Latest / One Voice Many Conversations / Crushing Strongholds #070 Special Guest Wendy Bower "Gratitude Attack"

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Crushing Strongholds #070 Special Guest Wendy Bower "Gratitude Attack" · One Voice Many Conversations

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another great episode of Crushing Strongholds.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast where we turn pain into power and trauma into triumph.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And how do we do that?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: We do that by exposing the lives of the enemy, by sharing people's testimonies and their faith and how they have overcome and crushed strongholds.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm super excited and delighted and a long overdue conversation I've been waiting for for a while.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a wonderful guest coming on today that I can't wait to introduce you to and tell you all about her.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as my computer we're having a little bit of technical issues, by the way, so if we kind of freeze up, bear with us and just kind of mosey along with this, if you don't mind, you guys.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So my guest today, she she basically infuses her creative and fun-living writing style, which I love that in her beginning, with wisdom that changes our perspective and um also impacts our hearts at the deepest level.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that as well.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's a speaker and author and has a book out, which we're going to talk about that today.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she also teaches piano to um children.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: And she does that, you know, face to face and um on online or through um however you do that.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how you do that online.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, virtually, yeah, virtually, yeah.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like what we're doing now.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to bring in uh bring in my guest today.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Wendy Bower, and Wendy, thank you for being here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait till we get this conversation started.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Me too.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's an honor, Mickey.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you come in and just um tell us about yourself and um uh give us a little bit of the rundown and what God's been doing in your life.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, I've been set free from performance Christianity, and what I mean by that is, you know, knowing all the right things to say and and putting on the face that you're supposed to have in certain situations.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I was blessed to grow up with a lot of scripture, and um, but you know what happens is you can be your heart can become disconnected from what's in your head and all that you've learned.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'd love to say I've been set free from just performing as a Christian and fully living the truth and power of it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: So who I am now is I'm a daughter of the king.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus, and my plan for the rest of my life is from victory to victory, glory to glory.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty fun way to look at the future.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Into that.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I love the enthusiasm too with that, because I think sometimes we we often get so wrapped up in, like you say, um, I love how you said showing up for the performance, you know, it's all scripted out, kind of like if you're gonna do a play and you have it all like you got it word for word, down to down.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think honestly, God doesn't want us to operate like that, he wants us to be who he created us to be, which is true to ourself and true to him.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so I love that.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: One one thing I also like about you is that you have a love language that's not in the five love, not a five love language, but it's a language of your own.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to share that with our listeners because I think it's it it speaks a lot about who you are.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I just I call it a love language because colors just really have always moved me.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and in some of my darkest days, uh, I had no money, uh, was going through a ton of rejection, and just the sight of a certain color, I saw that as God's grace and just, you know, reminding me He loved me.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I I came to learn to be present in the moment, and so much about being present because God is in the moment.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's not like a lot of times our minds are racing out there in the future or like we're perseverating over things in the past, but in the present moment are so many evidences of him when like we can think, oh, he actually put that color that I love in my path.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: That's a way to be encouraged.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: And what I would say is at certain moments when I would be going through something difficult and I'd see that a color and what it represented about God to me, it lifted my spirit.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I have a love language of colors, but and I just finished a manuscript for a devotional, God's Love in Color, that's gonna come out next year, that has each week like focused on a color.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: But basically, what I learned was you know, God is everywhere and he loves us so he is like this uh lover that just wants to keep telling us how much he loves us and give us gifts and all.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: He's lava, he lavishes, lavishes his love on us, and half the time we're not even tuned into it, you know, like things like colors or you know, just flowers, things in nature.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we we just take them for granted and we don't even expect that maybe God could speak to me in this flower or in how this mountain shifted colors when the sun was setting, you know, like things like that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like you have to be present in the moment to receive so many gifts he has.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I went on probably longer than the question you asked, but I love talking about it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's okay.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I think it's it's wonderful.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I believe, I I believe that that you're you're 100% right because I think color is so um it it's all around us.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're surrounded, but but sometimes I think that we don't even see it right in front of us.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I I love that it it it stands out to you and it makes you self-aware of um just your certain circumstances and situations, you know, like it says in James 1, it says, you know, count all joy, you know, count all joy um uh that we've you know when we're trying to fall from temptations or whatever it is that we're struggling or going through.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes when I I ask myself that, well, how do I find joy in this?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for me, I'm like you.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love the flowers, I love the ocean, I love the sunsets, I love birds, I love things in nature, and um not on a scientific level, on a supernatural level, on a God level, I call it, because God is more than just a science level.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that it's all around us and it does bring, it kind of brings us back in.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like he reels out the fishing rod and he will reels us back in, you know, when we start getting too overwhelmed, too um loaded up with too many things, and there's certain little things that he just points out to us that just lets us know that he's still here with us and he wants us to count to all joy, no matter what it is we're going through.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's wonderful.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and if in the Bible, you know, God created light, right?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: And he is the light.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, light is what causes color, yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: It is the interaction of light with a substance that produces a color.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so without light, there's no color.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, him as the light means him as the colors.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's a good way.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, he created the rainbow too.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, again, another another just example of um what he does to just reassure us that he's he's present in in our time.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because you know, we we think about you know that happening, you know, when the arc happened, but um and the floods and all of that with Noah, but the color is literally, like you said, all around us, and it just wraps us up.