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271-It's Not About Me: Part 2 Diagnosis With Cancer · Stuck No More Voices

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome Teresa Kropp with you.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's a podcast and I've got a myth to you.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Right now this is kind of hard because when I come to you, I want to talk to you and share something that can help you.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And it's not about me.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But challenged to share the story for his glory, and I'm really challenged by someone dear to me, t.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Why don't you just go ahead and take him on the journey?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: So this is it's not about me, t.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Why don't you just go ahead and take them on the journey?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: So this is it's Not About Me.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Diagnosis of Cancer.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Part Two the diagnosis of breast cancer.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: And since then it's been two biopsies, or actually just one more, and the realization that I have cancer in both my breasts.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I've been waiting to get the news of you know, sometimes it's like it's looming and you're ready to get it over.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: And for me it was really personal, because Anna and I are having a trip at the end of May and I knew I needed myself some time.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: So why would I even?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about it, because I hope, in the midst of my struggle, my bad news, I could let you know you're not alone.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: And sometimes it's like the push in me does not want to share this.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The push wants to like oh, I'm tough, let's suck it up.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: T is the German in me, but there's pain in your story and God never wastes pain.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: You ever thought about that?
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: And the reason I will continually say that I've been able to step up to the plate and share is because the first biopsy, laying out on that table, waiting for the biopsy and ever so clearly hearing the Holy Spirit say T, yeah, he calls me T, hey, t.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Are you willing to make this another story for my glory?
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I said.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I said yeah, okay, yes, I want it.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: But God is like in the midst of that, there's so much refinement going on.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: God does cause all things work together for good to those who love him, to those who are called according to his purpose.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So, in the calling and in the intimacy with him, knowing that there's a calling to create from the overflow of my relationship with God, it's really not about me, but it is when he says I want you to speak.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I've called you a voice revivalist, not so you just speak to me, but to speak hope.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: And this is really amazing.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: My story could be your survival guide.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: That's my ultimate hope and not being about me.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: My story is your survival guide.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: These landmines that I'm landing on that have the C word are becoming landmarks for God's faithfulness landmarks.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: So in all reality, I'll be honest, I've been just like nervous energy.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, the other day I swept my bathroom.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I have a cat no, that needs to be swept.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, the other day I swept my bathroom.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I have a cat no, that needs to be swept.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I mopped the floor and moving things around, thinking, okay, am I going to be bound up in my chair?
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Am I going to be able to lay in my bed?
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I need a chair in here for Anna when she takes care of me.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I want to be strong and you know that thought it's not about me, but god keeps saying I asked you, are you willing to make this a story for my glory?
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: So that's where I come into you on this episode of the sick no more podcast.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Really just being vulnerable, being real.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I I don't know if I know any other way to be, where to be real.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: You, you know.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Transparency, authentic.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: There's a scripture that says Revelations 12, verse 11, it says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony Okay, the blood of the lamb.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: That's a finished work, I mean.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: But he says, and their word of their testimony, because someone has to talk about the redemption, even in the midst of a battle, that can only come from coming from a place of victory the cross.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: So what part of your story could be a setup for someone else?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about you too.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Are you going through something, I think, where it becomes a story in all honesty, it becomes a story out of the secret place.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I've shared candidly, years of trauma, but going on two years, no, going on three years of taking care of my mentalness, my mental ability to wipe away I'm not good enough, that I'm loved.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: So I'll speak from my scars, not my wounds.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And I was thinking.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: I said God, why am I able to speak?
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: This hasn't even happened yet.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: There's no scars, physical scars.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: And God said, well, I put a scar on your heart so you could speak.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Because you said, yes, can I make this a story for his glory?
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: But you're not alone, I think.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: If there's one thing, if you're suffering right now, from, whether it is trauma or various diagnosis, or whether you just feel all alone, or whether you're tired of the push and you're ready just to say hey, listen, I'm going to lay down the things that I'm fearing.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Who told you that on those lies?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to lay down the lies and really try to not even try.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Just be in my own lane, loving God and serving him.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And there are hard seasons.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Some of the pain that I can remember is those wilderness moments where I felt like I was lonely.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: But even in my loneliness, because I made a point to spend time with God rather religiously in the beginning of my life, but now to a place where Jesus and coffee is all I want in the morning, those lonely moments are filled with heaven's whispers.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: And even out of your pain, can I tell you, you can receive revelation.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: How are you going to receive it and how are you going to delve it out?
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: It's different, everyone's different.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: It may be for you just to stand tall in front of your family, or to stand tall amidst some different friends and they're like and they're like.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Or stand tall amidst some different friends and they're like how is she doing that?
