaker 2: a pretty mentally tough person himself. And I think sometimes
- 19:08Speaker 2: we don't want to say that. We just want everything
- 19:10Speaker 2: to be warm and fuzzy in the church world and
- 19:12Speaker 2: in the faith world. And then we got an enemy
- 19:14Speaker 2: that Jesus warns John ten ten comes to steal and
- 19:18Speaker 2: to kill and destroy. So make no mistake about it.
- 19:21Speaker 2: You have to lean in your faith. You have to
- 19:23Speaker 2: choose to be resilient. But with Jesus help you can
- 19:27Speaker 2: do that. And so gratitude resilience, I think they go
- 19:30Speaker 2: hand in hand.
- 19:31Speaker 1: I appreciate what you've just said because both of them
- 19:35Speaker 1: are a choice. And I've gone through many things I've
- 19:37Speaker 1: had people say, Michelle, how how are you able to
- 19:40Speaker 1: be so resilient? How are you able to persevere? And Greg,
- 19:44Speaker 1: I've just finally come to the conclusion that Jesus didn't
- 19:47Speaker 1: give up. He persevered for my sake. So it's not
- 19:51Speaker 1: in my DNA to give up. If Jesus would do
- 19:54Speaker 1: that for me while I was still a sinner, I
- 19:58Speaker 1: can continue to persevere because of the hope that I
- 20:01Speaker 1: have in him. You know, even on your program, we
- 20:03Speaker 1: talked a little bit about neuroplasticity and the fact that
- 20:06Speaker 1: we get to choose our thoughts, but our brain leans
- 20:11Speaker 1: towards the negative. It looks for the negative. But if
- 20:15Speaker 1: we can replace that with gratitude, then we see more
- 20:19Speaker 1: things that we have the opportunity be grateful for. Scripture
- 20:23Speaker 1: talks about worry, fear, and anxiety a lot. There's some
- 20:27Speaker 1: debate about exactly how many verses there are, but let's
- 20:30Speaker 1: just say that God brings it up enough in his
- 20:33Speaker 1: word that that's confirmation to me that he knew we
- 20:35Speaker 1: would struggle. He knew that the enemy would constantly be
- 20:39Speaker 1: whispering what ifs in our mind. Even after we experience
- 20:43Speaker 1: periods of victory, fear often resurfaces. So how do you
- 20:48Speaker 1: continue to fight fear when it tries to return?
- 20:52Speaker 2: Well, one, during this those daily practices of spending time
- 20:55Speaker 2: with God's work, I'll tell you, sometimes even fear still
- 20:59Speaker 2: wants to creep in. And then I've got two or
- 21:01Speaker 2: three friends that are just strong people of faith. And
- 21:04Speaker 2: when I start to get in that fear sometimes and
- 21:07Speaker 2: even though I've done the spiritual practices that helped me
- 21:10Speaker 2: ninety percent of time, but sometimes the fear still keeps
- 21:13Speaker 2: wanting to creep in. And I found one of the
- 21:15Speaker 2: things that usually triggers that's when I get fatigued. And
- 21:18Speaker 2: so when you get tired, boy, the enemy can make
- 21:20Speaker 2: these small things will come mountains. But I reach out
- 21:23Speaker 2: to somebody else to say, hey, here's what I'm feeling,
- 21:25Speaker 2: and man, I just want to share with you. I
- 21:27Speaker 2: want to ask you one to pray for me, and
- 21:29Speaker 2: two I want to ask am I looking at this correctly?
