The Steps of the Righteous

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hmm. Welcome to Healing Against. My name is Pastor Gale,

(00:34):
and once again I have Stephanie. Say Hi, Stephanie, Hi, everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey Pastor Gail. Thanks for inviting me out.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, no problem. Today we're going to talk about something
how the steps of the rights are ordered of God
and how we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
I've written a book called God Moment. Stephanie, you've written
some books too, Yeah, what have you written? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
So, I've written one book called Magnanimous Love the Kida
Transforming the City, and then another book called is War Nice?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
And so today though, we're going to look at my
book God Moments, while I've actually written God Moments Amazing
Encounters with the Divine in everyday life. And if you
put my name Gail Kroke into Amazon, you'll find four
books I've written. And I'm not going to go into
that right now. But we're going to talk about how
the stuffs of the righteous are ordered of God, and
I'm going to have to I'm going to have Stephanie
read the introduction to God Moments. So the reason I'm

(01:27):
doing this I asked the business leader in Grand Rapids
about what might I be able to do on a
program that he thought would be good. Easa Gale, He goes,
I think you need to read some of the God
Moments stories now and then for people. So that's what
we're going to do. Stephanie, you want to read the introduction, please?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
H absolutely so, Gail says.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
It was September twenty fourth, twenty twenty two, my birthday,
and I was in a coffee shop in Battle Creek, Michigan,
watching people come in place their orders and then leave.
It was a typical Saturday and no one was expecting
anything special to happen to them that day. But little
did they know that many of them would experience God
moments that would impact their lives in a big way.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
More than they knew.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Those little God moments that happen in our lives often
cause the most significant changes, and many times we don't
see them until after time has passed. The world around
us is moving fast. Everyone has places to go, people
to see, and families in their care. Yet God desires

(02:30):
to speak a word into our lives, and often he
uses ordinary people to speak to us as we merely
encounter them while going about our daily lives. I asked
the Lord for the title of this book, and God
moments came to mind. So what is a God moment?
Have you ever had a bad day and then unexpectedly

(02:53):
a friend called and said that God laid you on
their heart and they were praying for you.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Didn't that make you feel good? That was a God moment.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Have you ever had someone pray for you who knew
nothing about what you were going through, and yet they
prayed precisely about that situation?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Once again, that's a God moment.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Or maybe you were going about your typical day and
a stranger spoke encouraging words that you needed to hear.
There are God moments in our lives that mean so
much and change the.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Course of our lives forever.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Just the other day, as I was going about my
everyday life, God had planned a set up for me
and I didn't even know it. Psalm thirty seven twenty
three says the steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and he delighteth.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
In his way.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Many times in my life God has ordered my steps,
or should I say, he planned where I would go,
even when I did not know it. And I found
myself in a God moment with a stranger that had
a significant impact.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
On my life and on theirs too. So back to
my story.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
September twenty fourth was a Saturday, and I planned to
go out and run one errand, but suddenly my plans changed.
My wife asked me to check the water softener to
see if it needed more salt than it did. This
was not my favorite household chore, you know how it is.
Water softeners were never in a convenient location, and at
my house we must walk through the garage, go down

(04:24):
the stairs to the basement where the water softener is
in the furthest corner. The salt bags are heavy and
my arms are not as strong as they should be.
I left home and headed to Low's, not expecting anything
out of the ordinary to happen to me. That afternoon,
I went into Low's, grabbed a cart, and loaded four
forty pound bags of salt after purchasing them. I opened

(04:48):
my car hatch and was preparing to load my salt
when I heard a young lady ask, can I help you?

