Latest / Mental Health Matters for Christians / Ep1 From Trauma to Freedom: Rescuing Trafficked Women with Becky Dymond
Transcript
- 0:00My dad died when I was 5. My mom goes into depression and
- 0:05I remember walking up to my mom going, hey, mom, when's dad
- 0:10coming home because my bike needed to be fixed.
- 0:14And she began to sob and ran out the back door and I went, don't
- 0:17go back to her. She doesn't have what you need.
- 0:20Dad split right when I needed him because my bike need to be
- 0:23fixed. I distinctly remember talking to
- 0:26myself saying, all right, you're on your own.
- 0:28Five years old. Five years old.
- 0:30You're like, I'm on my own. Be smart, be quick, be sharp,
- 0:33you'll be all right. And I pretty much never gave my
- 0:36mom another chance. Hey everyone, I'm Christine
- 0:45Sneeringer and I'm your host of the Mental Health Matters for
- 0:48Christians podcast. Of course mental health matters
- 0:51to lots of people, Christian or not, but for me as a believer.
- 0:55I. Take a faith-based approach to
- 0:58my mental health. So that's what I'm going to be
- 1:00talking about on this show. Through interviews with people
- 1:03who have walked through hardship, loss, and trauma, my
- 1:07goal is to inspire people to fill them with hope and give
- 1:10them practical insights so they can get unstuck and experience
- 1:14more of the freedom that Jesus promises his followers.
- 1:18I can't think of a better illustration for this very first
- 1:21guest. Then when you're on an airplane
- 1:24and you're getting ready to take off and they make the
- 1:26announcement to put on your own oxygen mask first before
- 1:31attempting to help someone else. Becky has walked through her own
- 1:36pain, loss, hardship, and she's going to unpack that for us as
- 1:41she talks about how she ministers to vulnerable women.
- 1:45Let's get into it. I'm thrilled to have an
- 1:48opportunity to sit down with an amazing woman of God who is a
- 1:52mother of three, a licensed mental health counselor and a
- 1:56warrior in the Kingdom who is pulling people out of the pit of
- 2:00darkness. And we're going to hear all
- 2:01about it. This is Becky Diamond.
- 2:03Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me.
- 2:05What an honor, what a pleasure. Oh, that's so kind.
- 2:07I think you have the best last name.
- 2:09First of all, I love your last name.
- 2:12It has served me well, right? Yeah, if I ever get married I'm
- 2:16hoping for an upgrade in my last name was yours.
- 2:20I'm guessing whatever it was before Diamond was an upgrade.
- 2:24Diamond was probably an upgrade. Yeah, I'll give you that.
- 2:26OK. Yeah, it's a great name.
- 2:28Anyway, I'm so excited to get to speak with you and unpack your
- 2:32story. So yeah, tell us.
- 2:34Tell us what you do, Becky. I run a nonprofit working with
- 2:38women coming out of sex trafficking and prostitution.
- 2:41It's called Lighthouse PVC for Palm Beach County.
- 2:44And a couple things we do. For one, we have what we call a
- 2:49pop up at the laundromat. And the whole idea is I, I
- 2:56actually, I was talking to a mentor and he told me about this
- 2:59group out in California that built a laundromat with a wall
- 3:03of lockers. Because the big deal for people
- 3:05living on the street is they leave their stuff, you know, to
- 3:09go get food or or whatever, and they come back and it's all
- 3:11gone. Oh, people steal their yeah,
- 3:13their laundry. Everything they own, whatever
- 3:16they own that they don't have with them, it's they they have
- 3:18to carry everything with them all the time.
- 3:20Yeah. And I'm going, well, I don't
- 3:22have the money to build a laundry rent, but I do have
- 3:24quarters. I can afford quarters.
- 3:26And so we have three different ones that we're doing and we're
- 3:28looking to open up other ones. So three locations, 3 locations
- 3:31for your pop up for the pop ups. We have one in Lake Worth Beach,
- 3:35one in West Palm Beach, one in Riviera Beach, and we're there
- 3:39one day a week at each one, and we take chairs and food and
- 3:46refreshments. We take toiletries, take Narcan.
- 3:49Take take them to give to the girls or the ladies.
- 3:52Right, right. OK, so first of all, I mean, so
- 3:55many questions, such an interesting line of work.
- 4:00First of all, I mean, wow. Yeah, wasn't my idea.
- 4:04OK, that had to be a God idea, right?
- 4:06That was a God idea for sure. OK I want to get more into that
- 4:10but do you have to get permission from the laundromat
- 4:12to to do a pop up? Yeah, and we've had laundry mats
- 4:15turn us down. Wow.
- 4:16You go and say I want to do the laundry of women who are.
- 4:21Yeah. How do you say it?
- 4:22Well, I go in, we have signs like posters that we put up in
- 4:25the area, and we say, if you're a woman living a life you never
- 4:28wanted to live in a place you never wanted to be, we'll do
- 4:30your laundry for you for free, for free.
- 4:32Does it say that we'll do your laundry for you for free or
- 4:36just? I don't think it says for free.
- 4:38It's just that we'll we'll do your laundry for you.
- 4:40So I think that implies that it's free.
- 4:41OK, so they just come and drop off their laundry.
- 4:43No, no, no, no. They come and we take chairs, we
- 4:46take refreshments, food, snacks, we take toiletries.
- 4:51I take Narcan. We have a pregnancy Narcan.
- 4:56Narcan is the the feel like Mace.
- 5:00No, no, no, no. Narcan you use for an overdose
- 5:03of fentanyl and it'll save your life?
- 5:06Wow. Yeah.
- 5:07And and I take clothing, like used clothing.
- 5:09We went and bought all of the hoodies that Goodwill had a
- 5:11couple of weeks ago when we had a cold spell.
- 5:14Then the whole idea is they come, they put their laundry in
- 5:17the wash, we provide the soap and the quarters and then we
- 5:22have time to talk. They're a little bit of a
- 5:24captive audience whether Yeah. And we just build relationship
- 5:28and the whole objective is that when they want to get out, when
- 5:33they're ready to go, wow, this life isn't working for me.
- 5:36I can get them out that day. And get them out of the life
- 5:39they're in. Yeah, I've, I've told gals get
- 5:41my car now, we'll go right now, let's go and and we'll leave and
- 5:46I'll take them. Typically for women that are
- 5:48being trafficked on the street, they have addiction issues.
- 5:51So we're taking them to detox and getting them into a rehab,
- 5:55but then we'll track with them all the way through and we'll
- 5:57we'll provide funds for toiletries for them while
- 6:00they're in a rehab. Like, you know, money for
- 6:02shampoo and that kind of stuff or cigarettes if that's what
- 6:05they need to help them maintain their sobriety.
- 6:08I'm all. In yeah, like you're not
- 6:09advocating for cigarettes, but you're like, OK, let's just get
- 6:12you through this rough patch. Yeah, OK.
- 6:14I like that. Yeah, and then and then we'll
- 6:16track with them after, help them get into a sober house and we
- 6:20provide I'm a licensed mental health counselor.
- 6:22So we do trauma therapy and, and I kind of, I would say I have
- 6:28secular tools at work. I have spiritual tools that a
- 6:30lot of times you could skip steps.
- 6:32And so we try to. Say that again, though, sorry.
- 6:36You have secular tools that work, meaning that are going to
- 6:38help you get out of the place. You're talking about mental
- 6:41health, you know, opportunities to help somebody with their
- 6:44mental health challenges. Right.
- 6:46And the huge majority have experienced pretty profound
- 6:52trauma all the way through their lives.
- 6:53In fact, I think that was one of the things that surprised me
- 6:55when I first started working with them is for most of them,
- 6:59this trafficking is just the latest in a whole lifelong worth
- 7:03of trauma. And for many of them, it wasn't
- 7:06the worst. What?
- 7:08I know. This season of being trafficked
- 7:11is not the worst season that they're in or the worst pain
- 7:15that they've gone through, right?
- 7:17That just the back of my head just blew off.
- 7:20I don't know if you saw that. I mean, I can't even tell you
- 7:23how many women I've worked with that their parents were their
- 7:26first traffickers. Oh yeah, that would be worse.
- 7:30And to be to be betrayed by your parents in this way.
- 7:33Yeah. And so, yeah, we'll, we'll track
- 7:35with them. In fact, I just got a really
- 7:37wonderful e-mail from a gal a couple of months ago that I
- 7:42haven't seen her in probably eight years.
- 7:44Oh, it would be longer than that, probably 9 or 10 years
- 7:47going. You had such an impact in my
- 7:50life. I am still benefiting from the
- 7:52time that I was, you know, when I was working with her
- 7:55therapeutically. How cool is that?
- 7:57That's payday. No, that.
- 7:57Yeah, that's really nice. That's beautiful.
- 8:02So you have three locations, you will hope to get more and you'll
- 8:05just go one day a week and sit at the pop up.
- 8:08Yeah, on Monday we're in one, Tuesday we're at another one.
- 8:11And we're there from 3:30 to 5:00.
- 8:13So we're done before it gets dark because all of these
- 8:16places, like the first place we started was in West Palm and
- 8:19it's on the corner of a, of a, a fire station.
- 8:23It's this little green space across the street from
- 8:25laundromat. And I think the second or third
- 8:27time we were there, police chief came out from the, from the, the
- 8:32fire station said, what are y'all doing here?
- 8:34And we're, you know, explaining he goes, you know, someone got
- 8:37shot here and died Monday, you know, Monday night, you know,
- 8:39we're like, no, didn't know that.
- 8:42He just wanted you to know that he's like, by the way, this is
- 8:45not a safe neighborhood. Yeah, so, Oh my goodness, you
- 8:48know, all the places we are are not.
- 8:50He's just trying to say like, you're here at your own risk,
- 8:52yeah. And so we we make sure we're
- 8:56gone by dark, you know, that's just smart.
- 8:59And the whole objective is to build relationship to make
- 9:03connections. All right, so you're not there
- 9:05all day, but so the girls know, OK, I can go there at 3:30 and
- 9:08I'm going to meet that nice lady.
- 9:09I'm going to get some snacks, some toiletries, maybe a hoodie.
- 9:13And I'm going to get my laundry done.
- 9:14And I'm not going to pay for that.
