Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Write it Down |a conversation with Linda and Jen Barrick and special guest Annaliese Higgins

Transcript

Write it Down |a conversation with Linda and Jen Barrick and special guest Annaliese Higgins · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

0:02
SPEAKER_03: Hi friends, welcome back to the Simply Wholehearted podcast.
0:05
SPEAKER_03: It means so much to have you choose to take our conversation along with you today.
0:10
SPEAKER_03: I'm Amy Wicks, your host, and here at Simply Wholehearted, we provide simple plans for life's most creative endeavors.
0:17
SPEAKER_03: The culture around us lulls us to mediocracy, half awake to our purpose, and more often than not, it seems as if everyone around us is celebrating half-heartedness.
0:28
SPEAKER_03: But we believe there is more to your story.
0:31
SPEAKER_03: Awaken your heart with extraordinary tales of the ordinary, find encouragement as you discover your creative purpose and be empowered to create your unique masterpiece in life, family, and community.
0:44
SPEAKER_03: Today's conversation continues our series of three weeks to a wholehearted year.
0:49
SPEAKER_03: If this is your first time joining us, I'll do my best to catch you up to speed.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: If you're anything like me, then December is jam-packed and it feels like way too much pressure to bring the new year in with all these goals and intentions without having some detox slow time.
1:06
SPEAKER_03: So, what if instead of scribbling out a few half-baked goals which get tucked away and forgotten about until the next year, why not take three weeks to begin your wholehearted year?
1:17
SPEAKER_03: Word, worship, and right are the topics we're talking about as we set our intention and tune in to hear what God has for us.
1:25
SPEAKER_03: Week number one for Word, both of my friends, Bethany Riddle and Rose Jones, shared how and why they get in the Word of God often.
1:35
SPEAKER_03: And if you have lots of littles right now, you'll appreciate Rose's ideas and her stories about how she finds time with six kids running around.
1:43
SPEAKER_03: Episode 80 is a good one to go back and listen to when you're done with this one.
1:47
SPEAKER_03: Week number two was worship.
1:48
SPEAKER_03: There is much I could talk about, but for sure you don't want to miss the deep inspiration from Katie Reid, the worship director at Radiant Church, Kansas City.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: You can find lots of content on those last two podcasts on our Instagram and Facebook pages.
2:02
SPEAKER_03: So this week we are wrapping up with write.
2:06
SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's a little strange to hear that word stand alone, but we're going to explore the value of writing our prayers, intentions, blessings, and your word for the year.
2:16
SPEAKER_03: The word thing might be familiar to you, or you maybe have been noticing some posts floating around about this idea of getting a word for the year.
2:23
SPEAKER_03: You'll hear in the first conversation, I have two of them today, and the first one's with my good friend and my sister Annalise.
2:31
SPEAKER_03: Now, neither of us can remember when we started the tradition of finding a word for the year, but we do remember some life-changing moments stemming from this practice.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: For me, there are some years when clear as a bell I hear that word I know will be a theme for the year ahead.
2:47
SPEAKER_03: And other times it's several words or phrases I know I'm supposed to write down and explore practically and in practice.
2:54
SPEAKER_03: One year, as I was washing the dishes and I was overlooking the room full of toys and chaos, I heard a whisper.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: And to be sure, it wasn't like the Hollywood version of the booming voice of God.
3:06
SPEAKER_03: It just sounded kind of like a nice, kind voice in my mind.
3:10
SPEAKER_03: Because sometimes there's those not so nice voices in my mind.
3:13
SPEAKER_03: But I heard the phrase, get ready.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: So as I washed the stuck on eggs from that breakfast meal, I asked a very logical question, get ready for what?
3:25
SPEAKER_03: And the only reply I got back was kind of the same.
3:28
SPEAKER_03: Get ready.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: So as I was putting the last plate in the dishwasher and dry off my hands, I began to look through my cupboards because it seemed logical, right?
3:37
SPEAKER_03: Get ready to move.
3:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then another thought flowed through my mind, to be devastated, to face a major life change, to come into lots of money.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: I think that sounded good.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: I really had no idea, but I wrote it the phrase down and I began to live it out the best I knew how.
3:54
SPEAKER_03: Because if the Lord was about to do big things and I needed to get ready, and I did, by the way, quickly rebuke the morbid thoughts regarding devastation, then I did want to be physically ready.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: I wanted to be ready, heart, mind, and spirit.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: And in the midst of this, as I was exploring and just waiting to see what this get ready meant, the Lord reminded me of his disciples, who he called, and ready or not, they followed him.
4:21
SPEAKER_03: They dropped their nets and followed to be fishers of men.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: So I wanted to be ready for whatever he had.
4:27
SPEAKER_03: Now, little did I know the crazy year that would unfold and follow.
4:32
SPEAKER_03: And at the same time, most of the pieces that were coming my way, they really didn't seem all that life-altering or a big deal.
4:39
SPEAKER_03: But looking back, that year was chock full of conversations, decisions, and changes which have dramatically altered the course of our lives and impact us even today.
4:51
SPEAKER_03: I've shared briefly before how one year my word was unseen.
4:55
SPEAKER_03: And yeah, that did accurately describe a very long season.
5:00
SPEAKER_03: So I didn't really want to do more exploring on this one, but there was plenty of journaling to do.
5:05
SPEAKER_03: When my dear friend Sarah Hagerty shared her new book theme and the fact that it still needed a title, Unseen seemed very fitting to me.
5:15
SPEAKER_03: And of course, I was thrilled to share in the honor of being the messenger for this title, and I was even more excited to write the book companion guide and participate in getting this timeless and profound message out to others.
5:27
SPEAKER_03: So this year, well, this word is a theme to combat last year's 2018's Wrestle with Doubt.
5:36
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, it took me most of the year to name the lie that I was actually fighting, and it wasn't until the avant season as I read through Luke chapter 1 where I was struck with Mary's response to the angel's appearance and declaration that she would be carrying the Messiah.
5:51
SPEAKER_03: Instead of replying with questions, as I would if I were Mary in doubt, she instead spoke with faith and belief in the goodness of God.
6:01
SPEAKER_03: You see, really, I I have no issue with believing in God's existence.
