Latest / Forged In The Dark / Faith In The Forge
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: Today feels like a special edition. I feel like today needs the name Faith in the Forge. Because how do you go through the refining process without an abundance of faith? Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I'm your host, Jamie. Let's dig in. I'm about to paint you a picture. And if you're a visual person, let that movie run in your mind. You are driving early in the morning, 6 a.m. It's dark. You are on the interstate. There, there are cars, not too many cars. It's not jam-packed. It's early on a Saturday morning, but there's lots of cars. There's there's a truck behind you. And that truck behind you. Is kind of close considering that there aren't more cars on the road. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, you're going 75 miles an hour down the interstate in the dark, and out of nowhere, a person, a human being, a man in black pants and a sleeveless white t shirt steps in front of your car. There is no reasonable expl Explanation as to how I was able to maneuver around this man that just stepped into the middle of traffic on I-35. Now, okay, I don't like the way I said that because again, it's super early in the morning. I mean, this guy was near and an on-ramp. I I don't know if he was inebriated. I guarantee you he he he didn't intend to be there unless he had a death wish. But this is where I want to talk about faith because there is no reasonable explanation on how I was able to swerve around this man. And the truck behind me not only was able to swerve around the man, but he was also able to narrowly miss me. Again. There very easily could have been three fatalities right there on I-35 at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning, but there wasn't even one. But that moment, there was this and it was like time stood still. And it was almost like all space and time reality bended and shifted. And I mean, this is how crazy it was. It all happened so fast that by the time I righted my car and and and and and and really got my focus back, there was my exit. And and unfortunately, I didn't turn around to to go check on the man. ⁓ I I I hope emergency services found him safe and and I hope he is well mentally, physically, emotionally, and the reasonable side of me knows that even if I would have been able to get my car to stop me stopping to aid someone who I don't know if they're they're drunk or on drugs or having some sort of issue. I I would not have been the best first responder anyway. But whatever you want to call it, God, universe, source, the divine, that which is greater, angels, spirits, guides, they are with you all the time. They are with me all the time. Early morning in the car, narrow miss. Three people lived ⁓ I was Nothing but thanking God. I was thanking God because I knew in that promo in that moment I was protected. ⁓ And this not the first time this has happened in my life. And this is a story that I never share. And it throws all the way back to 2005. When I had my firstborn. ⁓ ⁓ long labor, C-section, ovarian cancer diagnosis three days later. Like I literally left the hospital with a four-day-old newborn and a cancer diagnosis. So that was a little bit tough. But seven and a half weeks later, I would find myself back at the same hospital undergoing a 12-hour surgery. Which would land me that will keep me in the hospital for a full seven days and six nights. But I go through surgery and everything goes well. I'm in my I'm I'm I go through recovery, I'm in my room, and then the very next day, this would have been day number two, the pain became so bad I couldn't handle it. And I kept pushing the button and asking, you know, ask the nurse would come in and she just kept giving me more and more and more pain meds. The last thing I remember is all of the lights going on and ⁓ All of the bells, all of the alarm bells going off. And then the next thing I knew, all of the hustle and bustle was below me. And it was the moment that I watched the crash cart come in that I decided I can't go anywhere. ⁓ And ⁓ I'm here. I I was not supposed to leave that day. It ⁓ my narrow miss on the highway. My being accidentally overdosed in the hospital, being here today. ⁓ How can I doubt? How can there be one ounce of doubt in any fiber of my being? But ⁓ Where does your faith lie? How do when these situations I look look here's the thing I know these things don't just happen to me? I know the frequency that they happen to me might be more than happens to you, but it's not just me. So the question is where is your faith? Like, where's your faith at? How much faith do you have? How much belief and trust do you have Do you have in things that you can't see and in the in things that you can't control? How much trust do you have in the process? How much faith do you have that this idea would not be inside of you if you were not capable of achieving it? I cannot tell you. Like, like I am when when I narrowly missed that guy on I-35, I have never come so close to hitting a person. And I have sharp reflexes. ⁓ But it was more than that. The higher power was with me in that moment I told this story multiple times during the day because I was just blown away. Like who almost hits a pedestrian on the highway? How grateful am I? Just thank you, thank you, thank you, that everything worked out the way it did, not the way that it could have. But ⁓ faith in the forge, faith in the forge. I don't need you to answer me what faith looks like to you, but what does faith look like to you? And how can you deepen your faith? How can you strengthen your trust? How can you have a more robust relationship with the higher power? Cause look, I can tell you, I there has been this. There has been this aching in my heart since I started this podcast because I do believe that God wants me to reach you. God wants me to reach a lot of people in a way that a lot of other people aren't. Because it's not about your religious practices. It's not about your ability to quote scripture. It's about your ability to recognize these Blessings that are happening in real time. And look, like I I swerved and I couldn't breathe, and I just kept saying shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, what just happened. But it wasn't long before that peace flowed over me, and I was just thankful. Well, when when I didn't die, when I legitimately didn't die, I was so grateful to be alive that I didn't even think about dying. It took me years to understand and process that. I am supposed to be here. You are supposed to be here. God loves you. God wants you to trust. God wants you to have faith. God wants you to know that that doubt and fear, that's that's not where he wants you. But that's not where he wants you. Okay, I feel like I just got all ramped up, but this is where I am going to let you go. ⁓ check in with your faith. Check in with your faith. And and look, here's the thing. ⁓ yes, you can you can meditate, you can pray, you can meet with like-minded people that practice ⁓ faith the way you do. But honestly, all you have to do is look up. And have the conversation. There is no right or wrong way to pray. There is no right or wrong way to talk to God. And God wants you to talk to Him. Okay. Okay, that's all I have. Until next time.