- 9:16And I might have to sit through what?
- 9:18Do I have to sit through a Bible study or just what?
- 9:20Some conversation. It's mostly just conversation.
- 9:22Right. So it's not like they're not
- 9:24subject to like. No.
- 9:26You know, they're just no. So if they just want to sit
- 9:28there and read a book, they can do.
- 9:29That and if they don't want to sit there, that's fine too.
- 9:32But I tell them if you're not here by the time I leave, I am
- 9:35not taking your clothes out of the wash in the dryer.
- 9:38That's on you. And.
- 9:39If you lose track of time when you go and your clothes are
- 9:41still in the wash, I can't help that.
- 9:44Like if like meaning what? Like you're going to have to pay
- 9:47for the dryer. Well, I'm not going to be here
- 9:49to pay for it for you, so how are you figuring that?
- 9:51Out right. But also if somebody steals
- 9:54them, basically because you said that that happens.
- 9:57That doesn't happen as much as the laundromat.
- 9:58Who wants to steal wet clothes? Yeah.
- 10:00Well, I guess I think we're talking about how they have,
- 10:04they don't have much stuff and they're taking everything with
- 10:06them. So if they leave their stuff to
- 10:08go to the store, people can steal their belongings.
- 10:10Yeah, and it happens like, you know, I always get the small
- 10:15tubes of toothpaste because they probably will lose it between
- 10:18this week and next week. They they come back and they go,
- 10:21I lost it. Can I have another one?
- 10:22Yeah. Here you go.
- 10:23You know, kind of a thing. It's just that it's a tough life
- 10:26and they fall asleep or they pass out.
- 10:30And you know, I've had, I've had girls, people stole their shoes
- 10:34while they were on their feet. Stole them off their feet?
- 10:38Yeah. I don't even know how that's
- 10:39possible. Well, if you're addicted and
- 10:42you're passed. Out.
- 10:44You're just out of your mind. Oh, OK, So if you're not, if
- 10:46you're asleep or something, yeah.
- 10:48So maybe it's just going to take your shoes off your feet.
- 10:50Phone out of your hand, whatever.
- 10:51No man, it's a hard world. Isn't it?
- 10:55It is tough out there and the average survival, the average
- 10:59survival rate is 7 years. Of what?
- 11:02Like you're not. The average the average life
- 11:05expectancy for someone who's being trafficked is 7 years.
- 11:09Meaning once you're, you start being trafficked, you're going
- 11:13to, most likely you're, you're not even going to be living
- 11:16after seven years. Right.
- 11:19Think about it, because this lifestyle is going to kill you.
- 11:21Yeah, yeah. And, and the traffickers
- 11:25typically set a quota. So don't, don't come home until
- 11:29you have, you know, $800 or whatever.
- 11:33And, and so you keep working until you have that quota.
- 11:35And if you come home with $10 less, you get the snot beat out
- 11:40of you. What?
- 11:42And, and half the time the traffickers will say, oh, I'm
- 11:44not trafficking her. I just protect her.
- 11:46But if they don't pay the trafficker the money, he's the
- 11:50one they need protection from because they'll beat him up.
- 11:54But see, I always pictured and I had the wrong perception about
- 11:57trafficked women. So I imagine that there's this
- 12:00guy who's pretty big and, you know, like a bodyguard kind of
- 12:04thing who's following them around everywhere and not
- 12:06letting them out of their sight. But it sounds like these women
- 12:09are free to go to the laundromat and maybe go other places too,
- 12:12without this shadow bodyguard following them everywhere.
- 12:15What's? What's I've had bodyguards, I've
- 12:16had, I've had, they're not bodyguards.
- 12:18I've had traffickers come and check the pop out up.
- 12:22What did I say it? Check out the pop up.
- 12:25There it is. Check out the pop up.
- 12:26They they've come to check us out because they want to see if
- 12:29it's safe to let their gals come.
- 12:31And there's gals that'll come and say I can't stay, I can't
- 12:33stay. If he sees me here, he'll beat
- 12:34me. Because they know that because
- 12:37the trafficker would be feel threatened that maybe you might
- 12:40be helping this woman, right? Maybe is it help her with her
- 12:45own sense of worth and value that she doesn't have to live
- 12:48like this and that eventually she might move on from this
- 12:51life? Yeah, I think, I think they're
- 12:53afraid that I might, you know, talk her into leaving, Talk her
- 12:57into leaving the life. You can't talk anybody into
- 13:00anything, right? They'll talk themselves out of
- 13:02it at their leisure when you walk away.
- 13:03But the draw is it's hard to It's hard to get a trick if you
- 13:13stink and your clothes are dirty.
- 13:14Oh, so you need to look nice to get?
- 13:17Yes, the nicer they look, the easier it is to.
- 13:19Get the opportunity to make money from your body so.
- 13:22So even though the traffickers are maybe not thrilled with us
- 13:26being there, it's still free laundry.
- 13:28And of course, they'll bring his laundry too, so it's not just
- 13:31their. Stuff.
- 13:31Oh my goodness, you're doing traffickers laundry.
- 13:33Wow. You know, you know, but it's
- 13:35it's blessing your enemies, right The.
- 13:37Scripture says to use your unrighteous mam and thank you
- 13:40King James. I don't know what it is in the
- 13:42newer versions, but. Your money.
- 13:44Is use what you have to influence people.
- 13:46So that's that's what we do. Wow.
- 13:49All right, so, and, and you give these women opportunity.
- 13:55If they want out of this life, then you you offer that.
- 13:58Yeah, and I've had, you know, there was a woman, she's out of
- 14:03the life. We've actually gotten about 16,
- 14:05maybe 18 women out of the life. Off the streets.
- 14:08Since we started about 2 1/2 years ago.
- 14:11And, and so when you, they're out of the life, they're on
- 14:13their own, they're like they, they, they're in regular jobs.
- 14:16They're sober, they're living in freedom.
- 14:18They're. Moving with their lives?
- 14:21Come on, that must feel amazing. That's Payday.
- 14:24Yes, that's the I can't imagine. And we build relationships with
- 14:29them because because there's other organizations that work
- 14:34with that work with trafficking victims.
- 14:38I don't like to use, excuse me, I don't like to use the term
- 14:43victim because that implies helpless, hopeless, powerless.
- 14:48So I like to use the word survivor, right.
- 14:52But but if you don't build a relationship with them, the
- 14:55relationship is what keeps people and I, I'm looking at my
- 14:59own life. I came to Faith when I was 20
- 15:02from a pretty insane, wild background.
- 15:07And there was a woman that took me in, let me live with her and
- 15:12her two little boys. Her husband had split.
- 15:15And she was just looking to to, you know, make the time go.
- 15:18She was hoping, praying for reconciliation.
- 15:21And she loved me. And I knew if I walked, she'd
- 15:25come looking for me. Drag me back by the hair.
- 15:27Everybody needs somebody that'll go, hey, where are you?
- 15:31I care about you. Can I?
- 15:33Let's go out for coffee. Let's go for a walk on the
- 15:35beach. You know, it's not like it takes
- 15:37killer money, but everybody needs someone who goes.
- 15:40Where are you? I've missed you that.
- 15:44I don't think I would have served God that first year after
- 15:47I got saved. I didn't know God loved me yet
- 15:49beyond, you know, quoting John 316.
- 15:53I just knew that my back history was like snake bit like
- 15:58horrible. I mean, are you talking about
- 15:59like your family of origin? What you talking about?
- 16:01No, I had been, I had, I had been living a gay lifestyle and
- 16:06the drugs and alcohol and pretty much insanity and it was just.
- 16:11As a teenager, starting. As a teenager, but into I got.
- 16:15I came to the faith when I was 20.
- 16:17So wait, can I back up and ask what do you think LED you to, I
- 16:20mean, have you looked at what are the, what do you think for
- 16:22you, your root causes of that life?
- 16:25Oh, yeah, My, my dad died when I was five.
- 16:30I didn't know that he died. I'm sure they told me.
- 16:32It just went over my head. My mom goes into depression and
- 16:36I remember walking up to my mom going, hey, mom, when's dad
- 16:41coming home because my bike needed to be fixed and she began
- 16:46to sob and ran out the back door and I went, don't go back to
- 16:49her. She doesn't have what you need.
- 16:53Dad split right when I needed him because my bike need to be
- 16:57fixed and I went down into the barn.
- 16:59We lived on a little bit of a farm and I'm, I distinctly
- 17:03remember talking to myself saying, all right, you're on
- 17:07your own. Five years old, five years old.
- 17:09You're like, I'm on my own. Be smart, be quick, be sharp,
- 17:13you'll be all right. And I pretty much never gave my
- 17:16mom another chance. By the way, that's a great pep
- 17:18talk. I mean, seriously, be Be smart,
- 17:20be quick. What was your name?
- 17:21Be sharp. Be sharp, you know?
- 17:22Be yeah, you know, you know. Like in tune and yeah, yeah.
- 17:28But but I also divided them. Five years old, I divided them.
- 17:31There was a little girl part that I left in the barn.
- 17:34You mean the little vulnerable 5 year old?
- 17:37Yeah, I looked at her and went, You're needy.
- 17:40I don't know what to do with you.
- 17:41You stay here, I'll come back. And I didn't come back till I
- 17:44was in my late 40s. OK, wait a second.
- 17:46Now you're talking about the little you.
- 17:48I'm talking about dissociative identity disorder, but it would
- 17:50not have met the minimum bar to be diagnosed.
- 17:55It wasn't causing problems professionally, relationally,
- 17:59socially, it wasn't. It wasn't creating problems.
- 18:02But there was a little girl part that I left in the barn.
- 18:06OK, I just started learning about that little girl girl part
- 18:11not in probably in the last decade.
- 18:15We're we're close to the same age.
- 18:16And when I was living in the UK and found myself in therapy and
- 18:22my therapist would say, listen to the needs of the little you,
- 18:26I was like, who is she? And do we need to kill her?
- 18:30Like, I was like, she doesn't sound very helpful.
- 18:32You, you said she was needy and vulnerable, right?
- 18:35The little you, I felt that way about her.
- 18:37Like she doesn't sound like you're like, I got I'm on my own
- 18:40here. I got to get this life together.
