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394 | Throwback - I Heard It Through the Grapevine · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  When you are in the midst of a trial or temptation, it is nearly impossible to see the good.
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  The fact still remains, though, that there is good being done through your situation.
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  God likens it to being more precious than gold because gold has limits and eventually it is consumed.
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  However, your faith, when it is tried, only grows stronger.
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  Join us in this program, Faith Through the Fire, as Kim Miller of Woman at the
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  Well Ministries takes us through 1 Peter 1.7, which says, That the trial of
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  your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
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  though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory
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  at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
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  Hello and welcome to this broadcast of Woman at the Well Ministries. let us pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious to
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  Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you would speak to each of our hearts.
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  I pray to Heavenly Father that you would allow us to see that all things that
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  happen in our lives have been sifted through your nail-scarred hands.
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  I pray to Heavenly Father that you would increase our courage and our hearts
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  and our faith to such an extent that whatever you have called us to go through,
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  we would understand that you will see us through it, that you will always be there with us.
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  I pray, Lord, that you would give us a desire in our heart that we would bring
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  your glory and honor in all that we say and all that we do and all that we are.
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  And I pray, Lord, that as we spend these next few moments together,
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  that your presence would go before me.
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  And I pray that you would just fold yourself in us and that you would mold our
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  hearts that we would be who you'd have us to be.
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  Where we love you and we praise you and we thank you in Jesus' name and all
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  of God's people said, amen.
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  Nobody likes the subject of going through a trial or facing temptations.
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  Sometimes the temptations that we face are ones that we bring upon ourselves.
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  We put ourselves in a place we shouldn't be.
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  We associate with people that
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  we know are going to try to influence us in ways that we shouldn't be.
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  But that's not what we're really kind of talking about here as we spend this time in 1 Peter 1.7.
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  It's the trial of your faith.
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  And that's a time when you really got to stick to your guns.
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  And maybe all that you can reason in your heart and all that you can reason
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  in your mind tells you that the situation you're in should not be.
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  Or you just can't fathom why it would happen to you.
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  And you can't really, using a carnal or even just man's mind,
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  be able to understand how it's going to work out yet when you stand steadfast on the word of god,
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  understanding that he says that all things work together for the
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  good to them that love the lord and to them that are called according to
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  his purpose that even though all of
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  that stuff when you add it up doesn't seem to make any sense
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  you don't need it to make sense because the
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  one thing you're sure of is that God is
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  in control he loves you and that
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  his will is correct and so
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  sometimes we can say that with full assurance
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  and it's easier than others because we say
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  everything in our life is going all right and so it's
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  easy to say that you're a child
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  of the most high God and he loves you and he takes care of.
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  You but that's not all that meaningful sometimes
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  to those around us but when
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  you can go through a trial and
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  you can go through a situation that everyone
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  around you can see should be
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  scary it's harrowing sometimes
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  it's downright horrible and yet you
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  have the very same countenance the same
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  reaction the same responses the same
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  outlook on life that you had prior
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  to this event taking place because you
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  truly are standing in the grace of God in
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  the fullness of his presence understanding that
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  your circumstances do not change who God
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  is and when you walk through the valley
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  I promise you there's people on the mountain
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  looking there's people in the valley looking there's people you have no idea
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  who are watching and how you respond to the negative things that approach you
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  or come into your life is a testament to your strength in faith in Jesus.
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  And sometimes that's a scary revelation.
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  I've known saints of God who would go through things that would take them to
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  their knees because they knew exactly where to go when they had a problem.
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  But it never shook their faith. I've known people who I thought were incredible people of God.
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  And one little storm came into their life and they were kaput.
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  The storm comes and instead of digging in and battening down the hatches and
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  preparing themselves to wait the storm out in full assurance,
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  they run and they'll
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  abandon their love of the
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  brethren their love for christ they'll go oh woe is me
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  and they have no interest whatsoever in
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  showing the people around them who god
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  really is because they've lost sight of
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  it themselves and we as christians need
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  to take a close look at our lives and who we think.
