Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / September 11, 2018 | Expresso - Joleen Aeschliman

Transcript

September 11, 2018 | Expresso - Joleen Aeschliman · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Well I would like to say a couple of things in addition to what you've heard from these two table buddies.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've been together for nine months.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Who else knows what it's like to be at a table with Connie?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Stacy.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're either laughing till we're crying, or she decides to just really come in and be serious, and she brings notes that she has used during her study that look like this.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she shared them with all of us.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: She really has been great because she takes the notes or the prayer request notes, she sends them that on email, and uh kind of keeps us all connected.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the first day of class, I was already sitting, and Connie came in and joined my table, and I thought to myself, I hope she doesn't continue to stay here.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because she's that lady that picks on people to speak at espresso.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think I'm ready for that.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I made it through till April, no questions, and I thought, great.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: So before we even get really started back in the fall session, she calls and she said, Have you ever spoken at espresso?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, No.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she said, Is there a reason for that?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Not a good one.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I asked her how soon she needed someone, and she said, Well, I have people lined up for October and November.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: I need September.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this is like l less than a month.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I was apprehensive, but I um I said I would do it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And uh but I have to say, I have to admit, that as apprehensive as I was, I I I know it's a command from God, but it is the the past two to three weeks have enabled me to go back through my life.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've been through notes, I don't do a lot of journaling, but I've been through uh notebooks and different Bibles that I've studied.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it has really, really brought to my mind how God has worked in my life and just made me truly thankful.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: So in addition to what Dominique said about don't sit with her, you know, when the opportunity comes, it's it's a wonderful opportunity.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So to get started, and I've been kind of surprised Dominique and I haven't talked.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um we didn't, but we have we have some similar stories.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um not the first part, but uh so I was born in 1951 into a large German Catholic family uh in the Oakland area of Topeka.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: I survived the 51 flood because but my parents, uh the house they lived in, was flooded when my mom was five months pregnant and they had to vacate.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: My paternal grandparents emigrated from Russia in the 1880s.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: They had 16 children.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: About half of them were born in Russia, the other half in the U.S., and my grandmother was one of them born in the U.S.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Only 10 of the 16 children that they had survived or grew to adulthood.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: From those 10, there were 60 children in my dad's generation.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have 41, excuse me, 45 first cousins and many more second cousins between my mom and dad's side.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I share this with you because to give you the feel for the community that that I had.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all around me was was family.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I am the oldest.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're good.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm the oldest of six children, three boys, three girls, and all of our names start with Jay.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Jo, Joanne, Jolene, Jo Jr., Janelle, Jay, Gerlin, and Jeremy.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: My name was selected, but then when my brother was born on my dad's birthday, then that started the rest of the Jays.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: My youngest brother was born when I was 21, and my youngest sister was only 13.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was married at the time.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: My folks were waiting for grandchildren.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And my daughter was born only 18 months after my baby brother.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: My mom and I babysat for each other.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: And my daughter and brother roomed together in college.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: My childhood was a happy one.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Mom worked until the third child was born, and then she became a homemaker.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: She was an excellent cook and an excellent seamstress.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: She made all of my clothes clear up through high school.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: Dad was a carpenter and a cabinet maker during my younger years and actually built the home that I grew up in.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: The holidays were big family events, and because of the large extended family, we always had weddings, funerals, or reunions to attend.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Our summer vacations were usually to Table Rock Lake and Branson before it became famous.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: We always went with extended family and had a lot of fun boating, fishing, swimming.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was baptized as an infant and attended church as far back as I can remember.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: That was back in the day when Mass was in Latin and the priest kept his back to the congregation.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: I attended Catholic grade school through eighth grade, made my first confession and communion in second grade, and was confirmed in seventh grade.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: During this time, and I might add, my mother made that dress, and my other two sisters wore it also.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: During this time, I attended Mass every day before school, in addition to attending Mass every Sunday and Holy Day as a family.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: I attended Hayden High School where my religious education continued.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: However, I never had a personal relationship with God.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: I just knew a lot of do's and don'ts, and that I had to do more good things than bad things to get to heaven.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: I always had a fear of death because of the unknown.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was an above-average student, a cheerleader, and very interested in dating and partying during high school, much to the disappointment of my parents.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: After I graduated from high school in 1969, I immediately began working for Southwestern Bell.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: I attended Washburn University and continued working part-time for two years.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I reached a point where I needed to declare a major, and because I was undecided, I took the semester off and worked full-time.