- 21:32Speaker 2: And so many times, just a fresh perspective from a
- 21:35Speaker 2: brother in Christ, a sister in Christ can really really
- 21:38Speaker 2: help me realize I really am putting something that making
- 21:42Speaker 2: it fearful when it's really not quite as overwhelming as
- 21:45Speaker 2: it seems. So really found that to be helpful to
- 21:48Speaker 2: reach out to somebody else to ask for prayer and
- 21:50Speaker 2: also just maybe text it, hey have you got five
- 21:54Speaker 2: minutes and literally mean it five minutes and they know
- 21:56Speaker 2: that if I do that, Man, I'm really struggling. And
- 21:59Speaker 2: it's amazing having another person and processing that fear. Sometimes
- 22:03Speaker 2: it just removes the fear immediately. I love Jesus model
- 22:07Speaker 2: that force. When you know, before he was getting ready
- 22:09Speaker 2: to be arrest and go to the cross, he asked Peter,
- 22:11Speaker 2: James and John to pray with him in the garden
- 22:13Speaker 2: yetsemite and make no mistake about it. I mean Jesus asked, hey, hey,
- 22:17Speaker 2: remove this cup, be thy will if there's another way
- 22:20Speaker 2: to do this, So, I mean, we have to realize
- 22:22Speaker 2: that Jesus did have a choice, and he had to
- 22:24Speaker 2: be feeling some fear. As we know, the perspiration was
- 22:27Speaker 2: blood droplets, and our bodies physically can do that. We're
- 22:30Speaker 2: under an extreme amount of stress and fear. So I'm
- 22:33Speaker 2: so thankful to know that Jesus understands when we deal
- 22:37Speaker 2: with fear.
- 22:38Speaker 1: Isn't that a comfort to know that Jesus was God
- 22:43Speaker 1: is God, but came in human form and experienced anguish
- 22:47Speaker 1: and can relate to us. So when Scripture tells us
- 22:50Speaker 1: he's close to the brokenhearted, it's because he can understand. Friends,
- 22:54Speaker 1: We're going to take a short break for a word
- 22:56Speaker 1: from our sponsor, but stick with us, because as we
- 22:58Speaker 1: wrap up this episode, I'm going to ask Greg to
- 23:00Speaker 1: share a hope filled perspective. We'll be right back Greg.
- 23:06Speaker 1: How would you encourage someone who feels that they've lost everything?
- 23:10Speaker 1: I can only barely put myself in your shoes as
- 23:14Speaker 1: I try to think about how I would feel, how
- 23:17Speaker 1: I would react if I seemingly lost everything overnight. I'm
- 23:21Speaker 1: sure we've got some listeners who are in a similar position.
- 23:25Speaker 1: What would you say to them?
- 23:26Speaker 2: Well, I tell you one things I've learned is a
- 23:29Speaker 2: God through this process gave me an acronym when I
- 23:31Speaker 2: started hope. It's here the word hope. I'm a simple guy,
- 23:34Speaker 2: so I've got to keep it on the lower shelf.
- 23:36Speaker 2: And I lined it up with biblical perspective, with Bible verses.
- 23:40Speaker 2: But I ran this by doctor Melinda Moore, who her
- 23:43Speaker 2: emphasis and is her PhD. Is at suicideology, and she's
- 23:47Speaker 2: a renowned expert here based just a blessing from God
- 23:51Speaker 2: here in central Kentucky, but she travels all the world
- 23:54Speaker 2: help me teach people about suicide prevention. And I asked
- 23:57Speaker 2: her about this acronym. I said, does this line up
- 23:59Speaker 2: with your research academically and medically and things that? She said,
- 24:03Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, she said that absolutely it does. So
- 24:06Speaker 2: I'm looking at from a biblical perspective and God's perspective,
- 24:09Speaker 2: but also for those that are more wired up intellectually
- 24:11Speaker 2: in academia, this lines up with this. But here's what
- 24:14Speaker 2: I would say to you. Just remember this acronym hope,
- 24:17Speaker 2: hop letter h just hold on, hold on. Everything can
- 24:21Speaker 2: change in twenty four hours. I mean something could change
- 24:24Speaker 2: for the better. Yes, it can change for the worst,
- 24:26Speaker 2: It's like my situation did. But just to simply hold
- 24:29Speaker 2: off Latis. Chapter six, verse nine says, do not grow
- 24:31Speaker 2: weary in doing good at the proper time. You will
- 24:34Speaker 2: reap a harvest if you do not give up. And
- 24:36Speaker 2: the thing I love about how God has designed our calendar.