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many things to take delight in, and we should be doing that.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a good reminder.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think what you're saying is a good reminder for our listeners that you know, um, especially with this podcast, we're talking of, you know, people talk about people that have strongholds and they have um obstacles they're trying to overcome.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: It could be just something really small and simple and minute, it doesn't have to be huge.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: We we always fathom for for what's to come or the bigger picture or whatever, but God, like you said, in the moment, you know, we need to try to stay stay in the moment.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if we can capture that, then we don't miss the blessing.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: We don't miss out on what God actually promises us.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I told a friend one time, I said, you know, God has so many blessings in the Bible for us.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: The reason he doesn't just hand it over to us is because he knows we wouldn't know what to do with it or how to handle it, because we're so overwhelmed with everything going on in the world that when he wants to bless us, we can't even see it as a blessing.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So he can't just he's just not gonna hand it all over, even though every every blessing in the Bible is for every one of us.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's wonderful.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's it's amazing.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I see color everywhere I go.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm a pretty bright person.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, I like color.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I like color of my, you know, and um so I you know, I operate in that.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And people always say, You're always so colorful, you know.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you you always wear so much color?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's like, yeah, because I just, you know, I feel like it makes my day, makes me feel um happy and joyful, you know.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if I were to just, you know, put on a um a dark, you know, cloak and not wear nothing else or just be, you know, wrapped up in that darkness, I would feel trapped in that.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't want to, I don't want to feel trapped.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: God gave us a freedom and we're to walk out in that freedom.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's important.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, with that being said, why don't you share uh with our listeners about your book?
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about it.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Excited.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: What was so cool, you talk about gifts and blessings, you know, and God increases our capacity before he gives us a blessing, you know.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: He increases our capacity to handle a blessing, and um but he's often working in ways we don't know.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I had no plans to write a book about gratitude or anything.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: I had no plans.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like the book was a gift to me, and then I love to share that gift with others because I was just, you know, when you I the whole thing about tearing down the destructive strongholds and building up new ones, that was huge in my journey.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: And even the things like the noticing colors, it helps build the strongholds because it's reinforcing God really loves me, you know.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: When you have that other stronghold that's like I'm, you know, I'm rejected, I'm whatever.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, you're building the strongholds.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, part of um what was happening in me, so you know, when I really started uh turning a corner after being erased by some family and then going through cancer treatment, I got to a point where just everything, I got to a point I'm like, you've got to be kidding me, God.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like so many things kept going wrong.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: I thought I hit bottom and then the bottom would drop again.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but the gift in that is hey, you're really gonna be building some strong new pathways in your brain when you continue to hit up against a lie that has been so deep in you, and um, and then you're practicing, you know, I got to the point where, you know, I I had my my list of declarations and I would be saying them out loud and I'd even be using hand motions and everything because it's hey, uh I read a book because I mean, hey, I was in a really, really dark place.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and um one of the things the the person explained was that if you're doing these declarations and they're not changing your emotional state, because they eventually should, your emotions reveal what you believe.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so so it's always like, what do I believe that's causing this emotion?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, um she was like, do hand motions, and and that's worked for me.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, so I'm doing all this stuff, you know, rebuild trying to rebuild my life, and um so I was also so it wasn't just creating, you know, the new strongholds, it was also becoming present in the moment and making sure I processed my feelings thoroughly with God, not suppressing.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a cancer overcomer, it's been six years, but they expected it to come back quickly because I couldn't tolerate all the chemo, and so I didn't get the full, you know.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but anyway, um, so learning to be present in the moment and then not suppressing feelings because that can make your body sick.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying it causes cancer, but it's not good for your health.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: It is not, and um and so one day I was not, oh, and let me tell you, in those darkest days, trying to be grateful didn't work for me.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And hey, there's books out there, people do it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad if that works for other people, although I'm glad it didn't work for me, because I wouldn't have gone to the levels of enjoying God's love if that did work for me.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I, because I've come out of that performance Christianity, I understand I don't have to do something to earn his love.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, if I'm grateful enough, then he'll bless me, or if I'm grateful enough, then whatever, he'll be pleased with me.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, that day that I had my first gratitude attack, which I called it that trying to explain to friends what had happened to me.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was like I had never had an experience like this before.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was not trying to be grateful, I was processing grief.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was I I like to get out in nature when I have big feelings to process, and I had worship music in my ears and my earbuds, and I was just pounding the pavement and I'm crying, and I'm like, you know, God, this is too much, you know, what I'm going through, just you know how I talk to him.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: And then after I had walked for a while, I just stopped for a moment and I look, and then I'm becoming president in the moment.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, okay, just take a deep breath.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a nice gentle breeze blowing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then I look, and there's this bright pink, which I love bright pink, bogan via hedge.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I think pink is such a cheerful color of joy.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh, so I'm just like looking at this hedge.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Now, a lot of people don't take the time, they see a pretty hedge.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, oh, that's pretty, and they walk on.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Me getting present in the moment, I'm just standing there with the hedge.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm thinking, I love this color, it's a joyful color.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm looking and I'm like, oh my goodness.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: There's these two, a Bogan Villa hedge is actually it the leaves are bright pink.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: You think that's the flowers that get your attention, but it has just these tiny little white flowers.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: But the way these leaves were were positioned, it was like an upturned mouth, like a smile, like two lips smiling.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then there were these two little white flowers right above it.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: It looked like a smiley face.