Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / You Are Not Defeated: How To Live Victoriously Through Life's Challenges- With Joan Murray

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You Are Not Defeated: How To Live Victoriously Through Life's Challenges- With Joan Murray · She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ

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  Hey, welcome back to She Speaks Life.
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  I wanted to let you know that in addition to the interview
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  episodes, I'm also doing these solo episodes called Fuel Your
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  Life, where we're diving into ways to fortify our faith, put
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  into practice God's word over any situation we face, putting
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  truth into action, along with stocking the fire of the Holy
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  Spirit that is in US. And in these episodes, we will
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  be personalizing scripture and I'll be watching, talking us
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  through powerful ways that will bring you into a deeper
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  relationship with Jesus. This series is all about fueling
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  up with God's truth and His Holy Spirit to inspire us with
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  enthusiasm for everything God has planned for us.
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  And if you want to follow along, you can jump to my website and
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  get your own copy of the Serenity Journal.
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  But it's absolutely not required to engage in the solo teaching
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  episodes. OK, I hope you'll meet me there.
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  So today I have with me Bible teacher, speaker, author, and
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  missionary, Joan Murray. For over 26 years, Joan has been
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  a beacon of hope, teaching the Bible with clarity and
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  compassion while serving the least of these through local and
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  international outreaches. Joan Murray Ministries, based in
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  Houston, TX, has impacted over 150,000 people worldwide
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  throughout its 19 year history, offering Bible studies,
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  conferences, community sport and mission work in the US as well
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  as regions such as Central America, Africa, Asia and the
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  Caribbean. Jones tireless dedication to
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  being the hands of feet of Jesus shines through in every page of
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  her new book called Broken Yet Unstoppable.
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  The journey, struggles, and victories of Ruth, Naomi and our
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  kinsman Redeemer. She encourages us through her
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  experience of brokenness and struggles due to life's
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  challenges, that it is possible to become unstoppable because
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  our victory is already secured in the Lord.
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  She speaks directly to those navigating difficult seasons,
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  encouraging them to anchor their hope in Christ and discover
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  their God-given strength and rise above adversity.
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  With her signature blend of practical wisdom and insight,
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  Joan shares life lessons that reflect her own journey and how
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  we learn through the story of Ruth that we too with God.
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  Anything is possible. So the links for the show are
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  listed below, including Joan's ministries and Seeds of Hope
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  worldwide missions. All proceeds of her book
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  supports the ongoing efforts to send the gospel globally.
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  And so if you're ready, here's my guest, Joan Murray.
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  Hi, Joan. Welcome to She's Speaks Life.
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  I'm so excited you are here with us today.
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  I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for the
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  invitation. I love your message when it came
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  across my inbox. You had written a book called
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  Broken Yet Unstoppable. The journey struggles and
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  victories of Ruth, Naomi and our kinsman Redeemer and we are
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  going to talk about how to navigate through difficult or
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  challenging seasons and your encouragement to us to anchor
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  our hope in Christ and discovering our God-given
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  strength to rise above adversity.
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  And I love everything about that because we can encounter some
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  difficulties in life and to get ministered to and to be
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  encouraged on how to get through that.
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  It never gets old. So before we dive in more in
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  that I would love for you to share your favorite scripture
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  verse and why. 1st Corinthians 1558 I study in the King James
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  Version, so I'm going to give you.
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  That. Version it says.
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  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always
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  abounding in the works of the Lord, for you know that your
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  labor is not in vain with the Lord.
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  And it is a favorite scripture of mine.
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  I have many but this one. Truly, our journey in life can
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  be difficult and hard at times, and sometimes we want to give
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  up. So this scripture reminds me
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  every time I feel like, Lord, have I taken on too much?
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  Am I doing too much? It reminds me to be steady, to
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  be steadfast and not give up even when the situations are not
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  working the way that I think they're going to work.
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  It reminds me that as I remain steady and steadfast, that God
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  is walking with me through the journey.
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  Amen. I love that.
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  Yes, he is our anchor and he's holding our hands through it
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  all. And I love the encouragement
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  that you are going to bring to us.
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  And first of all, I love meeting new people.