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this was during the early 70s when the anti-establishment hippie movement blossomed, and I went right along with it.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: If I had a picture, it would be of me in my hip hug hugging bell bottoms with my leather-fringed poncho and a leather headband or bandana.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that that ended up carrying Claire through to some later years and some work that I did.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that that bandana was um, I probably still have it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: We also drove a 1960s VW bus.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: We thought we were pretty cool.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: At this time, I also began questioning whether there really was a God.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to partying with alcohol, I experimented with marijuana, but God was so good to protect me as I strayed and to keep my drug experimentation short-lived.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: In 1972, I married my high school friend of four years.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: When we married, I looked at it as the next step in our relationship, not as a lifelong commitment and most definitely not something that I sought God for.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of our friends were getting married, so why not us?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: We had the big Catholic wedding with the traditional dance called a Russian stomp.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Over the next two years, instead of growing closer together, we grew further apart.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of lived separate lives because I worked eight to five, including some weekends, and he worked three to eleven.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And about that time I found out I was pregnant.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: We were separated most of my pregnancy but got back together when our daughter was born.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: However, we divorced a couple months later.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Following my divorce, I did exactly what any counselor would tell you not to do, and I jumped into another relationship with a man who had also just divorced.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: We decided to get married, but my parents wanted us to have our marriages annulled in the Catholic Church so we could marry then in the church.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Our situations did not meet the criteria for the church annulment, so we just had a civil wedding.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because I married outside the church, then I could no longer receive communion.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: My husband was raised in the Presbyterian Church but had not been attending for some time and did not want to attend the Catholic Church, so we didn't attend any church.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: My second daughter was born a few months later, excuse me, a few a few years later.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Then after six years of marriage, the rebound, the magic of the rebound relationship began to unravel.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Marriage became more and more strained, and after seven and a half years of marriage, we divorced.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So here I am, twice divorced, two young daughters to care for, in the realization that I obviously don't know what it takes to be married.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I had little or no understanding of God's perspective on the marriage covenant.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: The thought never crossed my mind that I might seek his will for my life.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: I had not attended church for almost ten years.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: My oldest daughter attended Mass with her dad or grandmother during visitation weekends, but my youngest daughter wasn't attending at all.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I decided, with some strong encouragement from my mother, to start attending the Catholic Church again so I could take the girls.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: All of my siblings and their children all attended Catholic Church and schools.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: By this time, my employment at Southwestern Bell had reached 15 years and had become a career from operator services to telephone installer to manager.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: The salary, health care, and retirement benefits were good, and I enjoyed the work.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I thank God for his hand of provision that enabled me to support and care for my daughters.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: I first met Roger when I was installing a telephone in his office.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: He also worked for Southwestern Bell and had just moved back to Topeka after spending eight years in Dodge City in Wichita.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: He seemed like a nice guy, and I was glad when his phone worked.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: About five years later, we both ended up in a work group that was created as a result of divestiture or the breakup of the Bell system.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: When Roger and I started dating, I was very, very apprehensive.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: I was also he was also divorced after 18 years of marriage and had three teenage boys.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: I absolutely did not want to make another mistake.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I did not introduce him to my girls, nor did I meet his boys for quite some time.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was a slow process to build our relationship and develop trust after the trauma of divorce.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: After much discussion and soul searching, we were married by a retired minister in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1988, and we celebrated our 30th anniversary last April.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: When we married, the oldest son was already his oldest son was already married and had a son, and his twins were in college.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: My daughters were in seventh and first grade.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Boy, was that a hurdle to get over with the drama of raising girls versus boys.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: The first years were filled with lots of adjustments as a blended family.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't much love between the boys and the girls.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: The twins came home from college their first summer, and that was the end of that.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Roger had his work cut out for him as a stepfather.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I thank God for his wonderful disposition and patience.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: He developed a good relationship with the girls as well as their dads and has been a loving and supportive stepfather to them.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: In addition to our five children, we've been blessed with 13 biological grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: We have family gatherings at our house on a regular basis.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: We are a blended family, yet divided, because his boys went to K-State and my girls went to KU.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: Shortly after we married, Roger brought me to TBC.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: He had attended a small church that had disbanded and several members moved to TBC.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: The first time I was actually trembling when we came to walk in these doors.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: I had never stepped foot in a non-Catholic church.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I remember Roger telling me it was very non-threatening.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that was easy for him to say.