Latest / Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast / How to Find God’s Refuge in the Middle of Crisis

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How to Find God’s Refuge in the Middle of Crisis · Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

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Speaker 1: Life audio.
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Speaker 2: Trials and crises are inevitable. Jesus warned us they would come.
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Speaker 2: While we cannot choose the trials we face, we can, however,
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Speaker 2: choose how we respond to them and look at them
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Speaker 2: as opportunities to grow and learn more about God. In
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Speaker 2: this episode of Your Hope Filled Perspective, I'm joined by
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Speaker 2: Lynn Reinstra, author of the inspiring book Sacred Refuge, Finding
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Speaker 2: Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis. Lynn shares how our personal
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Speaker 2: life crises became the gateway to discovering God's indestructible shelter.
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Speaker 2: Through her books, she introduces the reader to a sacred
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Speaker 2: sisterhood that unites the modern and biblical stories of overcoming fear, loss, debt,
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Speaker 2: and loneliness. Together, we'll explore how God's love and compassion
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Speaker 2: provide a soul safe refuge even in the midst of
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Speaker 2: the most difficult challenges.
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Speaker 3: Welcome back to.
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Speaker 2: Your Hope Filled Perspective, where it's always our goal to
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Speaker 2: restore hope, renew minds, and empowered listeners to live in
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Speaker 2: your God given identity. I'm your host, doctor Michelle Bankson,
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Speaker 2: and I am delighted that you have.
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Speaker 3: Chosen to spend a few minutes of your week with us.
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Speaker 2: Today, we're going to be talking about how to move
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Speaker 2: from hiding to healing, discovering God's refuge in troubled times.
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Speaker 2: Joining me is Lynn Reinstra, who serves Samaritan's Purse as
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Speaker 2: a regional director and has seen crises up close through
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Speaker 2: her travels. She recently navigated her own crisis through cancer.
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Speaker 2: Trained in English at Smith College, she also holds a
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Speaker 2: certificate and spiritual formation, and along with her calling as
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Speaker 2: pastor's wife, women's event leader, and writer, Lynn finds joy
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Speaker 2: in traveling, family and friends. So I'm honored to welcome
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Speaker 2: my friend Lynn to the program.
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Speaker 1: Welcome, Thank you so much. Shall What a joy to
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Speaker 1: be with you.
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Speaker 2: We have been trying to make this happen for a while,
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Speaker 2: but you and I both agree that God's timing is perfect,
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Speaker 2: and so I'm excited for our listener and our viewer
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Speaker 2: to hear what God has for them today. Frequently, our ministry,
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Speaker 2: our calling, our books come out of our own needs.
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Speaker 2: Just share a little bit about why you wrote Sacred Refuge.
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Speaker 1: Well, the idea for the book was actually born when
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Speaker 1: COVID hit, and like a lot of people, I just
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Speaker 1: kind of went under fear, and after a week of
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Speaker 1: not sleeping well, not eating well, kind of like what's
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Speaker 1: happening and what's coming, I said, this is crazy. I
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Speaker 1: am a blood bought and beloved child of the Living God.
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Speaker 1: I am not going to let the enemy have any
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Speaker 1: more time in my headspace or my spirit. And it
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Speaker 1: was time to boot him out and say you're done.
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Speaker 1: I will not live in fear. The Bible actually says
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Speaker 1: do not fear three hundred and sixty five times right,
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Speaker 1: one for every day of the year. And that was over.
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Speaker 1: And then I started realizing, if I'm dealing with fear,
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Speaker 1: maybe other women are dealing with fear and struggling to
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Speaker 1: find this safe refuge in who God is for us.
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Speaker 1: And then my work through Samaritas Verse has taken me
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Speaker 1: around the globe. I've met women who are in crisis,
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Speaker 1: and it hit me that their stories, women in migration
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Speaker 1: in Africa who don't know if they're going to have
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Speaker 1: enough food to feed their children the next day. All
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Speaker 1: those stories were very parallel to the biblical stories of
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Speaker 1: women that we read today in the scriptures, and so
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Speaker 1: the idea for the book was born out of that.
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Speaker 1: This is an invitation as you mentioned, for women to
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Speaker 1: come out of hiding, which is what fear of course
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Speaker 1: puts us in, and into a soul safe place that
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Speaker 1: Jesus has built for us in the Gospel. And I'll
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Speaker 1: share a little later perhaps about kind of the living
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Speaker 1: laboratory that the Lord took me through as I was
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Speaker 1: writing the book. What kinds of things were coming my
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Speaker 1: way by way of crisis during the writing process.
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Speaker 2: I like that notion of soul safe. Oh, isn't that
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Speaker 2: what our abba father wants to be nus? Yes, Then
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Speaker 2: you begin your book by talking about one of your
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Speaker 2: first crises, your dad leaving the family when you were
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Speaker 2: just four years old. Talk about the impact of that
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Speaker 2: and how even in difficulty, it now helps you help others.