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  This is a major part of podcasting of how much I love
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  this part is meeting new people and what God has placed in their
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  heart to minister the Word or build His Kingdom.
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  And you have a ministry called Joe Ministries.
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  So can you share more about who you are and your ministry and
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  when God placed that in your heart?
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  So my ministries, drummer ministries, and then there's a
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  missions end of it called Seeds of Hope Worldwide Missions, and
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  then the GEM conferences. And 19 years ago, the Lord
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  placed the vision of the ministry in my heart.
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  And over these last 19 years, we have ministered the gospel here
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  in the US and then around the world.
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  Now initially when I got the vision, it was just to teach the
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  Word and I told the Lord, I said, now don't send me on the
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  missions field. I don't like the heat and I
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  don't like the bugs. But guess what he did?
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  He sent me on the missions field and so our.
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  Comfort zone. Yes, and I have come to love
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  that as much as sharing the gospel because when we're on the
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  missions field, we always share the gospel message first.
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  Then after we have shared the gospel message and invited
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  people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we then provide
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  the gifts that he's given to us to provide.
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  So the ministry was birthed out of a season of struggles.
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  I was on these wonderful jobs that I loved, had great reviews
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  when I was always being laid off.
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  And so the first season of being laid off, I asked the Lord, why
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  am I laid off? And so I think I complained a
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  lot during that season. And so I got a job and then I
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  was laid off a couple years later.
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  This time I decided not to complain, but to see what it was
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  that God was after. And it was during that season
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  God wanted me to cultivate a deeper prayer life and then a
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  deeper dive into His Word. And so during that season of
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  unemployment, that was what I did.
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  But I did not do that because I knew there was a call in for
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  ministry. I just did it because He wanted
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  me to spend time with Him and out of those difficult seasons,
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  this ministry was. Birthed that's beautiful.
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  I love that story yeah and and calling you out into the mission
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  field and going. I mean that just shows how God
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  can take it above and beyond what we are thinking or
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  imagining. And it's so beautiful to see how
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  God just wants us closer to him. And that's the first and
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  foremost vital essential importance to God is just for us
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  to be close to him. And I love how he was calling
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  you to that in that season. And so let's talk about your
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  book, Broken Yet Unstoppable, which focuses on the stories of
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  Ruth and Naomi. What made you write this book,
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  this particular story of the Bible?
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  And so the reason for it is that wherever we have been, whether
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  we have been here in the US or overseas, when I get through
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  ministry and the lines are always long and when you begin
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  to hear the prayer requests, the needs of the people, it was
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  always, many of them are so filled with a brokenness,
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  whether it's a loss of a loved one, whether they are facing
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  financial challenges, health challenges, whatever the
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  challenges that they're facing, many of them are so broken.
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  And so for years, I had studied the story of Ruth and Naomi.
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  And so as I began to decide what book I was going to write next,
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  my mother was struggling with her health.
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  She couldn't breathe. One Sunday, I called her after
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  church and she couldn't breathe. And after we took her to the
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  doctor, the doctor said there was fluids in her lungs and sent
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  her home. And so my mom just began.
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  Ever since we were small, my mom started praying at 5:00 AM in
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  the morning. Wow.
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  And she prayed loudly and we would try to take the pillows
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  and cover our ears. She prayed loudly and said after
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  she came home she was still struggling with her breathing.
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  And so one morning she got about 5 and she started praying and
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  she never stopped praying. And so she was in the middle of
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  her brokenness. She was talking to the Lord as
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  she had done all her life. And she said, Lord, I'm ready to
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  come home to my rest. Take Me Home.
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  I don't want to be sick anymore. And she started at 5:00, and she
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  carried that all the way to midday.
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  And my sister Marcia, said, Gwen, we called her Gwen.
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  I don't know why we called her Gwen.
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  Gwen, can you rest yourself? She said, no, Marcia, I'm
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  talking to Jesus. I'm ready to go home to my rest.
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  I'm asking him to Take Me Home. And so Marcia said she rested
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  for a few more minutes and then she started up again.
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  And so at 7:00 in the evening, Marcia's putting her to bed and
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  she said I'll take care of the rest of it.
