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Mothering Fiercely in a World Full of Fears · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

• 0:02
  Hi listeners, welcome to the. She speaks live podcast a weekly
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  encouragement where we share our God's stories.
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  I'm your host. Jamie Elizabeth and I am so glad
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  you are spending time with us today to listen.
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  Hi friends, welcome to this week's episode.
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  Today. We will meet Amanda floor
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  Zukowski. She has an incredible story to
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  share with us about a life-changing event that sent
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  her on a journey to help moms live free of fear in this
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  chaotic world. She is part of a Ministry called
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  able moms, that equips moms and practical parenting and in their
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  faith. Amanda.
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  Also is a published author of a book called unraveled muttering
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  fiercely in a world full of fears.
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  And wow. Does she have first-hand
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  experience with that to share with us today?
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  Hi Amanda. I'm so glad you are here with
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  us. Oh man.
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  I'm since the first time I met you.
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  I'm just ecstatic and thrilled to be here.
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  So thank you. Hey, thank you.
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  I same here. We just like hit it off right
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  away on our Ation, and just so like-minded.
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  And I just can't wait for you to share with us where you found
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  yourself on this path and life helping moms battle fear.
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  I know you are pregnant with baby number five.
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  Is that correct? Yes.
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  Yes, busy life. Yeah, very busy.
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  So share a little more about you and where this all happened for.
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  You. Sure.
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  Well, just a little bit about myself.
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  This is baby. Number five.
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  My husband and I are going to celebrate 15 years of marriage.
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  This year. We love to travel.
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  We founded what's called a university model School a few
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  years ago and absolutely love the model.
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  It's kind of a hybrid between homeschooling and and Christian
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  on-campus schooling and a it's so that's kind of unique to our
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  family. My husband is also a pastor and
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  so that, it's fun, being a pastor's wife, and then born in
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  Florida, pretty much raised in the Chicagoland area.
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  And my husband died. The very beginning of our
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  marriage, moved to Texas. So absolutely huge change, but
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  very close to you now. Yeah, this is here.
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  I'm in Austin and you know, what, a huge change was whether
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  right, Chicago. Yes, and all of our kids have
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  been brought home from hospitals here.
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  I mean, we, I wouldn't change it.
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  I love it. So I always say, Chicago, roots
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  and Texas boots, because that's just, that's cute.
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  Best of Both Worlds. Yeah, so fun.
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  You wanted to share about something that happened to you.
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  This life-changing event. Do you want to just want to
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  start from there? Yeah.
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  Yeah, I'll actually share for of really brief stories.
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  Okay, because as we were talking, you know, I just love
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  your mission to pray and be Spirit light on this.
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  I felt like, you know, these are for brief stories, I think would
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  resonate Nate with every mom because the first story about
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  child sex trafficking is so grandiose and unbelievable.
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  Well, every parent can is associate with the feelings of
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  fear. I don't know that every parent
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  has been in that specific situation.
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  Whereas the other three they may have.
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  So I'll just start with that February day in a grocery store.
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  I dropped my a to bigger kids off at school and like any other
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  grocery shopping day brought my to Littles to the grocery store.
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  Sure, my son was still an infant in a car seat actually in the
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  cart. I won't get into the full story
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  of just share that end of it, which is where I happened to be
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  getting into a register line. And there was a couple there
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  that I noticed was kind of tearing.
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  And I you know, every mom kind of navigates her shopping trip
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  with like the nap countdown and how many more minutes we have
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  left and I don't know about through those small window.
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  Yeah. About you.
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  But like, my kids get into check out.
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  They are angels the whole time. And this like, I don't know if
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  they smell the gum in the candy, that's right there, but
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  everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
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  I mean, it's like, I just we lose our minds in the checkout.
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  So this part when there's all four of us, okay, but yeah, this
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  particular day, I only had the two Littles and it was a fine
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  and, you know, things are rocking and rolling.
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  And I let this couple go ahead and With immediacy Jamie, this
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  woman, turns around and starts asking me questions about my
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  daughter, specifically, how old she is?
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  And as she's asking, I'm taking her out of the cart, because I
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  wanted to stretch her little Wiggly legs.
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  I know we have a ride home. So I responding to this woman
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  with her age, almost 3, and so she was young Jamie.
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  I mean, she's little. Yeah, and the cart is Angled,
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  like most of us angle our cards, you know, we stuck in between
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  the cart and the belt, right? We're putting everything on the
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  belt, right? My daughter, walks around and so
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  she's kind of in between this woman and the carts further away
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  from me closer to the woman. The woman asks, a second time,
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  and a third time. And I notice every time she's
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  asking me, she's turning over her shoulder and speaking to the
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  man that she's with who's looking straight ahead.
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  Who's never looked at my children who hasn't indicated
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  any interest other than he is responding to her and different
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  language and then she asks me again, and then she responds
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  back to him. My answer and In her native
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  tongue and I realize in that moment that this woman is
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  interpreting my answers to this man who is asking the questions.