- 24:41Speaker 2: He broke it down to twenty four hour periods and
- 24:43Speaker 2: a lot of twenty four our purritents. They can be
- 24:45Speaker 2: real challenging, but I love in Lamentations, chapter three, verses
- 24:48Speaker 2: twenty two and twenty three, says that God's mercies are
- 24:51Speaker 2: new every morning, and great is his faithfulness. In other words,
- 24:55Speaker 2: we get a fresh start every twenty four hours, and
- 24:58Speaker 2: so I'm so thankful to know that. So if you
- 25:00Speaker 2: hold on, just remember you get a fresh twenty four hours,
- 25:03Speaker 2: and just know God may show up in a way
- 25:05Speaker 2: that will just blow your mind and give you hope
- 25:08Speaker 2: even though things seem hopeless at the time. The let
- 25:10Speaker 2: her own this one. We just kind of talked about
- 25:12Speaker 2: open up to at least one person. At least one person.
- 25:16Speaker 2: So many times the enemy lies to it and just says,
- 25:18Speaker 2: this is hopeless. You're never going to climb out of
- 25:20Speaker 2: this situation. And I'm thankful that I was able to
- 25:24Speaker 2: open up the others and tell them when I was
- 25:25Speaker 2: hopeless and having suicidal thoughts, and it was just amazing
- 25:29Speaker 2: the difference that made. Once again, Jesus modeled that when
- 25:31Speaker 2: he asked Peter, James and John, hey, man, I've got
- 25:33Speaker 2: this overwhelming situation. My soul is overwhelmed to the point
- 25:37Speaker 2: of death grief so strong about what I'm here in
- 25:40Speaker 2: to do. Would you please pray with me? Even Jesus
- 25:43Speaker 2: asked for him the son of God, as you just
- 25:45Speaker 2: said earlier. So man, opening up to one person, that
- 25:48Speaker 2: honestly could be the game change. You're just letting one
- 25:50Speaker 2: person know how you feel, and then it just kind
- 25:54Speaker 2: of removes that healthiness the letter p Put yourself in
- 25:57Speaker 2: a new environment, man, this is a big one. We
- 25:59Speaker 2: can get in the same same old ruts we all do.
- 26:02Speaker 2: Drive a different way to work, and gay go to
- 26:04Speaker 2: a different place to these lunch baby saying, you know instead
- 26:06Speaker 2: is drinking diet coachs I'm gonna drink some bottled waters.
- 26:09Speaker 2: Do something new. When I went through all this, unlike
- 26:11Speaker 2: most people, who's number one public fear besides spiders and
- 26:15Speaker 2: snakes is public speaking, mine wasn't. So I started going
- 26:18Speaker 2: to toast Masters, speaking organization that helps you with just
- 26:21Speaker 2: basic public speaking and winds up. I mean, I did
- 26:24Speaker 2: that twenty years ago, and now one of the people
- 26:26Speaker 2: I met through that actually does my website and just
- 26:29Speaker 2: handles all the technical aspects of Hope. It's here ministry.
- 26:33Speaker 2: So God's all about relationships. But put yourself in a
- 26:35Speaker 2: new environment. It'll help break some of that run of
- 26:38Speaker 2: hopelessness and just getting in that same old, same old.
- 26:41Speaker 2: And then the letter E okay, and this was the
- 26:44Speaker 2: one we just talked about earlier, about the mental party.
- 26:46Speaker 2: You gotta expect to see change. You gotta expect to
- 26:50Speaker 2: see changes, and just stand on what God's word says
- 26:53Speaker 2: Romans eight twenty eight. All things work together. God, I
- 26:56Speaker 2: don't know how you're gonna work through this, but I'm
- 26:58Speaker 2: gonna trust that you're gonna do this. I'm gonna trust
- 27:01Speaker 2: that you're gonna make away when there's scenes no way.
- 27:03Speaker 2: And I'm excited today to see how you're gonna do that.