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  Marcia walked out of the room and she continued the prayer
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  again. And then my brother came to
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  visit her a few minutes later and ran out of the room and said
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  Gwen has died. She transitioned into heaven
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  praying all day long because she was so broken in her body and
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  she did not want to struggle anymore.
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  And so that is the story I started that book with.
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  And the 1st chapter of the book is why me and so all of us,
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  we've experienced broken seasons, whether it is a loss of
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  a loved one like a mother or a child, health challenges,
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  divorce, there's so many reasons we grieve.
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  And so this book, when I thought about brokenness, I thought
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  about Ruth and Naomi being in a country where they did not have
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  a support system because they lost their husband, their
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  children. And so it was such a profound
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  story in my life and I wanted to share it with those who were
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  broken and struggling. Yeah, I know.
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  One of the questions you really tackle is that why me?
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  You know, so many times that's our knee jerk reaction of going
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  why am I going through this? And so, Speaking of struggles
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  and going through challenging times, what are your thoughts on
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  asking this question to ourselves?
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  Should we? Here's what I love about the
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  Lord is that God is not afraid of our questions.
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  Yes. Amen.
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  He wants us to come to him with the questions because in our
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  struggles, if we don't run to him and ask the questions, then
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  we're we're staying away from him and therefore we don't get
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  the answers that we need and we cannot find our place to healing
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  because we are not going to him. So God is perfectly OK with us
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  asking him the wise because in those questions that we're
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  asking, when we sit at his feet and we begin to ask these
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  questions, he comes in and he meets with us.
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  I think about this often. The King of the Universe, once a
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  one-on-one audience with you and with me.
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  He wants us to come and to dialogue with him.
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  And the moment you and I begin to speak, he doesn't have to
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  wonder who's speaking to him. 8 plus billion people on the
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  planet, and he knows our voice. And so the moment we begin to
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  talk to him, he comes in with his reassurance and he comes in
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  and he gives us directions. And so the why questions are
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  good questions because they draw us into dialogue with our
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  Savior. Yeah, that's so good.
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  And he wants our honesty. He already knows the thoughts.
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  He already knows what's going on in our spirit and our minds.
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  And so when we come to him in that honesty and that
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  transparency, he honors that. He's so good at meeting us right
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  where we are and giving us what we need in that time.
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  And so through Ruth's journey, how does it reflect the
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  transformation that happens when we place our trust in God and
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  why having a strong support system is so vital for our faith
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  walk? I think this would be a good
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  time to kind of walk us through more about Ruth's story.
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  Yes. Just for those that need a
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  refresher or have maybe never heard of the story about Ruth.
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  So Ruth is a wonderful testament to God's faithfulness.
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  What when we look at her life, we see absolute devotion.
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  And when I think about her devotion, I think about God's
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  devotion to us and how he loves us.
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  And so this is more about what woman married into this family.
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  Her husband name was Mahan. And it's fascinating to me
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  because the parents name the children Mahan and Killian, 1
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  means sick or sickly. The other one means pining away.
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  And so every day they're saying their names.
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  The scripture says life and death are in the power of our
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  words. And so every day she said Mahan,
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  she was saying sick or sickly, pining away.
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  And so it's so vital that we, you know, how we name our
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  children. That's so vital.
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  And so you look at her journey, and you look at a Naomi who has
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  lost her husband, she's lost her sons.
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  She has these two Moabite women in her life, and she's trying to
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  send them home. Historians will tell you that
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  Ruth and Naomi were sisters, that their grandfather was King
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  Balak, who hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel.
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  Remember when they were coming out of Egypt and their father's
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  name was King Eklan? So when Naomi told them to go
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  home, Naomi was not sending them back to a life of poverty.
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  She knew where they came from. So Ruth could have gone back to
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  the palace from whence she came. But she chose to go home with
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  Naomi, who was bitter, who was broken, who was struggling, who
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  felt that God had abandoned her. Her name means pleasant one, but
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  in her struggle she wanted to change her name to Mara, meaning
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  Bitterness or Ruth, because I believe Naomi must have had a
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  great influence on her life. She may not have had an intimate
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  relationship with Jesus, but she knew enough about God to know
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  that she could trust Naomi's God.
