Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / When God Speaks: How Amy Clary's Family Expanded Through Divine Intervention

Transcript

When God Speaks: How Amy Clary's Family Expanded Through Divine Intervention · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
So this episode is a little bit different because it happened
0:09
spontaneously and was not intended to be published.
0:13
Amy Cleary was a guest on our show a while back and it was a
0:18
terrific show. She has an amazing energy and a
0:21
great story to tell. Sometimes I'm fortunate enough
0:26
to meet people on my show that I get to stay in touch with.
0:30
Maybe we'll discuss some business opportunities.
0:33
Sometimes I make helpful introductions to other people in
0:36
my network for them, or we'll find other common bonds that
0:40
keep us in touch. Amy and I had found one of those
0:44
reasons to reconnect, and at the end of our conversation, we
0:47
found ourselves on a rather fascinating conversation topic.
0:52
A story that years ago had her family part of a viral video,
0:57
had her being featured on national TV right after the
1:00
president was on, and even bigger than that, this had her
1:05
talking directly with the big man upstairs.
1:08
Fortunately, I had my screen recorder running and later
1:12
received Amy's permission to share the story with all of you.
1:16
It's a story that will make you cry, laugh, and ultimately warms
1:21
your heart. I hope you enjoy it as much as I
1:23
did. This is a few years ago that
1:25
one, but this is my favorite picture of my kids because they
1:28
all. Actually, I mean it, it's hard
1:31
for me to see, but they almost look like all the same age in
1:33
that picture. They are pretty close, Yeah.
1:35
So there's an order of age right there.
1:36
The one with the boots on is the oldest, and the ones with the
1:39
little slippers on is the youngest, and they're in.
1:44
And you're Chinese. Is that a boy?
1:46
Your son? When did you adopt him?
1:49
We had talked to, I didn't know if I told you that we were like
1:53
ABC Person of the week and everything.
1:55
I could send you the link. Like ABC?
1:57
Like the the news program? Yeah, like David Muir.
2:01
What? Yeah.
2:03
Hold on, I'll send it to you. And they they wanted to hear
2:07
your story about adopting overseas or.
2:10
Yes, our story went worldwide. It went viral and like
2:16
worldwide, I've seen it in 27 languages.
2:18
It's the coolest thing. So I do a lot of speaking
2:20
engagements for adoption because I think it's amazing Adoption.
2:29
Let me see adoption. Let me see if I could just
2:35
Google it, YouTube. Hold on, I'll send it to you
2:38
real quick. I could.
2:39
Probably do that as fast. YouTube and then you just go to
2:44
like orphans reunited ABC. My favorite one was the CNN
2:50
story 9 of ABC. Let's see.
2:57
No, that's on it. Is there something you need
3:04
about your story, or is it the fact that you're so vocal about
3:08
adoption in general that? Hold on, let me turn that volume
3:14
up. No, honestly, I can send you the
3:16
whole thing, but God spoke to me, which I know sounds like
3:20
totally nutty. No, I want to hear it.
3:24
So God literally spoke to me and and I'm sending you this now
3:37
come on in. Another guest who on the show
3:42
very different context but talked about how God spoke to
3:45
her and it was a really cool story to share so.
3:50
Oh really? Yeah, BBC.
3:55
OK, this is just the link to it on YouTube.
3:57
But yeah, so literally we had these.
4:01
I'll give you the the more abbreviated version, but because
4:04
it is a little bit long story, but I'll send you the, the real
4:07
story because I have it written out for my last time.
4:09
I just presented it last year at the night like Christian
4:12
Adoptions Gala. But basically, you know, we just
4:18
had Bexley, my baby and and yeah, I was, we had some friends
4:25
come up. She was only two months old.
4:27
We had some friends come up from Austin and they had two twins
4:30
that they were fostering and it was a little boy and little girl
4:33
and they were about two years old.