- 27:07Speaker 2: And even though I'm hurting. One of my favorite Bible
- 27:09Speaker 2: versus in Proverbs, it says those who are fresh others
- 27:13Speaker 2: will themselves be refreshed and be transparent with you a
- 27:18Speaker 2: lot of times back then and even now, sometimes I
- 27:20Speaker 2: don't feel like being a blessing to somebody else because
- 27:22Speaker 2: I'm hurting. I want somebody to bless me. But when
- 27:24Speaker 2: I make that phone call, when I make that text
- 27:27Speaker 2: and do something to bless somebody else. The way God works,
- 27:30Speaker 2: in the way he's wired us up as followers of Jesus,
- 27:33Speaker 2: when we go to be a blessing to somebody else,
- 27:35Speaker 2: we're the ones who get blessed. And the world doesn't
- 27:38Speaker 2: make sense. They don't do it that way. But I
- 27:40Speaker 2: would say to you right now, stand on that problem.
- 27:42Speaker 2: I believe it's Proverbs eleven twenty five. I'm not mistaken.
- 27:45Speaker 2: Those who a refresh others will themselves be refreshed. And
- 27:48Speaker 2: just know that it'll help lift your spirits. And here's
- 27:51Speaker 2: what I know. Somebody's always got a little bit worse
- 27:53Speaker 2: than we do. One of the things can't help me
- 27:54Speaker 2: keep the eye on the ball. And I'll close with
- 27:56Speaker 2: this was My middle brother is an oncologist, and so
- 27:59Speaker 2: he would call you back on me quite often and
- 28:01Speaker 2: asked me how I was doing. And I would cry
- 28:04Speaker 2: most days those first couple of weeks. Well, finally after
- 28:07Speaker 2: third week I got enough to kind of take my
- 28:09Speaker 2: eyes off myself and all my pain. You said, hey,
- 28:12Speaker 2: how was your day at work? And he said, well,
- 28:14Speaker 2: unfortunately I had to tell a mom twenty seven years
- 28:16Speaker 2: old that she has six months to live and she
- 28:19Speaker 2: has two young children. And the Holy Spirit just spoke
- 28:23Speaker 2: so clearly to me said, you know, Greg, yeah, you
- 28:25Speaker 2: lost your business, you lost your home, you lost your marriage,
- 28:28Speaker 2: but you still have your health. And it was a
- 28:30Speaker 2: game changer for me. And it goes back to that
- 28:32Speaker 2: grateful thing that you talked about earlier. I really really
- 28:36Speaker 2: believe that there's always something to be grateful for. And
- 28:38Speaker 2: if you'll just hold on, open up to at least
- 28:41Speaker 2: one other person, put yourself in a new environment, and
- 28:44Speaker 2: e expect to see changes. God will do for you
- 28:46Speaker 2: what he's done for me, what He's done for you.
- 28:48Speaker 2: I have so many many others.
- 28:50Speaker 1: As we press it to Jesus ay man, Greg, after
- 28:53Speaker 1: your devastating losses, you started Hope Is Here radio show,
- 28:57Speaker 1: podcasting ministry. How is sharing a people's stories of hope
- 29:01Speaker 1: impacted your own journey?
- 29:03Speaker 2: Oh just so blessed me because God works through so
- 29:06Speaker 2: many different ways. I mean, we had a guess that
- 29:08Speaker 2: her husband was an alcoholic. Finally decided to leave this
- 29:12Speaker 2: domestic violent situation. He came out and shot her in
- 29:16Speaker 2: the head, said you picked a fine day to die,
- 29:18Speaker 2: and turned the game on him, the gun on himself
- 29:21Speaker 2: and killed himself. They flew her to hospital by helicopter.
- 29:24Speaker 2: Doctors came out. The surgeons told her son and daughter, hey,
- 29:27Speaker 2: we've done everything we know to do. All we know
- 29:29Speaker 2: to do is to tell you to pray. Well, there's
- 29:31Speaker 2: probably about a hundred people in that waiting and praying,
- 29:33Speaker 2: and guess what, she's alive. Over twenty years later, she's
- 29:36Speaker 2: been a guest on Hope is here. She's not able
- 29:39Speaker 2: to drive, but you know what, she prays for this
- 29:41Speaker 2: ministry all the time inspires me, says, hey, what a
- 29:44Speaker 2: powerful guest you had today. I've had her actually about
- 29:48Speaker 2: every three years. I bring her back on because it's
- 29:50Speaker 2: a story that yes, she should have died number one.
