Latest / Fostering Faith / Little by Little

Transcript

Little by Little · Fostering Faith

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  Welcome back to Fostering Faith as we are ending our episode 10 for our second season.
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  We just want to thank you guys so much for tuning in for season two and we are so excited
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  to have just kind of this like little break as we kind of regroup and as we go into a
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  very busy season and we will come back for season three with Fostering Faith and so we
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  just ask you to subscribe, leave a review, leave a comment and we just appreciate as
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  you guys have been walking on your faith journey with Fostering Faith.
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  And so what are we going to talk about today Gia?
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  Little by little.
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  And so what do you mean by that?
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  How we can spread God's word little by little to just people that we know and everything
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  like that and people we don't know.
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  And so big transformations can happen like little steps by little steps and so there's
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  a book, Atomic Habits that I have read three times actually and it's about making little
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  habits and they turn into big impactful changes.
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  Do you feel that you are the type of person that needs little changes or are you going
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  to rip off the bandaid and want to do all the things at one time?
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  Little by little definitely.
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  Why?
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  I feel like if I do some later and then I do some like later later and like I could
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  just get done like just later and just keep on like getting it done like do it a little
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  bit and then just like do it the next day or something.
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  Like just whittling away at a problem.
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  Yeah because what's the rush?
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  To get it done.
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  But I do think that you bring up a really good point about because faith is not a sprint.
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  It's a marathon and so it's just you know one step at a time.
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  It's one mailbox by mailbox.
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  I mean if you're looking at it kind of progressively and I think that's a really good way to actually
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  think about it because I'm the kind of the ripoff the bandaid kind of person don't you
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  think?
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  Like I just I can't do something just a little bit like I have to be fully fledged in.
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  So what do you think the benefit of walking in certain situations a little bit by a little
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  bit?
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  What are the benefits of that?
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  I feel like the benefits from it.
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  It could be like from if you like say you're going to do something I feel like the benefits
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  from it like you could just.
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  You feel like you don't get overwhelmed?
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  Yeah.
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  Versus I think you've said before too that you have all this stuff to do and you don't
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  know where to start and so you got overwhelmed and didn't do anything of that nature.
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  And so I think that you know in society now we have a lot of people that feel like and
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  have been had that diagnosis of like ADD and ADHD and they have like all these things coming
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  at them but they can't organize their thoughts and so it's just so overwhelming that they
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  don't know where to start so they don't start anything and how do you feel like people have
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  that approach when they think about God?
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  I feel like there's so much in the Bible to start with where they don't know where to
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  start and how to get started so they just don't start because I feel like that's a very
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  big and overwhelming thing to like add to your life if it could be.
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  Do you think that youth feel overwhelmed whenever they look at the Bible?
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  Yeah for sure because if you just look at it there's just so much to like do with it
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  and like where do you even start?
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  Like you can start Genesis but then you're like you keep on reading you're like this
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  is not really interesting but if you go to a different chapter like Revelation or Psalms
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  like oh this is really interesting so like it just depends on like where you start from.
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  With that kind of foundation too just that having you know a little bit by a little bit
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  whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful with much and that's in Luke you
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  know 16 10 and just having those little impactful like little blurbs in the Bible and I think
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  that I hand out in my office oftentimes because people are very overwhelmed with like I ask
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  them hey do you read scripture and they're like no and so I give out little daily breads
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  that have just a devotion and just a one verse little nugget of wisdom and they are like
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  oh my gosh I love these and they're like their pocket size they put them in their backpacks
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  they put them in their purses and it's just one little page every day and those little
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  daily breads walk you through three months and so that's something that you can keep
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  in your car that's something that you can keep and so that little gives you just that
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  little bit to make you maybe you want to explore further in that chapter and then there's also
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  scriptures that talk about you know it's just small beginnings there's a chapter in Zechariah
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  and in chapter four verses 10 what's it say do not do not despise these small beings for
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  the Lord rejoices to see the work begin talk and then so the values of small efforts and
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  so Zechariah says do not despise these small beginnings and so you have to start somewhere
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  and so just memorizing what's the shortest verse in the scripture isn't it like Jesus
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  what yeah he wept and so just by those two words you've memorized scripture and so you
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  can put that under your belt and have that snowball effect and saying I've memorized
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  scripture because we know how important it is to have scripture written on our heart
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  isn't it mm-hmm and then you have Galatians 6 9 and what does that say let us not grow
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  weary do not in doing good for the dew season will reap if we do not give up and so just
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  keeping and just sowing those seeds of kindness and faith and so while we could be very strong
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  in our faith and I did a YouTube video on this because we had an incident where I had
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  went to Walmart and this gentleman was sitting outside and he looked to be dead and so I
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  got out of my car and went to go check on him and it was the the worker at Walmart was
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  kind of checking them out too and you could just smell the alcohol on him and so she was
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  yelling at him like gap get up you know get up and he was like not moving and so I smelled
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  the alcohol on his breath but I knelt down and and I shook him and see that he's breathing
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  I had it he had a pulse and he wasn't he wasn't responding and so like I whispered in his
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  ears I said como estas and so please know I do not know Spanish but that's was what
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  came to my mind and so that's what I said and he said CC and so like she was yelling
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  at him and he didn't understand and so we can yell Jesus to people but if we're not
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  speaking their language they're not going to get it and so we can just yell and yell
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  and yell but if we are not speaking with kindness and and not just overburdening people I think
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  that you're going to have a smaller impact in their life if you would just gently you
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  know go and and just sprinkle Jesus on them versus trying to put a garden hose all over
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  them and so what are some practical ways to change people's hearts?