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Speaker 1: Right, Yes, that was my first crisis. God allowed. Although
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Speaker 1: we look at hard things like this, we say, God
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Speaker 1: does it work through this. Yes, he doesn't cause sin
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Speaker 1: and separation and heartache. But He is so good and
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Speaker 1: so powerful he can actually use the worst of circumstances
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Speaker 1: for our good, which is to draw us to Himself
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Speaker 1: and to make us more like Jesus. So, yeah, four
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Speaker 1: years old, My first memory actually was watching my dad
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Speaker 1: walk out the front door. Of our apartment, and the enemy,
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Speaker 1: as is his way, right, the father of lies, Jesus
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Speaker 1: calls him, and the author of stealing, killing, and destroying.
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Speaker 1: He came and he began just to lie to me.
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Speaker 1: Said something along the lines of, well, if your dad,
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Speaker 1: who's supposed to love you and be there for you, leaves,
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Speaker 1: that must mean that you are literally nothing and no one.
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Speaker 1: And the best you can hope for, girlfriend is to
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Speaker 1: fake your way through life, to put on a false persona.
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Speaker 1: And you're going to have to be the prettiest, nicest, sweetest, smartest,
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Speaker 1: least rejectable version of you you can be just to survive.
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Speaker 1: And I lived that way for years until the power
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel began to break through and show me
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Speaker 1: my true identity.
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Speaker 2: That's how steadfast the enemy is, and he knows that
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Speaker 2: he's particularly influential if he can get to us as children.
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Speaker 1: That's right.
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Speaker 2: You believe lies about our self, about others, and about God.
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Speaker 2: And he used your father's absence to lie to you
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Speaker 2: about you. He used my father's death when I was
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Speaker 2: a child to lie to me about God, because if
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Speaker 2: my earthly father left, why would I ever believe that
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Speaker 2: my heavenly father would stay because I wasn't worth it.
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Speaker 2: So that it's an interesting parallel that the enemy knew
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Speaker 2: how he could get to both you and I.
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Speaker 1: Yes, but he didn't have the final word, did he?
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Speaker 3: Right?
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Speaker 1: Right?
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Speaker 2: But it's so important that we are diligent at uprooting,
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Speaker 2: digging out and combating those lies.
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Speaker 1: Yes, And if I may so, let me flip that
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Speaker 1: for our listeners. Right, And I've learned how to do
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Speaker 1: this over the years. Listen, you know, not listen, don't
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Speaker 1: listen to the enemy, but you can identify his lies.
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Speaker 1: And then, because he's a liar and the father of lies,
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Speaker 1: you flip them and you begin to hear in scripture
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Speaker 1: and in the voice of the Lord the truth. So
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Speaker 1: the enemy comes and he says you are nothing and
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Speaker 1: no one. So he's just eviscerating me of any sense
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Speaker 1: of value or worth. Well, I'm going to flip that
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Speaker 1: on its head in light of the God Gospel, in life,
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Speaker 1: of who Jesus is and what He's done for us,
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Speaker 1: and in Christ he says that I am someone, not
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Speaker 1: no one, not nothing, something and someone and more than
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Speaker 1: that that he's my beloved child. Right, I'm a beloved
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Speaker 1: child of the Father and I'm part of the beloved
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Speaker 1: bride of the bridegroom Jesus, and I'm a vessel of
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. So all three persons of the Trinity
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Speaker 1: have something very specific to tell me about who I am.
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Speaker 1: And then the power the Gospel frees me from the
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Speaker 1: second lie. The enemy said, the best you can hope
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Speaker 1: for is to fake everybody out. So the enemy wants
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Speaker 1: us living in deception. Right, that's what happens with lies.
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Speaker 1: Lies turn into deception image appearance. Don't worry about the inside.
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Speaker 1: You just get that mask gone, girl, and walk through
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Speaker 1: life and don't let anybody reject you. And the power
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Speaker 1: of the Gospel refutes and turns that on its head.
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Speaker 1: In fact, this is the sacred refuge that the book
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Speaker 1: talks about what Jesus has built for us through his
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Speaker 1: perfect work. When he came and lived perfectly, and died
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Speaker 1: sacrificially and then rose triumphantly, he literally pulled down and
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Speaker 1: broke the power of the enemy to lie successfully and
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Speaker 1: allow those wounds that have been placed into our hearts
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Speaker 1: and spirits, et cetera, to prosper another moment. We don't
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Speaker 1: have to believe those lies anymore. If I could unpack it.
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Speaker 1: I mean, Jesus dealt with the worst crisis any of
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Speaker 1: us will ever have ever faced, and that is being
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Speaker 1: eternally separated from our holy God when he came, and
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Speaker 1: Paul says, it's very well in said Corinthians five point
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Speaker 1: twenty one. It's kind of an encapsulation of the gospel God.
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Speaker 1: The Father made him who knew no sin. That's Jesus
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Speaker 1: to be sin for us. He literally became. He literally
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Speaker 1: became our gossip, our greed, the abortion we had at seventeen,
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Speaker 1: our uncontrollable tongue that hurts people, all the things. He
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Speaker 1: became that garbage, Paul says, so that we might become
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Speaker 1: the righteousness of God in him. So two things going
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Speaker 1: on on the cross. Jesus becomes our sin, receives all
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Speaker 1: the wrath of the Father for what we deserved. Right,
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Speaker 1: there's no condemnation left for us Romans eight one. And
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Speaker 1: he changes the way the Father looks at us. When
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Speaker 1: the Father now sees me and you and those who
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Speaker 1: are listening who have Jesus, who are in Christ, he
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Speaker 1: sees the very perfection of Christ. And that means that
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Speaker 1: his father's heart is delighted in us. That's the invitation
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Speaker 1: to take off the masks. That's the freedom that Jesus
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Speaker 1: has purchased for us.
