Latest / Coffee and Bible Time Podcast / Letting God Free You From Shame | Morgan Krueger

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Letting God Free You From Shame | Morgan Krueger · Coffee and Bible Time Podcast

• 1:01
  Speaker 1: At the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Our goal is to help you delight in God's Word and thrive in Christian living.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Each week we talk to subject matter experts who broaden your biblical understanding, encourage you in hard times and provide life-building tips to enhance your Christian walk.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: We are so glad you have joined us.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: This is Ellen, your host.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: You know we've all felt the sting of shame, the weight of feeling like we're not enough.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And after the fall in the Garden of Eden, adam and Eve hid from God, drowning in guilt and fear.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: And haven't we all done the same at some point?
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: We hide our flaws, we cover up our mistakes and let shame keep us from fully living.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: But with Jesus, there's a way out.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: In this episode there's a Way Out.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: In this episode, morgan Kruger, author of the new book Goodbye Hiding, hello Freedom, shares how we can break free from the cycle of hiding and step into the freedom that Jesus offers.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Through personal stories and biblical wisdom, morgan shows us that redemption, hope and freedom are within reach.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So I just pray that at the end of this episode we are able to acknowledge our brokenness and fully accept God's gift of grace.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Our goal is to close the wounds we've been nursing and to release the heaviness that weighs us down by bringing to God all the lies we have believed about ourselves.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Morgan Kruger is a Jesus follower, wife, mother and author, who found her voice connecting with women seeking freedom from the brokenness of past shame.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: She's passionate about the redemption that is found in following Jesus and she aims to keep that at the center of all she does.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Morgan works at Faithfully Restored and is grateful to be a part of a ministry that offers the hope of Jesus amid suffering.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Please welcome Morgan.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much, Ellen, for having me to the podcast, and thank you to all the listeners who have found yourself on this conversation today, wherever you might find yourself.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: So we're expectant and we're so grateful.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: So, ellen, thank you.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, such a joy to have you here.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And, morgan, I just love the authenticity that you have on this topic, because it's not easy.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So why don't you just start out by telling us a little bit about your story?
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely Gosh.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, going throughout life, I think I've realized, as I've connected with other women, that we're all facing something.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: We're all facing a trial, a battle, an internal sin struggle, a temptation, whatever it may be.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: We're all facing something.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: And so for me, a little bit about my story.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Ellen is, when I was growing up I lived in a beautiful home with a father who shared the gospel with me at a young age and as I get older I look back and I think shared the gospel with me at a young age.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: And as I get older I look back and I think what a gift to be able to hear the gospel from my own father and from inside of my home.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: And so I can look back and see that foundation.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: But moving along, when I was 15, we got the sudden news that my father was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer, and so during that time I just remember being so afraid, being so just kind of in shock of what was happening.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: And you know, something I've learned along the way is that our relationships on earth, they inevitably, will cause us to project onto God the things about our relationship with Him based on the relationships on earth.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And so a diagnosis for my dad that was originally six months, which turned into only six weeks for him to live.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I found myself without a father, and for me it was really only a matter of time before I projected onto God that he was also a God of abandonment.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: And so, because of this, this kind of sent me personally into a spiral of years and years and years of really walking out the desires of my own flesh, the desires of things that I believed might satisfy me apart from Jesus, and, as I learned the hard way, they never did.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: They left me empty.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: They left me believing that I was abandoned and that I was unworthy and unlovable.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And so, fast forward, god.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: As I look back, even in my worst moments of sin and shame, jesus never stopped pursuing me, and time after time after time, when I would try and run from him, he kept running after me.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I was that one that he left the 99 for, just like anyone out there also is.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I experienced that in my life and eventually surrendered my life back to Jesus, back to the Jesus that I remembered hearing about as a little girl, but it wasn't until 2019, when I had been walking with Jesus for a few years.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: I was and is in a beautiful marriage to the man of my dreams, a godly man who reminds me of truth.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: And I was also, ellen, working in women's ministry, encouraging women of their freedom in Christ.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: But behind the curtain I was still stuck in shame and regret and so much brokenness and hiddenness from my past, and so I hope that's an encouragement also to anyone, whether you are walking with Jesus or not.