Latest / The Father's Business Podcast / Clinging to Hope Amidst Life's Storms, specifically for those affected by Hurricane Helene

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Clinging to Hope Amidst Life's Storms, specifically for those affected by Hurricane Helene · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Father's Business was founded by Sylvia Gunter to encourage people to a deeper relationship with God.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I'm Elizabeth Gunter Powell.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: And I am Kimberly Roddy.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: We are so glad that you've joined us.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Well, hi there everyone.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Welcome to our podcast today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: We're glad that you've joined us.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: If you haven't listened to last week's episode, we'd encourage you to listen to it.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It was kind of some insider information.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We announced that we are releasing a new book which we're very excited about.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: The new book is called Strength to Equal your Days.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: It's a 365-day devotional and you can hear more about that book if you listen to last week's podcast, which was it was the week of September 23rd.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I believe we actually released it on Thursday, september 26.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: So check that out.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: We also mentioned in that episode that we were going to have some conversations around some of these difficult topics of how do you really reconcile the fact that Scripture says that God has given us strength to equal our days, because there's so many days where we don't feel like we have the strength to keep going, and you know, lo and behold, we're talking about that last week, and then not everyone has been affected by this, but a lot of people have been affected by this.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: There was a pretty major hurricane that has affected a large portion of the Southeast and we've been touched by that in some indirect ways.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I had to drive down to South Carolina to pick up a family member who was out of power and not sure when the power was going to come back on and it was dark and she was alone and the right thing to do to go, drive down and bring her up to where I am in Virginia and let her be with me and my family up here for a little while.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And so it's hard when your family member calls you and they're crying because they're out of power and they're not sure when it's going to come back on and it's dark and they're sitting in a physical darkness which there's so much that we can talk about.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: We'll probably talk about that over the next few weeks, about sitting in the physical darkness and what that also does to our spirits, in that spiritual darkness that we can feel the dark night of the soul right as we read about in the past.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And I know, elizabeth, asheville, north Carolina, the western part of North Carolina, which you know, elizabeth, I grew up in Greenville, south Carolina.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: We lived very close to Asheville, north Carolina and I know that western part of North Carolina has taken a really hard hit from the rain they had and then the hurricane coming on top of that, and I know that that whole area.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of listeners that are in that area, but I know that area has also been significant for you in your life.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: In a particular season of my life I used to be able to slip away to Asheville and other parts of Western North Carolina and that really was just kind of my safe place where I could get away for a day or two and just spend time with God.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: God spoke very deeply to me about some different things going on in my life in that particular part of the country, and so I've just it's really been devastating watching the coverage and just seeing all of the damage and just thinking about just the beauty of God's creation in that part of the world, plus, on top of that, all the people in those areas that have been devastated by.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't think there's a hurricane that's hitting the Gulf and it's going to obviously impact Florida?
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And in some ways, I think we may have even become a little desensitized to that because like, oh yeah, well, this is what happens.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: We have hurricanes in Florida this time of year, but to see that much devastation 500 miles away from the coast was just really shocking, I think, for a lot of us.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And so I think there's a lot of us that are just kind of struggling with how do you pray, how do you process all of this?
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: You know, there's the truth that we know that God is good, we know that he promises us his protection, and I'm sure there will be many stories that come out that talk about well, this is how God protected these people in these moments as the storm came through.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: But there's also a lot of people who have died.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people who have lost everything that they own, like.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of ways where it feels like you know, jesus, where were you?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: And so I've found myself wrestling with this one a little more than others, I think, simply because I do have such a connection to the land and the western part of North Carolina and the eastern part of Tennessee.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I can't fully explain it, but anytime I have been in either eastern Tennessee or western North Carolina, there's just something deep inside of me that God speaks to, and so it's just been really sad, just, and really trying to wrap my mind around like, really, god, this, you know, as I've often said a lot about caring for my dad and other things over the last couple years, this, this was really your best idea, like, and so there's that part I struggle with, and then there's also just watching the massive amounts of water and destruction and everything that's going on, just the force of the storm.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I've also been quite humbled and made me feel a lot smaller and got a whole lot bigger, because that is just a mere glimpse of the level of power of who God is, and I think sometimes I can get kind of comfortable in my relationship with God and once again I was just reminded in an instant he can allow or do whatever he wants, and the amount of power there is in creation, whether that be through the rivers, the rain, the storms, the wind, like the amount of power in creation has really been got me thinking about the bigness and the greatness of who God is.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of things that we could do.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: We could sit and try to puzzle our way through.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Why does God allow things like this to happen?