4:34
And the little girl had, when she was taken away from her
4:37
parents, had four craft ribs. And the little boy and their
4:42
twins had eight cracked ribs of broken femur and brain damage.
4:46
And their name were Lilith and Jet names were Lilith and Jet.
4:50
Really just so sad. And so just I got so angry with
4:54
God. I just started getting like
4:56
really anxious and angry with him.
4:58
And I was like, Lord, you know, if you wanted me to worship you
5:02
and you're telling me that, you know, that you can do all
5:06
things, you know, and I'm supposed to believe in that,
5:10
then where's the proof? You know, where's the proof?
5:13
Like, I don't get it. Like I, you're not even taking
5:15
care of the least of these, which is what you are saying,
5:19
you know, that we should be doing, you know?
5:22
So anyway, they left and I moved on.
5:25
And, you know, life happens. And so few weeks later, my my
5:30
cousin's girlfriend comes over and she has this little girl
5:33
with her name, Violet. And Violet was stunningly
5:36
beautiful. Like literally the most
5:37
beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life.
5:39
I mean, my girls are beautiful, but this girl was like a Disney
5:41
Princess, like eyes like this. And, and in the midst of our
5:45
kids playing together on the water table, she tells me that
5:48
Violet's been molested. And I'm like what?
5:52
And again my heart just sank and I got that icky feeling of just
5:57
the world is such crap and why? Why does God allow this?
6:01
And again, I went to bed just angry at God and, and I woke up
6:05
just feeling really sickly. And meanwhile, I'm still like
6:09
waking up every night, twice a night with a 2 month old baby,
6:12
you know, And so I don't think that probably helped.
6:16
But that day I was driving to work that morning.
6:19
I mean, I pull it together and, and fortunately for, for me, but
6:23
unfortunately for most people in DFWI put my makeup on in the
6:26
car. I don't even have makeup at
6:28
home. I just threw it in the car.
6:29
So which I probably should not advertise that but but.
6:35
This isn't being published, so. So I'm driving to the office and
6:41
and all of a sudden and I'm just sitting there just thinking
6:44
about Violet and about Lilith and Jet and I'm just mad and and
6:49
I listen to Christian music mostly, but I this song came on
6:55
that was something about do. It was called do something by
7:00
Matthew West. I don't know if you ever listen
7:02
to question music, but he do something.
7:04
But math is amazing. And he says, and he basically
7:08
part of the lyrics are I see, I see people living in poverty and
7:13
children sold into slavery. And in my head, I'm imagining
7:16
like these young Muslim little girls who get sold to these old
7:20
disgusting men, you know, obviously against their will.
7:24
And they're just children. He says, I see.
7:26
I see people living in poverty and, and, and children sold into
7:30
slavery. And I shook my fist at heaven.
7:33
And I said, God, why don't you do something?
7:35
And I was like, right there with Matthew West.
7:38
I was like, thank God. There's a song that made me cry.
7:42
I don't know why, but like, tells how my heart feels, you
7:45
know? And yeah.
7:48
And right there. It's the craziest thing if you
7:51
haven't listened to the song, the next line of the the next
7:56
verse of the song is he said I did, I created you.
8:01
And every time I get choked up, I'm sorry, but literally the
8:06
voice of the Lord came down in my car and like everything
8:10
stopped. The car fell away and he
8:13
literally threw the song. All I heard was the resounding
8:17
voice of the Lord saying I did, I created you and I was
8:21
instantly like transported to this kind of like other
8:25
dimension. I know this is sounding super
8:28
looney Tunes, but I said, I said, I said, but God, and this
8:33
is crazy because I felt I don't know if you've ever read 90
8:36
minutes in Heaven or any of those books where they talk
8:38
about heaven, but they talk about how you can hear all these
8:41
instruments and you can hear them all at the same time.
8:43
But you can hear them all very clearly or you can see all these
8:46
vibrant colors, but you can see them all simultaneously, like
8:50
almost like a like a glowing colors like the the gates of
8:53
heaven are like this glowing Pearl asked colors and gold and
8:57
all this. So anyway, he said, so I said,
9:02
but Lord, like I have, I have a new baby.
