Latest / Anchored by the Sword / The Fabric of Hope: How God Weaves Redemption Through Every Season with Kirby Kelly!
Transcript
- 0:00Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Anchor by the
- 0:02Sword podcast. I pray that today's episode will
- 0:05leave you encouraged and also challenged in your faith.
- 0:08And I pray that you would take the stories that are talked
- 0:13about here today and share them with other people.
- 0:17Thank you so much for joining me and enjoy today's episode.
- 0:22Hey guys, welcome to this episode, the Anchor by the Sword
- 0:24podcast. I am super excited today to
- 0:26introduce you guys to Kirby. Kelly, she has a book coming out
- 0:30next week called The Fabric of Hope, how God weaves redemption
- 0:35into every season. And I've been looking forward to
- 0:39talking with her because I've been seeing her posts online and
- 0:44not only is she birthing a book baby, she's also birthing a baby
- 0:49soon. So when it rains it pours, and
- 0:52when births it births so. When the water breaks, it
- 0:55breaks. Under that, even if it's during
- 0:58the launch. So thank you, Kirby, so much for
- 1:02joining me today. Can you tell my listeners a
- 1:04little bit about yourself? Yeah, thanks for having me.
- 1:07I mean, you hit the nail on the head. 2 laborers of love are
- 1:10coming within the same month, which is absolutely insane, but
- 1:14I'm super excited about it. My name is Kirby Kelly.
- 1:17For those of you who don't know who I am, I'm a speaker, I'm an
- 1:21author, I'm a podcaster as well. Bought and Beloved is my podcast
- 1:25and I'm a Christian content creator.
- 1:27But really like the heart behind everything that I do is I just
- 1:30love evangelism. I love discipleship.
- 1:34I love to see people equipped to know the word of God because I
- 1:39believe that an informed theology informs us to love God
- 1:44and relate to the Lord more. And I'm excited for this book
- 1:48that's coming out on 7th, The Fabric of Hope, because it is.
- 1:53I feel like this book is like literally the story of my life.
- 1:56And I'm sure a lot of people relate to it where it's like my
- 2:00life has just been marked by suffering.
- 2:02Like I feel like life's lemons were being chucked at me since I
- 2:06came out the womb, you know? But in the middle of trauma and
- 2:12trials and hardship and suffering and doubt and
- 2:16unanswered prayers and questions and all the things, the one
- 2:19common denominator when I became a Christian that I could see so
- 2:24clearly was God's redemption in the middle of it.
- 2:27Not just at the very end where it's like, OK, there's light at
- 2:30the end of the tunnel. Like, yeah, there is, but
- 2:33there's also light with us. Christ, he, he is the light of
- 2:36the world, right? Like he is the light, and he is
- 2:39the one who actively weaves redemption in the middle of what
- 2:43we're going through. And so I'm hoping to just with
- 2:47the book, meet people in the middle of whatever they're going
- 2:50through, or maybe even after what they've gone through, but
- 2:53they haven't seen redemption yet or don't really believe that God
- 2:58could do something good with all the bad that's happened in their
- 3:02life. And I'm just hoping that through
- 3:04exploring Scripture, sharing my own story and the testimony of
- 3:07many other people as well that I include in the book that other
- 3:10people would be able to look at their own stories and see, wait,
- 3:13God is good Life sometimes isn't.
- 3:17But being a Redeemer, he steps in and he can do so much more
- 3:22with the things that we yield to him.
- 3:25So that's what the book's about. And that's what a lot of my
- 3:28ministry is championing, championing right now in in all
- 3:32my things. And like you said, I'm going to
- 3:34be a mom soon. So pushing out a book and then
- 3:36pushing out a baby. I love it thank you so much for
- 3:40sharing so far I mean like I said, I'm just getting to see
- 3:44where you're at online and I just love your heart.
- 3:49Thank you. So let's.
- 3:51Talk about the freedom story. That led you to do what you're
- 3:54doing now. Oh my goodness, y'all, how much
- 3:58time do we have? I'll, I'll try and keep it as
- 4:01brief as possible because like I said, I feel like there's so
- 4:04many things that I've gone through in life.