Speaker 2 (04:53):
I was quite surprised. Out of all my.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Years purchasing salt, no one had ever volunteered to help me.
I turned her and a young lady I'll call Janet
stood next to my car. She was about twenty years
old and about six feet tall, with long, flowing black hair.
I was tempted to say no, I got this, but
I realized that this might be a God moment, so
I replied, yes, thank you. She grabbed the bags like

(05:19):
they were not even heavy and began to load them
into the back of my car. As she placed the
last bag in the back, I said, do you need prayer?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I'm a pastor.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
She paused, as if we were frozen in time. Then
she looked at me and said, I am having a
bad day. I went to the doctor yesterday and he
gave me a bad diagnosis. She did not want to
share what it was to me. She looked as though
nothing was wrong with her. That's the typical way of
a lot of people who we meet every day appear.
She said, yes, you can pray with me. So I

(05:50):
held out my hands. She took them, and I began
to pray right there in the parking lot of lows
next to my car, with my hatch back open. I'd
tell that the Holy Spirit was directing my prayer. When
I said amen, she lifted her head. I could see tears.
I could see tears streaming under her long, wind blown

(06:11):
black hair, which brushed her face. She thanked me for
praying for her and hugged me. She told me that
she attended a good church, and I encouraged her to
contact her pastor for more prayer and counsel. I gave
her my spiritual care consultant's business card in case she
decided to call for a healing session with one of
our teams. As I drove off, she waved goodbye with
a big smile that I thought, what if I'd said

(06:33):
no to her helping me, or what if I had
never asked her if she needed prayer? I would have
missed a God moment. Her life was impacted, as was mine.
This experience changed us both. As a result of these
type of God moments, I have made it oppressed to
ask people if they need prayer. The question has set
me up for so many God experiences as I've prayed

(06:56):
for people while going about my everyday life.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
All that to.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Say, God wants to use you when we talk about
the big miracles. Many people feel as though God would
never use.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Them to do that.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
I've had many God moments, which I've shared with you
in this book. I believe they will encourage you in
your faith and help you to step out more in
faith every day. I believe the Lord wanted me to
share these stories with you. First, John one three says
that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto
you that ye also may have fellowship with us. And

(07:34):
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
son Jesus Christ. I pray that through this book God
will get the glory for all he has done for me,
and that you are inspired to walk closer with Him
and recognize the God moments in your everyday life.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Amen.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
I cannot believe how God gave me the introduction to
that book. I was literally writing it that day and
then I had that encounter with her, and wow, oh
my goodness, this is a good way to start off
a book. So what I don't like about books is
they'll start off strong, die in the middle, and really

(08:16):
die at the end. And usually a book like that
I don't even read through. I don't like it. So
I was like, well, Lord, what do you want me
to do? And the Lord said, well, everybody likes a story.
Why why don't you do a book of stories? What
you've seen me doing I go, well, people think I'm bragging,
and God said to me, no, no, those are not
your stories. Their mine's right, It's my story, his glory

(08:41):
and we all. And you know what's interesting that girl
didn't work for lows. She worked from Minards, and so
that made it even more funny. Here she stands in
a Lowe's parking lot and may I help you? And
I look, I'm like, wow, she's going to load that
sought for me. And she grabbed two bags at once. Wow,

(09:04):
I tells, with one forty pound bag and I carry it,
you know, And I know that we were I was
supposed to meet her. I didn't even know who she was.
And maybe later in some ways she'll listen to this podcast.
But when the Bible says that God or dance or
he orders our steps, it's really true. Have you seen
that in your life? Do stuffing?

Speaker 2 (09:24):
Absolutely? Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I had a dream over ten years ago, specifically about
Muslims coming through the Gate of Salvation real quickly, And
now ten years later, I'm working in Africa and Uganda
with a Muslim, an ex Muslim who's converted to Christianity,
who specifically shares the Gospel with Muslim people, and I
didn't know that then, and I wasn't even planning I'm
going to Uganda, but my friend had invited me to go,

(09:48):
and I went, and I made this connection.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
The favorite the Lord's just been on it, and.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
So all those things that he created me to do
are coming to pass my life.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
And I didn't have to do anything to make it happen.
I just kept moving forward, like your friend who said.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
To you, move forward, go straight, go straight ahead.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
You're reminding me. I met a young girl that was
a great granddaughter of a man that used to be
the Poultry Ministry of Minister of India, and she told
me how he came to know Jesus because he was
He was Muslim, and we love Muslims. He was muscle.
He was very dedicated to the Islamic faith and to
Ramadana and to everything. But one night he was asleep