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: You know I love to say salvation is free, but surrender is costly, and I had to learn that in 2019.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: And so I remember in the dark of night, when I was being so plagued by things in my past that I had never gone back and received healing.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: For I remember saying Lord, I don't want to just give you these hard areas, I want to see you actually redeem it.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And from that point on, jesus just started to get into a good work of redeeming some of the hardest parts of my life.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And I can sit here today, ellen, and I can honestly say the Lord has redeemed so much.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: He's redeemed my hometown, he's redeemed fatherhood wounds for me, he's redeemed the ability to believe that I could be a mother and a godly mother.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: He's redeemed spaces and relationships and buildings, and you name it.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: He has redeemed it and he is continuing to redeem in my life.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: And so that's a little bit about me.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: And I think what I learned in that season is and I think this is where so many women get caught up, including myself is that we go back and we revisit these hard parts of our past, but we go back with the enemy.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And when we go back with the enemy we just relive the hard, but when we go back with Jesus he actually redeems the heart.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I think that a big lie that we all face at some point in our life is that we don't belong or that we aren't wanted or that we aren't lovable.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: And because of that I have found in my own walk with the Lord there are times where I try and gain the love of Jesus.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: I try and gain the love of Jesus, I try and gain the acceptance of God.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: But our creation story, it begs to differ, right, because it tells us you know, I realized so a while back that order matters.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: I have a friend who she loves to puzzle and she's taught me a lot about puzzling and she says any good puzzler knows you have to start with the frame, you have to set up the frame, and only then can you make your way inward, so that the puzzle can be what it was always intended to be, which is complete and whole.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And so our creation story also shows that, you know, god had so much intention with the way that he created the world, and when did he create a woman?
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: He actually created us very last, and I love that picture because it shows us that God who goes before us in all things.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Like you said, ellen, he didn't make us wait in an earth that was void.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: He didn't make us sit in the darkness while he created light.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: He went before us, he created all things and then he put us in the middle of it to light.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: He went before us, he created all things and then he put us in the middle of it to show us that before we have done a thing, good or evil, he has given us a home, he has given us a space, he has given us an identity as Imago Dei, as women who have belonging etched into the core of our identity.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: And so I love that question because I think it's just a beautiful reminder that our identity was set before we really could have done a thing, and I think that also can play into our journey of freedom, like we are free, because when we return back to Christ, we can return to who we've always been made to be, which are daughters who belong always been made to be, which are daughters who belong.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: He sees us the way he created us in this perfect redemption of Christ, which is so amazing, especially after what you're talking about and so many of us have been through seasons of shame in our life and how God has worked through that.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: You mentioned that something that we often sort of neglect to think about is what is the enemy's plan for our life?
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: We always think about, well, what's God's plan for our life?
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: But it is interesting to consider that how does that tie into women out there who are caught in the cycle of hiding and shame?
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I love that, and, yeah, that was actually a question posed to me by one of my teaching pastors at my church, and he said he's like you know, we love to ask the question of what is God's plan for your life, which is the best question we can ask.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: It's the most important question when it comes to who we are.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: But one thing that we don't really want to talk about is what is the enemy's plan for your life?
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Because just as much as God as a perfect, holy, beautiful, heavenly father is writing a story for our life, the enemy is close by also trying to steal, kill and destroy God's good plans for our life.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: And so we also Ellen we see this in the garden the enemy.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: He came after Eve first, and a lot of theologians speculate that's because Eve had not heard firsthand the command to Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and so she was susceptible to temptation.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And so I think about that, and I think about the very specific way that the enemy does come after women specifically.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: But I want to encourage us that, just as much as we need to be aware of that, we also need to see that it's an invitation and it's a charge and if I read that text in Genesis three, I believe that it is a charge to be connected as women to the very source that speaks life and truth and identity over who we are as women.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Um, and so I would just say for any woman out there who's battling shame, I think it's incredibly important to remember that we are not fighting a war of flesh and blood.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Ephesians 6 tells us that we are fighting a war of spiritual darkness and principalities in the heavenly realms, in the spiritual realms, and so be aware that the enemy is plotting a very real attack of you, but do not get discouraged because just as we have victory today over the enemy, we have a promise of Jesus's return, that he will once and for all wipe all sin, all sadness, all shame from the earth, and he will give us a new heaven and a new earth.