Latest / Why I Believe / Erin Harrigan: From Hustle to Surrender

Transcript

Erin Harrigan: From Hustle to Surrender · Why I Believe

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to Why I Believe.
• 0:03
  I am your host, Michelle Von Ruden, and today I have Erin Harrigan with me.
• 0:08
  Hi Erin, how are you doing today?
• 0:10
  Hey Michelle, it's so good to be here.
• 0:12
  thank you, thank you.
• 0:13
  Thanks for being here.
• 0:14
  Why you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself?
• 0:16
  Yeah, so I am daughter of the king, uh wife of 32 years, emptiness mom of two adult daughters in their twenties.
• 0:25
  And I am a biblical business coach, author, speaker, writer.
• 0:30
  I think that's everything.
• 0:31
  I know I love tacos.
• 0:37
  I love the beach and I love belting out Broadway tunes.
• 0:42
  So that's all of it.
• 0:44
  what's your favorite Broadway show?
• 0:46
  Right now, oh, that's so good.
• 0:49
  um What is my favorite one right now?
• 0:56
  It's so hard, there's so many.
• 0:57
  My historical favorite one is Les Mis.
• 1:00
  um What am I, I have a subscription to our local, like our theater in Baltimore, and I think I'm most looking forward, oh, Hamilton's coming, so yeah.
• 1:15
  Yeah.
• 1:16
  Awesome.
• 1:17
  Well, should we talk some business or get down to business?
• 1:20
  Yeah, cool.
• 1:21
  All right.
• 1:22
  Well, so Erin, you gave us a laundry list of all the things that you do.
• 1:26
  But one of the things that you talked about and you said it first was you're a daughter of Christ.
• 1:33
  But that wasn't always the case, was it?
• 1:37
  No, absolutely, Michelle.
• 1:38
  I was raised in the Catholic Church.
• 1:41
  We were basically excommunicated when my parents were divorced.
• 1:46
  I was 11.
• 1:47
  uh And then we were raised, my mom raised us to just know God, right?
• 1:53
  But we never had a personal relationship with Jesus.
• 1:57
  And so I prayed, but like not really a personal connection to understand what that would mean.
• 2:04
  All through
• 2:05
  you know, college, not necessarily going to church, but certainly once my husband and I got together, we were going to an Episcopal church again, still praying, et cetera, but
• 2:14
  not cracking open the Bible.
• 2:15
  None of that.
• 2:16
  In my forties, I started a business with a multi-level marketing company and I was very much surrounded by new age and new thoughts.
• 2:23
  So a lot of universal law of attraction, all of that.
• 2:26
  And I was very successful in my corporate career.
• 2:29
  I was very successful in that business.
• 2:30
  But when I hit a wall at age 46 in 2014, I reached out to a mentor who I thought was going to totally tell me just to do more.
• 2:40
  And she shared the gospel with me.
• 2:42
  And she said, you don't know who you are or whose you are.
• 2:45
  And from my vantage point, I thought, is this what Jesus is?
• 2:52
  Because I obviously knew of him and I just knew I couldn't keep carrying the burden of
• 2:59
  of the hard work and the hustling that I was doing.
• 3:01
  So I gave my life to Christ at 46.
• 3:05
  Wow, that's beautiful.
• 3:08
  I think you touched on a really good point, right?
• 3:10
  So we go to church or we don't, or we pray or we don't, but we follow, but do we really?
• 3:17
  And how is that showing up in your everyday life?
• 3:20
  Erin, you and I happen to be in the same room when a young man who has a faith-based business said, if somebody were to come in and persecute all the Christians in this room,
• 3:32
  would you be among them?
• 3:33
  Mmm.
• 3:35
  And that really got me thinking, you know, we can say that we are Christian, we can say that we walk the faith, we can say all these things, but are we really doing it?
• 3:44
  And I think that's really the difference that you're talking about, because you were a believer and you did the quote unquote right things, but you didn't have that
• 3:53
  relationship.
• 3:54
  it's not until we had that relationship, right?
• 3:56
  Step one is believing, right?
• 3:58
  So if you are, if you are not at step one, step one is just like, yes, I believe.
• 4:02
  Yeah.