6:05
SPEAKER_03: Therefore, I don't feel like I need faith, but indeed I do, because it's in his infinite goodness towards me, which I doubt.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: I really believe a faith grown leads to trust.
6:17
SPEAKER_03: So I'm contending for more faith in my life.
6:20
SPEAKER_03: So at least this word is used plenty of times in the Bible, and therefore I have plenty of scripture to look up and read.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: And on the drive home this year, too, on New Year's Day, in fact, I had the time to read The Story of With by Alan Arnold.
6:34
SPEAKER_03: To be honest, at first, as I was reading, I was like maybe a couple chapters in, and I thought he was crazy.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: I almost put it down.
6:43
SPEAKER_03: But thankfully I did keep reading.
6:45
SPEAKER_03: And let's just say my copy is underlined, highlighted, and scribbled in.
6:50
SPEAKER_03: And I'm really grateful because reading it at the beginning of the year couldn't have been more perfectly timed.
6:55
SPEAKER_03: This quote about faith has been sticking with me these last few weeks.
6:59
SPEAKER_03: Faith isn't needed at the victory party after the battle has been fought.
7:04
SPEAKER_03: It's needed in the middle of the not yet.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: So 2019 is gonna be my battle year for faith in the not yet.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: Now, when I was thinking about who I would want to have to talk about this topic of write, a few ideas came to mind.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: So I'm sharing two shorter conversations.
7:24
SPEAKER_03: The second one is with Linda and Jen Berick, who you do not want to miss the riveting story of surviving a tragic accident and the power of writing prayer.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: But to start off today, I've asked my dear friend and happens to be my youngest sister, Anna Lise, to share her story and tips about finding your word for the year.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: She's a fifth grade teacher and is by far the smarter, cuter, and more talented of the two of us.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: And so I know you'll enjoy hearing from her as much as I did.
7:58
SPEAKER_03: So I I can't even remember.
8:00
SPEAKER_03: I really have to go digging through journals, and I don't always like digging through old journals.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: I don't either.
8:06
SPEAKER_03: So do you remember when you kind of adopted this, you know, fasting in the new year and you know, here getting a word for the year ahead?
8:15
SPEAKER_03: Or I mean, actually, that's probably more stems at your birthday time that I remember you talking about it.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I was trying to reflect on when did this start, Lord?
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Because I yeah, I don't remember.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of morphed a little bit.
8:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, if I suppose if I went back for what I guess it's kind of shifted because I've always loved seasons.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've loved the power of seasons and that used to try to must be in the DNA or something.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: It's true.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Um and I've always, especially being a teacher, I love the fresh start of a new year, the school year.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: So in August, September, and that's always a marker.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: But then my birthday is November 25th.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: So that's an automatic excuse.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, kind of one to start the holidays.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: And then um I know, so and then it is a fun.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: So much fun.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And craziness and lots of saving up for um all of those fun shenanigans.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: But um I and it kind of it was a great excuse because it's six weeks from New Year.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: So it kind of start laying the groundwork of what was this coming year gonna look like, and the an excuse of reflecting back on what was and what is and kind of what you what I was envisioning and hoping for, and even just what I felt like the Lord was um encouraging me in and towards um to shape my um day-to-day living, but also overall, you know, the b the the minute details and also then the big picture stuff.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: So I was I think I don't know, yeah.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know, I can't really think of a specific year, but I know um it's kind of always started around my birthday.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: So that's always an excuse, but I would say it solidifies itself the month of January.
10:10
SPEAKER_03: Okay, so you feel like you kind of get your word maybe around your birthday, and then you really kind of take some time to research it, mull it over, pray about it, yeah, confirm it, and then January you're like, yeah, this is it.
10:25
SPEAKER_03: This is what this new year.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: For you, what's what's one of the as you kind of think through, and you know, again, we probably could like flip through our journals, which is the whole idea of this, the power of writing, because I can't remember everything.
10:40
SPEAKER_03: So I do write it down.
10:41
SPEAKER_03: I write down the prayers, I tr I try to remember to write down the answers to prayer.
10:46
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm so human.
10:48
SPEAKER_03: I tend to just like answers happen all the time, and I'm so forgetful, and I don't write it down, and I hardly even pause to thank the Lord for them.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: But when I do, the power is going back to those at a time usually when I really need the reminder of, oh yeah, he's he's been working on my behalf for so long.
11:08
SPEAKER_03: So the power of the word and writing down your word for the year, and then using that calendar space to reflect on it and to let the Lord work that the meaning of that word in your life.
11:19
SPEAKER_03: It's so important to write it down so that way we can remember what he told us and the lessons we learned along the way.
11:25
SPEAKER_03: Because I can't like all just sit here and recount all the words off the top of my head.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: I have to go back and think through it.
11:30
SPEAKER_03: Some stories are bigger than others.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: For you, what was one of those that you're like, oh yeah, that was a profound moment for me?
11:38
SPEAKER_00: A couple of years ago, um, one of my the word was gratitude that I felt like the Lord had given me.
11:44
SPEAKER_00: And that that the only taste for that one that I had felt led to that I had to write daily things that I was grateful for.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, even the silly.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: And then um also I had to practice verbalizing it.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: And that one was unique because it really wasn't about the word per se, but actually an at the action behind it and the heart behind it.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't put a lot into the actual word, if that makes sense.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was the action that the word inspires living it out because it's kind of it's morphed.
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Different years, um, each year has been different.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: And um, so that that one is a marker to me because I I had to write it and physically write out what I was grateful for.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then I also had to live it out and make sure I was being verbal, even just praying out loud and prayer of Thanksgiving, but also just to others and making sure, hey, are you actually exercising that gratitude?
12:42
SPEAKER_00: And I felt like the Lord had laid that on my heart around my birthday, which is you know, it's great around Thanksgiving.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Um but it was I felt like yeah, I felt like it was into that year to come of like we need to cultivate that habit of gratitude, and that means writing it out in your you know prayer journal and times with me, but verbalizing in prayers as well as to people.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: So was that like thanking people for things or telling them what you were grateful for?
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Both.
13:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was both.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: It was yeah, thanking them for things, but also just saying, Hey, you know what?