- 18:42And you're, you're going to hold me back.
- 18:45Your your neediness is going to hold me back, right?
- 18:47And it's up to me now, right? And so you left that little girl
- 18:51in the barn. And yeah, I had to meet that
- 18:54little girl for the first time, you know, in my, I think I was
- 18:57almost 50 when I met that little girl.
- 18:58I. Really didn't know I I, I didn't
- 19:03have language for it, right? And it wasn't.
- 19:07It actually wasn't until I read Janelle Holman's book.
- 19:10Oh, the heart of female same sex attraction.
- 19:13Yes, which that is a brilliant book.
- 19:17That book, it was like this girl's reading my mail.
- 19:20Oh, that could. I mean, that book is explains it
- 19:23better than anybody I've ever seen.
- 19:24Yeah, and it was, it was when I was reading that book and I
- 19:27went, that little girl, she's still in the barn.
- 19:32Oh, wow, that book made you realize that.
- 19:35Yeah. No kidding.
- 19:37Yeah. But that's how I landed into
- 19:40homosexuality, because I never let my mom have another chance,
- 19:43never connected with my mom. I straight armed her, OK?
- 19:46Hold on a second. You're five years old.
- 19:48You leave your little girl in the barn.
- 19:49Your life is all up to you now, and just because of that, you're
- 19:53gay. Because I'm struggling there's
- 19:54I'm missing something. So I never connected with my
- 19:57mom. Oh, OK, so that same sex parent.
- 20:00Right. I never connected with her.
- 20:02I, I took she was depressed. She I I was, you know, I was the
- 20:07the caboose of the family, my. Meaning the youngest.
- 20:10And my mom and dad had been married 25 years when he passed.
- 20:16Oh, wow, right. So you were they were older when
- 20:20they had you? Right, right.
- 20:22And so I never gave Mom another chance.
- 20:24I took. I interpreted her depression as
- 20:27rejection. Sure.
- 20:28I'm not going to go stand in line for another dose.
- 20:30Thank you. I think.
- 20:32I think Henry Cloud says children are the best recorders
- 20:36of information, but the worst interpreters.
- 20:38Yeah, isn't that the truth? Right, because something happens
- 20:41and we think children think it's their fault.
- 20:43Right. And there's a There's a
- 20:44difference between fact and truth, right?
- 20:48The fact is my dad died. The fact is my mom went into
- 20:52depression. But the truth is my dad had a
- 20:55heart attack. And the truth is my mom was just
- 20:59trying to figure out how to continue going forward after my
- 21:03dad passed. In fact, you know, we were
- 21:07talking earlier and and there was a professor at at Palm Beach
- 21:11Atlantic, Dr. Burkler, who did a healing of memories.
- 21:14And in this healing memory, you're supposed to bring a
- 21:17painful memory and a calm, safe place.
- 21:20And my memory was of waking up at night terrified of the dark.
- 21:28Apparently I was legendarily difficult to put to bed because
- 21:31there were alligators that lived under my bed and bears that
- 21:34lived in a closet at the foot of my bed.
- 21:35You. Had a great imagination.
- 21:38Well I wake up in the middle of the night.
- 21:40I am terrified. I I must have seen this on the
- 21:43cartoons. I dumped my pillow out of my
- 21:46pillowcase. I get into my pillowcase scoop,
- 21:49scoop, scoop, scoop scoop into my mom and dad's room.
- 21:51My dad was still alive and my mom says go back to bed, don't
- 21:56wake your dad up because he started having heart attacks
- 21:58when I was 3 and he had like 5 and and I'm terrified 'cause I'm
- 22:04going. I had an advantage when I could
- 22:06run and jump off the bed. I'll never get back alive and so
- 22:10I. Never get back to your room
- 22:11alive, Yeah. Wow.
- 22:14And so I go into the living room where my calm, safe place was.
- 22:18We had this massive rocker that was so big that I could and I
- 22:22was tiny. I could lay down and rock myself
- 22:25with one foot. Right.
- 22:26OK, yeah. And and the the intervention
- 22:30says, well, look around because Scripture says that God will
- 22:33never, never, never leave the. Intervention that you were
- 22:37talking about, you were describing when you're getting
- 22:39your masters and counseling the intervention of.
- 22:41It was called a healing of memories, right?
- 22:43OK. And Doctor Berkler is mediating.
- 22:45And he goes, God will never leave you, forsake you.
- 22:47He's there. And I look around and I don't, I
- 22:51didn't know at the time, but Holy Spirit often mediates the
- 22:54mother heart of God. Holy Spirit comes, picks me up
- 22:57in that rocking chair, begins to stroke my hair and I'm already
- 23:01falling apart. I'm like, I, I thought that this
- 23:04was AII thought this was a stupid thing to bring.
- 23:09Like I was not going to bring a big ticket item.
- 23:12Oh, you mean when he says think of something?
- 23:14Yeah. Were you going to like, just
- 23:15play small? Yeah, I was going to play small.
- 23:18And God just blows it up because Holy Spirit comes and says, I'm
- 23:22so sorry your mom wasn't there for you after your dad died.
- 23:26And I'm going blink, blink because mom never worked outside
- 23:29the house after dad passed. And then Holy Spirit says, I'm
- 23:33so sorry you took her depression as rejection.
- 23:38Nobody had ever said that to me before.
- 23:40Nobody ever mentioned it to me more.
- 23:41And then Holy Spirit says, I'm so sorry.
- 23:44She was just trying not to suicide.
- 23:48Oh. And it shifted something in my
- 23:53connection because up until that time, you know, the
- 23:56homosexuality for me was emotional dependency.
- 24:00And up until that time, I knew I, I, I did not have the
- 24:04language for it then, but I knew that I connected with people in
- 24:08kind of a weird way. And it wasn't healthy.
- 24:10And I always likened it to walking a big dog.
- 24:13You know how you see somebody walking a Great Dane?
- 24:15Well, really, the dog is walking the person.
- 24:17Let's let's get real. Right.
- 24:18The person's leaning back, going, oh, please don't drag me,
- 24:21you know? Because what would that look
- 24:23like? And that probably wouldn't feel
- 24:24good, right? Right.
- 24:25Yeah. And so, and so the next morning
- 24:28I get up and then we had this long hallway and I would get up
- 24:31early in the dark, walk down the hallway so I don't wake people
- 24:33up. And I'm bumping into the wall.
- 24:36And my mom passed eventually because she began having many
- 24:41strokes and the first things that affected was her
- 24:44equilibrium. And I, I'm walking down the
- 24:46hall, bumping into the wall going, oh, wow, what is this
- 24:50God? And the Lord says the big dog is
- 24:53gone. The Lord healed that emotional
- 24:58dependency and I have not struggled with same sex
- 25:02attraction since. I struggled with it for 30 years
- 25:07after I got saved. OK, I was going to say, but also
- 25:09I don't think you acted out for 30 years because in somewhere in
- 25:12there you got married and had three kids.
- 25:13Right. I didn't act on it, but I
- 25:15struggled with it like you had. Feelings.
- 25:17Yeah, and I'm going. God, how long do I have to reap
- 25:20what I sow? I only lived the life five
- 25:22years. I'm 30 years in.
- 25:23And you're still struggling. So you were actively homosexual
- 25:26for five years, became a Christian, and then it was still
- 25:3030 more years of residue, as our friend Cy Rogers would say.
- 25:34Yeah, but but there's a guy named Jack Frost.
- 25:38Oh I love. Him come on, who did a series
- 25:41called Experiencing the Father's Embrace and and he said
- 25:50developmental unmet developmental needs block growth
- 25:55and maturity. 0100. Percent.
- 25:58Those developmental needs are met, then growth and maturity.
- 26:04Happen. Happens.
- 26:05Yeah. And that Holy Spirit meeting me
- 26:10met that developmental need that had never been met of connecting
- 26:14with the mother heart of God and emotional dependency was gone.
- 26:20Like that same sex attraction issues gone.
- 26:23Because you're same sex attractions were rooted in
- 26:26emotional dependency, right? OK.
- 26:28Right. But bringing it to the present,
- 26:32I am really good at what I do, working with people with
- 26:36profound trauma, family of origin trauma, because I have
- 26:40earned authority and abandonment, essentially mom and
- 26:43dad lost in the same day. I have earned authority with
- 26:47addictions, drugs and alcohol. I have earned authority with
- 26:50sexual sin, with shame. I have earned authority with
- 26:53domestic violence that happened later in life.
- 26:56I have earned authority in all of these areas that they are
- 27:01struggling with that have hamstrung them.
- 27:05God is God has worked in my life so that it's not just words.
- 27:14I've been there. I I get it, I really do and they
- 27:18know it. Remember where where it says in
- 27:19Scripture that Jesus spoke as one with authority, unlike the
- 27:24scribes and the Pharisees, right?
- 27:26And so when I'm talking to them about.
- 27:28To the girls at the pop up. To the girls at the pop up or
- 27:31the girls that I'm working with therapeutically as a, as a
- 27:33therapist, they, they know, they hear.
- 27:38I heard a guy say it's not tears in your eyes.
- 27:43You can fake those. It's tears in your voice.
- 27:47They they hear your empathy, Yeah.
- 27:50They hear that earned authority. I was also thinking of several
- 27:55scripture came to mind when you were talking about the earned
- 27:57authority and like the pain that you've walked through.
- 28:00For example, Joseph in Genesis, where it says, you know, his
- 28:04brothers, they were afraid he was going to kill their
- 28:10brothers, right, Right. They were afraid of of
- 28:13retaliation. And Jacob died, right?
- 28:15Yeah, yeah. Once his dad died.
- 28:17And Joseph said what you meant, you meant for evil.
- 28:22Well, even you or Satan of both, right.
- 28:25The brothers meant for evil. God turned around for good.
- 28:28God meant for good to the saving of many.
- 28:30Lives, Yeah. And I look at my life and I'm
- 28:32going well, you know, wow. Like God must have known exactly
- 28:36what he created me to do because my entire life story leads up to
- 28:42the earned authority that I have to do exactly what I'm doing
- 28:44now. Well, and the other scripture I
- 28:46thought of was Ephesians 210. You know, it's a classic.
