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Beth Thorp | The Christian Reeve Podcast #175 · The Christian Reeve Podcast

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Christian re
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podcast. Today's guest is the author and
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co-founder of the Mitchell thought Foundation from all the
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way from South California and name is Beth Thorpe, welcome to
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the show. How you doing?
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Hey, thank you for having me this morning or evening for you,
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wait for me. Yeah, I'm very used to this.
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Now that I'm well, it's weird because I have a lot of guests
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from the UK, but I also have a lot of guests from America and I
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kind of just, I don't know. I'm so so used to the whole
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changing time zones thing. I don't even really think about
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it, but it's a good point that we are obviously different parts
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of the world, different just, yeah, I don't know.
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It's amazing. Actually, to be fair, it's
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amazing to be able to reach people.
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Like yourself all the way across the globe and be able to share
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your story and never never fails to blow my mind, to be honest.
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But yeah, as it why I fumbled the intro.
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So I do apologize for that. You are the author.
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Of this book. And you can see just in the
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background for those watching the YouTube version of this, or
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the Spotify version. The the book is called a new
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creation. So in your own words, what can
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you tell us about this book and what can people learn from it?
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There's a lot, a lot of good things in here.
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A new creation is, it's a true story about my family, our love
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for each other, and baseball has a huge component to it.
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You can see the Little picture of my son on the front cover, my
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oldest son, Mitchell came down with an undiagnosed.
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Mysterious illness that took my family Across the Nation looking
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for answers. After five years was still, no
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understanding of the cause Mitchell passed away which was a
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very hard thing that we had to go through.
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Sorry for your loss. Yes, I know and but through that
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we faced, you know, many trials, obviously through it and our
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faith was tested ultimately. We found Hope and purpose.
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We took that pain it to purpose by creating the Mitchell thought
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foundation. And what that is is we support
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families with children, with life-threatening illnesses
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diseases, and disorders by providing Financial emotional,
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spiritual and resource support in their in their day of need.
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So that's what came out of it. So, here we are 14 years later.
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It's amazing to see what, you know, we're faith-based people.
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So Is amazing for us to see what God took the tragedy and spoke
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to my spirit deep within me saying, this is not the end.
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This is the beginning and my deepest pain of grief.
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I didn't really understand what he meant by that, until my
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husband who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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He was a picture back in the day.
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He coached two boys here locally, who also played
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baseball, and they were suffering from cancer.
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One had Hodgkin's lymphoma the other Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma both
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families trying to make ends meet.
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And we know how hard and devastating the walk is and he
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specifically heard really down deep in his spirit that, you
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know, we need to form a bridge like a foundation to help other
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families going through and through.
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So he came home to tell me that and I said you won.
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The he said we should start a foundation and they said, well
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you want to do? I said what I said, we don't
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know anything about starting a foundation but you know, we gave
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it over to to the Lord. We got on our hands and knees
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committed to him and we never look back.
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We gave up our previous careers. Do this line of work and it's
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been very rewarding in a sense. I think it was also a sense of
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healing for us, along our journey to.
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So, it's a really beautiful inspirational story about love,
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Faith, perseverance, family, courage, Community forgiveness.
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It's about healing and restoration and it's really us
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being a witness for Christ through our journey.
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Even though, at times, we feel felt that God had abandoned us.
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So during those times which happens to people sometimes
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that's why they lose and walk away from their faith when when
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when tragedy hits or when something overcomes them that
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they can handle. So it's so important.
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The book kind of talks about having strong faith and what
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does that mean? So it helps build people with
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that. So Faith doesn't always take you
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out of the problem. But Faith takes you through the
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problems. So in faith.
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Now is take away the pain, I tell people but Faith always
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give you the ability to handle the pain and also if you have
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strong faith it doesn't always take you out of the storms and
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Chaos has of life but it'll help you kind of calm the storms
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around you by having a firm strong Foundation that you don't
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crumble because it is something that we walk through.
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Is it devastates? A lot of families and most of
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them statistically, it's usually over, 50% end in divorce.
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Separation due to the stress level of caring for a terminally
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ill child, or they just can't handle it because of the bills
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and then the stressors of it all.
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So we kind of wrap our arms around these families, and let
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them know they're not alone and we walk that with them and
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through the foundation. We provide that.
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So we're very happy to say we had a hundred percent success
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rate in keeping families together and not end in divorce
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or separation. So that is really a feather in
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our cap for that. It's an amazing story and I've
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had a fair few guests over the last two years who've had
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similar stories. I wouldn't say the same size but
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like similar stories in that they faced obstacles.
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Just like yourself really, really tough stuff.
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That to be honest, you know, I'm not particularly religious
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person, I go back and forth but one thing I think that is really
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important, that exists in life, in general, both in religion and
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outside of it is, as you put it like faith belief.
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Finn whatever you believe in, that's really tested when
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Especially when people passed away and in circumstances that
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don't always kind of make sense and I suppose you kind of go
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through all different phases of it, don't you?
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It's like you kind of first you question?
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Like did I do enough? Did we do enough?
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Is this a failure of society? Is this a failure of the systems
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we have in place? Is this?
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Yeah. If you believe in if if
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religions your thing is, this God punishing me, is this, you
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know there's so many questions. The thing that I wanted to Ask
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you next, which I'm kind of fascinated by his when this
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phase happens. how do you and your partner kind of Also
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process this. But like how do you kind of get
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to the point where you kind of decide like, okay, I want to
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continue looking was it because you were still, you still hadn't
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sort of had the answers yet. And it was, It was kind of,
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because, I know you said that, it's part of the healing
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process, but given that you were kind of doing this for about
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five years, some passes away. And then it's like, okay, did
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you eat? Was it kind of Will you looking
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kind of to just keep moving forward so that you can find
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that answer and then you know maybe at the end of that there
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will be something else or was it just kind of like we just have
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to keep going because we have to keep going kind of thing.