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: We could have lots of conversations about it, but I really think the best thing we could do today is, Kimberly, for you and I to pray on the podcast and invite our listeners to join us and pray with us as we just kind of grapple through this and the verses that keep coming to mind as I'm watching.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: The footage is very familiar verses in Romans 8, and they come right before the verse that people do not like to hear when they are going through a crisis, which is that God will work all things together for the good.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: And I am not quoting that one today because I know right now a lot of things don't feel good and they're not going to feel good for a very long time for a lot of people.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: But the verse that just keeps going through my mind is where it talks about how creation is groaning for the redemption that is coming.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: And I just, I, just I feel deeply inside of me for that.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: You know parts of Florida, parts of South Georgia and you know Kimberly, I know you have a lot of friends and we have a lot of people who listen to us there all the way up through South Carolina and North Carolina and Tennessee Like there's so much of creation right now that is groaning for redemption, just as in our own spirits those verses it starts in 22, talking about all of creation has been groaning, as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: And it says not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we were saved.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: But hope that is seen is no hope at all.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Who hopes for what they already have?
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: But if we hope for what we do not have yet, we wait for it patiently.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, when we do not know what we should pray, but for the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans, and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: And so I am comforted by the fact that, even when, kimberly, you and I kind of feel like we're grappling with, how do you even comfort, how do you even pray for people who have lost everything and don't know when life will go back to whatever normal is going to be for them now?
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: And I just I'm so grateful that this groaning feeling that I feel on the land is also the same groaning that the Spirit is doing on behalf of all of the people who have been affected by this storm.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I think, about books that I've read in the past or things I've heard in the past.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I remember Philip Yancey had two books out on where is God when it hurts and disappointment with God, and there's certainly been other authors and, like we mentioned, st John of the Cross, I think it was, that wrote Dark Night of the Soul.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: You've had plenty of people before us in 2024 that have asked this deep, probing, gut-wrenching question of God where are you?
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: I mean all throughout scripture, right, david asked.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Other writers asked it, followers of Jesus?
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: No-transcript, and some of it is a result of just living in a fallen world and the product of that, and some of it's the power, of the strength of God's power, and there's a thousand different conversations we could have.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: And so I think that you know, like you said, the today is we can really make today about just praying, because there is that reality that you and I both have lived in situations where it's like I don't have the words to pray, I need the spirit to groan for me, and I'm sure that there are many people, not just affected by the hurricane but in other life situations listening to this that feel that because of the circumstances they're walking in or living in, and just earlier today I was watching a clip of Highway I-40, interstate 40,.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Just earlier today I was watching a clip of Highway I-40, interstate 40, where I think they said a three-mile stretch had been damaged.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: That was a major thoroughfare.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, from Virginia I cannot get to North Carolina or Tennessee without taking that path.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: I've driven that many, many times, especially with a lot of teenagers in tow in the van to trips and I know people are talking about how.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: You know, this is the time of year where, growing up, we would make day trips all the time up to Asheville and Hendersonville and Chimney Rock, lake, lure, like all of those areas, to just to go see the foliage, the fall foliage.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of people are like don't be talking, I mean you're not going to get to go to the foliage, the fall foliage.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of people are like don't be talking, I mean you're not going to get to go to your destination and see the leaves change this year.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: That shouldn't be the greatest concern.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Think about the lives that are lost, and that's exactly what I'm talking about.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: It's the loss of.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, for those cities they're talking about chimney rock in certain places are just decimated, they're talking about chimney rock in certain places are just decimated.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: But you're also talking about city livelihood, right, and we do pray for cities.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: We talk about the land and cities a lot, and that God has a purpose in those things, and so I just wonder, what does all this mean?