13:13
SPEAKER_00: I'm so thankful for um, you know, this experience that I got to have with you, or I'm so thankful for your friendship, or I'm so thankful for, you know, helping clean up the kitchen that I wasn't able to clean up, you know, to the roommates or something.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, that to take that time and pause to just mention that gratitude was important.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: And that was shaping.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So there's I think there's sometimes for words for people that it isn't the actual word um that you have to do the study on.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: It's sometimes it's initiating the action or a habit that ends up being kind of the study.
13:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: Um well, and people can do that any time of year.
13:50
SPEAKER_03: People could have a word pop up to them any time of year that they might do a word study or you know, stuff like that.
13:56
SPEAKER_03: So what do you think the secret or the reason why someone, if they're new to this idea of getting a word for the year, why bother the effort to search for it or to ask for it?
14:08
SPEAKER_03: What what benefit do they stand to gain?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: I think intimacy with the word is a is a major key of being a teacher.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: I I kind of I think of in terms of because I'm trying to teach my fifth graders how to um write five paragraph essays right now, um, which is a big deal for them.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Yes it is.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Um of that idea of the overall topic of the paper, and then you have subtopics, right?
14:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: So I kind of think of sometimes that that word or words are kind of your overall thesis for the year.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Like what's your overall, you know, topic that the word is wanting to kind of allow that to speak to your mind, body, and heart, and that allows it to kind of permeate into all the different aspects of your life.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: And how does that shift your mindset or your heart set in regards to people or your situation, uh, your circumstances?
15:01
SPEAKER_00: And that sometimes can be just a game changer to help you shift in the right way or the heart set or to allow the Lord to really speak into um maybe something you're struggling with or great things that you're going through, but to be able to kind of give you a good framework or lens, or um, that that narrowing down of okay, this topic is helping really bring some depth to what I'm going through or insight.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: So I think it helps develop it really inspires conversation with the Lord because sometimes I've been given words and I'm like, what does that even mean?
15:34
SPEAKER_00: I I don't like it, it terrifies me.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: I want to know what it means for this year.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: No.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think sometimes when when it had in past years too, of course there's that gratitude one, but in some years that I've this was a couple years ago, I was given two words and I felt like I really needed to study them.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: What do they even mean?
15:56
SPEAKER_00: Right.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: I looked up, I for I actually went to the dictionary.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: They're very simple words, but I was like, what do they mean again?
16:04
SPEAKER_00: And it's insightful.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good practice sometimes because yeah, they are usually very I hate to say generic, but very words that we have in our everyday vocabulary potentially.
16:14
SPEAKER_03: We lose all the time, maybe not always in the right context.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: Right.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: And to kind of give like, okay, this is truly what this means, or even the root of where does it originate from?
16:24
SPEAKER_00: And that can give some further insight and study to kind of give that framework of okay, so that that's kind of the nerdy side for me of the great.
16:34
SPEAKER_03: So then, like, I mean, everything we needed to know, we learned um for sure by fifth grade.
16:39
SPEAKER_03: So you're the one to tell us right.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: There's that.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: Um are you smarter than a fifth grader, right?
16:48
SPEAKER_03: I think that's what the two is.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I am.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: Um but I think um even because you were talking about, you know, the hopes, wishes, and dreams a couple episodes ago, I think sometimes those words can help shape those hopes, wishes, wishes, and dreams.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: And I've kind of taken a practice with, so I've written them down and I kind of reflecting um, you know, on how we sit down like right before the new year and kind of write our hopes, wishes, and dreams, but I include my words for the year in that or what I think.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I may not know, or the Lord reveals a further word for me during the course of this month.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I write that down um on the page because it I try to bring it out at least once a quarter.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes I bring it out once a month, okay.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: Just to kind of remind myself of okay, you know, what what were my hopes, wishes, and dreams, and then how is how is that interacting with what I feel like your words with has whispered to me with what this year is gonna I don't know, bring about or what I would I need to be faithful in making sure I'm doing too.
17:55
SPEAKER_03: So that's good.
17:56
SPEAKER_03: I love that.
17:57
SPEAKER_03: Do you mind sharing what this year's word is or one of them?
18:00
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you have a couple this year.
18:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, I actually have three words this year.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: Three look at you.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's kind of fun because um they've come at different times.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: So um one was actually at the beginning of the school year, and then one was at my birthday, and then um one kind of was in the midst between my birthday and Christmas time.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: So um the first one was um celebrate.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: And I like that one.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: And the next one is saver, and the next one is home.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: So um the celebrate and savor, I kind of have some inclinations as to what that looks like.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Two of them were kind of more in the midst of just I was praying and I was with a group of friends, and it just they kind of came up upon in uh I don't know, just the sense of I kind of saw the word flash.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, that's interesting.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: And then it kind of kept coming up in different conversations and books, and then the other one kind of came up in several.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: I was listening to a couple different podcasts over a week's time, and this word home kept coming up.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, that's kind of weird.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: And then um a couple different songs I was listening to, the word home kept coming up.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Lord, what is this?
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Like, what are you what are you what are you saying here?
19:26
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Well, you know, keep asking me about it, and I'm gonna I'm gonna share.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: So um with the home, I feel like he's already given given some great insight and perspective.
19:36
SPEAKER_00: But I think that's a great thing is that I think sometimes people feel like you have to be flat on your face and praying fasting for 40 days in order for the Lord to reveal your word to you.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a lot of uh God is very creative and he in he gives it in the course of whether through a person or quiet time, of course, or um in conversation with friends, or prayer time with friends, or through songs, podcasts, um, and things that you're reading, I think might help some people, especially certain personalities, feel a little relieved that it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to look a certain way in order to get it.
20:11
SPEAKER_03: It's more in the whispers.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: And in the ordinary, I think that they pop up.
20:16
SPEAKER_03: I mean, sometimes it does.
20:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, for me this year, it was a scripture that I was reading, and all of a sudden it ignited this revelation, and you know, kind of it was it was almost not just a word, it was a couple sentences which led to a word.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: And in that way of going, okay, this is what I've been learning this year, maybe even battling a little bit.
