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Posture of Faith · Fostering Faith

• 0:01
  Welcome back to Fostering Faith. You guys didn't
• 0:09
  tell me the rest. And so in this episode we're
• 0:13
  going to bring bringing on a guest and her name
• 0:16
  is Faye and we also have Gia is back for this
• 0:20
  episode and so we were in the car ride going
• 0:23
  to the parade and they were talking about posture.
• 0:28
  And so we are going to be talking about our posture
• 0:31
  as it relates to transitioning from junior high
• 0:35
  to high school and what life can throw at us.
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  And so how is your posture? It's not just sitting
• 0:41
  about up straight. It's about preparing your
• 0:43
  heart, your attitude, and your mindset to walk
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  with Jesus no matter what middle school or high
• 0:48
  school throws at you. And so let's get into it.
• 0:52
  And so why were you guys talking about posture,
• 0:54
  Faye? Because back when I was like 11, I had
• 0:59
  spinal fusion surgery, which means that I have
• 1:02
  metal rods in my back. So I cannot bend my back
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  and I have perfectly good posture all the time.
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  And so you were making fun of Gia because she
• 1:12
  slouches all the time and you have perfect posture.
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  And as that was a major surgery for you, Gia,
• 1:21
  what was it like to have a friend that had like
• 1:22
  major surgery? It was very boring. I was out
• 1:27
  of school for like, how many months? Six? Six?
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  It felt like six. Like four. And I literally
• 1:33
  had to carry this one little doll around because
• 1:36
  it was like her child. Patricia? Yeah, Patricia.
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  And I was so bored because that was the only
• 1:43
  person I talked to in class. I was so bored.
• 1:47
  Bored, yes. I know. What did it? I mean was how
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  did you how did you face your fear? Would you
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  were you scared of surgery? Honestly, I honestly
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  was not scared I don't know why but like being
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  like the fear of it wasn't like What it was like
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  more like the aftermath that I was scared of
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  than like the actual surgery and what was it?
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  What was about what was like that? The aftermath
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  it was horrible. I Whoo, I laid in my bed for
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  like three months because I couldn't like get
• 2:20
  up on my own or do anything. And it was just
• 2:24
  pain all the time. Oh my goodness. Okay. So what
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  what got you through that? I mean, that's something
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  huge for an eighth grader, seventh grader to
• 2:33
  go through. Sixth grade. I think it was sixth
• 2:37
  grade. Okay. So that's that's huge. So as there's
• 2:40
  there's listeners on here that are middle schools,
• 2:43
  junior highers, even adults. How did you get
• 2:46
  through the pain? Oxys, a lot of pain pills.
• 2:54
  And I think I just slept through a lot of it,
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  honestly. But I mean, just like. Having people
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  there to support me really helped and like having
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  a good community Mm -hmm. So we talk about that
• 3:08
  a lot on here is about having like community
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  that is that surrounds you Just because you were
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  out of school. Did you from do you feel like
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  you your friends kind of stuck with you? I think
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  so Yeah, did they? Like, get you stuff? Did they
• 3:22
  try to make you feel better? Did they call you?
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  Or did they like, oh, Faye's out of the picture,
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  so we're not gonna talk to her no more? No, I
• 3:28
  definitely got a lot of stuff from my friends.
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  And so, yeah, so community is huge. What else
• 3:36
  did you learn through that experience? What did
• 3:40
  I learn? I learned. I think just like... Wait,
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  I don't know what I learned. I know I learned
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  something. Like going through it just like change.
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  I feel like it changed me a lot as a person like
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  Mentally to like I feel like it made me a better
• 4:00
  person somehow. I don't I don't know how that
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  works I think just going through stuff like makes
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  you Like understand more. Mm -hmm about other
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  people's situation So maybe gave you more empathy.
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  Yeah towards people that have pain Yeah, cuz
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  they were have you ever felt pain like that before?
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  No Do you ever want to feel like pain like that
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  again? No. What do you feel as a friend? What
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  do you feel like as a friend? What did you do
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  for her? What I do for her? Took care of her
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  child. Scared people because I told her that
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  she was in the vents. That scared some people.
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  That scared the little kids. And I just called
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  her and texted her a lot, even though she didn't
• 4:47
  want to call me. I learned that. So maybe that
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  also taught you that you could do hard things.
