Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Embrace Your Scars | a conversation with Sgt. Carlos Evans

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Embrace Your Scars | a conversation with Sgt. Carlos Evans · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It means so much to have you choose to take this conversation along with you today.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Amy Wicks, your host, and here at Simply Wholehearted, we provide perspective, purpose, and plans to help you love God, love others, and live your best life.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today's show is a special episode dedicated to the men and women who have served our country.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because you probably know a veteran, or two or three, I wanted to make sure we took time to highlight their service and the needs many of them may have.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Carlos Evans and his wife Rosemarie have an incredible testimony I don't want you to miss.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: They not only faced several deployments in their early years of marriage, but on May 16, 2010, Carlos was leading a mission when he stepped on an IED, ending life as he knew it.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: He is truly a living miracle, but he is not without his scars and life-altering pain due to the loss of both his legs above the knee and his left arm.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: But, through his strength in Christ, nothing seems to stuck Carlos.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: This powerful story is not to be missed, and you'll want to learn more about his journey in his book, Standing Together.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you will be inspired and moved by his testimony and remember to think of veteran this week.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And though we didn't talk about the Enneagram in this episode, I wanted you to be sure to know that the Enneagram 201 course is available today.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: In this course, I coach you through the Enneagram stances and triads to help you determine the type you lead with.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: You'll have lifetime access, but you could also determine your dominant Enneagram type in less than 30 minutes, but with more accurate results than an online Enneagram test.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love for you to check it out today.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's my conversation with Sergeant Carlos Evans.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, Carlos, thank you so much.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited because we recently moved our podcast uh kind of release date to Mondays instead of Thursdays, which some people appreciate.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then they have feel like they have all week to listen.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, totally psychological because there's no true theory in that, right?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: But that means I get to air a special episode on Veterans Day.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your book came across my my path, and I thought, wow, I would be so honored to help share the story because it's just phenomenal.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: And honor of Veterans Day, share your story.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we also here talk about those brokenhearted moments that lead to a wholehearted decision in life.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you have quite the brokenhearted moment, and if you could, if you could encapsulate a little bit of your story that's led you to today, um, what would you share with us?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I uh I joined the Marine Corps in 2004, and it was my answer to uh 9-11.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: And when I was watching the news, uh Marines that were deployed, uh I felt a calling in my heart that I needed to be there.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I And you hadn't been in the military before, had you?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I haven't, no.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I did four combat deployments, uh, three in Iraq, one in Afghanistan, and in 2010, uh May 17, I was leading a foot patrol.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: I stepped on IED and lost both my legs and my left hand.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I can't even imagine.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Who came in to save you?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because you your body goes through trauma like that.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you had to be near death.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: It had to be really bad.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yes.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was leading the foot foot patrol.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: I was a sergeant in the Marine Corps.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And when we ended the mission, we were getting ready to go back.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I walked about eight steps, heard an explosion.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And when I heard the explosion, uh immediately I saw my my corpsman, that's my medic, uh, right in front of me.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: I saw my Marines surrounding me.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's uh when I knew that something happened to me.