- 29:53Speaker 2: But two, Yes she's alive, but life stop played out
- 29:56Speaker 2: the way she would want. She can't drive, but she's
- 29:58Speaker 2: still hopeful. She tries to do that. Proverbs refreshing others
- 30:03Speaker 2: with himself. Had a young man that played college football
- 30:06Speaker 2: here Georgetown University or Georgetown College. I apologized and broke
- 30:09Speaker 2: his leg. They did six operations. Normally, you know, no
- 30:13Speaker 2: big deal. But after six operations they amputate his leg
- 30:16Speaker 2: from the knee down. It's a nineteen year old young man.
- 30:19Speaker 2: Why God? But he said, okay, I'm gonna trust you God.
- 30:22Speaker 2: Why not? He got a prosthetic and he actually returned
- 30:25Speaker 2: kickoffs for Georgetown College's feature out of ESPN and speaks
- 30:30Speaker 2: all over the country. Now he actually works for the FBI.
- 30:34Speaker 2: And just I mean, here's a lady that was in
- 30:36Speaker 2: her fifties when this happened. This was a nineteen year
- 30:38Speaker 2: old young man. Two physically challenging life changing situations. But
- 30:43Speaker 2: both of them said, okay, God, how can you use
- 30:45Speaker 2: this to be a blessing? So, Man, I get excited
- 30:48Speaker 2: that we have two we have a guest each week. Man,
- 30:51Speaker 2: the ripples that they make it blesses me, and it
- 30:53Speaker 2: blesses so many others because everybody's got a story.
- 30:56Speaker 1: Everybody does have a story. And boy, doesn't that put
- 30:59Speaker 1: that in perspective for us. We're having a difficult day,
- 31:03Speaker 1: and yet we get to talk to folks who experience
- 31:06Speaker 1: great tragedy and are still speaking about the goodness and
- 31:10Speaker 1: faithfulness of God. So I'm real curious Greg, looking back,
- 31:14Speaker 1: what would you tell your younger self in the midst
- 31:17Speaker 1: of your heartest season.
- 31:19Speaker 2: I wish that I would have trusted God more. I
- 31:21Speaker 2: really really did doubt him. And yet that's why I'm
- 31:24Speaker 2: so passionate today, because as I did lean into him
- 31:28Speaker 2: and it was a slow process and think the thing
- 31:30Speaker 2: and not ask the why question. Because the flood happened
- 31:33Speaker 2: on my side of the street. You had a Walmart
- 31:35Speaker 2: right across the street from me, and I played that
- 31:37Speaker 2: why game? God, Walmart's got to work a thousand stores.
- 31:40Speaker 2: I've got this one business. Why did you let the
- 31:41Speaker 2: flood happen on my side of the street? Instead of
- 31:44Speaker 2: asking why so much, God just say what do you
- 31:47Speaker 2: want me to learn from this? And how can I
- 31:50Speaker 2: be a blessing to other people through it? So I
- 31:53Speaker 2: think that's what I would tell my younger self. But
- 31:55Speaker 2: I'm thankful for God's gracing and they're my lack of
- 31:57Speaker 2: faith as a young man thirty two years old, that
- 32:00Speaker 2: God was patient with me and didn't give up on me,
- 32:03Speaker 2: and just slowly but surely molded me, restored me, and
- 32:06Speaker 2: helped heal my heart.
- 32:07Speaker 1: In my mind, what a beautiful piece of wisdom when
- 32:10Speaker 1: we don't focus on why about Lord? What do you
- 32:12Speaker 1: want me to learn from this? What's next? Lord? Greg?
- 32:15Speaker 1: If a listener reviewer is resonating with our conversation today,
- 32:18Speaker 1: maybe they're feeling pretty hopeless. We're going through a tragedy
- 32:22Speaker 1: that they wonder how they're going to get through. What
- 32:24Speaker 1: hope filled perspective would you want to leave them with?
- 32:26Speaker 2: I would just say, just not trying to figure out
- 32:29Speaker 2: everything five years from now, five months from now, five
- 32:32Speaker 2: weeks from now. Sometimes it's just a minute by our
- 32:36Speaker 2: one day at a time thing. Oh you're like, I
- 32:38Speaker 2: don't see how any way this is going to work out.
