Latest / KCMS Spirit 105.3 / Shaken with Steve Sunshine - Rescued by Jesus with Alex Harter

Transcript

Shaken with Steve Sunshine - Rescued by Jesus with Alex Harter · KCMS Spirit 105.3

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Purposely your life, God's purpose, listen it purposely dot com.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Within a year of being homeless, I got my military benefits.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: I was in an apartment. I bought a car. Within
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: two years I had moved to Michigan.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I was with my united with my children, on my
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: own car, work and God's grace.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Ownly, God's grace, I could say.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: And now four years of where I own my own house,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: I have the two dogs I've wanted my kids in college.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: You know, I've been able to meet people like.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: I'm a caregiver.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Now I get to get back and I take care
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: of a woman who is lovely and beautiful, and my
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: kids get to look at me and watch me walk
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: in Christ.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: That's where Alex Hardy is now. But getting here involved
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: your faith that she kept coming back to God's unfathomable grace.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I have been in from drugs and alcohol for
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: over four years now, and my story basically, I'll just
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: share my experience, strength and hope like I would in
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a meeting.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: I suppose.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I go to Alcoholics Anonymous, and I've gone to all
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: sorts of other programs, but I started out.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Drinking at an early age.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I actually went to alcoholics anonymous when I was fifteen
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: years old and was sober for two and a half
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: years before I joined the military, almost three years before.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: I joined the military when I was eighteen, and at
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: that point I decided I wanted to be like everybody
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: else and I really wasn't an alcoholic and that I could,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: you know, have a lot of fun. Well, I had
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: a terrible experience in the military and came home a
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: broken shell of a person and just continued on the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: path of drinking, probably until I met my second husband
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and we drank together, but we kind of slowed down
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: when we had kids, and well I slowed down and
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: he didn't, and our marriage ended because of that. And
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: when that happened, I didn't have any money. I was
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a stay at home mom, and his family was really wealthy,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and he knew about the divorce for about two years
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: before and unfortunately.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: He got the kids.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: So I really lost it, and I met some people
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: who were really shady, who seemed to understand and they
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: were doing drugs, and so I started doing drugs. To
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: make a long story short, I spent about ten years
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: trying to recover myself and just never never doing it,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: you know, I had a trauma in the military that
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: was a military sexual trauma, and so I was not
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: going to contact the military at all for benefits. But
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I was having some really bad physical problems. I was
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: diagnosed with fibromyalgra and lupus, and I was losing my hair,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: and the drugs weren't helping, but I didn't see that
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: for a long time.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: I just wanted to die.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: And by the end of that drug abuse, when I
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: decided to get sober, I was about fifty years old,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: and my grandmother had died about two years before. And
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I went through a series of my downfall, staying with
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: friends really who at that point were drug dealers, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: then becoming homeless, and and I was homeless for about
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: three or four months, staying in the women's shelter, occasionally
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: sleeping under bridges. Very dangerous and very very bankrupt spiritually.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: So it was about three days or four days before
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: my fiftieth birthday, and my equilibrium was off, and I
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: was in a psychosis, a drug induced psychosis, which I
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: would later learn about when I got sober, but I
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: didn't know that I was in a psychosis.
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  Speaker 3: I just thought that the world was ending.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: And I called my mother and I asked for help,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: and her and and my stepdad met me downtown in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: my hometown. I got rid of all the drugs and
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: they took me in for a couple of weeks before
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I went to treatment. And I you know, did all this,
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  Speaker 2: you know, with the help of my parents. But I
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: made all these choices by myself. I really wanted help,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, I got sober, you know, March third
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  Speaker 2: of twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, what do you think led to you finally making
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  Speaker 1: that decision that this time you were going to do it.
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  Speaker 2: I had reached a spiritual wall, you know, because I
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: was having a religious psychosis, which is kind of hard
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  Speaker 2: to explain, but I remember every detail of it, like
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: I needed a new lease on life. Something told me
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  Speaker 2: that if I got sober that things would get better.
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  Speaker 2: I just had no other choices. I was a really
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: tough not to crack. But you know, I believe it
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  Speaker 2: was Jesus that.
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  Speaker 3: Talked to me.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it was something that I heard, something that
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  Speaker 2: I saw, and I felt confident with it.
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  Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about you your faith up until
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: that point, because you know, you could have, you know,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: leaned on almost anything. But it was Jesus. So how
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: did you know Jesus up to that point.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I grew up with a Hungarian grandmother. My mother
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: was really young and was highly successful, it was going
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  Speaker 2: to college, but was also an alcoholic, and so I
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: spent a lot of time with my grandmother and grandfather.