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  And through their journey, we see a level of trust and
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  devotion to God in the life of Ruth that we don't see anywhere
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  else. If you think about the Moabite
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  race, they came out of the ancestress relationship when,
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  when when Sodom and Gomorrah was overturned.
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  And so the daughters had a relationship with the dad.
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  And this is the the lineage that Ruth comes out of.
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  But you see somebody who became so fully devoted to God and
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  devoted to Naomi that she literally walked with Naomi
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  through her difficulties and was that support system for Naomi
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  through her crisis. Let's talk about Ruth meeting
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  Boaz and what that means. The kinsman Redeemer.
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  So when Naomi decided to go home, we know back in that
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  century that women had no rights.
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  They couldn't work. So when the father died, the
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  sons would take care of the widows.
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  And so with the her husband dead, her two sons dead, she had
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  to go back to figure out at her age how she was going to take
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  care of her needs. God provided a roof for the
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  journey, and God provided a roof because Naomi was going to need
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  support and she was an elderly woman and could not go out in
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  the fields and work. Back in that century, the poor
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  could go and glean in the fields of the people who were wealthy,
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  and they knew that they could not go over their fields a
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  second time. They were to leave the leftover
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  crops for the poor to go behind them and pick up those crops
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  when they got back to Bethlehem. Bethlehem means the House of
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  bread. Naomi left the House of bread
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  because there was a famine in the land to go to Moab thinking
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  she was going to have something greater in Moab.
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  Now she's back at the House of Bread and Ruth needed to go
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  work. Naomi told her to go work, to go
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  glean in the field, and she happened to glean in Boaz's
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  field, Boaz, who was a relative of Elimelech, Naomi's husband.
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  So already you see how God is orchestrating her steps and
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  orchestrating her step to Boaz. And when Boaz got to the field,
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  the scripture says he said, who is that young woman?
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  He was asking about her connection, and when he heard
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  the name Ruth, he realized that this is the Ruth that had come
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  home with Naomi, and he had already heard the story of all
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  that Ruth had done for Naomi. And so immediately you began to
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  see God's divine favor, which is a chapter of broken yet
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  unstoppable, the divine favor of God in her life.
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  And so from that moment on, Boaz and began to take care of her.
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  He provided, He told the men to leave extra grains in the field
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  for her. He invited her to lunch.
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  There were a lot of other women in the field, but they did not
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  get invited to lunch. He invited her to lunch.
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  And then it was when it was time for her to go back to work.
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  He told the guys not to harass her, not to bother her, to make
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  her load easier, leaving grains behind.
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  And you began to see God already redeeming what was in Naomi's
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  life. It's absolutely beautiful.
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  I had written a devotional on this and it was years ago.
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  So as you're walking me through the story, I'm getting these
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  memories back of how wonderful this story is.
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  It's just absolutely beautiful. So let's talk about some ways we
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  grow in the midst of hardship. What are those ways that we grow
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  in those challenging times? OK, so let's start by saying
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  many times when we hit the crises, we blame God for the
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  struggles. That's what Naomi did.
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  She wanted to change her name from Pleasant tomorrow.
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  She said God had dealt too bitterly with her.
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  So she blamed God for the loss of her husband and for the loss
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  of her sons. But God was not the author of
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  that. Right.
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  They left the place of protection where God was, and
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  they went into a foreign country.
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  If you study the life of the Moabites, God did not want the
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  children of Israel to have any interactions with them.
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  And so she walked out, and they walked out from that place of
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  protection and provision to go into this country.
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  And then she is left by herself struggling and she blamed God.
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  Many times in our struggles, when God has not answered our
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  prayers as we have prayed or in the time frame we hope that He
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  would answer them, we begin to wonder where God is in our
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  struggles. God, are you hearing me?
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  Why are you allowing me to go through through this situation?
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  And then we ask the what question?
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  What have I done to deserve this?
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  And so if we are not careful, we can go into a season of
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  depression, discouragement, and we can struggle in those
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  seasons. But here's what you do, and
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  here's what I have to do in the middle of those seasons of
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  struggling. I must continue to pray.