- 4:07I think if people were to look at my life at a surface level,
- 4:11specifically the beginning of my life, it's one of those things
- 4:14where it's like, really, you seemed like you had it all
- 4:17together. And that's because my family was
- 4:19really good at performing and putting on this show that like
- 4:24everything's fine, We're fine, Everything's great.
- 4:27My dad had a great job. My mom was able to be a stay at
- 4:30home mom raised the two kids. We had the beautiful house.
- 4:33Everything seemed picture perfect from the outside looking
- 4:36in. The reality behind closed doors
- 4:39was so much chaos, so much chaos.
- 4:43And if anyone out there is a child of addiction, then, you
- 4:46know, both of my parents were addicts.
- 4:48First my father and then eventually my mother.
- 4:51And when I was born, I was born in 1997 and we grew up in New
- 4:57Jersey at that point in time. I mean, I was born in the UK.
- 5:01That's the whole thing. Anyways, Fast forward, we're in
- 5:03New Jersey, 911 happens and my dad was there.
- 5:06He he witnessed the whole thing. I mean, we lost family, friends,
- 5:10like he lost Co workers that he knew, like business partners,
- 5:14people in his life. And that was, I say, the straw
- 5:18that broke the camel's back for my dad with his addiction that
- 5:21really just like full-fledged him into binge drinking, numbing
- 5:26the pain. And that caused chaos not only
- 5:30in the relationship between my mother and my father, but even
- 5:33us as kids having that instability.
- 5:37It not only affects the person, it affects the people around
- 5:40them. So that eventually led to the
- 5:42divorce of my parents just because as much as my mom fought
- 5:46for the marriage to reconcile it, he just, he just would not
- 5:51give it up or he allowed himself to, I don't know, just be
- 5:55full-fledged into that. And my mom's way of coping,
- 5:59which is ironic in a way, was to drink.
- 6:02So I go from this chaotic situation to now a chaotic
- 6:05situation, but in a completely different state after they get
- 6:09divorced. And I feel like during that
- 6:12whole time in regards to faith and where I was at, I didn't
- 6:16really have much of A faith foundation other than praying
- 6:19and believing that Jesus died for my sins.
- 6:21So I'm good. Like that's the extent of my
- 6:23theology at that point. And I remember always asking God
- 6:27and praying to God being like, why, why is this happening?
- 6:30Like why can't you save my dad from this addiction?
- 6:33Why is my mom now going through this thing?
- 6:35And then to go down the, the timeline of things.
- 6:38Eventually my dad passed away from his addiction when I was
- 6:4110, and that opened up a whole other kind of worms of if you
- 6:45are so good God, why would you allow this to happen?
- 6:47If you could have intervened, if you could have done all these
- 6:50things, If you are kind, if you are all these things that you
- 6:53say in the word, why am I not seeing it in the way I'm hoping
- 6:56for, in the way that I'm expecting in this situation?
- 7:00And that's kind of where it ended.
- 7:02I didn't really give any space one for God to speak, but I also
- 7:06didn't know how to read the Bible.
- 7:09I didn't know what his word actually said about who he who
- 7:12he was and what active redemption may look like.
- 7:15So there was kind of this distance between me and God.
- 7:18Even though my mom at that point had sobered up, had gone to
- 7:21rehab, she eventually relapsed when I was 14 after I gave my
- 7:26life to Jesus. So 14 years old, I give my life
- 7:29to the Lord at a Christian summer camp after having
- 7:32experienced, you know, the divorce of my parents, the loss
- 7:35of my dad, even going through bullying in middle school to the
- 7:39point where I, I wanted to end my life.
- 7:42I mean, I was self harming, I was suicidal, I did not want to
- 7:46be alive. I thought my life had no value,
- 7:48no point. And it was when I was 14 at the
- 7:52summer camp that I had a real radical encounter with God and
- 7:57realized, wait, I'm only joyful. I only feel most alive when I'm
- 8:02pursuing you, God, when I'm actually in your presence.
- 8:06And at that moment, I just, I yielded to him.
- 8:09And at that moment as well, a couple weeks later, my mom
- 8:12relapses. And so I'm now in in the thick
- 8:15of this season of, OK, what do I do?
- 8:18God, I trust you. I've committed my life to you.
- 8:22I've seen all this chaos and all this horror in my life up until
- 8:26this point. And here I am again in, in this
- 8:29same cycle of chaos in my life that is so out of my control.
