Latest / Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast / Daring to Hope When Your Heart Is Shattered: Trusting God Through Pain and Loss

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Daring to Hope When Your Heart Is Shattered: Trusting God Through Pain and Loss · Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

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  Speaker 1: When you are crushed and brokenhearted, where do you go
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  Speaker 1: to find hope? Jesus said that in this life, we
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  Speaker 1: will have pain, heartbreak, and trials. So how do we
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  Speaker 1: deal with our pain? What does it look like to
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  Speaker 1: walk with God in our grief? Our guest today has
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  Speaker 1: experienced her share of pain, including a traumatic brain injury,
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  Speaker 1: as well as cancer diagnoses for two of her daughters.
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  Speaker 1: In her suffering, Linda boldly asked God tough questions like,
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  Speaker 1: how do I keep going?
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  Speaker 2: And God, where are you?
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  Speaker 1: And how do I keep trusting? Today, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be talking about finding hope when your heart is shattered,
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  Speaker 1: trusting God through pain and loss. Welcome back to your
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  Speaker 1: hope-filled perspective, where it's always our goal to restore hope,
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  Speaker 1: renew minds, and empower listeners to live in your God-given identity.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dr. Michelle Bankson, and I'm delighted when
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  Speaker 1: you choose to spend a few minutes of your week
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  Speaker 1: with us. Today, we're going to be talking about finding
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  Speaker 1: hope when your heart is shattered. To start off this episode,
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  Speaker 1: I just want to remind you of the scripture that
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  Speaker 1: comes out of Lamentations 3. It's verses 21 through 24. Yet,
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  Speaker 1: I still dare to hope when I remember this. The
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  Speaker 1: faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease.
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  Speaker 1: Great is thy faithfulness. His mercies begin afresh each morning.
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  Speaker 1: I say to myself, the Lord is my inheritance. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: I will hope in him. We're going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: finding hope when your heart is shattered right after this
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  Speaker 1: break for a word from our sponsors. Welcome back to
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  Speaker 1: your hope-filled perspective, where today we're talking about finding hope.
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  Speaker 1: when your heart is shattered. And joining me for this
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  Speaker 1: heartfelt conversation is Linda Dillo, who is a best-selling author
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  Speaker 1: and a respected Bible teacher and conference speaker. You may
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  Speaker 1: know her from her book, Calm My Anxious Heart, but
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  Speaker 1: she has a new book, Hope for My Hurting Heart.
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  Speaker 1: Linda is the mother of four children. including one now
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  Speaker 1: with Jesus, and she's the grandmother of 10. She and
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  Speaker 1: her husband, Jody, make their home in Monument, Colorado. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the program, Linda.
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  Speaker 2: It's a privilege to be here.
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  Speaker 1: Linda, frequently as authors, our books come out of our
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  Speaker 1: own hurts and pain and trials. How is that true
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  Speaker 1: for you?
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  Speaker 2: We don't raise our hand, do we, Michelle, and say, okay, God,
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  Speaker 2: I'm volunteering for both my daughters to have cancer. Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: And yet that's what got allowed in my life during COVID.
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  Speaker 2: And I had one daughter with cancer on the East
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  Speaker 2: Coast and another daughter with cancer on the West Coast.
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  Speaker 2: And I was in Colorado in the middle. And if
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  Speaker 2: you remember, and I'm sure the listeners remember, everyone was
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  Speaker 2: wearing masks and we were told not to fly. The
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  Speaker 2: world was shut down. And I had two daughters on
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  Speaker 2: the the opposite ends of the United States with cancer,
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  Speaker 2: with life-threatening cancer. You think when people have... liver cancer,
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  Speaker 2: that they must weigh 300 pounds and not eat well.
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  Speaker 2: And my daughter, Joy, made her own almond milk at night.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, she was the most health-conscious person that I
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  Speaker 2: had ever known. Both my daughters were. They ate only
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  Speaker 2: organic food. They were so health-conscious. And yet both of
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  Speaker 2: them had cancer. And I was shocked. here in Colorado,
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  Speaker 2: on my face before the Lord, worshiping with the song
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  Speaker 2: New Wine, asking God to plow new ground and saying, Lord,
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  Speaker 2: I don't understand why, but Lord, Use this for your
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  Speaker 2: glory in some way. But God, these are my daughters.
