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I Refuse to Be Defined by My Worst Day · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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Hey, Half-Faith family, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the podcast with your friends.
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Visit our website, havefaithletitbegin.com. We would love to hear your feedback.
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Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to Half-Faith, Let It Begin.
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My name is Angel Santana.
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Today, we conclude our series, Cheated.
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This week, we've talked about betrayal. We've talked about heartbreak.
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We've talked about people who hurt us.
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We've talked about the moments we hurt ourselves. But today,
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we're talking about something different.
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Today we're talking about freedom because there comes a moment in every person's
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healing journey when they have to make a decision.
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Will I spend the rest of my life revealing the worst day of my life or will
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I begin living for the days that God still has ahead of me?
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This episode is called I Refuse to Be Defined by My Worst Day.
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Have Faith, Let It Begin starts right now. Have faith, let it begin.
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When it starts right now.
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Welcome to Have Faith. Let it begin.
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Here's your host, Angel Santana. All right, here we go. It's a Friday. Let's close it out.
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There was a time in my life when I believed that my story had already been written.
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Not because God wrote it. Because pain wrote it.
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The heartbreak wow yeah
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heartbreak wrote it disappointment wrote it betrayal wrote it and for a long
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time even every time i thought about my future i viewed it through the lens
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of my past maybe you've been there maybe something happened to you years ago
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and somehow it still feels like yesterday.
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Maybe there's a date, a memory, a conversation, a loss, maybe even a betrayal.
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And every once in a while, it shows up uninvited.
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Sometimes through a dream, sometimes through a song, and sometimes through a memory.
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And suddenly you're standing there. You're standing in yesterday again.
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I know that feeling because I've lived that feeling.
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What I've learned is that healing isn't forgetting. Healing isn't pretending.
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Healing isn't pretending it never happened.
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Healing isn't waking up one day and magically feeling better.
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Healing is learning how to remember without allowing the memory to control you.
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For years, I thought victory meant never thinking about the pain again.
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Now, I understand something different.
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Victory means the pain no longer owns me.
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The memory exists, but it no longer controls my future.
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The betrayal happened, but it no longer defines my identity.
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The heartbreak was real, but it no longer determines my worth.
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One of my favorite things about scripture is that God consistently uses broken people.
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Moses had failures. David had failures.
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Peter had failures.
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Paul had failures, yet God still used them, not because they were perfect,
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but because God specializes in redemption.
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And maybe that's the lesson I've learned through all of this.
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The enemy wanted my pain to become my identity, and God wanted my pain to become
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part of my testimony. There's a difference.
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One keeps you trapped, and the other sets people free.
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If you're listening, if you're interested, it, I want you to think about one
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thing, and one thing that's been caring, the thing that still hurts,
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the thing you rarely talk about, the thing that still finds a way to enter your thoughts.
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And now ask yourself, I remember it. I'm still living it.
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Because God didn't call us to build homes in our heartbreak.
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He called us to walk through it, learn from it, heal from it,
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and keep moving forward.
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And that's the key factor in all that we ever do.
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So as you conclude this week with me on a Friday, let's just remember we have
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to take a step back, relax, put our faith and trust in him.
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And today, I choose faith over fear.
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I choose purpose over pain. I choose hope over bitterness.
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And most importantly, I choose to believe that God is not finished with me yet.
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The worst day of my life may have been or may have always be a part of my story,
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but I will never, ever let the title of my story be the defining moment of my life.
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But it will never be the title of my story.
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Jesus Christ gets that title. Let's pray together.
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Heavenly Father, thank you for carrying us through this painful chapter of our lives.
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Thank you for never leaving us, even when we felt broken, betrayed,
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forgotten, or even alone.
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Help us release the past into your hands and walk boldly into the future.
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You have prepared for us, reminded us, and remind us that our identity is found
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in you, not in what happens. to us.
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We pray this into your name. Amen.
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So to everyone enjoying for me this journey of this week, it's been powerful.
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It's been a huge series and we finally made it through.
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If this series helped you, encouraged you, challenged you, or reminded you that
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you're not alone, then sharing these stories was worth it.
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Remember, you're not identified or not identified by.
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Most of you got defined by your worst day. You're not defined by your biggest mistakes.
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You're not defined by the people who hurt you. You're defined by the God who
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loves you. So until next time, have a great weekend.
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Remember that God loves you, that God believes in you, and he'll never leave your side.
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For the Friday edition and the series that we've been together,
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I wish you nothing but good success.
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And never forget, have faith, let it begin.
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Hey, Have Faith family Don't forget to like, subscribe And share the podcast
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with your friends Visit our website, havefaithletitbegin.com We would love to hear your feedback.