- 8:34What, what do you want to do here and what do you want me to
- 8:38do here? And that's kind of where I
- 8:40really begin. The book is detailing just the
- 8:43relationship with my mother of, of being a child of two addicts,
- 8:47of going through many other things as well.
- 8:49But I really focus and highlight that story because God met me in
- 8:54the middle, in the middle of the mess.
- 8:56And although he didn't necessarily resolve it in the
- 9:00way I had hoped and expected and prayed for, although I didn't
- 9:03see, you know, my mom come to to full freedom from her addiction,
- 9:08she passed away a few few years ago.
- 9:11I was able to grow in my relationship with the Lord.
- 9:14I was able to see Him redeem other things in my life in
- 9:19regards to my relationship with my mom and just a million other
- 9:22places. And the one thing that has just
- 9:24been so true is that God has been faithful through it all to
- 9:29be kind, to be compassionate, to be trustworthy, to be faithful
- 9:33even when my ideas of what redemption looks like didn't go
- 9:38my way. In yielding to Him and trusting
- 9:41Him and in whatever His plans and processes were, I ended up
- 9:45now looking back, it makes more sense being where I am now
- 9:49looking back of what He was doing in the middle of that
- 9:53place and how often as we read throughout Scripture.
- 9:56God did allow his people to go through suffering.
- 9:59He did allow his people to navigate chaos, but he met them
- 10:03with his joy. He met them with his peace.
- 10:05He met them with his perfect plans.
- 10:07He met them with redemption and brought about greater good and
- 10:11and sweeter fruit in the middle of the valley then they could
- 10:16have ever hoped for or expected. And I think that's, that's true
- 10:20for my life and that's what I testify in the book is that we
- 10:23can hope in not our circumstances.
- 10:26We can hope not in other people, not even in of ourselves, but we
- 10:31can hope in God to be consistent with his character, that he we
- 10:36can put our faith and put our hope in the fact that he is
- 10:39faithful to his promises, his patterns, his presence in his
- 10:42personhood every single time, even when things don't change.
- 10:46And so I'll, I'll leave it at that because I'm rambling right
- 10:49now, but that's kind of like the, the big part of my
- 10:51testimony that I that I weave into the book and, and lead
- 10:55within the book. Well thank you so much for being
- 10:59vulnerable about your story. And I've lost my mom.
- 11:04It wasn't due to addiction but she had bipolar so mine was due
- 11:07to mental health issues and we had been estranged for three
- 11:12years before she passed away so never got to make amends with
- 11:17that. So that is something I carry.
- 11:20But also just how you've been able to see the redemption
- 11:23process. Even if things didn't get tied
- 11:26up in a bow, I've been able to see the same thing or redemption
- 11:30with my dad or redemptive relationship with him, just
- 11:35other things that have happened. God didn't cause her to die,
- 11:38just like no, God didn't cause your parents to go into
- 11:40addiction, but He turned something that was so negative
- 11:44into something that will help many people like Genesis 5020
- 11:48tells us. And so I appreciate you sharing
- 11:52your story because I know that there's so many people that have
- 11:55gone through it one way or another and can relate to it.
- 11:59So what Bible verses keep you anchored?
- 12:04I think the main verse that is just woven throughout the book
- 12:07and has really kept me anchored. I have to actually I want to
- 12:10share but the but the main one is Romans 1513 and I love this
- 12:15verse. I could spend all day just like
- 12:19going into the exegesis of this verse, like expository, all this
- 12:23stuff, but it says may the God of hope fill you with all joy
- 12:29and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope
- 12:35by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I'll just speak to that for
- 12:39a second that there's, there's so much good truth in that.
- 12:42But first of all, we get an identity statement of who God
- 12:46is. He's the God of hope.
- 12:48Well, what is hope? Because a lot of us think hope
- 12:50is just like wishful thinking. Like I hope I get a good parking
- 12:53spot so I don't have to walk all the way like across the line in
- 12:57the cold or in the in the sun. If you're like me in Texas where
- 13:00it's like 112°. It's crazy.
- 13:03Or, or you hope that you know, you win the lottery, scratch off
- 13:08or whatever. Like like it's this, it's this
- 13:10wishful thinking where it's like, I'm kind of just like
- 13:12throwing it into the wind and hoping something sticks.