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  Speaker 2: And my heart was broken. And I think some of
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  Speaker 2: us have this picture that as we get older, maybe
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  Speaker 2: our life's going to get easier. We wish. We wish.
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  Speaker 2: And I haven't found that to be true. So we
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  Speaker 2: ask him, where is hope? And how can I live
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  Speaker 2: in hope when it seems like I'm going down a
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  Speaker 2: hope slide from doubt and despair and discouragement down into depression?
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  Speaker 2: And I don't want to do that. And as things
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  Speaker 2: got worse and worse with my daughters, it seemed that
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  Speaker 2: I was slipping down into depression. And I grabbed my Bible.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, all right, Lord, I have gone to
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  Speaker 2: you before when things were bad. And I turned to
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  Speaker 2: Lamentations and read what you read when you started this.
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  Speaker 2: And he said, after he grumbled, after he grumbled a lot,
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  Speaker 2: but he said, I'm going to dare to hope anyway.
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  Speaker 2: I am going to dare to hope. And then really,
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  Speaker 2: Some of the most beautiful things that we read in
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures are there in Lamentations 3. I bathed myself
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  Speaker 2: in Lamentations 3, and I went to a passage that
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  Speaker 2: I love. And that's when Paul, the Apostle Paul in
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  Speaker 2: 2 Corinthians 4, was discouraged. And he had been through
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  Speaker 2: so many trials, and yet he said, I will not
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  Speaker 2: give up. I will not give up. I will not
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  Speaker 2: give up. And I said, God, I can't give up.
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  Speaker 2: I have to keep trusting you. And at the end
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  Speaker 2: of 2 Corinthians 4, he said, we can't give up
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  Speaker 2: because we live not by seeing. We live by believing
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  Speaker 2: because our eyes are on our great God. And so
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  Speaker 2: I grabbed my Bible and I got on my knees
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  Speaker 2: and I said, Holy Spirit, I'm going to be here
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  Speaker 2: before my Abba Father comes. and Jesus my Savior, and you,
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  Speaker 2: blessed Spirit, and I'm going to listen, and I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to wait, and I'm going to weep, because when you're
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  Speaker 2: in pain, and I think sometimes as Christians, Michelle, I've
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  Speaker 2: had so many Christians say to me, well, I thought
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  Speaker 2: since I was reading my Bible, and I'm following the Lord,
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  Speaker 2: that it's not going to hurt. Well, I'm sorry, pain hurts,
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  Speaker 2: and when your daughters, who you love, who you gave
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  Speaker 2: birth to, who you've loved for all these years, are
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  Speaker 2: near death, it hurts. It just, your heart is broken
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  Speaker 2: in two, and you are begging God for their lives,
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  Speaker 2: and you are lifting them up to God and telling
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  Speaker 2: them that they belong to him, but you're also begging
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  Speaker 2: them to spare them. and let them live and to
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  Speaker 2: heal them. And you're surrendering your life and their lives.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm saying, God, look at me. I've never had cancer.
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  Speaker 2: I would like to have cancer. Would you give it
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  Speaker 2: to me, please? You're bartering with God. You're begging God.
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  Speaker 2: You're saying, please give me the pain. But God, I surrender.
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  Speaker 2: And Michelle, what God had me do when I was
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  Speaker 2: sliding down that hope slide into depression, He said, okay, Linda,
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  Speaker 2: you need to have a declaration of hope. And I'd
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  Speaker 2: like to share my declaration of hope with you.
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  Speaker 1: Would you?
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  Speaker 2: I would. And it basically, I said, there were three things. God,
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  Speaker 2: use my pain that you would be glorified. And I
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  Speaker 2: had scripture with that. And God said, Would you comfort
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  Speaker 2: other people? Would you comfort me? And would you use
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  Speaker 2: me to comfort other people? From 1 Corinthians 1. And God,
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  Speaker 2: I just trust you that you're going to use this
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  Speaker 2: in some way. God, would you be glorified? But don't
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  Speaker 2: waste my pain, God. Don't waste it. And would you
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  Speaker 2: comfort me? Our prayers. I just, it was like, I just,
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  Speaker 2: I put a stake in the ground and I wrote
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  Speaker 2: three things down and I said, this is my declaration
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  Speaker 2: of hope.