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Like what I guess my question to you is like how did you
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initially find the strength to keep going like what was
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involved in that decision-making process?
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And how did you keep going? Absolutely.
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Well, that is the strength and Again, how going back to our
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faith because I was curled up in a ball, not wanting to be on the
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planet anymore after he passed. Because a part of me and my
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husband, I have to speak for him, you know, as a whole part
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of his died when he died, right? So it was the pain in your heart
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is just so excruciating. I cuz like someone couldn't take
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the knife out of my heart, stopped the bleeding, and it
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finally came to that point when I was curled up in that ball,
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All, when I heard. That's still small boys.
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When you understand who God is and The Trinity, the father said
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in the Holy Spirit and you walk in that realm, he will speak to
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your spirit because we are made of the physical body, Mind Body
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Spirit, right? So there is always a way of that
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spirit in you. That's how we are that God
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created us to be too long to search for something more.
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That there had to be something that came or came from this.
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And at the time I was in my deepest pain of grief, so there
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was nothing else I could. I was thinking of except the
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sorrow and then until I heard that still Small Voice Within
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Me, That illuminated, my mind saying this is not the end, this
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is just the beginning and I sat up and I'm in my bed, I was
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like, what does that mean? This is not the end, it feels
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like the end. I don't want to be here anymore.
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I was in the such grief because grief is real and grief is hard.
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And it's a hard thing to walk through in overcoming for your
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audience. You know, they say the deeper
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the love for a The heart of the grief is, right?
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So, you know, especially if it's your child, or, you know, anyone
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that you love deeply, it takes you longer to recover.
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So, it was five years of finding, trying to find answers
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for him, and then two years of, I have to say coming out of it.
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So, for me, it was not just an overnight thing.
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It's a process, and it's a process of taking one step at a
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time. The next indicated thing, and
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for, for my husband to come, Come home.
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And here are some a similar message saying that, you know,
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we should do something to help other families going through
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what we went through. And then it kind of came full
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circle noises, is that what is that, what God meant to say?
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Is that what he means to, to help us through this time of
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pain and grief? And it literally felt like he
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wrapped his arms around us and carried us along the way.
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And, you know, when I look at, look back on it now I can see.
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So clearly The Fingerprints of God through it, all 14 years
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later, all the children and the families, we've touched all the
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families. We brought hope and light in the
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darkness, not as our mission out of guess we were chosen.
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And we are to bring the light in the darkness in the very, um,
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difficult time for people. So that's kind of what the book
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do, you know, it talks about those inspirational truths.
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Those those Rich deep promises that God speaks to us.
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It also talks about how my Son was speaking to us Beyond the
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Veil, a heaven, which I write about that after he passed.
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And I documented many of this stuff.
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So there is in photograph. So each chapter has lots of
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photographs, exactly, easy, read and people are like, wow, I
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couldn't put it down. So, that's a beautiful thing to
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hear for an author to hear that from people who want who are
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reading it for from non-believers to Believers to
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Believers and whatever you believe in.
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It's just a story, a beautiful story of faith in an
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encouragement and Hope Hope and how to persevere through trials.
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One of the themes that your book explores is this idea of the
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Ripple effects? Could you kind of expand on that
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a little bit and explain what you mean by that?
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Exactly? Well, the ripple effect is just
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that how one life examine the back of the book, How The Power,
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one life can cause a ripple effect that goes on and on and
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on a touch so many different lives.
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So you don't know. Like you're yourself Christian
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with your podcast, you don't know who you're touching, who
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you're reaching. And you might never really know
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the implications of it for a long time and we have touched.
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Like I said, with the foundation, we started with one
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child one child at a time, one family, at a time, and you just
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start, it's like throwing that Pebble in or the stone in the
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pond and watch it. Just Ripple out of the ripple
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effect. It has on others.
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And, you know, quite frankly, people are looking for hope we
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live in a very hopeless, you know, sometimes Society is a lot
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of you look around and all the things that are happening around
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the world. It's like people are like just
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clinging for some sense of hope of something and and that's what
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we hope to do and Achieve through our story, I will
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interject just one on that topic.
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Like I totally get where you're coming from especially now like
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I I remember when I first started doing this podcast, that
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wasn't really sure what I was doing and then about a year and
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a half in. I got some of the responses of
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what people will sort of thought about it and you know they liked
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excetera and dislike and it wasn't until people started
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saying like oh hey yeah you know this particular episode inspired
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me or this got me feel like a dark time or whatever.
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And I I hadn't really sad and really thought about that before
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as I go I didn't really, because I mean, it's one thing to
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imagine like people, You know, checking out your podcast will
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read in your book and but it's like when people actually reach
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out to you that take the time to say, hey I you know, I check
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this out, this is what it did for me, this is how it helped
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me. It kind of blows your mind a
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little bit, you know. Wow.
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Okay. So there is power in this and
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there is some purpose in doing this you know, because I mean
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when I first started in this podcast I just started it
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because I wanted to do a podcast right and then over the course
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of the last couple of years it's kind of grown and it's developed
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into what I like I like to kind of say is like, you know,
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inspiring stories and spiring topics, you know, stuff that
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gets people thinking, it's people, you know, feeling a
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range of different emotions and it's always different every
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time, you know? And I love it.
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I love. I love the whole process.
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But when yeah, when you start thinking about your effect on
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others, with everything not just like with creative Endeavors,
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but just like every single day, like just being nice to someone.
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Yeah. You know, like you never know
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like what someone's going through or dating.
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You know, you just have no idea. So it's like just try your best
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to kind of just be a decent human being I guess.
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No, that's true. I manage.