• 4:03
  Step two is taking it further.
• 4:05
  How do I develop that relationship?
• 4:06
  Because a relationship is a two-way street as I talk about on the show.
• 4:09
  So how did you start to develop that relationship?
• 4:14
  What steps did you take to go from point A to where you are today?
• 4:18
  Yeah, well, as soon as my mentor, who in my first book I called the Velvet Hammer, because she's like smooth and graceful, but she like lays it on you.
• 4:28
  She said, the first thing that I want you to do is do you have a Bible?
• 4:31
  And I said, yeah, I have a Bible.
• 4:33
  And she said, okay, I want you to go read the Book of Mark.
• 4:37
  And so that's what I did.
• 4:38
  That was where I started.
• 4:40
  And probably a week later, I received a New King James Version Charles Stanley Bible from her.
• 4:49
  and she gave me no notes.
• 4:51
  She just handed it to me, in the, or she sent it to me.
• 4:54
  But in the meantime, I had started reading Mark and there were all these references to other verses and chapters.
• 5:02
  And so was like, this is cool.
• 5:03
  Let me go find out that.
• 5:05
  So I kind of call it like the rabbit trail.
• 5:06
  So that was the first thing I do.
• 5:08
  It did is I started reading the Bible, but those rabbit trails.
• 5:11
  Then when I got this brand new, new King James version and there was commentary in there, I
• 5:18
  It was like my eyes were even wider open, right?
• 5:21
  Because now I could really learn what the word was saying and this is what this word means and this is what that word means.
• 5:27
  So that's the first thing that I did.
• 5:30
  I was going to church at the time, but I really started listening to the sermons then because now I had a frame of reference.
• 5:38
  So that was the second thing I did is I really started to pay attention in church.
• 5:43
  And then a few months later, the third thing I did is I got baptized.
• 5:50
  Yeah, yeah.
• 5:51
  And I just had this insatiable hunger to know him and to know his word.
• 5:58
  And then learned over time to obey, not always good at it, right?
• 6:03
  We're all works in progress.
• 6:05
  But it was like, I had the desire to obey.
• 6:08
  It wasn't a rule anymore, you know?
• 6:12
  Yeah.
• 6:14
  Exactly.
• 6:15
  Yeah, that's beautiful.
• 6:18
  So how has that changed?
• 6:19
  How has that impacted your life?
• 6:20
  Like what's different?
• 6:22
  How do you feel different?
• 6:23
  Do you feel different?
• 6:25
  Yeah.
• 6:26
  So for me, the very first differences were uh because he meets us where we are.
• 6:34
  And so I had been this driver's driver and achievement chaser basically my whole life.
• 6:40
  And what I noticed is that as I was successful, my successful by the world's measures, my anxiety grew.
• 6:47
  uh My temper became a very short fuse.
• 6:52
  and it was impacting my motherhood and my marriage.
• 6:55
  And so the first change that I began to experience beside this hunger that I talked about was suddenly I wanted to be kinder to my husband and even my kids, right?
• 7:06
  And then on the heels of that was, although I had a business, like do I really have to be at everything if it is impeding the relationships that are most important to me, right?
• 7:21
  So that was a change.
• 7:22
  wasn't, I started to feel this pull away from the hustle, which is funny because I talk about redefining that now, but I felt the pull away from it and it was very disorienting,
• 7:37
  but in a good way.
• 7:39
  Like the people I knew who had always known me as the go-getter when I would say, I'm not gonna come to that event because I really need to be home with my family tonight.
• 7:48
  And they would say,
• 7:49
  they kind of looked at me sideways like what happened to you?
• 7:53
  And I remember I had uh my upline in my MLM business say to me, I wish you'd stop giving up on yourself.
• 8:03
  And I was like, I'm choosing Jesus.
• 8:06
  I'm not like, that's what I'm doing here.
• 8:09
  So there were a number of those kinds of changes.
• 8:12
  I think when the word talks about an unsurpassed peace, we're not to wait.
• 8:18
  until our feelings tell us we have that peace.
• 8:21
  We have that peace.
• 8:22
  Are we going to come into agreement with that?