20:39
SPEAKER_03: And so therefore, the Lord's and was inviting me to explore this, this other kind of the culmination of those ideas of scripture and journey that he had had me on and and everything.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: So it doesn't, yeah, it doesn't have to look a certain way in order to get your word or right.
20:57
SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't have to be obscure.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I always wanted to be some obscure, like amazing, and it's more often than not just this ordinary, like, oh yeah, sure.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: How many times a day?
21:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, and and even it doesn't have to be this uh a precursor to this major revelation or major working or miracle that the Lord's gonna bring about this year.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not always the case.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: It can be, but I think sometimes um we put too much pressure on, okay, like this is gonna be so major and awesome.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: We have to get it just right.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: But I think just asking the Lord of you know, how how do you want me to this year that you've given me, this this time here, like how can I be intentional with what is it that you um can um speak to me so that way I am I am living and working out the giftings and the time that you're giving me and the place um that you've placed me in for such a time as this, to the best um to the best of my ability, but the best of his ability through me.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: Um My one of my friends, she and her friend took time on New Year's Eve and they did kind of this cool kind of dream board.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: And so they were kind of they took pictures and you know magazines and books and kind of were just praying for the time.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: They were playing worship music and they just took several hours actually and just praying over like Lord, what is this?
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Give me your vision for my life this year.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: What's what is the big thesis statement?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: What's the topic?
22:28
SPEAKER_00: What's the uh what are you hoping what are your hopes, wishes, and dreams for me this year?
22:32
SPEAKER_00: And and then I feel like he asked, and he's like, Okay, what well, what are yours too?
22:36
SPEAKER_00: And he loves doing that partnership.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: He loves he he loves our thoughts and ideas, he loves the conversation.
22:43
SPEAKER_03: He loves the conversation, and so that was really beautiful, and it really casts out some um beautiful pictures and visions so that they were cutting out pictures of things and then putting it on this board for the visual in front of them.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: That's so great.
22:57
SPEAKER_03: So a vision board, I like that.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it kind of made me think I was like, okay, some fun ways if someone doesn't like to write, yeah, if that is a drudgery, is um I actually um was doing this exercise, we were doing kind of a character study with my students last week.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes writing is it can be hard to be able to find the words and to articulate, but sometimes if you're creative to to paint the word beautifully and to reflect on it that way, or to create a word cloud and one of the other words that surrounding it, whether you looked it up in the dictionary and think of all the synonyms to it too, with a thesaurus or you know, whatever, you know, you create it.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: And so I was thinking that that would be a really neat way to kind of check in with yourself quarterly of like how how can you not just maybe you are a prayer journaler and you know been reflecting consistently through you know the months, but maybe to take time and reflect on it in a different tangible way.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think the key the power is the reflection.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: Um I I think it's something that we judges like if we don't like having to work read through our journals.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: There is a power in reflecting of um just like in a job, having that you know, reflecting back on your performance of, you know, how am I doing?
24:13
SPEAKER_00: How can I improve it?
24:15
SPEAKER_00: There's that reflecting of also just confirming how the Lord is working, is present.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we get so focused on what we don't have that we forget, even the smallest thing that's that the Lord is being so faithful in showing us and doing in us um and through us that we lose if we don't take that time to reflect.
24:35
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
24:36
SPEAKER_03: The power of reflection, whether it's a vision board or the written word, and even though it goes against my natural personality, probably, because there's not much productivity in reflection, maybe that's why going through my journals are so painful.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: It's like we've been there, done that.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to conference people.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
24:55
SPEAKER_03: That's great.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I have a three wing.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: Maybe I do.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: Maybe you do.
24:59
SPEAKER_03: I think you do.
25:01
SPEAKER_03: That's why we get along so great.
25:03
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
25:04
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
25:05
SPEAKER_03: Well, thanks for giving us the fifth grade teacher perspective.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: And but then also just no, I loved it.
25:13
SPEAKER_03: I think it was so good because it articulated some of the you know, sometimes we do these things, we don't even know why, or we don't know how to articulate it to others, or we've always done it one way, but maybe we're tired of it, or maybe it would be really, really life-giving to do it with a visual and tactile experience, like a vision board and wordboard.
25:32
SPEAKER_03: I'm kind of motivated now.
25:34
SPEAKER_03: You go find a bunch of old magazines and cut out pictures.
25:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: I kind of channel that you know back in the day, you know, junior high, you know.
25:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
25:50
SPEAKER_03: I think my kids will love it.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: I I think that would be a really neat way as you're talking about like oh to bring them into this idea where you can do like an affirmative thing.
26:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and a family vision board.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, how fun is that?
26:04
SPEAKER_00: It's a visual, it's that tactile, um, it can stir great conversation and a creativity.
26:11
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, and then it's in front of you.
26:13
SPEAKER_03: So you can be reminded all year long where we're going, where we want to be, what we're excited about.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: And it can contain their like I know especially some people who don't really love the calligraphy or the painting aspect of you know, painting or writing, doing that calligraphy of a word that maybe you have or they have, or you know, your family has.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: And then that's part of that visual, and it's beautiful, and it's made by them.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, it creates a great memory to have.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: A lovely picture, yeah.
26:46
SPEAKER_03: Alrighty.
26:47
SPEAKER_03: Before we begin the next conversation and I introduce Jen and Linda to you, I thought this would be a great time to talk about the Brilliant Life Planner.
26:57
SPEAKER_03: If you've been tuning in, you know I've talked about it before because it's not just an ordinary calendar.
27:03
SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's a book of inspiration to get things done and lots of empty space to write, write, write.
27:09
SPEAKER_03: Yes, you can write your prayers in there, you can write gratitude, you can write your word.
27:14
SPEAKER_03: There's all sorts of pages between the calendar pages to write, write, write all these things that we've been talking about today and are gonna continue the conversation.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: So whether you are just growing a side hustle or you work from home or you just want to be more intentional with your time, the Brilliant Life Planner is perfect for you.
27:35
SPEAKER_03: So, one of these days, Simply Wholehearted is gonna create their own planner, but in the meantime, order your 2019 Brilliant Life Planner, it's not too late, to get all those simple and meaningful dreams and goals down.