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  So while she's interpreting, I'm actually having a conversation
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  with this man, you know, it's one of those moments where, you
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  know, as a mom. I mean, you are like the mom
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  with the most, you know, you and I have talked in, you have
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  including several kiddos to, and you just have that Holy.
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  Gut feeling. Do you know what I'm talking
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  about? Yeah.
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  Yeah. Discernment.
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  You got to check your spirit. Something's not, right.
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  Yeah, and I had that feeling while at the same time felt like
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  no, I'm overreacting, they are clearly a different culture.
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  She does not know how close she standing to us.
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  She doesn't know how uncomfortable she's making me.
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  And then at the same time going. No, I really need to trust this
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  Holy Spirit feeling, and in the reality.
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  Was that she, you know, I have a cooing infant in the car seat
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  and she's not asking anything about him.
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  So there were some red flags that were indicators beyond my
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  own subjective feelings. That something was not right,
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  right, and then naturally we would have those doubts.
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  Right? Like am I overreacting and just
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  like you were saying maybe it's her her culture trying to
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  justify. The feelings, the weird feeling
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  that you're getting, right, but then it's too intense that you
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  needed to trust them. Yeah.
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  Absolutely. She continues asking me about my
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  daughter and at this time I'm like man this is not adding up
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  so she is so close at this point.
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  She puts her hand on my card. So my daughter's actually wedged
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  in between her. So Iraq.
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  Or walk around to pick my daughter up and we're so close
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  that she couldn't even reach her arms out.
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  Jamie. She just put her hand out and
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  she said, can I hold your daughter and I I said no.
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  And then the posture didn't change.
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  So she said no one yelled your daughter.
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  I said, no. I think her diaper is in his wet
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  left my mouth. This woman was forcibly, pulling
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  my daughter from my arms. Wow.
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  This was the oh my God. Only time during our whole
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  interaction that she actually started to put distance between
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  she and I and she never forget. She grabbed my daughter's little
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  hand. And our little wrist and she
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  made her wave. She emulated a wave and she
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  asked my daughter to pair it. Okay.
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  Say bye. Bye to Mommy as a mom.
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  It's in that moment where you're going, know everything?
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  The Holy Spirit told me was perfectly intact and if you go
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  back, I mean this is there's research done by someone named
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  gig or ensor who's, you know, people have Made Boodles of
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  money teaching, top Stars, how to trust that gut feeling.
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  I mean, there's a science behind us.
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  I mean, even beyond that caution really was something.
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  God created us with and so write any expert will tell you who
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  said that anti-trafficking world to trust that caution.
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  And that's one of the best things you can do as a mom and
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  initially is actually notice your surroundings, which is what
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  I started to do. So the first thing that happened
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  that went through my mind is Me and I have to jeopardize leaving
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  my infant son in this car. While I grab my daughter out of
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  this woman's arms essentially, you know, lunge forward and get
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  her. Yeah, and for I'm a fortunate
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  parent and then I can say that our daughter went home with us
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  that day, but we found out later.
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  And again, part of the story that I won't get into what I do.
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  Share in the book that the man who is watching this whole
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  interaction was Actually just released from prison a few weeks
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  earlier and who we believe to be in charge of the trafficking
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  ring as he's a, you know, rapists and trafficker.
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  So yeah, that was terrifying and it was the first time in my life
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  where I always tease. And I think you and I talked
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  about this maybe that my faith felt like that pre-baby bikini.
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  I mean, I could put it on right by but it's like, And if the
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  parts fit in it anymore, the same way they once did.
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  And I just had to go to the Lord and I never questioned him.
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  But I had to question my perception of him, you know, the
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  perception that I had of him because I had to reconcile why I
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  was starting to have these feelings of fear, right?
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  And how, those how those could survive, amidst my faith, you
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  know, and what that looked like to walk in faith, while being
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  bombarded with things that naturally are scary, you know,
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  so, right and you had a An event that most people have not
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  experienced. So in a sense, do you feel?
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  It was a little bit of that post-traumatic stress disorder
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  where it's kind of like you had to work that out to of just the
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  trauma? Sure.
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  Yeah. That's a great question.
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  Well, that's kind of what, you know, you and I were talking
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  about last time. It didn't stop.
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  There. It all happened.
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  All these traumas happen within a very short.
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  That window of time. Following that trauma was our
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  sons drowning in a swimming pool at a hotel.
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  We had gone back and my husband died.
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  We were traveling and exhausted in my, my son at the time was
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  now too. And so this was, let's see here,
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  the following year and the water wings.
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  He was wearing. He was just getting
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  uncomfortable and fidgety. And so we thought, no problem.
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  We'll take them off. We're the only family in We saw
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  him at the table right across from us.
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  He's, you know, like what a yard and a half and we're watching
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  him and my husband. I don't know if we were just
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  exhausted or what about 10 minutes later.
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  We noticed that he's not there and we jump up and say, where
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  did he go? And my second.
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  Oldest son pointed to the deep end of the pool.
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  And in that moment. I remember thinking what I'm
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  about to see will forever change my life.