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: So I would say it's being aware, but also knowing that victory is ours in Christ, and when we claim that and when we know that and, like we talked about earlier, when we go back to our ultimate belonging that we see in the garden, we can walk in ultimate victory.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: So it's an awareness, but it's not a discouragement.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we sure can.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: You know that's an area of my life that I think I kind of neglected perhaps growing up, or just maybe wasn't exposed to or taught a lot about.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: And now, when I think about, you know, if you're going to war against an enemy, you need to know who the enemy is.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: What are the things to look out for, to be aware of, educate ourselves and be aware of those things, then perhaps the battle is the Lord's, but we can tackle it, knowing that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Absolutely yeah.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: And what a gift that God allows us to play a part in that spiritual war and also play a part in the spiritual victory that we have in Christ.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I think it's such a beautiful invitation because let's be honest, Ellen, we know this God doesn't need us, God doesn't need us to defeat the enemy, but he invites us into this spiritual battle so that he can show us that in him, the victory is ours in Christ, and so that's my hope too, through this book.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's like you know, this book is about some really hard things.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: It's about some hard topics that oftentimes we might not want to revisit Shame, brokenness, you know real hurts from our past.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: But even more than that, this is a book about hope.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: It's a book about redemption.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: It's a book about what happens when we let Jesus kind of get a hold of these really delicate, difficult parts of our life and watch him do what he does best, which is to free and redeem and to make all things new.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely so.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Let's dive a little bit deeper into what we can learn about Jesus through the scripture when it comes to his compassion towards us.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Absolutely I love.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: This is something I'm so passionate about talking about because, as I was kind of on this freedom journey back, you know, years ago, I started to really want to study scripture and study the gospels and pay attention to Jesus's very specific interactions with women in scripture.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Because we know this God created male and female and he created us in his image and created us equal, but he also created us vastly different and therefore wouldn't a kind, compassionate God pursue men and women in some different, unique ways?
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: And so I started to study that and specifically I studied the women who were caught in the thick of shame and in the thick of hiding and how did Jesus move toward them in love.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: And one of the biggest ways that really stuck out to me that I needed for my own journey was that Jesus is a savior who stops for us.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: And I don't know about you, but in our day and age we're really not.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I'll just say myself I am not a good stopper, I am not a good um pauser of the moment, um to have what the Lord, to receive what the Lord has for me in the unexpected ins and outs of our day, and, uh, I even think about road trips.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I have two young little boys right now and I'll tell you what once we get in that car, I am like we are not stopping, like we are making this trip.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: If you need to go to the bathroom, you can hold it, or we have to be as fast as we possibly can.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: And so that's kind of what I think a lot of us are used to just that fast pace, that unwillingness or just lack of desire to want to stop.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: But Jesus in scripture, he stops for women and he not only stops for them, he sees them and through seeing them he sets them free.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: And I think about specifically let's just go with the woman at the well.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Jesus actually took the long way to wind up in Samaria to have this beautiful encounter with her.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: And some of us could read that and think, oh, wow, like how did she not just run away in shame?
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: But through Jesus's tender heart, he not only shows her, he sees her.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: He not only shows her that he knows all of the shame filled parts of her past.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: He says you're correct, you've had five husbands and the man that you're living with currently is not your husband.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And he looks at her and he speaks with her and he treats her kindly in a way to what does she go and do?
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: At the end of this conversation it says that she went back to the town and she told everyone of the goodness of God and of the reality that our Savior and the Messiah has come.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: And she in history, she is the first recorded evangelist in all of history.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: And so I think about that and I think, wow, that is really what happens when we experience the reality of a Jesus who actually stops for us and doesn't just stop, but he speaks into our past, he speaks into our lives and he sets us free Absolutely.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: And that really was such a radical point in that woman's life to go from the point of where she went at noon during the hottest time of the day so that no one else would be there, because she was so ashamed, to the point of going back and telling everybody about this Jesus.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: So it's an incredible, incredible redemption story there.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Well, for those that are listening, morgan, how would you tell them that they could go from this life of hidden shame to stepping into freedom?
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love this question because I think it kind of gets into the practical of like, how do we actually live this out?