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: But the biggest that we know we can do is we can pray for the rebuilding.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: We're always praying for rebuilding and one thing that we do know in scripture is that we know that Jesus came and continue continues to come to make all things new.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: So I think we have to cling to that promise, that and and I don't mean that in a trite way, because I do mean let's mourn and let's grieve and let's ask the hard questions and in the midst of that we say come Jesus and make all things new.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And I lived in South Georgia for a little while, right out of college, and the path came hurricane came straight up I-75 through that area and impacted some of those people and then some of those, some of those students that I knew that live there when I was living there.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: There's one family that's now in North Carolina, in the Western part of North Carolina, one of the college students, it's a pastor there now and his wife's a teacher and they're like and his wife's a teacher and they're like.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: It's torn apart.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I think one of the things that I know we can pray right now and believe in is in Psalm 56, verse 8.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: It says he hears your prayers and your tears when there are no words, he counts them as liquid intercession and it's precious to Him.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so we do pray, lord, that you would come and that you would hear our prayers, that you would hear the prayers of your people and that you would hear our tears and that you would hear the tears of so many who don't have words right now, who are grieving and praying through their groaning and through their tears.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: And, father, would you give them comfort?
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: Would you comfort them, would you remind them that your tears are precious to you and that you will be the Father of compassion?
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: and the God of all comfort, and we just invite you, father, son and Holy Spirit, to come in the fullness of who you are.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Every person who is in whatever crisis they're in today whether it be hurricane aftermath or other situations that are going on there are very specific needs emotionally, physically, mentally that they have, and so we're asking for you to show up in the fullness of who you are in their deepest need, with a fresh revelation of who you are for them that you would speak so comfortably.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: You say that you hold us, you carry us, that you're our good shepherd, that you let us nestle up against your chest and that you will carry us through.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: And so, father, I'm asking for you to be the God of hope in a situation that feels very hopeless.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for you to be the God of hope in a situation that feels very hopeless.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for you to be the God of peace in a situation that has to be absolutely chaotic, and I'm asking for you to be the God of order and restoration, of bringing the fullness of who you are into these people's lives, and I pray for their extended families, some that are close by and others that are far away and feel so helpless that they can't get there, they can't do more, they can't fix it faster.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for you to show yourself strong and true, Jesus, and I thank you that you weep with those that weep.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: And what comes to mind is when you showed up at the tomb for Lazarus and everyone said Jesus, where were you?
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: If you would have been here, you could have done something about it, and your first reaction was to weep with them.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: You didn't answer their question, you wept with them, and then you did something that they couldn't even ask or imagine for you to do, and so I'm asking for everyone, from Florida to Georgia, to South Carolina, north Carolina to Tennessee, wherever there has been destruction, wherever people are saying God, where were you?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: If you would have been here, you could have done something that you would show up for them, that they would feel you weep with them, and then they would be able to see you do something so out of the box for them that they couldn't even imagine.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: That's what you're going to do next.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: Lord, we remember the words of Romans 12, I think it's verse 15, that says we mourn with those who mourn.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: So, jesus, I pray that you would come and be Emmanuel, camped out, present with and among so many who have lost family or friends, and some who don't know yet where their family or friends are.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: God, come and be Elroy, our God, who sees, the one who sees these aching souls, these aching hearts, the ones who are concerned and worried and weighed down because they don't know if their family members are okay.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: They can't get to their family members, they're worried.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: God, we pray that your peace, that your shalom would surround them and that you would be ever present, as I said, emmanuel, present with them, camped out with them, as I said, emmanuel present with them, camped out with them, god, I think of so many who just have been affected by this and they may be injured, they may be hurt, but it's also just the loss and the devastation of so much that they've known.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: And it does, like Elizabeth said, it expands from Florida to Georgia, to South Carolina, north Carolina, tennessee and into that western part of Virginia, and for some it's utter devastation, it's lives lost.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: For others it's all belongings and homes, businesses, cars, property, cities destroyed.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: For some it's minimal damage, but it's still damage.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: It's still an upset to the daily existence.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: It's my family member who loses power, but it's just that darkness that doesn't let up.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: So, god, we pray that you would be the one who sees them and that, god, that you would also be Jehovah Rapha, the one who heals, the one who steps in and repairs.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: God, I pray that you would rebuild the broken cities, the ruined cities, the broken walls.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: God, I pray that you would comfort those families, that you would see those families, that you would see those families and that you would bring what's needed to those families.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: We pray for the people who are stepping out into the front lines to be the ones to be the boots on the ground, for all the local and beyond agencies and people who are stepping in to say we'll help, we'll show up.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: God, I pray that you would allow the people to show up to help that need to be there.