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Speaker 2: Your example is just yet one more in a long
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Speaker 2: list of examples that I could name of where God
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Speaker 2: takes one of our most devastating circumstances and uses it
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Speaker 2: for good. It's what I refer to as our sacred scar.
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Speaker 2: Yes from your mentions that you we're struggling with fear
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Speaker 2: during COVID, and so many seem to be fearful these days,
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Speaker 2: and in your book you address the growing angst that
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Speaker 2: it turns into chronic fear. Why do you think this
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Speaker 2: is happening? And just as importantly, how can we overcome it?
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Speaker 1: Right? It's happening for everyone. It's happening, especially for people
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Speaker 1: who don't have Christ. And why wouldn't it right to
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Speaker 1: live in this post fall world? Now, let's face it
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Speaker 1: feels like it's spinning faster and faster out of control.
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Speaker 1: I talk with women about shaking. Can you feel the shaking?
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Speaker 1: There's a whole lot of shaking going on, said Jerry
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Speaker 1: Lee Lewis and his old song. We're feeling it spiritually,
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Speaker 1: we're feeling it economically, we're feeling it politically, We're feeling
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Speaker 1: it across the globe. It feels like disasters are coming
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Speaker 1: harder and faster, like it's almost like the birth pangs
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Speaker 1: that Scripture describes in the final days. I think it's
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Speaker 1: possible that in the middle of the shaking, which God
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Speaker 1: is sovereign over, he is shaking us to wakea He's saying,
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Speaker 1: will you come out of this kind of spiritual slumber
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Speaker 1: that you've allowed yourself to fall into. I understand what
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Speaker 1: that feels like. I've had seasons of my life as
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Speaker 1: a Christian speaker, as a pastor's wife, as a leader,
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Speaker 1: all those things where I'm just like, you know, I
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Speaker 1: just want to bed out. I just want to take
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Speaker 1: three hours and binge my late you know something on Netflix.
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Speaker 1: Or I just want to eat that half thing half
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Speaker 1: carton of ice cream, or I just I want to
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Speaker 1: check out. And I call those my other lovers, the
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Speaker 1: things I go to apart from Jesus, who is our
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Speaker 1: first love. Revelation tells us right when we turn to
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Speaker 1: those other lovers over anything, overeating, over drinking, over working,
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Speaker 1: busyness can be another lover. What we've really done is
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Speaker 1: shifted our life foundation. I'm not saying we've lost our salvation.
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Speaker 1: I'm saying we're going to the wrong source to get
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Speaker 1: our feet under us, and the shaking will be harder
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Speaker 1: for us to deal with if we've spen spending more
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Speaker 1: time with our other lovers than with our first love, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: So it's about abiding in Him.
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Speaker 3: I think we're seeing that even in the church.
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Speaker 2: I can think of no other time when so many
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Speaker 2: pastors and leaders in the church have fallen. That's right,
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Speaker 2: And yet I look at that and it cautions me
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Speaker 2: to help ensure that I'm not looking to our pastors
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Speaker 2: or leaders to be an idol. I need to be
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Speaker 2: looking first and foremost to my heavenly Father.
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Speaker 3: Yes, so so.
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Speaker 2: Much good can come from the pain of the shaking,
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Speaker 2: but it doesn't detect from the fact that we do
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Speaker 2: live in a fallen world and it's painful, and we're
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Speaker 2: going to take a real short break to hear a
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Speaker 2: word from our sponsor. But I don't want you to
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Speaker 2: go anywhere. Stick with us to hear Lynde share more
12:56
Speaker 2: about how to move from hiding to healing. How did
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Speaker 2: discovered God's refuge in troubled times. We'll be right back
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Speaker 2: after this word from our sponsor, Welcome back to your
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Speaker 2: hope filled perspective where my guest today is Lynn Reinstrom.
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Speaker 2: We're talking about her book Sacred Refuge. We're really discussing
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Speaker 2: how do we discover God's refuge in troubled times? Lynn,
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Speaker 2: you wrote in Sacred Refuge not in the middle of calm,
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Speaker 2: but you're your own Christ. Share some about what was
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Speaker 2: happening at that time, your own moving day as it seems.