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: How do we go from just desiring freedom to actually one day being like, wow, I feel incredibly free in Christ.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: To actually one day being like, wow, I feel incredibly free in Christ.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: And something I learned years ago when I was walking through this is that we, as humans, we were created with two primary needs our need for God and our need for each other.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: And so I think about and I love that we are talking about the woman at the well, because she went from this point of isolation and we see she didn't just go from being isolated from her community to plugged into her community.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: There was something in the middle of those two bookends and what was it?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It was Jesus.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: It was an encounter with Jesus to feel seen, known and loved and set free.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: And so I would say what we need more than anything is that genuine encounter with the Lord that can only be found through prayer and meditating on his word and believing him for his promises, and that's all found through scripture.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: And then, from there, something I realized is that, because of the way that God's created us in his good design.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: We cannot walk out our freedom journeys alone, and that feels scary for a lot of people out there.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: And if that is you you're like, I can't imagine letting even one person into my story.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: You have a safe place in me.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: There was a point in my life where not one person knew about some of the darkest, most broken parts of my past, where not one person knew about some of the darkest, most broken parts of my past, and I knew that after I had this encounter with the Lord, he started to stir my heart for community, stirring my heart for being known, and so, practically, I called a friend and I had to think through okay, who can model the qualities that Jesus pours out on us in a conversation so that I can be in a safe place, I can feel heard, I can feel seen, I can feel loved, I can feel like I'm sharing these really hard things in a space where there is no condemnation.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: And so I ended up calling my friend Dottie, and to this day I'm like everyone needs a Dottie in their life.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: And so I called my friend Dottie and I and I said, hey, this is going to sound crazy, but will you meet up with me in a coffee shop and can I share with you every single thing that I've ever done, because I wholeheartedly believe that not everyone needs to know everything about our story, but everyone needs someone who knows everything about our story.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: So for me, the start of that was Dottie.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: I got together with her and I said hey, I know your heart is for me.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: I don't need you to comment on everything I'm saying.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: I know this is weird, but I just need you to listen and I'll tell you what.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: At the end of that, she shared some incredible encouragements with my heart.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: But more than any of that, what I remember is the way she made me feel.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: It was the way she listened, it was the way she loved, it was the way she shed a tear in some of the hardest parts of my own journey.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: And, ellen, I'll tell you what I walked out of that coffee shop more free than I ever felt, than I ever believed was possible, and so that is practically.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: You know God doesn't always pull us out of our hardest moments, but what he will do is he will answer our prayers by sending a friend, and I stand here today, and the beautiful, redemptive part of that is now I have a book coming out, which we're talking about, that has most of these stories that I shared with Dottie that day in this book for anyone to purchase and read about.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: And if you would have told me that I would have ever even shared some of this stuff in this book with one girl, I wouldn't have believed you.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: And look what our God can do.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: He can take us from one degree of glory, where nobody knows our story, to one person knows our story, to one small group knows our story, so maybe we share it with a church group to now we write in a book.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: You know, and that's not everyone's journey, but God will allow you to continue walking in freedom, because there is a ripple effect when we're willing to take God at his word and we're willing to call a friend.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: It's a powerful, powerful thing because this is how God designed it for us to need him and for us to need our people.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: So true and how remarkable that God has worked in your life, so much so that you've gone from that place of only being able to tell one person to this point where God is allowing your story to encourage other people who are trapped in that sense of feeling shame.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: And it's beautiful and that's really how God works in all of our lives, because we're all broken in some way or another, and I know for sure, I've seen him at work in my own life through these situations as well.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Well, what would you say to you?
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Know someone who's listening, who is feels like they want a godly relationship, they are looking to find a godly man and they're just at the point where they're so maybe disgusted with their past, they just don't think they're worthy of it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a touchy subject because we can experience so much healing and freedom in our own stories.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And then you add in the complexities of dating and a relationship and wow, God, I know that you've redeemed me, but I'm coming also with the reality that I have a past.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: And I'll never forget the day that I met my now husband.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I met him in the lobby of a hotel.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: We were about to go overseas to do ministry together.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: And I met him in the lobby of a hotel we were about to go overseas to do ministry together.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: And I met him for the first time and I immediately was drawn to him.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I just thought, wow, he seems like such a great guy.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: And within a matter of seconds I remember thinking, oh, but he would never want to be with a girl like me, or I'm sure Ryan doesn't date girls with my past, or the minute he hears about my past, he's going to maybe write me off as somebody that he would ever even consider being with.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: And God took us specifically on such a beautiful, redemptive, messy journey through sharing our past with each other, through sharing the details of our stories, and from really taking that next step to believe that in Christ we truly are a new creation and you know, I think too it was such a.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: I love hearing stories of couples now where they'll share their story with us and you realize that their paths actually are pretty God because of him sending his son and Ryan and I my husband and I, we like to joke that, you know, in Luke 15, there's the story of the prodigal son, and my journey is a little bit more like the prodigal son, but Ryan's journey is a little bit more like the older brother and through even our relationship and our hard conversations, I think it's softened my husband's heart.