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And that's what if the world was like that.
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If everyone just thought got out of themselves for a moment, we
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live in this me society and get out of themselves.
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A little bit more and just looked out around them of what's
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going on to touch and like you said be kind to another person.
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Volunteer at a shelter feed the, you know, feed the hunger, just
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just step out of yourself for a little bit of just to be that
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servant would be called that servant's heart or that servant
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leader that you'll start to see yourself to change.
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Trust me. It'll um, we felt that when we
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had Mitchell was still with us and they were, he was still
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alive and people heard about our story and they knew even with
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good insurance. You don't have this problem in
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UK, but even with good and medical insurance here in the
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United States, we still were left with the hundred thousand
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dollar medical bill to pay off. And it's just like that's with
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good insurance. So it nearly almost bankrupt
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families here in the community came out and heard about our
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story and they had two friends. Say, we really want to help your
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family out and we want to do a walkathon.
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I said you are walk what. So they're like, yeah we want to
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get people out and, you know, and donate and help you pay off.
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And so I'm tiny Christian, she said you have to worry about
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anything, you just show up with Mitchell, you know, it'd be nice
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for him if he's healthy enough to be there and so he was
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wheeled him out there and there was like six to seven hundred
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people. There are some people we never
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even knew and they raised seventy thousand dollars to help
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us pay that bill off. I mean it forever changes you
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and your like we felt like that wow.
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One day we hope to pay this forward and sure enough we were
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able to do that. I mean that's that's the beauty
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of community and then we If the world can have stronger
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communities to look out for one another, wow, what a nice place
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the world can be. And, you know, but we live in
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such a place where, you know, there's, it's not always nice,
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right? There's there's, there's evil.
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I mean, there's there's things, it's human nature or freedom of
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choice to make choices. That might not be good for
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mankind. And I kind of look at a sense of
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being good to, Others and I just feel that it's you know, just
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for me and my god-given right to just to make someone's day a
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little bit brighter this important to us and that's what
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were able to accomplish through the foundation.
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We were able to accomplish it through the book.
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It's just interesting yesterday. I was talking to a film
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producer, know they're now interested in.
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You look taking this book to film, so they're just it's just
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I'm like, oh my goodness, it's going to happen.
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It's just a matter of time. The book just got really Is
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really just two months ago. The end of June won't regret.
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So it's just got released. So you can purchase a new
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creation, wherever books are sold online, or, you know,
17:16
wherever, or you can go to my website, a new creation dot-org,
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and I can personally sign one and get one off to you.
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But yeah, it's a beautiful story.
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It is Rich with it'll take you on a journey.
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I'll say that. So the producers that were
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reading the script they were like a reading the book.
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They just Just text me the other day said they we ripped through
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your book is what they said and then I was like I said, was Wow
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exclamation point and that is really met me felt good because
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you know as an author you're hoping to move people you're
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hoping and to take him from a place of like that we were
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talking about getting out of yourself and into you know
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what's really important in life people come to that point and
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sometimes in their life is what is my purpose?
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What am I here for? Really You know, and those
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questions, those are just like I calls almost Spirit those
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assets. Spirit inside, you of, why am I
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here? And what can I do in?
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Some people feel like they are worthless and they don't have a
18:21
plan or a purpose, but everyone has a purpose.
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Find the passions that ignite you.
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I would say to your audience and when they say that what makes
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you feel alive. That's the first place when you
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think of things you like to do or anything.
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That's come across your path. That kind of Lights you up,
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makes you feel alive. That is probably that I would
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say the first step or the first process up to look into that
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deeper and to explore it. I think I always kind of comes
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down to finding something that's bigger than yourself and moving
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towards that, you know, it's like I do think it's all It's
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always important to take care of you and your own first and
19:07
foremost. You know, you gotta you gotta
19:10
take care of yourself but at the same time everything that you do
19:15
only serves you, it's kind of a thankless live like one thing
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I've realized in more recent years.
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Is that like everything is better when it's shared no
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matter what it is, you know like just with friends family
19:27
whatever like and to make the most of those experiences you
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know just to really kind of be in the moment and you know like
19:33
put your phone down be away from it and just be there and enjoy
19:36
it. Enjoy the richness and beauty
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that life can be and don't get me wrong.
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Like, they'll be people listening to this little will be
19:44
annoyed. That would be angry at the world
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and I totally understand. I've been there, I'm sure you've
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been there as well. And it's Like, it's difficult,
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it's not easy to kind of get yourself.
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To that point where you can you can keep going moving forward.
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I mean it's I think I look at it like it's a test.
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It's like trying, you know, they say that humanity and everything
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that you discover about yourself is the thing is something that
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you discover when you are at your lowest when you're at your
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most tested or you know, like when things get hard as that's
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when you discover like who you really are.
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Right. That's what they say.
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At least and it's yes. Well that Is true.
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It's I when you are tested and in our case, you know, we're
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Faith people. So we're God.
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Where are you? Why aren't you healing our son?
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How come? We didn't get the miracle that
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we were hoping for and, you know, on our hands, our knees,
20:41
and it's human nature to do that.
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But ultimately at the day, I know he was with us.
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He brought people to us along our journey, and I just had to
20:53
keep in his word, because Because for me and my husband,
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it was everything to keep our strength and not to be
21:03
frightened and fearful. So our big Mantra was Joshua 1:9
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in the Bible verse where God commanded Joshua before he went
21:13
out to battle and he says, have I not commanded you to be strong
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and courageous? Do not be afraid.
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Do not be discouraged for the Lord.
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Your God will be with you wherever you go.