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  God really is and and how we love him
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  and why we love him we don't love him
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  because everything around us is great he is
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  the same god in the trial and he's the same god
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  in the valley as he is on the mountain his love
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  for you doesn't change his will for
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  your life is to make sure that you become
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  the person he intended you to be that
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  you complete the work he has purposed for you to
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  do and sometimes we got to go
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  through the valley in order to understand that
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  for ourselves and sometimes our
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  faith has to be tried so that he could be given honor
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  and glory sometimes we have
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  to go through the trial so that the people around
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  us can see the glory of god in us sometimes we've
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  got to go through the trial so that others can see what god can do in your life
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  if you just let him have full reign but most of us don't have the kind of love
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  in us that god asked us to love others with to be willing to do that.
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  Some of us have not got our feet so deep in the word of God that we are chewing
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  on the word of God and we're eating the meat of God so that when things happen,
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  we can remind ourselves of the words that are in his holy book that tells us
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  how times of old and events, much like we may be going through,
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  that he showed up on the scene and he delivers.
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  Many of us are still just feeding on the milk, the surface.
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  And in doing so, we cheat ourselves out of the blessings of understanding God
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  in a way that he can use us in a way that he can bring glory and honor to himself
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  as we dig in when the going gets tough.
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  You know, in earthly terms, we talk about those kind of friends as fair weather friends.
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  When you're having the party, when you're supplying all of the fun, they like to be there.
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  But when you get sick or hurt or you've
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  run out of some money or you can't quite run with them because
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  it's just not working in your schedule they fall by
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  the wayside is that the kind of
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  friend you want to be to god the one
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  that is there receiving all the blessings and
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  willing to stand and praise his name when
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  it seems like he's just doling out all this great
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  stuff but when he calls you to action and that's
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  what sometimes going through a trial really is it's
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  being called to action to activate your
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  faith to stand for jesus to
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  be a testimony and a witness of who he is to
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  explain that you love him he loves you unconditionally
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  but unfortunately from the way it seems that we live our lives sometimes we
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  don't love him unconditionally at all that's a sad sad thing because we should
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  love him because he first loved us it is amazing to me that he loves me.
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  And he tells us in this scripture in first peter
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  chapter one that it's much more precious than gold it is a precious opportunity
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  for the lord to stand you out in front of your peers in front of your family
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  in front of those who are watching and saying this is one of mine she can take it He can take it.
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  She loves me enough to stand even when the rest of the world would fall.
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  It's such an amazing thing to me that the devil came to God.
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  And God told the devil that he could do anything he wanted to to Job.
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  But take his life.
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  Because he knew that Job would never fold.
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  And that Job would remain true and steadfast. fast, and that his love was real and honest.
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  I've often thought to myself, would he have the same response to the devil if
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  he came to him wanting to do something to me, Kimberly Miller?
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  Would there be that kind of assurance that she'll stick with me? She loves me.
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  It's not about what I've done for her. You can take everything she has, but she loves me.
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  I don't know that I could really face that trial and come out like that, but I do know I hope I can.
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  Or Abraham, when he goes to sacrifice and Isaac, his son, says, where's the lamb?
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  And Isaac continues to want to know where the lamb is, but Abraham continues
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  the journey, continues the process, gets to the place where he's going to sacrifice the lamb.
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  And I believe wholeheartedly that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac.
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  But I also believe in his heart of hearts, he knew that the will of God was
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  going to deliver him one way or the other.
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  And he followed God's direction, even though his mind could not have thought it was correct.
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  Even though his heart had to be broken, even though he couldn't understand the
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  situation, he still could understand who God was and the relationship he has with him.
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  That's the kind of Christian that you and I need to be.
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  We need to be able to understand who God is in the midst of all situations and
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  count it all joy when we fall into divers temptation that we might be found
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  into praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ.
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  Our life needs to be a living testimony of God's goodness, greatness, mercy, and grace.
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  And it's how we respond in those situations that are uncomfortable and negative
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  that's going to shine our light the brightest.
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  Music.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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  our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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  You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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  store or through our website at watwm.org.
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  We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm. If you visit our website,
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  you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits, a daily devotion written by Kim and
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  delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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  Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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  And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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  To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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  Remember that God loves you. You.
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  Music.