Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / When Tragedy Led to Truth: Discovering Jesus During the Beltway Sniper Crisis With Cara Shine

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When Tragedy Led to Truth: Discovering Jesus During the Beltway Sniper Crisis With Cara Shine · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:01
  Hey, and welcome back to She Speaks Live podcast.
• 0:04
  I want to first start out by asking you a question.
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  Have you ever had something tragic happen in your life?
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  Or maybe it was a trial or hardship, but in return, it
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  actually brought you to have a beautiful encounter with the
• 0:20
  Lord and you saw it as what the enemy meant for harm.
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  God clearly turned it into good. Well, this story you're about to
• 0:30
  here is absolutely remarkable about author Kara Shine, who
• 0:35
  wrote the book The Hallway Miracle.
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  She has a powerful story to share with us about how the
• 0:41
  tragedy of the Beltway sniper event that happened in 2002
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  brought her to a place where God transformed her life from a
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  Jewish religion to living completely devoted to following
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  Jesus Christ. Kara is a mother and a retired
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  elementary school teacher with a passion to encourage others to
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  better understand the connection with the Old Testament and the
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  New Testament. God's full story and her faith
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  story will reignite compassion for others around you and remind
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  you that in your darkest hours, God can turn ashes into
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  something so beautiful. All right, if you're ready, I'm
• 1:27
  ready. Here's my guest, Kara Shine.
• 1:32
  Well, hi, Kara, Welcome to She Speaks Life.
• 1:35
  I'm so excited you are here. It's been a good time chatting
• 1:39
  with you so far before we hit record.
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  I know. Hi, Jamie.
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  I did. At one point, you and I stopped
• 1:45
  and I said, wait a minute. Should we, like, hit record?
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  Because I felt like we were just going to continue to go on and
• 1:49
  all we needed was a cup of coffee and a comfy couch and we
• 1:52
  would have kept going. Yeah, it was.
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  I'm so honored to be here. Thank you so much.
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  Yes, I know. I love interviews like this.
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  I love of having that conversation, just you hit it
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  off right at the bat, right at the get go.
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  And so that's that's what we are experiencing right now, which
• 2:10
  makes such a good conversation. Yeah.
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  So I'm really looking forward to you sharing your story.
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  You have written a book called The Hallway Miracle, and this is
• 2:24
  a remarkable story that you have to share with us about how God
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  used this event in 2002 called the Beltway sniper crisis to
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  transform you from your Jewish religion to a devoted follower
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  of Jesus Christ. And I love how your story just,
• 2:48
  you know, unfolds while this tragic event is happening.
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  So we'll learn more about that and your story.
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  But first I would love for you to share what is your your
• 3:00
  favorite scripture verse and why?
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  Well, first of all, thank you so much for just having me.
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  It's an honor and I just pray that our time together blesses
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  your readers. But I had an opportunity to
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  preach at my home church a couple weeks ago and it was on
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  the verse John 131217, which is when Jesus washes his disciples
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  feet. And the first time I opened up a
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  New Testament at the age of 32, and I read that scene where the
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  God of the universe kneels down on his feet and washes our feet.
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  I mean, my mind was blown. And I'd read that first over and
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  over the course of the years. I'm a retired teacher.
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  And I remember thinking as I was reading that how remarkable it
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  was that God himself would use his holy hands, right, to touch
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  our feet. And it always inspired me to
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  think about, well, what am I doing with my hands?
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  If the God of the universe is using his hands to wash my feet,
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  what am I doing with my hands? So as I was preparing this
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  sermon, it occurred to me that I had missed the beauty of the
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  very last verse in John 12 through 17.
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  The last verse says, now that you know these things, meaning
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  sacrificial love is what Jesus wants for all of us.
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  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do
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  them. Blessed.
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  You'll be blessed if you do them.