• 8:24
  And so what I began to notice is I viewed challenging situations at home, in my work, whatever it was, from this lens of not the like, what would Jesus do lens, but the lens
• 8:37
  of, oh, but wait a minute, there's a different way to look at this.
• 8:43
  And,
• 8:44
  I found myself experiencing a peace even in the midst of the challenge and that was really different for me.
• 8:53
  Yeah.
• 8:56
  I think that's so key because you said that you, you know, accepted Jesus as your Savior.
• 9:03
  You are now changing into the person that you want to be.
• 9:09
  People are going, what happened to you?
• 9:12
  And you're still sticking with it.
• 9:13
  But you also realize that just because you invite Christ into your life doesn't mean that everything is going to be rosy.
• 9:20
  Exactly.
• 9:22
  Yeah.
• 9:23
  yes he will provide but like not necessarily the way that you want him to.
• 9:29
  And that's the hard part right because you're like Jesus help me with this or I need help with that and he's answering your prayers you just don't know which prayer he's answering.
• 9:40
  100%.
• 9:40
  And I remember shortly before I gave my life to him, actually, it might've been just after.
• 9:47
  I gave my life to Christ, but I was still like breaking free of this like new age kind of law of attraction thing.
• 9:54
  And just getting to know what it means when James says, like, basically you have not because you ask not and you ask with the wrong motives, right?
• 10:03
  And I had read a book by Mark Batterson who I love called The Circle Maker.
• 10:09
  I read, what I saw was, I'm supposed to circle my prayer.
• 10:15
  So remember I knelt down in my family room and I drew a circle and I was like, Lord, I am circling this prayer that you are gonna take me to the top of this company and it is gonna
• 10:26
  solve all of our financial problems.
• 10:29
  And that is not what he did.
• 10:32
  But instead,
• 10:34
  He, through our obedience and learning what it means to be good stewards, he delivered us through our financial crisis, but he didn't just hand it, hand us the dollars, right?
• 10:45
  He did not take me to the top of the company.
• 10:47
  In fact, he had me step away from that company, not quit, but step away from it and start what I do now, coaching other Christian women in business.
• 10:59
  And even when I prayed for him, Michelle, to take that company out of just like,
• 11:04
  He was like, nope, I got it.
• 11:05
  You go this way.
• 11:07
  And so it never, most often it does not look anything like we think it should or the way we want it to be.
• 11:17
  But he is so faithful and gracious to provide.
• 11:22
  Yeah.
• 11:23
  Yeah.
• 11:23
  Well, and you hit on a key point here.
• 11:25
  So one of the things that you talked about was your financial burden.
• 11:29
  And most of us that deal with the financial burden who are successful is because we're really keeping up with the Joneses.
• 11:37
  We're chasing worldly possessions and all of that.
• 11:41
  But you said he gave you the tools to walk you through it so you're in a better place.
• 11:46
  Yeah.
• 11:46
  And I think if I remember correctly, that really had a big struggle on your marriage too.
• 11:52
  So walk us through what does that look like when you are struggling financially and struggling in marriage and trying to keep the faith and what did you do and how did you
• 12:02
  work through it?
• 12:03
  Because that's a lot at once.
• 12:05
  it was a lot.
• 12:06
  So the impetus started back in 2012.
• 12:09
  So I was a primary breadwinner and we had the big house and I had the luxury car that I had earned through my MLM and everything looked really good on paper.
• 12:20
  I like to talk about it as like we had all this outward evidence of success, but inwardly things were just falling apart.
• 12:26
  In 2012, I got let go from my full-time job.
• 12:30
  So health insurance gone.
• 12:32
  Six-figure income gone.
• 12:34
  That was 2012.
• 12:36
  I gave my life to Christ in 2014.
• 12:38
  So from 2012 to 2014, we continued to live as if we were making what we were making.
• 12:45
  Okay?
• 12:46
  We drained my 401k just to keep us afloat because we couldn't tell anybody that we couldn't make the mortgage, right?
• 12:56
  Absolute pride.
• 12:57
  And it wasn't then until 2016, two years a-
• 13:01
  after I gave my life to Jesus, that I said to my husband, they're offering this class, it happened to be Financial Peace University, I think we should go.
• 13:10
  And he said, okay.