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: I pray that we would know where to send our resources, that we would know how we can all participate in helping the hurting and helping those who did not have time Some of these people did not have time to get out who did not have time.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Some of these people did not have time to get out, and so, god, I pray that you would enable your body to be your body.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: We know that there's government agencies and nonprofit organizations and all sorts of different people that step in to help, but I pray that your body would step up, jesus, that your people would do what you call us to do, which is serve and love and care and be Jesus with skin on, that we would be able to be there for people, and that it wouldn't be about an agenda, but it would be about truly just being the presence of Jesus to these people.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: Administering to them it's giving that cup of cold water, that, jesus, that you call us to do.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: So I pray that you would continue, jesus, to raise up people, give them direction, give them wisdom.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Keep those people who are helping, keep them healthy, make a way for them to go into the darkness, to go into the places that need you, keep them strong and able to help and to serve.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: God, I would ask for your Ruach breath, your holy breath, to breathe over this region and dry it up.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Where there is still water standing, where there are still things in the way of these responders getting where they need to go, I ask for you to make a way.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: You have split red seas, you have stopped suns.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: You have all power over creation and, while there may be some questions that are mine as to why this even happened in the first place, I'm asking for you to intervene with all that is necessary so that the responders can get to where they need to go.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: And I pray for the responders, for their emotions, for their spirits, their souls and their bodies, that they would be in align with you, father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that you would protect them from the trauma that they are having to step into and that you would nourish them, that you would give them strength that will equal their days, and that you would be the one that gives them the ability to be the hands and feet of care that is needed.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: And, god, I pray for the land.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I love this land and so many people do, and even, as Kimberly was talking about, everyone wants to go there because it's so beautiful in the fall.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: There are so many people that adore these regions, whether it be the beach down in Florida or it be the mountains up in North Carolina.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And so we are asking you, father, that you would bless the land, that the fullness of your powerful creative forces would come and bring healing to land that has been severely damaged by this hurricane.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: And we're asking for you to move forward with all of your power.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: We saw just a glimpse.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: Like God, if we truly saw your power, no one could stand.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: You know, god, we know through Scripture that we could not see the fullness of your power and live.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: That's why you had to hide yourself from Moses and let your goodness pass by him.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And so I am asking for all of this area of the eastern United States that your goodness would pass by, that people would be able to see those little fingerprints, those little whispers of who you are, in the days ahead, as they continue to restore and repair.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: And I'm asking for supernatural favor because, god, we know how road construction goes in this country.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: It could be years if it is how most projects go that I've seen on interstates.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: And so I'm asking for supernatural favor that you restore the broken places, that you would bring healing to the land and the roads and the cities, and that you would make a way where there seems to be no way for so many in so many different parts of the Southeast.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And God, my brain just thinks this way.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: As we move forward into requesting help from agencies and our insurance companies and all of the paperwork ahead, I am praying for kingdom justice.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for you to push back anyone who is trying to come into these areas to gouge or take advantage of people that are in trauma, and I'm asking for you to call forth righteous people, righteous agencies, righteous companies to do what is right in your eyes for these people that have been impacted, for it.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And so we just call forth your kingdom justice and your kingdom favor over all of the people affected by this hurricane.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: So, Father, I know it's not going to be okay tomorrow and it may not be okay a month from now, but I am asking for you to speak deeply to the spirits of everyone impacted by these storms to say hold on, just keep holding on, one foot in front of another, because you have promised that out of the ashes.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: You have promised that out of the ashes your beauty, your glory, your victory will rise, and you have promised that you will give us a crown of beauty and an oil of gladness for the despair that we are in right now.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: And these may not feel like your goodness and your kindness right now and I say this because I've been through seasons where I've had to say it so many times before this does not feel good and kind, but I ask for people to be able to trust, from the depths of who they are, that you are good and kind, because that is your nature, and your nature does not change, and so, as difficult as these circumstances are, god, I'm asking for you to protect their perception of you.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: You are a good father, you are a God that is worthy of worship, even though these circumstances don't feel like it, and so I'm asking, in the midst of the storms that we have been through, that you would give us the ability to find a way to continue to trust in the goodness of God, and that hope is coming.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: We ask for you to give us hope when we cannot hope ourselves.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: We ask for you to give us an understanding of who you are when we cannot believe.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: As Thomas said, I believe, help my unbelief and you were so compassionate with him, and I'm asking for that same compassion to be for all of us who are struggling with.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Where were you and why did this have to happen?