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  If we learn to serve each other the way Jesus served us and we
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  use our hands to be the hands and feet and the body of Christ,
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  it blesses us, right. It's it's better for our bodies,
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  it's better for our hearts. It's the better it's you know,
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  it's better to give than to receive comes from that verse, I
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  think, and it just it, it occurred to me after all these
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  years of reading that that that one verse is how we were made to
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  live. And I was able to share that at
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  at church and it blessed me to review myself that we are the
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  hands and the feet and that we are, we are made to serve one
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  another. And it's healthy.
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  You will be blessed. It's better for you to live that
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  way. So that's that's kind of what's
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  been resonating in my brain for the past couple weeks.
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  I love it. You're blessing me right now to
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  to see that and what a beautiful picture and how encouraging that
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  is that you just shared that that I know you're blessing me.
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  You're blessing the listener just by hearing that beautiful
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  insight. So beautiful.
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  I love how God works and how he really just pursues our hearts.
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  And so that's exactly what he did with you.
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  So tell us a bit of your back story of being in a small town.
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  You were grown up as a Jewish child.
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  And how did that shape your view of Jesus before this tragic
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  event happened in 2002? Sure.
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  So born and raised Jewish, my parents were originally from New
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  York, my dad was in the military, and so that meant
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  moving around and around the time I was four years old.
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  We ended up settling in a small town in Ohio, close to the base
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  where my dad worked, but unfortunately 45 minutes away
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  from the nearest synagogue. There wasn't a vibrant Jewish
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  community where I lived. We were one of the only Jews
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  really in our in our neighborhood, in our community.
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  So a lot of the people that were our neighbors and friends had
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  never met a Jew before. And I, I know that there were
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  beautiful, wonderful Christians in our midst.
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  I know it. But unfortunately for my brother
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  and I, the Christians that we heard from the most were also
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  the cruelest. So we would get on the bus and
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  we would hear things like your parents must be ignorant since
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  they don't believe in Jesus. Or one day I had a boy walk past
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  me and grab a handful of my my hair and say, oh, check her for
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  horns. All clear on the bus.
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  We're safe. Announced to everybody.
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  Or you know, a child saying, you know, I can't believe you don't
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  believe in Jesus Christ. And she would kind of hiss the
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  word Jesus at me and it just sounded so ugly coming out of
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  her mouth. And that was it was in contrast
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  to what I had heard in synagogue.
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  So when we would make the 45 minute drive to my synagogue,
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  the rabbis, when we asked what about Jesus, I remember this
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  specifically. Our rabbi said he was a
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  wonderful rabbi, He was a good teacher, and he gave us the
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  golden rule. So I couldn't reconcile what I
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  had heard from synagogue where I was surrounded by beautiful
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  traditions and people I loved and songs of peace with this
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  Jesus on the school bus by this handful of kids that were
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  misrepresenting him. They were not being in the hands
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  and feet of Jesus at all. Yeah.
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  Yeah. Wow.
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  Yeah. That that's got to be confusing,
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  right? And it was hard to understand.
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  So during the fall of 2002, the Beltway sniper attacks created
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  this widespread terrors in the Washington, DC area.
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  So those that don't really know what that is, would you just
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  give a brief description with that?
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  And what was that like for you living near that as a mother and
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  a elementary school teacher at that time?
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  Yeah, it was, it was surreal. It was terrifying.
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  You know, I I'd just been gotten married.
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  I'm a a teacher and a young mom and I have a daughter and it was
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  right after 911. So, and for people who don't
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  understand, because the Pentagon was 20 minutes from where I
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  live, 911 was just as terrifying for everybody in our area.
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  So we were traumatized and I had to work through 911 with my
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  students trying to pretend like everything was fine.
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  Teachers were, you know, running up and down the hallways trying
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  to get information. So we 911 was had just happened.
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  So in the fall of 2002, these snipers spent three weeks
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  shooting out of the trunk of their car.
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  They used it as a rolling sniper's nest and they just kind
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  of indiscriminately started murdering people all around the
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  Beltway. So that would be Washington, DC,
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  Maryland, Virginia, where I lived, and life just kind of
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  came to a halt for three weeks. The first day that they they
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  started to shoot, they killed 5 people right off the bat.