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  Just being kind to them every day and then just like smiling at them and praying for
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  them and like just like giving them motivation and everything like every day.
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  Yeah small little gestures make huge impacts you know just checking on your friends that
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  the guy that does 75 hard he like he gets every every day he takes you know he does
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  his water and then he sends three encouraging text messages to his friends and so just having
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  maybe like a friend circle like you check on people on a weekly basis and just you being
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  kind to somebody that you're you meet at Walmart or in class in your sports on the the speed
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  on the field on the court and they can just be like oh my gosh like she is so nice and
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  what you do behind closed doors and in first Thessalonians 5 16 through 18 what's it say?
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  The doors always pray continually give thanks to all circumstances.
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  And so what goes on behind closed doors no one knows but you and so you have that friend
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  you have that family member that could be lost but you are praying for them and they
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  don't even know it and you can see the seeds that you plant a little bit by a little bit
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  I mean how many years was I praying for my brother to be saved I can't even know I was
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  praying for him but I was praying behind closed doors for God to change his heart and what
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  did we get to experience this year?
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  We baptized him yeah we got to baptize him we got to he got to meet the Lord after walking
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  with you know us several years and just you know just encouraging him to come to church
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  encouraging him to to read scripture you know walking through his his identity and just
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  his questions his concerns and was I maybe a little forceful at times absolutely because
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  salvation is so important I mean because it really is heaven or hell if you believe in
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  Jesus or you don't I mean and so the people salvation is is very serious to take and so
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  do you have any kind of personal stories about testimonies of how you've made little impacts
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  or someone's made a little impact in your life with your faith?
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  Um I feel like one of my friends and like she just continuously like posts on TikTok
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  about how like just like these things about God I feel like that really has like impacted
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  me and how like to view God and everything and how like she has the courage to post on
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  TikTok with everyone on it about God and everything I feel like that's one.
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  Okay and you know we have scripture that really inspires people too we have Proverbs 16 19
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  in their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps and so we
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  know that God is with us we know that God is is making our steps big little I think
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  that any step that you make towards God Jesus accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior is
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  a huge step for your family because you may make that little choice to walk into a church
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  whenever you're 16 but that huge step in faith and your family is going to make an everlasting
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  impact on your life and so what you may think as a small thing it can make a huge impact
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  in your life what are some actions that people could take today to help them make that little
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  first step?
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  Um praying to God obviously because like you have like you need to ask Him everything before
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  like you do it basically I feel like just like praying and talking to God like hearing
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  from Him is like a really big way to like make that choice.
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  And downloading maybe the YouVersion Bible app walking into a church in your town or
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  in your city and just walking in and just asking for a pastor you know and and just
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  pray just where you're at right now you know call out to God I mean just so many times
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  in scripture it talks about calling out to God and asking Him hey you know if you're
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  real like I want to hear from you I want a relationship with you and you know I think
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  that we have so many opportunities to talk about Jesus to other people and the more people
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  that we talk to them about I think that those are going to plant little seeds and those
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  are going to be little seeds.
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  You have any questions this week?
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  I do.
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  Um how can we change someone little by little but like trying to just be like low key about
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  it like just like bringing up in a conversation?
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  And so for me I like to try to put Jesus into the majority of our conversations and so if
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  someone's feeling like down or they're depressed or they're stressed out or you know you meet
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  them where they're at just like Jesus met people where they were at.
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  He went to the tax collector's house.
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  He went to the Samaritan woman at the well and so you know like I understand that you're
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  stressed out and I sympathize with you but this is how I deal with it and then and then
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  you can talk about how you deal with stress in your everyday life how you pray how you
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  give it over to God and and what He's done for you because those testimonies are huge
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  in people's lives.
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  My second question is so I know you have like a TikTok and everything like that what was
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  like your first thoughts to posting your first video and how like you thought it was going
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  to change people?
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  And so that's funny that you said that today.
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  I mean God is so good.
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  He's so funny.
