Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 5, 2019 | Expresso - Lorie Myers

Transcript

March 5, 2019 | Expresso - Lorie Myers · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good evening, ladies.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: If by chance any of you were able to attend the if gathering in February at TBC, you might have heard Jill Briscoe speak.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And something she said really spoke to me that night as I knew I would be sharing my testimony tonight.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: She said, You know, we are always asking for strength and peace from God before we step out in faith to do something.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And she said she was praying when she heard the Lord say to her, Well, Jill, just do it frightened.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know I will be with you.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So here I am, frightened but willing.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna share a little bit and then I'll talk about my pictures.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um let me begin with my story uh with our family home in Keene.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was two years uh before I was born.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: My parents uh purchased 20 acres um in the summer of 1958.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Keene is located on Highway 4, about four and a half miles west of Dover, and another 10 miles take will take you into Uskreidge.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are familiar with that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my sister Connie was four years old, and my brother Danny was nine months old at the time.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my parents moved from a nice little garlo they purchased in Oakland to a walkout basement with a patio surrounded by dirt to the doors, as my mom retells, and no trees.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the home had no indoor bathroom facilities, but there was an outhouse.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as mom says, it wasn't even one of those cute ones, if they can be cute, you know, with the little crescent moon.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was cinder blocks, you said.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So um, my sister remembers taking baths in a round metal tub, which mom would have to heat water up on the stove for.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: There were no modern-day conveniences that we enjoy today, but dad had a vision for the place, and as mom says, they were young.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, my dad built onto our home, and life became a little easier, especially for my mom, I believe.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um, here's the I'll just point to it.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the home.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of a walk out with the old patio area.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's my mom and my sister, my brother, and then my mom's mom, Helen.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then years later, Dad, as he promised, he finally built onto it, and then you can see here where he built onto the top of it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm about five years old there, and we were putting in a garden, and there I am shortly after I was born.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let me talk just a little bit more.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I arrived on March 27th, 1961.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was born at St.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Francis Hospital in Topeka, and I arrived about four weeks early, so I was a little bit of a surprise.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: By this time, my sister Connie was six years old, and she was pretty excited to have a little sister.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: However, after coming to see me at the hospital, her joy turned to tears.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: You see, I looked nothing like what she had hoped for, nothing like her dolls.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the nuns came to comfort her and said that I wouldn't always look that way.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually had a picture of me as a baby, and um I can't find it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think I know what happened to it, and I don't want to have to confess anything tonight, but to my sister's uh defense, I didn't look very good.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyhow.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Keen, I know some of you are probably familiar with it.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's nothing there.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing left of that place.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But when we moved there, my sister Connie actually uh attended first grade, and then they shut it down after that, and then they tore down the building.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: But that's actually the school there to the left, and then to the right is the store.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that was there when we moved there as well.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I I did a little history, did a little uh fact-finding on that, and I guess it burned down in the 90s, mid-90s.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if you drive through Keene, there's nothing there, but um it did have its history, it was um established in like 1856, and at one time it was a bustling little community, but um, and there was also um a missile silo, but it was decommissioned in 1965, and our father worked there for a short time, mom said.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um let me fast forward to this.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Some pictures from our childhood, my childhood.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have lots of wonderful childhood memories from life in the country.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: There were country roads to be biked, ponds to fish, woods to explore.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the animals we had over the years included pigs, chickens, cows, barnyard cats, dogs, Chester, our Shetland pony.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's up there.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was Arnry.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my pet lamb midnight, and my mom even had a cow she grew fond of named Mary Jane.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: She was the only one that Mary Jane was the only one that she went out and um treated like a pet.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: As life goes on the farm, especially and sometimes even pets end up in the freezer, and uh as did Midnight and Mary Jane.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lamb chops and hamburger.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of hard to eat them.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: It took a while to do that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, our extended family, we had lots of extended family.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Mom and dad both had a lot of family that lived in Topeka, so we had lots of cousins to play with.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: We enjoyed family gatherings for most holidays, and we always had our summer annual picnic with mom's family.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: In the early years, we always went to Snyder's Cabin at Gage Park and enjoyed the zoo and, of course, the train ride.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Other fun memories from back in those days were staying with my cousin in town.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that would be Karen.