9:05
Like what do you want me to do? But so all of those things.
9:09
The reason I was telling you that is because for me, I felt
9:11
all these emotions simultaneously.
9:13
I felt overwhelming joy like you can never describe, overwhelming
9:19
gratitude like you could never describe.
9:22
I felt overwhelming guilt. I just like literally all these
9:27
emotions. And so of course I was arguing
9:30
with the Lord, which is what, you know, all the good people do
9:33
in the Bible too. So at least I have good company,
9:35
you know, So I said, I said, but Lord, I said, I have a new baby.
9:40
I don't know, what are you? What are you coming to me for?
9:44
And he said very clearly, you're welcome.
9:46
And when I say overwhelming gratitude, it was like, oh, that
9:52
was a gift from God. I mean, it was like instant,
9:54
like that was a gift from God. Like, why am I throwing that in
9:56
God's face, right? Like I'm too busy because I have
9:58
a baby. And so then he said, and I said,
10:02
but Lord, you know, I started the helping Austin ice ball
10:04
raise. It's over $1,000,000 in the
10:06
night for Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
10:08
Like I did that, you know, I'm, I'm good.
10:11
Like I've already like, feather in my hat, Lord, you know?
10:14
That box. Right, yeah, I'm a good person.
10:17
And and literally, he said back to me.
10:20
Amy, I have blessed you today. Today is your day.
10:23
Get off your hands and act. And so I said, OK, well, here I
10:28
am, Lord, what do you want? And then all of a sudden I was
10:33
in my parking lot at the office and the car comes back around me
10:38
and I'm literally like, like my face is just, I mean, I got
10:42
tears ready down my face. I'm just like pulling myself
10:46
back together and he and he's gone.
10:48
It's all gone. And I'm like, what just
10:51
happened? I don't have any recollection of
10:54
the drive between the time he said I did, I created you and me
10:58
asking the Lord what? OK, what now?
11:00
What? And so anyway, I text my manager
11:05
at the office and I said, hey, I'm going to be late.
11:08
And so I just kind of sat in the car, like thinking like, do I
11:10
call Chris my husband? Do I just like, I don't know
11:15
what to do, trying to get the Lord back on the hook, like,
11:18
hey, I'm still here. You're not you disappeared.
11:21
You know, how did where'd you go?
11:24
Knock, knock, you know, and until I pulled myself back
11:29
together, I, you know, like got all and I was like, dude, I
11:33
sound like a crazy person. So I went and got into the
11:35
office and I was like, hey, guys, I'm here, you know, good
11:39
morning. That's why I say every morning,
11:40
you know, and ended up like just thinking about it all day.
11:47
Of course I'm like, did that happen?
11:48
What just happened? Is that even real?
11:50
You know? So that night, Chris and I were
11:53
on our back patio having a glass of wine and I said, babe, I need
11:58
to talk to you. Famous, famous words that will
12:01
get your husband really nervous. Babe, we need to talk.
12:04
So I said, we need to talk. And he's like, OK, what's up?
12:07
And we just gotten all the kids to bed and we just had dinner.
12:11
And I've been kind of like really at peace the whole day.
12:14
Like I wasn't anxious to tell him, but I was also kind of
12:16
like, how's he going to receive this?
12:19
And so I just told him. I said, you know, this is what
12:21
happened to me today. I think God spoke to me and I,
12:25
I, he wouldn't even baptize at the time.
12:27
I thought he's thinking like, you know, like he's like, like,
12:31
hey, wife, like you need to get on meds or like, I'll wait, I'll
12:35
take the wake ups tonight. You know, you need a couple
12:37
nights of sleep. And, and he didn't, he looked at
12:41
me and he said, and actually this wind kind of came through
12:45
and I have a big relationship with the wind and the Lord.