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  Speaker 1: That declaration of hope is so powerful. I went through
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  Speaker 1: a very painful, difficult time about a decade ago, Linda,
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  Speaker 1: and that was my prayer as well. Lord, I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to go through this, but if I have to
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  Speaker 1: go through it, make it count for something.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Use it. And it doesn't take the pain away, does it, Linda?
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  Speaker 1: But it shows us the good and redemptive nature of
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  Speaker 1: our God.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: That he would bring beauty for ashes, that he would
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  Speaker 1: encourage others through your book and my books. Linda, you
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  Speaker 1: learned that hope does not come from a change in
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  Speaker 1: your circumstances, but from a change in your thinking. Will
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  Speaker 1: you share what you learned through that?
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  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Instead of concentrating on what was going on around
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  Speaker 2: me and the things going on around me, every day
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  Speaker 2: there was something negative. It had to be that I
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  Speaker 2: was not going to give up, that I was going
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  Speaker 2: to keep my eyes on God. That's what Paul said.
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  Speaker 2: I had to look up. I had to look at him.
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  Speaker 2: And I had to say, I won't give up. I
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  Speaker 2: have a right above my head. computer is a sign
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  Speaker 2: that says, I will always have hope from Psalm 71, 14.
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  Speaker 2: And I will, you are my hope, God. My hope
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  Speaker 2: will be in you. It can't be in my circumstances.
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  Speaker 2: And so that was what I pledged to him every
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  Speaker 2: morning on my knees. If I was standing up, there
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  Speaker 2: wasn't any hope. But if I got on my knees
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  Speaker 2: and opened my hands and surrendered to him, I got
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  Speaker 2: my perspective right because my eyes were lifted up to him.
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  Speaker 2: And I said, I will always have hope.
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  Speaker 1: What a beauty. perspective and a reminder that we can't
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  Speaker 1: find hope in this world and we can't rely on ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: But when we're on our knees and looking to our
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  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, that's when the hope returns.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Friends, we're going to take a quick break for a
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  Speaker 1: word from our sponsors, but stick with us because when
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: we come back, Linda's going to share more about finding
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  Speaker 1: hope when your heart is shattered and how to trust
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  Speaker 1: God through pain and loss.
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  Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to your Hope-Filled Perspective, where my guest today
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  Speaker 1: is Linda Dillo, and we are talking about finding hope
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  Speaker 1: when your heart is shattered and learning how to trust
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  Speaker 1: God through pain and loss. Linda, you say in your
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  Speaker 1: book that you're convinced that the greatest way to pour
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  Speaker 1: hope into your hurting heart is to sink deep into
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  Speaker 1: the love of God. But you also say that God
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  Speaker 1: doesn't want us to start with doing. And for a
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  Speaker 1: recovering type A driven perfectionist, for a long time, that
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  Speaker 1: was my go-to. So what do you mean by that?
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  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 2: I think that we live in a very pragmatic society
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  Speaker 2: and that we feel like we've had a good day
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  Speaker 2: if we can check things off our list. And if
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  Speaker 2: I go off for two days to be alone with
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  Speaker 2: the Lord, what am I going to check off my list?
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  Speaker 2: What am I going to check? I think God is
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  Speaker 2: very pleased. Jesus is pleased. The Spirit of God is pleased.
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  Speaker 2: But what have I checked? And It's important to do
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  Speaker 2: things because as women, we have lots of things to do,
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  Speaker 2: but I really think we've got it backwards because being
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  Speaker 2: on our knees and being still before God and developing
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  Speaker 2: an awareness of his presence and knowing his voice and knowing...
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  Speaker 2: Knowing the peace of God that passes all understanding. I
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  Speaker 2: walked around the house when I found out that my
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  Speaker 2: second daughter had cancer. And I just kept saying, God,
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  Speaker 2: thank you that I know your word. Thank you that
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  Speaker 2: I know your presence. Thank you that I know your voice.