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So, that was even when my son was battling Isis, his strength,
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and courage, I kept saying Mitch, you are the strongest
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young man I've ever known, you're making people and others
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stronger around us who have witnessed what you've gone
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through. And what we're going through is
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a family and it's, it was not an easy walk, trust me, because it
21:47
was five years in, and I'm doing is, like, you're in the battle
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field day in and day out and it took two years of Ling and it
21:56
never really goes away, but you still, I still feel them but I
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am at a place. Now we're you know, I can find
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the joy again in life where our before, I couldn't see the joy.
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I couldn't see the light of day, I didn't want to face people,
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you know, that point in life. And now again through finding
22:16
that from Pain to purpose and believe me, this was never on
22:21
our radar. I was in a totally indifferent
22:23
industry, and my husband was too.
22:25
But it changed their something that shifts that changes you.
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And and for us my husband and I for us it was more of an eternal
22:36
significance of doing something that had more significance on
22:40
the planet than what we were doing, if that makes any sense.
22:44
So the people we meet the people, again, we just kind of
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bring that Joy even in the midst of the darkest things and the
22:51
night, giving people that hope and how to hang on and To walk
22:56
through it, how to be an overcomer, there's a chapter, I
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write in the book Overcomer. So, how do you overcome
23:03
obstacles how to overcome because?
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Yeah, it was shortly after that, they not shortly of six years
23:10
after I ended up with the 5 cm brain tumor that was removed and
23:18
which left me paralyzed and the whole right side of my body and
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I didn't think I'd be able to walk again, but it took Six
23:25
months of intense therapy five days a week in and out of
23:30
learning to lift on my hand to feed myself to walk again.
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So, it was a process. So again, there are many things
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that people go through and you never know what they're going
23:42
through, but to come out of it and still no, that I can do in
23:47
my work, in my world is is God's work, is touching others through
23:53
what we've gone through. So Told me that if your faith is
23:57
not tested, it can't be trusted, right?
24:01
So I couldn't walk into the hospital rooms or talk to
24:04
families. If I didn't, go through all the
24:08
stuff that we went through of how to get through it.
24:11
Does that make sense really? Yeah, no, I I get it.
24:15
I mean, by no means cannot, can I relate?
24:19
But I can say that, you know, I've made some difficult times
24:23
in life, some Who am I getting? Yes, and tough stuff.
24:28
But at the same time, like I relate to that, that concept of
24:32
like you kind of come out the other side and then you start
24:37
breathing again and thinking. And yeah, that's that's that's
24:41
when the, let the lessons are learned, isn't it?
24:43
And yes, it's true. There was part of it, too, for
24:45
us. The healing process, I get into
24:47
the book of, you know, men have a harder time expressing.
24:51
So my husband had, you know, a harder time with it but we Went
24:55
through this whole healing session and it was started with
24:59
forgiveness. I mean, it was the first place
25:01
forgiving forgiving. All the doctors that couldn't
25:04
find answers, forgiving people, and who said things, I shouldn't
25:07
have said, family members that did things that they should have
25:10
done, you know, it's all that that keeps building up and
25:13
building up and it has to be, you have to release it.
25:16
You have to let it go. You have to let it down.
25:20
You can't carry it. Because if you carry it, it just
25:22
manifests in you. And then you end up with With
25:26
sickness and disease. So it's you have to learn to
25:28
forgive to, in order to take that next step to move forward
25:32
into the restoration for people that are going for a similar
25:36
thing right now and there at that place where they're kind of
25:40
angry frustrated. Is there any particular advice
25:44
you could give to people that would sort of steer them in the
25:47
right direction? Mmm.
25:50
Yeah well first of all I don't everyone going through something
25:54
differently just to speak to the masses of I was first and say
25:59
you know find someone you trust that you can share your heart
26:05
with if it's a professional counselor I would say maybe you
26:12
need that. If it's a spiritual counselor,
26:16
maybe you need that. If it's Just a friend that you
26:22
trust in their wisdom to talk to that's the first place, you
26:29
know, you just have to start expressing what you're feeling,
26:33
what you're going through and sometimes you're in such deep
26:36
pain, such deep grief, you can't even have the words to speak.
26:39
Like I I had nothing. I was just in the deepest pain
26:44
of grief, where I needed someone to help walk my husband, and
26:47
through this exercise, Is of forgiveness and I didn't even
26:52
know really what that was about until I went through it and they
26:56
took us through it. We, you still working when sort
27:00
of immediately after everything like was that know I was I
27:05
wasn't the foundation wasn't formed yet.
27:09
I wasn't I had my own private business prior to Mitchell's
27:16
passing. I was in the fashion industry,
27:18
really? And I was a stylist and I I
27:22
styled many people and different photo shoots and I saw was a
27:26
whole different world that I was in, but, and so.
27:30
Yeah. So no, I, that's was the shift.
27:34
I was talking about when I went through that healing session
27:36
with this woman. I woke up the next day.
27:40
Totally transformed. And I looked at my husband in
27:43
his eyes and I said, I don't want to do anything else on this
27:47
planet. Unless It has Eternal
27:49
significance. And for me, I said, the enemy
27:54
messed with the wrong mama and papa bear, and I'm pissed.
27:57
And I am going to, so it kind of fired me.
28:01
I don't know, I can't explain where it came from.
28:03
It's the spirit that ignited my spirit once again and that at
28:08
the time, I didn't know what that was yet still, right?
28:12
And again, the beautiful thing, the book talks about how God
28:17
never wasted tragedy, And he knows how to take people and a
28:21
tragedy and take it and draw people toward him.
28:25
If you're willing you have to be a willing participant.
28:28
He's a gentleman he's not going to force anyone to do what he
28:31
doesn't want you to do but you have to be willing in your
28:34
heart. So I've had to speak to a lot of
28:38
people here. Sometimes they've asked me to
28:40
speak to people who are going through grief and stages of
28:44
grief and how to occur overcome it and It really and grief can
28:50
be in many forms, you grief of losing maybe a divorce, maybe a
28:54
job. Maybe you again losing a loved
28:56
one. Grief comes in many different
28:59
forms of losing, something of value to you.
