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Called Back to Who You Are: Being Pursued by God in the Wilderness with Whitney Lowe! · Anchored by the Sword

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  Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Anchor by the
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  Sword podcast. I pray that today's episode will
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  leave you encouraged and also challenged in your faith.
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  And I pray that. You would take.
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  The stories that are talked about here today and share them
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  with other people. Thank you so much for joining me
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  and enjoy today's episode. Hey guys, welcome to this
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  episode of the Anchor by the Sword podcast.
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  I am here today with Whitney Lowe.
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  She has a book coming out next week called called Back to Who
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  You are finding yourself in the wild Pursuing love of God.
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  And I'm excited to learn more about her, the book, just all of
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  the things. So, Whitney, thank you for
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  joining me today. Yay.
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  Thank you so much, Dina. This is super fun.
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  I love being able to chat with women around the country just
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  about. Yeah.
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  What God's up to in our lives. So awesome.
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  I love Zoom because I've gotten to talk to people from all over
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  the world that none of us would have ever had a chance to meet
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  on this side of heaven. It's so cool.
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  Totally same. It's great, one pro from COVID
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  as I feel like everyone figured out how to do this kind of thing
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  and now we get to connect. All over, absolutely.
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  So can you tell my listeners a little bit about yourself?
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  Yeah. So yeah, my name is Whitney
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  Lowe. I am currently located in
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  Denver, Co or I guess a little South of Denver, Co.
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  I am married. To a pastor.
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  So that's. Kind of a fun little.
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  Side quest all the time. And I've got 3 kids.
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  One of them was actually just born this past June.
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  And then I've got a son who's got to turn 5 and a daughter.
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  Who's 3? So our life is very full, very
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  busy, but. In just before COVID.
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  Actually, that was kind. Of a meaningful phase for me.
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  I just felt like the Lord had put it on my heart to start
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  writing devotionals on Instagram for the young women that I was
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  kind of mentoring at that time. I felt like they were always
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  scrolling and I was like, you do have time to read the Bible.
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  Like I want to kind of like get in your way and disrupt that and
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  and that little project. Just really caught a.
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  Lot of traction at that time, I think, because everyone was
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  forced onto their screens and through that was able to just
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  kind of grow in writing. And as of last year, Pub
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  published my first book and now this year my second one is about
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  to come out. So it's just been kind of a
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  whirlwind, but it's been crazy. How the Lord is?
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  Just like positioned all of these different elements of my
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  life. For.
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  It feels like, and hopefully you know, his glory and yeah, I'd
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  say that's kind of my story from like the professional and what
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  I'm doing day-to-day side of things.
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  I never lost my job during COVID because I'm a nurse and I work
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  for an insurance company, so I was working the whole time.
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  But they had this thing in Ohio and it was called, let's see,
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  what was it, wine with the wine Because our governor's last name
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  is Dewine. So that's what they would call
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  like 2:00 every every day to get the update.
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  Now, I'm not a drinker, but I was still tuned into that.
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  And I think that that was the negative side of things because
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  it could induce a lot of fear. But I think that also during
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  that time that online became a place for people to know that
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  they weren't alone when they were stuck being alone.
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  Yeah. No, I totally agree.
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  And I think there were some things that the Lord used and
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  then other things that our attention was drawn to that is
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  sort of impacted where we're at now.
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  And. So right there with you.
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  Absolutely. So let's talk about your own
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  personal freedom story. Yeah, well, for me, I.
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  Have had I feel like. Kind of a long a long winded
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  testimony, but not in the normal way.
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  I grew up Christian in like a very authentically Christian
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  home. I feel like I really genuinely
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  did know the Lord from a very. Early age.
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  And was given I think. Just a lot of.
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  I mean I I. Hate to say it, but it does.
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  It feels like it feels like. Privilege, you know.
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  It's like the Lord. Put me in this amazing Christian
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  home with Christian friends and Christian leaders who were
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  really invested in my life, and I went to a wonderful Christian.
