Latest / ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide / From Seeking to Jesus: Laura Ruth Stewart's Conversion Story, and Learning to Pray and Listen

Transcript

From Seeking to Jesus: Laura Ruth Stewart's Conversion Story, and Learning to Pray and Listen · ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: Excited, little girl?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Excited?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Todd Talks, where uh Spirit by Design, where I help you design your spirit, your spiritual life, in order to help prepare you for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: And today I've got a special treat for you.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: I've got Laura Ruth Stewart and her daughter Hope have agreed to join me to talk about their spiritual journey and as well as talk about how we can grow closer to Christ through prayer.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um so, Laura, if you don't mind introducing yourself and your daughter, and then we'll get uh get started.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Ted, for having us.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is so deliberate in his connections, and I can tell you have a beautiful spirit, and I look forward to sharing our love of Christ, who is really at the center of us all.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So may all of our names be forgotten for his.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but thank you so much for serving the kingdom.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Laura Ruth Stewart.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I am a healer, apostle, really close follower of Jesus Christ.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I am a speech and language pathologist who is clinically trained.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: I have a private spiritual practice and a private speech and language practice.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they overlap.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an author of a children's book called I Am the Holy Spirit, inspired by my daughter.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: What's her name, little one?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hope.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hope, Stuart, and because she received the baptism of the Holy Spirit at such a young age, God put it on my heart to share that.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, I have an ult anointed bubble bath called Angel Dust Bubble Suds.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Children and adults alike will enjoy it.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Hope, what do you think of Angel Dust Bubble Suds?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's great, it's spicy, it's bubbly, and it's made with non-toxic ingredients.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And to it also has um anointing oil in it, so it blesses your kids and it can make a bubbles and smells really good.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, we only use toxic ingredients in this in this place.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: Only we only like toxic.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm just kidding.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we've been on a uh my wife and I have been on a health journey for the last last uh little while.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: We've been getting all the toxic stuff out of our lives.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm down almost 20 pounds.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um actually I'm down 20 pounds.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: My wife's down 30 something, and uh I'm running.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: I actually signed up for an Iron Man in March.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Hope has done tough, no, not tough matters.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: What was it?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Iron Man, what is it called?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Spartan race.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Spartan race.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's a very Christian.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I feel like the Christians are in that, but she did a little Spartan race, which I kind of ran with her only one mile, but that was tough.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: You were little little.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: Congrats.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Those are fun.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: My wife and I did one uh 10 or 15 years ago.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: And uh Spartan races are a lot of fun.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me, sorry, I just want to stop you for saying, Congratulations on your weight loss.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: I have lost 26 pounds as well in the past, I'd say three, three and a half, no, about three months, no more.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been using the GLP ones, though.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: I can't say enough about trizepatide.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I am very holistic, so I had a little battle with the Holy Spirit on this one, um, but I've been very, very happy.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I get it from a compounding pharmacy-ish.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the Holy Spirit seemed to really, and I'm so grateful for it.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and yeah, and hope, hope is also very much part of this holistic health journey.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hope.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Who do we see on a regular basis to help us feel better, get our back aligned?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: What what kind of doctor do we like?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Tony.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Tony.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: Is Tony a chiropractor?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, chiropractor and Dr.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Scott.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, they're two amaz.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like they're some of the most they started my healing journey and my journey towards Christ, and um, and Hulk has been adjusted since she was 10 months old, and I have been getting adjusted for a long time too.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a really important part of our journey.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: Getting it getting adjusted has helped uh me uh with back issues for the last uh 10 years or so.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So and you know what you think about the Bible verse, um something like it blesses those who walk uprightly.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: And the the Holy Spirit once ministered to me, it's it's literal and figurative.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: So when we are able to align, we align for manifestation, for connection to God, and our backs, right?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's really the way I the way I see it, when when you're in pain, she's laughing at me.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: When you are when you are misaligned both physically and uh spiritually, you're not you're not able to hear very well.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: When you uh uh align yourself uh physically, spiritually, and release that pain, that tension, then uh then we're able to listen a lot easier.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: More aligned, let the spirit flow through you.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Power that what Dr.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Calling says the power that made the body healed the body.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, what are we talking about?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: No, I have a question for you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: What uh what started you on your journey towards um spiritual growth?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: What what was the catalyst for you to start?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: Because there's a lot of people out there that may happen upon this uh this podcast, this episode, and uh it's bounced around the the I've I've ended up in like 150 different countries.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how because I don't have that many downloads, but but uh I keep uh getting popped up someone downloads uh an episode or two from uh different countries all over the world, and so whatever draws them to it, there's people that don't know anything about Christ, there's people that come uh because they're looking for personal development, for spirituality, and so what drew you to change your life and start drawing closer to Christ.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would love I have so many answers for that question.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I've really been a seeker my whole life, but before I do that, I just want to make sure I because I'm all about the kids as well.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And hope, I just want you to say for me, do you think how do you feel about chiropractic stuff?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Is it is it help you?