29:03
There's a process of healing from all that and it could be
29:08
losing a business that you started and put all your heart
29:10
into and it's a loss and in covid and the whole pandemic
29:15
turned, everyone's lives upside downs and businesses were law.
29:18
Lost and they lost their income. And it's just, that's a huge
29:21
sense of loss. So lost comes in many forms.
29:27
It's amazing stuff. Sorry I just I find myself kind
29:30
of lost in these stories sometimes and just inspired
29:35
really, really amazing stuff. What what been to kind of the
29:39
biggest success stories as a result of your work.
29:41
Because I know that you kind of meet a lot of different people,
29:43
and, you know, you're sort of traveling constantly and
29:46
spreading word about your experiences and everything that
29:50
you've gone through and trying to sort of spread this kind of
29:53
message, but has there been anyone?
29:55
That's kind of got in contact with you, as A result and
29:59
Achieve great things as a result.
30:01
Like she says, some of those stories.
30:03
Oh, there's a lot and there's one that comes to mind.
30:08
It was like our third year into starting the foundation.
30:12
And this young family came to us.
30:14
And their daughter was born with several kind of defect.
30:20
She wasn't able to hear. She wasn't a candidate for a
30:24
close cooler air plant. She says there's a fairy Well,
30:27
known doctor in Italy who does ABI, which is auditory brain,
30:32
instant brain implants for children here in the United
30:37
States at the time, was not approved for children 12, and
30:40
under only in Europe, this was a kind of a cutting-edge thing and
30:45
they wanted their daughter to hear.
30:47
Try to hear sounds has a younger and not wait till she's 12 years
30:50
old. Right parents go to the ends of
30:52
the Earth, to try to find things to help there kiddos and she
30:55
says, well, you know how can Foundation, help us I said well
30:58
what does that mean? What's involved with all this?
31:00
She says, well, we'd have to go to Italy Assurance won't cover
31:04
it. The operation is like, 65
31:08
thousand dollars. Plus four months, stay there and
31:14
I'm thinking myself to she's rattling all this off.
31:16
I'm like, okay we're not a bank but, you know, I said, I said
31:19
hair. I said the first of all I, so
31:22
how big is your network of friends and family and Community
31:25
because we hold our walkathon, we do it every year, it's our
31:29
Warrior Spirit 5K, Run/Walk, every year and we have team
31:32
pages up for all these children were helping, I said, how big is
31:36
your network is it's going to take a village and maybe even a
31:38
country to get this money raised.
31:40
Its Campaign and sure enough fast-forward, they were able to
31:46
raise pretty close to that amount 65 a little bit more.
31:50
Got her over to have this procedure done and not just
31:54
herself. They had lined up other children
31:58
and doctors from around the world to witness this
32:01
cutting-edge procedure as they did.
32:04
These operations on these children, they're over in Italy
32:08
and now she is the first child in the United States.
32:11
That's had the that procedure and they have now approved it
32:14
here the United States for children 12 and under so that
32:18
you know, as so that the power of the parents, you know, it's
32:20
crazy. The power of what parents will
32:22
do to help her kids. I've seen parents take their
32:27
child's Gene mapping now which is they that was just coming out
32:31
with Mitchell was going through his situation but the taking the
32:34
genes, the genomes of the teach children and and I we partnered
32:39
one family with the pharmaceutical.
32:41
Here, who took this child's genome and have created a drug
32:44
to help these children that are suffering from these
32:47
neurological type disorders and were before they were all
32:51
undiagnosed. And, you know, it's like they
32:54
had no hope so. It's like I can tell more and
32:57
more sure, but it's just amazing.
32:59
What can come of the resilience of parents and you just
33:03
providing them an outlet to say, hey how, you know, again, how
33:09
big is your faith is She's a young woman and young mom about
33:12
raising that kind of money. Says I don't know, I'm not a lot
33:15
of a stronger Faith like you I said hey we're just going to put
33:18
it out there, I'm gonna put it out there to the community, put
33:22
it out there, you don't know, you don't know what you don't
33:25
know. Does that make sense?
33:26
And if you don't try, you'll never know you guys.
33:30
Should you love your daughter? Yes, you want this badly for
33:33
your daughter? Yes.
33:34
Okay, pull up your bootstraps. We were getting going.
33:36
This is what we're doing. So it's one of those like, okay,
33:39
I was putting a life coach. So, let's make it happen, right?
33:44
Just moving it Forward. Did you ever discover what
33:46
Mitchell's undiagnosed mysterious illness was now?
33:51
His death certificate even said undiagnosed undetermined?
33:56
Okay? We go figure that.
33:58
There have been people over the years.
34:00
I've helped a few families who had symptoms similar to Mitchell
34:05
at the time. Some people say they tell you
34:07
all kinds of different things but some say Lyme's disease, he
34:11
Bartonella disease. Where are very hard to detect in
34:16
blood work? And there's a couple children
34:20
that have that right now that we're helping and I see the
34:23
similarities but Mitchell was overcome by it.
34:28
They're they've gotten a lot better in that area of Lyme's
34:31
disease and were the Western medicine, doctors here would
34:35
normally didn't know how to treat it and so, they're getting
34:38
better. They, there's a organization
34:42
specifically in San Francisco. So who is spearheading that kind
34:47
of work. It it takes, you know, you
34:52
really when you walk into this you you put your trust in
34:54
doctors because you think they would they should know right?