- 13:15But like, will it, Won't it? I don't know.
- 13:18But what's so different about biblical hope is that it's not
- 13:22wishful thinking. It's it's rooted in it, in
- 13:25confident expectation, in God's character and his promises and
- 13:30his faithfulness. Like, I actually get to hope.
- 13:33I actually get to believe with full confidence in this God in
- 13:38Yahweh, right? I get to actually have something
- 13:41that is, though I'm not seeing it now, I can I can hinge on his
- 13:46word and what he has done in the past that he's going to be
- 13:49faithful. What does that look like?
- 13:51I don't know. When does that look like?
- 13:53I don't know. But I know that he is a Redeemer
- 13:56and he is good. So may the God of hope fill you
- 13:59with peace and joy in whatever you're going through as you
- 14:04trust in him. That's the thing that we need to
- 14:06to work on, I think. And all of us right.
- 14:09Yeah. Is actually trusting God in the
- 14:11middle of our circumstances or with the things that happened in
- 14:15the past, even that that that have happened where it's like,
- 14:20OK, I feel like this is the end of that story.
- 14:21It's like he can still come in and fill you with hope, joy and
- 14:26peace in the middle of that place as you trust in him.
- 14:29That's right though, that you may overflow with hope, Not just
- 14:32be like, OK, like I just hope it works out.
- 14:34But having this confidence, like I feel like me, Kirby, I feel
- 14:38like I overflow with hope because I've been able to trust
- 14:42in God and see his faithfulness time and time again.
- 14:45And it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that I have this
- 14:48joy, this peace and this conviction.
- 14:50So that's the first verse that has just completely defined
- 14:55everything that I've gone through up until this point.
- 14:58And I will continue to believe as I go through more things
- 15:01because life happens, right, right.
- 15:03Broken world. But the second verse, and I
- 15:06didn't even realize that this was a verse that I feel like God
- 15:09gave me when I got saved, where I was like, this is like my
- 15:12foundation verse. And now like however many years
- 15:16it's been, I was 14 when I got saved, I'm 28 now.
- 15:19It's like looking back, I'm like, wow, this is still so
- 15:21applicable. And it comes from the book of
- 15:24James, which is such a good book.
- 15:26And it's James 4:15. And it says instead you should
- 15:30say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
- 15:35And I think that this also is encapsulated in the book of just
- 15:38this trust, this yielding of like God, whatever you want to
- 15:42do here, whatever you want to do in me, whatever you want to do
- 15:45with these broken pieces that have just shattered all over the
- 15:49floor that I would have just swept up and thrown away.
- 15:53Like he wants to take those pieces and make it like a
- 15:56mosaic, Like he wants to actually do something and
- 15:59reduce, reuse, recycle it into something that's like actually
- 16:03worth way, way more because his hands touched it.
- 16:07So I think those two verses, Romans 1513 and James 415 have
- 16:11been like my 2 anchors that have that have really guided my life
- 16:17and curated or nurtured my relationship and my trust in
- 16:22God. And I've been able to see the
- 16:23fruit of that, of trusting God in the middle of everything
- 16:26that, wow, God, you really do work all things for good, not
- 16:31work all things the way that I want it to happen.
- 16:34Because God's will doesn't always go our way, but it always
- 16:37ends up so much better. And I really believe that.
- 16:41Yeah, absolutely. The one thing I want to go back
- 16:45to is you talk about 911. Yeah, and I'm a lot older than
- 16:51you. Like when you were born, I was
- 16:53graduating high school. So there you go.
- 16:57So 911, I remember like it was yesterday.
- 17:00I'm in Ohio and one of the planes flew right over our
- 17:04heads. Flight 93 flew right over our
- 17:06heads. And so I remember where I was.
- 17:10I remember all the feelings, all the everything.
- 17:14And I've talked to numerous people who have walked that path
- 17:18afterwards and had to deal with the after effects of it and
- 17:21again, losing people as well. And I think that it's good that
- 17:26we remember every year, but I also know that it can bring up
- 17:32some of that grief and some of that trauma.
- 17:34Again, I personally have been to the memorial five Times Now.