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  College where I studied religious.
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  Studies. And so I was working, you know,
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  in the Bible. Every day like I had every.
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  Kind of you know how Paul in that one part of I want to say
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  it's second Corinthians. He's like you're all the things
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  that I have, like here's my resume.
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  I have everything, but that's not the thing that I.
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  Appeal to like I. Feel similar in that way where
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  it's like I. Feel like I had all of the all
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  of the pieces. There, but also in college
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  there. Was sort of this little.
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  Lie in my ear that I'm in order to be noticed and in order to be
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  special and in order to have my life mean something I really
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  needed to be thinner or like kind of mirror that societal
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  image of beauty and I think. That little lie just.
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  Dug in so deep and I spent the next.
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  Couple of years really wrapped. Up in a very destructive and
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  isolating eating disorder. And I'm thankful for it.
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  Not because it was good. Not because it brought good
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  things into my life. But rather because I feel.
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  Like, up until that point in my life, I didn't really understand
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  how sin operates and what it does.
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  And obviously it's not like I was perfect up until then, but I
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  just didn't take sin seriously. And I feel like, you know,
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  listening to. That little.
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  Voice that was saying this is what I needed to do.
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  Really shows you how. You know, I think sometimes we
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  believe that sin is this like merry go round where we kind of
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  we jump on, we enjoy like the things of the world or we enjoy
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  partying or, you know, I'm just going to kind of lean into this
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  eating disorder for a little bit until I look the way I want to
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  look and then I'll get back off and we'll just keep on going.
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  But you realize once you do that, the second you step foot
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  and the thing starts moving, that it's actually like a bullet
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  train, you know, and you are not in control and you will not be
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  in the same place when you get off.
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  And a lot will happen between now and then that you are not
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  prepared for or in control of that will you know?
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  Be very, very destructive. And that's.
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  Exactly what I saw it. Felt like so much about my life
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  was. Hijacked by that eating
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  disorder. Which on one hand was a little
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  bit. Of a choice, but was.
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  Mostly really an illness and and an oppression in my life and
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  then it. Would be a couple.
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  Years later on actually a mission trip.
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  To Turkey, where the Lord would. Really just kind of get me in a
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  quiet and desperate place where I could hear him speaking to me
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  and at that moment he took me through.
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  The Book of Hosea. It was kind of perfect.
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  It was like 2014. It was before social media.
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  Was quite so readily accessible. There was no.
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  TV channel that I could understand at that point.
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  I remember they were all in like Russian or Turkish, which was
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  odd, but I don't speak either of those and like the books on the
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  shelf were all a language I didn't understand and so I was.
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  Like I guess. I've got my Bible.
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  It's four AMI can't sleep. I guess I've got my Bible and I
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  just remember like sobbing my way through the book of.
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  Hosea because I. I remembered for whatever reason
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  that was. That was what the Lord led me
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  to. That was what?
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  Was on my heart and in the book. Of Hosea, it's the story of.
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  An unfaithful wife named Gomer. That God calls a prophet.
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  Hosea to Mary to sort of demonstrate what his love for
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  Israel. Has looked like.
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  And time and time again, Gomer runs and Hosea goes after her
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  and God. Says go get her back, go get her
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  back, go get her back. There's this one passage in
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  Hosea 214 that says I will draw her into the wilderness to speak
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  tenderly to her. And that was the one where I was
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  like. In this silent desert of a
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  place. You feel alone and you feel
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  like, you know, like this is it for me.
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  Like this is terrible. But that is when.
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  God can finally start speaking to you.
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  About who you really. Are and start calling you back
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  to who you really are and that is really where this book came
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  from. But that is that's my story and
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  that's. Where I say God.
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  Built my testimony for me, even kind of after I really do.
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  Believe I was a. Christian, but my testimony has
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  been very much in progress. Well, thank.
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  You so much for sharing that and being vulnerable about that.
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  How long did your eating disorder last?
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  I would say it was 2 years really.