34:56
I didn't know I'm a mother you're hoping that the doctors
34:59
had answers to help and when they don't, it's a rude
35:02
awakening there. I understand what it means by
35:05
practicing medicine. Now is some, some cases are
35:08
tough. There have been many cases and
35:11
I'm sure your audience who people Miss diagnosed or
35:15
undiagnosed, you know, because they don't have the right answer
35:18
and they're still trying to find cures for their ailments and
35:23
it's a rude awakening for us and open our eyes to the whole world
35:28
of this medical system, AB disease.
35:32
And for me, it kind of bothers me of why there's so many more
35:35
children. I've never witnessed so many
35:39
children coming down with, so many different cancers in this
35:42
and that the other, then you have to kind of go back into the
35:45
root cause what's causing all this.
35:47
What's causing all this, the Food Systems, apply, is it
35:50
environmental? Something getting into the
35:53
mother's womb, you can go on and on and on, that could be passed.
35:56
You know what's causing this. It's, I'm always the kind of
35:59
person was driving to the root cause of things, you know,
36:04
because you know, no one wants to see their children have
36:07
Cancer. This without the other is just
36:10
devastating is like, I've never seen so many cases like this
36:13
before. I don't know what it's like in
36:15
the UK. But here in the states, it's
36:21
prevalent. Speaking of the world, you
36:24
traveled around the world looking for answers.
36:27
And I wondered what exactly did you learn during this time,
36:32
like, just through traveling around and trying to look for
36:35
the answers? Again.
36:38
Yes, I was what was astonishing to me is because as a mother,
36:47
you were trying to make it better, we're trying to look for
36:49
answers. And when you were every test
36:52
that was being done on him, kept coming back - normal.
36:54
You're like, but he's not normal.
36:57
I mean, he'd rather be out playing baseball.
36:59
He's lying in bed in myoclonic, seizures due to pain.
37:02
It was causing this pain and you keep going.
37:07
That answer again, that root cause what's what?
37:10
Got into my son, what happened? Where did this come from?
37:15
It's a couple things came out of it.
37:19
Is an awareness, like I said, the medical system to knowing
37:23
the doctors are just human, okay?
37:25
They don't, they're not God. They don't have all the answers.
37:27
Even though their egos might say that they do and and, you know,
37:32
it was so funny and some of the medical records, my husband
37:35
ended up telling me, you know, you know, No bath on the medical
37:39
records, it said, Beware of the mother, you know, that was me,
37:42
but it wasn't me. I was just holding them
37:45
accountable, right? You know, what are you doing?
37:49
What are you looking into where Brad at my husband died were
37:52
doing. We were in a research hospital
37:53
here in UCLA in Los Angeles with my son for a month birthday.
37:57
We're in the library that we're trying to do research with the
38:00
doctors because it's a research hospital.
38:02
They recommended as going there because his case was so
38:05
complicated. They couldn't.
38:07
Your it out and then they're like, then the doctors, when
38:11
they can figure it out, they say, well, it's got to be on his
38:13
head and then you're like, okay? Then at push the hot button, but
38:18
you don't want to say anything. But you like, you think I said,
38:20
you think my son wants to be in pain?
38:23
I said, and I whip out a photograph of him playing
38:26
baseball, you know, he would rather be on the baseball field,
38:29
playing. Sorry.
38:30
I can't, I misunderstood you'd said they thought that maybe the
38:33
kid was making it up, is that? Yeah.
38:35
Yeah, wow. Okay, then I thought it was all
38:38
in his head when they couldn't find out answers and I said and
38:41
that's what like I said. I really kind of pushed our hot
38:43
buttons and be like, no. I think he's laying here with
38:48
myoclonic, seizures to pain. You think my son wants to be
38:51
like this is no, he wants to be out with his friends playing
38:54
baseball. He wants to be back in school.
38:57
He wants to, you know, it's so interesting how that all worked.
39:01
And that was a rude awakening. And then they said, well we want
39:03
to do some psych tests on them like the okay.
39:07
You And I said, but if you can get him to respond, you have a
39:10
hooked up to two electrodes because of the seizures and then
39:16
they finally came back to us saying.
39:17
Yeah. No, it's not psychological and
39:19
then you just have to bite your tongue and you go.
39:21
You think, you know, you bite your tongue but you have to let
39:24
them do what they need to do, right?
39:27
To rule things out. It was just dumb.
39:32
I don't know why we were put through all this quite frankly.
39:34
What? Again, I always think about
39:36
their work or the lessons. I had to learn from all this may
39:38
be much stronger more. Questionable of things that I
39:47
thought. People knew the answers, but
39:50
quite frankly, again, people are human.
39:52
They don't, if they don't know all the things I was always
39:56
hoping my husband, I've heard dr.
39:59
That looked outside the box, you know, because sometimes in
40:04
medicine, doctors kept those blinders on, they only work in
40:07
their line of field and they don't look outside other things.
40:11
I was really hoping for doctor that was more a doctor that
40:16
could look outside of different things and we found a couple but
40:19
it's just it's It was it was it was a difficult time, all they
40:25
have to say and but I guess through the tragedy of it of
40:33
everything went through, I have to keep looking back of the
40:35
beauty that came out of it of Mitchell was a life.
40:43
That was taken but look how many lives that we touched and
40:48
spared. And so that's how I look at it
40:51
in the sense that keeps my hope. And and my faith again, I go
40:58
back to my strong faith and that I know, I'll see him again.
41:01
But, yeah, I think it's absolutely amazing.
41:05
And truly is Inspire - again, my why I mentioned earlier.
41:10
It's the reason why I do this show, because when you get
41:12
stories like This and and there's so many people going
41:16
through similar situations or just tough things in life.
41:21
And in those moments you are looking for motivation to keep
41:25
going you like wall. What should I do?
41:27
What what what is this? What is, what is this test?
41:30
What am I? What do you, what do you want?