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Speaker 1: Yes, that's really what I call it. Where my address
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Speaker 1: shifted from living here as a citizen of earth with
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Speaker 1: an earthly perspective and oh my gosh, it's all up
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Speaker 1: to me and where is God too? Now I'm a
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Speaker 1: citizen of heaven. I'm a child of God, and He's
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Speaker 1: got me, and he's covering me in his presence and
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Speaker 1: his sacred refuge. Yeah. So, halfway through the writing of
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Speaker 1: the book, I get the phone call nobody wants. And
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Speaker 1: you've gotten this phone call, you understand it, the one
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Speaker 1: in which your name and the C word are are
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Speaker 1: put together in the same sentence, and it's it's the
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Speaker 1: phone call we just dread, right, because the moment we
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Speaker 1: hear that we have cancer or any other deadly disease,
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Speaker 1: potentially deadly disease. We face our own mortality, right, and
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Speaker 1: that's a gift. I'm just going to say, there's a
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Speaker 1: gift in the midst of that kind of crisis. It'll
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Speaker 1: change how we live our life. We won't waste time
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Speaker 1: and opportunity the way we perhaps formally had it. So
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Speaker 1: that's a whole other conversation. So here, I get this call,
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Speaker 1: you have cancer. It was breast cancer, and it was
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Speaker 1: caught early, so grace of God and all of that
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Speaker 1: for sure. And I was actually at my husband's pastor
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Speaker 1: and I was at our denomination's general assembly getting that call.
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Speaker 1: And I'm in the middle of all these like five thousand,
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Speaker 1: eight thousand Christians, this, that and the other, and I'm
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Speaker 1: getting this news that I know, I know God already
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Speaker 1: knows about. And it was tempting for me at that
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Speaker 1: moment to go under fear again, right, whether it's COVID
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Speaker 1: or I've got cancer and what's God doing and where
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Speaker 1: are you got? But there was grace for me, Michelle.
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Speaker 1: I really had a sense. I mean, I knew this
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Speaker 1: thing could take me out if I didn't ask God
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Speaker 1: to heal me and go through the medical protocols, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: I ended up having surgery, ended up having radiation, and
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Speaker 1: still m cancer free. Thank you Lord, He's the healer.
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Speaker 1: But in the midst of that, I had a moment
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Speaker 1: of decision, and we really have this moment day by day,
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Speaker 1: situation by situation, and that is we can pivot away
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Speaker 1: from God and say, I don't know why you've allowed this.
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Speaker 1: You can't be good if you're allowing this, whether it's
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Speaker 1: our cancer or somebody else's medical issue or whatever it is.
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Speaker 1: Or we can believe the truth of Scripture that promises
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Speaker 1: us that He's aware of it all and that he's
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Speaker 1: bringing good out of it all, and that our greatest
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Speaker 1: good is to know Jesus and become like Jesus, and
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Speaker 1: then we can pivot toward him. We lean into those
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Speaker 1: everlasting arms. And God gave me grace to begin to
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Speaker 1: learn how to do that. I remember going through radiation
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Speaker 1: and as I'm on the table and all these rays
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Speaker 1: are shooting through my body, he gave me this beautiful prayer.
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Speaker 1: I just feel led to share it for listeners and viewers.
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Speaker 1: I am being held, I am being heard. My prayers
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Speaker 1: are being heard. I am being healed. You talk about
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Speaker 1: that journey out of hiding and fear. God, where are you.
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Speaker 1: I can't trust you to know. I trust that you
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Speaker 1: are good. Even in this not pleasant situation of radiation.
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Speaker 1: I'm being held, heard, and healed, and I believe he
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Speaker 1: did bring healing. The other thing that was going on, interestingly,
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Speaker 1: is I get the diagnosis. The Lord is keeping me
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Speaker 1: in his sacred refuge. He's sheltering me under his wings.
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Speaker 1: So I'm ninety one six weeks I have to wait
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Speaker 1: for surgery, peaceful during surgery, get out of surgery. My
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Speaker 1: husband's driving me home. It's probably seven o'clock at night,
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Speaker 1: and we have been an hour drive to get home,
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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, about halfway home, somebody runs
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Speaker 1: a stop sign and totals our car. Banks right into
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Speaker 1: the front right of our car. I was sitting in
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Speaker 1: the back. I felt the Holy Spirit and said, sit
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Speaker 1: in the back. You might want to lay down whatever.
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Speaker 1: Had I been sitting in the front right seat next
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Speaker 1: to my husband, I don't know what that would have
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Speaker 1: looked like, but I was that much more removed from
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Speaker 1: the place of impact. Car was totaled. EMTs come take
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Speaker 1: us to another hospital where we're checked out, and we
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Speaker 1: were banged up and bruised, but not seriously reinjured. So
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Speaker 1: it was like a one two punch. What a day
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Speaker 1: that was July twenty seventh. And yet even in that
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Speaker 1: moment of impact, Mi sew strong sense of God's presence
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Speaker 1: him just saying I've got you, I'm holding you, I
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Speaker 1: am with you, I will not let you go, and.
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Speaker 3: It's that presence.
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Speaker 2: That will get us through any crisis.
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Speaker 3: That day that I got.
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Speaker 2: That same call with that sword, we were just walking
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Speaker 2: in to see my husband's on cologists and when they said,
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Speaker 2: you know doctor Banks, and you have cancer.
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Speaker 3: I was like, hey, you've got the wrong person.
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Speaker 2: We walked in and sat down in the waiting room
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Speaker 2: for his appointment, and just like you said, the temptation
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Speaker 2: was there to go down the slippery slope in to
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Speaker 2: worry if you're in anxiety. I had just the week
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Speaker 2: before released Breaking Anxiety Script. I just sensed in my
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Speaker 2: spirit or saying, you have just written the prescription.