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: I started laughing, and all of a sudden, the atmosphere within me shifted from this yucky, you know, sorrow to this lightness.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like, and I'm just looking at it, and I'm and it was like I hear in my spirit God saying, I see you, Wendy.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: I know what brings you joy, like the color of this hedge.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then I realized, oh my gosh, my shirt and my hat that I was wearing match the hedge.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like, Wendy, this is who I've created you to be.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: You are, you know, you are a joyful woman.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: It, you know, my my feelings at the moment, my grief did not define me.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's my joy overall that defines me.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean you don't have moments of grief or, you know.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then um, and then I'm just gonna say this, people might think it's crazy, but I'd say in with my spiritual senses, I heard the entire hedge laughing with me.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was just there was so much joy.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, what I was grieving about hadn't changed, no problem was solved.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_02: But Mickey, my whole atmosphere of me totally shifted.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't wait to get home and I started writing and writing and writing all these things I was grateful for.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then I mean, I posted it on Facebook.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I've never had something like this before.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a gratitude attack, is what came out of my mouth because like a heart attack comes on you suddenly, it's not planned.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's distressing.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: This came on me suddenly, and it was the most wonderful thing, but I hadn't planned it.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: I wasn't even trying to have it happen.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's when we're when we learn to abide in Christ, it's not at all about trying to do anything.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: I love how the Bible says, be thankful.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of times we'll think, oh, be thankful, I gotta make a list.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: No, be still and know that I am God.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Be thankful is what I like to say.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: When our when we are abiding with Christ, and we are just being being with him throughout the day, throughout the moment, we will experience the wonderful gift of joy.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's the same with joy.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't feel like we are to choose joy either.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's a fruit of the spirit.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's a fruit of the spirit as sick as a dog from my cancer treatment.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um bald.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: I have family members that had rejected me that you think maybe they would draw near.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: My gosh, I have cancer and they haven't.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: Making a list of what I'm thankful for is not gonna do it.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's the it's gotta be a work of the Lord for me.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: And and I mean, one of the things I did in the cancer treatment, I know I'm talking, you can interrupt me anytime.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: In my cancer treatment, I wore a lavender wig because lavender is my favorite color.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: And putting that over my bald head, I hate I I'm not one of those people that look cute bald, you know.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's some women that can totally pull it off.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: No, I got these squinny eyes and this big forehead, you know, that doesn't work with a woman's ball, and I got this big long egg head.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, I wish that would have worked for me, but it didn't.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: And um, but I got myself a lavender wig, and so every day I put it on, looking in the mirror right away.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: That was like, this is my favorite color.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: God knows it's my favorite color, God is with me, He loves me, you know.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, and then that would produce joy, not trying to be joyful.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, did I answer your question?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh yeah, you didn't.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was fine.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're fine.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I think it's important that we think that, you know, um, especially going through something like that, you know.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have I have friends that have have um dealt with that same scenario.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: That um when we're looking at ourselves in the mirror and we're looking for self-identity too, um, when you're going through something like that, you kind of sometimes I think, I wonder, you know, do you feel like you lose yourself in that because of what's happening, you know, being sick and not feeling good and just all of the treatments and everything you go through.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And um I follow a gal that um she's a friend, and um, she's just shared her journey all the way with her situation as well.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um, the good and the bad.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: She's she said, you know what?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to just embrace the good, but I can't when the bad is there.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: You have to embrace both.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that was something that she said to me that really helped me to realize it doesn't matter what you're going through, you have to embrace both.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: But God is there, he's gonna be there always.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's everywhere, he's omnipotent, he's not gonna disappear.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just because we can't visibly see him, always we can see him in everything he's created for us and us, he created us, and so.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's always good in that, you know.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes, like, gosh, why did you even you know, sometimes I used to think, why did you create me?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what what was your purpose behind creating me?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, sometimes those are weird questions that I think we ask God.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you did that, but I have, and and it's it's something that I've always um oh yeah leaned in on because he you know he said I you know, like he told Job, he said, I really don't have to give you an explanation for anything.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't have to give you an explanation.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm all powerful, I'm all meaningful, and is and in his sovereign team, he didn't have to give Job an explanation as to why he allowed Job to suffer the way he did.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when I think about that book of the Bible and I think about the hardship that Job went through, and it was horrible.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: He he wished death upon himself to to get out of what he was going through.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um I'm thankful I've not gotten to a point where I just you know feel so bad.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean that you know, I'm sure there's probably times I feel like, oh man, I wish I could just die, you know, because it's so bad, you know.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that when we look at our identity and who God created us to be, we have to, you know, just keep pushing forward.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not always easy at the end of the day or at the start of the day or in the middle of the day or whatever part of the day we're in.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I love like um your spontaneity and how joyful you are, and and I I love that you called your book Grateful Attack.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's one thing that really drew me to it.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, man, I I want to know what's behind that word, the way you, you know, worded your book.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and um it does make sense.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you said that you know we get a heart attack instantly, we can be grateful instantly.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: If we keep that perspective in our mind, we can be grateful all the time, just like we're supposed to be.