12:47
So it was really weird because he just kind of sat there
12:49
looking at me like, And so I told him everything I just told
12:52
you. And, and he just looked at me
12:56
like, and I said, well, what do you think?
13:00
And he goes, I think if God's talking to you, we better be
13:03
listening. And I mean, we were like, I was
13:07
like, OK. And so we prayed right there.
13:11
Lord, if you're talking to, he's like, Lord, if you're talking to
13:13
Amy, please make it known to us what your desires are, what your
13:17
intentions are for our family. And which like I said, he wasn't
13:21
even baptized at the time. Like, it was super weird that
13:24
out of the blue that would happen, you know, because I
13:27
would have. I really thought he was going to
13:28
be like, I think we should call a shrink, you know?
13:31
You need more sleep. You need more sleep like
13:33
something's off. Something's off up here.
13:35
Might be, you know, but anyway. And then not even kidding you,
13:40
the next day we get a call from my cousin's girlfriend who says,
13:44
hey, Violet, the little sweet girl, Violet's in the story that
13:50
I'll e-mail you. I think I've changed her name,
13:52
but because I didn't really want to.
13:54
I didn't want to. Maybe I've said the name, I
13:55
can't remember. But anyway, there's a lot of
13:57
violets. But anyway, so my friend's
14:00
girlfriend said, Violet's mom wants to go smoke meth in some
14:03
trailer village and would you keep her?
14:06
And I was like, wait, what? And so I I, we, I told Chris, I
14:14
said, do you think this is what God's calling us to do?
14:18
And he's like, I don't know, he's like, I think we should, we
14:21
should pray about it. So we pray about it.
14:22
And then he, we call, he actually calls our attorney and
14:25
says, Hey, this is a situation, you know, what do you think?
14:30
And he, the attorney said, no, no, you don't keep somebody
14:33
else's kid. Because if he's saying that you,
14:37
that this little girl's been molested before, then what's he
14:39
going to say about you? What's she going to say about
14:41
you? You know this, you know, you
14:43
have a lot at stake. You have a lot to lose.
14:45
So Chris and I said OK then maybe this isn't what God's
14:48
calling us to do. So we both went to bed that
14:52
night and I'm kid you not, we both woke up looking at each
14:55
other and I said I had a dream last night.
14:58
He said so did I and he said I said the Lord was very clear and
15:03
he said very clearly to me, she will be safe with you.
15:05
She will not be safe without you.
15:08
And Chris called the attorney back and said, OK, so if we go
15:11
against your advice, then what is your advice?
15:15
And so he drew up some guardianship agreements.
15:17
And Violet, that same day, we met Violet's mom, Caitlin, at
15:22
the bank and signed off, had a bunch of witnesses sign off
15:26
saying that basically, she gave us guardianship of this little
15:29
girl. And I hated, I hated her mom,
15:34
her mom. I mean, I don't know that I've
15:36
ever loathed somebody so much in my life.
15:39
Her mom had like a stripper shoe tattooed right here and she had
15:43
a burning Bible. She's wearing a midriff and had
15:45
a burning Bible on her, on her tattooed on her midriff and just
15:50
such trash, you know. And I hate to say that because
15:52
then my, a different cousin's wife comes over one day and she
15:55
says, so wait, how do you have this extra baby?
15:58
And I, and I told her the whole story and she said, can I have
16:02
her mom's name and number? And I was like, sure.
16:05
And she goes, I want her to know that Jesus died for her too.
16:09
And I had never even thought that, to be honest with you, I
16:12
had never thought of that. I had thought what a piece of
16:15
crap person. I had never even thought about
16:18
extending grace to the mom. And so anyway, there's.
16:23
You're you're in protective mode of the child.
16:25
Yes, but there I'm like, there's much better people in the world
16:28
than I am because I was like really like, Oh my gosh, this is
16:31
just she's amazing. Anyway, the mom ended up getting
16:34
choked out. She ended up living through it
16:36
was like naked choked out in a trailer and the guy she was with
16:39
stole her car and my cousin's girlfriend and my cousin's wife
16:43
was able to get her a get her into a better women's shelter.