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  Speaker 2: And thank you that your presence wraps around me like
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  Speaker 2: a warm blanket. And that when I fall to my knees,
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  Speaker 2: I know I'm enveloped in you. And that you taught
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  Speaker 2: me how to nestle down into your presence. Because being
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  Speaker 2: with you, my beloved, is the most important thing in
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  Speaker 2: my life. And if I didn't have you right now,
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  Speaker 2: I would fall apart. Because you hold me. And I
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  Speaker 2: have your peace. Because Jesus, you said, I am your peace.
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  Speaker 2: And I have to know that right now. Peace can't
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  Speaker 2: be in our circumstances, Michelle. It has to be in
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  Speaker 2: him and us. It can't be in what the doctors
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  Speaker 2: say because one of my daughter's reports got worse and worse.
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  Speaker 2: And like you said, she's in heaven. She didn't answer
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  Speaker 2: the prayers that she be healed. She died at age
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  Speaker 2: 52 and is in heaven. Do we miss her terribly?
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  Speaker 2: Does her daughter wish that she could be there for
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  Speaker 2: her wedding? Of course. I'm wrapping up China to send
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  Speaker 2: to her and save for her wedding. Do we all
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  Speaker 2: wish she could be there? Of course we miss, but
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  Speaker 2: we miss our precious joy. There is peace in knowing
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  Speaker 2: that she's with Jesus and that we will see her.
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  Speaker 2: But that does not mean that we don't miss her.
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  Speaker 2: My daughter, Robin, who still has repercussions from her cancer
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  Speaker 2: and from the chemo, that she had horrible reactions to
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  Speaker 2: that sent her to Sloan Kettering Hospital. Did you know
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: that chemo can almost be as bad as the cancer?
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  Speaker 2: And it was for her. Our family is still suffering
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  Speaker 2: for her from some of the repercussions that she is facing.
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  Speaker 2: But God is good. And through all of this, our
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  Speaker 2: family has come closer together. So we thank him for that.
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  Speaker 2: But does that mean it's been easy? No, it's been
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  Speaker 2: very difficult. And I, like I said, I did not
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  Speaker 2: raise my hand and volunteer. And I would never volunteer
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  Speaker 2: for it. But the Lord, he is so wonderful. And
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  Speaker 2: intimacy with him is what life is all about.
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  Speaker 1: Linda, because you've been through grief and loss, will you
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  Speaker 1: share what you learned about the steps that you suggest
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  Speaker 1: in dealing with any loss?
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  Speaker 2: I think that we in America, have stopped understanding what
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  Speaker 2: it means to lament. And we think that worship is
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  Speaker 2: only happy, clappy, wonderful, let's praise God. And that's part
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  Speaker 2: of worship. But worship is also lament. And it's weeping
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  Speaker 2: before God. And it's getting on our knees. And it's
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  Speaker 2: being honest about our pain. And it's saying, God, I hurt.
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  Speaker 2: And it's I don't understand. And will you help me?
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  Speaker 2: This is what David did. He cried out to God
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  Speaker 2: and he was so honest and God met him and God,
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  Speaker 2: he said, God, help me, help me. And I think
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  Speaker 2: that we shove too many things down and you ask some, oh,
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  Speaker 2: I'm fine. I'm just fine. That's how Christians in America
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  Speaker 2: are supposed to be. I'm supposed to be fine. Well,
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  Speaker 2: they're not fine. And We need to let God bring
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  Speaker 2: the pain out so it doesn't fester down inside us.
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  Speaker 2: And we need to let God heal it. We need
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  Speaker 2: to let God heal it. And I wept and wept
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  Speaker 2: and wept before the Lord. And he comforted me just
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  Speaker 2: like he comforted David and he comforted others in the scripture.
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  Speaker 2: I read two books on lament. I asked God, I
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  Speaker 2: just went and said, God, I don't know how to lament.
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  Speaker 2: Would you teach me how to lament? And he did.