• 13:11
  And we went to the class and he would sit in the class with his arms crossed, like he was not having it.
• 13:17
  And I remember we had to create a budget after that first class and we came home from that first class and number one, created the budget and determined that we were spending $2,500
• 13:27
  more a month than we were bringing in.
• 13:29
  Hmm.
• 13:30
  And two, when I went, because remember now I've had Jesus for two years.
• 13:35
  So I'm like thinking, all right, well, we're surrendering.
• 13:39
  We're gonna be good stewards.
• 13:41
  Somehow this is gonna work.
• 13:43
  And um this was after the drawing the circle moment, way after that.
• 13:47
  So I had come to my senses on that, right?
• 13:50
  And I went to touch my husband and basically say like, listen, this looks dire, but we are in this together.
• 13:57
  And Michelle, it was like acid.
• 14:00
  He was like, do not touch me.
• 14:04
  do not speak to me like so angry.
• 14:08
  And he didn't know Jesus.
• 14:11
  um So I was like, okay, Lord, well, I'm gonna do whatever you tell me to do.
• 14:17
  So fast forward, we followed the steps, we began to slowly get out of debt.
• 14:22
  I mean, we were selling everything we could find in the house to pay off little tiny debts.
• 14:27
  Like we owed the lawn mower repair man.
• 14:29
  $75.
• 14:31
  What can I sell to pay him $75 because we didn't have it, right?
• 14:35
  But through all of that, my husband started going to church with us, with me in 2017, gave his life to Christ in 2017.
• 14:43
  And that whole, like the Lord had to bring us back together to be on the same page of what it looked like to have kingdom finances.
• 14:54
  um I started tithing, like the true 10%.
• 14:59
  And Brian, my husband was like, we do not have that.
• 15:03
  And I'm like, I hear you, but I was tithing actually, and the Lord's so gracious, I was tithing out of fear because I was like, if I don't give him 10%, like what could possibly
• 15:13
  go wrong?
• 15:14
  But yet he redeemed that and he blessed that, you know?
• 15:20
  And then by 2018, when my daughter started college, we were just about out of debt.
• 15:27
  We were able to pay cash for college 2018 to 2022 and it was not cheap.
• 15:34
  The Lord blessed me with some consulting work that I wasn't expecting.
• 15:39
  He moved me into coaching, which I wasn't expecting.
• 15:42
  And it wasn't like he said, here you go.
• 15:45
  Here's $100,000 a year.
• 15:47
  No, it was like, here's $3,000 this month.
• 15:51
  Steward it.
• 15:52
  Here's $5,000 this month.
• 15:54
  Steward it, right?
• 15:57
  because my husband was working at the same time, but he just was showing us along the way, do this my way, do this my way, little steps, little steps, little steps, and that is 100
• 16:11
  % what we did.
• 16:13
  And we would not have survived that, I believe.
• 16:19
  If God was the God that people think he is, right?
• 16:22
  Well, why does a good God allow bad things?
• 16:25
  And he was...
• 16:25
  such a good God that he just handed us everything like a parent who wants to spoil their child, we would not be together because we had to walk through that together.
• 16:36
  Yeah.
• 16:38
  Well, that's hard to hear, so I'm sure it's hard to say, right?
• 16:45
  And thank you for your vulnerability because I think there's a few things that in this world that we don't talk about, right?
• 16:50
  We don't talk about religion.
• 16:52
  Hello, here we are.
• 16:53
  We don't talk about finances.
• 16:55
  Strike two, right?
• 16:57
  We're going to leave the politics off the table for today.
• 16:58
  But you know what I'm saying.
• 17:00
  So we have to have these hard conversations.
• 17:02
  And I think when we start to have these conversations around finances, when we start to have these conversations around our faith and we start talking to other people, they feel
• 17:12
  comfortable.
• 17:13
  And then when we get that
• 17:15
  comfort level, it's not, oh, if I do this, then they're going to think horribly of me.
• 17:21
  Or if I say this, then they're going to judge me, right?
• 17:23
  Because Erin, you and I both know we are not the judge, right?
• 17:28
  But when we talk about these things that are unspeakable, it gives credit to them and it allows other people to feel comfortable speaking about it.