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  In earnest, it was like from 19 to 21 or 22 and kind of digging
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  my way out of it to find what feels like really true healing
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  was probably another six months to.
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  A year after that. Moment in Turkey.
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  But the thing that was interesting and I think this.
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  Applies to all of our. Different testimonies in
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  different ways, but I remember just in that mission.
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  Trip which was like 6. Weeks long.
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  The Lord sort of ripped a lot of this.
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  Out of my hands, like I didn't have as much control over what I
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  was eating, for example, or I was really closely surrounded by
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  people all the time because it was, you know, a small group, a
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  small apt. I didn't have a lot of time by
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  myself. I gained a lot of weight.
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  Really. Quickly that my body was like.
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  Desperate for. And that was excruciatingly
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  difficult for me at that time in my life.
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  But what was really gracious about that is that I was
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  actually. Complete happenstance there was
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  1 friend who happened to find out because she overheard
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  something a year before so one friend that was there was kind
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  of a support person who I didn't have to like you know reveal
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  anything to she just knew and then when I got.
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  Back I realized very quickly like.
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  People don't love me less. My life is not less good because
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  I am allowing my body to be nourished.
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  And so I feel like I had kind of an unconventional journey with
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  that. Where it was a little bit of
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  like exposure therapy, like we're just.
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  Going to do this, it's going to be so hard.
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  You are going to be very surrounded and then you're going
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  to go home and you're going to see like, OK.
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  Exhale like life is OK, life is good.
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  So I think God was really gracious and kind of
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  accelerating that, even though it was really hard, yeah.
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  Definitely. I know it's like trial by fire.
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  It seemed like for you that it was.
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  It was like, well, you were doing this, but now guess what?
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  You know this, it just seems like that.
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  So that's that's really cool. And he he does that for each of
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  us. Like whatever process or
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  whatever thing we're going through, he knows exactly what
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  we need to get on the other side.
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  So it's real sweet that he knew that for you when you're going
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  through that, what Bible verse or verses?
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  We're keeping you anchored. So I will say that one from
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  Hosea. 2 was really huge. For me, just there's actually
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  another passage in Hosea and I want to say.
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  It's Hosea 5 where God talks about how he'll.
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  Go tear her away from. Her from her other lovers.
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  So he's kind of again expanding on this metaphor, saying like, I
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  the way I love Israel. Is that I'm going to.
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  Go. And and forcibly extract her.
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  From these things that are killing her and what I remember
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  in reading that. Passage was like.
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  Oh, that sounds horrible. That sounds like really violent
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  and really scary. But then you read these other
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  passages. Like the one in 214 where he
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  says. Well, I will lure her to the
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  desert. To speak tenderly.
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  And it's like kind of this tension between often what,
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  what? Feels like death is actually.
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  The thing that God is trying to do to bring life.
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  And so I I think I really continuously came back to that
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  truth of like. It feels.
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  Like, I'm dying right now because I have tied so much of
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  my identity up in this particular pattern of disorder.
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  So it feels like I'm dying when I don't get that, but when God
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  is doing his. Work.
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  It's actually very. Kind.
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  It's actually very tender. He's ruthless and violent with
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  the sin and with the. Captivity, but he is.
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  Gentle and kind to us. And so I clung to that.
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  Really hard because. I think that is sort of a
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  framing metaphor for the entire book of Hosea and really the
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  entire Bible. It's just how ruthless God is
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  with. Evil and sin, but how tender he
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  is with us. And there was also a.
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  Passage that really guided. A lot of my life before any of
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  this, and that's John 1010, where it says the thief comes to
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  search, kill and destroy. But I come to bring life to the
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  full. And I remember going.
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  Back to that that part. Of my life in my head and just
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  and remembering like God promised that when we do things.
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  Way that is. The most abundant form of life.
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  The most fulfilling form of life.
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  I have to. Trust that that's true.
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  Sometimes you don't feel that. Way but you believe.
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  That when you surrender to God's way of doing things, you will
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  have your most fulfilled, most abundant existence.