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: She'd come out and enjoy the country life, and then I'd go in town, and and uh we'd hop on the city bus and go downtown to shop, and then we'd go out to White Lakes.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: People remember White Lakes, just without a thought in the world.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: We'd get dropped off at Fox White Lakes Theaters.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: You guys remember some of you to watch movies alone.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty big deal.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then mom would tell mom and dad would take us to drive-in movies, those were always fun, and we had the station wagon, and mom would load it up with snacks, and then we'd even get our pajamas on, and she'd bring pillows and blankets, and then we could go to sleep in the back.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then also there were trips to Lake Wabunsey right up here.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of times we'd have cousins or friends come join us, and she'd pack a lunch for us, and we'd have fun out there.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but with life comes challenges, and one of those for our family uh was our father's drinking problem.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let me say that dad always worked hard to provide for us.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: However, he spent a lot between his job caring for home, the farm animals, and along with his drinking habit, I remember very little interaction with him and very little affection, if any, was ever shown.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I do not remember a time that dad ever told me that he loved me.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: While growing up, I honestly never thought much of it.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the way it was, and that's all I ever really knew.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And later as an adult, learning the childhood that he had lived, I knew that he had fathered us the very best that he could.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: The other challenge was more of a personal one.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was childhood obesity.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had no medical condition that caused my weight gain.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just loved food because I was really pretty active.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was probably around fifth grade that I really began to have an internal struggle with self-esteem as I continued to put more and more weight on each year.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And as far as memories of being teased by other kids, there were some.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: However, none that really traumatized me.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was mostly my own personal struggle with the embarrassment of my weight.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was around 1975 when I was about 14 that dad finally hit rock bottom with his drinking, and mom finally had enough and left dad for good this time.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, dad chose mom over the alcohol, and he began attending AA meetings and mom alinom meetings to help support dad with his recovery.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful that they didn't give up on each other.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And also in the back of that was um my dad's sisters had come to faith in Christ, and they also were praying for him at that time.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't aware then.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So God was also in that.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't until I became a wife and mother that I really understood that mom was a glue that held our family together.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: She worked tirelessly to make our house a home.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And mom is the one that took us to church every Sunday.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: I am so thankful to her for the faith she instilled in us as children.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was about a year or so after that that dad had given up the alcohol that they were ready to leave the responsibilities that came with caring for the land and the animals and the long drive to Topeka.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we moved from our home in Keene to Topeka.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I finished my freshman year at Mission Valley, my freshman year at Mission Valley, and began my sophomore year at Seaman.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was a huge transition for me.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a much larger school and knowing no one was overwhelming for me.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: But thankfully, God provided me with two friends who became my best friends through high school.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was probably during my junior or senior year of high school that a friend I worked with asked if her and some people from her church could stop by and visit with me.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, why not?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I told mom and dad about it and they were fine with it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they came and that evening they laid out the plan of salvation.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember getting on my knees and praying the prayer to accept Christ.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: After they had left, I remember going to my bedroom, lying on my bed, and the tears just began to flow.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Something had changed.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's just something you can't really explain.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I just know that a transition had taken place.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't happen for everybody, actually, for not very many, and I don't know why God allowed that in my life, but it's something that I go back to all the time, that I know that at that time, in that point in my life, that Christ, I had a relationship with him.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I just remember I had this deep desire to start attending church.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I began going before I'd go to work on Sunday, and I'd start going to church by myself.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, that didn't last for long.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was at a denomination that there wasn't really a lot of anything about a relationship or anything.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So unfortunately, I quit going.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, later as I matured in my faith and look back on that evening, I can say to you that I did not fully comprehend what I was praying that night, but God in his grace accepted it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says it so beautifully.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um there I am with my brother and my sister at I graduate at my graduation in 1979 from Siemen.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: As you can see, um I was still um struggling with my weight.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was that summer after graduation that I decided to begin to work on my weight problem.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And as I think about that, thought about that years later, what was the difference?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it kind of came out of nowhere.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think I know what it was.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was God.