- 17:41And I just, it's something that I think everybody needs to go
- 17:45see because I don't know, I get tired of people trying to wash
- 17:50that away and wipe it away and put it under the rug and act
- 17:52like it never happened, like they did with the Holocaust and
- 17:57all that kind of stuff. It's like, yeah, it did happen.
- 17:59Let's acknowledge that it happened.
- 18:01And what what good can we take from those things?
- 18:07And so let's talk about how, because you talk about that, you
- 18:12walk through God. How can you possibly bring
- 18:15something good from this? Yeah, let's talk about.
- 18:17That a little bit. Absolutely.
- 18:21That's very real, especially when you're in the middle of
- 18:23something that feels so bad, so catastrophic, So just upside
- 18:29down, like it turns your world upside down.
- 18:32I mean, for instance, like the death of my parents, I feel like
- 18:35a lot of people have lost people.
- 18:37Maybe for other people, rewind it back a couple years when the
- 18:40pandemic happened. I mean, that really shook up a
- 18:42lot of people. Their sense of security and
- 18:45safety, their sense of, of health, their sense of who do we
- 18:49trust? The dissension even that
- 18:51happened at that time between, between just people from all
- 18:55over, like whatever spectrum politically or you know, what
- 18:58background you come from, like nationally, it's just there was
- 19:01so much that happened even a few years ago where it's like people
- 19:05are still just in this place where it's like, God, what good
- 19:09can come from all this? I feel like there's just more
- 19:12division, more brokenness, more instability, more chaos in my
- 19:16life. What good could come from
- 19:18whatever that is? So whoever's listening, maybe
- 19:21there's something in your life that you can specifically
- 19:23identify, whatever that is. I really just want to encourage
- 19:28you with the story of of Joseph. And you kind of already alluded
- 19:31to that with Genesis 5020, which is so good.
- 19:36And I write about that in the book.
- 19:37I also write about Paul, I write about Joe, I write about Jesus,
- 19:42where they went through different things, where it's
- 19:45like, where is God's hand in this?
- 19:48Where is God's provision in this?
- 19:50Like with the story of Joseph, he was sold into slavery by his
- 19:54family. They lied about his death.
- 19:57He gets thrown into the prison, thrown into the pit actually,
- 20:00and then prison is falsely accused, is forgotten about.
- 20:04Like, and this isn't like we read a couple of pages, we flip
- 20:08a page and then it's like, okay, all of a sudden now he's in the
- 20:10palace like second in command or whatever.
- 20:12And it's like. This happened over a years, like
- 20:17a long period of time. If I were Joseph, I'd probably
- 20:20be like, God, what the heck is going on?
- 20:24Where are you right? But to your point of Genesis
- 20:285020, there's this, there's this moment where in the middle of
- 20:32famine, Joseph is able to actually do a lot within, within
- 20:37his legislation and his ability to provide for the people and
- 20:41help the people and his brothers end up showing up.
- 20:44They don't even recognize him, right?
- 20:46They've kind of like just forgotten about him.
- 20:47And then they realize, oh, this person that we are are talking
- 20:51to is her brother. They forged a fake note in their
- 20:55father's name being like, hey, forgive them.
- 20:57They didn't really know, you know, they didn't mean to do
- 20:59that or whatever. And it's like Joseph knows, like
- 21:03he reads this letter and it's like he looks at them and and I
- 21:07think Joseph really shows us in that moment where it's like you
- 21:10really can hold on to bitterness.
- 21:13You can choose resentment. You can choose to justify
- 21:17abandoning God, abandoning those who have literally been your
- 21:23enemy. Like you can make that decision,
- 21:26but the decision that he makes is to love them and to see God's
- 21:31plans and purposes in all of the mess.
- 21:34And that's where we get the verse where he says, you know
- 21:36what, what you all intended for evil, God meant for good, not
- 21:42just for him, not just for them, but for for all for the nations.
- 21:46Many, many benefited from all the things that he went through
- 21:50because it was all the things that he went through that
- 21:52actually brought about intimacy and trust with God.
- 21:56It was, it was in the wrestling and, and it's in even our own
- 22:00wrestle in our laments in crying out to God in, in genuine
- 22:06honesty within this broken world and, and seeking his face that I
- 22:10think that not only we grow in our relationship with God of, of
- 22:14actually choosing to turn to him, but I think that he does
- 22:17something so miraculous within us.