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I knew the traditions that were expected at Mass, as Dominique alluded to, you know, kneeling, standing.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I knew all that, but I didn't know what to expect when I got here.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: However, I was so at ease listening to the worship music and message.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Every time we came, it was eye-opening, with Nat leading the worship, and the music and lyrics really moved me, and Jim's messages inspired me.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: We also brought Roger's Bible with us, and I remember one time I was trying to find a scripture that Jim was preaching on.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: I was in the New Testament, and it was in the Old Testament, and I wasn't that familiar with the format of the Bible, so Roger just kind of reached over and he kind of flipped it to the right page, and there was someone sitting on the other side.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, well, that's not going to happen again.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I started memorizing or at least understanding what was New Testament, what was Old Testament.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: We continued to attend only occasionally the first couple years.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: But little by little our attendance increased, and we started bringing the girls on weekends that they were with us.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: During this time, God introduced me to Patty.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was when she and Nat sang a song together.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like she had the little light around her.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I could feel God fishing for me at this time.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then he used the Thanksgiving service in 1996 to set the hook and start reeling me in by filling my heart with a desire to really know him and the Bible.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: When the women's Bible studies for the winter of 97 were announced shortly after that, it included Experiencing God by Henry Blackby, and it was led by Patty.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: God gave me the courage to sign up even though I was petrified because I knew nothing about the Bible.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was a monumental step.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: During the first class, Patty explained we'd watch a video, have a group discussion, have small group time.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: We were allowed to pick our small group leader, and God put June Murphy in that role.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I first met June a few months earlier when she slipped in late for service and sat in the empty seat beside me.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: The very next Sunday, she sang with the worship team and blew me away.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: I wished I'd gotten her autograph.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: When it was time for prayer during our small group, June would start and then she'd say, Okay, when you're finished, just squeeze and pass it to the next person.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: We were holding hands, squeeze and pass it to the next person.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: During the entire 12 weeks, the entire class, I passed on prayer and just squeezed the next one's hand.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot, but I could not pray during that time.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was a very different prayer from the prayer I was taught as a child.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: That was a pivotal time in my spiritual journey.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I began having study and prayer time before work each morning, and I used two Bibles.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: One was a New Believer's Bible and an NIV for use with the study.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: The New Believer's Bible had a section in it called Cornerstones, Foundational Truths of Faith, and then one called First Steps, What to Do After You've Accepted Christ.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: God knew it was exactly what I needed to open my spiritual eyes.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I also started listening to Chuck Swindall, Adrian Rogers, and David Jeremiah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was a very, very dry sponge that soaked up all that God sent my way, and I loved every minute of it.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Sometime during the first few months of 97, I prayed the sinner's prayer and committed my life to Christ.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was able to sit at the Southwestern Bell table at the mayor's prayer luncheon that year, and when they prayed the prayer, I prayed it again, and I signed the card and said I had, so I used that as my official born-again experience.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was hooked on Bible study in the desire to draw closer to God.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Following that first study, I selected whatever Patty was leading, Pursuit of God by Tozier or a Beth Moore study, and I attended one every fall and winter.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: In 1999, Patty encouraged me to be a small group leader.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: I felt so inadequate, but how can you say no to Patty?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Or I mean God, when she had when she had taught me that God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I agreed and took another what I thought was a monumental step.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing happened in 2001 when I had the opportunity to be a spiritual growth leader, which included a facilitate, which included being a facilitator, not a teacher, just a facilitator.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: In 2002, I began helping in the single mom's ministry started by Kim Fertig.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: While I was in that position, Roger and I attended a single parenting conference in 2005 and were introduced to divorce care.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: We had virtually no guidance when we went through our divorces, so we felt that God wanted us to use our experience to help others.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: We started facilitating divorce care that year, and tomorrow we will start our 14th year.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Since we have both experienced divorce, we can share our own set of mistakes, hurts, and restoration.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: I want to put in a little advertisement for the class.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: The curriculum of divorce care is based on videos which include topics like anger, depression, loneliness, new relationships, financial survival, kid care, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: The material is biblically based and is presented by over 50 pastors, counselors, and authors.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: The gospel message is also presented.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: We are very thankful that Jerry and Polly Milliken have joined our team four years ago, and we all have been so blessed by this ministry as we get to know the participants as well as the children as we see God work in their lives.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: I also had a wonderful opportunity to go on three mission trips to Camp Karas in the Philippines, where which is a children's camp ministry started by Corey Verge.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was able to help with the building projects and do outreach to the families, especially the children.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Traveling to a country like the Philippines is humbling and makes one realize how very, very, very fortunate we are in this country.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: We have since joined Corey's e-team or encouragement team and to pray for her, Arnold, and her ministry.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a real blessing to see Corey's faith lived out and how God has worked and provided and continues to work in her ministry.