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  And then it just continued. Every two to three days,
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  somebody else would get shot pumping gas, loading groceries
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  in their car. And then at one point a child
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  who was getting out of their aunt's car in a middle school
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  parking lot and we were told don't go outside.
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  Recess was cancelled, football games were cancelled.
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  And when we did go outside, we were supposed to duck and weave
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  and stay low to the ground. So we just lived in absolute
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  fear, but that fear and anxiety ended up bringing me to Jesus.
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  Which reminds me of that that that verse from Genesis 5020
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  when Joseph is confronted with his brothers who come and don't
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  realize that Joseph is now in authority to.
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  Help and right. And he and, and he says to them,
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  you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.
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  And I wrote this story as a reminder to all of us that in,
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  in, in all of our, our doubts, our fears, our difficult
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  seasons, God can take something so horrible and turn it into
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  something beautiful, which is what he did in my life.
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  He took this anxiety of the Beltway snipers and used it to
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  open up my heart to a Jesus that I, I didn't understand.
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  I thought for 30 years Jesus wanted nothing to do with me
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  because of the, you know, the, the unkindness and the
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  misrepresentation by these, these children.
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  So, yeah, it was, it was terrifying.
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  It was. Well, I got the gracious
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  opportunity to read your book. It's so great.
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  And. As I was reading it in this
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  particular part, it was this image of when Saul was trying to
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  hunt down David and I, I was just imagining how similar that
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  is, just always looking over your shoulder.
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  As I was reading that, I was just taking myself and just
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  imagining, gosh, that must be what David was going through,
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  you know, and Saul was trying to hunt him down and kill him.
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  And so I can't imagine living through that and day in and day
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  out and having that just be random acts as it was, Right?
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  There was no rhyme or reason for it.
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  Yeah. So it was just who knows where
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  they are and what they're gonna do.
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  So. Yeah.
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  But I love what it turned into, and so me too.
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  Yes, yes, praise God. And so there's three small
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  things that take relevance in your story.
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  So it was a dust calendar devotional, a handful of M&M's,
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  and one desperate prayer. So in those three things that
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  brought you to encounter the Lord, share a little bit of why
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  you titled this the Hallway Miracle, because I think this
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  may tie into those three things, am I right?
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  You are right. You nailed it.
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  Absolutely. You know, when I think, when I
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  was thinking about this story's been on my heart for 30 years.
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  Yeah. And I knew God was calling me to
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  share this. And in thinking about all of
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  these things that happened, I, there was a theme for me.
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  And that was the theme was that all of these things, a desk
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  calendar, a handful of M&M's and a hallway are, are they're very
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  ordinary. They're very ordinary.
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  There's nothing special necessarily about any of these
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  things. But because I ended up in an
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  elementary school where the Holy Spirit was welcomed in by the
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  principal, by the staff, not in a way that made me feel
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  uncomfortable or that they were trying to convert me.
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  These were just good Christians, good Christians.
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  And they lived authentically. They lived relationally.
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  They were the hands and feet of Jesus.
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  So when they saw me hurting, because they had already shown
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  me through their words and actions that they, they were,
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  they were wonderful people. There was something about them
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  that was different, that while I was panicked, they were calm.
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  They were calm. And they would say things like,
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  we'll, we're praying for you, Kara.
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  And, and it touched my heart. So God took things like you
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  mentioned, a handful of M&M's, which is in the story part of my
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  daughter's journey, a desk calendar devotional that my
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  teacher friend just happened to have on her desk that had
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  scripture on it that I had never seen before.
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  And I would sneak into her classroom to read it and it
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  touched my heart. And then an ordinary hallway
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  where the Holy Spirit met me and my friend Sharon on this
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  morning, where she saw me at my weakest and asked me very boldly
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  because we already had a relationship.