- 28:50You know that you're his workmanship and another
- 28:52translation says masterpiece that you were for we are his
- 28:57workmanship create in Christ Jesus to do good works which he
- 29:01prepared beforehand that you should walk in them.
- 29:03So he had an idea when he made you, and he put gifts and
- 29:07talents and abilities and skills and empathy and all of that in
- 29:10you, that because there's good works for you to do.
- 29:14So now you're doing the good work, you know?
- 29:16And and Romans 8, right? He makes all things all things,
- 29:20even my dad. I mean, my dad passed and we
- 29:23were really poor. I mean, my mom was too proud to
- 29:28apply for food stamps, but we would qualify for food stamps.
- 29:31I can remember times where, you know, mom would say we don't
- 29:34have the money, you know, for new shoes or whatever.
- 29:36OK, I thought you were going to say for food.
- 29:38Well, I remember times where mom didn't eat and I remember
- 29:41looking at the table and there's a plate for Bill, my brother,
- 29:45Susan, my sister and me, and she's the And she goes, oh, I'm
- 29:47not hungry. And I remember looking at the
- 29:49table going, because money was that tight.
- 29:55And so you look at that and you go, wow, God, you can use even
- 29:58that. You can use my insanity.
- 30:00I mean, I used to hitchhike all around the United States alone.
- 30:04Yeah, the 70s, I guess, or 80s. Yeah, but dumb, you know?
- 30:07Did bad things happen? Oh, yeah, right.
- 30:09I know about rape, right? That's something else I forgot.
- 30:11I, I you know, I know about all this stuff.
- 30:14I've been there. And God, it's not the script I
- 30:20would have written. The script of your life.
- 30:23Yeah, it's not a script. I would have jumped up and down.
- 30:25Yeah, I'd love to play the lead character.
- 30:27In that movie. Yeah, but God has no kidding
- 30:32made it all work together for my good.
- 30:35I can look back now and go, God thank you.
- 30:39I mean it's not the script I would have written, but wow you
- 30:41did an amazing job. But sounds like he flipped the
- 30:44script, you know, you know, like in terms of taking all that and
- 30:48then flipped it to the point where now you're able to have
- 30:52such a ministry to these these women.
- 30:55Yeah. I'm curious what would be the
- 30:57age range of the women we're talking about that go to the pop
- 30:59up that are struggling, that are caught up in sex trafficking?
- 31:02From 18, you know, if they're underage minors and they're on
- 31:08the street, this, you know, the cops will pick them up and and
- 31:11then they'll, you know, put them in foster care or whatever.
- 31:14But from 18 to I've had one time I went to court first appearance
- 31:19with a GAL and I was actually there with another woman.
- 31:23But this other girl had been arrested and she was, I think
- 31:28she was 64 and that was her 28th arrest for prostitution, 28.
- 31:38Tell me why you go to court. Because if I if they will opt
- 31:44for this I I run a diversion program.
- 31:46Oh, part of the ministry you do, right.
- 31:48OK, So it's not just a pop up. You got other app, other facets
- 31:51right of your ministry. Go ahead.
- 31:52Right. So we run a diversion program.
- 31:53So if you're arrested for misdemeanor charges if you take
- 31:56this class. Misdemeanor prostitution.
- 31:59Misdemeanor prostitution charges OK and but it's it's for it's
- 32:02for buyers and sellers. We charge the buyers because you
- 32:07can't catch a misdemeanor charge unless you have money, right?
- 32:11That's all right. So we charge the buyers.
- 32:14Wait, the meaning they have to pay to take the class?
- 32:16They have to pay to take the class, but they had money when
- 32:18they got the charges. Right, so wait.
- 32:21Also, is this class mandated by the state?
- 32:24It's not mandated, but if you take it, if you get a
- 32:26misdemeanor and you take the class sexually transmitted
- 32:29infections, testing and court fees, it'll take it off your
- 32:33record. Oh, so it's a way to not be
- 32:36branded a criminal? Right.
- 32:39It's a, it's a way that if you, you know, if you apply for a job
- 32:42or housing or whatever and someone does a.
- 32:44You don't have a background, right?
- 32:46You have a clear background. Right.
- 32:47And so I'll go with women to go, hey, you know, take this class.
- 32:51It's free for the for the sellers we provide it.
- 32:54And it's not not all women. So you're ministering to people
- 32:57who solicit prostitutes as well as the people who are
- 33:00prostituting themselves. Both sides of the have the
- 33:02opportunity for a diversion class, right?
- 33:04OK. And you your your ministry
- 33:07facilitates the class. Yes.
- 33:09Wow. Yeah, in in conjunction with the
- 33:11State Attorney's Office. No kidding.
- 33:13Yeah, that's powerful. Yeah.
- 33:16I cannot imagine. We're actually scrambling to try
- 33:21to get them to let us to take it to the jail because if a woman,
- 33:25even if it's a misdemeanor charge, if she has fit previous
- 33:28charges for either drug offenses or failure to appears in court,
- 33:32they will not release them on their own recognizance.
- 33:35They'll take him to jail. And in jail, pretty good odds
- 33:40that they're sober. Oh, see what you'd rather teach
- 33:44the class in jail because they don't have access to substance
- 33:48abuse to. And if they come back out or if
- 33:51they're released on their own recognizance, the trafficker
- 33:55doesn't care if they have charges.
- 33:56In fact, it makes it easier for him to control them.
- 33:59Oh, that hurts. They can't get jobs very easily.
- 34:03Right. And they know that, right, don't
- 34:05they? Right.
- 34:06So he it probably hangs it holds it over their head like.
- 34:09Yeah, he's not going to. He's not going to facilitate.
- 34:11He's not going to. Oh, you want the morning off or
- 34:13the whole day off to take this class?
- 34:15Not happening. I'm sorry but these sound like
- 34:18really evil people. You know, they're busted, just
- 34:22like the women and. You have compassion on the
- 34:25trafficker you. Can throw the guys under the
- 34:28bus, but at the same time the women have survived my
- 34:31manipulation, you know, so there's there's error on both
- 34:35sides. We actually had a trafficker
- 34:37come to one of the pop ups to. Get his laundry done.
- 34:41He was coming to check us out. OK.
- 34:43And I'm setting up the tent and he comes over and he's got his
- 34:46arm in a cast. He goes here, let me help.
- 34:48And I'm going, oh, no, no, I'm good, I'm good.
- 34:49You know, you got your arm in a cast.
- 34:50Did. You know, he's a trafficker,
- 34:52Yeah. Oh, OK.
- 34:53Yeah, he runs 3 gals and he was come to check us out.
- 34:55Oh my goodness. And so he helps me set up the
- 34:58tent, you know, I'm like, and I put chairs out and he parks in a
- 35:02chair and he goes, I think I'm going to sit here I go.
- 35:04You got way too much facial hair.
- 35:07I'm you know you're. Trying to minister to women.
- 35:09I'm trying to shoo him away, right?
- 35:10And he goes, no, I think I'll sit here and I'm going.
- 35:13You know, at first I was annoyed and then I went, wait a minute,
- 35:18this guy runs three gals on the street if I can convert him.
- 35:24Like if he gets saved, 3 gals are free, four people him and
- 35:28three more oh. Yeah.
- 35:29And so then I'm talking to him. I'm going he's, he's a, he's a,
- 35:31a, a vet. He's AI think he served in Iraq.
- 35:36He's a he's a vet. So he's he, you said they're
- 35:38busted. These are wounded people.
- 35:40Yeah, yeah. And I'm talking to him.
- 35:42I'm going you know God has something for your life that has
- 35:46eternal value and significance. You said that to him, OK, And he
- 35:49goes. Me and God, we're not on real
- 35:51great terms, I said. God's on great terms with you.
- 35:55Wow, look at you. And right at that time, the
- 35:58church where I'm going, Mike and Kelly Olive, pastor Common
- 36:02Ground Church in in Lake Worth the the the one time they come
- 36:06to visit the pop up, they drive up and they walk up and I'm
- 36:08going. Mike sick.
- 36:10I'm going. And so Mike spent the next half
- 36:13hour talking with this guy. The next week I come back, the
- 36:16same guy is there, but he's holding back.
- 36:20You know, I'm sitting at the chair in the chairs and he's not
- 36:21coming. He's like on the edge of the
- 36:23park. He's not coming towards me.
- 36:25And so I'm going back and forth, you know, and he catches me when
- 36:28it's just me and he goes, you know, I'm getting off the
- 36:31street. What?
- 36:33And I have not seen him on the street.
- 36:36Yeah, Yeah. That's.
- 36:39That is cool. Yeah.
- 36:41What happened to the three girls?
- 36:42They're still out on the street. They have different traffickers
- 36:45now. No, I know one guy leaves and
- 36:49somebody else steps up to take their place.
- 36:51Yeah, wow, what a ministry, Becky.
- 36:56It's a it's kind of a wild ride. I can only imagine.
- 37:00So it's the version, it's pop ups.
- 37:03Are there other elements of it? I'm a licensed mental health
- 37:05counselor, so I work with them, you know, working through trauma
- 37:09and you know, what land did you hear and that kind of.
- 37:12Stuff. So you go look at the roots.
- 37:14Yeah, Yeah. OK.
- 37:16What about? I think you said if there's, I
- 37:20forget how you say it, something about I have tools that are.
- 37:24Oh right, I'll tell them I have secular tools that work.
- 37:27Meaning like these are the the the mental health interventions
- 37:31let's. Say like cognitive behavioral
- 37:32therapy, you know the the standard stuff.
- 37:35I have secular tools at work. I have spiritual tools that a
- 37:38lot of times you can skip steps. Meaning we're going to get you
- 37:41there. Faster, Yeah.
- 37:42And almost everybody goes, oh, let's, let's try that.
- 37:46Skip the secular tools. Well, we use both because
- 37:50there's wounds to their spirit, there's wounds to their soul,
- 37:54right? It's mind, will and emotions and
- 37:56spirit. And so, you know, you're going
- 37:59to have to touch on all of that. It's it's a restoration involves
- 38:03all of that because it's who we are.
- 38:09Where do you start with somebody like?
- 38:13I start with building rapport. OK.
- 38:19Right, they, they really have no good reason to trust me.
- 38:25And so I start with just, you know, there's zero shame, right?