- 32:40Speaker 2: But I really was at that spot and met with
- 32:42Speaker 2: a pastor and he gave me this great wisdom. I
- 32:44Speaker 2: was hopeless. One morning we met for coffee about eight thirty,
- 32:47Speaker 2: and he listened to me and then he just said, well, Greg,
- 32:50Speaker 2: I know you do have some faith. I know right
- 32:52Speaker 2: now it's struggling. No, you're hanging on by threat. Do
- 32:55Speaker 2: you have enough faith to make it to lunchtime today?
- 32:57Speaker 2: And I said, yeah, I can do that. Then he
- 32:59Speaker 2: texts me about one point thirty said, hey, Greg, have
- 33:01Speaker 2: you got enough faith to make it till you get
- 33:03Speaker 2: off work at five o'clock today, said, yeah, I do.
- 33:07Speaker 2: And just these little small capsules of time that I
- 33:10Speaker 2: just said, Okay, God, I don't know how you're gonna
- 33:11Speaker 2: work this out, but you know, for three hours today,
- 33:13Speaker 2: I'm gonna trust that you'll get me to this next
- 33:15Speaker 2: three hours. And he just slowly but surely did. And man,
- 33:19Speaker 2: it's never as quick as we want. We live in
- 33:21Speaker 2: a microwave society. Amazon you can have the next day.
- 33:24Speaker 2: But I found you'll appreciate this being in Texas and
- 33:27Speaker 2: God's in the crockpip business. Okay, you know a meal
- 33:30Speaker 2: compared to the microwave. Someone's been in the crock pot
- 33:33Speaker 2: cooked all day. There's no no, no comparison. How good
- 33:36Speaker 2: it tastes. The difference, well, the same thing. And when
- 33:39Speaker 2: God heals us, yeah, sometimes he instantly does it. And
- 33:41Speaker 2: praise God, he's still in the miracle making business. I
- 33:44Speaker 2: still believe that. Over two thousand years and Jesus been God,
- 33:47Speaker 2: I still believe he does that. But I think you
- 33:48Speaker 2: would agree with me that probably about ninety percent of
- 33:51Speaker 2: the time, maybe more. It's just a process. So trust
- 33:55Speaker 2: God in the process eliminate the world. Why ask God
- 33:59Speaker 2: what you need to learn from it and how you
- 34:01Speaker 2: can be a blessing to others. And next thing you know,
- 34:04Speaker 2: you'll be a week down the road, a month down
- 34:06Speaker 2: the road. You start to feel a little bit better.
- 34:08Speaker 2: You're not crying every day, You're not as hopeless. Six
- 34:11Speaker 2: mounction hour, You're like, hey, I mean, God is so good.
- 34:14Speaker 2: On the twentieth anniversary of the flood where my life
- 34:17Speaker 2: changed forever, somebody texted me said, hey, thinking about you
- 34:20Speaker 2: and praying for you today. I said, well, I really
- 34:22Speaker 2: appreciate that, they said. I text back and they said, well,
- 34:25Speaker 2: I know today's a tough day for you. And I
- 34:27Speaker 2: text back and I said, I'm embarrassed to ask you this,
- 34:30Speaker 2: but I'm not sure what you're talking about. What's the
- 34:33Speaker 2: twentieth anniversary of the flood? Totally didn't remember it anymore.
- 34:38Speaker 2: God had healed all that distant memory from me. So
- 34:41Speaker 2: be encouraged by that today.
- 34:43Speaker 1: Greg, thank you for coming on and sharing your testimony
- 34:46Speaker 1: and encouraging others to hold on in hope. Friends, I
- 34:51Speaker 1: know that there was something in today's conversation that has
- 34:53Speaker 1: encouraged your heart. We're going to put all the information
- 34:56Speaker 1: about Craig and the Hope is here, where you can
- 34:59Speaker 1: find the radio in the podcast and information about his
- 35:01Speaker 1: ministry in the show notes that you can find at
- 35:03Speaker 1: doctor michelleb dot com. If you know someone who's going
- 35:07Speaker 1: through a time, maybe they're struggling to hold on to hope,
- 35:11Speaker 1: would you share this episode so that Greg's story can
- 35:14Speaker 1: encourage them as well, so that they can have a
- 35:16Speaker 1: biblically based hope Field perspective. It's been my delight to
- 35:20Speaker 1: be with you this week. I look forward to sharing
- 35:22Speaker 1: another episode of your Hope Field Perspective with you next week.