• 4:13
  unknown: Wow.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know exactly what happened, but when I saw my Marines uh surrounding me, and my my corpsman, that's when I knew uh I was dying because I was losing a lot of blood.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I I I couldn't breathe.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And my Marines were just uh keeping me alert and I started praying.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the defined moments was uh I remember one of my my medic uh he took his thumb and put it in the artery uh vein in my left limb to stop the the bleeding so I could so I could you know so I could survive.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So so yeah, a lot of people uh that love me, that cared for me, that love this country took care of me so I could be here uh in front of you today.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that that's quite a broken moment.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you made it, you survived, but I can't imagine what the healing process, the recovery process, all of that.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of journey was like that for you?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And what did you learn about God in the process?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I uh I lived two years, well, we lived, me and my wife, my two little girls.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: We lived uh about two years in Walter Reed, but that's the hospital in Washington, DC.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh with uh with other wounded service members as well.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh when I woke up from the induced coma at the hospital, the first person I saw was my wife right in front of me.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and when I saw her, well, I I realized I was alive, but when she notified me, because I didn't know exactly what happened to me, when she told me that I lost both my legs and my left hand, uh, I thought I wanted to die.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah uh I didn't think I was gonna be the father that I promised my daughters I was gonna be, or the husband that I promised my wife I was gonna be.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And my fate uh was shaken.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because I kept asking myself, uh, why or how could God let this happen to me?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have a relationship with Jesus before this accident?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yes, yes.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yes, yes.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh before my injury, uh, and before I was in the Marine Corps, I was a youth pastor at my at my church, and I was in Bible college as well.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: So so yes, we had a relationship with God.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I imagine though, I mean, that's that's a crisis of faith right there.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I know that I think all of us would go in that situation, we would be thinking the same thing.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, why God?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why did this happen?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you let me survive?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: What is life gonna look like?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: How how do you talk to Jesus in that moment?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how do you ask for help?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to keep going?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I had a defining moment in my life, and it was a day I was I was just ready, ready to give up.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was very broken emotionally and literally.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I I wanted to give up my my family because I didn't love the body that I saw in the mirror.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: This new body that I had now, I didn't love it.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it was very hard for me to express love to others.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember going to my wife and just to let her know, you know, why don't you continue with your life and I'll just stay here?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because I didn't think it was fair for her.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And she, I remember she got on her knees and she looked at me straight to my eyes and she said, You know what?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a widow, and your daughters are not orphans.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And when the Marines daughter find me that you stepped on ID and that you lost both your legs and your hand, I pray to God to bring you back home alive, and you are here alive in front of me.
• 7:55
  unknown: Wow.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: And she kept telling me, you know, uh, I love you.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: I love you for the man you are today, for the man you're gonna you are, you are to you're gonna be tomorrow for the man you were yesterday.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I kept telling her, you can't love me because look at all my my wounds, my body.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: And she told me, that's the difference between you and me.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see your wounds, I only see your scars.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Because when I see your scars, I know who healed your wounds, and that is Jesus.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's right there at the yes, yes, that right there at that moment, I I started seeing myself, you know, through her eyes, how God looked at me.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: That I wasn't incomplete, that I was complete because Jesus fulfills everything in my life.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's that was a life-changing moment in my life, which uh encouraged me to step up in faith, and realize that the best days of my life were not behind me, we're ahead of me.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And my daughters got to see, you know, uh the father that they wanted to see because they embraced my scars as well.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And my wife started seeing, you know, the husband she was praying for as well.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's beautiful, that's really incredible.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: You probably needed to hang on that through all the therapy and the healing process and all the things.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the hospital, uh, we had doctors, nurses, uh, volunteers, uh, so many people that cared for us and that took care of us.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: There was two years through surgeries and therapy and just life-changing experience, but we had a lot of support from the hospital and from our local church as well.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's so great.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: For you, obviously, I mean, we were fast-forwarding several years because it takes a long process of healing, and there's so much more in the story, and you you do share a lot of it in the book.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: What led to your decision to do more than just live an average life, which would be pretty phenomenal considering just the day-to-day, but you're you're doing more than the day-to-day.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're teaching and you're speaking and you're sharing, and you're you've written this book, and you and your wife do so much.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, share just some of that motivation and that drive to do that and what you guys are doing now.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, just you know, being grateful to wake up and and and realizing that you know, here I'm alive.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: I got an I got another chance.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, today, today's me and my wife's birthday.