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  I mean, it was in that Split Second, I I thought when I avert
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  my eyes from my second, oldest son, and I look in that swimming
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  pool. This is going to change my life.
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  And so my husband jumped into the deep end and pulled out this
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  blue distended. What looked to be?
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  Lifeless body. His lips were purple.
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  He nothing about him indicated. There was any life left in him
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  and I had to do what I pray. No, Mom ever has to do, which is
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  ask the Lord for my life to be breathed into his I gave him
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  CPR. Wow, and I would have traded
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  anything in that moment. It was like asking the Lord for
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  something that I knew would have to be miraculous.
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  Mhm, and seconds later, even before EMTs arrived.
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  My son, sat up his color returned, and it wasn't until I
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  got to the hospital and I'm behind the ambulance, with my
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  other children, praying God. I know that.
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  I know how long he was. Under, I know, based on the this
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  place, he was at in the pool, what had to have happened for,
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  to his body, for it, to float, three feet below.
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  I mean, I know what I just experienced was a miracle, but I
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  also know that there can be secondary damage.
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  And as I was praying against that, I didn't even realize,
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  until we got to the hospital. And the nurses are telling me.
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  Okay? Well, how much water did he
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  vomit up that? I'm thinking?
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  Well, none. I know that never happened and
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  so. All right.
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  My husband and I are looking at each other going.
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  We witnessed a miracle. Yeah, his blood oxygen came
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  back, fine. Everything was normal, Praise
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  Jesus. And it, there was no indication
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  that he'd even been in a pool. I mean, everything was perfect
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  for this body and just four weeks after that.
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  Right after Christmas. We still had Christmas presents
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  strewn about. We had a devastating house,
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  fire, electrical fire. We had no idea.
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  There were some wiring, it was bad.
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  Bad, this was our forever dream home that we had bought five
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  months before on 10 acres, spent every weekend fixing up and
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  updating things and had no idea that behind the wall was an
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  electrical gnaural that for a whole week was preparing to set
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  our house on fire. So everything from 13 years of
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  marriage and a family of six fit into a 9x9 storage shed.
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  And when they fire, inspector came out as well as the Fire
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  chief. I just I remember his hand being
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  almost arthritic, you know kind of signifying.
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  The years of wisdom that he had is an older gentleman and he had
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  been doing this for decades and the electrician was repairing
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  the electrical box in this separate apartment on the
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  property. That was maybe 10 yards away
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  that our family had planned to move into temporarily.
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  It had been used prior for my my 8 and 9 year old boys to sleep
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  in. And we had a contractor out the
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  weekend before, to quote a build out that would connect the main
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  house to that apartment that they slept in every night.
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  And as the electrician was there in the background.
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  I was talking to these two gentlemen, we heard him scream
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  and not scream guys, don't scream, but you know what?
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  I mean? Yeah.
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  He yelled. I don't know.
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  Yo. Yes.
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  Yeah. He is something had happened and
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  we came over and I don't know, not.
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  Out the electrical panel and all the terms he was using.
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  But one term I could understand was death and that box that was
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  arcing the fire chief and investigator pulled me back over
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  and they said Amanda that house. And I remember his arthritic
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  finger pointing to the smoke in the rubble and the dust.
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  He said that fireman to save you from that fire.
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  He said it would have been days if not hours before that
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  building with Burned down and I know I kinda thought to myself
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  or my daughter, my toddler son. And now the risking of the life
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  of my two boys. Yeah, the reality is that my
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  flesh wants to live. And what if because of fear is
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  so incredibly. Great and a few short months
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  later. We had our miscarriage at about
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  10 or 11 weeks. And so, you know, we did lose
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  our fifth child today. And so I know that there are
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  moms out there. I you and I have talked.
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  I know you have experienced this to some level that that fear and
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  motherhood is very real. And yeah, we are tempted to
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  focus on. What if mmm, and that shift for
• 17:27
  me really happened when I and I can share that part of the
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  testimony, but when what if started to evaporate and I
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  started to focus on what is and we know that God.
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  God, the I am he is. What is?
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  Yeah, and I think you had to face those extreme incidences
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  like that is Extreme. Traumas that not, every mom has
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  experienced. But the fears of something
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  happening to their child is the same, the what-ifs, right?
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  Just because a mom hasn't gone through the same experiences as
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  you her. What-ifs.
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  Just as real as your whatever. Yes.
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  And so how did you overcome by the?
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  What it is? You want to go ahead and Define
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  that? Yeah, so two things first and
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  therefore they're two different stories.
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  Both found in the Book of Genesis.
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  The first was understanding that Eve whose name means mother of
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  all the very first mother. When that transgression went
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  down in the Garden of Eden. God.
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  Did not curse the individuals, he cursed relationships.
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  They had to something or someone and we all know the curse that
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  he gave woman. There were two.
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  But one of them was the relationship.
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  She has her children. We know that they will have pain
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  and childbearing. Well, when I started studying
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  that out more looking at the original Hebrew words, I always
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  thought that that meant pain and motherhood sorrow and
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  motherhood. Discomfort anxiety was only
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  related. To the birthing process.