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to count it all joy, no matter what, you know, no matter what the temptation is, no matter what we're going through or facing.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that's in James 1.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: It, you know, God tells us that, you know, count it all joy, you know.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you know what I've come to understand with that, and I will go here because I'm I'm getting more and more vulnerable in podcasts because I feel like that's where your testimony really uh makes sense more sense to people, is when I when the when my first uh round of chemo was so bad on my body, I was in the hospital for a week over Christmas during COVID.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: So there was I had to be all alone.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so sick.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like groaning out loud, calling for help, no nurses coming because they didn't have enough nurses.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: The nurses were awesome, but anyway, I look back on that now, and I had no gratitude at that moment, and I don't think I was expected to have gratitude at that moment, Mickey, because there's a there's a chapter in my book that talks about Jesus.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was not grateful.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Now, there are, you know, I mean Jesus, the sinless role model, was not like, gee, thank you, God.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: I get, and so I was not, thank you, God, like the way my I had bad faith, like I'm gonna get through this cancer treatment.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: I had what's called an adverse reaction to the chemo.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: Chemo's hard enough on people, but my body took it, you know, even worse.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I was not in that hospital saying, thank you, God, that this is gonna be a long, horrible road.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like I knew he was gonna get me through it, but what I was focusing on was that Jesus knew my suffering.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so anyway, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was not thankful.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: And when he hung on the cross, what he did, and this is what I think we need to do, is he still communicated with God.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't shut down, and he was like, all he could say when he could lift himself up to have enough air in his lungs that were failing him was, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: That wasn't thankfulness.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: So this whole be thankful every moment of every day, that's that will be heaven.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: But we are to be in a state of heart, a humble state of heart, an abiding state where gratitude could flow at any moment.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I look at it.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so what I what I I considered stopping treatment, Mickey, because life was so hard and just going to heaven.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: I did.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: I just I I really thought this could be an out, and that was the enemy.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I was thinking, I know I'm gonna be in heaven, why not just go there?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so I could have I could have legitimately said, my I can't handle this.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: And it's okay if some people stop treatment, you know.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not no shame on anybody that decides that.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I really had this moment, and and I realized I don't think this is from God for me.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think this is from God.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think this is the enemy wanting to take me out.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: And but the voice was so loud like just don't do treatment, just let the cancer take you to heaven.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I saw a counselor and um this Christian counselor, and we just had a couple sessions and got me reconnected with how much God loved me.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: And what we've what we found in that is where I was when I was despairing of life.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: I just all I could relate to, and this is what I grew up with.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: I mainly grew up with a lot of us, like I I couldn't relate most to Jesus because he died on the cross, he lived in human form on this earth, but my relationship with with God the Father or the Holy Spirit wasn't quite as strong at that point.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: And um what what the wonderful gift in that struggle of I I don't I don't want to give into these self-destructive thoughts of just going, you know, my life ending right now.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um I in this prayer session, it took like a couple of them because you know, she would walk me through and be like, you know, what is God saying to you?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'd be like, nothing, nothing, nothing.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: God bless her.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: She was very, very patient.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: But this one day in prayer, we went into prayer, and I saw Jesus walk with me, his arm around me, to the throne of the father.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I saw him talking to the father.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't hear it, but I saw the father start to cry and get up off the throne, and he came and he hugged me.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like this breakthrough happened where it was like, okay, God cares about my suffering and is deep, and it was like he was deeply moved.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the kind of thing though, I I'm I can't explain to you why.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I stopped asking why at a certain point.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's fruitless.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: We are mere humans, and even if we think we understand something, you know, further life experience will show us differently a lot of times.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then I think when we get to heaven, just so much is gonna make sense that we couldn't possibly grasp, you know, now.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, so I will say that I have despaired of life and really had an out there, and I'm so glad I didn't take it.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I look back now, though, and when you talk about joy, I feel like that year God was increasing my capacity for more joy because sorrow and joy, I I have my next book that's gonna be out in spring is called Joy Awakened, and it talks about joy being like a seed in us that springs up and eventually comes out.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: But I believe that um when God wants to take you to new levels of joy, that first comes with new levels of sorrow.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have the capacity to experience more joy than you've ever had.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: And in that hospital, during that time, my my capacity for joy was being increased, and so cooperating with the father's plan that involves suffering.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if his own son, you know, the the plan of our maturing and growing and getting to know God at new levels requires suffering, and yet joy and joy and sorrow have this back and forth thing.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're feeling like so much in despair, it's like, oh, but remember, the cross wasn't the end of the story, the resurrection comes later, and so joy being in a state of joy, I think is more perseverance.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think at times, you know, enthusiasm really is like per is at the core of perseverance.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: It keeps when you keep going, and you know, enthusiastic that's what keeps you going is perseverance, which is really joy in a small form.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then as you keep going and you don't give up, the whole thing is to not give up.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: And um and yeah, Job despaired of life, but he didn't take his life, right?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, I just um I have oh my gosh, I have so much joy now.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, my problems, like a lot of my problems are still there, they're not solved, you know.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I am cancer free, praise God, six years out.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, some people can live in the fear still that it's gonna return.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I refuse to live in that fear, I refuse to live in that fear.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: So even when you've had a healing or whatever, you've made it through something, the enemy is gonna always have something new that he's gonna, you know, tell you.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so then you get to practice living what you believe again.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: If the devil had his way, we would always be going backwards instead of forwards.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: He's always up, yeah.