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's not scary at all, is it?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, and like feeling close to Jesus feels fun and like exciting, right?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know the answer to the question that he just answered.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to hear both answers first.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: I want to hear Hope's answer first.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, hope first.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: We all have our journey.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to hear your answer.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: My my answer for yours?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, your answer for yours.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would like your answer.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear both.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: I want to hear her answer for her, but her answer for you, too.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: She can answer my answer.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll do both.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I like okay.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so then we want to hear your answer.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Your answer.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, so my I'm gonna first do my mom's.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was all because of yoga.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Her teacher told her about like God and Buddhist, and then she looked in the Bible technically, and she was learning and learning and learning.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And mine excuse me, um, is because my mom's journey uh became my journey too.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's technically because of my mom, uh, not because of her father.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: So what you're saying, Hope, is that parents uh when they on are on a journey to uh uh affect their life, they have a tendency to affect their kids' lives too.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's crazy.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Raise them upright and they will not depart in the ways of the Lord.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's the problem.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Parents are responsible for raising their kids.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_03: And what's the best way to show your kids?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: I just gave it away, the your love for the Lord is to show them, not just tell them.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I'm gonna tear up.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: That was beautiful.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that was a beautiful answer, and that's that's a real that's true.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yoga was a big part of it, but even before yoga, actually, right about simultaneously, just before yoga, God tried to like stop the yoga thing.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So then he took me the longer way.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I was in, I first of all, I have always been a seeker, not always in the right places, but I've been a seeker.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I was baptized Catholic, raised Presbyterian, went to Catholic church.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: My all my first cousins were Jewish.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was fascinated by all of it, but so confused.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really confused.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that happens.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so I honestly, Jesus was my last stop because I thought that Catholic Jesus thing, as many people get confused, that that's the only way.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was asleep in church.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to go to church.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: The confession thing, the priest thing felt very weird.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: I liked women having power, changed later with a different way, but like I, it was just very, very not a good fit.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Got a good fit.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: I went to Catholic school.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: I had some, you know, like we all do growing up teenagers.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I wish someone said, Do you want to pray?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: No one ever said do you want to pray?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: They said you should go to confession or like read this.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So what here's the thing.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: I would say the first, the very first time was in religion class in a Catholic school, we learned about Hinduism.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: And the That's a different way to Christ.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's a really different way with me.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So then I heard about so I heard the Bible that did nothing for me.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: But then I heard Nahimsa is the concept of nonviolence.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was taken with this.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that was cool.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the eightfold path we learned about in Buddhism, which we talked a little bit about Christ consciousness, not much.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I just was really fascinated by this peaceful way, this meditation, this that whole stuff.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that is not a good way to start because as we know, without the Holy Spirit, this is very bad.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: But it started something, and God can use it all.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it fast forward to the University of Virginia.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So my parents wanted me to go to a liberal school.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: My my token phrase is I was a liberal, feminist, yoga-doing hippie who, within uh three weeks in her 30s, went from supporting Joe Biden and working at the teat of the liberal agenda to uh being a die-hard conservative born-again Christian.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how transformative it happened in my 30s.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the seeds were planted way before then.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like in That is an amazing change.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: It was like uh solid appall transformation, kind of, you know, prodigal daughter, 100%.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I, but when I was 19, this is when it all began.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And this is what I try to explain to my parents.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're not baptized in the spirit, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, but it does not make a lot of sense.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So hopefully you should you've maybe never heard this part of the story, but I was at 19 years old.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I went to college with the idea of uh doing fun things and studying really hard.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to study Charles Darwin, which I did, also don't really believe in that stuff anymore.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: I actually got to read The Origin of Species, though.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Very, very bad and very not believable, even though I was trying to believe it.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm in this Bible study and I'm 19, and I went for one reason and one reason only.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: The whole the Holy Spirit got me there.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: My roommate was Jewish, so the enemy had other plans, but I saw the girl, God stuck the girl who got the highest score in the school on my on my dorm level.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: She had a 1600 on the SAT, she might have been valedictorian, maybe the smartest person in all of the University of Virginia, very close.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And she was leading the Bible study.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was always taught that, like, nope, if you believe in creationism, you dumb.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's that's not a thing that smart people do.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible's for stupids.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you're Catholic and you do the rosary, it's kind of something, but no, Bible believing creationism is not a New York thing, and it's very much associated with dumb.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So God nailed that to the cross real hard with the 1600 girl and the valedictorian in love with Jesus.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I gotta see this.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I'm gonna think, but I'm gonna go.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I went and there were about 10 born-again Christians in my dorm room.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm thinking the frat party, I wasn't thinking cover your ears.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and there I am at the Bible study, and God is just deliberate.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sitting there and they were reading Genesis.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll never ever, I'll start crying.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget this moment.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So her name was Mary Tanner, Mary Tanner Noel.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And she got up there with her southern accent.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: She said something along the lines of, or one of her friends said- Can I do the accent?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like, sure.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know how to do accents.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Santa says, do a southern accent.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I like that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: We've done some Southern ladies' um posts on Instagram.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'll do the accent, just tell me in my ear.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, no, no, no.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: So Mary Tanner Noel and some of her friends were saying that God painted the mountains.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now I that is so specific because I am an artist.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I love painting, I love art.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not positive that God painted the mountains, but he sure formed them and he did it with his own hands.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure how it works.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know, but Genesis talks about God designing everything.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they said that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And when I tell you, Todd, every demon, every darkness, every deception, the veil ripped off.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I went Holy Spirit eyes for a second.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, Um, how are you doing?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I, you know, and I believe that God painted the mountains.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think that sounds so beautiful.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um God painted the mountains.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I'm like, listen, I'm listening, coffee.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if God painted the mountain, you know.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't, but but I'm not kidding.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, talk about the power, the power of life and death lies in the tongue.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I I was sold out, I was ready to go back forever.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I could have been saved right there.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now God talked about the thing.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: Here's a thought for you based on what you just said.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_03: He said the the power lies in the tongue, right?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, um God speaks and matter listens.