(10:30):
and this man appeared at the end of his bed
and grabbed him by the feet and shook him and said,
I am Jesus. Follow me, yeah, and then he vanished
and the guy, uh thought, Wow, that's weird, and he
kind of brushed it off. Two weeks later, Jesus reappeared

(10:51):
the same way. I am Jesus. Follow me. So this
guy goes, you know, I got to learn about who
this Jesus is. So he went to the library and
got a New Testament, and he read about who Jesus was,
and through the reading of the New Testament, he came
to put his faith in hope in Jesus Christ. Now
this guy was very wealthy. He was very wealthy. It

(11:13):
was during Ramadan. They were all setting around the table
and they were going to celebrate Rabadan. And he looked
at his family and he said, I can no longer
celebrate Ramadan for I now I'm a Christian. And you know,
he lost his wife, his children, his job, his money,

(11:39):
and he spent the rest of his life. You know
what he did Sephany, He wandered, how's the house? Sharing
his story about meeting this Jesus, and he said, I'd
rather have nothing and have Jesus than have everything and
not have him. Now you might be listening, and maybe

(12:00):
you're Muslim. I'm not saying anything bad about that, and
I'm saying is take another look at Jesus. He wasn't
just a good prophet, just a good teacher. He was
God's one and only son. He was God that came
in the flesh, and I couldn't believe. I met the granddaughter.
She was so amazing about this man and about his life.

(12:21):
I wish I would have gotten his name. But he
wandered the rest of his life going househouse and people
would give him food. They helped him to survive because
he's homeless, he's lost everything. And so talk about your
steps being ordered, I mean how many There was another
guy in England. I heard about him too. I don't

(12:43):
know his name. He would pop out front in the
street and say Jesus loves you, and he disappeared. He
did this his whole life. Then on his death bet
he didn't think he wanted anyone to Christ. But people
heard that this man was sick, and they came from
all over the world actually and shared with him or
he had impacted them.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
And they were just going about and he was doing
something he thought was crazy, jumping out telling people that
Jesus loved them. And so when God orders your steps
and you're in a situation, listen and speak. Because I
kind of had a situation yesterday. I'm not going to
go into it. I kind of feel bad because I

(13:26):
didn't allow myself to be drawn into their conversation because
it could have been very stressful for them because they said, well,
what are you doing? I handed him my cars that
got my book cover. Oh we're not going to like
that book right away. There was a class of light
and dark and what do you think about this? And
what do you think about that? I said, do you

(13:50):
do any weddings? And I go, I go, actually, no,
I only bury the dad. They go, what I said,
I don't do weddings. I don't perform. I did my daughters,
and I did my doc. I did his wedding with
his wife, but I bury the dead. I don't do weddings.
And they were really egging me on to get in,
and I thought, Lord, should I have really, because they

(14:11):
would have been upset if I'd have gotten the further
conversation in this God moment, because I've read my Bible.
I know what the Bible says. I know what the
scripture says. So I just tried to treat him in love.
And then they walked walked out of the Barnes and Knowles,
and I'm like, oh, that I miss a big opportunity.
I know that what I would have said would have
really like irritated them.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, well, the scripture says don't rebuke a mocker. And
you have to be able to discern in those moments
whether somebody really is hungry for truth or they're just
looking for a good fight. There's a difference, right, So
Jesus with a pharisee, specifically in a religious crowd, and
the other individuals who were just looking for a fight,
he would ask them questions to cause him to have

(14:54):
to think about why they're saying what they're saying until
they got baffled enough to stop antagonizing they were looking.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
For a fight. Yeah, they were definitely, And they said.
They bounced over to me. They were all excited, we
recognize you. I think we know you. And I thought,
I know you, don't I don't know this these two people,
who are you?

Speaker 2 (15:19):
What do you do?

Speaker 1 (15:20):
And I'm being really quiet, and I reached in my
pocket and handed on my cards. Oh we're not going
to like that book, I said, you won't even read it. No,
I won't even read it. It was a god moment's book,
because they definitely needed a God moment.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, but I.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Kind of felt bad I said, Lord, please forgive me.
If I really blew that one. You know, I could have.
I could have really whacked them with the scripture butt.
I decided to treat them with love and respect and
not not get into the situation with them. But have
you had any other God moments in your life, Stephanie?