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  Kara, can I pray for you? Just in an ordinary hallway.
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  But the Holy Spirit filled both of our hearts and I felt it.
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  See, I'm feeling it right now. Every time I tell the story to
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  the top of my head, to the bottom of my toes, I and I, as
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  she prayed with me in that empty hallway, I I felt changed.
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  I felt the Holy Spirit. I felt peace.
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  All of my anxiety disappeared. And after we opened our eyes, I
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  looked at her and I said, what was that?
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  Yeah. And she said, oh honey, that was
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  Jesus. And it changed everything.
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  It set off this holy ripple effect that changed the course
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  of my life, which is in the rest of the story that the way God
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  pursued me afterwards and the other miracles that you can read
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  about in the book and the and the other lives that were
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  changed as the result of that prayer and how it affected me.
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  It just rolled on for now 30 years as a result.
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  So those ordinary things, God can take anything ordinary and
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  use it for his good. Yes, it's so beautiful.
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  I know I was reading that and I'm like, how awesome.
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  Because I think we can all relate with those special
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  encounters with somebody and just feeling the presence of the
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  Lord. And it was expressed so well in
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  your book where we could actually be standing there with
• 16:04
  you experiencing that also. It was so beautiful.
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  And you know, you've gone through some personal crisis
• 16:12
  yourself with your your child going through anaphylaxis, a
• 16:17
  sudden death of a, a friend. And and then you had during that
• 16:23
  time, debilitating panic attacks.
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  And so, you know, how did those personal struggles intersect
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  with that time where, you know, fear was arising because there
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  was snipers right outside your door?
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  I mean, talk about a really dark time.
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  It was. I think all of us can probably
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  point to a place in our lives where we feel like there's just
• 16:53
  no hope, where you feel like you're down to your last time,
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  whatever's happening with your family, and the amount of news
• 17:02
  that we get in our ears all day long, that's so negative.
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  And you have a choice in those moments, right?
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  You can succumb to the darkness of the world and go down with
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  it. My panic attacks were the result
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  of my not understanding the hope that I could have in a Savior.
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  I didn't realize the peace that was available to me, that peace
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  that surpasses all understanding.
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  I didn't didn't know it yet, but after after I felt the presence
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  of God and I recognized that the Holy Spirit was in me and that
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  God had created me for one purpose and that was to glorify
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  him. All the other things that I
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  carried with me about am IA good teacher, am IA good mom, am IA
• 17:42
  Good Wife, am I doing everything right?
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  I could put all of that down and just surrender it into the arms
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  of God, but I only have one purpose and that's to glorify
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  him and everything else can be let go.
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  So I've recently been reading a lot also James chapter one verse
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  2, which is considerate joy brothers, when you face many
• 18:05
  trials because it produces perseverance.
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  And I remember reading that years ago and thinking I'm good.
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  I don't need any trials. I'm thank you, James.
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  I get it, but I'm not interested in any trials.
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  But it's true, right? So the trials I experienced
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  during the Beltway snipers, I've had many other trials in the in,
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  in the past years. And every single time I find
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  myself running into the arms of Jesus, into those hands that
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  wash feet, and there's comfort there.
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  And it doesn't solve everything, but it it gives me this peace
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  that's attainable for all of us. And I'd look at the trials of my
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  life now with a new set of eyes. Have you seen those videos of
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  babies that get their glasses for the first time?
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  Yes, right. And they open up their.
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  Eyes and they go, wow, yeah, that's that's how that's how
• 18:54
  this faith feels for me. Or their ears.
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  Here it's a here the coconut implants, it's that same like
• 19:01
  whoa, this was here the whole time.
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  I had no. Idea.
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  And I still, you know, I'm always going to be Jewish.
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  I, I love my Jewish heritage. I just now have this extra layer
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  of beautifulness of a completion of a story that brings me peace.
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  And I am hoping with this story that it builds bridges and not
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  walls between people of all faiths, that we can see that our
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  God is an awesome God. Yeah.