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: So when you say that he painted the mountains, well, what he did is he spoke and the matter formed into the mountains.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: He spoke things into the mountains.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's right, because Jesus was the word, and the word was his absolutely no, I brought up right now.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: God speaks and all creation listens.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where God gets his power.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: God gets his power through all things acting in their creation, in their um, they they live according all things except humans live according to the law that they were given.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: That's right, God commands the words, and so they give glory unto God, and God gets his power.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even the rocks cry out to him.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, they all listen to him, even the rocks.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: Humans uh uh uh we're a little dense sometimes.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: We can be a little dense with that free will fall in.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: So, yes, the the power is in the tongue because that is God is the word and God speaks and things listen.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing for true.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, and I love that clarification.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think when I think about the specific words that she used, I think God was even deliberate about her saying that because, like I said, for you to reach for me, for me, he knew exactly the Holy Spirit knew exactly what would resonate with me in that moment.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, the actual words were being read because this was a Bible study, so that you know cut the veil.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I hear it, I'm excited.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to also bring up, and I I'm so embarrassed, but like I am a big one on therefore there now is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, right?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: We get convicted, but not condemned.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: But here's what I said to them right before that happened.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I said, listen, and they were kind.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: This was also very important, right?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have to show our love.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Listen, I'm here.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I'm here.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm here, but I I know you got a 1600 on the SATs.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from New York, I gotta just break it to you.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not into Jesus.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I forget what I said.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, by the way, my father, he loves the idea of Jesus.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: He's a hippie, and he says that he's more Christian than Jesus and the better, you know, about the same man.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's a good man too.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: My dad's more Christian than Jesus.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here, but let me just tell you, my dad's like amazing.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Holy Spirit eyes, that's what I call him.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, or Jesus, help us with this one, right?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I so I literally said the first thing I said in the Bible study was my father is more Christian than Jesus.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: God, God help us.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: This lady, please, help us.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that is how powerful the word is, right?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I get out of this Bible study and I'm ready to go back.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to go back.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I remember just, you know, that nobody understands unless you felt it.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I go to my Jewish roommate and I said, I was excited to convert her at this point.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: I said, um, oh, and I want to mention something before that.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I remember saying to God years later, like, why?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Why did you let me go back?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: And met, you know, I went right back to not being Christian after this, and I'll tell you how, but I said, why, you know, didn't they say pray the salvation prayer?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: I would have in that moment.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like in my heart, I knew, I knew all of it in that.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: I had a moment.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he said to me, Listen, they should have asked you in that moment.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I I love what happened, and I need you to know that you were saved in that moment.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: You had a moment where you believed in me, on me.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, you were not in the castle or the mansion that you have today and all the beautiful things you're doing to build your treasures up in heaven.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: But you were limping in at that moment between you and me, in that heart of yours, I knew and you were saved.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, thank you, Jesus.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So it took me a long way back to really get officially saved, but I just love that power.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: It really is about that heart.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you just don't know what he deems salvation, what he can do with that.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I go back to my roommate.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: I say, Allie, we're gonna go to Bible study.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: Forget the fat party, like, get the Bible out, let's vote.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: She's like, Listen, I got Mats and bitter herbs ready for Passover or Rosh Hashanah, something.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, by the way, Laura, like, please do not say that God painted the mountains.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm offended.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: And like, I'm also not thinking, like, please don't tell people that.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we have to like rush around.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we got like a plans.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: We got plans here at UVA.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: You don't go back with those people.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: They're that's not okay.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um please don't do this.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, don't don't go back.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not even gonna let you.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I love you too much.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And in retrospect, like I'm not even mad.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: She was just me before I walked in there, you know.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I did we became best friends.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we even thought about putting matts in bitter herb.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: It was I it the enemy came back real hard on my conversion.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: That usually does happen when people are trying to improve their life.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I did.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I went back to the college, the regular stuff, and unfortunately, my roommate who was also the valedictorian.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: So the M, the anime, although her SAT score was not as high as the as the creationism people, but she I promptly went back to sleep.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: But that seed was planted in a huge way.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: That was in my heart.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so fast forward, then yoga comes into my life.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: God sends one of my drama teachers of the yoga instructor.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I start doing yoga, which I know I do it now.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I renounce it for three years and I do it in a very different way, but I'm very, very, very specific.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: And because I don't self-worship, I'm just careful.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: It the spirit convicts different things at different times.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: However, in this moment, he was like, Well, I lost her to the Bible, but I'm gonna send her down a different path.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: She'll see Jesus through Christ consciousness.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe she'll find him again.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, fast forward about seven years, I then met my boyfriend in my 20s after way after college.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: I left Wall Street.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: I ended up meeting someone in a band.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I had a huge, like love is the answer kind of hippie revelation moment.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But he was Christ consciousness and his parents were born again.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So they started praying.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know they started praying for me because I was going through a lot in my 20s, and he demonstrated the love of Christ like no one else.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: He was so kind and so loving.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't end up together.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: He wanted to marry me, but he he introduced me to I think it's Eckhart toll, but the four agreements the idea that love does not have to be reciprocal.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: It just love and love and love, not just romantic.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the four agreements is great.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: I I did a whole episode about that several years ago.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's very biblical.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that second to that creation story was really the first concept of that like agape love that's like beyond.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he told me, um, even when we were breaking up towards the end, he said, Listen, our story is not over, and I am always going to love you.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always gonna love you.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you, and even if you don't love me, I need you to know that I'm always gonna love you.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I want you to remember this that if someone hurts you, or even if you're mad at me, or um that you don't have to be loved back to love someone and wish them the best.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And you can even angry and love them by act of will.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know that I will always love you.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you may not understand that concept now, but I'm gonna plant that seed with you.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I just need you to know I'm always gonna love you.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's gonna happen with us, but so we had a big history for three years, but I did it wasn't meant to end up with him.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: But he was the first to he reminded me of Jesus.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: I remember having moments of like, He's he's like a Jesus, he's he's really kind.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, that was idolatry, he's not Jesus, but he loved me enough to show me that kind of love.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that was cool.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, fast forward, now it goes away.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: It goes away for a really long time.