41:32
You know, it's like you just looking for some answer and then
41:37
maybe maybe, you know, in your life is it is to inspire others
41:41
and to give people. People hope through with this
41:45
foundation with the story. I mean, as you mentioned, it's
41:47
going to become, it's going to become a movie and I think it's
41:51
a brilliant thing to happen because it kind of spreads that
41:55
story even further and inspires more people.
41:57
And, you know, as we mentioned earlier, you know, maybe now
42:02
more than ever the world needs more hope and more motivation to
42:07
keep guys difficult, when you see all these horrid things
42:09
going on in the world and maybe it's just because of the Advent
42:12
of the internet and the We just have more access to information.
42:16
Now because one thing that you know, I remember hearing adults
42:19
say when I was growing up was that you know, the world has
42:21
always been terrible place but now we just happen to know more
42:26
about it. But I will say that while there
42:29
is a lot of bad things going on in the world.
42:32
There's a lot of good things going on in the world, wonderful
42:34
things, beautiful things. And you know, the work that you
42:36
guys do is is is an example of that, the fact that people come
42:40
together and help each other out especially people, you don't.
42:43
Not even know. Pete just strangers.
42:45
You know? It's no it changes you.
42:47
It's a beautiful thing to see. Like I said, just keep your
42:51
communities. Could just all come together,
42:54
more of helping each other out and reach out to your neighbors.
42:59
Some people like, I don't know my neighbors.
43:00
Well, you know, make an effort to say, hello, or whatever is
43:06
the community people. Again, get a gig getting
43:08
themselves out of themselves and to when you take that baby, Step
43:14
of people helping people. I mean, look at the people that
43:18
came out to help the people in Ukraine on my gosh, doing what
43:21
they can to help, you know, coming out of the woodwork
43:25
trying to help. You know, everyone's feels
43:26
helpless. How can we do or sitting here
43:28
and what can we do? And I'm sure you see it on the
43:31
streets, the UK of all the homelessness in the what know,
43:33
what can we do? And what can we need to do
43:36
something better here? What are we?
43:38
It's, you know, it's just it takes like one person again.
43:41
Is that one you know? Make it yourself.
43:44
Make it just take that baby step.
43:46
It'll start to transform your you inside and out gets the
43:51
focus off of you gets the focus off of your problem and then
43:55
that kind of goes away as you begin to give to others.
43:59
Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah, sometimes in the pursuit
44:02
of something bigger than yourself, you actually, then
44:04
find the answers for your own life which is exactly interests.
44:08
You are blessed in return. That's what blessings.
44:11
That's a blessing in return, so that pleases God anyway, so
44:19
you're strong, you're growing. And, you know, if that's
44:22
spiritual Quest again were made of flesh and blood, but we also
44:28
are Spiritual Beings having a human experience.
44:32
And so if you can think of it, that way, you can just know that
44:38
our Spirits are strong, and the body will Decay.
44:42
And but the spirits lives inside each one of us, that's what you
44:47
need to tap into and and discover what?
44:50
What drives that absolutely right, a couple of final
44:55
quickfire questions for you totally unrelated to everything
44:58
else. I love to ask every single guest
45:00
this because you always get something different.
45:03
What is happiness to you? Mmm.
45:09
Oh well, happiness for me is to spend long walks on the beach,
45:15
walking the beach, and just praising and praying and talking
45:19
to my Father in heaven, and just spending quiet time with him,
45:23
that's when he fills me up to do the work that I do.
45:28
Beautiful very nicely put what's the best advice you've ever
45:32
received. Live each day as if it was your
45:37
last, I've always wondered what this what?
45:40
Like I like the sentiment of it, but how is it possible to do?
45:44
So I mean, is it more of an attitude and less a kind of, you
45:47
know, activity basting? Is it more kind of just the
45:49
attitude thing? Like how?
45:50
Exactly to. Yeah, exactly.
45:52
It's a little bit above live. It's like if it was your last
45:56
day of you had a diagnosis that you might not be here.
45:59
And what would you do with your life?
46:03
I would just, you know, spend it with family friends, just live.
46:08
It live, each moment, one of the best advices I got from my
46:14
healing session is from the lady.
46:16
Counselor told me don't live in the past.
46:19
She says, that's where regrets are the what ifs?
46:22
What could have been done? What should I have done?
46:25
Don't live too far in the future.
46:27
That's where anxiety is next, up and anticipation of everyone
46:32
moving forward, but Not and the anxiety.
46:35
You get anxious, she's just stay in the moment.
46:38
Stay in the present. This is all you have right now.
46:41
This moment live in the moment, like you and I were having this
46:45
moment. Yeah, no moment.
46:48
Someone said that actually recently, and I don't know if it
46:51
was the comments section of the YouTube, or somewhere else, but
46:55
someone said that they liked the show because it is this serious
47:00
Camembert, maybe laugh, right? They said I liked the show.
47:03
Joe, and I like the fact that you seem genuinely need specific
47:06
that look, I seem engaged in the conversation and I laughed, but
47:10
then I realized that, you know, I've watched a lot of podcasts
47:13
where the person isn't really like, engage their kind of just,
47:17
like, going through the motions. Like yeah.
47:19
Uh-huh, question. Uh-huh.
47:21
And then they just turn away and maybe they're not there just
47:24
kind of like, oh, great content. Brilliant, you know, but like to
47:28
me, that's just crazy. I mean, I don't know, part of it
47:30
is like, well, I'm having a conversation with another
47:32
person, so Also, I'm going to give you my attention.
47:35
Secondly, it's you know, I'm doing a show so it's important
47:38
to be engaged and thirdly like I love, I love doing this.
47:41
I really do. It's not, you know, the only
47:44
chore part of it is all the editing and all that stuff.