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  Yeah. And now that your back is fixed, how do
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  you feel? Now, I feel kind of like, I don't really
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  know, because I still have a lot of back pain,
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  and I still have a lot of things I can't do that
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  are going to be like that for probably as long
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  as I live. But I feel definitely going through
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  that makes me feel like, Oh, like this is not
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  as hard. Like I went through that. I can do this
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  too. So I guess it gives me like a confidence.
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  But also too, you guys did it for long -term
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  benefits. Yeah. And so what would be the long
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  -term benefit? Well, I got it because if I didn't
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  get it, then my scoliosis was going to get worse
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  throughout my life and it would start causing
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  like serious problems. and mainly for the pain,
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  but I still have a lot of back pain. So I don't
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  really know what that takes that far. But I mean,
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  just thinking about how, cause like, you know,
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  if it got so bad that it would like, you know,
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  make stress on your heart, stress on your lungs
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  and things like that. So sometimes we have to
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  go through things painful in life to prevent,
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  you know, other things. And so the things that
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  you guys go through as teenagers to get like
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  rooted in the word. to help you later on in life,
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  do you feel like those things are kind of worth
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  it? Yeah. And so what are some things that you
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  guys are worrying about going into high school?
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  People, sports, grades, just a lot of things.
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  I don't want to hear about grades because eighth
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  grade I didn't try. I tried my hardest and then
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  I gave up that last quarter. I was done. My grandma
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  paid me too much to not try. Yeah, if you paid
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  me for my grades, I would keep all A's. I would,
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  pay me. Just get a rich grandma. My grandma's
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  not rich. No, and you're not getting paid for
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  grades. What's one thing that you're excited
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  for next year? I'm really excited to like talk
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  to like have like more than one class and like
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  switch classes and that get to meet new people.
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  Yeah. Does that one thing make you nervous? What
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  one thing the one thing that you just said that
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  switching classes and being in a huge school
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  compared to our little school Honestly, no because
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  I mean it's like I kind of have an advantage
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  because my brother was a freshman last year and
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  I know that he really liked high school and so
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  Honestly, I'm really excited for it. I Feel like
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  like I know a lot of people though. Yeah, like
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  a lot of friends So what do you guys okay? So
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  what does it mean to have a posture of a posture
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  to posture your heart towards Christ as you walking
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  through a busy high school life it means to like
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  Try to surround yourself with the right people
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  because you can definitely end up in the wrong
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  crowd in high school really easily and So going
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  into high school. I want to really like be careful
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  with that and like have my heart heart posture
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  good Yeah, and always keeping him first like
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  one girl Like she was telling us like how like
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  if she didn't want to do her math homework like
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  in class She just brought a Bible everywhere
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  with her and she just like did all that just
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  like keeping God first and everything like that
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  I feel like that's what probably gonna do because
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  I hate math, but So, how do you keep your faith
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  strong when there's so much going on new friends
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  sports clubs People how do you guys how are you
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  guys gonna set the temperature for your heart?
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  Like how are you gonna? What are some things
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  you guys are gonna do? Just keep on doing what
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  I'm doing and like thinking about like how much
• 8:48
  life -changing like camp was and everything that
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  I went to yeah and like just keeping it how I'm
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  doing it like not making it feel like a chore
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  but like having fun with it and like doing different
• 9:01
  stuff with it and like just keeping it like that.
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  So what are you gonna do? Just like doing everything
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  trying to like do everything I do in Christ and
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  like I Like right now I have a good group of
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  friends that you know earlier today me and Gia
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  had a little Bible study which was nice so like
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  things like that and like I Don't know so what
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  do you do? What was your Bible study? We just
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  watched a little YouTube video and uh -huh So
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  what'd you guys learn? We learned that God answers
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  prayers in ways that you may not expect, and
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  that even if it's not in the way that you ask
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  for, that He knows what's better. And we shape
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  God how we think. We ask God for certain things,
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  and we stay in a little box, and we think that
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  it's God putting it out in our life, but it could
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  be the devil because we're shaping God how we
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  want to see God and everything like that. And
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  we can ask for better, do better. You can ask
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  for this, but if that's not your plan, can you
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  give me better? And that's kind of how I approach
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  it, too, is that it is about having a God that
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  has no limits, no bounds. Hey, this is what I
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  want, but please do not limit what I'm saying.
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  I want your will to be done, but this is what
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  I want. So either please do this or make it better.
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  And so you know the outcome that I went out of
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  this, but I don't don't pick my small minded
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  opinion. Like I want your best. Was there ever
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  a time where you felt like you were drifting
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  from Christ? Yeah, definitely. When? Definitely
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  during like the school season when it started
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  getting like my schedule started getting really
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  busy and then I just like found myself like.