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: And so what's crazy and interesting in God's cosmic, beautiful, macro design is that when we walk in freedom, it actually is going to teach everyone around us the power of the grace of God.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: And so even now, like Ryan is like I know Jesus better today because of your testimony and I know the reaches of God's grace and I know the depth of my own sin and how it's equal to yours, because of God bringing us together.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, I think it's a faith walk, because we've also got to trust another person with the hard parts of our story and trust that we wouldn't be on trial for our past but that we might, you know, enter into a relationship with somebody who will see us through the lens of Jesus.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: And so I would just say, you know that journey is not with relationships, especially if you are a girl with a past or anything that you're not proud of or wish you could take back.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: It's not an easy journey, but it is a worthy, worthy journey, and God did such a good work in me and my husband's life before we got married to, where I walked down the aisle on my wedding day and I truly believed with my whole heart that I was made pure because of Jesus.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: And so if you're a girl out there right now and maybe you're single and maybe you have never been in a godly relationship and you're doubting if a godly guy would ever have anything to do with you, I would just say trust that God is writing a beautiful story for your life, and your greatest sin in your past might become your greatest testimony and it might become a tool for ministry If God has marriage for you in the future, that he can do anything and that your story just isn't done.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: And so I hope yeah, I hope that's an encouragement to any girl out there that you're not disqualified, but in fact, god is actually going to use your greatest trial for your greatest testimony?
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, you know.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: This past weekend our church had outdoor baptisms and there was a young gal who got baptized and she said I was going to get baptized last year and I backed out because my story was too.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I thought my story was just too ordinary.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I grew up as a Christian, but then her story this year was you know what?
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: I grew up as a Christian, but I realize how far I fall short.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: So no matter where you are on the spectrum of how you follow the Lord over time or not, god is a powerful work in everyone's testimony.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: It's so true, and what an undeserved gift for me as a wife to have a husband who says I actually know more about the love of God today than I would have if it wasn't for your story, and that's such an undeserved gift to me that God would take truly the darkest moments of my life, when I was so caught in sin and shame, and he would do something with it to where somebody else is impacted in their love of the Lord and in their view of God's grace, and that's redemption right there, right, it's like God.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: I think about Joseph in scripture.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: He just went through the most unimaginable trials and he looked at his brothers and he said you know what you meant for evil?
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: God actually used it for good.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: So what the enemy and what this world and what our brokenness actually means for evil, god takes it and he makes beauty from these broken, broken ashes and I just I'm so grateful.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: I want to tell everyone I'm like not only will God redeem your past, but he, if he has marriage for you, if he has a relationship for you, he actually might use that to be one of the greatest ministry tools that you could have in your marriage, greatest ministry tools that you could have in your marriage.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Ryan and I share stories with so many people and it's our greatest gift and I would have never thought that I would be saying that, and so for that I'm incredibly grateful.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: But I really think that just points to what our God can do.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: And when you do share your testimony now with anyone, they can't take that away from you, they can't deny it.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: This is your story of how God has worked in your life so powerfully, so beautifully.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much, morgan, for sharing that.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: How would you like to wrap this up?
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Is there something you would really like to encourage our listeners, as it relates to your whole story of shame and hiding and finding God's glory through that?
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really good question.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: My greatest encouragement, if I could leave you with anything, it's that God will redeem as many shame-filled moments, memories, spaces, relationships, whatever it is.
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: He will redeem as many of those moments as you will let him.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: He's actually ready, he's nearby, he's close, he stops for us and he is longing to redeem some of the hardest moments of our past.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: And he knows what's weighing on your heart, friend, whatever it is.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: He knows that it's weighing on you and he has a beautiful plan and he is pen to a paper, ready and willing to set you free.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: And the last story from the word of God that I would leave anyone with, that I would love for any woman out there to study.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: It's actually not a story of a woman, but at the end of John's gospel we see one of the most powerful moments of redemption that I would say is all throughout scripture and it is Jesus meeting Peter on the shore right.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: And, as we know, peter was a devoted follower of Jesus, but he had his issues, he had his sin, he had his fear, to the point where he stood around a charcoal fire the night of Jesus's crucifixion and he denied Jesus three whole times.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: And I don't know about you, but in my life I have denied Jesus, I have walked away from him and I have felt the shame and the sting of that.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: I so resonate with Peter in that moment.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: That had to have been an all-time low for him as he realized that his Savior was gone and he would believe that he was unlikely to have been an all-time low for him as he realized that his Savior was gone and he would believe that he was unlikely to have a moment again with him to tell him no, I do love you Jesus.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry that I denied you.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I wish I wouldn't have done that.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he wanted to take that back with everything in him.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: So Peter's story, if it was up to him it would have been done.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: But Jesus wasn't done.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Jesus meets him that morning as after he resurrects and he comes back to the shore and he meets Peter there and it says Peter jumped out of the boat even though he wasn't that far away, because he was just so excited to see his savior that he genuinely loved.