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  Because if the enemy can keep me from praying, he keeps me from
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  getting the peace that I need to walk out the difficult journey
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  that I'm in. If he can keep me from reading
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  the Word, then he can keep me from hearing the answers that
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  God wants to give me. Because sometimes when we're
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  facing the struggles, our minds and our ear hearing, they get a
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  little clogged. Yeah, we're not hearing as well
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  as we should. So when I open up that Bible,
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  God has this amazing ability of illuminating a word, a
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  scripture, a passage to me that can steady me in the midst of
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  the journey. And another important thing that
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  we need to do during our struggles is to remember to
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  worship. The Scripture says God inhabits
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  the praises of Israel. That means God inhabits the
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  praises of his people. Now think about that.
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  Every time you and I begin to praise, God comes, inhabit means
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  He comes and he sits down in the midst of our praise and our
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  worship. And so when he comes, He comes
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  as a king of heaven. He comes with all of His wonder,
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  all of His splendor, all of His gifts.
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  So as we worship Him and as He comes in the midst of that,
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  whatever we need is at our disposal as we worship.
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  That is absolutely beautiful. What a great picture because I
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  know that praise brings the anointing.
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  I was going through a horrible time and I just went to Psalms
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  and King David David just shares all about praising God.
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  So I just did that no matter how I'm feeling, you know, because
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  your feelings will say otherwise, right?
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  It's it gets noisy like you're saying you, you can't hear
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  right. But as soon as you start reading
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  the word and especially the praises in Psalms, that brings
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  that anointing and the anointing breaks that yoke.
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  And I love that picture of what you just said and how that just
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  breaks the heaviness that breaks the yoke that is troubling you.
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  So beautiful. It does.
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  Can I say one other thing about prayer that is so vital to us?
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  Yeah. I said it earlier that every
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  time you pray, you have a one-on-one audience with the
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  King of Heaven. Yeah.
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  And so to know that the God of the universe who left heaven and
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  walked in the garden with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day
• 24:35
  so he could connect with them, that same God wants to connect
• 24:39
  with us. And so many years ago, I asked
• 24:43
  the Lord about prayer and he gave me a beautiful picture that
• 24:47
  I would love to share with your audience is that he said, now
• 24:50
  you told me that you're going to meet with me at 6:00 AM in the
• 24:53
  morning. And so at 6:00 AM, the King of
• 24:57
  the universe has taken me at my word, and he's waiting to meet
• 25:03
  with me. And where am I at 6:00 AM?
• 25:10
  So here is God. Sleeping, are you?
• 25:12
  No. Where is God at 6:00 AM waiting
• 25:16
  to meet with me and I'm nowhere to be found?
• 25:20
  You're snoozing. And so this is the beauty of
• 25:24
  prayer, that whenever you are ready to meet with God, God is
• 25:29
  ready to meet with you. And there is never a time when
• 25:34
  we meet with God that we will walk out of His presence empty
• 25:38
  handed. Right.
• 25:40
  And so in the struggles, pray, worship, spend time in the Word,
• 25:47
  and you will connect with the King of the universe, and he
• 25:49
  will bring you out victoriously. That's right.
• 25:52
  Amen. And I can't help but think of
• 25:55
  all those things that you share, those those three things and how
• 26:00
  beneficial it is for us and how much the enemy tries to tell us
• 26:04
  it's a waste of time or you don't have the time or you know,
• 26:09
  that's not going to work. And it's absolutely the
• 26:13
  opposite. And how we just his word never
• 26:17
  returns void and our prayers never die.
• 26:20
  And I just love how that is just Our Daily Bread, our
• 26:25
  nourishment, and how his word is a filter for everything too.
• 26:31
  And how much we will walk away with our in our quiet time with
• 26:36
  him. How much we will walk away with
• 26:39
  so much fulfillment, so much joy, so much peace, these things
• 26:43
  that are eternal and not temporal.
• 26:45
  And how much stronger we will be and getting through our our
• 26:52
  daily lives, our our daily walk with Him.
• 26:56
  And we should be going to Him not as an SOS or you know, a
• 27:01
  rescue call, but this should be our lifestyle.
• 27:04
  This should be what we do, who we are.
• 27:07
  We are, we are spirit beings. And he has a spirit and we are
• 27:12
  to connect with him spiritually every single day.