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's always up to no good.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I think with Job too, like um what you said, I I can only imagine how much joy um Job got to have after, after it was all sitting in.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at how much God blessed him, and and even though he we had that suffering, and same with Jesus on the cross, you know, he he had to, you know, go through that suffering.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: He had to go through it.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was the only way it was possible for things to happen.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so we have to endure suffering.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it the Bible doesn't say we're not going to ever suffer.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: It says he's going to help us get through the suffering, you know.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I mean, more than a conqueror, more than a conqueror, a conqueror defeats something.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a conqueror doesn't just sit around in a life of ease, right?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's true.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: And when Joshua and Caleb, they had to take the land, and it wasn't like they stepped in and then there were no problems.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, there were giants, but they had full confidence, they had full confidence, they were not shaken by the giants.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing that I learned along the way was to name what my giants were, yeah.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, at times a giant was loneliness, at times a giant was despair, at times a giant was fear, and um, you know, it's the whole thing of what is the lie that I'm believing?
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: If I'm believing it and believing it and reinforcing it, it becomes a giant that that we just shrink back from.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so um, more than a conqueror, I mean, that's who we are.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: Through, I think it says through the one who loved us, you know, it's it's his love, he conquered death.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so that same spirit that raised him from the dead lives in us, and we are to go from victory to victory, from glory to glory, but that infers difficulty.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: What would you rather watch?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: A boxing match of you know, two really great opponents or two two people just sitting there, you know, right eating bonbons and talking.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: People don't pay, yeah, people don't pay to go watch people just in a life of ease.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: They pay to see a good match and a true winner, and we are the we the light always wins, the light, every sunrise is like, okay, it got dark, but guess what?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing is gonna stop the sun from rising, and that's the same in us, no matter how dark, no matter how long the night feels, the sun is gonna rise again from us.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: The joy is gonna awaken and rise, the gratitude is gonna take us by surprise because we didn't give up.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's definitely um when I think about the sun coming up in the morning and um, you know, from what whatever went on the day before, you know, um, yeah, we're gonna get up and just like uh if you don't get your house cleaned, you can clean it the next day.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's still gonna be there.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: The mess is still gonna be there.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: But but you know, how are we gonna endure?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna get through it?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we we all have um a lot of stuff to go through.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that one of the biggest strongholds is fear.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the number one stronghold.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because even over over all of the other strongholds, fear is usually what takes you there.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually what gets you into the position where you possess over it or or you can't get um over it or through it or around it because that fear is holding you in bondage.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um even you know, with rejection or or self-identity or whatever the the stronghold is, I I typically um refer back to fear as being, I think, the biggest um stronghold that I I I see and talk to people about um overcoming.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's attached to everything, you know, it's got an attachment.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's hard to detach from things that you're afraid of.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I like what you said that when you're sitting down and writing, that you you had to write down the things that you know you're you know, you had to sit down and write them down.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, like loneliness.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that's that I gotta work on.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that I need to get through.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that, you know, is is is a situation.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we do have to face those.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they they are giants, they seem so big until we go, wow, that's the enemy.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I gotta quit letting the enemy have that much power over my mind and over my spirit.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's why it says we have to have a renewing of the mind, you know.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have to have a right spirit, a right spirit, you know, we're not not an evil spirit, a right spirit, which is a righteous spirit and holy spirit.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's interesting because you know, the enemy wants us to think that the fear is so much bigger than God, and it's definitely not, and it's something that we definitely can overcome and get through.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I I love that um you bring a lot of like color and vibrancy to to just what you want to share.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I know that with people that are I've seen I've seen it uh people that get free.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've seen people be be in one situation and then something has fallen off.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: And a a friend of mine one time said, he said, you know, I thought my life was great until I finally surrendered all of it.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, I stopped hanging on to some of it.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, I it kept it's kind of like when you go to declutter your home and you purge and you go, Okay, I'm gonna get rid of this, but I think I'm gonna hang on to this a little bit longer.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and then you don't use it for three more years.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go to do it again and you hold on to it a little bit longer.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: We do that with situations and things that we need to let go of.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: We don't surrender at all to God and just let him have it, let him take it.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and and I I find that so many people that I talk to, once they do that and they surrender all, they they just said they just feel so light and so free, and it's just so wonderful.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's exciting when I see them, you can just see it in them.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can see the glow on them, you can see Holy Spirit work and operate in their life, you know, because they've let it go.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: They don't the enemy is not sitting there with his thumb on you, like holding you down, you know.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: If that makes any sense.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: I love that you said that word surrender because that key.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: I I just realized it in a podcast like two weeks ago.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: I was talking to to um this guy that was saying, you know, that gratitude, you know, was hard for him at certain points.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then you know, we were talking about I God help me see connect the dots between when you're processing your emotions, that's actually leads to surrender.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: Like when you get that emotion, instead of letting that emotion just sit there and and feed you, when you actually work through it and you you get to a place of surrender.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and from that place of surrender, the gratitude, that is a place where the gratitude then just can naturally rise.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: You can't skip surrender and righteousness.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned righteousness, you know, there's that verse, the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, everybody's after peace and joy, but you don't hear them after righteousness, you know.