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was with me.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And although I didn't really seek him in that, I think he was with me, and he's the one that helped me take that weight off.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I began to cut back on my food.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: I eliminated sweets completely, and I began exercising.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I was down in about a year and a half, I was down about 100 pounds.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was so freeing to have control over food versus food controlling me.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And ladies, the struggle still continues.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a daily challenge for me to use self-control and to make better choices for my health every day.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So after uh graduation from high school, I went on and attended Caw Area Vocational Technical School.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the gals I went there is here tonight, Leila.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen her for years.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: We went there together and received training in office administration in February 1980.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: I began my career at the Veterans Hospital.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I was um I left home.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I had a job and I moved in with a friend that I had known since childhood, I had also begun to date some, but nothing serious.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was enjoying being on my own, working and partying with friends and with my sister.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, okay, so I was about 20 years old, and then I met somebody.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: That would begin a relationship that lasted on and off for four years or so.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: He was nine years older than me, separated from his wife.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: He had a young son, and his wife had just given birth to twins shortly after we had met.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know any sensible girl would have not walked but ran the other direction, but no, not me.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a veteran of the Vietnam War and suffered from PTSD.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, I realized in part that his addictions were to help him cope with the trauma he had suffered.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Along with the choices he had made, his life was very dysfunctional.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: This, of course, put a strain on my life and my relationship with family and friends.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then some special people came into my life.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the late summer of 1985, God brought someone in my life, Jan.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's up here up on top, her little daughter, Heidi.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: My first encounter with Jan was in our HR office.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: She was beginning her psychology internship with the VA.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was a busy morning with a large with a large group of new employees in process.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always helpful when they arrive on time and have their paperwork and needed documents with them.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, guess who was late and not prepared?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Jan.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just say I was a little annoyed.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hate to admit it, this, I hate to admit this, but I remember thinking to myself that I could never be a friend with this girl.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's the truth.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: However, after spending time with her, there was something different about her.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Her smile and presence drew me in, and you can just see from looking at her.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jan eventually invited me to attend church with her, and I was so glad that I said yes.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so a friendship began that was life-giving.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Jan was miles away from home in a broken relation, in a broken marriage with a young daughter and no family nearby, yet she was joyful and seeking to keep her relationship with Christ active.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: What an example of not giving up when circumstances were difficult.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was also in that relationship over time with Jan that I felt a much deeper connection and love for a friend.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: I came to realize what the difference was, the common bond that we shared in Christ.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: The pastor of the church was Hugh Houchin and his wife Marge.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's Hugh.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the MMs are about.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: We must have been playing a game or something.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And his wife Marge.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if something happened to me today, I pray they're the first ones I see.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: They had planted the church from the ground up several years or so before I started attending.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: They offered to meet with me in their home to mentor me in the faith.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea at the time what a huge offer this was.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: They were sacrificing time to be with me to teach me the foundational truths of God's Word.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I began meeting with them on a regular basis, and they started me on material by navigators, the topical memory system.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was then that my faith really began to take root.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was memorizing and learning the foundational truths to help me grow my knowledge of God.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Spiritual warfare.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had made the decision to begin reading God's Word, and I remember the evening so well.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I made myself comfortable on the bed and decided to begin it and make myself comfortable on the bed and decided to start at the beginning.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: As I began to read a bit, I heard a voice, not audible, speak to me, saying, Surely you don't believe this, do you?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: All of this is a lie, and it never happened.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking to myself, I had never doubted it before.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why now?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a darkness that fell around me, and I literally began looking around my room, feeling confused and scared by what was by what I was experiencing.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: This was the beginning of my awareness of a spirit world that I was blind to before, and I was thinking, Lord, I'm not sure I'm really ready for this.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe knowing was, maybe not knowing was easier.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it interesting, ladies?