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  Speaker 2: My grandfather was a retired military officer thirty three years
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  Speaker 2: and he was Catholic, and my grandmother was a Hungarian
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  Speaker 2: immigrant and she was a nurse and she was Roman Catholic,
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  Speaker 2: and they were not the kind of Catholics that went
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  Speaker 2: to mass like kind of ever. But my grandmother always
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: talked about the saints and who to pray to. And
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: I would always see her clutching, you know her you know,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: her charms or whatever she had, and she you know,
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  Speaker 2: was kind of like really strangely psychic, and really good
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  Speaker 2: things happened for her I saw. But really what I
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: saw in her was that she was kind to everybody.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And so it was my grandfather. My grandfather was like
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: a no nonsense kind of a man, so he surrounded
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: himself with people that were similar and my grandmother was
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: just an entertainer, and you know, they in the summertime
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: after they retired would manage a dude ranch. And I
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: grew up at that dude ranch in Colorado in the summers,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: and I just saw their kindness and I associated that
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: kindness with Jesus and with Christianity, and so I think
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: that's kind of where my roots are from. When I
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: was had that uh, horrible experience in the military.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: That really changed my life, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I I would start to do you know, uh classes
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: and religion, about Catholicism and Judaism and uh. And then
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: I would research New Age you know, the New Age
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: movement was really big in the nineties and m you know,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I had so many different weird experiences, you know, in
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: my life that just were synchronistic, were serendipitous, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that always seemed to.
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  Speaker 3: Be associated with Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: They would they would happen to me, especially after I
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: had my children MM.
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  Speaker 3: And and even after the divorce.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: You know, I'd have this one experience with a nun
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  Speaker 2: who would teach me something about my life that I
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: later now look back on and it was God.
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  Speaker 3: It was God there.
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  Speaker 2: I look back at those experiences of being on the
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: street and all that other stuff, and it was only
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: God that got me through.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Now, you uh, you didn't end up a practicing Catholic.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: No. I went to Inquiry when I was pregnant with
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: my second child, and I just didn't really like it.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, we agreed that it wasn't for me,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: and I went to a Lutheran church and that was
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: all right.
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  Speaker 3: I baptized my kid's Lutheran.
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  Speaker 2: But when Michael started drinking a lot, my ex husband,
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  Speaker 2: it was like, I don't know, everything just didn't. I
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  Speaker 2: just I felt sorry for myself a lot.
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  Speaker 3: I was like really different person. And back then.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: And I questioned God a lot, like, you know, I
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: would God do this to me and my kids? And
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: when I lost my kids, I definitely questioned, you know why.
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  Speaker 1: So so now, how would you describe your faith today today?
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  Speaker 2: It's pretty amazing, you know, I went through a process
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  Speaker 2: in AA, you know, finding a higher power and you know,
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  Speaker 2: something in me when I look back on it now,
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  Speaker 2: you know told me always it would be Jesus, but
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  Speaker 2: I'd have to have a few pretty amazing experiences that
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  Speaker 2: were also you know, kind of coming alive, you know,
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  Speaker 2: after being on such heavy drugs and drinking, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and having the life of that. You know, I I
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  Speaker 2: quit when I was having my kids, you know, to
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: a certain degree, but once they were old enough, it
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  Speaker 2: just you know, they don't ever remember me drawing.
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  Speaker 3: But m.
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  Speaker 2: I I found a higher power and a connection to
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  Speaker 2: a higher power through my sponsor. She would tell me
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  Speaker 2: to have a relationship with with God, like make an
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  Speaker 2: appointment with God and keep it like a friend, because
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  Speaker 2: I I would start my day and I.
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  Speaker 3: Would totally forget to pray. I would totally forget.
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  Speaker 2: I just I wasn't connected, and it scared me, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I was having mental health crisises at the time too.
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  Speaker 2: So I hung in there though, and then I decided,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm gonna try this church thing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe try some different churches. My sponsor went to a
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  Speaker 2: church that was in the area, and I liked it, alright,
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  Speaker 2: everybody was nice, but I didn't connect, and so I
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: actually it strangely, it's kind of funny. I was watching
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: that show The Chosen and there's an episode where Jesus
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  Speaker 2: finds Mary Magdalene. Yeah, and it's really powerful. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: up to that point, I felt ashamed of myself and
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  Speaker 2: the things that I had done. And I had worked
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: the steps in aa as suggested hard. I was real, honest,
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  Speaker 2: I still am, and I felt shame in my spirit
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  Speaker 2: and my soul for the things that I had done.