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Speaker 3: You will get through this phase in your life.
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Speaker 2: Aren't going to believe what you wrote or are you
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Speaker 2: going to believe the lie of the enemy. That's right,
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Speaker 2: and that allowed perfect peace because the thing that is common.
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Speaker 2: Even if our listener or our viewer has not gone
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Speaker 2: through cancer, maybe they've had a prodigal child, or they
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Speaker 2: walked through a job loss or some other medical condition
18:52
Speaker 2: or marital distress, whatever the crisis, whatever.
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Speaker 3: The storm, we can choose.
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Speaker 2: We have to choose whether we're going to listen to
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Speaker 2: our heavenly Father and believe this doesn't take him by surprise.
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Speaker 2: He already knew this would happen, and he already knows
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Speaker 2: how he's going to get us through it. Yes, I
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Speaker 2: know that you have worked in international aid and ministry
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Speaker 2: for years with Samaritan's Purse. How has that impacted your
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Speaker 2: view of Jesus and how he works in people's lives.
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Speaker 1: Right? What it's taught me, Michelle, among many other things,
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Speaker 1: is that crisis comes with a gift. It's the gift
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Speaker 1: nobody wants. Thinking about western North Carolina that got literally
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Speaker 1: almost washed away after Hurricane Helen came in late September,
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Speaker 1: and we hear story after story just from that response alone,
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Speaker 1: of people saying life was good, kids were fine, we
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Speaker 1: have a nice house, I'm working hard, We've got the
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Speaker 1: retirement account filling up great. And then this hits and
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Speaker 1: it's all bets are off, it's you know, everything's turned
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Speaker 1: upside down in your life. And yet this is the moment,
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Speaker 1: just like our cancer moment, et cetera, when God shows
20:06
Speaker 1: up in a powerful way. I believe Scripture teaches, and
20:09
Speaker 1: I think even Matthew eleven twenty eight through thirty that
20:12
Speaker 1: invitation from Jesus come to me, all you who are
20:15
Speaker 1: weary and heavy laden, all you who are saying I
20:18
Speaker 1: cannot do this, and I will give you rest. And
20:21
Speaker 1: it's found in a relationship with Him and what he
20:24
Speaker 1: did for us on the Cross. So what I've seen
20:26
Speaker 1: with men and women, families, both here in the US
20:29
Speaker 1: suffering after a disaster or internationally, whether it was a famine.
20:33
Speaker 1: I saw emergency feeding going on in Uganda refugees there.
20:38
Speaker 1: I was in the Middle East in our field hospital
20:40
Speaker 1: that we had there, et cetera. I watch people come
20:43
Speaker 1: to the end of themselves, And isn't that the place
20:47
Speaker 1: where the Holy Spirit brings us so that he can
20:50
Speaker 1: also now bring us new life and regeneration in Christ.
20:54
Speaker 1: Crisis hurts, It's uncomfortable everything in US as Americans, we
20:59
Speaker 1: just our personal peace and comfort, predictability, control, and it
21:03
Speaker 1: flies in the face and destroys all of that. But
21:06
Speaker 1: it's the moment when God shows up in power and
21:09
Speaker 1: says you are not alone. I am here and I
21:13
Speaker 1: am for you. And the reason you know that, the
21:15
Speaker 1: reason you can get your feet under you right now
21:18
Speaker 1: in the middle of the shaking of this crisis, is
21:20
Speaker 1: that I sent Jesus for you and the Gospel. You
21:24
Speaker 1: know what do we call him? Jesus is the rock
21:27
Speaker 1: of our salvation. Right we can get our feet under him.
21:30
Speaker 1: If I may just share this, I remember walking into
21:33
Speaker 1: an emergency field hospital, and I won't go into when
21:36
Speaker 1: it was where it was. It was the Middle East,
21:38
Speaker 1: and what a privilege for our ministry to show up
21:41
Speaker 1: there in Jesus' name and be able to take care
21:45
Speaker 1: of thousands and thousands of Muslims. I will tell you
21:49
Speaker 1: I have never experienced, I would say, almost the palpable
21:53
Speaker 1: presence of God as I as I did in that place.
21:57
Speaker 1: And you sit there and you go, wait, we're in
21:58
Speaker 1: the Middle East, And let me tell you it wasn't Israel.
22:01
Speaker 1: It was a different part of the least and a
22:03
Speaker 1: place where the enemy's camp would be had set up shop.
22:07
Speaker 1: I'll leave it broadly at that. Why would God be there? Well,
22:10
Speaker 1: he was there. Wait, you're taking care of people from
22:13
Speaker 1: another religion. Why would God be there? Oh he was there.