- 22:21Or I've even seen in me of developing like the fruits of
- 22:25the spirit, really cultivating like, wow, I actually have
- 22:28compassion for the people in this broken world who do not
- 22:32know what they're doing that are, that are evil and sinful
- 22:36and deceived and hurting and broken.
- 22:40Like I actually have compassion for these people and I, I want
- 22:43to love them. I want to be a person who is a
- 22:45peacemaker. I want to be someone who, who
- 22:48can step into this world and be a representative of Christ.
- 22:52It's like it's in that place of crushing and pressing, we're
- 22:55also molding and sanctification can happen.
- 22:59And so I think one of the greatest gifts of suffering is
- 23:02that if we choose to look to God and shift our perspective from
- 23:06our situation to him, he then actually gives us a different
- 23:10lens to look at our situation with, at the world, with at our
- 23:16own suffering with as something to be.
- 23:20I don't want to say embraced in in the sense of of, you know,
- 23:23OK, I'm just going to live in this place and accept all the
- 23:26bad things happening to me. But God, I, I accept that this
- 23:30is what has happened. But what do you want to do with
- 23:33it? Like what good.
- 23:35It can't come from it, but sometimes it takes time.
- 23:38Sometimes it takes time to see a full resolution, to see the full
- 23:42redemption, to see. I don't know what it could
- 23:45really be purposed for, but I believe even before you get to
- 23:50the finish line or the end of that story or the end of that
- 23:53season, that God can be up to something so good within you in
- 23:59that place. And I think that is the real
- 24:01treasure is, is the sanctifying work that can happen in the
- 24:05middle of our suffering that actually makes us more like
- 24:08Christ. I mean, we see that all
- 24:10throughout the New Testament, all throughout the epistles of
- 24:13Paul, even with, with the, with the thorn in his flesh, the
- 24:16messenger of Satan that was sent to torment him and how it was in
- 24:21his weakness that he was able to see God magnified.
- 24:25And if we as Christians really love the Lord and want to see
- 24:29the the will of God in our life, in the Kingdom and in this
- 24:33world, then I look at weakness as one of those things where
- 24:37it's like, wow, more of God gets to show up in this place.
- 24:40It's a it's a total reframing when you actually read the
- 24:43scriptures, believe the scriptures, trust in God and and
- 24:47dare to hope. Dare to hope in the middle of
- 24:50what can be so easy to give up in.
- 24:53So that's just that's what I want to encourage people with if
- 24:56they're in the middle of a places.
- 24:57Dare to hope even when it feels fragile, even when it when it
- 25:02feels vulnerable, because God is going to deal with you so gently
- 25:06where the world has just chucked lemons at you.
- 25:09He is the great physician. He is our comforter.
- 25:13He has our confidence. He is who he says he is and we
- 25:16can trust him in the middle of the mess to do something
- 25:20miraculous. I'm proof of that.
- 25:22The people of Scripture or proof of that, and we can cling on to
- 25:25that hope knowing that this is the same God who wants
- 25:27relationship with us so we can have that same hope for our
- 25:30unique situations today. I love that so much.
- 25:34There's so much goodness in that.
- 25:36And that brings me to the part I want to talk about in closing.
- 25:41And it kind of wraps all of this up where you are walking this
- 25:47out right now. I just saw your post the other
- 25:51day where you are talking about how to handle the grief of
- 25:55losing your mom while pregnant and are you having a girl?
- 26:00I am. So that's awesome.
- 26:03Congratulations. So now you're kind of coming
- 26:07full circle on this. So let's let's talk about that.
- 26:11Yeah, that has been such an it's just been God, like literally
- 26:16that it's, it's as simple as saying like God is just written
- 26:19all over this in the sense of in losing my mom because she made
- 26:23decisions that impacted her health, that impacted her
- 26:26well-being. She ended up passing away from a
- 26:30multitude of things, not just her drinking, but there was a
- 26:33botched surgery, sepsis. Like there were all these things
- 26:36that led to her body being at such a weak state that when it
- 26:41came to fight mode, her body couldn't fight because of her
- 26:43drinking. Yeah.
- 26:45And she ended up passing away like days after Mother's Day.