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Remember one time I was teaching my daughter to drive
or dollar store and she's still not got her license,
so she's driving on a permit. I'm sitting in the
passenger seat and she's in the driver's seat, and you know,
my husband's in the back.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
And we're doing all this stuff.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
Well, she goes to pull into this parking spot and
then someone's pulling out, not watching and almost hits her.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
And I had to.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Reach over and beat the horn because she's a young driver.
She's not really paying attention. She's panicking, freezing right, And
I beat the horn dddd like she's here right.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Oh my goodness. This guy gets out the car every
bleep bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep bleep bleep.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
He thought we were mad. It had nothing to do
with us being mad. We were just saying, hey, we're here, right.
So it was a really cool experience. My daughter finishes
pulling in. I'm keeping her calm and working with her
and my husband at the time. The guy peels out
of the parking lot and pulls out of the road,
and my husband's at six at the time, was six
foot two, big boy, and he's stomping over there. And
this guy's ready for a fight, and I think he

(16:52):
thought my husband was gonna fight with him. And he
pulls up, rolls down his window. He's still cussing up
a storm, and my husband at the time says to him,
are you okay?

Speaker 2 (17:00):
And the guy just started to cry.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
He said, my mom's in the hospital or kidneys are failing,
and blah blah blah. I don't know why your daughter
beeped him me and he goes, wesh, honey. She just
says she's a new driver, she's not good at this.
My wife beats the horn because she was pulling in
and you didn't see her when you were pulling out.
And then he was able to pray for him, and
we were able to pray for them. It was just
a beautiful God moment because we weren't intimidated to react
to the rage and the anger by asking the question,

(17:26):
are you okay. It disarmed him and he was able
to hear hope, and we were able to share the
love of the Lord with him and pray.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
For his mom.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
And sometimes God prepares us for a guide moment. I
remember running home from Holland one night. I think it's
got to be one am in the morning, and I'm
coming down Am forty. I'm coming up to the truck
stop and the Lord says, pull in, pick up two
grape juice. I said, what he said, pick up two
grape juice. I said, I don't want to grape juice.
Picked them up, so I pulled in. I thought, what

(17:57):
is it gain to hurt? I walk in and I
was in my camaro at the time. You know, maybe
you've heard the story. So I pick up. I pick
up the grape juice and I put them in my
in the council in the center. And I'm cruising down
in forty toward Hamilton and they turn off a road
toward over I saw and it's a driving rain and
rain is falling, and there's this My lights hit this couple.

(18:20):
They're she's staggering, she looks like she's drunk. And I
rolled by and my God said, pick them up and
I said, what pick them up? And I said no,
and he said pick them up? So I don't. My
little thing about this is I don't recommend anyone do this.
So I turned my car around. I said, would you
guys like a ride? And the guy in my back

(18:41):
seat drench and wet water all over, I mean water.
I said, what's wrong with your girl? And she says, well,
she's hypoglycemic and she needs sugar. I said, oh, God
had me picked two grape juices up for you, and
I pulled them up there, I scolled. He goes, what
I said, God just had me pick these up for you.
Who are you And he goes, all right, goes, are

(19:02):
you an angel? I said, no, Angels don't drive camaros.
Here's my grape juice. So I said, where's your house?
It was like fifteen miles on the road. I said,
I'm going to take you home. Then we pulled up
and he goes, can we give you money? I said,
no money. He said, are you sure you're not an angel?
I said, I know, I'm not an angel. They don't

(19:23):
drive camaros. I'm not an angel. So he pulled out
of there and I headed back toward my house through
the country, and I thought, you know, wow, lord, you're
if I had to shrugged that off and not and
not did what I felt I should do. And it
was very soft, that I should pick up grape juice.

