Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 668 | Storms are Coming

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668 | Storms are Coming · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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  With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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  boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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  are on our website at watwm.org.
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
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  In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we're chatting about understanding the presence of God in our storms.
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  Well, hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Erica,
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  and I'm here with Kim. Hello.
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  And we're so excited that you have chosen to spend this little bit of time with us.
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  So today we are having a conversation about the reality,
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  that storms are always coming in our lives and that the same reality is that
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  Jesus is always present with us in our storms.
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  So this message is a follow-up to Monday's message that was episode 667.
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  It was called Peace in the Midst of the Storm. And in that podcast,
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  Kim came out of Luke 8, specifically verses 22 through 25.
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  And so we would invite you to go back and take a listen to that.
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  We would invite you to grab your Bible and take a look at Luke 8, 22 through 25.
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  But today we're going to talk a little bit more about the application of how
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  we rely on God's presence.
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  In the midst of our storms that inevitably are coming.
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  If there's one thing that we can be certain of in this world,
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  we can be certain that a storm is going to come.
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  And we can be certain that God will be with us.
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  So when we're talking about storms in our lives, I want to just start out by
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  talking about one thing that my friend Kim Miller said to me when I entered
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  a storm in my own personal life,
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  a health crisis kind of storm.
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  And, you know, those come with scary diagnoses and things like that.
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  But I remember very early on.
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  That, Kim, you said to me, God was not surprised by this.
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  And it's amazing to me when I think about it, how that single phrase,
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  that this didn't surprise God, didn't surprise Jesus,
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  how much that changed the whole course of that entire journey for me.
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  Because knowing that Jesus was not surprised, knowing that this didn't surprise God,
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  clearly showed me that therefore he was prepared and he was going to walk me
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  through that entire journey, which he did.
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  And not to skip to the end of Monday's message, but he brought me out on the
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  other side. Amen. Hallelujah.
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  And I think that that's one of the things that struck me so much in Monday's
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  message as you talked about this account of the disciples and the boat and the storm with Jesus.
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  But you made the statement that when we cannot see God's hand,
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  we can still feel his presence. Amen, hallelujah.
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  And I think that this account demonstrates to us where we can place our faith when we're in storms.
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  Because storms are coming.
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  But there's another side to the storm, and we are entering that storm with Jesus.
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  So there were a lot of things in Monday's message that really struck me.
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  But I wanted to take a minute and just talk about a couple of the points that
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  you made and look a little bit
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  more into the application, like what those truths mean for our very lives.
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  You made the statement on Monday that Jesus has authority over what terrifies us.
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  That is a mindset shift.
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  It certainly changed my heart and mind when I realized that,
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  whatever is terrifying me is fully under his feet and cannot do anything.
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  At all to oppose him, and that his power works in me, so therefore I have power over it.
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  I mean, I think we know that intellectually in some way, but this particular
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  message really dug that deep in my heart,
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  that whatever's scaring me, I'm letting it scare me because I have full authority
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  in the name of Jesus over it.
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  I think that, you know, that truth that Christ has authority over it also lends us to see,
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  sort of all of the characteristics of who Christ is in our storms, right?
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  He's Lord over the storm, but he's the provider in the storm,
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  and he can be the healer in the storm.
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  He has all those things. He has this authority in sort of every specialized
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  circumstance that a storm brings to us.
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  And that's one thing that a storm does for us, is that it reveals who God is.
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  And I remember in that message, spending some time on that particular thought.
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  That the storm in our lives often shows us our need for God.
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  Storms can be very clarifying in terms of who we believe God is. Amen.
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  But they really show us who we believe He is.
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  If we don't see Him as Lord, and we don't see Him as our healer,
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  and we don't see Him as having our authority, that should become very clear
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  to us and those around us.
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  Storms are an opportunity for us to see Christ at work, but we should be honest
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  and talk about how the fact that so often storms allow us to see our lack of faith.
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  And that's a scary place to be. One of the things I really enjoyed about what
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  God showed me through that message was that you can be doing everything right and be in a storm.
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  Let's talk about that for a minute. Just where storms come from.
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  And where they don't come from. I think we have different kinds of storms.
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  There have certainly been some storms in my life that my big mouth has fully caused.
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  I still learn from them, and God was still with me in them and helped me through them.
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  But there are some storms, as we were discussing earlier, that are just part
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  of our journey to get us equipped and ready for the other side.
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  You know we we have such a short-sighted view of our life and we kind of got
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  the here and now and some of us have a good enough memory to remember some of the past,
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  but none of us know the future and he has a full perspective of past present
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  and future and he's in all of them all at the same time and,
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  He knows what I need for the call of my life He's given me.
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  I can only surmise what I need, knowing what I'm supposed to do today and what
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  I think I'm supposed to do tomorrow.
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  But some of the storms that I've gone through, especially recently,
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  I know have prepared me for what He's calling me to do in the future.
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  But He's only revealing that to me. I was going to say piece by piece,
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  but I'm going to say crumb by crumb.
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  Because that's how I need to be dealt with. Because if you give me an inch,
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  I'm going to take a mile, and I'll just run right with it however I think it should be.
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  But I really believe that the storm that I passed through, now that I'm on the
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  other side looking back,
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  and it in no way will be my last storm, And looking back, I am really prepared,
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  for the pieces he's revealed in my mind that are coming my way.
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  I know that one of the things that
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  impressed me so much in the storm I was speaking of, the cancer storm.
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  Is just how many times the Lord teaches us lessons and how much we can learn in a storm.