- 38:33We all make mistakes, right? And I, I start very often, I'll
- 38:37start with that healing of memories because, you know, it's
- 38:41one thing if I tell them God loves them, but if God tells
- 38:45them that sticks. So you're teaching them how to
- 38:49hear God. And teaching them how to receive
- 38:53right when Jesus, when Jesus went to wash his disciples feet,
- 38:57Peter goes, whoa, not mine. You know, I need to wash yours.
- 39:00And, and Jesus says, unless you let me serve you, you have no
- 39:06part of me. And so many of these women, you
- 39:10know, so many people, not just these gals that I'm working
- 39:12with, so many people have no idea how to receive.
- 39:16That is fascinating. I can't if I build with my own
- 39:23resources. I'm using wood, hay and stubble.
- 39:27OK. If I build with the resources I
- 39:30receive from God, if I allow God to resource me, I can build with
- 39:35gold, silver, and precious stones.
- 39:40That makes sense. So, but I would imagine every
- 39:45girl has a different story. And so you're, are you always
- 39:48like, I mean, do you feel overwhelmed with the, with the
- 39:51need of the, the people that you're ministering to?
- 39:54You know, I don't. I think it must be grace, but
- 39:59when I first was meeting with clients at Palm Beach Atlantic,
- 40:03they had me start working with the students there.
- 40:05Oh, in the counseling department, right.
- 40:07OK. So you were, you were on.
- 40:09I don't know. I was on.
- 40:10Staff they were. It was slave labor.
- 40:13What is this to get your hours or something?
- 40:15OK, got it. Yeah.
- 40:16And there was this, there was this time where I'm going, God,
- 40:19I am. I am like red ink, empty set.
- 40:23Where are you? I don't have what these people
- 40:26need. The students that you're
- 40:27ministering. To Yeah, OK.
- 40:29And the Lord says you bring the loaves and fishes.
- 40:32And it was like he was going, You bring the resources that you
- 40:37have. Bring whatever you have.
- 40:38And I will multiply them to make them adequate.
- 40:42That is so bridge. That's really good.
- 40:47And so I, I, you know, I, I love them.
- 40:52I care. They know that, they know that,
- 40:57you know, that I'm not going to lecture them or pressure them to
- 40:59receive Christ or whatever. I just love them.
- 41:03And that opens all kinds of doors.
- 41:07If, if I know someone loves me, I can hear hard things because
- 41:13they got no good reason to hurt me, right?
- 41:17I think I I mentioned Sandy, this gal that took me in when I
- 41:20when I was. When you were 20.
- 41:22Yeah, when I was in high school, my best friend was a horse.
- 41:24OK, so that tells you something about my social skills.
- 41:26All right? And I come to faith and I am, I
- 41:32am. To say I was clumsy socially
- 41:34would be a gross exaggeration. I was way worse than clumsy and.
- 41:39She was introverted. Totally afraid of people.
- 41:42I was terrified. OK.
- 41:45And, and she would tell me, oh, you know, you interrupted that
- 41:49person or, you know, whatever it was, I did 100 different things
- 41:53probably. And she would correct me.
- 41:54And I would feel my face flush, my ears would turn red.
- 41:58And I've gone, I'm going for a walk, you know, and I would, I
- 42:01would go, I would want to be defensive, but I would have to
- 42:06come back to, I know she genuinely cares for me and she
- 42:11has no motive to hurt me. So that means somehow I have to
- 42:16hear what she had to say as being for my good.
- 42:19And I would calm myself down. I would go back and, you know,
- 42:23think through what she told me and be able to incorporate it
- 42:28because I knew that she loved me.
- 42:32You were able to accept the feedback?
- 42:34Yeah. Because you had there was trust
- 42:36and love. Yeah, right.
- 42:38OK. And I think that's what I do
- 42:40with the gals. Is love them, build trust.
- 42:44Yeah. And able to offer feedback,
- 42:46Yeah, and even healing opportunities, I would say,
- 42:50right. What are some of the other?
- 42:52Can you share some of the You said I have secular tools that
- 42:55that work, but if we do, I have spiritual tools, we can skip
- 42:58some steps. Can you tell me some of the
- 43:00spiritual tools? Besides, you already mentioned
- 43:02the one which is the. Healing of memories.
- 43:04Healing of memories, Yeah. What are some of the And by the
- 43:06way, do we call this inner healing, basically what you're
- 43:09talking about? Yeah.
- 43:11Can you? Give me definition for inner
- 43:12healing because I don't know how to describe that.
- 43:17You know, if it was about education, there wouldn't be any
- 43:25problems at all. But it's more than education.
- 43:30Meaning, OK, yeah, we're not just trying to talk to you and
- 43:32give you some knowledge, right? OK.
- 43:34It's like soul care. Yeah, because, because for
- 43:38example, the weird things, I do have an explanation.
- 43:46OK, so, so scripture says it's the glory of God to conceal a
- 43:49matter. It's the glory of kings to
- 43:51search it out. So what I do in my own life and
- 43:53I, you know, I can give you guided tours of most of the
- 43:55mistakes you can make. And so in my own life, I keep an
- 43:59eye on my rearview mirror. And when something goes down and
- 44:03I respond poorly, I tell people if you have a 10 scale,
- 44:06something comes in at a 5 and you respond at A8 or A2.
- 44:12You overreact or. Underreact.
- 44:15OK, it says there is something there that's unresolved.
- 44:19All right, Cy Rogers and I had a, had a, we had a little
- 44:21acronym for that. What's that?
- 44:24I've never said this before, but it was our little thing.
- 44:28So I was my mentor in ministry. You know him and or knew him and
- 44:33DPR. I had a DPRA disproportionate
- 44:37reaction. There you go.
- 44:38Yeah. Because I knew whatever it was
- 44:40wasn't that big a deal, but man, was my reaction over the top,
- 44:44right? One one year I was I was doing
- 44:47scenery for a theater group, and I ran my thumb through a table
- 44:51sock. Don't do that.
- 44:52That's not smart. But I spent the next however
- 44:54many weeks going don't bump it, don't bump it, don't bump it
- 44:57right. And you could see I don't had
- 44:59had bandages over it and everything and you know, it was
- 45:02messy. But when I have an internal
- 45:04wound, it's not visible. Yeah, like the bandages, but I
- 45:10overreact or under react and then I'm going OK, God, why
- 45:15where that came from someplace it's not random.
- 45:18OK, so you're saying you said you you started this by saying
- 45:20I'm looking in the rearview mirror, like in my own life.
- 45:24Yeah, like, like I'm looking to see.
- 45:27Did I under or overreact? To every single thing or how
- 45:30does this work? Whenever I under or oh, it's
- 45:32harder to see under reaction, 'cause it's, you know, it's the
- 45:35absence, right? It's easier to see overreaction.
- 45:38Yeah, that makes more sense, yes.
- 45:40And so when I see that I overreact, it's like that means
- 45:43there's a sore spot there very often a lie that I believed
- 45:47about me, about God, or about others all.
- 45:51Right. So it's.
- 45:52It's simple. It's not, you know, 19
- 45:54different. Options.
- 45:55I feel like in modern vernacular we would say you were triggered.
- 46:00Yes. Although I do think that word
- 46:02that that that is overplayed the whole.
- 46:05Triggering thing, it's still under or overreacting, right?
- 46:09It it elicited an inappropriate response and it came from
- 46:13someplace. So I'll give you an example.
- 46:17Go ahead. I want to hear it so I can.
- 46:19Don't play small either, by the way.
- 46:22Give me one, lay it on me. So, so I am working with
- 46:27students at Palm Beach Atlantic and it was another time where I
- 46:29was bankrupt, right? I had gone to one of my.
- 46:32Meaning, OK, bankrupt, not obviously financially, but more
- 46:36emotionally you're trying to help.
- 46:38Them I was seeing students that afternoon and I was just going
- 46:41empty set. I got nothing.
- 46:43So I go to see one of my supervisors and she didn't have
- 46:46anything for me either. I'm going, that's not helpful.
- 46:49And I'm going, God, you're the one that said you would multiply
- 46:53whatever I had to make it adequate.
- 46:55I cannot find you. I don't have any resources for
- 46:57these people that I'm going to see this afternoon.
- 47:00Where are you? You're leaving me stranded here,
- 47:02God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 47:03And this memory comes to mind, which is kind of funny memory.
- 47:08My mom was an amazing seamstress and I was a wannabe.
- 47:11Oh, OK. Interesting, my mom had found
- 47:14out that I had a female lover and things were a little crunchy
- 47:19between us to say she. Was she was displeased?
- 47:22Displeased, hurt. You know, I think she blamed
- 47:26herself. Was she a godly woman?
- 47:28Is that part of it or what? She she loved God, you know, she
- 47:31didn't have the relationship. You know that that I have.
- 47:36She didn't. It was, I think she think,
- 47:39think, thought God was mad at her, you know?
- 47:41So was I don't. Know OK anyway, OK, so I, I, I,
- 47:45I was going to make a Christmas gift for this girlfriend.
- 47:50Oh, right. And my mom goes with me to pick
- 47:54out the cloth and the pattern. So I pick out this gorgeous
- 47:57green cloth and she's opening the Butterick book, the
- 48:00Simplicity book, which generally have pretty simple patterns.
- 48:03But Oh no, I pick a Vogue pattern.
- 48:07It's a man's dress shirt. It has collar stays, it has like
- 48:1040 something pieces. And my mom's going don't do it,
- 48:13don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, but.
- 48:16Knucklehead. So you're the overachiever and
- 48:19you wanted to take it on? Yep.
- 48:21And so we take it home. I have it all cut out.
- 48:23I am working on the shirt and I have taken the collar out and
- 48:27reinstalled it three times and it's still not right.
- 48:30My mom comes into the room and I am going, yay, mom, would you do
- 48:34this collar for me? But she takes one look at me and
- 48:37she goes, I think she's going to blow.
- 48:40And she goes, I'm going down to the barn.
- 48:43I really didn't blame her. I was so mad.
- 48:45I was about ready to throw the sewing machine out the window.
- 48:48And she split. And this is the memory that the
- 48:50Lord brings to mind. And I'm going, what?
- 48:54And. Right.