16:51
But sadly we didn't have, I mean, we didn't own violets when
16:56
our daughter. So, you know, when you go
16:58
through those sort of things, you know, Caitlin, she just
17:01
wants to be loved, right? So she first thing she did was
17:04
say, I want Violet back. You know, I want somebody to
17:08
walk this journey with me, even though this child is ill
17:11
equipped for that walk, you know, which is super sad.
17:16
But we didn't have a choice. You know, even Chris loved her.
17:20
I mean, Chris, my husband was like, you know, we have enough
17:23
money to go to Mexico. And now I see this call is being
17:26
recorded. But anyway, we didn't go to
17:28
Mexico. He's like, we he's like, we we
17:30
would not have to. He's like, we, we could, we
17:34
could disappear. And I was like, yeah, but this,
17:37
that's not the plan, you know? So anyway, we gave Violet back
17:41
and the last of fall of her. The mom had a picture back with
17:47
the Me Too movement on Facebook of her wearing electrical tape
17:51
over her nipples and an X and a thong with a sign that says I'm
17:56
still not asking for it with Violet right there next to her,
18:00
which makes me sick to my stomach.
18:02
But anyway, how? Old would Violet be now?
18:07
She was just a little bit old in Charlie Kay, and she'd be 13,
18:09
She'd be 13 now, and she was 3 when we had her.
18:15
So yeah, it's been about 10 years.
18:16
Yeah. So anyway, the crazy thing is
18:19
Violet left, and I had this hole in my heart for her.
18:24
And Charlie Kay, my oldest was at preschool and she comes home
18:28
with little sticker that says eat at Chick-fil-A for spirit
18:32
night. She's our oldest.
18:33
So we had no idea that that was like an optional thing.
18:35
We thought like, oh, we all have to go to Chick-fil-A tonight for
18:37
spirit night for the preschool. So we should have a Chick-fil-A.
18:41
And there's 2 girls there that I know and they're talking to each
18:43
other. Although I knew one from the
18:44
Country Club and then I knew the other one from preschool.
18:48
And I said well how do y'all know each other?
18:49
And they said, oh, we are in, we are in Sunday school together.
18:57
And I said, oh, you know what church you go to?
18:58
So we start talking about it. And as they're talking, they
19:03
pull up Facebook and they're talking about a girl in the
19:05
Sunday school. And I said, there's this girl in
19:07
the Sunday school and I'm Sharon, and she is in China
19:09
right now adopting this little girl.
19:12
And and so they pull up her post and we're all looking together
19:16
on her Facebook as pictures are popping up one at a time.
19:21
And she says, and Sharon says there is this little boy who's
19:27
best friends with our new daughter in China, and I just
19:30
cannot leave him here in China. If anyone could adopt this
19:32
little boy, we would be so grateful.
19:36
So Chris had taken our two oldest to the play area.
19:39
And I was sitting there with Bexley in Chick-fil-A, where God
19:42
does a lot of his good work. I don't know if y'all have
19:46
Chick-fil-A up there. Do you know what?
19:47
Chick-fil-A. Oh yeah.
19:49
Delicious. My kids love it.
19:50
Yeah, so, so I'm sitting there and and I jokingly say, well,
19:55
we'll adopt him. And so when we when Chris gets
19:59
out of the meeting or out of the play area, he says, my other
20:03
friend says to Chris, hey, Amy says that you're going to adopt
20:06
this little kid from China. And Chris goes, well, I've
20:08
always wanted to go to China. So, so.
20:12
He was on board that fast. Well, no, not really, because.
20:15
He was just making a joke too, yeah.
20:17
So that night I said, I said, hey, do you think that's Scott's
20:20
plan? And he said no very clearly.