22:17
Speaker 1: Terrible suffering, that's not God's idea. God didn't plan for
22:21
Speaker 1: the fall. He didn't want us to have cancer, he
22:25
Speaker 1: didn't want people to be blown up by bombs, all
22:27
Speaker 1: the things. Oh, he was there. And I think there's
22:30
Speaker 1: a sense in which God dwells in the midst of
22:34
Speaker 1: our brokenness. That's who our God is. He has compassion
22:38
Speaker 1: for us, He draws near. He gave us Jesus, who
22:42
Speaker 1: really when we were sitting in the ditch, think Luke
22:44
Speaker 1: ten the story of the Good Samaritan. We're sitting in
22:47
Speaker 1: the ditch, ripped off by the enemy, but we're sitting
22:50
Speaker 1: in the ditch of our own rebellion and sin, and
22:53
Speaker 1: there's not a darn thing we can do about it.
22:56
Speaker 1: But in compassion, Jesus liked the Good Samaritan. He's the
22:59
Speaker 1: ultimate baron, right, the outsider God himself, who sees Us,
23:03
Speaker 1: has compassion, crosses the road, takes on flesh, gets into
23:07
Speaker 1: the ditch with us. So much of the church right
23:10
Speaker 1: now we're like, I don't want to get in the mess.
23:13
Speaker 1: I don't want to be bothered. I've got a nice life.
23:16
Speaker 1: When we choose to live that way, we're losing our
23:18
Speaker 1: voice in the culture. We're losing the platform for gospel proclamation.
23:22
Speaker 1: I'm just going to say it, that's my opinion. But
23:24
Speaker 1: when we, like Jesus, are drawn to people in suffering,
23:28
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's our next door neighbor, literally,
23:30
Speaker 1: the person across the street, somebody in our family, somebody
23:34
Speaker 1: around the world, whatever it is. When we're drawn to them,
23:37
Speaker 1: everything changes and the power of Christ in us is
23:41
Speaker 1: released through us in ministry, and it builds an irrefutable,
23:45
Speaker 1: I would say, platform to talk about who Jesus is and.
23:49
Speaker 2: What a blessing it is that God gives us the
23:53
Speaker 2: privilege to partner with him. Yes, he doesn't eat us,
24:00
Speaker 2: it gives us the blessing to participate if we will take.
24:04
Speaker 3: Them up on that. Friends, we're going to take our
24:06
Speaker 3: real short break for a word from our sponsor.
24:08
Speaker 2: But don't go anywhere, because we're going to come back
24:11
Speaker 2: and talk to Lynn about her hope filled perspective with
24:14
Speaker 2: respected discovering God's refuge in these troubled times.
24:18
Speaker 1: We'll go back.
24:23
Speaker 2: Welcome back to your hope filled perspective. Before we wrap
24:26
Speaker 2: up this episode, Lynn, I would appreciate it if you
24:30
Speaker 2: would talk about the effect of sin and shame and
24:35
Speaker 2: how we can overcome that, because I know we've got
24:38
Speaker 2: listeners who are thinking, understand, I've just messed up too much.
24:44
Speaker 2: I can't share what I've gone through or what I've done.
24:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, I'd be glad to It's interesting. I was
24:51
Speaker 1: just teaching a retreat last weekend for a large church
24:54
Speaker 1: in North Carolina, and we were talking about this very thing.
24:56
Speaker 1: The Lord nudged me about the reality that in the
25:00
Speaker 1: hundreds of women sitting there, some of them had had abortions, which,
25:05
Speaker 1: for those of us who are women and we're wired
25:08
Speaker 1: and designed by God as lifegivers, becomes I think in
25:11
Speaker 1: many cases the ultimate hard thing to get past the
25:15
Speaker 1: enemy lies to us. I believe, and he says, God
25:18
Speaker 1: loves everybody else, but he can't love you because of
25:22
Speaker 1: phill in the blank. God could forgive everybody else. Oh yeah,
25:27
Speaker 1: Jesus went to the cross. His blood is powerful, it
25:29
Speaker 1: washes away sin, but he can't quite get past what
25:32
Speaker 1: you did. And then we don't forgive ourselves. We walk
25:35
Speaker 1: around on the outside like everything's great. We're going to church,
25:38
Speaker 1: we're going to the Bible study, we're doing the Christian things.
25:41
Speaker 1: But inside we have gone into a kind of dark place.
25:45
Speaker 1: It plays apart from trusting that God is still with
25:48
Speaker 1: us and for us and loves us, we believe the
25:50
Speaker 1: enemies lie that he's disappointed with us. A lot of
25:54
Speaker 1: I think many Christian women believe that he's just vaguely disappointed.
25:58
Speaker 1: Like when I get my acting and I have an
26:00
Speaker 1: hour long quiet time and stop abusing people verbally or
26:04
Speaker 1: whatever it is, then maybe he'll he'll listen to my
26:07
Speaker 1: prayers or begin to show up more in my life.
26:09
Speaker 1: And that's whoy. That is the enemy's deception. If we're
26:13
Speaker 1: in Christ, we belong to him. We have this invitation
26:16
Speaker 1: to come with boldness and confidence. So let me give
26:19
Speaker 1: you a visual picture, if I may, of what this
26:21
Speaker 1: looks like for me hearing the enemy's lives. When my
26:24
Speaker 1: dad left, you're nothing, You're knowing the most. You're always
26:27
Speaker 1: going to be rejected, right, You're just a fearful reject.