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  And so I think I really leaned heavily into that truth.
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  Too, because there were so. Many moments in this.
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  Process where, like I said, it felt like these little deaths,
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  like I was just struggling. So I'd say yeah.
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  That was that was way more than one anchor verse, but.
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  That's OK, it's all good. So when this whole idea came
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  about writing this book, I can kind of see who you were writing
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  this to. But let's go ahead and talk to
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  everybody else about who you were writing this book for and
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  why you knew it was the time to bring this out.
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  So I would say a lot of this is just felt like.
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  God has been kind of in the driver's seat.
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  I had pitched this book. To be written just so when you
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  when you write a book, at least in the the way that I've gone
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  about it. This whole process takes.
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  Forever and you have to. Write a book proposal.
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  And it has. To be like, really?
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  Compelling. And they want.
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  It to speak really specifically to.
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  A felt need in culture and oftentimes it's going to be like
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  kind of a. Click Bait type Type Topic.
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  And that's not exactly what this is.
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  I wouldn't say, but I knew that. That is what God had.
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  Put on my heart to write about. And so I wrote this proposal in
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  early 2022, so it's been quite a number of years now.
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  And I just remember being like. Really.
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  Is this the? Thing God like but that's what
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  you know I when I. Prayed about it, I remember.
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  God just kind of whispering in my ear, like right about my
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  pursuit. Right about how I've pursued.
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  You and I was like. OK.
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  I don't know if I've. Read a great book.
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  About that at this point, but yeah.
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  All right, so I wrote. The proposal and I was like, in
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  your hands, God, in your hands. And then a different book.
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  Sort of got. Wedged in the middle which?
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  Was cool. It was a.
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  Devotional and I like writing devotionals A.
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  Lot so that worked out well, but I just I.
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  Didn't know when this would be coming out and I didn't know.
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  Why? But I did.
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  Know that I wanted it. To reach.
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  I'd say young women who had a similar upbringing to myself.
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  Because there's a lot of. Good Christian girls who make
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  really different choices, you know, for a season.
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  And I think there's there's a really clear narrative for, oh,
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  I just came to Christ. Here's my whole messy testimony.
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  And then there's sort of a narrative for I've been a
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  Christian my whole life and here is day by day faithfulness and
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  growth. It's a little bit harder.
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  To find stories from like, no, I was genuinely a Christian and
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  then this thing took over my entire life and now I'm like
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  rebuilding the pieces and trying to make sense of testimony.
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  So I think I think the content really translates to any number
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  of struggles if. That's your story.
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  I'd say obviously women who've struggled with an eating.
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  Disorder are really just people who.
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  Theologically struggle to understand what it means.
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  To be pursued by God. The interesting element that's
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  been really exciting for me just to see how God kind of works all
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  things together is that I wrote the entire final section really
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  on what happens when we realize, like when we really understand
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  our pursuit and, and the conclusion I came to was like
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  this. Is the key to true.
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  Revival is individually understanding.
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  That God. 'S pursuing us and then how we
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  show up in the world in pursuit of.
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  Others like that is that's revival.
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  That's how we get it. Because it's not just inside you
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  and it's not just out in the world.
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  It is both. And they have to go together and
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  they can get one another. And so now this conversation
• 15:54
  that we're having about. Revival is.
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  Here and we're seeing revival and I'm like, Oh my gosh, two
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  years ago I didn't even know why I was talking about this.
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  Like that's not exactly how we were feeling at that point.
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  But now I'm like. Oh my gosh, I love that.
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  I love how God. Kind of just knows.
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  So I'm really passionate now about speaking to.
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  That aspect of society. And how God is going to bring
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  that about. Yeah, it's been amazing to
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  watch. Like, I'm from Ohio, So the
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  story of the Ohio State Buckeyes and the revival that's gone on
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  on that campus for the last two years.
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  Yeah. It's been something crazy to
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  watch because you think about it.