20:24
And I don't think that's the plan.
20:25
So that night we were praying and Chris was like, and Lord, if
20:28
you could get that little Chinese boy a family, that would
20:30
be great. And so I pipe in and Lord, if
20:32
it's us, please let us know. And so I don't know it just like
20:37
I said, well, can I pull his file?
20:39
So I reached out to share and I'd never met her before.
20:42
And I asked her if she knew like what, what's, what are even the
20:46
steps? I mean, adoption is not on our
20:48
radar. We're not looking to adopt, you
20:49
know, but like, what's it even involved?
20:52
And so anyway, she hooked me up with the agency Gladney, which
20:55
is here in in Fort Worth, and she hooked me up with the
20:58
agency. And yeah, like when you talk
21:02
about make straight the pack like God just was like this is
21:06
the. Pack putting the things there in
21:08
front of you, yeah. This is it.
21:10
And he has hydrocephalus, which is crazy.
21:12
It's water on the brain. Dawson does and so and so we
21:18
went to you by by you have to go to a pediatric pediatrician to
21:23
review the file. Well, it just so happens that
21:26
the pediatric pediatrician that reviews adoption files in our
21:29
area is our pediatrician of all of them and there's only like 1.
21:34
So I'm like, her name is Doctor Lee and I'm like, are you
21:38
kidding me? Like.
21:40
Everything's lining up. Everything lines up.
21:42
So she tells me, she says, Amy, I said, she said, you know,
21:48
hydrocephalus pretty serious. You know, water in the brain.
21:50
That's the brain. It could be, it's probably going
21:52
to be lifelong prescription drugs.
21:54
It's could be seizures. It could be ADHD, it could be
21:59
autism. I mean, there's a lot of things
22:00
that can happen with the brain right when you have that
22:04
pressure on there at multiple surgeries, etcetera.
22:07
And I started crying. I was like, in my head, I was
22:09
envisioning like a, like an adult child, you know, and I, I,
22:14
I don't know that that's something I could take on.
22:15
And I was like, like an adult, like he would grow up to be
22:18
like, never leave the house, all this.
22:20
So anyway, I was like really freaked out about it.
22:22
And, and I was like, Chris, I don't think we can do this.
22:27
I'm a good person. We tried like, and he right
22:31
there in the and I'm crying, the pediatrician's crying, but she's
22:34
like, I have to tell you the truth, you know, And Chris put
22:37
his hand on my leg and he said, babe, if God's calling us to do
22:40
this, we can figure it out, which is crazy because in my
22:43
defiance, like Chris was like a strong one, which is like, it's
22:48
just the craziest thing. So anyway, if you know him, you
22:51
would know that was not his character.
22:55
I mean, he's a great, great guy, but not his character.
22:58
So anyway, he so we ended up yeah, adopting Dawson and
23:05
literally the like the next day as they as Dawson and Hannah,
23:13
his little friend from China, they have this reunion video in
23:15
the airport. And it was like a 17 second
23:17
video and Sharon put it on her Facebook and I shared it and a
23:21
couple other friends shared it and it went viral like that.
23:24
And within three days we had five to six interviews a day
23:29
with. What what about it was?
23:32
Why did it go viral? What was in the video?
23:34
Because God, because God called me to adopt.
23:36
That's 100%. There's nothing really.
23:39
It's two kids hugging in the airport.
23:41
That's it. And at one point, this is during
23:44
the during the Trump Clinton election and, and at one point,
23:51
and we're on all I've I've seen it in 27 languages.
23:53
I mean, it's the craziest thing. And at one point we're at we're
23:57
with ABC International Syndicate.
23:59
And I know of course we're like, yeah.
24:01
And I literally, I just closed my eyes.
24:02
I said, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to talk about
24:06
adoption. Something so close to your
24:07
heart. Literally, whether you like
24:09
Trump or not, he's going to stop speaking and then I'm going to
24:13
have his entire audience to talk about something that is so near
24:16
and dear to the heart of the Lord.