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, happy and I'm sorry we're talking on your birthday.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, so just being grateful to to know that I'm alive and I'm here for a purpose and we gotta make the best of it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And as we know started sharing our story, you know, our journey with other people, uh, realizing that everybody, everybody goes through pain, and that everybody has scars.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Some are visible and some are not visible.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And when you have the opportunity to share with others, you know, who's your healer, who's your uh your journey, and who's your healer, you see the effect on people, you know, what the Lord starts doing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: And for me, that is standing.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: For me, that is walking.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I remember an experience I was trying to wear my prosthetics and and I felt in my spirit, and it was it was the Holy Spirit just ministering to my heart.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, today you're touching more people with one hand than when you had two that today.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, today you're leaving more footprints and more hearts than when you had feet.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because all you need to touch someone is is heart and faith.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: So every day that we have the opportunity to share our journey with someone, that is my walking, that is my standing, and that is when I can able to touch someone with my heart.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: The tenderness in that's something to treasure.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh the best thing that's happened to me uh uh after this experience is that it has made us uh much sensible to the needs of others.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that sensitivity, that being sensible to the need of others, it just opens your heart to to see people the way God sees them.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's an amazing thing.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is, that's incredible.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a gift uh for so many.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: You said something and it it kind of got me thinking along these lines.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: You read about these or you hear about these moments, these near-death experiences, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it totally shifts someone's point of view and perspective and it and changes the trajectory of their life.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think all of us have to face that much, you know, of a life-altering experience.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what is it that you know having faced that that I may not know?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't recall a near-death experience that I know I had.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we could all maybe have a near-death we don't know we missed out on.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: But what is it that you know about the nature of God and his purpose for our lives here on earth that maybe I don't know?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know, and I will love anyone that's listening to me today to know is that God's purpose in your life, living in God's will, it doesn't mean that you're not gonna go through suffering.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean that you're gonna go through you know crises in your life, you know, or negative experience, you know, something that looks negative in the beginning.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that scripture says, in this world you will have afflictions, but trust me, because I have conquered the world.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I have learned through this experience that what can look like a crisis in my life today, or an obstacle, in Christ, it's a stepstone.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's a platform.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: If I could revisit, you know, Sergeant Carlos Evans in the hospital, May 17, 2010, and see that young man there in the hospital, then what can I tell him?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I will tell him, be patient, because you're about to live the best days of your life.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I can I I I I'll I can say that, you know, embrace your wounds, embrace your scars.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the biggest example of that is Jesus.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus in a glorified body, uh, visits his disciples and he sees time and he sees Thomas.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And when he sees Thomas in a glorified body, by the way, he shows he shows him his wounds, his scars.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: So embrace your wounds, embrace your scars.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be don't hide them, don't be ashamed of him.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, because those are those are the platform to probably someone else's miracle.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe because I've always thought differently, but you said they were part of his glorified body.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: What if our scars are part of our glorified body, and I've just been wishing it away.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's a very interesting point.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, people will always uh uh come to me and tell me, don't worry, when you go to heaven, you're not gonna have any more scars, and you're gonna walk and and you're gonna do so many things, and you have gonna have a new glorified body.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and I'm like, yeah, yeah, you know.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: But but when I came to this, you know, scripture and I saw this, you know, it showed me, wow, you know, when Jesus is the center of your life, He completes everything, and I don't have to hide my wounds.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have so you know, and and and people can relate to you as well.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it takes down a lot of the barriers, right?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So they can hear Jesus, Jesus in the flesh.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like just sitting here going, I need to think about this for a while.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Me and Jesus need to talk about my idea of a glorified body.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's good, it's all good.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm suddenly seeing it from a whole new perspective.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you guys do a lot of work.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you personally have experienced true PTSD.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think people have unfortunately maybe thrown around the term a little loosely, not understanding really the full ramification of what that looks like and what that means.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if you could just give us a little bit of understanding of those dealing with that and and what your ministry and what that organization does to help those who are truly suffering, PTSD.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my personal experience with uh post-traumatic stress is that uh when I got injured, uh I I I went in a crisis and a deep depression that I didn't think I was I was gonna be able to to live my life or to be productive.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it it was very hard for me to look for help because you know here I am, you know, sergeant in the Marine Corps, very strong and independent.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: And whenever someone tried to help me, I pushed them away because I I I always I said, you know, no one can relate to this.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is my personal experience.