• 17:36
  Mm, yeah, yeah.
• 17:38
  Right, and so I again thank you for being vulnerable and talking about that because that's a hard thing to talk about.
• 17:43
  You talked about going from six figures to like spending over $2,500 a month that you don't have.
• 17:48
  And not for just one month, right?
• 17:50
  You did it for a while.
• 17:54
  You're right.
• 17:54
  other thing that came out of this too was, you know, at the time um our older daughter, so she graduated in high school, she graduated high school 2015.
• 18:04
  And so 2016 is really when we came to terms with where are we financially.
• 18:08
  And she had lost, she had moved out, but our younger daughter saw it and she saw us selling things.
• 18:14
  And she,
• 18:15
  she did have the reaction that Dave Ramsey talks about where she was like, please don't come in my room and try to sell something, please.
• 18:22
  But then, you know, a few months after that, I was like, are we really using this bookcase?
• 18:27
  Like, could we sell this bookcase?
• 18:29
  Yep, we could sell that.
• 18:30
  So what's funny about this is that the kid who said, I never want to hear the word budget again, is now the one who helps her friends in their mid twenties, budget.
• 18:43
  So that.
• 18:44
  I think we all need that friend in our 20s.
• 18:47
  right.
• 18:47
  And so that is what she learned from that.
• 18:51
  And you have to talk about it because debt is rampant.
• 18:56
  Like I remember going to local women's networking meetings and we would have a round where we would talk about our goals.
• 19:02
  And I was like, my goal is I'm going to be debt free.
• 19:05
  My husband and are going to be debt free by June of 2019.
• 19:09
  And people were like, what?
• 19:11
  Did you just talk about being, and I was like, yeah.
• 19:14
  We're gonna be debt free.
• 19:15
  And then when we were debt free, I was like, we are debt free, let me tell you, right?
• 19:21
  And I would say like, this is the Lord.
• 19:24
  We were obedient, but he didn't just hand it to us.
• 19:28
  Like there was work to do and I am happy to share that with you, right?
• 19:33
  So yeah, these are the hard things that we walk through.
• 19:37
  ah
• 19:38
  which to the point of your podcast is why we believe because we see him move in ways even in, and especially in the heart.
• 19:49
  Yeah.
• 19:50
  And you mentioned your daughters, or the one at least, seeing how everything changed for you guys, but both were home when you made the conversion and accepted, and your husband
• 19:59
  as well.
• 20:00
  So how did that impact them and how are they walking in their faith?
• 20:05
  Well, one is not, um and yet, we always say yet.
• 20:12
  The other, interestingly, I've never heard her specifically profess that she's given her life to Christ.
• 20:21
  um We occasionally talk about it.
• 20:25
  She is going through some challenges right now.
• 20:28
  um She's getting married in May, and um there...
• 20:33
  there are some challenges with this transition with part of the family.
• 20:40
  And I said to her, and I say to her quite often, like, you do realize like the Lord is using this to bring you to saving grace in Jesus.
• 20:50
  Like, you know this, right?
• 20:53
  And she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
• 20:55
  But I see her getting closer and I see her talking about it.
• 20:59
  And we talk about prayer and those kinds of things.
• 21:02
  Our younger daughter is not a believer.
• 21:06
  And yet, I just prayed over her like a couple weekends ago.
• 21:10
  She's been dealing with something and I said, could I pray over you?
• 21:13
  And she said, yes, but do I have to pray with you?
• 21:17
  And I said, no, you don't have to say anything.
• 21:20
  But I'm gonna pray over you and I'm gonna pray some very specific scriptures and I'm gonna send them to you afterwards so that if you wanna look them up, you can.
• 21:29
  And so I had my eyes closed.
• 21:31
  I don't know what she was doing on the other side of FaceTime, but I prayed over her and then I sent her the scriptures.
• 21:37
  But at every turn, I'm not beating her over the head.
• 21:41
  I'm not, you know, repent or die.
• 21:43
  I'm just saying, you know, you have a savior who gave you very specific gifts and talents and he wants you to use those and he wants you to use those for his glory.
• 21:54
  And he didn't make you to...
• 21:57
  to struggle in this way or that way or whatever it is.