26:30
Speaker 1: That was the old story. It was as if I
26:32
Speaker 1: put on and I wish I could actually pull it
26:34
Speaker 1: out for you right now. Had expected to do this,
26:37
Speaker 1: But I literally have these rags that I put over myself,
26:40
Speaker 1: and I kind of curl up, and I show the
26:42
Speaker 1: women i'm teaching spiritually what it was like to go
26:45
Speaker 1: under shame, under that sense of accusation. You are not enough.
26:51
Speaker 1: That's what we women walk around with a constant mantra
26:54
Speaker 1: from the enemy, You're not enough, You're not enough. And
26:56
Speaker 1: then I remove that because at age twelve, when my
27:00
Speaker 1: second dad left our family, there we go. We have
27:03
Speaker 1: more complication, more rejection. At that point, the enemy, the
27:07
Speaker 1: enemy turned the lie into Okay, it's time you can't
27:10
Speaker 1: trust anybody. It's time for you to build your own reputation,
27:14
Speaker 1: your own image, or own success. And I put on
27:16
Speaker 1: and it's literally a red cape of capability. And you've
27:19
Speaker 1: got to be the smartest, best whatever. You're just covering
27:22
Speaker 1: up that innate sense of shame and not being enough.
27:25
Speaker 1: But what Christ does for us when he goes to
27:28
Speaker 1: the cross becomes our sin and gives us his righteousness.
27:31
Speaker 1: He fulfills the prophetic word all through the scripture, but
27:35
Speaker 1: particularly in Isaiah sixty one ten, and in that inspired
27:38
Speaker 1: by the spirit, the prophet, Isaiah says and you have
27:41
Speaker 1: placed on me the robe of righteousness. What that means
27:47
Speaker 1: is we're literally covered with the perfection and righteousness of Christ.
27:52
Speaker 1: And that removes both the rags of rejection and the
27:56
Speaker 1: cape of capability. It removes once and for all the
28:00
Speaker 1: fear and the shame and that innate sense of not
28:04
Speaker 1: being enough. We have to believe it. We have to
28:06
Speaker 1: believe that this is who we are now in Christ.
28:10
Speaker 1: And we really have to preach the Gospel to ourselves
28:13
Speaker 1: every single day.
28:14
Speaker 2: Every single day, and we have to be diligent about
28:20
Speaker 2: asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the lies.
28:23
Speaker 3: Yes, we've believed.
28:26
Speaker 1: Yes.
28:26
Speaker 2: And if a listener is resonating with our conversation today,
28:29
Speaker 2: maybe they are struggling with sin or shame, or they're
28:34
Speaker 2: recognizing that, yes, times of crises have brought about belief
28:39
Speaker 2: in Satan's lives. What hope filled perspective would you want
28:42
Speaker 2: to leave them with today?
28:44
Speaker 1: Yes, I want to say to them that there is
28:47
Speaker 1: an invitation, an engraved invitation. Thank Isaiah forty nine to fifteen.
28:52
Speaker 1: Christ has engraved us on the palms of his hands.
28:54
Speaker 1: There's an engraved invitation from the Lord for them right now,
28:57
Speaker 1: And I'm going to read it from Psalm ninety one.
29:00
Speaker 1: Promise for you and for me and for us is this,
29:03
Speaker 1: He who dwells and the shelter of the most high
29:06
Speaker 1: will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will
29:09
Speaker 1: say of the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress,
29:14
Speaker 1: my God in whom I trust. So there's this invitation
29:18
Speaker 1: to see God for who he is. Take him at
29:20
Speaker 1: his word. Don't go by the feelings that make you
29:23
Speaker 1: feel inadequate or feel like you're about to He's going
29:26
Speaker 1: to pull the lever on the trap door and you're gone. No,
29:30
Speaker 1: Christ has dealt with that. And then verse four, the
29:32
Speaker 1: promise is, as you trust in Christ and who He
29:35
Speaker 1: has made you to be righteous in himself, he will
29:38
Speaker 1: cover you with his feathers. Picture that mama bird opening
29:42
Speaker 1: up her feathers and all the babies nestled underneath. And
29:45
Speaker 1: I went there again and again during my cancer, et cetera.
29:48
Speaker 1: He will cover you with his feathers, and under his
29:51
Speaker 1: wings you will find refuge. That's the invitation for you
29:56
Speaker 1: right now.
29:57
Speaker 2: That's what we all need more than anything, is to
30:02
Speaker 2: know that despite what is going on around us, what
30:06
Speaker 2: is happening to us, God provides.
30:11
Speaker 3: That place of sacred refuge.
30:14
Speaker 1: Yes.
30:14
Speaker 2: When would you be willing to pray for our listener
30:17
Speaker 2: and our viewer Yes, struggling to believe that for themselves.