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  You know, and the Shema, you know, the watchword of my
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  people. So.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, just hearing you
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  took me back to a place where I felt like I was getting just hit
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  in every angle possible, you know, left, right behind you in
• 19:47
  front. Like I'm just going, Lord, what
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  is going on? Like I can't like go through
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  another hit of, you know, bad news or bad circumstance.
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  You know, if anything, it just made me get into his word even
• 20:03
  more and really just yeah. And not just be a here, you
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  know, James as we're talking about James, not just be a
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  hearer of the word, but be a doer because the doing part is
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  where we it. Blesses us, yes, that's.
• 20:19
  Where we have the encounter and we have that revelation and, and
• 20:25
  it's, you know, when we become a believer, we, we have a
• 20:29
  relationship with Jesus, but the fellowship comes by diving into
• 20:34
  his word and letting it take root.
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  You know, we could all sit here and read the Word but not really
• 20:42
  have it take action in our life. And I believe that's where I was
• 20:50
  at the time because I'm like, you know, I'm reading, you know,
• 20:53
  a scripture here and there, but it wasn't me sitting down and
• 20:58
  actually, you know, just ruminating and just really
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  taking in the scripture and then using that to, to actually do it
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  in my life to really put it into practice, you know, like watch
• 21:12
  my words. What am I saying?
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  You know, and, and you know, speak out the word of God in, in
• 21:19
  the situation and stuff. So you, you learn as you go,
• 21:24
  right. We, we're always learning until
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  eternity. And so the growth of spiritual
• 21:30
  maturity, you start to understand, you know, oh, wow,
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  like this is really what it what it means to be fulfilled in, you
• 21:41
  know, fellowshipping with him, actually having that revelation.
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  How do we get that revelation is actually doing what the word
• 21:48
  says. Having that encounter, just like
• 21:50
  you had that encounter with your friend praying you, you actually
• 21:54
  did what the word says was to pray, you know, with your fellow
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  believers, lift all your cares up to him, right, Because he
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  cares for you. So that's right.
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  And none of that would have happened if they hadn't already
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  been shown and living relationally in their life.
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  And I think that's that's so important.
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  I am hoping that the message of this book also encourages people
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  to be aware that the way we move in the world as believers is so
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  important because there are people watching us all the time.
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  I was, I was thinking about that verse from Matthew.
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  It's 1027. What I what I tell you, what I
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  whisper in the dark proclaimed from the rooftops.
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  Because back back in Jesus day, rooftops were flat and they
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  would go up on on the rooftops and they would shout to anyone
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  who could listen what was going on or what was on their mind.
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  And I was thinking like, if we could get up on our rooftops and
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  shout, what would we say about Jesus for the people around us
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  to hear? But more importantly, when we
• 22:54
  climb down from the rooftops, would our actions speak louder
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  than our words? Because it's one thing to
• 23:00
  proclaim and say with our mouth if our hands aren't washing feet
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  at the same time. And because these Christians
• 23:08
  that I met were washing feet in their everyday ordinary lives at
• 23:12
  my school, when they spoke about Jesus, it meant more to me than
• 23:18
  what the kids on the bus had said.
• 23:19
  And I want to be clear also, I've forgiven these kids.
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  They were just children, right? They needed forgiveness just
• 23:25
  like I need forgiveness. So there's no animosity there as
• 23:27
  well. And again, like in that verse
• 23:29
  from James, those trials got me to a place where I could fall in
• 23:33
  love with Jesus. And when we think about if we
• 23:37
  want to, we can't proclaim something we don't love.
• 23:40
  And sometimes we don't love it until we feel like we are on our
• 23:43
  knees or having a panic attack or under actual attack where we
• 23:48
  have to. We run into the arms of Jesus
• 23:51
  and and fall in love with it and and take it for granted.
• 23:54
  Yeah, 100%. You know, I always say you, you
• 23:58
  don't know you need Jesus until Jesus.