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: But that always sort of, you know, that always sort of, you know, tripped me up because I was like, oh, righteousness, how could I ever be righteous and purity and all that?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: But when I came to understand what purity of heart is, is Jesus is everything.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Jesus is my first love.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus is when it's that seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what are you doing in that?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_02: You're fully focusing on him.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's what true purity is, that's what righteousness is.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: And from that kind of focus, I just don't want to do something that's gonna break his heart.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to have a thought about somebody that's that's not kind, you know.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: I because I know that that it's not that he'll be mad at me or you know, or whatever.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's nothing like that.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's that in a love relationship with somebody, you know, your most closest people to you, you don't ever want to cause them hurt.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it that's so different than oh, I'm trying to to um not think badly about this person or I'm trying to, you know, whatever.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, like just thinking about how much joy it would give God if instead of being this person that continues to be mean to me, if I'm just going to pray blessings on them and and really mean them.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pray blessing, you know, and sometimes kind of like Lord help me bless this person, you know.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but anyway, you know, it makes it a lot more almost like attainable because that whole righteousness purity thing can just feel impossible.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: And without God, it is not possible.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: We cannot in ourselves, there is no one righteous, we don't have that.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I think, you know, for a while in my journey, I just didn't even pray about it, didn't think about it because it just felt like, oh, one day in heaven I'll be that way.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, it's just I'm a human.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: And but it's like, no, I'm a spirit in a human body, and that's the spirit that it overcomes everything.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I can you know anyway, it it's surrender and righteousness.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think it's funny because when we think about being righteous, we think that we think that God's not gonna accept us unless we're 100% righteous.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that it's the totally opposite.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: He accepted us before we were right to begin with.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't we we put that stipulation on ourselves, and we're the one that, you know, we stumble on our own our own thoughts and processes with it because God never said that.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: God didn't say, Well, once you become righteous, then then then I'll love you.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: Then, you know, I mean it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Don't say that anywhere in the Bible.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell people, you don't have to be perfect for God to love you.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just lean on God.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to show you what to do.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to, He's going to pull you through.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to help you out.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I find it interesting when people just, they, they literally worry about how righteous or unrighteous they are.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they have to, you know, and they'll pinpoint every little thing, every little thing.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I say, man, you're obsessing.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't obsess.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's a critical spirit, actually.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very, it's very damaging, you know, because not only do you obsess over yourself, you obsess over other people as well, which you should we shouldn't be doing that.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: We shouldn't be focusing on what everyone else is doing.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: We should be focusing on what we're doing and our walk and our relationship with God.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: So God can, you know, help us through and help us to build other people up.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: Not, you know, because when we're thinking unrighteous thoughts about other people, we're not building them up, that's for sure.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we're supposed to be doing that as well.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not supposed to, you know, unbuild ourselves.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to build ourselves up as well.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what God wants us to do.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not always easy, especially when you're going through something, a situation.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's kind of hard to go, you know what, today's gonna be a great day, and it, you know, and um, you know, I've had people say, you know, I wake up and I yeah, I just don't feel good, but I have to speak against that.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: I have to speak against that, you know, and even if my day doesn't turn out better, I'm still gonna continue to speak against it.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I had one gal that I had on um one of my podcasts, and she did something that I wanted to share with you because I think it would be beneficial for you.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: Is I love what you're talking about with the hands and you know, just you know, getting your hands involved too, not just looking at nature and color.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: But she said to me, she and she did it, she did it with me on the podcast.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, take a thought that's a negative thought and put it in your mind right now.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, think on this one thought.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, now close your eyes and think on it.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought about it.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, now, now imagine you're reaching into your head and grabbing that thought and you're throwing it down because it's no longer welcome.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's no longer welcome here anymore.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was invigorating.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: It really was.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was just like, I was I wanted to get up and stomp on it.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I wanted to get up and I was ready to go.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: She had me all pumped up.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: And she goes, Imagine if we actually, you know, had the ability to do that.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, but we do have the ability to do that because we can change the reunion of our mind by that process.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: If we think about grabbing that thought and and throwing it down and giving it to God and being like, enemy, you have, you know, you know, Satan, you can't have no stronghold over me.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get to have anything on me.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: You are already, you're already defeated.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Why am I allowing you my time, my energy, and my worth?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it was so invigorating when I thought about doing it.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: And now I I remember that that that episode a lot.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I catch myself doing that a lot when I start to have a a bad moment.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, not today, saying, not today, you got to go.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: You need to get, you know.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it just it really changes my whole attitude, my perspective.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean I'm like gonna make me more righteous or unrighteous to do that.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: It just makes me more connected to God.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: I know that because I know who I'm standing with, and I'm not allowing the enemy to detour or distract me from where God is leading me to go.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes have to do that, you know, sometimes on a daily basis, sometimes, you know, every day, sometimes four or five times a day, just depends on what you know what's going on in the world, you know, because that's a lot happening right now.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when I think about those thoughts, I I think, man, Lord, why did I allow the enemy to take so much joy away from me?