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: My life-changing experience in that way, and it's a healing, it's a healing process, it's an everyday thing, but it was opening my heart to receiving help.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Opening my heart to taking that advice and opening my heart to see that uh my actions were hurting the people that that love me the most.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: So through my wife and and through my daughters, uh I started looking at myself through the mirror of the cross.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when I looked at myself through the mirror of the cross, uh I saw that Jesus was wounded so I could be healed.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw that Jesus was wounded so I so I don't have to be a victim of an explosion of my past, that I could be a conqueror, and that I could be the father and the husband that God wanted me to be.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the most important thing is that hey, you know, open your heart to get the help that you need, because as soon as you do that, uh the effect of that help is going to help the people that love you the most.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and it's a journey, it's an everyday thing.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, every time I have an experience, uh a trigger, something that you know wants to uh stop me uh from doing you know the things that I'm supposed to be doing, I I gotta, I, I, I gotta uh I gotta look at myself through that mirror, through the cross.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my faith, uh my family, my friends.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I can't be, I I have to put my pride to the side and reach to the people that love me and tell them, hey, I need to talk to someone, I need you to pray for me right now.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's what it has helped me to this day.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: It would sound like you would say, don't choose to hide behind that mask and that label.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Get help.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can get freedom, you can walk it out.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, of course, yes.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as we finish our conversation in light of Veterans Day and in light of amazing people like you who have laid down and sacrificed so much for our country, uh, I think sometimes the political charges and climate can take away from honoring those who serve our country.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And and I never want that to be the case because it's so, you know, apolitical, right?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, what can we do to make sure that we honor and support our veterans and we spread the news that this is what we can do to get behind those who have given so much?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first, that if you look to your in your in your community, there's a veteran very close to where you are.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's a VFW where you are, there's a family member that served uh uh that's that have served the country where in in your environment, in your family.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to understand that it starts with us.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: It starts with you, you know, uh saying thank you with you, recognizing that that brethren, uh, with you, you can make a difference in that person's life.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: It it ain't the guy it ain't the government, it's it's a community.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of good nonprofits organizations out there.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: I can mention a couple in our book.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have a list of them and standing together our book.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Semper Five Fund, Operation Coming Home.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's many, many nonprofits organizations out there that are making very good things for veterans, you know.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Join them.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Join them, you know, get out there, join them.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and telling you, a thank you because of it's effective because it shows that brethren that you know they see people out there that care.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: In our churches today, I think our churches need to uh understand that you know you have a community, you know, in in in
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: church you got leaders right there you got people that have been through so many experiences that uh that we need a open uh we need to open uh ministries or or or be be more sensible to the needs of this community uh twenty two veterans are committing suicide every day oh wow what a tragic so uh so yes we we need uh we need to step up and we we need to do something about this they need the hope of the gospel exactly well we thank you um from the simply wholehearted community to you and from my heart to your family I want to say thank you you guys have given so much sacrifice and you continue to serve you can you're serving the kingdom of God in such a mighty way you have an incredible message of hope and I I just hope that those listening today will be changed and impacted and they will continue to spread the good news that you guys share.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: God bless wow it's stories like Carlos's that will not be forgotten easily and it helps me put life into perspective.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wounded warriors like Carlos need our ongoing thanks and support.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you remember to think of veteran this week and offer your time or resources to organizations like Carlos's Ministry, which is touching lives leaving footprints.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now if you haven't yet joined Simply Wholehearted on Instagram then I'd love for you to come on over and join the Enneagram conversation and be inspired to live your best wholehearted life.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are not yet subscribed to this podcast, well do so now so you will not miss our special holiday season episodes.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: It starts next week.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Victoria Durstock's newsbook Heart and Home for Christmas is perfect for you to have the help you need to slow down and reflect on the true spirit of Christmas.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: All the while being inspired to have both a captivated heart and home at Christmas time.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: We happened to start off the conversation diving her into her personal motherhood journey and she had some nuggets of wisdom you won't want to miss.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Of course we couldn't leave the Enneagram out of the Christmas conversation so Victoria and I had a little fun talking about her type and I promise the episodes to come will be packed full of Enneagram goodness.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now if you happen to be looking for a jumpstart on the Advent episodes I hope you'll go back to the archives to listen to a few of the simply wholehearted holiday season from 2017 and 2018.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Those episodes are 28 through 33 and 74 through 78.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Had guests like Russ Ramsey to teach about the tradition of Advent, Michelle to remind us how we can celebrate in the middle of chaos and even Caroline Williams, a holy yoga instructor to help us stay grounded through the season.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: They are all full of wisdom from navigating a healthy lifestyle through all of the festivities to practicing Sabbath during Advent.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll take a listen.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And until next week let's invite others to join us as we pursue perspective, purpose and plans for a simply wholehearted life