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  Speaker 2: He taught me how to lament and how to be
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  Speaker 2: honest before him with my grief. And now I'm teaching
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  Speaker 2: other women how to do that. I feel like I
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  Speaker 2: did some study about the Protestant Reformation, and I feel
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  Speaker 2: like it goes back to that. So many good things
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  Speaker 2: happened then, but one of them was that there was
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  Speaker 2: a stoic attitude that we push feelings down, and we
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  Speaker 2: don't allow God to come into our hearts and our
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  Speaker 2: souls and our feelings and heal us from the inside out.
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  Speaker 1: We're often very ready for a quick fix. We don't
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  Speaker 1: want to feel the pain. We want to move beyond
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  Speaker 1: it quickly, but it's hard work to let God come
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  Speaker 1: in and heal what hurts us.
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  Speaker 2: It's much easier just to say, I'm fine. But then
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  Speaker 2: five years later, you're not fine. And you're on anxiety
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  Speaker 2: medicine and you're on sleep medicine and you're, it, it, it,
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  Speaker 2: affects you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And it's hard to
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  Speaker 2: get over grief and pain. Whether the grief is the
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  Speaker 2: death of someone you love, whether it's a divorce, whether
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  Speaker 2: it's being fired from your job, there are all different
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  Speaker 2: kinds of grief and pain. And everyone has some kind
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  Speaker 2: of heartbreak and pain. And lament is a kind of worship.
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  Speaker 2: It's worship in the minor key. We need to learn
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  Speaker 2: to worship in the joyful key and in the full key,
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  Speaker 2: but we also need to worship in the minor key.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're so right. In my book, The Hem of
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  Speaker 1: His Garment, Reaching Out to God When Pain Overwhelms, we
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  Speaker 1: spent a whole chapter talking about lament.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to get your book.
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  Speaker 1: We're just not taught what that looks like. And it
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  Speaker 1: sounds like a heady word, but let's face it, pain
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  Speaker 1: is a heady experience. friends we're going to take a
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: real quick break for a word from our sponsor but
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: i want you to come back as we finish the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: conversation with linda about trusting god through pain and loss
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: we'll be right.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Back everyone experiences pain at times it can manifest physically
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  Speaker 3: emotionally relationally or spiritually it can follow tragic accidents great
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: loss sudden betrayal, or unexpected and unwanted change. Often, pain
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  Speaker 3: is temporary, but what do you do when it isn't?
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  Speaker 3: When pain won't go away, healing does not come, and
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  Speaker 3: grief and hurt settle in to stay. Drawing on her
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: experience of chronic pain in her years as a board-certified
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bankson provides a countercultural perspective on pain,
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  Speaker 3: offering hope without any false promises or or empty platitudes, Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Bankson unwraps the complex emotional aspects of dealing with pain.
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  Speaker 3: She gives you permission to question God, helps you identify
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  Speaker 3: the lies you've believed about your pain, and reorients your
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  Speaker 3: perspective based on the truth of God's word. Each chapter
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  Speaker 3: ends with a recommended playlist, reflection questions, and a prayer.
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  Speaker 3: Your pain may not change, but your experience with it can. Dr.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Sandra Dalton-Smith, physician, best-selling author, and a host of the
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: I Choose My Best Life podcast, had this to say
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  Speaker 3: about the hem of his garment.
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  Speaker 2: Dr.
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  Speaker 3: Michelle Bankson is honest and transparent. and she gives the
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  Speaker 3: reader permission to ask hard questions and practical guidance on
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: how to seek God during times when you feel the
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  Speaker 3: most wounded, a beautiful gift for every person living with pain.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: Holly Gerth, best-selling author of What Your Mind Needs for
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Anxious Moments, says, Pain is inevitable, but enduring it alone
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  Speaker 3: is optional.
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  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Michelle Bankston is a voice of hope who will speak
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  Speaker 3: into your struggles, a helping hand who will point you
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  Speaker 3: to Jesus, and a wise guide who will lead you
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  Speaker 3: through what you're facing so you can embrace more of
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  Speaker 3: what our good God has for you. Pick up a
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  Speaker 3: copy of The Hem of His Garment for you and
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  Speaker 3: a friend wherever books are sold.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Your Hope-Filled Perspective. Let's talk about Habakkuk 2.4.