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: And he meets him.
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: And where does he meet him?
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: He meets him on the shore, around a charcoal fire.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Such a unique, specific detail of Jesus saying I'm going to bring you back to one of the hardest moments of your life.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: And what does he do, ellen?
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: He asked Peter three whole times do you love me?
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Do you love me?
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Do you love me?
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: One time for every single denial.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: And that is what our Jesus does.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: He moves into our life, he writes the most beautiful, intricate, specific stories for us so that we undeniably know that Jesus will redeem, that Jesus will free, that Jesus is not done writing a beautiful story for our lives.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: And so I pray that that is an encouragement for us.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: And you know my favorite Bible song growing up, so simple, but and we all know it, but it says Jesus loves me.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: This I know, for the Bible tells me so Little ones to him belong.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: We are weak, but he is strong.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, jesus loves me.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, jesus loves me.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, jesus loves me.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: The Bible tells me so.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: And so I pray that through this conversation, through reading the word of God, through reading my book, you would just be reminded of the overwhelming love of God, and through that, I'm convinced, ellen, everything else will follow.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: So let's believe today that he actually loves us and let's move forward in our freedom journeys and our redemption stories with that posture and that belief.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, let's do that.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: How can people find out more about you, morgan, in your book?
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for asking that.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Well, my book is pretty much online for sale everywhere books are sold.
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: So Amazon, Barnes, Noble Target, wherever you get your books, you can find it there.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: And then you can find me.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: I'm on social media at Morgan Kruger, and then for kind of more information on me to connect with me, you can do that at morgancrugercom.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: So I look forward to connecting with girls out there on their own freedom journeys.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Well, we will make sure we put those links in our show notes Before we go.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Morgan, I have to ask you some of our favorite Bible study tool questions.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: People wait to hear what Bible is your go-to Bible and what translation is it.
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Well.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: I'm an ESV girl, I love the ESV, but sometimes I love to pair it with the NLT, so I love those two together.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: If you're studying, I have found that to be an incredibly accurate, just translation.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: And then NLT brings it to life a little bit not a little bit more, but just gives you, I think, a little something extra to think about as you pair those two together.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: Those are the two that I use regularly too.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, my girl yeah.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: So do you have any favorite journaling supplies or anything that you'd like to use to enhance your Bible study experience?
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: And, ellen, I know you guys are moody girls and so you'll love this as well.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: But my go-to, just kind of companion of the word is 52 Weeks in the Word by Trillia Newbell.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: I love it because, look, we have enough shame we're dealing with.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: We do not need shame in our Bible reading.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: If you open up 52 Weeks in the Word, it's just an incredible journaling tool and it's not going to tell you that you missed a day, you just pick up where you left off and continue walking in freedom as you study the word.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: So I love that one.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know what?
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: We'll make sure we include a link in the show notes, because I have an interview with her talking about that.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: So if you want to hear it right from her too, that is an excellent, excellent resource.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Lastly, what is your favorite app or website for Bible study tools?
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely so.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: I love Enduring Word.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: That's kind of my go-to.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: Every time I read it I'm like, oh my goodness, how has he done all of that?
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Just incredible exegeting of the scripture, and so that's kind of my go-to.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: And then also, though, when you have a Bible that has just notes in your Bible, those are incredible, incredible resources as well.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: But I would say enduringwordcom is kind of my main go-to.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, enduringwordcom is like an online commentary, so that can be incredibly helpful in the study Bible as well.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: So awesome, morgan.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here today to share your story with us, to be so vulnerable, so that other people can see how powerful our God is.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: And if you're listening to this, we just pray and hope that you will put your trust in God and let that be lifted from you today.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: So we will be praying for our listeners, morgan.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Again, thank you.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: Thank you, ellen, thank you for having me.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: You are welcome and make sure you get out there and get a copy of Morgan's new book.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Goodbye Hiding, hello Freedom.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: We have the link in our show notes.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much, everyone, for listening.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: We appreciate you so much.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Have a blessed day.