27:47
SPEAKER_03: Check it out for yourself at the link in your show notes, and if you order, Simply Wholehearted will get a portion of the sales to help produce this podcast.
27:55
SPEAKER_03: And I am so very grateful for your support.
27:58
SPEAKER_03: Now to our conversation with Linda and Jen Berg.
28:02
SPEAKER_03: You guys, what a powerful story.
28:05
SPEAKER_03: To give you a little background, they were in a tragic accident 15 years ago.
28:11
SPEAKER_03: They were hit by a drunk driver, and most of the family almost didn't survive.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: What they have been through just seems like almost too much.
28:20
SPEAKER_03: I was blown away to hear all of the struggles that they have had in the process and and the story, and you'll hear a little bit along the way.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: Jen is just the sweetest.
28:30
SPEAKER_03: Her joy is truly contagious, and it comes through this.
28:34
SPEAKER_03: I was playing back and I was editing all the pieces, and I was just like, man, it's just her faith is so sincere and real and genuine, and she does a lot of speaking all around the country, and she and her mom do this together, and it's a it's like a full family thing.
28:50
SPEAKER_03: It's really beautiful to see how this works.
28:52
SPEAKER_03: So they're gonna share a little bit of her story, but but really giving a testimony about writing, writing down your prayers, writing down your story.
29:01
SPEAKER_03: I think you'll really appreciate and be inspired by Jen's childlike faith, and how Linda is the mom has stewarded the life of her daughter and this tragedy that for some it would completely derail their lives.
29:15
SPEAKER_03: But instead, Linda and Jen continue to live full of faith with Hope Out Loud, and I can't wait for you to hear their story.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: So actually, Hope Out Loud is a nonprofit ministry that was birthed out of our tragedy of being hit by a drunk driver over 12 years ago.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: And we didn't plan to go into ministry, it just happened.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: And so Jennifer had a traumatic brain injury, and no one thought she would live, and no one thought she'd ever walk or talk again.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: But she emerged from this coma five weeks later, and she was talking to Jesus when she had talked to us, and she was completely blind, and she would say, He's right here, don't you see him?
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Just talk to him, he's right here.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: We'd say, Can we pray for you?
30:05
SPEAKER_01: And she'd say, He's right here, just talk to him.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: And so she just had this uninhibited love relationship with Jesus, and yet her mind and her body was so broken, so broken she couldn't set up, she couldn't follow a verbal command, she didn't know her name, she didn't know she had a brother, but she knew Jesus and she was overflowing with joy, and she just talked to him for hours and she would just praise him and say, Lord, you're so good, you're so faithful.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: There aren't words to describe you, and um and so and that was the only time you could understand me was when I was praying, and it's just so cool, just how alive and real God is.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: And so as a mom, I wanted my daughter to have purpose.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, basically the spiritual side of her was the only side, not injured, and the Holy Spirit was alive and perfect inside of her.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: And when we accept Christ as our savior, his Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: And Jen could quote every verse she'd ever memorized.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes, she could quote whole chapters of the Bible.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, she could sing every praise song.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and so we just went places to share our stories that opened.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, actually, the um UVH uh hospital as the comeback kid of the year.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's awesome.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Started raising money for the children's care network and Jen was so broken, she still doesn't even know she's hurt, but you can put a camera in front of her or put a new gay.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: She just had a new gift, and the Holy Spirit would help her, and she was so articulate, and she could just it was amazing.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: She'd say thank you to the doctors in the hospital, they were amazing, and she didn't even know she was in the hospital.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: So it was wow, that is amazing.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of how our ministry started.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: We just every day looked for who could we help, who could we encourage.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: We we'd go say thank you to churches that have prayed for us, and we started traveling, doing a lot of women's events, Jen and I together.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: And then we had some businessmen um that said we want to encourage them a nonprofit ministry, but we really want it to be a family ministry.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: So my husband quit his job to go into full-time ministry with us, and so now we we do everything we speak in schools.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: Jen's brother is 23, he's in seminary, and he goes with us when he can.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: And it's so powerful to have a young man.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Yes, and we'll speak in churches a lot on a Sunday morning, and it's almost like revival breaks out because it's just a real story from people that are not professional, they're just broken, you know, we're just broken and we're very vulnerable and real.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: And where Jen is overflowing with joy all the time, we we struggle, and so we share really openly about forgiveness, which is something how we made it, and just yeah, and everyone in the room is broken in different ways.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: We all are when we talk about scars, how you know, you may not have physical scars, but we all have emotional scars.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: What do we like to say, God?
33:16
SPEAKER_02: We uh like to uh call our scars beauty marks because God can transform the hard things that we go through in life.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah into something beautiful that he can shine through.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: And Jen, you were doing something the other day, you were looking in the mirror.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: I was counting my scars.
33:33
SPEAKER_02: I was just curious this in particular day.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: I just wanted to know how many I had.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: It was really neat though, because when I found out the number, God just spoke to my heart and he said, you know, Jen, when I look at you, I don't think, oh, you're the girl with all these scars.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: No, when I look at you, I I just think and I see that you're beautiful, you're priceless, you're worth it, you are mine.
33:56
SPEAKER_02: And so I just love to encourage young women especially, just because I want them to know that God views them that way and that they are priceless.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that they are one of a kind.
34:08
SPEAKER_03: This is this is incredible.
34:10
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: And Jen, you often say um God doesn't look down on us because of our mess or because of our scars.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: He sees the potential of what we can be.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: He he believes in us.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh yes.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:23
SPEAKER_03: So, Jen, did you have this fiery kind of faith before the accident?
34:27
SPEAKER_03: Was this already in you?
34:29
SPEAKER_03: And then that's what came out.
34:32
SPEAKER_02: Great question.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: I feel like it was in me.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: I was more of a deep thinker, more of an introvert.
34:39
SPEAKER_02: I had, you know, I did my devotions.
34:42
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't really even pray out loud back then.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: But she had journals hidden all over her room where her love relationship with Jesus was hidden in her journals.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: It was through the written word.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: It was through the written word.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: And that truly is how we wrote um the first book, Miracle for Jen, that I wrote Jen's story because I had Jen's journals, the things God was doing in her heart before the wreck that I would have never known.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: He was preparing me too, even unbelievable.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: The things she was saying.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: And um almost like, I mean, God was preparing her ahead of time.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: And Jen, I think you can quote one of them.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Two and a half months before the wreck, she wrote, Um, anything is possible with you.