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why did I allow the enemy to make me feel the way he did, you know, or you know, all of that, the way that that spirit likes to linger and just you know attach its ugly self to you, you know.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I find it invigorating when when I think that, you know, God gave us the power and the ability to cast down demons.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't do it, we forget sometimes.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: We step on our own way because we forget the power that God gave us through Jesus who lives in us.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: So if we have Jesus in us, we have the same power to do that, to offer that.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you know, I've been doing that for years actually, with my body like stomping.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: It says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under his feet.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he lives in me.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: So my feet, when I'm walking, I'm crushing, crushing Satan under my feet.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: He's that little.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: I worked for I did substitute teaching at this Christian school a couple years ago, and there was a shooting at a Christian school where some kids and teachers died.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that day, I was so mad at the enemy because the fear was just over everybody.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: These kids heard it on the news, and I I am not real athletic, and I'm filling in for the PE teacher.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, and the Lord gave me this idea, and I said to these kids, you know, how you feeling today?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and you know, a number of them were saying this is really scary.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, You know who wants you to be scared?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_02: Not God.
• 48:46
  unknown: Yeah.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Do you know how truly, like how how powerless Satan is?
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: If we can choose to give him power, we choose, are we gonna believe in God's power or are we gonna be in his?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, so I said, What we're gonna do is we're gonna run across this gym.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna run to the other side.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, I want to see you stomping with all your might, and I want to see you crushing.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, they had so much fun with that.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_02: And by the end, they were all just so joyful feeling, you know.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_02: I do think moving your body, there's something, and I'm sure it's scientific, you know, that there are those body movements I you know, that that really helped.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think, well, when once we get the blood, you know, the blood flow moving and our our mind active and and we start making connections, you know, with ourselves.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it it's all, I mean, that's the way God made designed us, you know.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we are all connected in one.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: But there's also this other element um that we can tend to quickly blame Satan instead of taking personal responsibility.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I I am so done hearing about all this Satan, Satan did blah blah.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, what are your choices?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I find taking you have to know how loved you are to not have shame.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_02: I feel most loved at times when I have messed up and I understand how God doesn't shame me at all when he gives me a correction and I understand it's all loving.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_02: I feel so loved the way he corrects me.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I think a lot of us miss out on joy, miss out on gratitude, all that because we're all focused on Satan, Satan, Satan, or you know, and it's like, well, he does some stuff.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm gonna, he does some stuff.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: But there's some stuff too, I just choose out of my own will.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: And he might know how to get me to, you know, whatever.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_02: But um, there's that whole sense of personal responsibility that can get lost in the whole Satan made me do it thing.
• 51:24
  unknown: Yeah.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: In crushing strongholds, I actually teach on that.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: The the three the three ways for for a stronghold to become attached to you, and that's one of them.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of them is, you know, because you know, from where our upbringing and um, you know, from our family and you know, generations and stuff like that and our culture.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: But another part is through the enemy, through open doors to the enemy, and some of it's from our own choices and behaviors that we did, we opened that door for that to happen.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, and sometimes stopping and looking at that, we want to blame the enemy, you know.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: And God's like, No, you need to be looking in the mirror sometimes and focusing on what are you doing, what are you doing about it?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can blame the enemy all day long, but what you're also doing is by giving your shame over to the enemy, you're also giving him power too, as well.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: You give him more power by giving him the things that you messed up on and and giving him all the credit for it.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's getting the credit for it.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: And not that we need credit for being bad.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: We need, or I'm not I'm not saying that at all, but we need in order to correct our behavior, we have to look at the whole picture.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it is a choice.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have to choose between is this something I'm gonna do?