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you all know that as you study God's Word, certain scriptures will jump off the page at you, some more than others, and at different times depending on what's going on in your life.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So one of my first ones was Psalm 40, verses 1 to 3.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: I waited patiently for the Lord, but I read it as the Lord waited patiently for me.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: All those years.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: He turned to me and he heard my cry.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: This verse describes exactly how I felt about the mess I'd made of my life, how selfish I was, and how I had turned my back on God to the point of not believing he even existed.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And in Ephesians 2, 8 and 10, Dominique also mentioned, for it is by grace you've been saved.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: And not of yourselves, it's a gift.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Patty taught me that when you discover you have believed something that is not true, you need to confess it and replace it with the truth.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this was a biggie for me.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: This was a biggie for me.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: All my life I believed I was in control of whether I went to heaven.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Realizing that it was impossible for me to earn my way to heaven and that it was a gift that God gives freely, humbled me and made me forever thankful.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I clearly understand that my good works are for his glory and not for my salvation.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Jeremiah 29, 11 and 12, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Then you will call on me and come and pray, and I will listen to you, and you will see me and seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: This verse not only made me thankful, but hopeful that no matter what I'm going through in life, he is in control and he is with me.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: It also reminds me that God wants me to seek him, to pray to him, and to do it with all my heart.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: A few years ago, we took a trip to Colorado in September, a remote part of Colorado.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: And while Roger was fishing, I spent time going through my Bible and pulling out scriptures that I had underlined over the years.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: I felt God telling me these were verses that he wanted to bring to my attention and that I should be more intentional about living my life by them.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote them in my notebook as I will statements.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: For example, I will do everything without complaining, so that I will be blameless.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: And pure, or I will not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I shared this experience with my dear friend Audrey, who's sitting back there.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: That Christmas, she gave me a very special gift.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: She had asked Roger for my notebook and the memory card from my camera.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: She took my I Will verses and overlaid them on my pictures and put them in this album.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: This is actually the album.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So here are a few of them.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I will be still and know that you are God.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: I will come, I who am thirsty, I will come to the waters.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: I will follow the example of Christ.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And this one just kind of makes me think that it can be a difficult road, but it's not impossible.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then this one that goes back to my first verse that's that's the rock he set my foot on.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I have enjoyed using this during my devotional time.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would also like to remember, uh mention people that God has used in my life on my spiritual journey.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, I just thank God for my husband, who he greatly used to remove the scale from my eyes.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: I remember one specific time early in our marriage when I still displayed my 1970s feminism attitude that women are equal and don't have to answer to their husbands.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: He very gently said, Well, the Bible says that wives are to submit to their husbands.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to be kidding.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: A few years later, God highlighted Ephesians 6.22 for me, but the part that he really hit me was that it also says, as to the Lord.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Roger's parents were also very impactful in my life.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: While we were dating, I found out from a friend that Roger's dad actually had retired early from the postal service and became a lay minister in the congregational church.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: By the time I met him, he had already retired, but occasionally when we visited them in Sabbath and attended their church, his dad would give the message.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: They never once preached to me, but just quietly demonstrated God's love by the way they lived.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: His mom passed away three years ago at 95, and his dad died the day after last Christmas at the age of 98.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Charles was a man of prayer, and without a doubt.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know he prayed for me from the time he met me, and God heard him.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: I miss the newsletters that he shared occasionally with messages of spiritual encouragement.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've already mentioned how God has used Patty from the very beginning and continues to do so.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Through prayer groups I have participated in, as well as women I've gotten to know during Bible studies, God has used them to keep me accountable and grow in my faith.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: And currently that includes Connie.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: In closing, I would like to stand before you and confess that I am a sinner saved by grace.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have sinned in the past, and unfortunately, because of my sin nature, there will be sin in my future.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: During my spiritual journey, God has shown me very clearly how Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection paid the price for my salvation.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: I have also learned how important it is to accept God's forgiveness and forgive myself.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: If I don't, then I'm basically saying that I am higher than God.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: It took me a few years to realize that before I was really able to forgive myself.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: He has also shown me that Satan is alive and continually trying to deceive and destroy everything in its path.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: That includes lies about my past, about my weaknesses, and that I should live according to the world.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I have most definitely learned that I have a choice in what I believe.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do I believe who God says I am, that I'm his child, that I'm loved, that I am forgiven, or do I believe Satan, what who he says I am and what he wants me to do?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: My desire is to always choose to believe God, who he says I am, and I thank him and praise his holy name for the work he's done in my life.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.