35:25
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I wrote, anything is possible with you.
35:28
SPEAKER_02: Wow, Lord, it's crazy how time flies.
35:31
SPEAKER_02: And this year, Father, I don't want to blend in because I know that I was born to stand out, to stand alone, maybe if that's what it takes.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: This life that I now live is not mine, but yours.
35:46
SPEAKER_02: It's yours to do with as you please.
35:48
SPEAKER_02: So pretty much, Father, I'm just begging you to take this year and my life and use it to its fullest potential.
35:56
SPEAKER_02: Your faithful servant, Jen.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: And I found that hidden under her bed when she's still in the coma.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: She's still not awake.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm in a wheelchair, my whole left side is crushed.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we all should have died.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: All four of us were in the wreck together.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: But I, you know, I crawled up to her bedroom because I couldn't walk, and I just wanted to find something in her room, and I found all these journals hidden under her bed, hidden, and I ripped that one out because it just gave me hope that God was gonna wake her up.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: And she had all these journals where she was praying for boldness.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Boldness, saying, Lord, I'm you know, she's gonna be a good one.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: I want to make a difference, yeah.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: And she was saying, Thank you that I'm a cheerleader, thank you that I'm a soccer player and a straight-A student, but I want more, I want to make a difference in the world, and I know I'm gonna need boldness.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: And so she was begging God for boldness and her little brother Josh, and now she has it, she is uninhibited, and it's like we see out loud that God had done in her heart all those years.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I was thinking of a C.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: S.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: Lewis quote this morning, how he said, if you want to change the world, pick up a pen.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: That's a quote from C.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: S.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Lewis.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: And I thought about um when you write things down, it becomes a treasure because you forget the details and you forget the date, and especially if the data and um it's just a way that like from the journal entries in the hospital.
37:24
SPEAKER_02: It was so cool looking back.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we even put a journal under Jen's bed because different friends were taking care of her every day, and I couldn't always be there.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: And just um, like for instance, when we went back, the day that Jennifer saw Jesus and was talking to him was the very day she stayed awake three hours and insurance allowed her to stay there at the hospital because they were gonna send her home.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: So just the details, but I like to share with people.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, I like to talk, so I don't love to journal, you know.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: But Jen loves to journal.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: But it is such a treasure to help you go back and see that faithfulness, even if you just do it once a week.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: And so often people say, you know, I can't see Jesus.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I how do I know he's there?
38:08
SPEAKER_01: And when you journal down your prayers and the things he speaks to your heart, it's a way that you can go back and see him, see how he was at work, see how he answered.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: And we like to say he doesn't always answer the way we want him to, but he does something far greater.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Far greater, it's not easier.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of times it can be harder, but it's far greater, far bigger.
38:29
SPEAKER_02: Greater.
38:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a powerful way to trace his hand, especially when we're in the dark, when we're in the waiting, and when we're feeling like we're in the wilderness, we can go back to those moments and and and I even go a year back where I was maybe praying some of the same prayers, or I can I wrote down answers to prayers, and that was you know, that is such a powerful way to build my faith now to where absolutely I go, oh wait, but you know, yeah, I might still be praying some of the same things, or I might have new prayers that feel like I'm just waiting and waiting.
39:02
SPEAKER_03: But he answered and he did these things and he did this work.
39:05
SPEAKER_03: And I mean, what a what a testimony to the power of the written word, and like you said, Linda, right?
39:10
SPEAKER_03: Some of us are like, Oh, you know, I don't like to journal as much, I'm a speaker, but Jen has proven hands down the power of the written word for just even you know, just the power of prayer of the written prayer, yes, um for your own life because you were holding it out loud.
39:26
SPEAKER_03: Right, I feel like when you write your prayers, it's a way to pray out loud.
39:30
SPEAKER_03: Yes, exactly.
39:31
SPEAKER_03: Because if if your personality tends to feel uncomfortable with this the spoken prayer, the written prayer is equally powerful.
39:40
SPEAKER_03: And I think as we it can even be a sweeter process as that develops and expands.
39:46
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely so true.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: And Jen reminds me all the time that God knows our thoughts, and so we can be real with him if we're mad at him or we're angry.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to say that or to write that because he already knows.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: And part of having a relationship is we run to God with everything, the good and the bad.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: We run to God with our doubts, we run to him, you know, with everything, and even to write it back and look at our fears, and then and then see how God was leading us really into a closer relationship.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: Strengthening us, yeah.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: When Jen came home from the hospital, um, she couldn't read for years, but she could write, and she would write her prayers to the Lord, and writing was hard.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: So the only thing she wanted to do was the only thing she'd put forth the effort to do was write her prayers to God, and she calls God daddy.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't have an earthly father that you can trust, anyone who's listening, you have a heavenly daddy who will never leave you, he will never um abandon you, and you can trust him.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: And and over and over again, she would write, Dear Daddy, I know that together we can change the world.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: And she would write it over and over, and it's like she had just burned that in her heart.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: And now to see what God has done through Hope Out Loud, and Jen is still injured.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, her memory still comes and goes, and um, but we we recently did a Bible study online and we had over 2,000 participants in 46 countries, and I just wept and we were getting emails South Africa and the United Kingdom in Finland and Germany.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: We were getting emails in German.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: We had to translate them.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, some of our books are in different languages.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: The miracle for Jen is that people write us in all different languages, and so cool.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: I just weep and I think, oh Lord, you put this in our heart.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: And if we hadn't had Jen's journals, we wouldn't have known almost um all that God was doing.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: And and then the way we just wrote the priceless book was Jen was teaching me a new way to pray.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: And again, because reading is hard, yeah, so we talk about the different feelings we have, you know, especially as young women, but always women have these feelings.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: And so with Priceless, we run to God's word with these crazy feelings, like a feeling invisible or alone or confused.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: And so Jen's not really capable of writing a book yet, but I would read her, we'd run to God's word and we'd go to the Psalms and I'd read her a verse, and she would just pray it back to the Lord.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: And I recorded her on the iPhone.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it was so powerful, the easiest book we ever wrote.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: She, the Holy Spirit, the words just poured out of her.