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I never felt attacked by the enemy Satan before now.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: However, the moment I began to pursue living for God, reading his word, and memorizing scripture, the spiritual battle really began.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted me to have nothing to do with being a disciple of God.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Philippians 4, 6 and 7.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, I hung in there and my faith and understanding grew.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I began to really realize the power of God's word in my life.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the verses I had memorized with the TMS was Philippians 4, 6, and 7.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was that verse that I finally found the strength and peace I needed to finally break yet another addiction or chain, shall we say?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: My four-year relationship that I couldn't seem to end in my own strength.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 really summed up my feelings at that time.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, I was no longer in a toxic relationship, and God provided me the grace to extend forgiveness to Him for all that had taken place during that time.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was set free.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I stood in my apartment thanking God for saving me for myself, literally.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's situation is different, but I could have left and that I could have left that relationship at any time, yet I was the one who chose to remain.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: I had made some really bad choices that affected my life and others, and I knew moving forward that I could do better, and I wanted to do it with God.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Things got a lot better.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so meeting my future husband.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I met Pam and her family through the church, and we became good friends, and we even began meeting once a week before work to pray together.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Their family had just moved to a different homes, so I had gone over to help them, and that's when I met him.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there were two of them.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they looked a lot alike.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: They were Pam's twin brothers, Mike and Jeff.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, whoa.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: They were so nice and polite and funny, they were, and they looked really good.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: So several weeks later, when Pam called me, and Mike asked if she would call to see if I might be interested in going on a date with them.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, yes.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we began dating, and over time I was growing quite fond of Mike.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: There was just one thing.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mike was a believer.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: However, he was not active in the faith at that time.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I was discerned, I was determined to stay faithful to God, which meant I was willing to end the relationship.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I convited in a strong Christian friend about my concern, and she told me that maybe God was using me to draw Mike back to him.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I knew one of the things Mike appreciated about me was my faith, but the time had come to ask him what it meant for him.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, it was important enough that he began to attend church with me.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So our relationship continued to blossom.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: He proposed to me on November 11th, 1987, and we were married on June 11th, 1988.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's on our honeymoon when we both had more hair.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Literally.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And um the Lord blessed us with two boys, Andrew's our oldest and Lee's our youngest.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: That was from 2003, so they're 22 and 19 now.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that was when we went to San Diego last year.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Our son, our youngest, is a Marine, so he graduated from boot camp.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was after three years.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So um, has marriage or parenting been a breeze?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I can say with all honesty, we have been very blessed.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest gifts Mike has given our marriage is his commitment to our family.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: We have always been his priority.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: So where I had experienced strife in my former relationship, there was now peace.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where there had been lies, there was now honesty.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Where there had been abuse and there was, I now had complete security.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And tears were replaced with laughter.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So when I look back over um God and and um my faith, I was so thankful to my mom uh that instilled in me a faith that there is a God, that there is a God.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I am so thankful for a friend who came to my home and presented the gospel to me.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it is there that I received eternal life and I had a relationship with Christ.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: During those years, though, it was dormant.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't have anybody to show me what a relationship looked like.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: So then I am so thankful that Jan and Hugh and Marge came into my life.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that is when I became, I started reading his word.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a song out that I absolutely love.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're playing a lot on Christian radio station, um, Red Letters by David Crowder and Ed Cash.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna read a few words.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: It said, then I read the red letters, and the ground began to shake.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: The prison walls started falling, and I became a free man that day.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the whole wide world, sent his only son to die for me.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Arms spread wide for the whole wide world, his arms spread wide where mine should be.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus changed my destiny.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the red letters.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And girls, there's just, I wasn't, I had a devotion this morning, so I'm gonna share one more thing, then I'm done.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's for my devotion this morning.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: He said, when he looks at me, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, he doesn't see my sin because I have been crucified with Christ.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: An exchange took place.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: My guilt for his freedom, my sin for his righteousness, my life for his life.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: In this process, the restoration makes me new.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, ladies.