47:46
But to be honest, even that I'm not that bothered about like
47:49
it's because it's all a process and it comes together and then
47:52
the final product is put out there and then people enjoy that
47:55
and then the whole thing is rewarding and I mean if nothing
48:01
else your passion right there. So you I found your passion and
48:05
it makes you alive. See, it's making you alive and
48:08
feeling octopus people alive. That's that's what real
48:12
passionate but I love podcast into it was different.
48:17
This is different to my dream in life is to be a professional
48:20
actor and that's I'm pursuing that right now.
48:25
But the podcast is, it's a different kind of thing.
48:28
It's like I guess it's in a way. I don't want to compare but it's
48:32
kind of like What you're doing with your foundation.
48:35
It's not my kind of baby. It's like the thing that I'm
48:37
trying to grow and keep moving forward because I kind of feel
48:40
like there's a bit more to this like acting is purely like a
48:44
thing that I just want I guess it's more like a selfish thing.
48:47
It's you know, something I want from my life, I love it.
48:49
But the one thing that the thread that connects the two is
48:54
that the one of the reasons why I do acting is because I love to
48:59
entertain people. I love to bring entertainment or
49:04
Joy or laughter or into people's lives.
49:06
If I can do that. I feel like I've succeeded in a
49:09
way and with the podcast, it's similar, but different like some
49:12
episodes. Make people laugh sometimes
49:15
though a bit more somber. Sometimes I'll be like, a really
49:18
inspiring episode, like this one.
49:19
You know, there's there's always something that you get up to
49:22
you, take away from it and I think that that above all else
49:25
is the main reason I keep doing this show and it's fascinating
49:29
because it's a journey, like, you know, Two years now.
49:33
And I think this is episode 175 and I just blows my mind, like,
49:38
how many conversations there's been, how many life lessons?
49:41
How much I've learned in this time?
49:43
Like, it's and it keeps going and I'm very grateful exciting
49:46
usually podcast. They going to last usually they
49:50
yet, go to about 100 episodes and then they fall away, you
49:53
know? So yeah, kind of you kind of
49:56
past that that test of endurance again of doing that, so,
50:01
Obviously again that ripple effect, it's touching people
50:05
obviously, and that's a good thing.
50:08
So that's wonderful that you are pursuing acting was just talking
50:13
to the producers of who would play us and they're showing me
50:16
different actors. You know this is like, oh my
50:18
gosh. Well you know I don't have to
50:22
send you my book as so you may go.
50:26
Well thank you so much. I uh I can give you a digital
50:30
copy, would you like I would love that.
50:32
Thank you so much. And then that way, you could
50:34
just watch read it on your computer, or your iPad, or
50:38
however, you like to read it. And thank you.
50:43
Thank you so much a couple of final questions for you.
50:47
What's the biggest life lesson you've learned so far?
50:51
Mmm. Biggest life lesson at this
50:55
point in my life. It's savoring the Wonderful
51:03
moments. The happy moments.
51:06
And just taking more rest and time for myself, 22.
51:13
To be there to be there for people to be there for myself,
51:16
and my husband just, you know, now we're moving along in time
51:21
here where it's just like you. It's like it's hard work and you
51:25
want time for rest. Rest.
51:27
And recharging is important in order to do the work we do,
51:31
right? I just like, like anyone doing
51:33
like your work, right? Yeah.
51:35
You need that time of to do that.
51:39
Yeah I struggle with I'm a workaholic.
51:41
So when I have to Lost myself to take time to write.
51:45
Like, I love BB wrong. I love to sit and do nothing
51:48
like who doesn't right? But at the same time like It's
51:51
tricky. Sometimes that sometimes there's
51:54
little things you got to do. Like there's an expression I
51:56
heard for years back which I think is perfect.
51:58
It said you need to choose a rest day or your body will
52:02
choose it for you and like instead of being like I don't
52:07
know, sick for like a day or something, you'll be sick for a
52:10
long time if you don't take that rest.
52:12
So always mad. Aside some time to just do
52:15
nothing. That is true.
52:18
That's why I say I purposely do that.
52:21
I usually I set that schedule Monday through Friday and if I'm
52:26
not doing an event on the weekends, I cherish my weekends
52:30
and people know you set those boundaries and you just don't
52:32
know. I'm not going to look at my
52:34
phone. I am not going to do this.
52:36
I'm you spend time, like I said on the beach walking walking my,
52:39
my dogs, you know, just spending that time.
52:43
Killing yourself back up and healing and turning off all the
52:47
noise that we hear every day all the time to reconnect with you,
52:53
what's important. Absolutely.
52:56
Do you have any upcoming projects or some final thoughts
52:59
that you'd like to share with our listeners?
53:02
Well, the upcoming project now is we're promoting the book out
53:05
around the world. So that's my project right now.
53:09
We're also looking for, I guess we were looking for Phil.
53:13
Producers. And like I said, we talked to
53:16
one yesterday their interest in the book, so it's a process for
53:19
that. That's a whole nother world.
53:22
I'm not familiar with. So we're looking for people to
53:25
read the book and see if they'd be interested in it.
53:29
Yeah, those are my two projects to Big projects besides building
53:32
the foundation and keep growing that.
53:35
And that's enough project honestly.
53:41
Congratulations, Irish you. My best with I think it would
53:45
definitely become a film and it's an inspiring story.
53:48
And I think that it would be great great to see on the big
53:51
screen and to kind of just, get out to more people, you know?
53:54
Absolutely, yes. That's the luck with it.
53:57
And yeah, just a massive, thank you for appearing on the show.
54:00
It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you and I wish you
54:02
all the best for the future. Thank you.
54:06
And to the listeners of the Christian Reef podcast.
54:09
Thank you so much for listening. As always be safe, be well.
54:13
And I'll see you in the next one.