42:29
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: So positive and so uplifting.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: And um, and then I would say to Jen, like like what the subject was, I'd I'd just say to her, Well, you know, when I feel like um like I'm not beautiful, and she'd say say, Well, that's impossible.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm one of the kind, that's about the mall.
42:47
SPEAKER_01: Yes, original, original with the one, the one that is so funny that really relates.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people resonate as like when I feel fat.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: We all feel fat at times, and it's like, you know, I'm just the right size for my destiny.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: And then she says, How fat's your heart for God?
43:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, why focus on the outward?
43:05
SPEAKER_01: What about the inward?
43:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: So I love the childlike faith that just pours out a Jen and the positive, and she twists it around.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: She twists everything into a positive.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, we just spoke at a huge event this Saturday to over a thousand women.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: And on the way there, I had my my outfit hanging up and she didn't know it in the back.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: So I had my pajama top on.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, and she thinks that's what I'm speaking in.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: And she's telling me the whole way there, you look so beautiful.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's really good.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: I think everyone's gonna have their pajamas on today.
43:40
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's sweet.
43:41
SPEAKER_03: That's so sweet, Jen.
43:42
SPEAKER_03: You're building up your mom.
43:46
SPEAKER_03: Are you really gonna wear that?
43:50
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
43:51
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
43:51
SPEAKER_01: But truly, through the price list, Jen taught me that reading God's word can be so much more fun and exciting, and it is a two way conversation.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: We read his love letter and then we can pray it back to him.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: We can journal him a prayer, we could pray out loud and receive what he said, or we could even say, I don't understand this.
44:11
SPEAKER_01: Teach me what this means and show me.
44:14
SPEAKER_01: So, so really that when we pray and when we read God's word, it's a relationship, and we can talk back to God, you know, through our prayers, through our journals, um, and just having that having that two-way conversation, which is what Jen did coming out of the coma.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: She just had a two-way conversation.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: And she would say, Do you want me to go, Lord?
44:34
SPEAKER_01: Do you want me to stay?
44:36
SPEAKER_01: It was almost as if she was in his throne room.
44:38
SPEAKER_01: And she'd say, Okay, God, I'll do it, but there aren't words to describe you.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: You'll have to write it down.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: And um truly, for the last 12 years, she talks out loud to God all day long.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: And it is this amazing thing.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing, right?
44:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: So she'll just she just talks to him as if he's right there.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: And how do you like to be there?
44:59
SPEAKER_02: Oh, he's my best friend.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: I tell him everything, you know, and I just I look forward to talking to him and just it's such a joy.
45:08
SPEAKER_02: Such a joy.
45:09
SPEAKER_03: It radiates from you.
45:10
SPEAKER_03: You can tell.
45:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
45:11
SPEAKER_03: That's really powerful.
45:12
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
45:13
SPEAKER_03: I love the power of just what we're sharing this week and what we're talking about.
45:17
SPEAKER_03: Cause I love to take three weeks to new year, right?
45:21
SPEAKER_03: We we sometimes January 1st, we think we have to have all our goals and plans in place, you know, for the rest of the year.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: And then January 10th hits and we haven't done a single one.
45:30
SPEAKER_03: We're like, ah, it's you know, we're done.
45:31
SPEAKER_04: Right.
45:32
SPEAKER_03: But instead, I think the Lord, especially just how the season works for us here in the you know, western hemisphere, of you know, we get the the slower, colder time, you know, a lot of the sports are done, the activities are paused.
45:46
SPEAKER_03: And so why not take three weeks to really see what the Lord's intention is for us?
45:50
SPEAKER_03: And so we talked about getting in the word of God, we talked about worshiping, which you guys could speak to a lot about that.
45:57
SPEAKER_03: But then the last one, and we've we've really covered it well, is about writing, you know, writing down our prayers, the practice of writing down our story so that way we have that testimony for our own hearts.
46:08
SPEAKER_03: Like maybe it's not for not everyone's gonna be writing a book and sharing their testimony on a platform, but it's for our own faith.
46:15
SPEAKER_03: And maybe some of you, those of you who come after us, the the you know, when we tell those stories to our kids because we remembered them, and we can uh kind of expand our faith to them, give our faith to them, those stories of faith to them.
46:30
SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, for you, obviously the the power of writing down so you have this history of before these conversations that probably you couldn't ever remember if you didn't otherwise happen.
46:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
46:42
SPEAKER_03: And now the stories along the way of people uh journeying with you, seeing the feeling unfold and you know, just the power.
46:50
SPEAKER_03: It's it's incredible.
46:51
SPEAKER_03: I love to just see the the hope that you do have and just the power of your testimony and it it radiates, your love for him radiates through you.
47:00
SPEAKER_03: It's really beautiful.
47:01
SPEAKER_03: And I I wanted to, I know you talked about the book um real quickly.
47:05
SPEAKER_03: I just wanted to say I did give it to my daughter recently, and she was super excited about it.
47:10
SPEAKER_03: But I was like, I think I could go through this.
47:14
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
47:15
SPEAKER_03: I know that I wrote it with the idea maybe for for younger women, but can you know, like you just talked about like the days you feel fat?
47:22
SPEAKER_03: I mean, everybody at all ages, we feel that you know, women feel that way.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: And there's days we feel unworthy or we feel confused or alone.
47:32
SPEAKER_01: Um God is doing a beautiful thing with the priceless book, and it is connecting moms and daughters and grandmas and granddaughters in a way that is unexplainable, and we didn't know that God was up to that.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: But truly, this is a book that all ages it's it's a gift to learn how to pray scripture and how to pray the Psalms back to God.
47:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, and even though the journal prompts are a little younger, I think what's amazing is moms still have all these feelings and they have a hard time talking to their daughters.