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  I would wake up, go to school, go to practice,
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  come home, and then I would just be so tired
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  that all I could do was shower and go to sleep.
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  And I just wanted to make time for Christ in
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  my schedule, which was not good at all, because
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  I had drifted definitely pretty far. OK, so then
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  what happened as you drifted? I just got far
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  from Him, and I started feeling more unhappy
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  in my spiritual life. summer started I've like
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  ever since summer started I've been like I feel
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  like I've been really good about like reading
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  my Bible and talking to God a bunch and in for
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  you do you Definitely during like sports cuz
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  I I'm always so like into my sports that like
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  all I do is breathe my sports and like all I
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  do is put my heart into my sports So what helped
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  to bring you back? Like I feel like I was more
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  free even though I had like basketball like almost
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  every day but like Like my basketball coaches
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  like really also went to God so like when I'm
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  riding in the car with him he was like Gio we
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  about play some fire music and he puts on some
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  like gospel songs And like he starts jumping
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  up and down So summer kind of brought you guys
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  back and you guys went to camps. Oh, yeah the
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  summer Yeah, did you guys get anything from camps?
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  Yeah So what's one thing that you've brought
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  to faith into your friendships without being
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  like weird or preachy? What's one way that people
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  could bring their faith into friendships as they
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  meet new people in the high school without like
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  being weird or like preachy? Just like saying
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  like if someone's doing something wrong like
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  hey Is that like right or like trying to like
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  lead people in the right direction? Like telling
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  them like what's like good to do and like everything
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  like safe like they like cuss like hey, what
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  do you think? That's not something to say or
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  something like that and like lead them in the
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  right direction without like bringing God into
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  it Yeah, I feel like you could like pray for
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  people and like pray over them or just like Just
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  show Jesus through what you do. Yeah So since
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  Fay is like kind of the life of the family whenever
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  she's here Could you guys like roleplay that
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  could you? Do something that you've seen other
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  people do In one of you could take the lead of
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  like that's that's not what we do Okay, oh my
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  Gosh, did you see her outfit? Ew, it was so ugly.
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  We don't say that. Her outfit actually eats.
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  I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, OK,
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  I'm sorry. I thought you were about to say, oh
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  my god. I was about to say something right there.
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  I would never. And so just like whenever someone's
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  dissing somebody else, whenever someone's like
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  backbiting somebody. I was just saying not a
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  word, no more. No, you got that from me. You're
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  really hip and cool. And so just kind of stopping
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  those people in their tracks, letting them know
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  what your kind of boundaries are and something
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  that you're going to tolerate. And what happens
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  if they're just like, you're a loser. You know,
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  do you walk away? Do you stay? I don't really
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  care what people think of me. I feel like walk
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  away. I walk away because I know if I stay, then
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  I'm going to. cause some unholy actions. Bam,
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  bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Okay. And so how can
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  we stay true to God when friends might not understand
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  or believe the same things? Being firm in your
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  faith is a really big part because I know that
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  I have some friends who don't personally believe
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  and staying firm in my faith and like... no matter
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  what they believe, still showing them who crisis
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  through me is a really like big deal to me and
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  like something I really try to do. Okay, so can
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  you be friends with unbelievers? Yeah, like what
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  I have learned like over the past like couple
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  like months, I've like made new friends and like
• 15:20
  that we go to pick up and everything like that
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  and like just like asking, oh hey, do you want
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  to ride to this thing? We can take you and everything
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  like that. I feel like that's brought them a
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  lot closer because like Sometimes like their
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  excuses that I don't have a ride. Yes, you do.