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  I mean, I don't know, maybe lots of maybe this isn't maybe that's
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  really basic to a lot of people but I was ignorant and thinking
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  that that's it was limited to that.
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  Yeah, when it says pain in childbirth, right?
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  I thought I think that sure so I'm interested that that
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  original word. I said this when you start
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  studying it out, this sorrow is actually extended to To
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  Motherhood like actual child rearing.
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  And so, I mean, I was devouring this.
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  I'm thinking you're kidding me. I mean it, it kind of took the
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  pressure off to go. Okay.
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  So this is, this is not, this is not anything new.
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  This is part of what Eve experienced is, the very first
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  mother. And part of what walking, this
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  side of heaven. We will endure.
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  And if you ask any Mom, hey, your toe, your child's 30, I
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  guess. Now, you Worry about them
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  anymore. I mean it doesn't happen.
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  You know, you always live in that perfect tension, but what
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  was so fascinating to me is that you go on to read and it says,
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  you know your Offspring will crush the head of the serpent,
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  right? We hear this like Redemptive
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  story line weaved into that curse.
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  Well, the very thing that God gave Eve this ability to mother
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  is the very thing that would bring about the Redemption, is
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  that not the most? Beautiful story line?
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  You've you've ever heard in your life.
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  I mean you want to talk about a rendering of the Gospel through
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  motherhood, like Eve had imparted to her this truth, it
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  Eve. This is going to be your curse.
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  But let me tell you what that's going to be.
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  The very thing that relationship will be the very thing that I
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  bring about my son Jesus Christ. And, and your fear that you feel
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  in. This curse will be alleviated by
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  the salvation of the Us and it blew my mind.
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  Jamie. I thought.
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  God you're so good. You're so good.
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  You always think away out. And so yeah, so when you fast
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  forward to the application of that because I can hear that all
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  day long, but until I plant it into my heart.
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  It doesn't mean anything more, you know, it's intellectual, but
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  it's not plant in my heart and I asked the Lord, when I feel
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  these emotions of fear. I want the truth of what I know
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  to overcome those. And so, what does that look like
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  Lord. And to just be very transparent
• 21:50
  and realistic about how bad it got in the PTSD question.
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  You asked. I mean, my husband and I would
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  wake up. I mean, I felt like for a while.
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  There it was every other night with nightmares about losing our
• 22:03
  children, and we would wake one another up and say, hey, I need
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  you to pray with me. Like this is Of us were getting
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  any sleep because either somebody had a nightmare, you're
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  waking somebody up to pray with you, you know, yeah.
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  And the thing with a child you're both affected.
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  It's not, I mean, we're effective or husband's going
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  through something were affected, but we could be the strong one,
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  pray over arm, you know, encourage them, build them up,
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  but when it's both happening to you at the same time, then it's
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  like that's a uphill battle and itself of trying to To be there
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  for one of them to one another. Well, I could not agree with you
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  more. You know, I loved reading the
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  story of Eve in Genesis, that I just kept on trucking.
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  And I got to Genesis 32 to the story of Jacob.
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  And here he is, you know, he has lived this life of
• 22:58
  self-sufficiency and he gets to this point where he realizes
• 23:02
  that he no longer wants to live this way.
• 23:05
  You know. His his God has told him.
• 23:07
  Okay. It's time to go back to your
• 23:08
  Homeland and he Recognizes the right, he's being obedient, but
• 23:12
  he recognizes the reality of meeting up with his brother and
• 23:15
  his brother, most likely is going to take his life.
• 23:18
  And so, I'm sure that night when the angel of the Lord showed up,
• 23:21
  that he probably thought that, that was a representative of his
• 23:24
  brother and he's, you know, wrestling with him and he's
• 23:29
  asking, you know, Jacobs asking like, who are you and he
• 23:33
  realizes. It's halfway through like yeah.
• 23:36
  Oh my word. I'm wrestling with the god most
• 23:38
  higher like a representation of God, most high and and I can
• 23:42
  just imagine this scene, you know, of like just furrowed brow
• 23:47
  and like, beads of sweat in wrestling all night long.
• 23:49
  And he's just like, I am going to do her die.
• 23:52
  Like I'm sick of what I've been living in, it's now or never.
• 23:57
  So, I'm either gonna win or you're going to win, but
• 24:00
  somebody's walking away from here from this battle, a winner.
• 24:03
  And I went to bed. This one particular night, and I
• 24:07
  had a nightmare, probably the worst one.
• 24:10
  Date. And one of the very last ones
• 24:12
  I've ever had and I didn't wake, my husband up this time instead.
• 24:16
  I was in such a state of heightened panic.
• 24:19
  I just cried out to the Lord and I said, I'm done like Jacob.
• 24:23
  I am done wrestling with this. And I have to, like, I don't
• 24:30
  care how long it takes. I don't care how long we have to
• 24:32
  wrestle, but I'm I'm willing to wrestle with you.