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  I mean, we had, there's been numerous sets of revivals
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  throughout the years. And yeah, I became a Christian
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  in the late 90s. So.
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  I was there during the acquire the fire days and the whole like
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  true love weights and all of that fun stuff or not so fun
• 16:51
  stuff depending on who you talk to.
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  Like that whole thing is when I came in and you know, it was, it
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  was so hard when, you know, you were coming out of that and you,
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  you know, like personally, I walked away from the church for
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  a while and for about 14 years and coming back trying to undo
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  some of that stuff, some of those voices and some of the
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  things that were said back then. But now watching God really do
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  this huge, authentic, real revival in these people in
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  college campuses all across the country and high school campuses
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  and football teams, like seeing football teams.
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  I'm a big sports person, by the way.
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  You can tell I grew. I've been watching sports since
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  I was in the womb. We'll just put it that way.
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  But yeah, I mean, just seeing everything that's been
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  happening, seeing football players on their knees, and it's
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  not in protest, like they're on their knees, genuinely praying
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  for their fellow football player.
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  And so it's just the revival part has been really, really
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  cool to watch over the last couple of years.
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  And I know it's having a huge impact on so many people that
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  otherwise would not know about how real God is.
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  Yeah, I totally. Agree, and I think it's just
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  helpful and where I. Feel compelled is OK, So what
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  does it? Really mean and look like.
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  After the worship service. You know, and how do we?
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  And make sure that this revival that we're.
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  Experiencing internally, not only.
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  Like sticks, so to speak, in our hearts through the ways that we
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  sort of reshape our habits. But also, how do we make sure
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  the world knows this is real and authentic?
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  Because I think it has to. And that's a big part of what I
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  talk about in the final section of the book.
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  It has to change how we're showing up for.
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  Others right, Like if you really believe.
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  That the God of the universe stooped down and sought you out
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  in the darkness. I think it changes the way that
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  you understand things like your boundaries.
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  And that doesn't mean we shouldn't have them.
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  That just means we need to frame them biblically and stop being a
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  generation who say, I'm tired. I can't, you know, like we need
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  to surrender those boundaries to God.
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  And I've heard so many conversations recently about
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  boundaries in in ways that I actually think are really
• 19:23
  unhelpful because they're boundaries.
• 19:25
  That protect our peace but also keep us isolated.
• 19:28
  From the people that need. To hear about Jesus.
• 19:31
  And need us to show up with relentless day after day love.
• 19:34
  So that's one piece of what I think revival is going to
• 19:36
  actually look like is us serving people in radical.
• 19:40
  Ways that the. Spirit of God empowers and helps
• 19:43
  us keep healthy but also when it comes to.
• 19:47
  Just like socially. You know, we always have this
• 19:49
  conversation about the church serving.
• 19:52
  There have been a lot of social movements in the last few years.
• 19:54
  And I'm like, no, I never thought revival was going to
• 19:58
  come. Through, like, politics, right?
• 20:00
  Like, that's not a belief that I have.
• 20:03
  Obviously that stuff matters, but I'm like, OK, great.
• 20:06
  We have these political ideas. All Christians, it feels like
• 20:09
  more and more have. A lot of political ideas, right?
• 20:11
  What does it look like when you are out on the street and
• 20:14
  somebody needs food? Because the Bible actually
• 20:16
  speaks so. Directly about that.
• 20:18
  And I think when we feel revived in our own hearts and we
• 20:21
  experience true revival, we it's not that again, the politics
• 20:25
  don't matter. It's just like.
• 20:26
  You have so many very. Clear ways to show.
• 20:28
  Up in your world in pursuit of others that mirror.
• 20:31
  God's heart for. Us so I've been really, really
• 20:33
  excited to just sort of dig into that with.