- 48:55Yeah. And it was like, oh, at a moment
- 48:58of felt need. Right I need I need help to get
- 49:03something done. Yeah, she split and I am totally
- 49:06expecting God to do the same, right?
- 49:11God created us in his image. We quickly returned the favor.
- 49:15We create Him in the image very often of our parents, right?
- 49:19That is so wait, I'm sorry you got to go back over that again
- 49:22because that's so profound. God made us in his image and we
- 49:26click quickly returned the favor.
- 49:28And recreate him in a human image.
- 49:32Which is fallen and not accurate at all, right?
- 49:35Yeah. That's that wasn't a good idea
- 49:38to return the favor, right, Right.
- 49:39And so I I go back, Scripture says honor your mother and
- 49:43father. Things will go well with you.
- 49:45You'll live long. So I realized I had dishonored
- 49:47my mom by saying she split right when I needed her because
- 49:52officially I got the shirt together and it turned out
- 49:55really great. And she was probably right to
- 49:58leave me to do it, to learn how to do it right.
- 50:01She was very good at letting me struggle through, you know,
- 50:04appropriately. I see.
- 50:05I didn't know if she didn't want to help you because it was for
- 50:07your girlfriend. Probably there was a whole mix
- 50:10of things, but my interpretation is right when I need it or she
- 50:13split right so I forgive her. I didn't blame her.
- 50:18There really was curls of smoke coming out my ears.
- 50:20I'm sure I was, I was. I was beside myself.
- 50:24Definite overreaction there. Well, extreme frustration
- 50:28anyway. So I forgive her.
- 50:29I break any judgments I gave made against her.
- 50:32I repent for projecting that on to God.
- 50:36And his presence comes and I'm able to meet with the students
- 50:40that afternoon and everything's good.
- 50:42So are you this process that you just described, are you taking
- 50:45yourself to it or somebody else facilitating that?
- 50:49I am taking myself through it at that point.
- 50:51At that point, I recognized that I was something.
- 50:55There was a reason why I'm unable to receive from God.
- 50:59Yeah. And that God wants us to ask
- 51:02questions. OK, God wants us to go.
- 51:04No kidding. God, what's going on?
- 51:06Help me. I was laughing.
- 51:08I was thinking about where a time where I overreacted.
- 51:11Yeah, yeah, I mentioned therapy. When I lived in the UK just a
- 51:16few years ago. There's this thing that the the
- 51:19English don't use it, but I had, I had one of these that I think
- 51:23my sister gave it to me. It's this little brown thing.
- 51:26It's flat and plastic and use it to scrape your pots.
- 51:29Yes, yeah. And I, I I don't know if that's
- 51:32what it's called, a pot scraper? I'm not really sure.
- 51:34I tried to get one over there. Sorry I'm laughing, but I
- 51:37ordered one on Amazon, but it just was terrible.
- 51:40Like it just didn't. I don't know why the English
- 51:42can't make a decent pot scraper. OK, so I so I asked my sister.
- 51:47I said, listen, can you send me one of those pampered chef pot
- 51:51scrapers? Because that was that one was
- 51:52amazing, right? I don't know what it is now.
- 51:55I don't sell pampered Chef. So it's not about I'm trying to
- 51:58get, you know, whatever, like. Business or whatever.
- 52:03Yeah, that's a Commission for mentioning it, But so she sends
- 52:07it took a while because she's in the States.
- 52:10Yeah. And she got to order it first
- 52:11and then send it across the pond.
- 52:14So then it's in the kitchen. So I lived in a house on campus
- 52:17with 12 people. Right.
- 52:19And it was always there, you know, and it was great.
- 52:24It was fabulous. Life was good.
- 52:25And then one day, I don't know, but it wasn't there anymore and
- 52:29I lost my mind because and I'm asking people in the house what
- 52:34happened to it and they don't even know what it is, right?
- 52:38I think, I think somebody threw it away, right?
- 52:42Because it, you don't know what it is.
- 52:44It's just a little brown plastic thing, right?
- 52:47Well, I remember being in therapy and just going off
- 52:50because and I basically said I felt violated because my pot
- 52:55scraper disappeared. It's a pretty severe and how
- 53:00did. You respond.
- 53:01How did you work through it? I don't think I have yet.
- 53:06So I worked through it by ordering some more of these and
- 53:09getting some more. So I want to ask you, I know you
- 53:13want to unpack this more with me, right?
- 53:15I, I'm feeling it. I'm feeling the therapy hat
- 53:17coming on. I'm actually I feel my face
- 53:21getting red too. Would you like to move on?
- 53:25Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that I'm
- 53:27going to let you do therapy on, you know, in the middle on
- 53:31camera. Yeah, I'm trying to think.
- 53:34I mean, we talked about in therapy, we talked about it.
- 53:38I did. I really felt violated like
- 53:41because somebody threw my stuff away, you know what I mean?
- 53:43And it was important to me. I mean, it was a pot scraper,
- 53:46but so it's super replaceable, but it's still got to go through
- 53:48a process to get another one because you can't buy them in
- 53:51England, right? So I have to, I don't know if I
- 53:56can remember like what, how we resolved that.
- 54:02I, but I, I, I don't know if I knew right in that moment when I
- 54:06was overreacting, I felt really justified at my anger because
- 54:11because of all the steps it took to get that thing, the little
- 54:14pot scraper thing. And so I'm just laughing because
- 54:18I thought about when a friend of mine graduated and he went to go
- 54:20be a vicar in another part of England and I gave him one as a
- 54:23gift. And he's like, this is dumb, you
- 54:26know, like he doesn't understand what's happening.
- 54:31So and, but he took it, you know, to be polite and I don't
- 54:39know if it was like 2 months later I get a text with a
- 54:41picture of it and he goes this is amazing.
- 54:45And I felt vindicated. I felt totally vindicated.
- 54:49But can you talk about what does under reacting tell you?
- 54:53Because you said that's harder to pick up on.
- 54:55Is that what you said so. Under Reacting I.
- 54:59Mean to me it sounds like you're flat lining, but I don't know if
- 55:01that's right. Under reaction.
- 55:06OK, so you know, I, I can, I can tell my own story, right?
- 55:10I'm more familiar with my my story than anybody else's.
- 55:13So I was in a a relationship that was very difficult and for
- 55:18is. This like a romantic
- 55:19relationship? Yeah.
- 55:21OK, and and things what happened and my thought went to love
- 55:31covers a multitude of sin and I would overlook hurtful,
- 55:38inappropriate actions and words because love covers a multitude
- 55:46of sin. So you're trying to spiritualize
- 55:48it? Well, you know, but on the other
- 55:51hand, Scripture says faithful. Are the wounds of a friend There
- 55:58it is in scenario, yeah. Right.
- 56:00And so when I would, when something would happen and I
- 56:03wouldn't hall so so consequences are designed to educate me,
- 56:10right? The last speeding a ticket I got
- 56:13was almost $500. Why so expensive?
- 56:17Whole big long story. However, the end of the story is
- 56:21as I'm writing out all those zeros, I'm going.
- 56:23Becky on the on when you're paying the fine.
- 56:25You can't afford to do that. And I actually, it actually
- 56:28reformed my driving, OK. I.
- 56:31Don't speed like that anymore. 'Cause you're like this is not.
- 56:33Worth it? This is stupid, right?
- 56:35Good, right. And so if I if I deny someone
- 56:40the consequences that their choices have earned them, I am
- 56:44denying them the opportunity to experience the pain that's
- 56:48supposed to educate them. I have high retention rate for
- 56:51the things that cost me skin. Sure.
- 56:54OK. That makes perfect sense, right?
- 56:56So and so when I under react because I am not worth standing
- 57:00up for myself. See.
- 57:01Yes, that's where I. Am not, I am not worthy to be
- 57:05defended. You know, there's all kinds of
- 57:07language for it, but that would be under reaction, and there's a
- 57:11reason why I do that. That's also not healthy.
- 57:15Right. It's somehow invalidating to
- 57:18you. It's a lot of things, right?
- 57:21Well, I mean, it could you, you could be invalidating yourself
- 57:24by putting up with some behavior that is, maybe you're putting up
- 57:27with some dysfunction or something.
- 57:29Maybe somebody's being boundary less and you're just saying, OK,
- 57:33love covers a multitude of sins. Like, you know, you're not
- 57:35correcting the behavior. You're just, like, tolerating
- 57:38it. Yeah.
- 57:39And then the person keeps doing it.
- 57:40Yeah. Because I did not wound them.
- 57:43By saying what was the? That's not cool.
- 57:45What was the? Faithful are the the kisses of
- 57:49an enemy may be profuse, but faithful are the wounds of a
- 57:53friend. One time the Lord told me I
- 57:55hadn't been faithful to my husband.
- 57:56I'm like what? You know, like.
- 57:58Because you you hadn't been giving him feedback.
- 58:01And the Lord said faith for the wounds of a friend you have not
- 58:04faithfully wounded him. Another time the Lord said it
- 58:06would never have gotten that bad, but you shut up.
- 58:11Oh, so you were just taking it? Yeah.
- 58:14Was that out of like, you think like Christian duty or what?
- 58:16What do you think was happening? I didn't have boundaries.
- 58:20I had to learn boundaries from the ground up. 1.
- 58:26Of your questions was, you know, what's a boundary?
- 58:28I said, I don't have any, you know, like practically 0, right?
- 58:32But but it's it's, it's also being faithful to someone.
- 58:38When you give them feedback. Yeah, well.
- 58:41Not just feedback correction, right?
- 58:43Well, you it, you don't have to, you don't have to be mean, but
- 58:47you need to mean what you say, right?
- 58:48OK, so, so you, you don't have to do it with a brick bat, but
- 58:54you do need to do it one time. So we were always late for
- 58:56church. You and your family?
- 58:58Yeah. Your husband I.
- 59:00Would get myself and three children ready and he would be
- 59:03late. The man doesn't even have hair,
- 59:05you know what I mean? It's like.
- 59:06Well, like you're not doing your hair, Yeah.
- 59:09Right. And I'm chewing him, I'm we're
- 59:11on, you know, typical on the way to church and I am so I hate
- 59:15being late. I am chewing him up one side
- 59:17down the other. And the Lord said I'm more
- 59:20concerned about your lousy attitude than him being late.