• 22:00
  And so I have a lot of people praying for her salvation.
• 22:04
  um But I think to the original point, the way that it impacted them, I think is they saw me approach the challenges with more calm and more peace.
• 22:16
  They both were there when I got baptized.
• 22:19
  And I am prayerful that the Lord will use all of that.
• 22:25
  And I know that he will.
• 22:27
  And if all they learn are life lessons, um like of course I want them to know Jesus.
• 22:35
  And these life lessons, I believe lead them there in a way that I can't.
• 22:40
  You know, the word says that perhaps a family would come, perhaps your husband will come to faith.
• 22:45
  um I'm totally paraphrasing that.
• 22:48
  And perhaps they will.
• 22:49
  I actually believe it's my husband's walk with Jesus.
• 22:53
  that will be more impactful, not just to my kids, but to the people that know us, because it would be so unexpected.
• 23:01
  Yeah.
• 23:02
  Do you want to talk about that a little bit?
• 23:04
  Sure, yeah, mean, he is former law enforcement, so he's very cynical.
• 23:09
  He doesn't trust people.
• 23:11
  You know, he challenges the Lord, I think, a lot when he's like, what do you mean you give these people grace?
• 23:17
  What?
• 23:18
  Like, why would you do that, right?
• 23:20
  But one of the things that he has talked openly about is, like, yes, I believe, and not in a way that...
• 23:33
  say like he's evangelizing necessarily but um but he has said yes I do believe and he talks to his brother about it who is a believer and most recently and I'll happily share
• 23:45
  this I've been praying a really long time for my husband to stop drinking uh he is a functioning alcoholic he is not dangerous he's not abusive he's not nasty like he's just
• 23:56
  kind of goofy which used to be really funny
• 24:01
  when we were like in our 20s dating, right?
• 24:03
  But I prayed for a real, and I have others who have prayed for a really long time that the Lord would lead him to stop drinking.
• 24:10
  And it has been such a long time, we're both 58, that I know it is a conscious choice that he makes.
• 24:18
  Like even if the Lord is saying, you know, this is not honoring me, like he consciously chooses this.
• 24:24
  So back in February, we were going to a friend's party.
• 24:29
  And I said, oh, you need to bring whatever you wanna drink because like that's what's on the invitation.
• 24:34
  Bring a snack and bring what you want to drink.
• 24:36
  And so he pulls out this bottle of Tito's, which is practically full, but I'm not paying attention to that, Michelle, because I've stopped tracking that long ago, right?
• 24:44
  And he's like, this is my first drink in two weeks.
• 24:48
  And I was like, what?
• 24:50
  And he said, I stopped drinking two weeks ago.
• 24:53
  And I'm like, you're kidding.
• 24:56
  And he said,
• 24:57
  No, I just decided like, why am I drinking as much as I'm drinking?
• 25:01
  So I stopped.
• 25:03
  Like in January, I would only drink on the weekends.
• 25:05
  And then I haven't had a drink in two weeks.
• 25:07
  And I'm like, well, then why start?
• 25:09
  Like, hello.
• 25:11
  And so we talked about it on the way.
• 25:14
  And he's like, you know, I think I had to prove to myself that it wasn't a physical dependency for me.
• 25:19
  It was mental.
• 25:21
  And then I had to prove to myself that I could choose.
• 25:24
  to stop and he said, and I realized I'm very fortunate in that.
• 25:27
  Like I didn't have physical side effects of this.
• 25:31
  He said, I just decided that like, don't need to do that.
• 25:37
  And then if I wanna have a drink on the weekend, I can.
• 25:39
  And if I don't, I don't.
• 25:41
  And I said, first of all, I'm so excited for you.
• 25:45
  Like this is amazing and you're gonna feel so much better.
• 25:48
  And this is an answer to decades and decades of prayer.
• 25:54
  like decades of prayer.
• 25:57
  um But then I had a couple of friends who are believers and I love them so much.
• 26:02
  And they're like, well, you do realize he hasn't actually quit drinking.
• 26:04
  Like he's still drinking on the weekend.
• 26:06
  And I was like, can we just celebrate what the Lord has done in this moment?
• 26:13
  Right?