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know I know the enemy resides, I know what he's up to, I know he's a no-good, you know, whatever, and he needs to kick rocks, is what I like to say.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: He could just kick rocks today.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: But what choices am I gonna make?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if I'm making that decision, it's easy that we can always just go, oh, well, the it's you know, the enemy made me do it.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: The enemy made me do it.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we like to push blame sometimes, but God wants us to, you know, see what's really going on in our lives and go to God.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and if you pray about it, God will reveal it too.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: God will show you, hey, you know, maybe that, you know, like when it comes to forgiveness and and have a given someone an apology because we did something wrong instead of, oh, the enemy made me do it.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't think the enemy made you say those unkind things.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's all the enemy.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be responsible and we need to take accountability.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: We need to ask people to forgive us.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I try to be really careful with the things that I say.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if I say something, then sometimes God immediately will will get my attention.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be like, oh gosh, I'm really sorry.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know why I said that.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my goodness, you know, please forgive me.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: Automatically, God sometimes will grab me.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, you know, I'm just like, you know, whatever the situation is, if if I just haven't gotten over it yet, because I need a little bit of time to process.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, processing takes time.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's you know, but we we we need to, you know, look at the whole picture, not just, you know, you know, oh, oh, the the devil made me do it.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: The devil made me do it.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well I'm sure the devil didn't make you eat three cheeseburgers.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know you have know how to put the burger down, girlfriend.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: Set it down, you know, you know, whatever it is, you know.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just you know, just an exampling, but um, I think it's interesting.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you brought that up because a lot of times people don't want to take that accountability, they don't want the responsibility.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and then they think that that's um another reason for them not to have to act righteous.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: Not and not that we're trying to be perfect, we're not being perfected, we're acting right, we're just behaving correctly.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I tell people, righteousness doesn't mean you're perfect, it means you're walking out your salvation, you're walking out your purpose that God gave you, and you're trying to do it to the best of your ability, not the least of your abilities.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times people just barely give the bare minimum and they want all of the rewards for doing the very least in it.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't reward us for the least, you know.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: And um so I I think that we we have to keep pushing through with those, you know, situations, especially with strongholds, people that have strongholds attached to them, they don't want to release them, they don't want to get rid of it, but yet they want to they'll talk and complain about it all day long, but not do anything about it.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I I tell people, you gotta you gotta make a decision.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want for yourself?
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want that freedom?
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, surrendering all was a thing that I've talked to most people about and until they did that.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: Until yeah, until they did the surrendering part, they and not you know, not purging, you know, certain things, just keep it on, hanging on to it, hanging on to it, and not even like you said, not even processing it, not working through it, just hanging on to it, not even willing to let it go.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's so vital to to how we respond, and it also changes how we react to things because we have this stronghold, you know, that's burdening us.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's amazing.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: But well, with all of that said, now I'm rambling on, but um, oh my goodness, how exciting! What a great conversation! Can you um tell our listeners today before we start wrapping up um where they can find you and how they can order um your book?
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so the best place is my website, authorwendybauer, b-o-w-er.com.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_02: And if you go to my website, they'll have links to all the different places: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Walmart where my book is sold, and you can just buy it there.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or you can always go to Amazon.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_02: But I I will I do want to also say on my website, there's a place where you can contact me and if you and I'll send you a prayer, you know.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_02: Or, oh, and there's free resources too on on how to listen to God, you know, hear his voice, how to, you know, grow in intimacy with him.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's free resources there too.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: So awesome.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I already subscribed, by the way.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: I already took that that step in that.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm excited about that.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I also just to let you know, I put all of that information in the show notes.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: So every time the podcast goes out or wherever it goes out and lands, your information is on there.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: So they want to, they don't have to even look it up, they can just click on it.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's right there.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that'll be information I but I just like for you to share with people that like sometimes not everybody goes and reads the show notes.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: So, but I do put all of that information.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just like to share it.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that it's important, you know, to um be supportive of one another because that's what we're supposed to be doing, you know.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, but with that being said, I have one more question that I want to wrap up with is what can you tell our listeners today?
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: One bit of advice that will have that could help someone that really is struggling with how to be grateful.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_02: Don't focus on being grateful.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_02: Focus on if you're struggling with that, surrender it.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like surrender it and be like, God, I have no gratitude, I'm just surrendering.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then focus on how much he loves you, and if you have trouble doing that, think of the person you feel has best ever loved you in your life, the most loved you ever felt.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_02: Take that times a billion.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like just keep focusing on that how great it feels to be loved by whoever it was.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: That love ultimately came from God, and there's so much more.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_02: So get into that state, get into that state that could start with just knowing the feeling from a person and then connect it to God and ask God to sensitize you to all that love.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's how you'll become more grateful.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good answer, actually, because I think we do get focused on um trying to, you know, trying to perfect ourselves in certain areas of our lives that we're lacking, you know, for so to speak.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I'm working on being grateful, so what you know, how do I be grateful?
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: How do I be grateful?
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: How do I be grateful?
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you start thinking on that, and then you figure out what you're actually doing to be grateful or what you should be grateful for, you know, and I think that we get overwhelmed with it, you know, to when we think about it too much.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, to all of our listeners out there, and it can become a performance.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that could become a performance.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, that's true.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of stuff can easily become a performance, actually.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: But um, for all of our listeners out there, I just want to say thank you all for joining us today, Wendy.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoyed having you.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: I loved our conversation.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can you will find her information on the show notes um that goes along with this episode.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you can go and look Wendy up and check out her book.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, if you have any questions or anything, you can also sign up and ask Wendy anything you'd like to ask.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if you want to ask me any questions as well, go to crushestrongholds.com and you'll find me there.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: I also do have a place on my website.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you need prayer, you can ask for prayer at any point in time.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be glad to pray with you.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, with that being said, I just want to say thank you to everyone listening and joining us today.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wendy, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad we finally connected.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry it took us so long, but we did it.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's all God's timing.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's all his timing.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: Divine.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we were able to meet up finally.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and you take care and to all of our listeners, thank you and and God bless everyone.
• 1:00:22
  unknown: Hi.