• 24:00
  Until you need Jesus. And.
• 24:03
  I'm living proof of that 100% even just writing the book, my
• 24:08
  my father. So my mother and father have
• 24:10
  been wonderful through all of this.
• 24:11
  It was a real rocky road in the beginning when I when I told
• 24:14
  them, you know, I love Jesus. But over the course of the years
• 24:19
  they've come to see how my life has changed and my families life
• 24:22
  and ministry and they've heard the word now.
• 24:25
  My dad just recently bought his first Bible.
• 24:27
  And. Yeah, we're still praying for
• 24:30
  for all kinds of things. But he had three falls this
• 24:33
  year. Unfortunately, just as I was
• 24:35
  writing the book, all these things started happening in my
• 24:38
  life again. Like you were saying, you get
• 24:39
  hit with one thing after another, 3 surgeries, 3 hospital
• 24:44
  stays, which is one thing after another.
• 24:46
  But the difference now is I know where to run.
• 24:48
  I know where to run. I know where to run and it just
• 24:52
  makes makes life different, yeah and better.
• 24:57
  Yeah, for sure. And what an example like you
• 25:00
  knowing how important it is to be an example and you're living
• 25:05
  it out with your parents and being that example to them of
• 25:09
  having that peace, you know, and I, I, I think that's, I think
• 25:15
  having peace during a crisis, during ugly circumstances is
• 25:20
  such a powerful tool. I mean, a powerful example for
• 25:27
  others to see that because anybody you know, that has
• 25:34
  doesn't have Jesus, but even people who have had have Jesus
• 25:39
  are believers. But maybe they're not putting
• 25:41
  into practice or really understanding that, you know,
• 25:45
  piece is a fruit. It's already inside of us.
• 25:47
  We just need to draw it out and do those things that will draw
• 25:53
  out the piece that's already in us.
• 25:55
  We don't need to go find it. It's in US already.
• 25:58
  But but we have God gave us all we need to be equipped with it.
• 26:04
  And So what a perfect example in your story to to be that hands
• 26:11
  and feet to your parents. So I don't.
• 26:14
  Always get it right. I I don't there, I still, I
• 26:17
  still I'm working working progress, right?
• 26:20
  We all are. That's right, we all.
• 26:22
  Are, but we know where to. Run.
• 26:23
  But I still there's, there's still lots of room for
• 26:26
  improvement, yes. Well and and to remember like we
• 26:29
  do our part, but God does his like we got to remember he takes
• 26:33
  care of the outcomes. We can't be Holy Spirit, you
• 26:36
  know, for you know, you can't be in control and play the Holy
• 26:41
  Spirit role for your parents. You we could pray for people's
• 26:47
  hearts to be transformed and have that encounter with the
• 26:50
  Holy Spirit. And I think that takes the
• 26:53
  burden off of us too, when we realized, you know, because so
• 26:57
  many times we want to take over and feel like we got to control
• 27:00
  this situation. And God's like, no, no, no, I
• 27:04
  didn't assign you to that. That's my role, you know?
• 27:08
  And so we got to remember that he's, he's got to do the work
• 27:13
  inside people's hearts. And we can just do our best to
• 27:18
  show that example. So do you want to tap into the
• 27:22
  power of prayer and how that has changed your life?
• 27:25
  I'm curious, when did you become a believer?
• 27:29
  At what time in your story did that that happened and was it
• 27:35
  somebody in your life that helped you along or what?
• 27:40
  How did it go? Well, like you just so
• 27:42
  beautifully said, Jamie, we the power of prayer is what opened
• 27:47
  up my heart. That hallway prayer started
• 27:51
  everything. So once I once I started feeling
• 27:53
  that and I didn't know it was Jesus.
• 27:55
  So I refer to it in the book as the word warmth, which is funny
• 27:59
  because John Wesley, I just came across something that a friend
• 28:01
  sent me. John Wesley describes that Holy
• 28:04
  Spirit as warmth. And when I read, obviously years
• 28:06
  ago. So when I read that and I
• 28:08
  realized I had written the book and used the same word, I was
• 28:11
  like, yeah, that's what it felt like.