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I again go back to love.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was very much like self worship, money.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, love is the answer.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I always knew love was the answer, but it was more like your family matters.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: When you die, it's over.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like get away with what you can, get your money, honey, Wall Street, the whole nine yards from New York.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think my heart was always bigger than a New Yorker's because I left Wall Street.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: That was, I hated the idea of just doing spreadsheets and you know, only working for money.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: I loved the money, but I didn't love what I was doing.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to heal, I wanted to help.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: That was always in me.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I certainly had that priority list of you will serve the man, right?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you'll serve and you'll be successful, and your titles make you valuable, right?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you you can worship yourself in yoga too.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Worship yourself.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hope.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: See, right upright.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay, sweetie.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: I love that you know these things.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: So she knows my story.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: So fast forward to right around the time when I'm trying to conceive hope.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, my ex-husband was Catholic, and he is the first person who he's not born again, but he he he's not I don't know.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what he believes.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not married to him anymore.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: But at the time, it's we both were pretty secular.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't go to church, you know, we lived together before marriage, we didn't practice any of that.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: But his family was Catholic, and I believe they prayed for me.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: My grandmother was Catholic, that's a whole nother thing.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: She prayed and she prayed.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: My grandma prayed, she prayed rosaries, and she was a Jesus-loving Catholic.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: She was a real deal, saved Catholic.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: She was really just an angel.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, also tough as nails.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: But very, very well.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, she's New Yorker and she's Catholic.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: So therefore, tough as nails.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's New Yorkers right there.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And Depression Kid, you know, she was, yeah, but she was also in love with Jesus.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: And she couldn't really tell me at the time because my dad's an atheist and she knew it wasn't really safe, but she prayed.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: She prayed in that house.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then right around the time that um I was conceiving hope, my ex-husband said something to me about climate change, about science and God not being separate.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now I had like Rachel Maddow on in the background, and I was talking about Charles Darwin or something about, you know, the climate change.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: We need to love climate change.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, listen, I just read this article that, and it's from Noah or something he liked, you know, he was very into nature.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's how he communes with God.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Listen, I know you're gonna go on your rant, but like I just want to be kind to you and just please don't yell again.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: But science and God are not necessarily separate.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, no, they're separate.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, and he was like, oh dear.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I also don't know that climate change is definitely happening.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, Rachel Meadow.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I said.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: But again, that planted a seed, and I love science.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's the other thing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I love science.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: I love science.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a speech pathologist.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be a doctor, and the science of vibrational frequencies is like the weight of my spiritual heart.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So God planted that science seed, and something about the way he said it, and I respected him.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I put him on a huge pedestal, and I thought to myself, I think he might be right.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: I got angry and then I quieted myself, and the spirit spoke to me.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would also hear be not afraid in the shower.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Every time I was in the shower, and maybe it was because his family was Catholic, that energy was there, but that would also help me.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then why?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also used to put Fox News on in the house, and I hated that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: But it I there was a moment when he said to me, Laura, why are you so angry?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't mean.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: We we fought later on, but in this time it was pretty decent marriage.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was a cute, like liberal with the conservative person.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, he was more conservative and less about God, although he has his own relationship.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And he he said, Can I please just leave Fox News on?
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even care.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: I just want it on for like five minutes.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: We can put the other liberal stuff on.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: He wasn't even mean about it.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was just like, but I also just want to notice like when you have Reach Almado on, I am not angry.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not screaming.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: I just I just listen, right?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd like to just listen to Fox News if that's okay.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, you know, and he was like, I am gonna turn it off in a minute, but I just want you to notice you and some liberal folks are very angry.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not angry, I'm just watching both sides.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you so angry?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I again barked, and then I went in my little quiet space and I thought, hmm, God isn't necessarily separate from science.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, and maybe climate change isn't real, and maybe I am more angry than him, and I don't know why that is, but he those are some really, really, really good points.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now we've explored five years.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's amazing that you quieted enough to listen.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, God, God, I think, put a lot of heavy stuff, anointing oil somewhere.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: But yes, yes, and his family was Catholic, and I do believe they prayed for me because I even in our marriage, I said, I won't even have God mentioned.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: I just want love mentioned.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: His minister, uh, uncle was like, Can I, you want, what would you like?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're the bride.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I don't even want it's offensive to me for you to mention God, you know, my family Jewish, but let's just do love every time you're gonna say God.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Are you sure?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: Say this is a marriage.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I am totally sure love is love.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Gay people are important.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Oh, again, with my I think about the things I said, and I I love when God reminds me of this because I can be really righteous.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And when I first came to Christ, I went like I went so judgmental on the people who were saying very similar things to me.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's important to remember your walk.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'll shorten it.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: But fast forward to I did 22 years of yoga, always seeking all different things, finally got 22 years.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the 20 20 years, and now it's I've been doing yoga for a long time.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, you all it was important.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, God uses everything, and finally, he gets a born-again yoga teacher in my class.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this was during COVID.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think everybody in COVID was going through something, and I really loved this yoga teacher.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: She was fantastic.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: Every time she said Jesus, I thought, what on earth is she doing in yoga?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: And where is this?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: How is this even happening?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus was my last stop.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: I had done the Buddha thing, I had done the Nahimsa Hindu thing, it's yoga.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I'm chanting.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Ohm is the vibration of I worship science, I worshiped money, I were, you know, everything I could worship besides Jesus.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: And even in the spiritual realm, I think every other religion was interesting to me.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I studied Islam in the modern age in in college.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: I was just fascinated by it because my dad is really fascinated by philosophy.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I even read the book um by Tocqueville, for instance.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Tocqueville religion has a purpose in society to keep society in line.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I had all the, you know, God will make fools of the wise.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: I had all the books without the Bible.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I, so Angela comes to yoga and she's lit up by the spirit.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I it's again good for you to remember this because when someone's baptized in the spirit and you're operating in deception, they look very weird.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like even my eyes, I can see your way of being.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: We have like a there's a light in us that sometimes really there's a boom, there's a there's a fire.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: And she had that fire and it aggravated my my self-idolatry a little bit, but I also love it.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a love-ate relationship.