24:18
It's like, how do you get that opportunity?
24:22
But you know, God told me I did. I created you.
24:25
I created you to make a difference.
24:28
And that's what happened. And so I opened up my Facebook
24:31
to be public and all these people from around the world
24:33
reaching out about adoption. And since then, I've probably
24:36
not me has gotten like through me like 15 or 16 kids adopted
24:42
around. Like even Dawson's preschool
24:44
teacher told me she goes, I'm so in love with Dawson and she
24:47
goes. So when John asks me what I want
24:49
for Mother's Day, I'm going to tell him I want to adopt.
24:51
And she ended up I said, well, I've got a kid for you.
24:54
And I found her kid Max. And she's like, I don't want, I
24:57
don't want a boy. I want a girl.
24:58
I'm a girl mom. I've got 2 girls.
25:00
And and then that night she called or that day, next day she
25:03
called me back. She says they me, you know, John
25:05
would love to be a boy dad. We have two girls.
25:07
He would love to be a boy dad. He goes and, and my oldest is
25:10
very much the oldest and my youngest is very much the
25:12
youngest. And this one's right in the
25:13
middle. And I think that would be
25:14
perfect for our family. And so she said, so when I talk
25:17
to John, I'm going to tell him I, I specifically, I want to
25:20
talk to him about this boy. And now that boy lives with them
25:23
and I see it. My neighbor in Austin, I never
25:25
would have picked them for adoption.
25:27
I shared a kid on Facebook who has like, like fused fingers or
25:30
fused digits. And now he's, he's now a beloved
25:35
son. So it's just been.
25:37
And these are the ones I know about.
25:38
I mean, I know about a bunch of them, but it's just so amazing.
25:43
Like getting, I call it front row tickets to watching God
25:46
work. Yeah.
25:47
I think God has been so blessed, has blessed me so much with
25:50
that. So.
25:51
Yeah. What a story.
25:53
It's a story, yeah, for sure. Thank you for sharing that with
25:57
me. Sorry, I know we've gone way
25:58
over. You probably have another call,
25:59
but. Luckily, I did not.
26:03
Typically my days are pretty full, but maybe somebody made
26:07
sure that this part of my schedule was open so that you
26:10
could share that with me. So.
26:12
Yeah. That was pretty cool.
26:14
Mysterious ways. You know what they say?
26:16
Yeah. And this feels like such a
26:20
trivial question to ask because it it it, it misses the the
26:24
whole point of your story. But I'm curious that when God
26:29
spokes spoke to you or maybe still speaks to you, is it
26:33
something that you audibly hear or is it more like a like a
26:37
knowing inside of yourself, your soul, your being, your brain?
26:44
OK, sorry, say that again. Jason had messaged me back so I
26:46
was looking at it. Just sort of the I I want to
26:52
apologize for asking the question because it's, it seems
26:54
so trivial it it misses the whole point of your story.
26:58
But when I hear stories like this, I'm always curious to know
27:02
when, when God has spoken to you, is it something that like
27:05
you feel like you hear like through your ears?
27:08
Or is it more like like an internal voice that's, you know,
27:11
like like a knowing? Inside I honestly feel like I
27:14
was like transposed, like I was like taken to a different realm
27:18
or something. Like for me, I think they're all
27:21
different. Like you, you sort of left this
27:24
place. Yeah, I mean, I don't remember
27:29
anything from the time that that song came on to pulling up to
27:33
the office. I just remember like, almost
27:36
like just a like euphoria feeling glowing.
27:44
I don't know. I don't know.
27:45
It's the weirdest thing. I'm telling you.
27:47
It's the weirdest thing. I hope everybody has a God
27:50
encounter. I really do.
27:52
I would. I I'm a I've got my prayer
27:54
journal right here. I'm going to write that down,
27:57
that everybody has a God encounter because that is, it's
28:01
really transformed. It transformed.