• 27:15
  And that is through those three things that you just shared.
• 27:18
  And that is so good. I love all of those analogies,
• 27:22
  those pictures that you brought and just colored for us.
• 27:25
  And so let's talk about those people.
• 27:29
  I mean, I know I was one years ago where I felt I was getting
• 27:33
  these strong hits, these blows on every angle in life.
• 27:38
  It was it was almost like, God, I can't handle anymore.
• 27:43
  I'm getting hit relationally, I'm getting hit financially,
• 27:48
  health, you know, my kids health, things that were just so
• 27:53
  tragic in every arena of life. And I thought, Oh my gosh, if
• 27:58
  one more thing comes at me, I, I don't know what I'm gonna do.
• 28:02
  And So what wisdom can you impart to us if somebody is just
• 28:07
  battling that right now where they just feel like they are
• 28:10
  getting hit in every angle in life?
• 28:12
  And I, you know what? I'm gonna do exactly what you
• 28:14
  do, what you just did, and share a journey because I was in that
• 28:19
  place and continue to be in that place.
• 28:21
  In 2018, I was out of town ministering at a conference, and
• 28:25
  I got back to the hotel that Saturday night.
• 28:27
  I was going to minister at a different church and my arm
• 28:30
  started hurting, significant pain.
• 28:34
  And so I made it through the whole that's a Sunday morning.
• 28:37
  I needed help to get dressed. One of my team members had to
• 28:40
  help me because I couldn't raise my arm.
• 28:43
  And so the whole time I ministered that at that service,
• 28:45
  I ministered with my arm across my stomach because I couldn't
• 28:50
  use my right arm. So I'm navigating my Bible and
• 28:52
  the with my left arm. And when I got through the
• 28:56
  prayer line was about an hour long.
• 28:58
  And the pain was excruciating. That night.
• 29:00
  It was so bad, they had to take me to one of those little urgent
• 29:03
  care places on the way back to Houston.
• 29:06
  Just every bump in the road was just difficult.
• 29:09
  So finally, I went to the doctor.
• 29:10
  The doctor said, what happened? Why do you have a frozen
• 29:13
  shoulder? Were you in an accident?
• 29:16
  I said no and so that was 2018. I was writing a book called You
• 29:21
  Can Trust Him and I'm struggling in my health as I'm writing a
• 29:26
  book about trust in God. Yeah.
• 29:29
  So I had to set the book aside and I couldn't pick it up for a
• 29:32
  year. I picked it up in 2019 and with
• 29:36
  all I had, another conference I was doing, with all this stress
• 29:39
  I was going through, I got shingles.
• 29:42
  Wow. And then I got to the end of
• 29:45
  2019, I went from my physical and the doctor said, Miss
• 29:50
  Murray, there's something suspicious going on, I need you
• 29:54
  to go have an ultrasound. So after we did the ultrasound,
• 29:57
  said I need to go have an MRI. So we did the MRI.
• 29:59
  She said we need to have emergency surgery.
• 30:02
  Wow. So I'm still battling the arm.
• 30:05
  I'm overcoming the shingles now. I'm going through all of these
• 30:09
  health challenges. I'm in and out of the emergency
• 30:12
  room. I've never been in and out of an
• 30:13
  emergency room room before. My blood pressure is over 200.
• 30:18
  They cannot stabilize it. Miss Murray, something is going
• 30:21
  on. They're thinking it's cancerous,
• 30:23
  but got all the MRI stuff done. Yes, you need to have surgery.
• 30:26
  We're concerned that it's going to be cancerous.
• 30:29
  So and so forth. And so one night, 3 days before
• 30:32
  the surgery, my team and I are in our global night of prayer.
• 30:37
  I'm laid out on the for praying and petitioning God because my
• 30:40
  blood pressure is off the charts.
• 30:42
  And two of my team members came in and they called me out of the
• 30:45
  room and they said, can you come?
• 30:48
  And I walked out of the room and they said, I am so sorry to tell
• 30:52
  you this. And I said, what's wrong?