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: But she had this peace sometimes that I've never seen.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: And she talked about Tony, Dr.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tony, was her mentor, and she's like, My mentor loves Christ, and we all worship, but let's all find this inner chi.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: We'll find our pose, but it's really the Holy Spirit.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, the Holy Spirit, Jesus, what is she saying?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: But again, God just intervenes, and I still loved her class because of course there was a piece about it that I've never experienced.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: And she had a sp like just she was anointed, very special, and she had what I call Holy Spirit eyes.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everyone with the Holy Spirit, I think he can shut your mouth, he can just have you look and penetrate.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they say the eyes are the windows to the soul.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I adored Angela.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I started going to Dr.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Scott before Dr.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tony, who was my chiropractor, and he helped me um, you know, feel better.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was spiritual, he was Buddhist, he was, he's just spiritual and he's wonderful, really incredible.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then God moves again.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: And Scott never closes, like he, we none of us believed in COVID.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: We were all awake by then.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't yet awake, but it happened pretty quickly.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um by vaccine, Scott was anti-vaxx, and I was like, this is crazy.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like writing again, I was writing like congressmen about the measles coming back because you don't know it's not causing autism.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I learned about that in speech pathology class.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now, meanwhile, God's like, I'm gonna stick to speech pathologist in the middle of the vaccine crisis because she's gonna be the one who says all the stuff she learned in graduate school is fake.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, God has a plan, right?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: So now I go to Scott and I'm obsessed with Scott because he has this amazing healing power and he talks to Christ.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: He was not Christian, which sounds controversial, but he's very, very, very spiritual.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: No, Scott's office closes.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Scott never closes his office.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: He did not want to close his office.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was like divine intervention of its mind.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like suddenly, no one started going.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was the only client he had.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, Lord, I've got no choice, I gotta shut.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: So who is left for me to go to?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: The born-again Dr.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Tony.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, oh, Angela, you're the only one who's got a spiritual chiropractor.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Scott's closed.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Ugh, I gotta be honest.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell this man not to talk to me about Jesus?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because it sounds really weird, but he sounds great.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And my back and my epidural injury, and like, please just tell him no Jesus.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, No, Jesus, sounds good.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Sign me up.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And within I would say a month and a half, I was I was born again.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was crazy.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: What Dr.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Tony has things that happen in his office that are supernatural.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Scott is amazing too.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: I still go to both of them, to be honest.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: They're both absolutely incredible.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely incredible.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're so anointed, and they both use the power of Jesus.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, people get up and walk at Dr.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Tony's.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's insane.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: And what I felt, I mean, sometimes he does chiropractic releases and you start to cry hysterically, or you your body convulses, or like it is not normal, right?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: To the to the regular population, but it took less than, you know, less than a few minutes.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, practically, right, in the spiritual realm, a month and a half after however long.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: Simultaneously, when I was um pregnantly, pregnant with hope, he sent two born-again nurses into my this baby nurses.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I had this other nurse set up.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: He it got canceled two weeks before, and then two born uh two different baby nurses came who were born again praying over the household.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they put their hands on my Buddha a lot and say, Oh, do you really want your baby to like touch the Buddha and rub his belly?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like, Yeah, it's fine.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna, and I know they were anointing the house, like singing.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: One of them used to sing, and I would, what is she doing?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: She's singing gospel music again.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so anyway, anyway, Dr.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tommy, though, is is single-handedly the most important part of the story, and he just listened.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the moment when it all changed, or three moments.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Karen, his wife, was doing acupuncture.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: She does acupuncture too, like spirit-driven acupuncture.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I gave my whole spiel, the same one I gave in that um Bible study.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: I said, My dad's, you know, she said, What do you believe?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, just curious.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: I know Angela said, Don't like mention the Jesus, just want to know.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, my dad's, well, my dad's more Christian than Jesus, and I was baptized Catholic, raised Presbyterian, I do yoga, Buddha, blah, blah, blah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter at all, obviously.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, didn't say a word.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: She sat there, stared at me.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not kidding.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: She doesn't remember this.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: I tell her about this all the time.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Still, it's been like, my gosh, seven years later, six years, seven years later, but you know, and I'm still healing.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: We're all healing.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that moment, I just felt so loved by her.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: There was just such a stare of like, this does really matter.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I just love you.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you have your own thoughts, but I love you.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: And she didn't say a word.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then I would say around two weeks later, I was listening to the song Rattle by Zach Williams.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: I started listening to Christian music.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't sure about it, but it went on.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, There's a there's a song, and it's like um Pentecostal power like runs in my veins too.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: I believe there's a miracle.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then it says, like, and I prophesied to the to the bones, and I said, like, rise here for something.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: He he Stephen Furtick prophesies in this song.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: I can't even remember exactly the lyrics, but in that Zach Williams song, I'm driving.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember thinking, Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, like in that moment.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then that same day, I read the Gospel of John because Tony said, if you ever want to, he didn't say do it.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: He said, if you're ever like thinking about Jesus, maybe you should read the Gospel of John.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Learn about it.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Read the gospel, learn, right, learn about it.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: But I opened the book.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was a it was a child's Catholic Bible.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was my ex-husband's Bible.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of snuck it and I opened it, and it said, um, and the word became flesh, right?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then it says, and the darkness has not overcome the light, but it said, and the word was with God.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and the word was with God.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_01: You were you, oh goodness.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now I gotta do the chronology.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: You not chronology.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm trying to think where you you were, you must have been like a year-ish.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: You were about a year.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: You were about a year.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so then um then everything took off from that moment.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: I was sold out.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: It was the same level of passion that I had in that Bible study, but multiplied times a thousand.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: And God always said to me, He still says to me, because I'm still like, gosh, the deliverance and the changes and the amount of renouncing I had to do and the amount of Madonna spirits I spit off myself in the in the pastor's office.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's like, Lord, you know, it could have been the we could have made this a lot easier.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, But how would you speak to my love is love people?
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: How would you speak to the people with the heart that you had?
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: How would you know that they love love the way you loved love without what I let you go through?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: How would you know that they're not bad, right?
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: How would you know that we all go through challenges in life to become the person that we are meant to be?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: And without those challenges, without those experiences that you just went through and that you spent 20 years going through, you wouldn't be who you are today.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then after the sanctification, I was like, Oh, I'm arrived.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Oh, welcome, it's only began.