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  You are your rides us. We're taking you anyway
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  Like I just say like hey, we're coming to pick
• 15:40
  you up. And I love the I love the idea of The
• 15:47
  kids always coming to us for rides, I love the
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  fact that it was You know, we started picking
• 15:56
  up BJ and then we have Hunter and then we have
• 16:01
  Jameer then we have Prince and then we have his
• 16:04
  sister and it may be like we need to get a suburban
• 16:07
  instead of And then we go in and we have a boy
• 16:15
  that's late we have Jameer that's late So shout
• 16:18
  out Jameer if you're listening to this which
• 16:20
  you should be and he brings his friend Taz And
• 16:27
  so we may nickname him Taz And then fluffy And
• 16:38
  it was about he was at a friend's house and says
• 16:40
  and hey, I got to go to church He invited him
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  in we were sitting in group last night and two
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  kids kind of just walked in and Jamir just invited
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  me into class So he was so hyper last night,
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  but I mean it was just a way to stay true, you
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  know to your friends and It was a fact that he
• 17:00
  invited his friends in And he, Tez didn't really
• 17:05
  talk much, but he was invited. He was, you know,
• 17:08
  we saved him a seat at the table. So what's something
• 17:10
  that's fun that you guys can do to stay connected
• 17:14
  in your youth group? Like just going, because
• 17:18
  like once you go to youth group, like my youth
• 17:21
  group is fun because like once like we're done
• 17:22
  talking and everything, we like do like stuff
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  after like we make bracelets. We just have fun
• 17:27
  and talk and like. like there's food and like
• 17:30
  there's drinks and like it's all so fun and like
• 17:33
  big Sunday that our church is so fun because
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  so many people come and like we all just like
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  play games together. We all like football. We
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  just like just know each other. I feel like that's
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  why I like I'm not really scared for high school
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  because I know I have a lot of like friends that
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  like come to my church and like I know and they
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  like kind of know me. So like I feel like that's
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  why I'm not really scared because there's like
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  a lot of people from high school that come to.
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  And so we hope that your church has a small group.
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  If not, talk to your pastor, talk to your leaders
• 18:00
  about doing a youth group, junior high. high
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  school, separate them. We are so fortunate to
• 18:05
  have such great leaders in our community that
• 18:07
  we separate the high school into girls and boys.
• 18:12
  And then we come together on Sundays and do a
• 18:14
  coed girls and boys to see what you guys have
• 18:17
  learned throughout the week. We separate the
• 18:20
  junior high. And again, they have high school
• 18:22
  girls. And then we come back together on Sundays
• 18:24
  for coed teaching. And we also have big Sundays
• 18:27
  where junior high and high school come together.
• 18:29
  We have lesson, we have worship. Um, this week,
• 18:32
  uh, last week we were, um, uh, me and Gia painted
• 18:36
  a field, uh, for flag football. And so your girl
• 18:40
  had to do some math and we had to make a miniature
• 18:42
  football field. We had stars, uh, Gia made a
• 18:46
  big, uh, court, like center line thing, um, that
• 18:50
  had our, um, city hope youth in the middle of
• 18:53
  it. And I think the kids really had fun. It looked
• 18:55
  really good. We had cheerleaders. We had scorekeepers.
• 18:59
  We had a ref. We had coaches. We had two local
• 19:02
  of the kind of big deal quarterbacks come back
• 19:06
  and they helped coach. So shout out to. Yeah,
• 19:13
  Javon. to being a quarterback and Mr. Green,
• 19:17
  he came back to help coach these kids. And so
• 19:21
  also too, I mean, if you're in college, if you're
• 19:23
  an elder, if you're a mom or your dad, you can
• 19:26
  always come back to your roots as kids and allow
• 19:29
  them to see how God has shaped your life. And
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  so what's one piece of advice that you'd give
• 19:35
  middle schoolers about themselves going into
• 19:38
  high school? Don't change who you are to fit
• 19:42
  in with the crowd. And surround yourself with
• 19:46
  the best people you can. Don't do things that
• 19:49
  you know you shouldn't to be cool. And just represent
• 19:53
  Christ. Okay. Mine is don't leave your friends
• 19:59
  to be like with people that you already know
• 20:01
  that are more popular than you're like doing
• 20:02
  once. Because like they're the most people that
• 20:05
  like you can stand firm with because you've been
• 20:07
  with them for so long. And I feel like you would
• 20:10
  be like... Know that's like one of my like biggest
• 20:14
  pet peeves and like just stand firm like if you
• 20:17
  see something going on Just walk away next like
• 20:19
  you didn't see it I Mean like that like people
• 20:25
  are inviting you to do like just walk away. So
• 20:27
  you don't like it tempted to do anything like
• 20:29
  that, okay? What would be something that you
• 20:33
  would wish someone had told you before you started
• 20:36
  this walk with Jesus? Once you like actually
• 20:40
  like get into it and like you actually start
• 20:42
  believing It gets really hard like there's gonna
• 20:46
  be the most like biggest storms in life That
• 20:49
  he is sending your way because he wants your
• 20:52
  faith to grow into him. I wish someone told me
• 20:54
  that Honestly kind of the same thing as Gia but
• 21:00
  just like the things that I know the things that
• 21:03
  I personally gone through in my life have Like
• 21:07
  I've definitely got things from them and I have
• 21:10
  worked through them. Thanks to Jesus and that
• 21:14
  he's just going to get you through whatever he
• 21:16
  sends you because he he sends you things that
• 21:20
  he knows that you can't fight alone. So rely
• 21:22
  on him whenever you go through something. Yes.