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  Speaker 1: The just shall live by faith. And you talk about
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  Speaker 1: that Habakkuk is a book that teaches us to trust God.
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  Speaker 1: How so?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Habakkuk asked God a question because he didn't understand
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  Speaker 2: at all what God was doing. And God answered him,
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  Speaker 2: but God's answer was more confusing than he had been
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  Speaker 2: in the beginning. In other words, sometimes God is just confusing.
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  Speaker 2: And so Habakkuk had to make a decision. Am I
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  Speaker 2: going to trust God even though I don't understand him?
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  Speaker 2: And even though he doesn't make sense to me, because
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  Speaker 2: Habakkuk had just said, would you please do something? Look
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  Speaker 2: at what's happening in my country. People are going berserk. They're...
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  Speaker 2: They're doing horrible things. Would you intervene and bring some order?
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  Speaker 2: There's violence in the country. And God said, well, I'll
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  Speaker 2: send the Babylonians to take over your country. Well, the
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  Speaker 2: Babylonians were these fierce, impetuous people. It would be as
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  Speaker 2: if we got on our knees and said, God, look
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  Speaker 2: at our country. They're shooting in the schools. There's abortion.
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  Speaker 2: There is fentanyl coming into the country. God, do something.
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  Speaker 2: And God said, well? I'm going to send the Russians
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  Speaker 2: and the Chinese and the North Koreans and Iran. I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to send everybody to take over your country. And
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  Speaker 2: we'd say, well, wait a minute, God, we're not that bad.
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  Speaker 2: They're worse than we are. And that's what Habakkuk said.
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  Speaker 2: He said, God, we're bad, but the Babylonians are worse
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  Speaker 2: than we are. That doesn't make any sense, God. I
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  Speaker 2: was praying, honestly, and you just make no sense. But
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  Speaker 2: instead of just saying, forget it, God, which most people
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  Speaker 2: would do, he said, I'm going to go up on
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  Speaker 2: the wall of the city and I am just going
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  Speaker 2: to wait there, God, on you to see what you're
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  Speaker 2: going to say to me. What a beautiful thing, Michelle,
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  Speaker 2: to say, God, I don't understand, but I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: wait on you. Yeah. I'm going to wait on you.
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  Speaker 2: And we don't know how long he waited. But I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to assume, since I usually have to wait, that
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  Speaker 2: he had to wait a while. And yet, it's in
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  Speaker 2: the next verse, and God says to him, Habakkuk, you
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  Speaker 2: heard me right. I'm sending the Babylonians, and I know
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  Speaker 2: what they're right. You leave them to me. They're mine.
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  Speaker 2: But Habakkuk, here's my message for you. My message for
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  Speaker 2: you is this. The just will live by faith. You
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  Speaker 2: trust me. You just trust me. And That sounds so simple,
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  Speaker 2: and it's so beautiful, but it's so hard. We want
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  Speaker 2: a personal answer. We want Habakkuk, I'm going to make
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  Speaker 2: it all right for you. But that isn't what he said.
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  Speaker 2: He just said, trust me. And that's what he said
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  Speaker 2: to me, Michelle. He just said, Linda, trust me. Just
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  Speaker 2: trust me. And I'm not going to explain anything. why
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  Speaker 2: one of your daughters died and why one of them
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  Speaker 2: is still having so many physical problems. Will you just
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  Speaker 2: trust me? Will you just trust me? I'm not going
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  Speaker 2: to answer those individual questions that you're asking me. Just
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  Speaker 2: trust me. And I love the rest of the book
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  Speaker 2: because it's all about worship. And it ends with the
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  Speaker 2: most beautiful worship statement at the end of the book,
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  Speaker 2: where he just says, though everything is taken from me,
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  Speaker 2: He basically says, I'm going to spin around with joy
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  Speaker 2: and dance before you, even though I don't understand you.
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  Speaker 2: And that doesn't make sense to in a human perspective.