• 20:36
  The body of Christ overall. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's
• 20:41
  definitely been something and you know, with the state that
• 20:44
  things are in right now, just being able to be there for and
• 20:47
  with your neighbor, you know, no matter what that entails and
• 20:52
  walking through things with other people, no matter what
• 20:54
  that entails. It's just, you know, just the
• 20:57
  chance to show the love of God, even as simple as like the other
• 21:00
  night we were doing hot chocolate at Winterfest, like
• 21:04
  just having conversations with people that come out of giving
• 21:07
  somebody hot chocolate because it's freezing outside.
• 21:10
  Totally, you know, the food drives and just the other things
• 21:14
  that are so needed right now that this especially in the
• 21:18
  season because we're talking before Christmas.
• 21:21
  So just the things that are really needed in this season and
• 21:25
  seeing God's hand on the workers.
• 21:29
  Absolutely no. I know I.
• 21:30
  Think it's just like we. Overcomplicate it sometimes or
• 21:33
  we feel super overwhelmed because I think again, maybe one
• 21:36
  of the. Lies is that?
• 21:38
  If the political system doesn't change in a certain way that we
• 21:43
  can't. Show up right like this is just
• 21:45
  what I. See in my own community and I
• 21:48
  don't think. This applies to any.
• 21:50
  Party one or the other. I think we've all bought into
• 21:52
  this. Like I don't feel like I can
• 21:54
  change anything because I can't change.
• 21:56
  The way that our. Society operates in that way and
• 21:59
  that's that's a real feeling and that matters.
• 22:01
  But also, if you zoom out a little bit and you remember
• 22:05
  who's on the throne and that God is sovereign and that God seeks
• 22:08
  after the one and he leaves the 99, then you zoom back in on
• 22:12
  just like exactly what you were saying, like your neighbors.
• 22:15
  The people that you're. Encountering and if you mirror.
• 22:17
  That heart I just. Feel like it's so empowering.
• 22:21
  Like you get to live. With the power of God when
• 22:24
  that's how you're approaching it.
• 22:25
  And and I just, I think it's really cool.
• 22:27
  So yeah, I think you're exactly right.
• 22:29
  Absolutely. So what does it mean for our
• 22:33
  life if God will never stop seeking us?
• 22:37
  Well, so there's I think a few different pieces and I'll say
• 22:39
  the one. That has really.
• 22:40
  Been on my heart lately is that you are never unwanted.
• 22:45
  I think people, often, myself included, struggle.
• 22:50
  With this lie that. I'm not enough.
• 22:53
  For others to pursue. I am not someone who, you know,
• 22:58
  gets whether it's like in a romantic setting, they don't
• 23:00
  feel like they've. Been pursued by people that.
• 23:03
  They want to date or marry and they feel unwanted.
• 23:05
  Or it's like. I know a lot of women at the
• 23:08
  stage of life that I'm in. Feel very like they they.
• 23:11
  Struggle to find friendships because they feel like people
• 23:14
  are not reciprocating right those feelings can be really
• 23:18
  really painful and they can really kind of hang in a dark
• 23:21
  cloud over I think your whole life because once that
• 23:23
  narratives in your head yes that's the thing that frames
• 23:26
  everything else that you see around you so once that's the.
• 23:30
  Story that you. Hear in your mind that can frame
• 23:33
  just every other interaction. When things don't go well, it
• 23:36
  all comes back to you. I am not wanted.
• 23:38
  I am not sought after. I'm not the kind of person that
• 23:42
  others pursue, and I remember. I I look back.
• 23:45
  To the story in my own life where I've really struggled with
• 23:47
  this feeling a lot. I feel like I've spent most of
• 23:49
  my life actually specifically trying to avoid that feeling in
• 23:54
  a lot of different ways. And there was a story from back
• 23:57
  at camp when I was like 14 where there was this.
• 23:59
  Boy who was like he looked like Zac.
• 24:02
  Efron from High School Musical, like the hair and he was a
• 24:06
  football player. And I remember just being like,
• 24:11
  Oh my gosh, she's like really cute.
• 24:13
  And in retrospect. He was like I.
• 24:15
  Don't. Even think he was that cute, it
• 24:16
  was just like he was that guy, right?