- 26:49I think that's also why I've just been grieving a lot is
- 26:52like, not only am I becoming a mom while grieving my mom, I'm
- 26:55going to have my baby at like end of April, maybe beginning of
- 26:59May, depending on when she arrives.
- 27:01And then it's like Mother's Day, my mom's death anniversary.
- 27:04So that is just something that I am in expectation of knowing is
- 27:11coming up and I'm going to be postpartum.
- 27:14Like, we'll see what the horrible is, how I do.
- 27:19So I have been grieving. I've been grieving a lot.
- 27:21And I probably will for the rest of my life continue to grieve
- 27:24because grief is like glitter. Like glitter is kind of hard to
- 27:27get out of anywhere. And sometimes you'll just like
- 27:30find a little piece somewhere And it's like, oh, I didn't know
- 27:32that this was going to show up here today on date these days or
- 27:37of all days, whatever. But to your point, it really has
- 27:41been full circle, especially my mom died in in 2023 and I pre
- 27:49grieved the season that I'm in right now a lot thinking that,
- 27:54oh, if I ever get pregnant and become a mom, it's going to be,
- 27:58I don't want to say the worst thing ever, but for me it was.
- 28:01I know that I'm going to go through grief and that's going
- 28:04to be the worst thing ever. Being a mother is going to be so
- 28:07much harder. Like a season that's supposed to
- 28:09be filled with so much joy and celebration and, and all these
- 28:14things. I could not see the good in it,
- 28:18if I'm being honest, being in the place of grief.
- 28:21But my husband and I, you know, when I ended up taking a
- 28:25pregnancy test cuz he was like, I think you might be pregnant
- 28:28just cuz my body was looking a little different.
- 28:29He's like, I think you might be pregnant.
- 28:31I was like, OK, I took that test and I remember seeing the 2
- 28:36lines on it and I might tear up, but I remember seeing the 2
- 28:41lines on it and they were like very faint.
- 28:45And the only thing that I felt was joy.
- 28:49That was the only thing that I felt.
- 28:50And this was, you know, end of summer 2025 S what about 2 1/2
- 28:56years removed from my mom passing away.
- 28:58And I remember just being so surprised by that, being so
- 29:02surprised at the joy that I felt in that moment of something that
- 29:07I was expecting to be the most debilitating and horrific
- 29:14emotional roller coaster to go on.
- 29:17But it turned out to be like the biggest blessing from God.
- 29:21Like I feel like giving birth to a daughter, as much as I grieve
- 29:27my mom and wish she was here and grieve what we had, what we
- 29:32didn't have, all the things you know, in in her passing.
- 29:37I'm able to see God's redemption in this of wow.
- 29:40Now I get to be the the best parts of my mom and I also get
- 29:45to redeem the parts that weren't so good, the parts that were
- 29:49broken. I get to step in and be a part
- 29:53of this little girl's life of, of loving her and developing
- 29:57her, being a safe person for her, seeing God work that out.
- 30:01And I do cry. I do grieve.
- 30:03I miss my mom. I love my mom.
- 30:05My mom was the best person, especially when she was sober.
- 30:08She's my favorite. I love her.
- 30:10That's why it hurts so much to see her suffer.
- 30:13But I know that she is in the best place with the best person.
- 30:17She's fully free. And so I have, I have rest in
- 30:21that like I, I can have joy in knowing that, you know, she's,
- 30:26she's somewhere far better than if she were to be here, because
- 30:28who knows, who knows how much worse it could be with her being
- 30:32here and still suffering with her addiction.
- 30:35But I'm just so expectant for this little girl to be like the
- 30:41bow. Like I feel like she really is
- 30:43the bow that is wrapping this whole thing up.
- 30:46I didn't get to kind of like you with your mom.
- 30:48It was such a complex relationship where I didn't get
- 30:52to see a a pretty pink bow on top of all these things that I
- 30:57was actively working through with her while she was alive.
- 31:00And then she just dies. And I'm not saying that I'm
- 31:04trying to resurface all those things, but I just know that
- 31:07having a daughter, I'm like, this is the bow.
- 31:10Like, yes, this is the redemption I wasn't expecting.
- 31:12This is the joy that I wasn't expecting.
- 31:15This is the peace that I wasn't expecting.