• 21:26
  And so I think that we cannot have a testimony
• 21:28
  without a test. We can't, you know, tell people
• 21:32
  how. it is if we don't walk through it ourselves.
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  We can't. That was a bar. Can't have a testimony
• 21:37
  without a test. Okay. Okay. And so we really
• 21:44
  do. We can't tell somebody how hot the furnace
• 21:47
  is if we've not been in the furnace. Oh, another
• 21:49
  bar. Okay. Are you getting that from Chad GBT?
• 21:54
  No. Are you sure? Yeah. Okay. And so, I mean,
• 21:58
  that's just, that's life lessons. I mean, so,
• 22:01
  because I mean, I can't stand up there and preach
• 22:03
  something that I've not been through myself.
• 22:04
  And also that gives you street credit because
• 22:06
  if you don't, I mean, I can't tell somebody,
• 22:09
  like even in clinic is, you know, someone comes
• 22:10
  in walking in and they're in there and they're
• 22:12
  two, through 200 pounds to 250. And then they're
• 22:15
  like, Oh, it must be nice because you're skinny
• 22:17
  and da da da. But I was 300 pounds at one time.
• 22:21
  What? You were 300 pounds? 300 pounds? I think
• 22:23
  you're lying. I didn't know that. Yeah, when
• 22:25
  I delivered her, I was 300 pounds. It's because
• 22:27
  of the fat baby. Yeah, you were. No, but I was
• 22:30
  calling myself. I mean, being on 100 units of
• 22:33
  insulin, so I have diabetics that come in and
• 22:35
  saying, you know, you don't know what it's like.
• 22:37
  Absolutely, I do. And they're like, oh, my gosh,
• 22:39
  if you can do it, maybe I can, too. So that gives
• 22:41
  me street credit to say what it's like to be
• 22:44
  300 pounds, to be on 100 units of insulin a day,
• 22:46
  to have a blood clotting disorder. Yes, because
• 22:49
  of you. And so having those things, having those
• 22:56
  testimonies to tell people And that you can make
• 23:00
  it through there and so you've heard that you've
• 23:03
  heard these girls And their postures on their
• 23:05
  heart towards God as they are stepping into high
• 23:07
  school What's one way that you can posture your
• 23:09
  heart for next year? And so our challenge this
• 23:11
  week is so I want you to spend five minutes praying
• 23:13
  about how what God wants for you in this next
• 23:16
  season of life. And so we know that the stories
• 23:21
  are first day jitters and you can get through
• 23:24
  it. Making or losing friends can keep your identity
• 23:27
  in Christ. Balancing school, sports and faith.
• 23:30
  What is your... Prayer and how can we do it differently
• 23:35
  from middle school to high school? And so we
• 23:38
  have several scriptures that we want you to look
• 23:40
  up this week And so first Samuel 16 7 says the
• 23:43
  Lord looks at your heart You have Colossians
• 23:46
  3 2 that says set your mind on things above and
• 23:49
  not on earthly things And then we have Matthew
• 23:52
  5 16. It says let your light shine before others
• 23:56
  And so we would love for you to guys to pray
• 23:59
  to pray us out this week and so who wants to
• 24:01
  pray? I'll say I got this okay Dear God I pray
• 24:06
  for everybody listening to this that they can
• 24:08
  just take the message to heart and really learn
• 24:10
  to it and I pray that they and I pray that they
• 24:13
  just like they connect it and I just pray for
• 24:17
  the rest of everyone's day or night that it's
• 24:21
  just amazing and I pray for a heart heart postures
• 24:25
  as we go into high school to keep us faithful
• 24:28
  to you and on your path and I pray for everything
• 24:32
  good, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.
• 24:35
  Amen and amen. We hope that you guys loved this
• 24:37
  episode. It was fun having Faye on. We hope that
• 24:41
  she comes back for other episodes of Fostering
• 24:43
  Faith as she is over at our house. We hope that
• 24:46
  you guys have an amazing week. We love you. Goodbye.
• 24:50
  Bye.