• 24:18
  Right. I feel like I'm always friends
• 24:19
  with the girl. That all of the boys like.
• 24:22
  Like, that has been my life. Yeah, it's.
• 24:26
  Like I've always close personal friends with like the.
• 24:28
  One and so in this case it was the same thing.
• 24:30
  It was like he was really interested in my closest friend
• 24:33
  at camp. Who very deserved.
• 24:35
  She was wonderful. She was super like sporty and
• 24:38
  like gorgeous and whatever. Like I get it, but I just
• 24:42
  remember like that whole tournament camp like crying.
• 24:45
  All these deers over this like boy with like swoopy.
• 24:48
  Hair in 2008. And like, you know, you look
• 24:52
  back and you kind of put all of that in perspective and you're
• 24:54
  like, OK, I don't think that this boy warranted all of those
• 24:58
  tears necessarily. I don't think that's a boy I
• 25:00
  actually wanted to date, but that feeling speaks to something
• 25:05
  that I think the. Lord has put in all of us.
• 25:08
  Not because he wants us. To be sad, but because.
• 25:10
  He wants us to know that He is the one.
• 25:12
  That will always. Pursue.
• 25:14
  And I think when I say this, you know, I say I think some of us
• 25:17
  struggle with this feeling. I actually think.
• 25:19
  All of us have that. Feeling in our heart that we are
• 25:22
  unwanted or that we are unlovable or that there's
• 25:25
  someone else that always gets it and we don't.
• 25:28
  I think we all have that, and that's not because there is
• 25:31
  something so flawed on us that we can't be.
• 25:33
  Loved, that is because we're supposed to take that.
• 25:36
  Feeling to the God that leaps over mountains and bounds over
• 25:40
  hills, like it says in song songs to come get his beloved,
• 25:43
  and you are that beloved. Like God loves you that.
• 25:46
  Much that every feeling you've. Ever had that?
• 25:49
  You are on Unwanted or unloved is meant to draw you back to him
• 25:54
  so that you can experience what it's like to be unconditionally
• 25:57
  wanted by a God who has decided on his own character to make you
• 26:02
  the object of his pursuit. And I think that is.
• 26:04
  So powerful. And it's also.
• 26:06
  Freeing to be like This feeling isn't here because it's true.
• 26:10
  This feeling is here because God has something He wants to fill
• 26:13
  up in me and I need to let Him do that.
• 26:17
  Yeah, 100% because I, I can completely relate with those
• 26:22
  feelings. I mean, you're probably about 10
• 26:23
  years younger than me at least. Not now.
• 26:27
  But I, I remember those days like girl was a little boy
• 26:33
  crazy, Weren't we all? I live next door to a home full
• 26:40
  of guys who kind of took me under their wing as like their
• 26:44
  best friend, as like their buddy.
• 26:46
  And which was fine. And then they introduced me all
• 26:48
  their friends. And then again, always the girl
• 26:52
  that was friends with the person.
• 26:55
  And I mean, that was and I think that that that did go for a lot
• 27:00
  of things throughout the rest of my life up until the last few
• 27:04
  years that it was like, OK, you know, nobody wants you or, you
• 27:09
  know, you can only get this far. And I think it was when I turned
• 27:12
  40 that I finally was like something that I won't say on
• 27:18
  the podcast, but I was just like, look, this is me and it is
• 27:23
  what it is and I'm good with it. I still have my days where I'm
• 27:27
  not good with specific parts, but I think that's all of.
• 27:30
  Us and. You know, when you were talking
• 27:34
  about how God created us all and He's continually pursuing us, I
• 27:41
  think that that's something that I've seen in my life and I know
• 27:44
  that other people have seen. And if you haven't seen it, just
• 27:48
  look to him, ask him, talk to him about it because he will
• 27:54
  tell you and He will. He will pursue you.
• 27:58
  Yeah, and that's what this book is like.
• 27:59
  I think that's actually such a good way.
• 28:01
  Of putting it. Like this book is.