• 24:34
  Lord God. So beautiful because he doesn't
• 24:38
  mind the wrestling because he already knows the answers to our
• 24:41
  questions. And Larry Jacob.
• 24:44
  It says was blessed and not, it wasn't about whether he was
• 24:47
  going to win or lose. I mean, to Jacob it was in the
• 24:49
  natural but to God he garnered that blessing.
• 24:54
  Jacob Garner that blessing simply because Was willing to
• 24:57
  enter into the wrestling. And I recognized that I had to
• 25:03
  face the things that I had been wrestling with and say, Lord,
• 25:07
  here. We are.
• 25:08
  This is where I'm at. I need to ask you the tough
• 25:11
  questions and I need to know that you'll answer and little by
• 25:14
  little Jamie and it was like a stake in the ground, A Line in
• 25:18
  the Sand, kind of evening. I remember rolling over and like
• 25:22
  typing in my cell phone like Jacob.
• 25:23
  I will respectfully wrestle with you.
• 25:25
  God. And you know when you keep
• 25:28
  reading after Jacob was hurt and I to walk with a little limp.
• 25:32
  Now, you know, this side of Heaven I walk with the tension
• 25:35
  of feeling like Eve that was concern me, but having to
• 25:39
  continually surrender, those just like Jacobs Story.
• 25:45
  I realized like what Jacob did at the end of that story, was he
• 25:50
  let go and that was profound for me.
• 25:53
  Am I? Yeah, everything that I've been
• 25:55
  holding back. In my Christian Life with my
• 25:59
  worn Bible, sharing the gospel, my whole life, with passion, and
• 26:03
  vigor, and then coming to this place where I felt like a fraud
• 26:05
  because I wasn't experiencing it for myself anymore.
• 26:09
  I was in a place of such pain and hurt and anxiety and just
• 26:12
  going. I am letting go of all of that
• 26:16
  in the title. And traveled from the book came
• 26:19
  about, because Aaron, I truly called that season of our life,
• 26:23
  the unraveling and it wasn't until like pinning.
• 26:25
  The last part of the book. Look in this.
• 26:27
  Part of the testimony where I thought Lord, the end of
• 26:30
  unraveled is surrender. He wants us fully unraveled.
• 26:36
  He wants us to come. Yeah.
• 26:38
  For and when you really intellectually, think about
• 26:40
  okay. What is Faith?
• 26:42
  What is the faith? Walk?
• 26:43
  What is trusting God with all my heart.
• 26:45
  What? What does it really look like?
• 26:47
  How do you explain to someone that dynamics of being a
• 26:50
  Believer? It's surrender and so often when
• 26:55
  I hear surrender and even in my Own life.
• 26:57
  There's healing on the other side of that surrender.
• 27:00
  There is healing. I always show my kids anybody
• 27:03
  that I'm around that I'm talking to about holding on to
• 27:08
  something. When really God just wants us to
• 27:10
  let go, it's like we white-knuckle it, right?
• 27:13
  But really God wants us to flip our Palm, you know, flip it over
• 27:17
  open or hands up, right? And just release.
• 27:20
  And in that posture, it's surrender and then following
• 27:23
  surrender. There's healing, right?
• 27:26
  Because now now you are inviting God to just come in.
• 27:31
  There's no shut doors in your heart.
• 27:34
  They're all open and you're like God I'm done.
• 27:37
  I'm tired. I don't want to wrestle anymore.
• 27:39
  I don't want to be anxious and I want to be fearful anymore.
• 27:42
  You heal me, you take this pain and you don't know me from it
• 27:47
  and of unraveled for me was the piece of surrender.
• 27:51
  And when we finally surrender to your point, I mean, that's where
• 27:54
  you find, rest. Yeah, and I believe this
• 27:58
  wholeheartedly Jamie accepting what God gives us is the only
• 28:04
  way to reciprocate, a genuinely, really relationship with an
• 28:08
  all-knowing. God, if we can't receive what
• 28:11
  God gives us. We don't really trust him.
• 28:14
  And if we don't really trust him, we've not really made him
• 28:18
  our God, right? And we really don't have faith,
• 28:21
  right? Because it's believing and yeah.
• 28:24
  Yeah, you have any actual understanding of it, but my
• 28:27
  Buying was in my trials are traumas.
• 28:29
  What's were would actually moved me from just intellectual
• 28:33
  understanding to experiencing the Living?
• 28:36
  God. Yeah.
• 28:37
  Having the encounter with God, it just that intimacy.
• 28:41
  And I encounter is transformational and that isn't
• 28:46
  the word. I used over and over.
• 28:47
  You nailed, it is intimacy and it's funny.
• 28:51
  I start the book by saying I was craving that and wanting that.
• 28:54
  I mean, I was a Believer, like I said, with a worn Bible.
• 28:56
  And I had Great relationship with the Lord, but that intimacy
• 29:01
  grew in the depths of my pain. Yeah.
• 29:05
  God, used that to bring him glory.
• 29:08
  So we grow in the valley not by Mountaintop Peaks.