- 35:25Speaker 1: But until then, it's my prayer for you that you
- 35:29Speaker 1: have a hope filled week.
- 35:32Speaker 3: Job frustrations, difficult relationships, fluctuating health, emotional upheaval. When life
- 35:39Speaker 3: conspires to drag us down with all of its troubles,
- 35:41Speaker 3: it can be hard to keep our spirits top. Doctor
- 35:44Speaker 3: Michelle Bankson knows severely ill admired the depression. She desperately
- 35:49Speaker 3: needed something to cling to. She needed a reason to
- 35:53Speaker 3: get out of bed each day, She needed strength to
- 35:56Speaker 3: hold on to face each day. That's why she decides
- 36:00Speaker 3: to stand on God's promises that despite her circumstances, every
- 36:06Speaker 3: day was still a good day for a good day.
- 36:09Speaker 3: Mostly award winning author, international speaker, media resource for mental
- 36:15Speaker 3: health in podcast hosts, doctor Michelle Bankson has released her
- 36:19Speaker 3: newest book, Today Is Going to Be a Good Day,
- 36:22Speaker 3: ninety promises from God to start your.
- 36:24Speaker 4: Day off right.
- 36:26Speaker 3: In this uplifting devotional, doctor Bankson helps you make each
- 36:29Speaker 3: day a good day, no matter what is going on
- 36:32Speaker 3: in your life. Each reading includes scripture, reflection, prayer, and
- 36:37Speaker 3: a recommended playlist song designed to help you live out
- 36:41Speaker 3: Philippians four eight. Finally, Brothers and Sisters, whatever is true,
- 36:46Speaker 3: whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever
- 36:50Speaker 3: is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy,
- 36:56Speaker 3: think about such things because our thoughts determine our beliefs.
- 37:00Speaker 3: Our beliefs termine our attitudes, and our attitudes determined our behaviors.
- 37:04Speaker 4: This is a beautiful book.
- 37:06Speaker 3: That will make the perfect gift for birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's er,
- 37:11Speaker 3: Father's Day, Valentine's Day, or for anyone under gift list
- 37:15Speaker 3: who is going through a difficult time and needs a
- 37:18Speaker 3: daily reminder that despite our circumstances, today can still be
- 37:22Speaker 3: a good day. Today is going to be a good
- 37:24Speaker 3: Day is available wherever books are sold. When you pick
- 37:28Speaker 3: one up for yourself, consider getting one to gift to
- 37:31Speaker 3: a friend or loved one too.
- 37:33Speaker 4: Fay'll thank you for it. Thank you for joining doctor
- 37:39Speaker 4: banks and to your hope build perspective. We hope you
- 37:43Speaker 4: are encouraged by her authenticity, vulnerability, and biblical truths. If
- 37:48Speaker 4: you enjoy today's conversation. When you take a moment right now,
- 37:52Speaker 4: open up your podcast app and look for the subscribe
- 37:54Speaker 4: button right next to our podcast profile image. We think
- 37:58Speaker 4: this podcast is best enjoyed with friends, so tell a
- 38:00Speaker 4: friend and click share in your podcast app and send
- 38:04Speaker 4: a friend our link to share Hope with them. If
- 38:07Speaker 4: you have a comment, question, or suggest a topic for
- 38:09Speaker 4: a future show, reach out to our staff at info
- 38:13Speaker 4: at Hope Prevails dot org. For additional resources. Information about
- 38:17Speaker 4: doctor Bankson's books where free downloads, or to contact her
- 38:21Speaker 4: to speak at your next event, please visit doctor Michelbe
- 38:25Speaker 4: dot com. Until next time, May you have a hope filledweek.
- 38:32Speaker 1: I'd like to take just a second to thank the
- 38:35Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
- 38:38Speaker 1: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll
- 38:41Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
- 38:44Speaker 1: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.