30:22
Speaker 1: Yes, I sure would. I would love that. Father. Right now,
30:25
Speaker 1: in agreement with my sister Michelle, and with all those listening,
30:28
Speaker 1: we come before you with boldness and confidence, and in
30:31
Speaker 1: the strong name of Jesus, and I ask Father, God,
30:33
Speaker 1: that you would silence every lie of the enemy that
30:36
Speaker 1: has been spoken to us and to our spirits through
30:38
Speaker 1: our lives. We pray in Jesus' name that you would
30:41
Speaker 1: bind him and those lies far from us removed, send
30:45
Speaker 1: them back to the pit, and remove them once and
30:48
Speaker 1: for all from our minds and spirits and lives. We
30:50
Speaker 1: pray that no weapon formed against us would prosper another
30:54
Speaker 1: day through those lies. And we ask instead of God
30:57
Speaker 1: that by the power of your spirit, you would say,
31:00
Speaker 1: and your holy spirit of truth to remind us as
31:03
Speaker 1: you promised that he would the words of Jesus, the
31:06
Speaker 1: words where he said, I'm going to the Father, but
31:09
Speaker 1: I will not leave you as orphans. I'm going to
31:11
Speaker 1: send the spirit of adoption. Father. I pray for women
31:14
Speaker 1: who are right now sitting in darkness apart from you.
31:18
Speaker 1: They may be in church, they may be they may
31:20
Speaker 1: be Jesus followers, they may be Jesus girls, but they've
31:23
Speaker 1: lost that sense of connection with you because of sin
31:27
Speaker 1: and shame and condemnation. And I pray that even now,
31:30
Speaker 1: as some one oh seven describes it, you would rescue them.
31:33
Speaker 1: You would break through bars of iron and break down
31:38
Speaker 1: doors of brass, that you would go into that prison
31:41
Speaker 1: cell in your perfect light and power and love and
31:45
Speaker 1: compassion and lift them off of that cold, damp floor,
31:49
Speaker 1: that place of being apart from you. In their spirit,
31:52
Speaker 1: Some of them, Lord can't even get up. Would you
31:54
Speaker 1: lift them in your arms, let them feel your warmth
31:58
Speaker 1: and love and power and compassion, lift them and surround them,
32:03
Speaker 1: and would you walk them out of that place? They're saying,
32:05
Speaker 1: I'm done with the lies. I'm not going to give
32:07
Speaker 1: them any more space in my life. Help me, Jesus
32:11
Speaker 1: is all we need to pray. And here you are, Jesus, coming,
32:14
Speaker 1: lifting us up and out of that place, into your
32:17
Speaker 1: arms and out into the sunshine, out into a place
32:21
Speaker 1: of life and life abundant. That's what you promised to
32:24
Speaker 1: give us. I pray that you would speak truth to
32:26
Speaker 1: each one listening the specific word part of your word,
32:30
Speaker 1: your scriptures that they can stand on, so that the
32:33
Speaker 1: shaking and the self rejection and self hatred and fear
32:36
Speaker 1: and shame will be silenced forever. Would you speak that
32:41
Speaker 1: word over them, even from song of songs, Arise, my love,
32:46
Speaker 1: my beautiful one, and come away with me. We ask
32:51
Speaker 1: it in Jesus' name.
32:52
Speaker 3: Amen, Lindon, thank.
32:55
Speaker 2: You so much for sharing out of your own pain
32:58
Speaker 2: and crises to encourage each others. That's just another example
33:02
Speaker 2: of a beautiful, sacred scar that God is using for
33:05
Speaker 2: others good in his glory. Friends, I know that there
33:10
Speaker 2: is something in Lynn's testimony today that has encouraged your heart.
33:15
Speaker 3: I hope that you will take.
33:16
Speaker 2: Her admonition to continue to seek after the Lord, to
33:20
Speaker 2: uproot the lies, and to maintain a posture under his
33:25
Speaker 2: sacred refuge. And if you know someone who's going through
33:28
Speaker 2: a difficult time right now, would you consider sharing this
33:31
Speaker 2: episode with them to provide them a biblically based, hope
33:35
Speaker 2: filled perspective. I look forward to being with you again
33:38
Speaker 2: next week, where we'll talk more about how to find
33:42
Speaker 2: God's hope in this dark world. But until we're together again.
33:46
Speaker 2: You know it's my prayer for you that you have
33:49
Speaker 2: a hope filled week.
33:52
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining doctor Banks and for your hope
33:55
Speaker 4: fuilled perspective. We hope you are encouraged by her authenticity
34:00
Speaker 4: on our ability in biblical truths. If you enjoy today's conversation,
34:04
Speaker 4: when you take a moment right now, open up your
34:07
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34:10
Speaker 4: to our podcast profile image. We think this podcast is
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Speaker 4: best enjoyed with friends, so tell a friend and click
34:16
Speaker 4: share in your podcast app and send a friend our
34:19
Speaker 4: link to share hope with them. If you have a comment, question,
34:23
Speaker 4: or suggest a topic for a future show, reach out
34:25
Speaker 4: to our staff at info at Hope Prevails dot org.
34:29
Speaker 4: For additional resources. Information about doctor Bankson's books where free downloads,
34:34
Speaker 4: or to contact her to speak at your next event,
34:37
Speaker 4: please visit doctor Mishelbe dot com. Until next time, May
34:42
Speaker 4: you have a hope filledweek.
34:47
Speaker 2: I'd like to take just a second to thank the
34:49
Speaker 2: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
34:52
Speaker 2: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you'll
34:55
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