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  Speaker 2: But he had seen it was like Job saw who
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  Speaker 2: God was. Habakkuk saw who God was. And he just said, God,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to trust you. You said to me, trust you.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what I'm going to do. And that's what
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  Speaker 2: I want to do. Even though I don't understand him,
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  Speaker 2: even though from my little puny human perspective, he doesn't
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  Speaker 2: make sense to me. He's God. I'm not God. And
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  Speaker 2: I want to trust him.
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  Speaker 1: And even though we would never ask for our painful trials,
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  Speaker 1: what a blessing, though, that Those trials give us the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to learn greater dependence on God. When life is
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  Speaker 1: going well, isn't it easy to say, I got this one, God,
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  Speaker 1: I'll let you know when I need you. But when
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  Speaker 1: we're really hurting and things don't make sense and he's
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  Speaker 1: not answering our questions, if we can get to that
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  Speaker 1: place when we're flat on our back and the only
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  Speaker 1: place to look is up, We realize just how much
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  Speaker 1: we do need him and we have to trust him. Linda,
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  Speaker 1: if a listener is resonating with our conversation today, not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily that they've lost a daughter or that they're even
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  Speaker 1: going through grief, but loss takes various forms. What hope-filled
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  Speaker 1: perspective would you want to leave them with today?
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  Speaker 2: Just that God is the answer. That God is the
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  Speaker 2: answer to pain, to heartbreak, to shattered dreams. And he
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  Speaker 2: is the answer. We run to food. We run to shopping.
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  Speaker 2: We run to activities. We run to anything that we
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  Speaker 2: think is going to fill us up. We run to
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  Speaker 2: a person, to a place, to a thing. But we
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  Speaker 2: need to get on our knees and run to God.
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  Speaker 2: We need to run to his word and to his
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  Speaker 2: spirit because it's God's word and God's spirit. They're the
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  Speaker 2: ones that are going to fill us up.
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  Speaker 1: And I thank you for sharing out of your own
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  Speaker 1: grief and loss and pain to encourage our listeners today.
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  Speaker 1: I know you wouldn't have signed up for it, but
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  Speaker 1: I thank you that out of that pain, you're offering
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  Speaker 1: hope to other hurting hearts. Friends, I just want to
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  Speaker 1: leave you with Romans 15, 13 today. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what your circumstance is. I don't know what kind of
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  Speaker 1: pain you're dealing with or have just come out of
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  Speaker 1: or might be preparing to go into. Romans 15, 13
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  Speaker 1: reminds us, now may the God of hope fill you
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  Speaker 1: with all joy and peace in believing so that you
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  Speaker 1: will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Friend,
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to manufacture that hope on your own.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Holy Spirit that gives it to you. Friends,
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you tuning in for another episode of Your
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  Speaker 1: Hope-Filled Perspective. I hope that there was something today in
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  Speaker 1: the conversation with Linda that has encouraged your heart. And
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  Speaker 1: if you know a friend who's going through a difficult
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  Speaker 1: time and needs a biblically-based hope-filled perspective, would you consider
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  Speaker 1: sharing this episode with them? I'm looking forward to being
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  Speaker 1: with you for another episode next week. But until then,
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  Speaker 1: it's my prayer for you that you have a hope-filled week.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you for joining Dr. Bankston for your hope-filled perspective.
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  Speaker 4: We hope you were encouraged by her authenticity, vulnerability, and
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  Speaker 4: biblical truths. If you enjoyed today's conversation, why don't you
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  Speaker 4: take a moment right now, open up your podcast app,
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  Speaker 4: and look for the subscribe button right next to our
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  Speaker 4: podcast profile image. We think this podcast is best enjoyed
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• 28:17
  Speaker 4: share hope with them. If you have a comment, question,
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: or suggested topic for a future show, reach out to
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  Speaker 4: our staff at info at hopeprevails.org. For additional resources, information
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  Speaker 4: about Dr. Bankson's books or free downloads, or to contact
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  Speaker 4: her to speak at your next event, please visit drmichelleb.com.
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  Speaker 4: Until next time, may you have a hope-filled week.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to take just a second to thank the
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  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
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  Speaker 1: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens
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  Speaker 1: of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
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  Speaker 1: about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.