- 31:18And I think God is so good in that he really does work all
- 31:22things out for good and does the, the unimaginable, the
- 31:26unexplainable, the, the things that we don't even know to pray
- 31:29for. He, he does those things and he
- 31:31blesses us in, in miraculous ways.
- 31:34And so whoever's listening, if you're just like, really, what,
- 31:38what, what is God going to do from this thing that I don't
- 31:40have closure from and that I really have no hope of seeing be
- 31:45revived or restored. That thing might not end up
- 31:49being what you expect, like the blessing might not be what you
- 31:53expected. It's probably going to be more
- 31:55better, more beautiful, more suitable for the season that
- 31:58you're in. And God really is that kind and
- 32:00good to, to do it. So it's, it's been a hard season
- 32:04of holding grief, but it's been a beautiful season of well as
- 32:07well of, of holding on to the goodness of God.
- 32:10I've been able to hold on to both and see his hands in both,
- 32:15his face in both, his blessing in both and so it's it's been a
- 32:19way better season than I could have ever hoped for or expected.
- 32:24I love it. I'm I'm just so happy for you
- 32:27and just congratulations. Thank you.
- 32:31I can't wait to see her picture because I'm excited for you.
- 32:37Beautiful little girl. So where can people find you and
- 32:43where can they get a copy of your book?
- 32:45And there's also something for pre-order.
- 32:48Yeah, yeah. We love free things, right?
- 32:51Don't just love when you get something free like with your I
- 32:54don't know, you go to the mall and they're like here's like a
- 32:56freebie and it's like like that's the best part, like
- 32:59forget the purchase. Give me the like, forget this
- 33:03guy came for what did you give me that's free.
- 33:06So if you do choose to pre-order the book, which you can go to
- 33:09fabricofhopebook.com or you can get it literally, you know,
- 33:14Amazon, Barnes and Noble Christian book.
- 33:17If you have like a specific retailer you like, you can do
- 33:19that. But if you want the list of all
- 33:21the retailers, go to fabricofhopebook.com.
- 33:25That is where you can input your order.
- 33:27So if you get it from Amazon, if you get it from audio, audible,
- 33:30whatever, put in your info on there and I will send you, it'll
- 33:34send you to a landing page where you can get a free like guided
- 33:39prayer journal because we need that.
- 33:41Like we've gone through things and it's like, how do I actually
- 33:44see this actively in my life right now today?
- 33:47You can start working on that. It's just a free downloadable
- 33:50thing. I also made a five part teaching
- 33:53video series where we dive into some of the hard questions of,
- 33:56well, why would a good God allow suffering?
- 33:58Can God really redeem all things?
- 34:00Like we're talking about the worst of the worst.
- 34:02So we get into like the thick theology questions of suffering
- 34:06and I break it down and you can read the 1st.
- 34:09I believe it's 3 chapters of the book ahead of time even though
- 34:13it's like a week ahead, but you can still catch up or start now
- 34:17by reading the first 3 chapters as well.
- 34:19And if you want to follow me anywhere, my username is Kirby
- 34:22is a boss. I made it when I was 13.
- 34:24Don't judge. So YouTube, Instagram is where I
- 34:28mainly hang out TikTok as well. You can follow me at Kirby is a
- 34:32boss and keep up to date with baby with buck with with
- 34:35everything God's doing in my life.
- 34:37And I'd love to connect with y'all as well and just hear what
- 34:39God is doing in your life, especially if you read the book.
- 34:43I would love to just hear how God is ministering to you.
- 34:45And you can check out my podcast bot and Beloved as well.
- 34:47All that is linked on my website.
- 34:49So yeah. Awesome, guys.
- 34:51Go follow the links in the show notes and go get yourself a copy
- 34:55of A Fabric of Hope and Kirby. Thank you so much for hanging
- 34:59out with me and my audience today and have a great rest of
- 35:01the day and good luck. All right, talk to you guys next
- 35:05week. Thank you so much for joining me
- 35:08for this episode, the Anchor by the Sore podcast.
- 35:11I pray that the story that you heard today will encourage your
- 35:14faith, challenge your faith, and also help you as you walk in
- 35:18your daily life. If this episode has done that,
- 35:21please. Feel free to leave a.
- 35:22Five star rating and review wherever you listen to this
- 35:26podcast so that others can find it and grow as well.
- 35:29Have a blessed week and I'll talk to you next episode.