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  But one thing that was so impressed upon me towards the, let's say as I was,
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  kind of reaching the shore, I could see the shore on the other side in that storm,
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  was that I don't want to waste the lessons that I learned.
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  I certainly don't want to have to go through something to learn them again exactly
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  that was a real thought you know that was often my prayer was Lord what am I
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  supposed to learn from this because holy cow I don't want to have to learn it again,
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  right that was kind of a scary thing really a scary thing but God shows us so much about who he is,
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  in those storms and and i think it's important to to just realize that storms are real,
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  and it's not wrong to recognize it.
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  And it's not wrong to be in a storm no it's part of the journey but i loved
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  what god revealed through luke 8 22 through 25 about how,
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  god doesn't isn't upset about you recognizing it He expects you to recognize it.
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  But we have to have more faith than our fear.
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  You made a great statement on Monday.
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  You said that faith does not mean pretending the storm is not real.
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  Faith recognizes the storm but believes Jesus is greater.
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  It's not entering a storm and sticking your head in the sand and saying, and you know,
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  Jesus is sovereign over this. I don't have to do anything. I'm just going to,
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  sit here and, you know, wait for the storm to pass.
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  It's no, get your oar and row through the storm.
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  And I'm going to, you know, row with you and be with you in the storm.
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  Because I think it's easy sometimes, you know, in our very human psyches to
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  just say, you know, this isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening.
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  And that can be really paralyzing.
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  But that's not what Jesus calls us to. That's not faith. Faith is recognizing
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  the storm, being honest, being truthful about what it is.
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  This is the problem. And recognizing that God is greater. Right.
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  Because your storms may be strong, but you have to know that God is stronger.
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  Absolutely. I wanted to talk just a little bit about.
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  The other side and about God's plans for our lives and what it means that there's always the other side.
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  In this passage, he tells them to get in the boat and go to the other side.
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  So he clearly tells them that the destination is the other side.
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  But in the midst of this journey, they find themselves in the midst of a very
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  terrifying, frightful storm.
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  And I think that's exactly what God has said to each of us.
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  Pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me.
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  And when we follow him, the destination is heaven.
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  But this journey on earth is anything but heaven. Amen.
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  Amen. And we get sidetracked on the journey, thinking we are either wrong,
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  or we did this wrong, or God is punitive, or where is he? Can you hear me? He's silent.
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  And in these three little verses, 22, 23, 24, 25, so these four little verses,
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  there is such big meaning.
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  God has called us, so he's going to equip us, and he's going to see us through,
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  and he's going to get us to the destination.
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  And the things that happen along the way, we didn't plan for, but he did.
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  And he's holding us and equipping us and keeping us ready.
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  I mean, I absolutely love Isaiah 41.10, and I know I used it in that message,
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  on Monday, but I use it often.
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  But it's a goody. I mean, he says, Fear thou not, for I am with thee.
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  Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I mean, it's so personal.
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  For I am thy God. I will strengthen thee.
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  Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
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  And I love King James. That's no secret to anyone.
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  But I love it. It's yea. And I get that the yea in this King James does not mean yea.
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  But I love it. I want to just go, fear not, for I am with thee.
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  Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee.
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  Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of thy righteousness.
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  Hey, yay. It is a yay. I mean, it's a verse that if you just really read it
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  and the entire Luke 8, 22 through 25 is a full screen demonstration of Isaiah 41, 10.
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  And it's a big yay. It is a big yay. It was when you were talking.
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  About that account and that he said, come with me to the other side.
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  It reminded me of Abraham and Isaac. Oh, ma.
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  And how he went up the mountain and said to the servants, we will come back down.
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  The promise on the other side, he knew the promise.
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  You know, Jesus took him up that mountain with the promise of what was on the
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  other side. And that's how we live our whole life, Erica, is the promise of the other side.
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  I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.
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  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. John 14.
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  I'm telling you, it's the other side that should be our focal point,
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  not the stinking storm in between.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  So as we close, let's just talk for a moment.
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  What do we do when the storms come? What is step one?
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  Take your fear to the Lord. That's what they did. He said, Master, Master, we perish.
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  Take it to the Lord and understand that He's greater than your fear.
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  Step two. Keep pressing on.
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  I think step three is be honest. It's that not pretending the storm's not real,
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  right? That might be step one.
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  No, it's not. You gotta go to the Lord first. Has a slightness hat there.
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  But it's, you know, realize this is real.
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  But God's bigger and he's greater. I think step four is like praise him all the way through it.
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  Yay! Yeah, it's the yay, right?
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  It's praise him. It's claim his scripture. It's claim his word. All those things.
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  I think the last step is to just live victoriously. We should be joyous at all
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  times because he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. John 10, 10.
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  Man, we are a walking billboard for Jesus. If you look like you've been baptized
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  face forward in pickle juice, who wants that? Nobody wants that.
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  Nobody wants that. So wear a smile.
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  Jesus first, others second, and yourself. last.
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  There's joy in serving Jesus. Amen. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
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  If you haven't had an opportunity to listen to Monday's message,
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  Peace in the Middle of the Storm, it was episode 667.
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  We invite you to listen. Again, we invite you to take a look at Luke 8, 22 through 25.
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  And I just want you to remember, storms are coming, but Jesus is not surprised.
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  He is with us in every storm.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
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  references from this episode in the show notes.
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  We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
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  a rating or review on your podcast platform.
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  Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
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  You can connect with Women at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
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  and on Facebook and Instagram.
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  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
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  Monday through Friday by text message, and the Bible Bit Podcast.
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  Thank you for your prayers and support. Remember, Jesus loves you. You.