48:02
SPEAKER_01: I think daughters can get an awkward age where they kind of close down and don't.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: So it's opening up these deep conversations below the surface where um we, I just had a mom in tears at this last event say to me, my daughter read Priceless, and then she made me read it.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I cannot tell you how it has changed my life, even reading what my daughter wrote in them because you write in it, it's a it's an interactive prayer journal.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: And she said, When I could read all that my daughter was writing from her heart that I had no idea was in her heart because she was quiet and not able to talk to me about these things, but she obviously wanted her mom to read it and see all her.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, wanted to share, yeah.
48:43
SPEAKER_01: And so then the mom said, I'm buying it for five of her friends and we're gonna lead a small group.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: And we we also have like whole basketball teams doing it.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: We're getting ready to go to a school in Indiana where the girls' basketball team has been doing priceless together, and now the the head of the school is like, we want to bring you in and we want to impact the whole school.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: So how fantastic is really cool what God's doing.
49:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that God is God is using your story so powerfully, and it what a neat thing to get to participate and share it and just witness how the Lord I mean the Lord can use good circumstances, but man, when when he turns these, you know, ashes to beauty, these devastating circumstances that could have you guys could have chosen to just let it destroy who you were and you know stop your faith and limit what you thought was possible or what the future was.
49:41
SPEAKER_03: Instead, you said yes, you chose to find him in this mess, which is not easy.
49:47
SPEAKER_03: You chose to worship him, and I'm sure there's still days that you're like why is this yeah, have to be this way, but but you're doing it, it's beautiful.
49:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's really amazing.
49:58
SPEAKER_01: I do think Jen got a glimpse of the glory of God.
50:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in that coma, we would pray, Lord, minister to her in ways that we can't because she was in a coma for five weeks, and truly the way she came out glowing and so joyful, and has I mean, she got a glimpse that this life is not all there is, and she's not worried about the cares of this world, and she has such a peace and contentment.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: And again, as her mom, I have struggled, I have wrestled with God, I have doubted him, I've been angry.
50:28
SPEAKER_01: She had cancer um four and a half, five years ago now, thyroid cancer from all the CT scans on her head.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: And so again, I felt like she's still suffering because of the sin of someone else.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: And what do you do with that?
50:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, Lord, we're sharing you everywhere.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're going and speaking, we're sacrificing to just share Jesus everywhere.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: And now Jen has cancer, and then my husband has had two cancers.
50:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we've had so much trauma to our bodies, you know, we just don't know what the future holds.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: But like Jen says, we know who holds the future.
51:01
SPEAKER_01: And God carries us and walks with us, and tell them how you like to view Jesus.
51:07
SPEAKER_02: I love to view Jesus as my escort because I love how Christian, as Christians, you know, God promises to never leave us or forsake us.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: So I love just to visualize Jesus being by my side, holding my hand, you know, carrying me on the hard days.
51:25
SPEAKER_02: And I love just encouraging my sisters, just I want them to know they aren't alone, that God is there with them and He will empower them and then strengthen them.
51:36
unknown: Yeah.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's beautiful.
51:37
SPEAKER_03: Jen, would you say a prayer for those who are listening today?
51:40
SPEAKER_03: Those who um need to know that they're really priceless.
51:44
SPEAKER_03: And I I think many of us women uh struggle with really knowing that in our head and in our heart.
51:51
SPEAKER_03: And I think it would just be great if you could close us in a prayer for that.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: I would love to.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: Dear Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, we run to you for my sisters listening this day.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: Comfort them with your perfect peace today, Daddy, like never before.
52:10
SPEAKER_02: I want to claim Romans 15, 13 for everyone.
52:13
SPEAKER_02: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Lord, that you aren't done using my sisters and that you want to encourage their hearts and bless them with your perfect peace today, like never before.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: And Father God, hopefully just to rest in that security too, of knowing that they are just made in your image, that they are beautiful, they are priceless, they are chosen, they are one of a kind, and that you love and adore them.
52:51
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for that hope, Lord.
52:53
SPEAKER_02: It just makes me smile.
52:55
SPEAKER_02: And so help my sister today just to know that she can let go and just that she can run to you and that you are very, very proud of who she is.
53:04
SPEAKER_02: So bless her today with your peace and in every way, Lord Jesus, like never before.
53:10
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Daddy, that with you the best is yet to come.
53:14
SPEAKER_02: We crown you with praise to your name, Father God.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
53:22
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
53:24
SPEAKER_03: Wow, wasn't that so great?
53:27
SPEAKER_03: I'm still just mulling over.
53:29
SPEAKER_03: It's just incredible all that they've lived through and how intentional they are being with their lives to live wholehearted for him and taking this terrible thing, what was really meant for evil, and displaying the Lord's goodness through it all.
53:44
SPEAKER_03: I hope you'll go ahead and follow Jen and Linda at Hope Out Loud on Instagram and follow them.
53:50
SPEAKER_03: And if you're looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event, you might want to check out the messages they offer to speak on, and you might want to have them come in and experience the power of lives being changed around you in your community because of how the Lord is using their testimony.
54:07
SPEAKER_03: Now, if you're tuning in for the first time, we'd love for you to say hi on Instagram or Facebook.
54:12
SPEAKER_03: Just let us know that you listened to this podcast and what you enjoyed, and maybe what your word for this year is or what you're gonna start writing down now.
54:22
SPEAKER_03: I love it when I come across people sharing our episodes to your friends and family.
54:28
SPEAKER_03: It is super fun and really, really encouraging.
54:31
SPEAKER_03: Now, if you could take a quick minute and leave a rating on your favorite podcast app for this podcast, it helps more than you know.
54:40
SPEAKER_03: Really, it's the little things like this that lets others know that they are welcome to join us and maybe what podcast they should start with when we have over 80 to choose from.
54:50
SPEAKER_03: We would sure love for you to continue to invite others as we continue to pursue perspective and purpose and plans for this year.
54:58
SPEAKER_03: Now, I'm still waiting to hear some more answers about what 2019 holds for me, but one thing I know for certain, it's gonna hold a lot more Aneagram for me.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna be talking about it a lot more on this podcast.
55:12
SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited about all the ideas and plans and the works for incorporating the Aneagram into understanding or better understanding our purpose.
55:22
SPEAKER_03: So, until next week, be sure to join us on the socials as we continue to pursue perspective, purpose, and plans for a simply wholehearted life.