Latest / Arise Women of God / Trusting Jesus Through Life, Loss & Hard Endings

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Trusting Jesus Through Life, Loss & Hard Endings · Arise Women of God

• 0:00
  Have you ever worked on some project and felt like you were completely done with it and just before you turned it in, you felt God's whispering to you, you need to change something in there.
• 0:14
  And you go, oh man, that's what happened with today's podcast.
• 0:21
  And I'll tell you a little bit about what God needed me to change.
• 0:26
  Stay tuned Welcome to Bible Women in Bathrobes, the podcast where faith meets comfort.
• 0:36
  Join us Tuesday mornings as the gals from Women warriors of Light and their guests don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
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  From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount, we explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood, and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments.
• 0:59
  Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from Scripture which empower women today Hell and welcome to another episode of Bible Women in Bathrobes.
• 1:15
  I'm your host, Tamara K.
• 1:16
  Andersen, and I had a super interesting experience as I was editing last week's podcast about Jesus being the author and the finisher of our faith.
• 1:26
  Well, he is also the author and finisher of this podcast because as I was finishing last week's episode, I got the audio version of it downloaded, I got the final video version of it downloaded, and the day before
• 1:39
  I uploaded everything, I felt God whispering, tamara, that bonus section that you recorded after the podcast needs to be in an actual podcast.
• 1:52
  And I thought, well, how do you want me to do that?
• 1:55
  And so he kind of showed me in my mind how I was supposed to cut one of the stories at the end and tack it onto this episode and, and let that bonus episode.
• 2:06
  Because sometimes we record bonus episodes after the podcast of things that we wish we could have said but we ran out of time.
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  And so that is what today's episode is.
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  It is God saying, and you need to hear this too.
• 2:22
  And so I thought I'd kick us off with a couple of cool Bible verses.
• 2:29
  The first one is found, of course, in Genesis chapter one, because we cannot talk about Jesus being the author and finisher of not only our faith, but our lives without looking at the Bible as a beautiful example of
• 2:45
  God being the author and finisher.
• 2:47
  So the very first verse in Genesis says, in the beginning, God created.
• 2:52
  And we've already talked about him being a creator and we went all into that.
• 2:56
  But what I wanted to point out this time is that here we are in the first verse of the Bible saying God created.
• 3:04
  God was there at the very beginning of this world before man was created, before Our earth was created, and he had a vision of how all of this would play out.
• 3:16
  And now I'm going to flip to the very end of the Bible in Revelation, and I'm going to go to the very end.
• 3:25
  And there in chapter 21, he's kind of been talking in these last few chapters about Satan being bound and the millennium and how all this is going to play out.
• 3:37
  And then we get to chapter 21, and he's talking about a little bit about life after we die.
• 3:45
  And I love these verses because that truly is the end.
• 3:48
  Often in our minds, we think the is the end of our lives, and that's not true.
• 3:55
  There is so much more that we have to look forward to.
• 3:59
  And in a minute, Tiffany is going to tell you a story about her mother and how difficult it was growing up with her because she had some extreme trauma.
• 4:09
  And then we're going to tack on that bonus episode where I tell a story and then Tiffany tells a story.
• 4:15
  And we kind of tie it up.
• 4:17
  But we tie it up by saying that for each of these stories in particular that are coming up, the end doesn't come until the next life.
• 4:28
  If you just finished it at the end of these people's lives, it would truly be a tragedy.
• 4:33
  But here is in.
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  If you go to Revelation, chapter 21, verse, I'm going to start halfway through verse three, it says, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
• 4:46
  That's talking about Jesus.
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  So it's basically saying, Jesus is with men and he will dwell with them.
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  How beautiful is that?
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  And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
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  And he shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes.
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  And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying.
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  Neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
• 5:14
  And then it says in verse five, I will make all things new.
• 5:19
  And he says, right, for these things are true and faithful.
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  And so I love these beautiful images of Jesus being at the end and us being able to be with him at the end.
• 5:31
  He wants John to write these things so that we know this is part of our story as well, that we remember that death is not the end.
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  And then he says in verse six, he said unto me, it is done.
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  I am Alpha and Omega.
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  The beginning and the end I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of water, of life freely.
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  And he that overcometh shall inherit all things.
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  And I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
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  For my daughter, I'm gonna tack on there.
• 6:05
  So I love that here we are at what we know as truly being the end where we get to live with God happily.
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  Right now there are people who have not followed him, who, in verse eight, you'll.
• 6:20
  You can read a little bit more about that.
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  But.
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  But I love that he who overcometh so we have a chance to overcome with Jesus all things.
• 6:32
  And I love that.
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  So let's get to these stories.
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  So growing up with a mom who had multiple personalities, there was a very violent alter.
• 6:41
  And there were times where I would run to my room when that violent altar would come out because he was very abusive.
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  He threatened us multiple times, chased us with butcher knives.
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  And so there were times where I would go and I would sit and I would close my door and I would barricade myself again, my body against the door and wedge myself between there and the bed so.
• 7:01
  So that my mom couldn't open the door.
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  And in those moments, God didn't take me out of those moments.
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  I was a child.
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  He couldn't take me out of those moments and to move through them because there was nothing else I could do.
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  But in those moments, I remember singing, I'm trying to be like Jesus.
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  And I would just feel his love and I would feel his arms around me.
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  And I knew that in those moments, in those moments of my story, he could not change my story.
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  I had to move through it.
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  But he walked it with me.
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  He comforted me in those moments, he strengthened me.
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  He reminded me to love my mother.
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  He reminded me that I was loved, even though I did not feel love.
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  And he reminded me I used to sing the Sun.
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  I'll come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang until tomorrow.