28:03
I mean, if everybody did, I think the world would be a
28:05
totally different. It would be heaven.
28:06
Right, right, right. You'd have a lot more believers
28:11
and a lot fewer haters. Yeah, Yeah.
28:13
Well, you. Probably wouldn't have any
28:15
haters because everybody would be like, whoa, I just got called
28:18
out. Right.
28:21
How can you not believe it when you go through something like
28:23
that? Thanks for that, ray of
28:24
sunshine. That was a great story.
28:26
Yeah, thanks. Yeah, it is a good story.
28:29
God is good. Yeah, there's a there's a part
28:32
of me that wants to go back through and edit out the names
28:35
of what we and and post this, but.
28:39
Well, you can. I'll send you the story written
28:41
down too. I have it 'cause I just had just
28:43
read it out. I mean, it looks like it's
28:46
written for the, it looks like it's written for a presentation.
28:51
So it's not, it's like, you know, then do this, then do
28:54
that, like notes to myself too, you know, so that I could follow
28:57
it easy. Yeah.
28:59
Let me see if I can find it real quick, Anthony.
29:02
And my, my computer keeps flopping back and forth on all
29:05
this stuff. It's like frustrating.
29:09
I think it's under. And and God said you're welcome
29:15
for the baby. Right.
29:17
That's crazy, right? What?
29:17
Do you? What do you want me to do?
29:18
I got a 2 month old. Oh yeah.
29:20
Amy, You're welcome. Yeah, I think this is it.
29:25
Night Light Christian adoptions. Let me just double check that
29:27
this is the right attachment. If we were to do that, Amy, what
29:33
are the things that you would want omitted?
29:39
Yeah, probably the probably the part about trash talking
29:47
Caitlin, because I don't, I mean, I'll, I'll send you.
29:51
Let me see, let me see. Yeah, I I mentioned her name
29:53
when I give it. I said her real name.
29:56
I probably wouldn't put anything in about Caitlin.
29:58
The mom. It's not AI mean.
30:01
I think it's OK to say like, I didn't like the mom and that's
30:04
bad on me because I think it's good to have that part of the
30:07
story as that's the real, that's real life, right?
30:12
That you don't like everybody, even if you try and even if
30:15
you're Christian. And I think people don't get
30:17
that about Christianity. They always say, well, what,
30:20
what would Jesus do? What should you do?
30:22
You should do what Jesus would do.
30:23
Well, you know what? That's why I'm not Jesus and I
30:25
fall short. Because I think there's this,
30:30
this perception that you've always got to be holier than
30:35
thou, right? Like there's no missteps and
30:37
there's no ill feelings. Yeah.
30:40
You know we're all human beings, right?
30:42
I saw this thing the other day and actually I resaved it on my
30:45
phone because I loved it so much.
30:48
Let me see if I can find it. It's just like a meet, you know?
30:50
There's all these like funny memes and stuff.
30:55
Something to the effect of, at least I thought I did, like how
31:03
Christians don't act like they should.
31:04
It was something to the effect of Christians don't act like
31:06
they should. And then it said that's OK
31:09
because God doesn't want actors anyway.
31:13
You know something to the the you know, God's not looking for
31:16
actors in this in this, but I'll find it again, But it just let's
31:20
see if I can find it because it was to me.
31:23
That's every time I I tell myself like, well, probably
31:27
shouldn't drink on a Friday night every Friday night.
31:30
I probably shouldn't do all, you know, a cuss too much and I
31:34
gossip and I have all my shortcomings.
31:37
And then I think, well, you know what, all the people in the
31:40
Bible had a lot of shortcomings, you know.
31:43
And so when I point my finger at people and say you should do
31:47
this or you shouldn't do that, it's really irrelevant because
31:50
God could be using people that are sinning every day because he
31:55
uses me and I sin every day, you know, So it's no different, you
31:59
know, so. Yeah, none of us are perfect.
32:03
None of us. Not even close.