• 29:13
  It's so as much as we hate going through the desert in the valley
• 29:16
  that wouldn't Wilderness whatever you want to call it.
• 29:19
  I mean, that's where we really grow and just be in that place,
• 29:25
  like you're saying, Resting in the surrender so you can heal.
• 29:31
  So what's your advice to women? Who do the constant?
• 29:36
  What-ifs everyday? They have fear when it comes to
• 29:41
  their children. You have a Ministry called able
• 29:45
  mom's where you actually equipped mom's to overcome fear.
• 29:50
  What are some of the key points that if somebody's going through
• 29:54
  something right now that they can start.
• 29:56
  Doing well, answer that in two parts.
• 29:59
  So what is something they can do right now that they can start
• 30:02
  doing and I get asked this a lot and I really went to the to the
• 30:06
  word and I said, Lord, okay. I know my experience and I know
• 30:10
  how you ministered to me, personally.
• 30:12
  I know that you've used pain to bring about this intimacy, but
• 30:16
  Lord, you know, Revelation 12:11 says, they've overcome by the
• 30:19
  blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.
• 30:21
  So that's the gospel message. And then how the gospel
• 30:24
  intersected with my life was my story.
• 30:27
  And while I think that is powerful and effective in
• 30:30
  prayerfully, like you said, when you first prayed, before we
• 30:32
  started the words that I've been able to share, hopefully will
• 30:36
  change lives. I also think that that has to be
• 30:39
  backed up by the word of God in a universal way so that if
• 30:46
  someone couldn't relate to my story, they can always relate to
• 30:48
  the universal truth of God's word.
• 30:50
  Right? Right.
• 30:51
  And so I asked the Lord, you know, what is the universal
• 30:54
  truth that for This question, you know, like how do I grow in
• 30:59
  this intimacy? How do I start to really push
• 31:02
  the what ifs and live in a fear free life and the Lord led me
• 31:07
  directly to Galatians 5. And I'll start at verse 13 where
• 31:11
  it says for you have been called to live in Freedom.
• 31:15
  My brothers and sisters. And it then it starts but don't
• 31:20
  use your freedom to satisfy the sinful nature and he wraps up in
• 31:25
  verse 16. He says, so I say let the holy
• 31:29
  spirit, guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what
• 31:32
  your sinful nature. Craves.
• 31:36
  This is our plight as mom's Jamie.
• 31:38
  This is our, our quote curse, like our sinful nature craves.
• 31:43
  Yeah, to wrestle with the what if but there is a right.
• 31:48
  In a wrong way, like, he's talking to Believers or says,
• 31:51
  for you have been called to live in Freedom.
• 31:52
  I mean, brothers and sisters, he's talking to you.
• 31:55
  And I, and this is this hit home for me because I was raising my
• 32:00
  hand. Like I'm like, this is
• 32:01
  resonating because I'm a Believer, but why am I not
• 32:04
  feeling the Freedom From Fear? Right?
• 32:07
  And then very next thing says, but don't use your freedom and I
• 32:11
  thought, man, there's a right and a wrong way to use it and
• 32:14
  the right way to use it is to activate it.
• 32:17
  By letting the holy spirit guide our lives.
• 32:21
  That is as simple as it can possibly be, right?
• 32:25
  And I think so often in that verse, you think of doing bad
• 32:29
  things. I don't know.
• 32:30
  You think of you know, Rebellion, right?
• 32:32
  Yeah, thinking of, you know, every or fear you're thinking of
• 32:38
  those things you're kind of thinking of like sinful
• 32:42
  rebellious acts, right? So I love this perspective that
• 32:46
  you just brought to us. On that.
• 32:48
  Yes. I thought the same thing.
• 32:50
  I'm like, he's talking to the unbelievers.
• 32:53
  I don't have to women. It's talking about all these
• 32:57
  things that we think of, you know, like debauchery like no,
• 33:01
  he's like no activating our freedom by walking in the Holy
• 33:05
  Spirit and then to answer your second question about able
• 33:08
  mom's. This is a just a side note.
• 33:10
  I was involved in international mom's Ministry that I loved.
• 33:14
  I cut my teeth on leadership. There.
• 33:15
  We had some of the best years. Years.
• 33:18
  I made great friends in this ministry.
• 33:21
  Several years in, I noticed there was a change in some of
• 33:24
  the curriculum that I got and had access to as the leader of
• 33:29
  this International moms group. And so I called the
• 33:31
  International Ministry and I said, hey, I noticed this
• 33:35
  change. I don't really see the gospel
• 33:37
  message. It's not really clear.
• 33:38
  Like can you explain to me? Maybe I'm just a
• 33:41
  misunderstanding and this person let me know that I was one of
• 33:45
  hundreds in mom of moms and pastors that had called.
• 33:48
  With the same inquiry and I kind of hung up the phone thinking.