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  And as I would see those, I would tell myself, tomorrow is going to be a better day.
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  It's going to be okay.
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  I just need to get through this moment.
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  And then tomorrow it would be a different altar and it would change and I would be okay.
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  So sometimes when we are in those really hard, trying moments that we feel trapped and we feel like we aren't going to be able to get out of them if we give him the pen and just sit with
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  him and just be still in our heart and find his peace within us and bask in his love.
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  He will take us into tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day.
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  And I never thought then when I was a little child going through what I went through, that one day I would write a book about it and that I would have people all over the world Reach out to
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  me and tell me how much it strengthened them in their own lives.
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  And that is.
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  That is what happens in our trials when we become allow him to be author with us.
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  He will take us to places we never imagined with the experiences and trials that we have, and he will allow us to use them for our good and for his glory and for the good of others.
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  And that is why suffering happens in stories, because it strengthens us and it gives us the ability and experience to help others who are also suffering in their stories and give them a strength, strength to pull out of
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  them.
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  So I just felt that I needed to share that.
• 9:28
  Okay, now let me give you a little bit of a backstory on this upcoming story.
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  Several years ago on my Stories of Hope and Hard Times podcast, I interviewed a woman who talked about growing up in a wonderful home where her mother was her rock.
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  She loved her, she taught her, and she.
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  She helped her so much.
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  And then she had to have knee surgery.
• 9:56
  And because of that, she became addicted to painkillers, which kind of took her down a really, really dark hole for many, many years.
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  On my last podcast, Stories of Hope and Hard Times, I interviewed a woman whose mother was struggling with addiction.
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  And she struggled with her for years and years and tried to get, you know, she started when she was younger.
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  You know, finally she was older, she was married, and her mom was still struggling with addiction.
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  And.
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  And one day her mom passed away, right?
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  And she came on the.
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  This episode with me, and she said, tamara, I have prayed since then and said, God, what.
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  What else could I have?
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  Could have?
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  What else could I have done?
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  And basically his answer to her was, I've got her now.
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  Her story is not over yet.
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  Her story's not over.
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  You've got to trust me that I've got her.
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  She's progressing, and, you know, someday you'll be with her again.
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  And so I think that's one thing we also need to remember, is that death doesn't mean that the story is over.
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  The happy ending often comes in the next life, Right?
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  Yeah, that's.
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  That's so true.
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  It reminds me.
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  So my mom died of a prescription drug overdose.
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  That.
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  That she actually.
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  Yeah, she had addiction.
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  She was addicted to prescribed medication.
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  And so she died of a prescription drug overdose when she was 49.
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  And so that was really hard, too.
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  Like me thinking, what can I do?
• 11:32
  What could I have done?
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  But here's the beautiful thing.
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  As I prayed about it, on the morning of her funeral, my sister, my older sister had a dream about my mother and in the dream, my mother was dressed in white and she said, don't cry for me.
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  I can finally be the mother that I always wanted to be and I am happy.
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  And that has saved me so many times in the morning process to recognize that in this life she was broken.
• 12:03
  She was very broken.
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  She had been abused for 15 years by her father, her own father, which is why she.
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  She had been sexually abused, which is why she dissociated from reality in the first place.
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  And in this life, the circumstances she.
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  Her story was a tragic story and her happy ending won't be wasn't until she died.
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  And she told in that dream I can finally be the mother that I always wanted to be.
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  And that's the beauty of, of knowing that this life is more, that there's more than just this life and that it does not end with death.
• 12:42
  And I think that that's so true and so important that we need to understand that death is, is opening a door to a whole different understanding of and learning and story content continuation.
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  And I think that's beautiful.
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  Thanks for sharing.
• 13:00
  Well, friends, this is the end of our episode.
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  I hope that there's something that you heard in our episode today that has helped you, that has strengthened you in your own story and that has given you the to invite the Savior to be the author and finisher
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  of your story, to walk with you as you partner with him in creating a life and a story that is beautiful.
• 13:27
  And remember, if you are struggling right now, those struggles, Christ is walking with you and that as you allow him to have the pen, he will make something beautiful of those challenges in your life, he will create something
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  beautiful out of them greater than you ever thought possible.
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  And sometime back you may be in chapter four, like Jen said, but in chapter 26, I promise you, there is joy and there's happiness ahead.
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  And let that be hope for you in your.
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  Let it anchor you in Him.
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  And so, my friend, I have interviewed several parents over the years on my previous podcast whose children have died by suicide.
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  And one of the most comforting and tender and sweet experiences that they often shared as well was that Jesus has them and that their story is not finished at death.
• 14:27
  That is the sweetest reminder to all of us that that verse that I read at the beginning is indeed true, that there will be no more death and no more sorrow and no more pain.
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  And when they are at that point, Jesus can help them overcome.
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  And I love that that he is not done with them or their story that he can help them overcome as well.
• 15:01
  So My friends, as we wrap this bonus episode up, I want you to remember that the end is not until the next life and those people who have had tragic things happen that they can have their happy ending
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  too as Jesus helps them overcome.
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  And I love to remember that Jesus is the Great Judge and so we don't have to worry about what others think about our loved ones who have passed on.
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  He will be the Judge in the end.
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  Until that great day, my friends, hold on to that hope.
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  Hold on to Jesus.
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  Cling to him as he is clinging and reaching for you with open arms.
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  Come unto him as you labor and are heavy laden, and he can give you rest and peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come.
• 16:08
  Thanks for tuning in to Bible Women and Bathrobes, hosted by Women warriors of Light.
• 16:14
  We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you.
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  If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood.
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  Just a friendly reminder.
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  All opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are.
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  Until next time, stay faithful and may your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.