• 28:13
  I didn't know what it was. So after that prayer, I still
• 28:19
  was struggling and trying to figure out what to do with this
• 28:23
  new thing in my life. And it I felt a little bit like
• 28:26
  a Jenga puzzle because I had my Jewish heritage and roots and my
• 28:31
  love for my people, but I also had this new beautiful thing
• 28:35
  that was Jesus. And trying to reconcile the two
• 28:38
  things was really, really difficult for me.
• 28:40
  And I think you feel that tension in the book of how do I
• 28:43
  do this without, without breaking hearts or breaking
• 28:47
  covenants. And it, it wasn't until my same
• 28:52
  friend who gave me, who prayed with me, she gave me a Bible and
• 28:59
  I sat in the corner of my bedroom and I opened up the New
• 29:03
  Testament for the first time in my life.
• 29:05
  And I sat in a corner of my room with the sun just coming, coming
• 29:10
  down on me and started reading the words of our God.
• 29:14
  And I was, I was blown away. I had no idea that that's who
• 29:18
  Jesus was. And when I got to the part where
• 29:22
  Jesus is with the Pharisees and they're asking him which is the
• 29:26
  greatest commandment, and he, he says love the Lord your God with
• 29:30
  all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.
• 29:35
  It blew my mind because that's the Shema, that's, that's the,
• 29:40
  that's the most important prayer of the Jewish people.
• 29:42
  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
• 29:44
  with all your mind. Meaning, I don't know, Yeshua is
• 29:47
  1. So I in that moment I was like,
• 29:50
  Oh my gosh, wait, Jesus actually is a Jew.
• 29:52
  Not only is he a Jew, but he knows the Torah.
• 29:56
  He's he's. Quoting it.
• 29:57
  Quoting from Deuteronomy, right? Deuteronomy 6.
• 30:01
  Yeah, Deuteronomy 6. That's right.
• 30:03
  So I immediately my heart softened.
• 30:05
  I I'd already been reading about what he'd been doing prior to
• 30:08
  that. And then he went one step
• 30:09
  further. I know you know what I'm going
• 30:10
  to say. I bet a lot of your leaves
• 30:11
  listeners do too. After he quoted the Shema, he
• 30:14
  said, and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.
• 30:20
  Love your neighbor as yourself. And, and, and I just felt myself
• 30:26
  softening to all of the things that I had heard from people who
• 30:30
  misrepresented Jesus to me, because that's not what Jesus is
• 30:35
  saying, that that's what humans were saying.
• 30:37
  And, and like I said to my parents, I'm not trying to
• 30:39
  follow humans. I'm trying to follow Jesus.
• 30:42
  And what Jesus says is the Shema that is 1 and love your neighbor
• 30:48
  as yourself. And who's your neighbor?
• 30:50
  Everyone, everyone. And it all, it all just came
• 30:54
  together for me in that moment. Gosh, so beautiful.
• 30:58
  I love hearing this. So awesome.
• 31:01
  Yes, he's so good. Yes.
• 31:04
  And his word yes, is just, it's just oxygen to our bodies, you
• 31:09
  know? And we get to read like whenever
• 31:10
  we want. Whenever we want, we.
• 31:13
  I still, I still, I teach. I teach a group of high
• 31:16
  schoolers. On Tuesday morning they come
• 31:18
  before school to hear the word of God, which is crazy.
• 31:21
  And we were just talking about how.
• 31:23
  Amazing it is. I'm still blown away that in
• 31:26
  fact, at any moment we can open up a Bible and see the words of
• 31:29
  God. Yes, right, him just, I mean
• 31:34
  it's like him talking to us, that's what it is, right?
• 31:37
  Yeah, yeah, his thoughts and him talking with us and you know, if
• 31:41
  we treat it as such, like it's exciting and it's a it's a great
• 31:47
  opportunity to do when we when we have that perspective on it.