- 59:23And I shut up. And about 15 years later, it's
- 59:29still happening. And the Lord said, I didn't tell
- 59:32you to shut up. I told you to deal with your
- 59:34attitude. Wow, 15 years.
- 59:41I am not the sharpest tool of shit.
- 59:43That's. So good.
- 59:48You know, and then I would say we're leaving for church at 8:30
- 59:51and if you're ready, you're welcome to come with us.
- 59:54And then you guys would leave. Yeah.
- 59:56OK. Yeah.
- 59:57And that was OK instead of under reacting and well, no, there was
- 1:00:02some overreacting there. But you're.
- 1:00:04I see what you're saying. It's like you were.
- 1:00:07Tolerating some things that. Weren't healthy.
- 1:00:11No, no, Yeah. Wow.
- 1:00:15That's that's really that's a great tool.
- 1:00:17What do you call that? Is there a name for that?
- 1:00:20School of Hard Knocks. Because you started with the
- 1:00:25rear view mirror. That was how you started talking
- 1:00:27about it. But it's all it's all part of
- 1:00:30paying attention, right? Who was it that said the
- 1:00:33unexamined life is not worth? Living.
- 1:00:35Oh yes, right. Was that?
- 1:00:37I don't know who that was. It's it's paying attention.
- 1:00:39Justin, I don't know somebody famous.
- 1:00:42Yeah, it's, it's, it's about paying attention and it's about
- 1:00:48it's about using the tools and the clues that you have to work
- 1:00:55through your own stuff where you can.
- 1:00:58And actually, when I'm working with people, I tell them my job
- 1:01:00is to work myself out of a job. With the women you're
- 1:01:04ministering to. With anybody that I'm working
- 1:01:05with therapeutically, like. You, yeah, you want to help them
- 1:01:08get to the point where they can go through life and function and
- 1:01:11like, not be traumatized by everything.
- 1:01:13I want to give them the tools, yes, to be able to look in their
- 1:01:17rearview mirror and go where'd that come from?
- 1:01:20Right, yes. And untangle it.
- 1:01:22Yes. OK.
- 1:01:24All right. Can I ask you about before we
- 1:01:28wrap up, I want to ask you about the power of sharing your
- 1:01:32testimony because I know for you, like we we you, that you
- 1:01:35unpacked part of your story in the midst of our conversation
- 1:01:38about your ministry and about even like how that prepared you
- 1:01:42to do the things you do. But I know you went through a
- 1:01:45season where you were forbidden to Share your story, right, by
- 1:01:49your husband, right? Can you talk a little bit about
- 1:01:52that? Because I, I guess because I
- 1:01:54want people to, well, I mean, first of all, the Bible talks
- 1:01:57about what is that in Revelation?
- 1:01:59Right. It says they overcame the enemy
- 1:02:00by the blood of the Lamb. The word of their testimony.
- 1:02:04They love not their lives to the death.
- 1:02:06And so your testimony, whatever your testimony is it.
- 1:02:09Doesn't have to be. Is part of what the Lord has
- 1:02:13given you to be able to look back at the enemy and go shut
- 1:02:19up, you know, right. Because.
- 1:02:23Because the things that I have overcome, like the enemy is for
- 1:02:28one, he always overplays his hand, right?
- 1:02:31And he thinks, watch this. This will take her out.
- 1:02:35Really difficult marriage, suicidal for a number of years.
- 1:02:39Yeah. And and it's like, Oh my
- 1:02:43goodness, I have earned authority in that over that
- 1:02:46because I did not act on that. And so when I can share that
- 1:02:50with people who are struggling with suicidality, there's this
- 1:02:55commonality and it makes them feel safe to go wow, you 2.
- 1:02:59Right, 'cause we let you go, you have it all together.
- 1:03:01How would you? How can you possibly relate to
- 1:03:02me? Right, right.
- 1:03:04And so that testimony is what draws us all together in
- 1:03:08commonality. We're all struggling, we all
- 1:03:11overcome stuff, we all crash and burn 15 times before we overcome
- 1:03:16it. Ask me how I know, right, right.
- 1:03:19And if I don't, if I don't share that, then then well, Second
- 1:03:25Corinthians says I receive comfort so that I'm able to
- 1:03:29comfort others. And if I don't share the comfort
- 1:03:32that I received when I was in that very same place, wow.
- 1:03:36I just missed a, an opportunity to connect with someone on a
- 1:03:40real level and to throw them a, a, a, a, a, a life ring.
- 1:03:49And if it worked for me, I know it worked for you.
- 1:03:51I will walk with you through that process.
- 1:03:53But if you're forbidden to share it, then it then it just.
- 1:03:56You're just muted. Right.
- 1:03:59And the enemy wins. Yeah, I think so.
- 1:04:02That makes me mad. So, yeah, so it was a process
- 1:04:06for you to come to a place where you would be open about your
- 1:04:08story. I was always, you know, it.
- 1:04:13It took some time because I struggled with shame for a long
- 1:04:16time and. Is that because of the stigma
- 1:04:19around? Oh man, yeah, I'm.
- 1:04:21Sexuality. I came out in the 70s when I was
- 1:04:23in high school. You came out OK before it was
- 1:04:26even popular to come out. When I was in high school in the
- 1:04:2870s, I came out. Oh boy.
- 1:04:32That was not one of my smarter moves.
- 1:04:34Yeah, you were ahead of your time.
- 1:04:35I paid dearly for that. It was dumb, you know, I just
- 1:04:40speaking, talking about myself, not talking about anybody else,
- 1:04:44but. But yeah, smarter than I used to
- 1:04:49be. Right, but what do you what
- 1:04:51advice you have for somebody who's struggling, you know about
- 1:04:53sharing their testimony and and obviously it doesn't mean like
- 1:04:56with a microphone on a camera, it could be in in just.
- 1:05:00One-on-one over coffee. Right where you're building
- 1:05:03rapport and and and relatability.
- 1:05:08You know you have to deal with shame.
- 1:05:12There's There's a book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.
- 1:05:18Oh, I've heard of that one. I can't remember who wrote that.
- 1:05:20Yeah. Textbook, but he talks about
- 1:05:24Jesus going to Golgotha and it could mean the place of the
- 1:05:30skull. It's also a another term for
- 1:05:33bald head, right? And and then it talks about how
- 1:05:39the kids made fun of Elisha when he was coming back from Yeah,
- 1:05:43they did. Say they, they said you bald
- 1:05:45head. You bald?
- 1:05:45Yeah. They, they made fun of going up,
- 1:05:47right? Yeah.
- 1:05:47Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and remember when David
- 1:05:50sent the guys over to to Comfort?
- 1:05:52Was it the king of Edom? One of the kings died and David
- 1:05:58sent a delegation over to Comfort the son and and they,
- 1:06:01his advisor said, oh, no, they're coming to spy.
- 1:06:03And they cut off half of their clothes, half of their hair and
- 1:06:06their beard. And David said, you know, it was
- 1:06:08a huge insult. And David said, stay in Jericho
- 1:06:12until your hair and your beards grow back, right.
- 1:06:15So they and so in scripture. Get rid of the shame.
- 1:06:17It was kind of a shame, right? To be bald, right?
- 1:06:21And here Jesus goes to the place of the bald head.
- 1:06:26On his way to the cross, he picked up every curse known to
- 1:06:31mankind, right? He stood before Pilot to absorb
- 1:06:35my civil failure, my speeding tickets, and that kind of stuff.
- 1:06:39He stood before the Sanhedrin to absorb my moral failure.
- 1:06:46And he took the cross to the place of shame, because he knew
- 1:06:51shame was so toxic that I couldn't handle it.
- 1:06:56It's like putting bleach in a tin can.
- 1:07:00And he took that shame. Scripture says for your shame,
- 1:07:05I'll give you double honor. It's a it's a standard
- 1:07:11transaction. Like I go to Publix, I give the
- 1:07:13money, they give me a gallon of milk.
- 1:07:15But for your shame, I'm going to give you twice as much.
- 1:07:18Right. And that was, you know, if a man
- 1:07:20had three sons, the first son would get a double portion so
- 1:07:25that he would divide his wealth into four portions.
- 1:07:28The oldest son would get a double portion and the next two
- 1:07:31would each get a single portion because the older son was
- 1:07:35responsible for taking care of the rest of the family.
- 1:07:37So he says, I'll give you the honor of a first born son.
- 1:07:41For if you give me your shame. Yeah.
- 1:07:43Oh, that's rich. Yeah.
- 1:07:46OK. There's a quote by Brené Brown
- 1:07:47that I love with regard to shame she talks about.
- 1:07:54She says, all right, put shame in a Petri dish.
- 1:07:56She said it needs three things to survive, secrecy, silence and
- 1:08:01judgment. OK?
- 1:08:04Or actually not just to survive, to make it grow exponentially.
- 1:08:07All right, she says, put the same amount of shame in another
- 1:08:10Petri dish. Douse it with empathy.
- 1:08:15It kills shame. Right.
- 1:08:18And when you speak it. When you speak, the thing that's
- 1:08:22making you feel shame. The enemy can't beat you up with
- 1:08:25with it anymore. It's not hidden anymore cowboy.
- 1:08:27I'm telling everybody myself before you can make me fearful
- 1:08:31of what their response is going to be.
- 1:08:32I just said it out loud now and nail me with it doesn't have any
- 1:08:36more. Power.
- 1:08:36That's why that's OK. You just help.
- 1:08:39That scripture makes more sense to me.
- 1:08:41The one we started with when we started talking about this,
- 1:08:43which is they overcame him by the word of their the blood of
- 1:08:47the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
- 1:08:50Because US sharing our story, whatever our struggle is, it
- 1:08:55breaks the shame. Yeah, and the enemy can't beat
- 1:08:58you up with it anymore. And it's like, it's like, it's
- 1:09:00like the the, the club that was his hand in his hand is now in
- 1:09:05yours. Oh, the club in Satan's hand.
- 1:09:08Yeah, OK. And I'm going to.
- 1:09:11I'm coming after you, cowboy. Well.
- 1:09:13And also what you just brought out as well is God offers us
- 1:09:16double honor for that. So.
- 1:09:18So as much as this, the shame can be debilitating, right?