• 33:53
  Well, you know, it's going to be a little bit more work to weed
• 33:57
  through curriculum and like, pull out the gospel message and,
• 34:01
  you know, make sure that it's clear and articulate to our moms
• 34:06
  and, you know, get rid of the stuff that is extra fluff, but I
• 34:11
  think we can still navigate at the local level and we did for a
• 34:15
  while and then my husband died. I moved and we started to get
• 34:19
  phone calls and emails and messages about how the
• 34:23
  international organization was clearly affecting and impacting
• 34:28
  things at the local level of ministry, which is really
• 34:30
  disheartening. And so, the last message I got
• 34:33
  recently, really broke my heart. It was from a woman who kind of
• 34:37
  expressed that that was church, you know, I mean, her husband
• 34:41
  wasn't real keen on going on Sunday mornings.
• 34:44
  And in wisdom. She didn't make it a big deal.
• 34:47
  But this was church for her and it was becoming increasingly
• 34:51
  frustrating that the truth of God wasn't happening in those
• 34:57
  times of her quote church. And so a group of women and I,
• 35:02
  you know, I think I told you I wanted to share this statistic,
• 35:05
  but you know who George Barna is with the, the Barna?
• 35:09
  Yeah. Research group is like amazing
• 35:12
  researcher and his he recently did a study in made.
• 35:17
  It said that, Moms are the most influential spiritual force in
• 35:22
  their home in the variable. Could be that we are in the home
• 35:26
  possibly more than a working daddy.
• 35:27
  Right? But but we have a huge impact in
• 35:30
  our homes. I believe that.
• 35:32
  And so we mom's got together and developed this International
• 35:38
  Ministry that just launched last week, called able moms on the
• 35:42
  preface that moms need to be practical.
• 35:45
  They need to be capable. Excuse me in their practical.
• 35:47
  There ain't like they sent me home with my baby and his eyes
• 35:51
  went cross-eyed. And nobody told me that that was
• 35:54
  supposed to happen. I think I like, oh my word,
• 36:00
  somebody get the president on the phone.
• 36:02
  We, I don't know why his eyes are doing this.
• 36:06
  Like, we have neurological issues.
• 36:07
  Everybody hit their knees. Like we need to pray, like it
• 36:10
  up. I mean, you know, as well as I
• 36:12
  do. That just happens that you have
• 36:15
  to be able to navigate motherhood.
• 36:17
  Practically. So that's the first and then
• 36:20
  you'll notice all the all the words and with able because
• 36:23
  we're able moms, but unshakable in her faith like pouring into
• 36:27
  her spiritually. We are a trustworthy resource.
• 36:30
  You're going to hear the gospel were biblical and accurate and
• 36:34
  we're trendy and fun, but we stick to the Bible and then if
• 36:39
  you make a mom's Faith unshakable, then you make her
• 36:42
  memorable because she can mentor her children in memorable
• 36:46
  relational. So, we even provide all these
• 36:49
  activities that are discipleship oriented where she can invest in
• 36:54
  her children relationally, using what she's learned in her and
• 36:58
  shakeable faith. And so moms are capable
• 37:00
  unshakable and memorable. And that they meet just like
• 37:04
  this International Ministry does every two weeks at a host
• 37:07
  Church. They can also do to covid meet
• 37:10
  right now and homes, but that is able mom's dot-org for more
• 37:16
  information and Oddly enough. Any anti-trafficking expert will
• 37:21
  tell you if you want to make your kids, less vulnerable to
• 37:24
  trafficking, they need to come from strong, relational homes.
• 37:29
  And so this was just handed glove.
• 37:32
  I mean this was like the Lord impassioned me with it, and it
• 37:36
  was amazing. So we're actually this is our
• 37:39
  inaugural year. This year's theme is fearless.
• 37:42
  She's amazing. It's pretty much you know in
• 37:46
  developing the curriculum. It's a lot of We're it's founded
• 37:49
  on a lot of what we're talking about, but it is different and
• 37:52
  meaty and it's a turnkey Ministry for any leader.
• 37:56
  Who's like I just need the I Need A to Z in my lap so I can
• 38:00
  go in every two weeks and have this amazing meeting with these
• 38:03
  moms with resources and materials that you've provided
• 38:07
  me. We're not starting from scratch.
• 38:08
  So it has blown the doors off when we met as a leadership
• 38:12
  team. I mean, I'm shocked at how
• 38:14
  things came together you and I were talking about this God.
• 38:17
  No, our shocks us but he shocks us.
• 38:19
  Yeah. I know, we still get surprised.
• 38:23
  Oh, so good. So anybody can go on the website
• 38:27
  and just find the nearest one in their state and their City.
• 38:32
  Well, being that we're in our inaugural year.
• 38:33
  Right now. We're signing up hosts.
• 38:35
  By the time this recording hits Airwaves.
• 38:37
  There will be groups already being hosted, in cities and
• 38:41
  states. So yes, we're looking for hosts,
• 38:43
  churches and members can sign up as well.
• 38:47
  So awesome. Doing so much for the kingdom
• 38:49
  Amanda. I just oh he is so good.