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  Speaker 2: And even though I had asked God for forgiveness, I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: just wasn't hearing anything back. And I felt like everybody
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: else had something I didn't. And when I saw that episode,
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  Speaker 2: it was like when he called her daughter, you know.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, that was that was that was so powerful
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  Speaker 1: and so so like Jesus. I mean, you look at
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: look look through the Bible at the people that God
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: used and their track records without God, and some of
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  Speaker 1: them are really awful, but He used them, he forgave them,
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  Speaker 1: and he used them, and yes he does that for us.
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  Speaker 1: It's a I mean, it just it's hard to fathom
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  Speaker 1: just how good he is.
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  Speaker 3: It is hard to fathom.
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  Speaker 2: And every day, you know, since then, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: really put, you know, a prayer to Jesus about finding
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: the right church. And I remember talking to my sponsor
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: and she was like, I said, do you know, it
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  Speaker 2: just seems like everybody has her niche and like I
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: just don't have one, and she said to pray about
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: it and be paid. And when I truly prayed from
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: my heart. It was almost instantaneous that something came up
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: on my social media about my current church, Overflow Church
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: in Benton Harbor. And when I got there, everybody smiled
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: at me, everybody. And when I listened to the word
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: that Pastor Elijah, his personality and his you know, connection
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: and his words, I really felt like it was for
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: me and everybody i'd met there, you know, like it
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: just like I know Jesus is working in my life.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I was baptized immediately. I had been baptized
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: when I was Episcopalian when I was eleven, and I
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: remember it very fondly. But this baptism I came out
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: in fact, your wife, that's how I met her. She
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: said that she said she wanted to get to Dobe
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: because I was laughing and smiling, and she said, you
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: just seem like such a nice person.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Because I was laughing so hard.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I think that people smiling
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: at you is important because God created us for community.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: He didn't he didn't, he didn't design us to go
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: it alone, which is what our culture tends to promote,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you know, look out for yourself, all of that. But
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, he said that it was not good for
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: man to be alone. He created woman. He said that
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: in Ecclesiastes, there's a there's a really powerful verse that
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: says that that something like because I don't have it
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: in front of me, but two are better than one,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you know, and a court of three strands, it's not
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: easily broken. He designed us to rely on each other,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: rely on him, rely on each other. And he even says,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: where two or more are gathered, I'm there, and I
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: assume that's in He's there anyway, but he's there in
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: a special way when when we gather together in his name, right,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: it's uh, it's so powerful.
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  Speaker 3: It is right, it really is.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: I have gotten involved in some community groups.
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  Speaker 3: And they're bringing so much true joy to my life.
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  Speaker 2: You know. I I moved to Michigan about three years
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: ago from Arizona, and I I just had such a
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: hard time really meeting people because I'm such a different person.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Clean AND's over, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I I'm quiet, I listen, I am still analytical as
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: I'll get out, and and I'm a thinker, you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's just part of who I am. I'm still kind
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: of untangling, you know, the web of thoughts, you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: and thought processes. Those are are difficult to change. But
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I I know, you know, with prayer and really the
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the twelve steps you know, give you kind of.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: An outline for living.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And you know, I do a lot of service work
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: and chair meetings and I sponsor a woman. Yeah, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: so that's part of that program. You know that we
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: believe that by giving, you know, back, that's you know,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: what will keep us sober.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: And it's amazing, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I think that Jesus is working in my life through
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: my actions because people in my family, you know, are like, wow,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: you know, you're different, and and the people that meet
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: me seem to like me, and and that's always a pleasure.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: You know, I have learned with him. With Jesus, he
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: keeps me and promises me if in the moment, if
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: I live in the moment, and if I don't, you know,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: get in the past and in the future of things
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: I can't control, if I give it to God and
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: ask for you know, his will to be done in
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: my life. Every day, multiple times a day, I have
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: to remind myself.
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  Speaker 3: Who is in charge.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's huge.
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  Speaker 2: But when I do that, and when I'm successful at
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: doing that, things really are blessed. I have a relationship
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: with my kids that I could have never had as
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: a woman I was when I was married. I was
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: not a woman of God. When I was married, I
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: was spiritual and and I know God loved me, you know,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: through all the my ups and downs. But I know that,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: you know, in retrospect, you know this is the time
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: that God has had for me. And what I went
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: through I know was necessary. You know, I am not
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: in charge, and I'm really glad about that today that
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: I recognize that I find great comfort in it.