• 36:40
  unknown: Right.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and that's the that's the thing.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: Most people think, Oh, I'm saved and I'm good to go.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: You still have to people forget that little bit called endure to the end, continue in Christ.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: And they forget that uh when uh once we Christ as our savior and accepted him as our savior, we then have to strive to live his teachings for the rest of our life, and we're never gonna measure up a hundred percent because uh there's only been one perfect person on this world, and and that was Christ.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_03: The rest of us, we make mistakes all the time, and guess what?
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he paid for those mistakes so that we can repent and then we can strive to move forward, and then we make another mistake, and then we he paid for that mistake too, and then we can move forward, and for all of it every day, every day we're just striving to be better people.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: Finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, it's it, and it's so true, and we are striving, and he who began a good work will see it to completion, and he blots us out, he loves us, and it it's it's absolutely incredible.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, it's it's who we're meant to be.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: And and he once ministered to me, you know, because I think we always say, like, a little more like Jesus, a little less like me.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I was struggling with that song.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's also Zach Williams.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, It's not, I want, I don't want you to forget who you are.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: You are my child, you're perfect.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to be Jesus, Laura.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to just be me.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_01: I was a carpenter, I was a whatever, I was a this, I had a personality.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: You have a personality.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to be the perfect version of yourself with me flowing through you.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I I just love that too.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you're Jesus Todd, and hope's, you know, Jesus hope.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I love the power of the Holy Spirit with that.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: But you're so right.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's so good, and he just he's with us, he watches sometimes he sure is.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: And hope and hopefully.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_03: I love the fact that you keep talking about that he talks to you and and keeps inspiring you and keeps because uh you know many, many uh religions teach that that all his revelation was done in with the Bible, right?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I I don't believe that.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: I believe that he's he talks to those of old, he talks to us today, and each of us is entitled to revelation for our lives.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Each of us every day he wants to talk to us.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: We're all born with the light of Christ inside of us, and he wants us to receive the problem is we as humans uh grow up uh building barriers to listen.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and like you said, you went to that that first class Bible study, and he talked to you, and then your roommate and you put up barriers, you start building walls, you start building all these walls to uh to not listen because you know it's uncomfortable to listen sometimes.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and so especially if it goes against what you spent your whole life uh learning before.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um you had you had to destroy your uh destroy uh your old beliefs and become a different person.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: Creation, right?
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: The same person, the same person, you're still the same person, you still are the same you.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_03: All the things you learned, it's still you, uh but you had to become a new version of you from Christ in order to now be able to affect, change, and help other people to become better versions of themselves.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: So I really appreciate the story that you've told because you know we don't always have to have a this is the message I'm trying to send.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: The message is the story of your life.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_03: Testimony.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: We will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies, and mine is different from yours, and yours is different from mine, and they're all more absolutely unbelievable.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that's right.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I want to I want to hear a little from you, but I wanted to say two things that the spirit brought to my attention.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: Again, he talks to me all the time, it's incredible.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, number one, I love other faiths, and I still think there's some truth in other faiths, right?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because the enemy doesn't play in just lies.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's lies in truth.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I do I do believe that, and I know that that's just a little function.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: People wouldn't believe you.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a tricky thing.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: She knows how he tricks, and I try to teach her, and so just tricks.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: He puts a little bit of truth and a little bit of lies.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: Amen, girl.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's the truth.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so what I what I love about what you said about how God talks to each and every one of us, and Pentecost is still around, and all of these things, apostles are still real, and we should eagerly desire the greater gifts.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Is that one thing I point out about the Muslim faith, and again, I do think there's truth in it, but one of these things that and truthfully, they like Jesus more than Jewish people, which is insane.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: I um I have a best friend.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, her best friend is is Muslim.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we love their family, and honestly, in a public school, I believe God put us together because we're about as conservative as it gets, and it's really helpful to have each other.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but one and I've learned a lot about certain perceptions.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, certain Jewish people, not messianic Jews, of course, but they just, oh goodness, I had no idea.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of not nice things to say about Jesus, which is so ironic.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: But Muslim people, Muslim people will say, you know, Muhammad was the last prophet, and Jesus was a prophet and a healer, or maybe Jesus was just a healer.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, that's true, obviously, but it so grossly undervalues him, right?
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because I believe I'm a prophet and a healer.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: I believe you could be a prophet and a healer.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's Apostle Catherine Crick and all of us who are just, but you know, hope in a lot of ways, you know, here's the voice of God.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: She spoke in tongues at a young age, has an anointing on her life, right?
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: God can use each of us, and there are so many of us serving the kingdom of God, and he wants, listen, it says eagerly desire the greater gifts.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm no better than you.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: He can do for you what he's done for me.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's so important.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: He gives each of us gifts of the spirit.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: To some is given one, to others are given another.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it's but it also says eagerly desire the greater gifts.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you're absolutely right.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's only he can divvy them out as he sees fit.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I just think it's so important to remember that that that distinction is real.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is God, he is human and God and our best friend.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, I think he's way more interested in being our best friend, but he's our savior too.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's very different from just a healer and a prophet, although being a healer and a prophet is is amazing.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing about always is amazing.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: It is, it is.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing that he once ministered to me is that the the process of anybody.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I have a speech pathology degree, and much of my much of my work was done in in graduate school, and we were in little rooms, and they have double rooms, and they do this in a lot in medicine.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: They have a mirror, a double sided mirror.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, my teachers were on one side.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: There was a door to get there, but when you're in the you're in the session, you can't see.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Out and your patients, your clients, they don't really know that there's another side to that double-sided mirror.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: And God ministered to me once when you were lost.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: I was always on the other side of the mirror.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: You just couldn't see me.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: And when you see it, isn't that amazing?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: Only by the Spirit.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: This is all Him.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: He just ministered this to me because that's how I would understand it.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, When you become born again, you walk to the other side, and I can now be with you.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm on that other side, throwing things, banging on the mirror, sending angels through the mirror, but I can't talk to you directly yet.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I just, oh, I'm watching.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm watching on the other side of that mirror.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I I just think that that is pretty amazing.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's and it's so true for all of us, right?