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  And so if you go back and see on our TikTok account and so we have a Fostering Faith TikTok.
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  I have a Tracy Foster 124 TikTok and then I have a big YouTube and we have a bigger YouTube
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  page at Tracy Foster and I posted my very first TikTok because I had so many patients
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  say I need your inspiration.
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  I need your positivity.
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  I need you.
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  I need to talk to you every day and so I can't call thousands of people every day to encourage
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  them and so what would be a way to do that and so we get to I post a TikTok every morning.
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  I pray and then we do I do like little motivational videos and then we have a YouTube page where
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  we post the same kind of content shorts and just encouraging words about working out and
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  God and just life experiences and just motivation just to be able to encourage other people
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  and so it's just one person at a time.
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  It's just God has just placed those people on those pages and I just had a lady today
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  was just and she said the same exact thing.
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  She was like I need you every day and I'm like well hey you know you can listen to our
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  podcast and I pray every day online and so just getting that word out there and we can
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  see you know tens of thousands of people get to listen and there was one person that posted
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  today he was like I have no idea why I'm watching this at midnight but God and it was exactly
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  what they needed to hear at midnight half across the country and so it was just God
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  knows what you need and it was just those little words that 60 second prayer that could
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  potentially change someone's life.
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  So my next question is so why is it hard to like tell people about God like why is it
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  hard for them to like believe us about God?
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  Because you can't see them.
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  People have a hard time believing in they say that they have a hard time believing in
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  things that they can't see but you are what you surround yourself with and so how are
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  you going to believe in something that you've never been taught?
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  And so if they've been been told their whole life that there is no God that there is all
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  these reasons of why that why they shouldn't believe in God or there's no such thing as
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  God and so it's easy to believe something that you've been taught.
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  I mean what happens if I would have came up and told you tomorrow oh I changed my mind
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  there is no God.
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  What would your thoughts be?
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  And I gave you all the rationale of why all the atheists or why all the Muslims or why
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  all the Hindus or the Buddhas or you know like why they don't believe God.
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  I'm like okay I changed my mind you know like would that make sense to you?
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  No.
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  Okay so that's the same thing as us going up to them and saying all the things that
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  they believed their whole life and trying for us to for them to see our way of thinking.
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  It's just it would be really difficult for someone that did not grow up into it to believe
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  in that and so you have to have faith.
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  My next question is why does like God use us instead of like him not telling like them
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  about himself?
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  But he what do you mean?
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  Like why does he use us instead of himself which he can talk to us?
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  I have never heard God audibly and so as we are empty vessels as we've surrendered our
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  life to him to be used by God to me is no better gift to be used by God to change someone's
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  heart because we are his sons and daughters and for us to be able to to change someone's
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  life and so I think that we I believe that we go through certain things in life to have
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  street credit and so we get to walk through disease and hardship and like these things
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  so that people can visibly see someone that they can tangibly touch and know that like
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  they got through this because they had faith in God.
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  They prayed to God and they had you know their faith is in Jesus and so we they can tangibly
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  see because he knows our hearts he knows our desires he knows our wants and so can he talk
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  to people in certain ways?
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  Absolutely.
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  There's so many different encounters of God but for me he's never visibly talked to me.
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  We do have the Holy Spirit and you can get visions and he can give you messages through
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  scripture and he can use other people because I think that he knows that we like to see
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  things for our own eyes just like the burning bush just like the pillars at night and so
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  those have never read scripture there are several acts that are visible where God was
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  leading people and so you have the burning bush with Moses you have the pillars during
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  the night and day that led the people and so because he knows that we are visual people
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  and we like to see things that we can literally see and so I think that it's because he loves
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  us so much that he allows us to be used so people can really see his miracles.
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  That's what I think.
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  That's all the questions I have.
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  Okay and so we are going to end this season two and we want to thank you guys so much
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  for tuning in this season and we are going to have so much to unpack for next season
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  as we are still just kind of unfolding into this whole podcasting territory and we just
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  want to we just appreciate everything that's happening we just want to remind you guys
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  that we do have merch for sale in the link below into the show notes and we are going
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  to come back refreshed and full of different types of podcasts for next season.
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  Diya do you want to pray us out?
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  Yeah dear God thank you for everything I pray for the sick and hurt that they'll feel better
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  I pray for all the people listening and that they'll just have a great rest of their week
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  and I pray that for the people that don't know you that someone that does know you will
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  tell them about you and Jesus I pray amen.
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  Amen and so we do want to encourage people to pick up scripture talk to someone if you
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  have questions also to leave us comments and we are more than happy to try to answer what
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  we can and we are not theologians we don't know everything and that's okay and so this
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  is a marathon in your journey to faith it's not a sprint and that's okay so you guys are
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  loved and thank you so much for tuning in have a great week.
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  Bye.