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  Speaker 1: If somebody listens to this, who is where you were?
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  Speaker 3: Right?
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  Speaker 1: What would you say to them?
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  Speaker 2: I just know for myself, you know, you don't have
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: to go as far as I went. You know, I
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: I literally was bankrupt. And if you are bankrupt, and
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: if you feel like you just like God doesn't love you,
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: that's the enemy. That's the enemy speaking to you. And
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: when you give your life to Christ, you don't have
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: to worry about that stuff ever. Again, the enemy comes
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: at me in ways today, but I it's like I
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: I ignore it and.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Rebuke it in Christ and it My day is great.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: My life is great.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Within a year of being homeless, I got my military benefits.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I was in an apartment. I bought a car. Within
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: two years, I had moved to Michigan. I was with
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: my reunited with my children, on my own hard work
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: and God's grace.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Only God's grace, I should say.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: And now four years of where I own my own house,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: I have the two dogs I've wanted my kids in college,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: you know, I uh, those are the material, which is
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: all great and fine. You know, I have a a
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: great vehicle, a different vehicle. You know, I things progressively,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: but I've been able to meet people like I'm a caregiver.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Now I get to get back and I take care
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: of a woman who is lovely and beautiful. And my
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: kids get to look at me and watch me walk
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: in Christ and I get to teach them that way.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: And you know, you can do it too, if you're
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: out there. If you think that you you can't, you can.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: If I can do it, anybody can do it.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome. I like, I like to think of it
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: as uh. And I didn't make this uping and I
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: don't remember where I got it. But the when you
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: hear you hear this, the voices of condemnation in your
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: in your mind, and your soul. That's not God, that's
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts. He made
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: he challenge you and tell you you ought to change
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: what you're doing here. But he'll he'll talk. He will
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: talk about the thing you're doing, not you as a person.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: He won't say you are a drunk, or you are
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: a whatever, you're a bank robber.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: You don't.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: You don't become your identity, doesn't become what you did.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Do you hear condemnation that comes from from from Satan?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: He condemns, The Holy Spirit convicts, right, and you.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: Have my sponsor.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: I remember, you know, it was like we were trying
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: to identify if I was feeling guilty or shameful.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: And she said that, you know, primary reason that she was.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: Asking was because guilt would be from God and shame
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: would be from Saint, you know.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: And that was powerful for me.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: And I pay attention because you know there's you know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I I hear you know, inside of myself. I will
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: hear you know, in certain ways. You know, I will
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: hear Christ speaking directly to me. And you know I
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: hear it in music. I hear it through like things
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: that you say. And you know the pastor says, and
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: and if you really live in the moment, you pay
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: attention God speaking and revealing himself through all of us.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Probably you know, well, Jesus said, I came for the sick,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: not for the will. And I think what he meant
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: by that is, use everybody is sick, but I came
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: from people who are sick and know they're sick, right, No,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: they know that they're they're falling short. Not for people
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: who think that they've got it all together. And he
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: also said, those who are forgiven much love much. And
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: I think that you know, everybody doesn't need to have
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: a dramatic conversion story, but those who have had an
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: especially rough time, it seems like, have a very special
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: connection to Jesus.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Afterwards, Yes, well, I definitely do you know, I with
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: the kind of person and you know, alcoholic, an addict
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: that I had to do and know everything and push
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: it to the fullest extent of the law, to the
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: limits to know. And I, you know, God has given
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: me the ability to like channel that energy in a
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: different way and like really live my life to you know,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: the fullest and have positive thoughts. And I you know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: if Lord, you know, with the help of God, you
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: know how to be happy and and it's not that
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: I don't have hard things. I have hard things all
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: the time. I'm dealing with some hard things right now.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: But I really have a special relationship with God. I
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: feel like I all I keep hearing.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Is follow me.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: That's beautiful, you know, Alex. Alex, thank you so much.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: You're also very very brave for being so candid, and
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: so I want to want to thank you for that too.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: But You've really really told a story that shows God's
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: goodness and how how reliant we are on him and
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: how when we rely on him, amazing things can happen.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: It's true. Thank you, you know, for having me, Steve.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: I was really nervous night, not us anymore.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Shaken. If you know someone
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: who's asking questions like why did God allow this to happen?
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Would you please share Shaken with them. You can help
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: more people find Shaken by liking and subscribing and reviewing
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: this podcast. You can find more episodes at purposely dot
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: com or wherever you get podcasts.