• 30:55
  The mom, the story I just told you about, they said your mom
• 30:58
  died yesterday at 7:00 PM and your sisters waited all day to
• 31:05
  call and tell you because they know that you were in this
• 31:08
  massive struggle. You had to have surgery in three
• 31:11
  days. Through all of those harder
• 31:16
  things, the only place of peace was because of that relationship
• 31:22
  with Jesus Christ. That's right.
• 31:25
  And so when we are in those hard places and we wonder, where is
• 31:30
  God, why are you allowing me to go through it?
• 31:36
  He is still our anchor in the midst of the storm.
• 31:40
  We must still trust that even though it seems impossible right
• 31:45
  now, He will bring us out and He's our only place of sanity.
• 31:54
  He's our only place of help. You know, you're surrounded with
• 31:58
  people who love you and people who are praying for you and
• 32:02
  people who encourage you. And all of that is wonderful
• 32:05
  because it gives you a wonderful pick up when you need it.
• 32:10
  But there's no one who can steady you.
• 32:13
  There's no one who can bring peace in the storm.
• 32:17
  There's nobody who can calm the storm.
• 32:19
  God. And that's where we have to find
• 32:22
  our refuge during these hard seasons.
• 32:26
  Do I recognize that it's hard to pray during those seasons?
• 32:29
  Absolutely. Did I struggle trying to
• 32:33
  understand why God would allow this to happen?
• 32:36
  Yes, I did. But I also recognize that if I
• 32:40
  drifted from Him, how would I survive that season?
• 32:46
  Right. And then when you remember, he's
• 32:49
  not the one that brings the trouble, right?
• 32:52
  He is a good father. Yeah.
• 32:55
  It is the enemy who brings the trouble.
• 32:57
  And he wants to separate you from God, right?
• 33:00
  And if he can separate you from God, he can destroy your life.
• 33:03
  So we cling closer, we pray more, and we get in a place
• 33:11
  where we're so desperate to have His that we will move into a
• 33:17
  deeper relationship with Him during those crisis season.
• 33:21
  And they are painful. But remember who you serve and
• 33:27
  the 39 stripes he bore on his back so that you would be healed
• 33:33
  and set free. And He's faithful to bring you.
• 33:37
  Up Amen. Wow, yes, glory, glory to him,
• 33:41
  Hallelujah. And that is a journey.
• 33:45
  And as you are sharing, I couldn't help but think about
• 33:49
  how we got to go beyond what we see in the natural.
• 33:53
  We got to go to who God is remembering his character and
• 33:59
  that's why going to his word is so crucial.
• 34:01
  And especially in I mean in every time you know, good, the
• 34:06
  joys, the highs and then the ones the seasons that are
• 34:10
  difficult and challenging because the days that are going
• 34:13
  well for you, going to his word. Every time we do that, we're
• 34:18
  scribing it on our heart. We're we're taking it in.
• 34:21
  We're we're taking in his and rooting it into our heart.
• 34:25
  So, so that when times do come where they'll be a little
• 34:31
  challenging, we have his word already planted in our hearts.
• 34:35
  And so I just, I, I love that reminder that we have to look
• 34:40
  beyond what we see in the natural and go to what his word
• 34:44
  says and who he is. I think we've all seen a magic
• 34:48
  show where they saw a body in half, right?
• 34:52
  And you know, like what you saw, you're seeing feet on this end
• 34:56
  and a head on this end. And what you're seeing is like,
• 34:59
  wow, those bodies being cut in half, but you know, in reality,
• 35:03
  you know that that person has not been cut in half.
• 35:06
  And so it's kind of that analogy where you may see that doctor
• 35:11
  report that diagnosis. You may see things with your
• 35:15
  natural, your finances, you know that bill that came, but you
• 35:20
  have to go to what the word says over that and who God is and his
• 35:26
  character and what his word says over that situation.
• 35:30
  So that's that's why I always tell people and myself and what
• 35:34
  I do is I just write down the, the things that I see or the
• 35:38
  concerns or whatever it may be. And then there's always a
• 35:42
  scripture verse that attaches to that, whether it's a lie,
• 35:46
  there's always a truth that attaches and can destroy the
• 35:50
  lie. And so I just love, you know,
• 35:53
  just recommending, encouraging others just to write those
• 35:57
  things down that seem to be a challenging or lie and then go
• 36:02
  to what the truth says. There's always a scripture verse
• 36:06
  for that struggle. So.