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's pretty cool.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_03: That I I love your story.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_03: Let's let's get hear a little bit from Hope.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh then we're running out of time.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: So let's hear a little bit from Hope and her story, and then we'll uh talk about how people can reach you if they'd like.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh but I really appreciate your testimony.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: This has been very interesting.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to know, hold on, hold on.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Before hope, and we will do like cliff notes because I can do prayer cliff notes because you know, just fast forward, it's been seven years since that story.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: So much has happened.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: God's given me a ministry.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and there are certain ways to pray with a real power that have helped deliver me from a lot.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you can imagine, after you know, those 22 years of doing the wrong thing, there was a process.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, hope come on in.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: The best and most important ministry of my life is being a mother for hope.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, drink a little water, get ready for your close-up.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's too dark.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: We're just in the Maldives now.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can only hear our voices.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you keep you can't keep popping in and out, but just as almost like a ghost.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, boo.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the only ghost I care about is the Holy Ghost.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Boo.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we say during Halloween, which we do not celebrate.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Can I tell us something?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be salt and pepper with my best friend.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sometimes I have blow Halloween costumes.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not my favorite thing about to do it for parenting.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, can I tell you something?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: The police, the police come to my school and they give us chocolate boards on Halloween.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not all fun and games.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay, I get it.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: But we we what do we celebrate instead of Halloween, though?
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: What is our harvest?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: Harvest.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: We know that we go to the harvest festival because Halloween is D word's birthday, Jesus.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_01: We called the enemy the D word because we don't want to say his name.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like Voldemort from Harry Potter.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: Very nice.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Hope.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to hear from you.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us a little bit about what's your favorite thing about Jesus?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Just tell us about what makes it special to know God.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite thing is can I say my favorite book in the Bible?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: Esther.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: Queen Esther.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's my daughter's that's my daughter's favorite, also.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you like Queen Esther?
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: Mordecai, I remember just like she she convinces in front of the saves the Jewish people.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is it because she was just she's deeply thinking, she wants to get it right.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: But there's no right answer.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: She's a queen.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: You wanted to be a fashion designer.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: What makes Queen Esther so great?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: I always choose the New Testament.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: She's a queen and she has a really pretty crown, and also because her scripture, her scripture is very powerful.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is very powerful.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: You know, in my in this podcast, just uh a few weeks ago, I did an entire episode about Queen Esther.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, the spirit.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: The spirit gave you some some intel.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty cool.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I can't turn on the car because if I turn the car on the the light will it it will it's fine.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about it.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_03: No, you guys are fine.
• 48:15
  unknown: Boom!
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: Boom! It's a whole spirit, the Holy Ghost.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um yes.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: So do you want to should I do some cliff notes on prayer or you tell you?
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: Let's do let's do real quick, let's do uh some cliff notes of how you use prayer to grow closer to to Christ.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, you you go first, and then we'll do her thing.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna do long.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go long, not too long, but yes, you can have the floor for a little bit.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: Mommy likes to talk.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yay.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um but what was the question?
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: How do we draw closer to the city?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_03: How do you use prayer to grow closer to God?
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: I draw closer to actually mom, you can go first.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: I need to think.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: So first of all, I'm a Holy Spirit girl.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote the book, I am the Holy Spirit.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: My whole Instagram is about the Holy Spirit, and praying in tongues is a way to edify and not just the the ones that require interpretation, but your own personal prayer language.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what your beliefs are on that.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: But when I don't know what to pray, praying in tongues helps me draw closer.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I get revelations and I I speak as if I'm literally, it's almost like Jesus right in front of me.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: I have, you know, I talk New York in tongues.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I am so connected to God and I don't even know what I'm saying sometimes.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: I get an inkling about it, but it's really powerful.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's available.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: The the prayer of receiving the Holy Spirit is a thing, and anyone can have that, not the one that's prophetic tongues.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: These are your prayer language.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's number one.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: I would say if you don't have the gift of tongues or don't have it activated, that's totally fine.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to, you know, give you a link to Andrew Womack's prayer about that.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I would say the second way to draw closer to God, there's two opposing ways.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Number one is to be mindful to use scripture to stand on every single time.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like instead of just saying, dear Lord, I'm nervous about losing my job, or I'm nervous about, you know, um my ex-husband, or I'm nervous about this, what might happen.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: You would say, Lord, I stand on the scripture, no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against me shall be condemned, because this is my inheritance as the servant of the Lord, or this is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and I know I stand on your promises.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: And God, I, you know, I pray and and I decree and declare that XYZ will happen.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know that it is your will to bless me, and I thank you for.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew Womack is one of my absolute favorite preachers, and he teaches you that you thank God for the breakthrough or the blessing, because 99% of the time it is aligned with his will to do what you want.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: There can be blockages, there can be things that happen, like Daniel, but it's um, you know, God wants to do what you're asking for.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to bless us.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to bless, right?
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're his children.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so saying thank you and being very intentional with your words, standing on scriptures and saying thank you as you do it, decreeing and declaring that type of thing.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_01: On the flip side, though, God, as I got very, very, very into this and very trained by Andrew Womack, he's incredible.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Dr.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: Tony teaches this as well.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I would consider Dr.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: Tony practically a pastor.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so, anyway, he um God also said to me, Listen, I love the flowery language, I love the authority taking, I love the tongues, all of that's really cool.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_01: But like, can you just talk to me and like tell me your heart?
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because I do answer.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe you could stop calling the prayer line or praying with Dr.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: Tony or you're or asking hope to agree with you and maybe just have a conversation with me.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh no, dear Lord, you know, I forgot what I did.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I take authority over all power of the enemy as it relates to my anger.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, or we could just like talk about the fact that you're really angry and upset.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: Can we do that?
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, and I feel like that has also been really powerful because sometimes I'll have yelling sessions with God.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, I'm mindful to not be disrespectful.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: However, God even says to me, Laura, like you, I know your thoughts.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: I need to hear from you authentically, and I know you've learned all this.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, intimacy with him.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_03: He wants it, he wants that, he wants that, he wants us to develop that relationship with him.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's it, that requires right that requires going both ways.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because a lot of times we talk at God, not to God.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, God often adds obviously I love to talk, and God will say, Can I talk now?