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: And you get to do something.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: And I love this word, I love the words gentleness and kindness, because I didn't have a lot of that in 26 years of marriage.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And I read this morning that God loves to give you the gentleness of his presence.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I never seen it before.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I think I wrote about it just briefly because I was like gentleness of God's kindness, so it was giving me.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Another standing point is now I face the reality of being cut open and having a double mastectomy.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Come on, I'm not going to be real.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: But then I keep saying it's not about me, it's not about me, but yet it is.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: If God's called me to step up to this yellow microphone and God sees and knows and walks through the fire with you, remember Isaiah 43, verse 2, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: So if no one gets it, no one gets you, god does.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: And what if, the midst of your battle and as you're going through healing, a scar appears and out of that scar you're able, out of the battle, you're unlocking boldness where your story becomes someone else's survival guide.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: The reason I can come and so boldly and just unashamedly talk about a double mastectomy is because I believe in voices that are activated by the presence of God.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's one reason why I have the Stuck no More Academy encouraging faith-filled voices to speak on a podcast to speak from the overflow, so it's almost like it doesn't have to be my calling, it could be your calling.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Your story is going to be different.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I love a story I'm going to bring more stories after I get through some of the surgery of stories of women who've been in debt but got out of debt and now are in their lane.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Or a woman who had an abortion at 19, and now she's fighting for life of the unborn.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Those are stories of from voiceless, being broke in trauma, to having a voice and speaking boldly from the presence of God.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I'm walking through this diagnosis.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: April 10th is the date.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so glad I got it.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Why am I so glad?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Because, see, I had a.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I said this already, but I have a trip with Anna, my daughter Anna, and we've had it planned.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: It's around my birthday, end of May, and we're going to go up and see my buddy Alana, my mental coach, my business coach and my dear friend, and I'm bringing Anna.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: We're just gonna have a full-out fun time and and I just that was like, okay, that's my goal I'm going to get.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: So it's good to have a goal, I think.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I think it's good to have a goal.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Okay to get well.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: So.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: But before I go through the surgery, I've been trying to keep to a consistent uh role on and stuff.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So I've been like, okay, got to work out today with weights, I'll go for walks too.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: But I got my little Christmas gift.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I give myself weights because I don't think that you're never too old to tone your muscles, which tone your bones, I hear.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: So it's not about me, but can I bring you along and say let's get you out of isolation?
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: This isn't a call to action, I just want to be there with you.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I want to see your story, your glory to glory story and you may have one that's really well, you just don't know T.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: But what part of your story?
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: And getting free and just letting the gentleness and kindness of God love you right where you're at.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: What part of that hard season and going through the wilderness, are you going to come out or are you going to still walk through it?
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: But you're not going to be so burned that you can't help someone else.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: So I'm walking through this diagnosis.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: It's just a voice crying out to you in your wilderness saying let God shape you, let him refine you.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: You know, in the crushing, a lot of things happen.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know much about oil, but I do know there's a crushing involved Holy oil.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: There's talks in the verse in Isaiah somewhere about the balm of Gilead.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: It not only takes the sting away but it makes the wound whole.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Or my favorite analogy of a grape You're in the vineyard, god is the vine dresser, jesus is the vine and you're hanging in there.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: But there are times when you fall off the vine through your own doing or through the doing of life, and the vine dresser, ever so faithful to walk up and down the rows of the vineyard and he sees you, a branch on the ground and you've been stomped on and it's rained.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Father, the vine dresser picks you up, washes you off and then sets you on the trellis facing the sun so you can receive and walk and be whole again.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: So isn't it amazing, in the crushing of the grape, in the agitation of fermentation and the clarification, there's a part of clarification where the vine dresser, the vinter, removes the toxins, the clumps in the clarification process Fermentation, crushing, fermentation, clarification.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, my friend, you have to remove the toxicity of your people around you.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It says in studies that two or three or four or five those people around you have the ability to shift your mindset and change your mind.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Let's get around people who support you, who celebrate you and don't just tolerate you.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Stay close to the people who feel like sunshine.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Tolerate you.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Stay close to the people who feel like sunshine.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Stay close to the people who feel like Jesus with skin on.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: In that clarification process that might you be drawing the line and saying I've got to step over to connections, sisterhood, that are going to pray for me and believe for me and that are going to support me.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: It's all part of that process of your story for his glory.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I think some of the kindness of God that I've experienced in the last almost yeah, three, two and a half gone three years the most awesome kindness that God has given, showed me and gentleness has been just me staying connected to him, hanging on to him and God miraculously bringing across my path friends that feel like sunshine, friends that call out the gold, friends that are my defenders.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Not a lot, I mean.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I love I got some different friends, but just a few that are like could be real.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Hey T, what's going on.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I want that for you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: God is shaping me to be me with my voice, and I believe you have a voice, that your voice can be a message, can be a survival guide for someone else.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to end this real simply by inviting you to DM me on Instagram at Teresa Croft and I'll pray for you.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: How about that?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Never done that?
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: I do have a closing, I think.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: If you want to get in touch with me, dm and I will say the Stuck no More.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Academy is not just about creating podcasts from the overflow of your identity.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about the tech.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: We show you how to set it up, but it's still calling you into a community and letting Teresa or my team speak life to you, speak into your identity.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Isn't that exciting To really say who you are?
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: And this, I always believe, is my motto.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you can see it on camera, but I'll speak it.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that you're known.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: You can see it on camera, but I'll speak it.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that you're known, you're chosen, you're worthy, you're loved and you are enough.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: That's my heart's desire.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: You're known by Jesus.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: You're chosen by a holy God who has a plan for your life.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: You are worthy.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: You are righteous.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: He who knew no sin became sin on your behalf that you might become the righteousness of God in Christ.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You are loved, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Whoever believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: And you are enough.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: You are enough.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: I've needed like two years of therapy to realize okay, I'm enough.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I'm enough to come to you and saying it's not about me.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: What if my life is your survival guide?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: What if the landmines I've hit with cancer have been landmarks for a different kind of story to come out for God's glory and your help?
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So it turns it all around In authenticity.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: It may not be about me, but it's about the story that God's given me right now, right before surgery on double mastectomy, to say listen, listen, there's hope for you.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: You are enough.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: God has put something extra to what you think is ordinary and your voice is becoming an extraordinary solution to someone's pain point.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to step up, because God told me this is part two, the diagnosis.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: It's not really about me, but I'll make it about you and share some gems from going through the fire and coming out whole Missing body parts, but I'm going to come out whole.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: All right, I really do appreciate you, I really do love you.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I appreciate when you sit down with me and just have a cup of coffee and we'll continue.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: So DM me at Teresa Croft and let's let me put you on my prayer list.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: So it's not just about me, it's about you too.