• 38:53
  And the way he works in and through us and gives us these
• 39:00
  passions that, you know, just come our way unexpectedly,
• 39:04
  right, but it's all to help others and to point others to
• 39:10
  Jesus and point them to more of an intimacy with him, counter
• 39:16
  with him and And I thank you for coming on here and sharing this.
• 39:21
  Incredible Story how God got you through and how us moms can face
• 39:27
  fears. And the scriptures that you
• 39:30
  shared were so median, so meaningful.
• 39:33
  So impactful. So thank you so much.
• 39:36
  Thank you. Thank you.
• 39:38
  I feel the same about you. I think you are doing things
• 39:40
  through the kingdom with this podcast.
• 39:43
  So, do you want me to share again this site?
• 39:47
  Where these mods can guess. He's with, you can go.
• 39:50
  Okay? For anything.
• 39:52
  They can go to Amanda flow fl0.com and they can access
• 39:59
  everything that I'm talking about.
• 40:00
  If they want to access able mom's directly, that's able
• 40:03
  mom's dot org. And then what you briefly
• 40:06
  referenced the first-ever anti-trafficking training course
• 40:10
  for parents and kids is www.viki willn't families dot-org.
• 40:17
  And you must put in the www since it's a training course,
• 40:21
  just FYI, but if you just go to Amanda flow.com, you can buy the
• 40:26
  book, you can access Vigilant families, online training, you
• 40:29
  can access able mom's any of that can be found there.
• 40:31
  Good. And the online training is to
• 40:34
  make families aware of really the evilness of human
• 40:39
  trafficking. Child trafficking, correct?
• 40:43
  Yeah, Vigilant families. Was a collaborative project with
• 40:46
  FBI CIA. A the reason Institute, experts
• 40:51
  authors. It's a first-ever.
• 40:55
  I could not believe this. Working done.
• 40:57
  We have training. I know heard for first respond.
• 41:00
  I saw it on your Instagram posts.
• 41:02
  You're like, first-ever. I'm going.
• 41:04
  Oh, wow, I can believe it. They're now, there is a company
• 41:07
  that I guess is starting to move this direction, but they don't,
• 41:12
  it's not up and running and I don't it just says coming soon.
• 41:15
  I don't know where they're at. But but It didn't exist.
• 41:18
  And when this happened and I put up this little post that I'm
• 41:23
  sharing with families. Hey, here's my brief story here.
• 41:27
  The statistics. I found I think today.
• 41:30
  It's estimated, like over it's been shared over 180,000 times
• 41:34
  on one social site alone, but it's in magazines and online and
• 41:39
  videos, and it's been Rewritten articles.
• 41:42
  And so it's estimated, 60 million people worldwide over
• 41:45
  the story. And that told me.
• 41:47
  Parents want access but because trafficking is a business, it it
• 41:53
  evolves very quickly. And so the information is ever
• 41:57
  changing and you have to be really, you have to be a good
• 41:59
  researcher know which talking about be really a breast.
• 42:02
  And if you're not a Believer, you kind of come at it from a
• 42:04
  different angle to. And so, this is the first ever
• 42:10
  online training, course, for kids and parents.
• 42:12
  It's, I'm a former educator, as well as my career had.
• 42:17
  Why was he Emily involved in corporate training and so I used
• 42:20
  my background to, to make it really engaging and in teachable
• 42:26
  two kids. And so every course, has
• 42:29
  different lessons that are only five to seven minutes.
• 42:32
  And these experts are the ones that are sharing like CIA and
• 42:36
  FBI. And I'm sure you're familiar
• 42:37
  with operation Underground Railroad.
• 42:39
  And you know, I mean the reason Institute and I mean these she's
• 42:43
  like the Forerunner, I mean, these are huge, huge names.
• 42:47
  We have someone who's like the go to foster mom Authority.
• 42:53
  She shares and we cover every topic.
• 42:57
  We asked parents. What do you want to know?
• 42:59
  And we just filled in all the blanks?
• 43:01
  And so that's a good way to start.
• 43:03
  Yeah. It's yeah, exactly.
• 43:05
  So, anyway, they can have access to it in their home age
• 43:08
  appropriate courses. They can summer for parents.
• 43:11
  Some are for kids, some are for teens and everything from
• 43:14
  self-defense to Online. Safety to what's happening in
• 43:16
  schools today. It's really really helpful to
• 43:19
  parents and kids so needed. Yes, especially in the days were
• 43:23
  in. Well, thank you, Amanda so much.
• 43:27
  I loved having you on here. Thank you.
• 43:32
  Thank you so much for listening today.
• 43:35
  I trust that God has encouraged you through this message for
• 43:39
  more information on this ministry and to access free
• 43:43
  downloads, please visit my website at Jamie Elizabeth.com
• 43:49
  and sign up. You can also find me on
• 43:52
  Instagram and Facebook at Jamie Elizabeth.
• 43:56
  She speaks life. That's ja.
• 44:01
  Why mea Elizabeth, she speaks life.
• 44:06
  Until next time, my friends. I pray God reveals himself
• 44:10
  through your own life story.