• 36:07
  Amen. Can I add one thing to that?
• 36:10
  You know, we have so many markers in our lives.
• 36:12
  Yeah. So many times when God has done
• 36:16
  so many amazing things, whether it's a deliverance, a healing, a
• 36:19
  miracle, a sign, something. If we would remember those
• 36:23
  markers during the hard times. God, you brought me through
• 36:27
  that, yes. Therefore, now that I'm in this
• 36:31
  other crisis season, I know that what you did then you will do it
• 36:34
  again. And so if we can just keep those
• 36:37
  markers in front of front of us, then they will help.
• 36:40
  Even now in this new season that I'm in is like what I remembered
• 36:44
  when you did that yes. So I know that you will bring me
• 36:47
  through this one, yes. Irregardless of what it looks
• 36:51
  like or feels like, I know you will be faithful as you were
• 36:56
  then. That's right.
• 36:58
  That's why I journal, I write it down.
• 37:01
  It's just a record of, you know, everything that God has done.
• 37:06
  And that way you can go back and remember.
• 37:08
  And OK, I love ending with a take away.
• 37:11
  Something for the listener to ponder on or take action in.
• 37:15
  So let's talk about this. So we grieve many things in
• 37:18
  life. We not only grieve the death of
• 37:20
  loved ones, we grieve the loss of our health, we grieve our
• 37:25
  financial struggles, we grieve a divorce, we grieve family
• 37:29
  struggles and situations. But God does not want us to be
• 37:34
  stuck in the grieving season. So many people get stuck there.
• 37:42
  My brother died a couple years ago unexpectedly, and one of my
• 37:46
  jobs was to make sure that my parents did not stay stuck in
• 37:53
  that situation. When you remember Moses's death,
• 37:57
  that allowed the children of Israel to mourn one month and
• 38:01
  then he told him to get up and to move on.
• 38:04
  Now we would say that's not a long time to mourn, but God
• 38:08
  understood what he was doing. Sometimes we get stuck in the
• 38:12
  hurt, in the abandonment, in the seasons, in the struggles.
• 38:16
  God does not want us to be stuck there because if you are still
• 38:19
  here, He still has a great plan for your future and He's walking
• 38:24
  with you and He will walk with you through a victorious new
• 38:30
  beginning. So I just encourage him to
• 38:34
  ponder on that and to not be stuck in that season and to know
• 38:38
  that if they're still here, God has a great plan for their
• 38:42
  futures. So good.
• 38:44
  Amen. Okay, where can people connect
• 38:46
  with you and purchase your awesome, beautiful book?
• 38:51
  So they can connect with me at joanmurrayministries.org and my
• 38:56
  books are sold in 38,000 retailers around the world.
• 39:03
  So they can catch them at Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
• 39:06
  Walmart, even the small retail stores.
• 39:09
  They can pick up all of my books anywhere books are sold and they
• 39:13
  can certainly pick them up. A lot of people shop at Amazon
• 39:16
  so they can pick it up also at Amazon as well.
• 39:19
  So good. Yes, we like that instant
• 39:21
  gratification, don't we? Fast delivery.
• 39:24
  Yes, Yes. Well, thank you, Stone, for
• 39:27
  coming on here. You're such a beautiful person
• 39:30
  and so full of wisdom and just your revelation and insight into
• 39:35
  the story and just what God has taught you along the way.
• 39:40
  I thank you for coming on here and giving us the opportunity to
• 39:43
  hear from you. Thank you so much, I loved
• 39:46
  talking with you today. Thank you so much for listening
• 39:51
  today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
• 39:54
  story. Did you know this podcast is on
• 39:57
  YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
• 40:00
  you can see a live recording of each episode.
• 40:04
  And For more information on this ministry and to access free
• 40:08
  downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
• 40:12
  That's JAYME elizabeth.com. And let's connect beyond this
• 40:18
  podcast by going to my. Instagram handle Jamie
• 40:21
  Elizabeth, She speaks life or Facebook?
• 40:24
  Until next time, my friend, I hope God reveals himself through
• 40:27
  your own life story.