• 28:03
  For the people who don't see that God is pursuing them.
• 28:06
  And it's not that you're the main.
• 28:07
  Character of your story. God's the main.
• 28:10
  Character, but God has also. Put you as the object of his
• 28:14
  pursuit. And so all of those feelings
• 28:17
  that I think have plagued so many of us for our whole.
• 28:20
  Lives, I would dare to say all of us for our whole lives like
• 28:23
  God does have a very specific. Answer like I will come after
• 28:27
  you time and time again, even if you're unfaithful, right?
• 28:30
  You are, my beloved. Like it says in Song of Songs,
• 28:32
  like there's some interpretive things we have to be aware of
• 28:35
  when we're reading in that book. We can't just say.
• 28:36
  Like this whole book is. About me but.
• 28:39
  I think it is theologically. Accurate to say you are.
• 28:43
  God's beloved and He does go to great.
• 28:45
  Lengths. To be close to you because he.
• 28:47
  Thinks you are amazing and he wants to call you back to the
• 28:51
  version that he. Created you to be because she's
• 28:54
  all together. Lovely, as it says.
• 28:57
  Then you look. At what Jesus?
• 28:58
  Does in the New Testament when he comes and it's like, yeah,
• 29:01
  his whole thing is leaving heaven, leaving the glory of
• 29:04
  heaven to come after unworthy people, and then who does he
• 29:08
  surround himself with? It's the.
• 29:09
  Last people you would expect. If you were writing the story
• 29:12
  yourself. So like any part of you that
• 29:14
  feels like. Nope, that's just not for me.
• 29:17
  God pursues others that He doesn't.
• 29:18
  Pursue me. I think I wrote this entire book
• 29:21
  to basically cover start to finish.
• 29:23
  God does not. Pursue us because we're worthy.
• 29:25
  God pursues us because He. In His Holiness and his
• 29:28
  righteousness. Has decided that closeness with
• 29:31
  us is who he is so. I think.
• 29:35
  I really deeply care that. Women hear the message that you
• 29:38
  were articulating as well. Amen.
• 29:40
  Absolutely. Well, I have loved our
• 29:42
  conversation today, Whitney, too.
• 29:44
  So where can people find you and where can they get your book
• 29:50
  ordered? Yes, Oh my gosh.
• 29:52
  So I love connecting with people.
• 29:54
  I am. Very.
• 29:56
  Immersed in young kid life and so sometimes I'm not the best
• 30:00
  at. It but like it.
• 30:00
  Makes my day when people DM me. I think that's so fun.
• 30:04
  Sometimes you'll just get like a random voice memo for me because
• 30:06
  I don't like typing. So anyway, I'm mostly on
• 30:10
  Instagram at Whitney Pearson Low.
• 30:12
  I'm also as of late really dipping my feet into TikTok and
• 30:16
  that has been quite an experience for me.
• 30:18
  So if that's your thing. And the book.
• 30:21
  I think is. Available anywhere books are
• 30:23
  sold. Amazon's great if you're hearing
• 30:25
  this a week early. Pre-orders are so fun, so that
• 30:29
  would be wonderful. But otherwise I would love for
• 30:31
  people to. Get the book, engage with it,
• 30:34
  and then let me know on social media what they're feeling.
• 30:38
  Awesome. I will put links to all of that
• 30:39
  in today's show notes. And again, Whitney, thank you so
• 30:42
  much for coming on today and I will talk.
• 30:45
  To you guys next episode. Thanks, Gina.
• 30:50
  Thank you so much for joining me for this episode, the Anchor by
• 30:52
  the Sword podcast. I pray that the story that you
• 30:55
  heard today will encourage your faith, challenge your faith, and
• 30:59
  also help you as you walk in your daily life.
• 31:02
  If this episode has done that, please feel free to leave a five
• 31:05
  star rating and review wherever you listen to this podcast so
• 31:10
  that others can find it and grow as well.
• 31:12
  Have a blessed week and I'll talk to you next episode.