- 1:09:21And I think for me, when I'm still with shame, I just
- 1:09:25isolate. So if I would give it to God,
- 1:09:29what if I bring it into the light?
- 1:09:33Yeah, totally. Then I get double honor.
- 1:09:36Yeah, that's crazy. So.
- 1:09:38Cool passage, and I'm not so great with addresses.
- 1:09:42Were the references OK? Go ahead.
- 1:09:43But it says take your swords and beat them into plowshares.
- 1:09:48So a sword, the most effective use of a sword is to disembowel
- 1:09:52somebody. You cut their guts out, they're
- 1:09:54not going to come after you anymore, right?
- 1:09:57And you take that weapon that Satan meant to disable you with,
- 1:10:01OK, And you beat it into a plowshare.
- 1:10:05That's what a plowshare is. What is that?
- 1:10:06It's the it's the point that goes into the ground that breaks
- 1:10:09up the soil so you can plant seeds.
- 1:10:11Oh, so you it's it, you know, blacksmith work is hot, heavy,
- 1:10:15dirty work. It's not going to just fall out
- 1:10:17of a box. You take that which the enemy
- 1:10:19meant to destroy you with, beat it into an instrument of you
- 1:10:28know it's for farming. Right, you could till the soil
- 1:10:30and plant things and life comes out.
- 1:10:32And and what does Jesus say? Healing is the Father's bread.
- 1:10:38It's the basic substance for life.
- 1:10:42It's the basic nutrition healing, right?
- 1:10:45He's talking to the gal that bring that says, you know, let
- 1:10:49heal my daughter, right? And he says it's for the
- 1:10:53children. And she says even the dogs get
- 1:10:56the. Crumbs.
- 1:10:57Oh, that one, yes. Right, right, right.
- 1:10:58OK. That's just OK.
- 1:11:00Yeah, keep going with that story.
- 1:11:01All right, so, so, so when you plant seeds, you're talking
- 1:11:06about grain, you're talking about wheat and oats and and
- 1:11:09corn and that kind of stuff, right?
- 1:11:11But then that same passage says take your Spears and beat them
- 1:11:16into pruning hooks. So a tree that's properly pruned
- 1:11:20can produce up to 60% more fruit.
- 1:11:24What? And that is really talking about
- 1:11:26the mother heart of God. The sweetness is what helps a
- 1:11:29child bond to mother in the mother's milk, right?
- 1:11:34So we say the father provides basic nutrition.
- 1:11:38Take that sword, beat it into a plowshare.
- 1:11:41That becomes something that's life producing, right?
- 1:11:43OK, take the spear, beat it into a pruning hook that amplifies
- 1:11:47the mother heart of God, His love for you, His sweetness of
- 1:11:51him, right? And so you take those things
- 1:11:54that the enemy meant to destroy you with.
- 1:11:56The enemy meant to destroy me with my dad passing and my mom
- 1:12:00going into depression. The enemy totally meant to Take
- 1:12:04Me Out as early as. Possible.
- 1:12:05Oh, for sure. Right, 100%.
- 1:12:07So I I take, I take the homosexuality, the drugs and
- 1:12:11alcohol, the rape, the I take all of that and I beat those
- 1:12:15things to become life. Giving.
- 1:12:17Come on, I beat those things to reproductive in terms of
- 1:12:21nutrition and the love of God. But when you say I beat them,
- 1:12:26that has to do with you being it.
- 1:12:27Be willing to share it to use that to comfort others with the
- 1:12:30comfort you've received to. Process it myself so I'm not
- 1:12:34tripping over it every time I walk past it.
- 1:12:36OK, right. I'm not getting triggered every
- 1:12:38time, you know, something like that comes up.
- 1:12:41But then it becomes something that I can share with others.
- 1:12:43It's life giving for them. Yeah, that's so good.
- 1:12:48That's really Rich. Wow.
- 1:12:51OK, we might have to have you back to talk about some more
- 1:12:53tools at some point. OK, wait, we're going to do our
- 1:12:55rapid fire. OK.
- 1:12:56Rapid. Fire.
- 1:12:57OK, so here we are. Got to make sure we do this.
- 1:13:01What's a Bible verse you return to again and again?
- 1:13:05Isaiah 63, nine says in their suffering, he suffered with
- 1:13:12them. In other words, all of the hard
- 1:13:16things that we go through, he's not sitting on the sidelines
- 1:13:21going, oh, that's going to leave a mark.
- 1:13:23He's with you, suffering with you, so determined to support
- 1:13:29you, so determined to be there for you, so determined to engage
- 1:13:33you in the pain that he's suffering, the pain with you.
- 1:13:39I see tears in your eyes right now.
- 1:13:42That means a lot to me. That passage means a lot to me.
- 1:13:45Yeah. It means I've never been alone,
- 1:13:49as desperate, as overwhelmed with pain as I have been at
- 1:13:54times. I have never been alone One time
- 1:13:58the Lord said I'm as close as your next breath.
- 1:14:06Yeah. That's deep.
- 1:14:07Come on, Becky. Ready.
- 1:14:10Therapy, journaling or prayer walk.
- 1:14:13Pick one that's. Not one of the ones.
- 1:14:16I'm sorry, you're right. I circled him in red.
- 1:14:21You're right. OK, so you you choose.
- 1:14:23Prayer walk? Yes.
- 1:14:24Tell me why. I don't seem to be able to hear
- 1:14:27God very well sitting still. I think I have a motion
- 1:14:30anointing. Oh, you have to be in motion.
- 1:14:33But it it. I thought you said emotion
- 1:14:35anointing, but you meant a motion anointing.
- 1:14:39Got it. OK, you're right.
- 1:14:40I I got it this wrong. You circled this one.
- 1:14:42You ready? Yes.
- 1:14:43I gave her a choice on the rapid fire questions.
- 1:14:46What's a misconception about faith?
- 1:14:49You wish more people understood. That God loves you.
- 1:14:54He's not mad, irritated, frustrated, annoyed, or ashamed
- 1:14:56of you. He loves you and He delights
- 1:15:00when you walk in the room. His face lights up when he
- 1:15:04thinks of you all. Right here we go, one boundary
- 1:15:10you wish you'd learned earlier in life.
- 1:15:13I didn't have any boundaries, pretty much 0 and so I have had
- 1:15:19to learn all that as an adult and it would have saved me some
- 1:15:23amount of Gray hair. So there's not one particular
- 1:15:25boundary. Though one particular.
- 1:15:27All right, so all of them great, pretty much.
- 1:15:28You ready for this? Yes.
- 1:15:30Maybe. What's a belief that changed
- 1:15:34your life? That God met me and an
- 1:15:39experience that absolutely, unequivocally convinced me that
- 1:15:44he loved me even though I was a hot mess and still am in a lot
- 1:15:48of ways. I don't see you as a hot mess,
- 1:15:51but OK, I'll just have to take. You.
- 1:15:54Take your word for it, all right?
- 1:15:56Who is someone who deeply shaped your character?
- 1:15:59This gal named Sandy. The one you've referred to
- 1:16:01several times already. Yeah.
- 1:16:04All right, I. Don't think I would be where I
- 1:16:06am without her. I'm sure I wouldn't be where I
- 1:16:09am without her. I bet there's some women that
- 1:16:11would say, I don't know if I'd be where I am without Becky's
- 1:16:14influence in my life too. That's possible.
- 1:16:17Those 16 girls that you helped pull out of that nonsense, keep
- 1:16:21going with that. What's a community you're
- 1:16:24grateful for right now? There is this Monday night book
- 1:16:28study that I do with a several women that is just so rich.
- 1:16:34You know, the material that we study is great.
- 1:16:36We're looking at a book right now by Jim Richards.
- 1:16:39But the community and the give and take and the oh, wow, you
- 1:16:42know, the highlights and what clicked for her.
- 1:16:45It's like, oh, yeah, I hadn't thought of that, you know.
- 1:16:47Yeah. That's cool.
- 1:16:50All right, here's the last one. You ready?
- 1:16:53What's a lesson you learned the hard way?
- 1:16:57That's kind of funny because I can't think of any lessons I
- 1:17:01learned the easy way, right? I, I say, you know, I have a
- 1:17:06high retention rate for things that cost me skin.
- 1:17:08And education is expensive whether you get it in the school
- 1:17:11of Hard Knocks or the university.
- 1:17:13Yes. Yeah, So what?
- 1:17:16But tell us one of those lessons.
- 1:17:19Did I learn the hard way? Yeah, I mean, you're saying
- 1:17:21everything I learned the hard way.
- 1:17:22I I remember it better. Yeah.
- 1:17:25You know, like I don't speed anymore because I had to write
- 1:17:28that. Check.
- 1:17:29For stupid number of zeros. Man, I've had a few of those.
- 1:17:35Not that expensive, but yes, I've been there.
- 1:17:38And you know scripture says obey every ordinance of man and so I
- 1:17:41honestly try to do the speed limit.
- 1:17:44Sometimes they, they set it too low.
- 1:17:46I mean, they just lowered it on the street near my and I'm like,
- 1:17:49what? And I'm really cynical And so
- 1:17:51like, I'm like, you lowered it just so you could write us
- 1:17:54tickets, you know, like, I can't find a good reason why they
- 1:17:57lowered it. At my house, the street, the,
- 1:18:00the, the, the, the speed limit is 25 miles an hour.
- 1:18:03And they were talking about development and they'd say we'll
- 1:18:05have some traffic calming things.
- 1:18:06I'm going. It's already 25 miles.
- 1:18:09An hour? How do you They're driving
- 1:18:10backwards, traffic calming. We're calm.
- 1:18:15OK, it's 25. We might be overreacting, but
- 1:18:21oh, man, wow, Becky, thank you so much for being willing to
- 1:18:25Share your story and your ministry.
- 1:18:28And it's so rich and powerful. Where can people find you?
- 1:18:33Check out Well, the the laundromat, right?
- 1:18:35Yeah. 3:30 to 5:00. And Lighthouse pbc.org is the
- 1:18:40website, and the website has more information than you'd ever
- 1:18:43want on there. OK.
- 1:18:45That is wonderful. Thank you so much.
- 1:18:47Wonderful being here. Thanks for the opportunity.
- 1:18:49I really appreciate it, Christine.