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: And God, I pray that your peace, that the peace of God, which we know surpasses all understanding, will guard people's hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: So we pray that, as your peace guards our hearts and our minds, lord, that we will cling to that hope that we were just talking about.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Lord, I pray that you would allow us, in the midst of the questions, in the midst of the darkness and the chaos and the wonderings, I pray that you would allow us to turn to you, to turn to looking to you, trusting you, hoping in you, trying to find you.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: I pray that we wouldn't give up in despair, mind you.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: I pray that we wouldn't give up in despair, because I know that that's how so many people feel and it makes sense to feel that way.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: But I pray that, god, you would give us a sense, that you would give people a sense of perseverance and, like Elizabeth said, just a deep hope and a deep peace, that, god, you're going to continue to lead the way out of the darkness.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I often think of darkness and associate it with the end of the Old Testament.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Before we move into the New Testament, there's supposedly this 400-year period of darkness I think of when we get later this year with the church calendar, we get to Advent, I think about.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: There was darkness, jesus, before you came, and in this culture today, in our lives today.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: I haven't lived that in the same way, but I think things like this are a glimpse of that.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Things like death and destruction are a glimpse of that, and I just want to cry out it's not supposed to be this way.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Come, lord Jesus.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: But we do live in this and it does come, and I'd love to ask you for answers, god, and I've learned that it's painful sometimes to sit with that, to sit and ask you for answers, and sometimes you give them and sometimes you don't.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: But what's more important, god is, I pray that you would help us just have hope, and not just have hope for the sake of having hope, but, god, I pray that you would give us, like Elizabeth was praying, just instill in us this sense of hope that is bigger than ourselves, and that's where we need the community and the church and the body and the people around us to step up and help and to lead the way, and it's like Aaron and her when they had to hold up Moses's arms.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: We need right now those of us who have hope in the midst of the questions, can we be faithful?
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Will you help us be faithful to hold up the arms of those who don't have hope, to look to you?
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: And these are hard prayers to pray.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth and I talk about this.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about it more.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: But, god, these are hard prayers to pray because we want to tie everything up into a pretty package.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: We want to put the bow on top and say we've got it all figured out, but we don't.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: And I think that's the honesty that you want us to offer this world is that we don't have all the answers, but what we do know is that you will carry us, you will give us hope, you will come to make all things new.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: And in the midst of that, there's brokenness and there's loss and there's hurt.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: And we keep looking to you and we keep saying come, lord Jesus, into all those deepest places and bring us a fresh picture of who you are.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: So that's what we pray for, in honesty and vulnerability and authenticity.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: We pray and we plea, jesus, that you would remind us to the depths of our spirit that you weep with those who weep, that you mourn and grieve with those who mourn and grieve, and that you are, emmanuel God, with us in the midst of the darkness and that you come into the darkness and you bring forth life, and I pray that you would give hope for so many to hold on to that, because it may be quick for some and it may be longer for others.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: So we pray all these things in the name of Jesus and we continue to pray in his name, amen.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for listening to the Father's Business Podcast.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Amen, amen.