• 31:52
  So the right perspective, So so good.
• 31:56
  OK, take away time. What's something that the
• 31:59
  listener can ponder on or take action in?
• 32:03
  I would say if there's somebody in your life that you would like
• 32:08
  to share the gospel with, the first thing I would encourage
• 32:12
  you to do is pray. Pray, Just pray for them.
• 32:16
  And maybe it's someone you can think of at this moment where
• 32:18
  you're thinking, oh gosh, God, I really, really, really want this
• 32:21
  person to find you. But maybe you could also pray
• 32:24
  for the person you haven't met yet.
• 32:26
  Sometimes our prayers are so focused on the people in in our
• 32:29
  little circle, we forget that God's Kingdom is bigger than we
• 32:33
  can imagine. So we stop trying to put God
• 32:35
  into a little box of just the people we know.
• 32:38
  Just pray God. There's a Hebrew word, Hanani,
• 32:42
  which is here I am, here I am. God use me.
• 32:46
  Speak that word into your prayer life.
• 32:48
  God use me to share. Let me be the hands and the feet
• 32:52
  for you. And then I would say listen,
• 32:57
  listen to the people around you. Chances are there's somebody in
• 33:01
  your life that's hurting. There's somebody who needs hope.
• 33:03
  There's somebody who hasn't seen the Jesus that you've seen.
• 33:07
  And you know, so be that for them.
• 33:10
  There's there's so much church hurt, unfortunately, that we
• 33:13
  have done in the name of Jesus that can be forgiven with just
• 33:19
  compassion and listening, listening without agenda,
• 33:22
  listening without trying to convert somebody, just listening
• 33:25
  and learning about their cultures and who they are and
• 33:28
  forming a relationship. And then the third, and I think
• 33:31
  the most important thing, and you touched on this earlier
• 33:33
  beautifully, is to surrender. Surrender the outcome.
• 33:37
  Yeah, you can drop a mustard seed, but only God can change a
• 33:40
  heart. That's right.
• 33:42
  So pray, listen, surrender, repeat.
• 33:46
  And then the other thing I would say is if you have children,
• 33:50
  before you put them on the bus, teach them about the Jesus that
• 33:54
  washes feet, yes, before they get on the bus so they can love
• 33:59
  their neighbor as themselves. Yeah, so good.
• 34:04
  Oh, thank you so much, Kara. And where can people get your
• 34:09
  book, this amazing story? They can find it anywhere you
• 34:14
  find books. Amazon is is nice and quick.
• 34:17
  I always encourage people to find a local mom and pop shop
• 34:20
  maybe and they can order for you there as well.
• 34:22
  Amazon's easy though. And then I'd love to connect
• 34:25
  with your listeners. karashine.com.
• 34:28
  You can leave me a note and I'll I'll respond on Instagram.
• 34:32
  I just started a new Instagram accounts.
• 34:34
  Kara Shine author. Oh, great.
• 34:37
  I'll start following. All right.
• 34:39
  Thanks. Kara Oh my gosh, thank you so
• 34:41
  much, Jamie. I really enjoyed this.
• 34:42
  I hope it blesses your listeners and God bless your ministry.
• 34:45
  Oh my goodness. Thank you so much.
• 34:47
  Thank you so much. You're lovely and I love this
• 34:50
  conversation with you. Thank you.
• 34:54
  Thank you so much for listening today.
• 34:56
  And I trust that God has encouraged you through this
• 34:59
  story. Did you know this podcast is on
• 35:01
  YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
• 35:04
  you can see a live recording of each episode.
• 35:08
  And For more information on this ministry and to access free
• 35:12
  downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
• 35:17
  That's JAYME elizabeth.com. And let's connect beyond this
• 35:22
  podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth.
• 35:26
  She speaks life or Facebook. Until next time, my friend, I
• 35:30
  hope God reveals himself through your own life story.