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and then the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit can shut my mouth.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's a thing he does with me.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: He will do that, he will teach me when to listen.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and especially when I'm working on a salvation, I like to think of myself as a salvation closer, and he will he has trained me to give those Karen eyes, Tony's wife, you know, to just listen.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it'll just organically happen.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's cool.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, and and hold on, I just have one more thing to say.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_01: And since these are not my my things, I know you can go in a second, but this is important.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I also want to say, so yes, just to the cliff notes on prayer, tongues, standing on scripture, and then talking intimately and listening as well.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also want to talk talk about the salvation prayer because it's so important to get people to do that when they can.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: And um I did the salvation prayer you years ago.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, did you?
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: Did you pray for me?
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: I bet you did as a child.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: Children are amazing, but you know, getting people to say it is so important and not being afraid to do it.
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I've had at least 300 salvation prayers since being baptized, and I that's all by the Holy Spirit.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: He calls me.
• 54:11
  SPEAKER_01: I I was in sales first, and he said, the only person you can sell is me.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can't sell product.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: I can't, can't really sell.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: I only Jesus.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I can talk about.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's not about selling him, but you it's kind of important.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then I've also baptized, I have the privilege of baptizing four people.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: One more second, please respect, respect, and obedience.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so um baptizing, and even hope has helped me baptize someone in my bathtub.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've baptized four people, and that is something I think we shouldn't be afraid to do.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the I don't think just pastors can baptize if you're baptized and somebody says I want to get baptized, you can do it if the circumstances are right and they understand what they're doing.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really important.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: And hope, what would you like to say?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to say something very cool.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, dominant.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: So what was the question again?
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get closer to the crazy?
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_03: How do you use prayer to grow closer to God?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_03: Not your mom, how do you personally um well?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_00: I listen to my mom read the Bible, we play it on video, I listen to it.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you talk to God though?
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that that does make me sound like a Bible pushing mom, but what your your connection?
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my connection is with tongues, sometimes even in sleep.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, hope can pray in tongues, so she does have that intimacy.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: And also um what about the way you talk in your head?
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: Mommy likes to talk out loud.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: I also pray in my head because I don't like talking out loud, and I usually do it in my head at school because my school is very dumb.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's not many schools are not in the question, I guess.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: We yeah, it's the indoctrination centers known as the indoctrination camps, yeah.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: So God forgive us, but no, it's it's the truth.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, we don't have to apologize for it.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I often try to teach hope that her connection and the Holy Spirit's gonna teach her more than anybody, and she's certainly on assignment, you know.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_01: I believe she's on assignment in a public school.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I work in a charter school too.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I have to be on assignment in a public school?
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't I just be at like what like a private school that teaches about Jesus?
• 56:30
  unknown: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, hey, this has been a lot of fun.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: This has been very entertaining and full of inspiration and knowledge for other people.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think your personal stories will really uh touch a lot of people's lives because uh they a lot of people have similar uh similar things going on in their life.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, to see somebody else develop a testimony uh after being uh 20 year 20 plus years, as you said, uh pushing away from Christ.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's great to see how you are now an advocate for Christ.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so how if somebody wants to reach you, how can they reach you?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_01: Can I say your phone number?
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sure.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, no phone numbers.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: No phone numbers?
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, never mind.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean mostly just because, you know, for protection for yeah, protection reasons.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, but like how do you have website?
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have uh Instagram that sort of stuff?
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can I can say that.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to say quickly that um life doesn't end after death.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you are in a place where you're not sure um where you know anything resonates with you, God is there, he's waiting, he loves you, and Jesus loves you, and being able to reach out to him is not exclusive for anyone like myself or Todd.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's there.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: And in terms of me, um, if you're if you're thinking about healing or if you're struggling with anything, um, please pray about what you need.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I I have uh deliverance ministry, I am an author.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you can find me at at I AmtheHoly Spirit Book or on Instagram, I am the Holy Spirit book, and all of my websites, my everything you need to to get to know me, find out about my book, my bubble bath is on it.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: Again, at or I don't know why I say at I Am the Holy Spirit book is my Instagram.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect, Laura.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for your time.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_03: Hope thank you for taking time out of your busy school day to uh and homework day to come and join your mom and I on this conversation.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh thank you two so much.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I I love that you just love each other and love Christ and love sharing.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_03: And so thank you so much.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for the time, Todd.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your service to the kingdom.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: Would you mind if I just end it in prayer?
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: We could end in prayer.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, we can.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: You love the sounds.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right, okay.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_01: But okay, so dear heavenly father, I just thank you for Todd.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you for his heart.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_01: I ask that you would have this message reach every person that you intended it for.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you so much for the blood sacrifice of Jesus, his love, his kindness, and the great comforter, which is the Holy Spirit.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: I ask that you bless Todd for his service to your kingdom.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I ask that, you know, everyone who might need healing, who might need a touch from the Holy Spirit would reach out to the person that you need them to reach out to, whether that's me, whether that's a pastor, whether that's just someone who maybe mentioned God, that they are excited about talking about it, or maybe they're scared.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I pray that everyone listening today would receive the message that they need and it would receive, it would be received by as many people as you intend it for.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: I thank you again for Todd.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: I ask that you bless his family, you bless his ministry, um, and that you would multiply the work of his hands, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall be his portion.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I just thank you, Heavenly Father, for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and everything that is your will in this world.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I decree and declare all these things in the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I also, of course, ask for a blessing over my daughter, Hope.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I thank you, God, and me, of course, thank you, thank you.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take the blessings too.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, Hope, Amen.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_01: I heard Amen.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_03: That was amazing, that was wonderful, and thank you so much for your time.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Todd.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_03: God bless both of you.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_01: Bless you too.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great night, you too.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: All right, bye, brother.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, sister, and bye, brother.