(19:43):
That was very soft, very light, not even a prick
of the heart, hardly. But you know, I would love
to meet them. Sometimes they were so impacted. They had
no clue who I was, and I had no clue
who they were. All they knew. At one am in
the morning, a strange guy drives up in a camaro,
picks him up, gives the wife too great je snaps

(20:05):
her out of the attack, and brings them home. Yea,
you know they're still talking about that, right. I wish
you could meet that guy. Where'd that guy come from?
Many of us would have taught that's an angel? Amen? Right,
you do that?

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Definitely, I'll tell you. I'll tell you one more. And
an individual that I've.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Been ministering to for years and just lifestyle all over
the place. We would give advice, we would coach, we
would show the gospel and yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah,
and then turn around and do something horrible, right, And
you know, sometimes we're human too. It's like I'm done, Lord,
like I sold, I watered, I plowed, and here we
are again. So this individual calls me and they're in
the hospital, and they'll.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Leave me a voicemail.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Sons, so seventy please, I need you to call me.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm really sick.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
They're saying, I have this and my liver's filled, I'm
gonna die and D D D, I need you to
call me and pray for me. So I call her up.
She's in the hospital, I say so, and so we'll
just call her Jenny.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
What is going on, Jenny? And she tells me the
whole story and everything.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
The doctor said that she has this you know, diagnosis,
basically that she's going to die if God doesn't heal her,
that she has this much time to live. And I said,
why should I.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Pray for you?

Speaker 3 (21:10):
That's what I said to her, because I'd prayed for
her over and over again.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
I shared the gospel.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
Whether she wasn't living a life for Jesus, but she
knew all the right things and just was like not
doing it.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
She had a really hard life, so.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
She was having a hard time taking that final step
to follow the Lord. And she goes, I promise if
you pray for me and God heals me, I will
serve him all the days in my life. I said,
all right, well, talk to my friend first. So I
give the phone to my evangelist friend. He's sharing the
gospel whether doing all the stuff that he does, and
I'm getting my heart right with the Lord. I'm like, Lord,
you want me to pray for this girl one more time,
Like I've literally prayed for this person fifty seven times

(21:41):
of the course of the last ten years, and every
time it's yes, yes, yes, but nothing follow through.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
So I said, all right, I get.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Back on the phone. He hands me the phone and
I have an open vision, this image of an angel
standing at the head of her bed, and I said,
this is what I see right now, I said, I
see an angel standing at the head of your bend.
I see the glory of God washing over your entire body.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
The Lord is going to heal you. But you need
to keep your promise to him and do what you
said you would do and serve.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Him all the days of your life. And she did.
She came out of the lifestyle she was in. She
got her life right.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
She's a totally different person and her family will tell
you to this day, she is not the same person
she was then, and God healed that issue in her
liver got her out of the hospital. She called me
and left me a voice message on my voicemail three
days later and said, they said I wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Walk, I'm walking. They said I wouldn't walk, I'm walking.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
I'm like, come on, that's our God, you know, even
in our weakness, when we're struggling with those family members
or people in her lives who maybe were like I
don't know, God wants to touch them too.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
My grandma had something similar. My grandma left forgot her
whole life and she was dying in the hospital and
the doctor said, wow, you're not going to make it
out of here. And the next day she called the
doctor to the room. She said, I'm leaving the hospital soon.
He goes, how do you know? She said, well, I
talked to Jesus last night. He gave me fifteen more
years to live. Come on, you know, my crazy grandma.

(22:58):
I'm sorry. She wasn't crazy, she was a black. She
lived another fifteen more years so she could be I
could be her final project.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
And so had radical faith.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Yeah she did and got honored at so well. I
want up. We have one minute left here and I
want to close up by saying we would like to
hear your God's story. So my email is share at
Healingbegins Radio dot com. Share your story for his glory.
Share at Healingbegins Radio dot com. May the Lord bless you,

(23:28):
May the Lord keep you made. The Lord cause his
face to shine upon you, Be gracious to you and
give you a peace. And may you always realize He's
ordering your steps when you don't even realize it.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
Amen, right, Stuffanie, Amen, Amen, keep moving forward.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
God is with you everywhere you go.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
All right, you guys, have a blessed morning. Bye bye.
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Speaker 4 (24:42):
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Speaker 1 (24:56):
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