• 26:13
  Like, yes, he, absolutely, you are correct.
• 26:17
  And this is a huge milestone, like huge.
• 26:23
  And to me, this was a complete answer to prayer.
• 26:25
  And I have a list over here in my office that it's entitled, Remembering God's Goodness.
• 26:31
  And everything that I've talked to you about, from our financial crisis to um paying, like selling the house we needed to get out of after one showing, to paying cash for college.
• 26:44
  um And then last week, I put on here, Brian, stop drinking.
• 26:49
  Like I have that front...
• 26:51
  where I can see it because I wanna remember, not because I forget, but just in those moments where I might feel like, okay, how long is this gonna take?
• 27:01
  And then I'm like, okay, well, that took 20 years, that prayer.
• 27:05
  So hello.
• 27:09
  Never, never our timing.
• 27:13
  But that's so good that he realized that, you know, huh, is this a problem?
• 27:17
  Do I need to take steps?
• 27:19
  Right?
• 27:19
  Because usually that's the hardest part is people not realizing that they have a problem.
• 27:26
  Yeah.
• 27:27
  he just was like, I was like, dude, listen, if something happens to you because of this, that's on you.
• 27:34
  I got nothing.
• 27:35
  Like the Lord is telling you not to do this.
• 27:38
  So if you want to dance with the devil, and so I don't know that that's why he stopped, I think the Lord just somehow because he is who he is and he can get ahold of us at any
• 27:51
  point and that's why it's never too late, right?
• 27:55
  that he will lead us to that change, but again, he gives us free will.
• 28:02
  Yeah, Thanks to Adam and Eve, we have free will.
• 28:08
  Let's put it where it's at, right?
• 28:10
  So we made that choice.
• 28:12
  They made that choice for us, right?
• 28:13
  But that's also the same reason why Jesus came and died on the cross for our sons.
• 28:18
  So, wow.
• 28:20
  Good stuff, not good stuff, but good ending, right?
• 28:24
  So thank you so much again for just being vulnerable and being willing to share, because that's how people learn.
• 28:30
  And there are people that are listening to this podcast that probably aren't believers and don't even know what step one is, right?
• 28:35
  And we discussed it.
• 28:36
  Step one is just have a little faith, believe, and then we'll get to step two, right?
• 28:41
  It's a process.
• 28:42
  ah Even for those that who grew up in a church, it's a process, right?
• 28:48
  You guys will hear me talk about this a lot,
• 28:50
  because it's true, there are people, and my first guest mentioned this, they inherited their faith, but then they chose their faith, right?
• 28:58
  Because you have to choose that relationship.
• 29:02
  So thank you so much for being here today.
• 29:05
  If there is anything that you want our listeners to take away from our talk today, what would that be?
• 29:12
  Gosh, it's just, never too late.
• 29:15
  And even if you've known him, we get to choose every day to not just stay in his will, but to seek him.
• 29:26
  the thing is friends, once we give our life to him, like he never leaves us.
• 29:30
  He's still here, but we get to choose every day to keep walking in that.
• 29:36
  Yeah, that's amazing.
• 29:38
  So true, so true.
• 29:39
  Okay, so I've been asking all my guests this.
• 29:41
  What is your favorite Bible verse?
• 29:43
  My favorite Bible verse is John 15, four and five about abiding because we like to think that as the branch we can fend for ourselves and we like to be self-sufficient and
• 29:56
  self-reliant.
• 29:57
  And the truth is that without the vine, he tells us we can do nothing.
• 30:02
  Like we are a dead branch and that abiding is...
• 30:09
  It's just so important.
• 30:10
  I have seen time and again what it looks like to be a branch disconnected ah and a branch grafted in.
• 30:19
  And I much prefer to abide.
• 30:22
  Yeah.
• 30:23
  Listening and obedience, two key factors.
• 30:27
  Erin, it was so good having you on the podcast today.
• 30:29
  I appreciate you again.
• 30:31
  So vulnerable, so open.
• 30:33
  I'm sure it's going to help many.
• 30:35
  So thank you so much.
• 30:36
  Thank you, Michelle.
• 30:37
  I just, God bless all that you're doing.
• 30:40
  Thank you.