February 3, 2025 • 52 mins
What if your deepest pain was actually preparing you for your greatest calling?
In this powerful episode, Dawn Gibler shares her journey of faith, healing, and purpose. From discovering unresolved trauma to working in an anti-trafficking ministry, she reveals how God transformed her pain into a calling. She discusses her transition from teaching to becoming the Awareness and Intervention Director at Elijah Rising, where she empowers women trapped in exploitation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Dawn’s story is a testament to God’s grace, healing, and the power of perseverance. It is also a reminder that healing is a journey, and God patiently walks with us through every step. Whether through ministry, personal struggles, or unexpected opportunities, He uses all things for His glory.
If you’ve struggled with unresolved pain, overcommitment in ministry, or finding balance in your faith walk, Dawn’s story offers encouragement and hope.
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Episode Transcript
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Welcome friends! Thank you to tuning in to the Her God Story podcast where you
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will always hear a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk
with the Lord. I am glad you tuned in. I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, ministry
leader at Somebody Cares America, an international author and traveler on this
journey with Jesus. You know, God cares so deeply about the overlooked and
hurting among us and he has a special place in his heart for widows and
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orphans over and over again in scripture. He directs us to care for orphans
and widows which is why Somebody Cares created the Widow and Orphan Fund. As a
company of women we can do so much together to take care of the special
needs of those he's put in the care of our ministry partners around the world.
Last year we built an indoor shower house and bathroom for a children's home in
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Kenya and together we've been helping three widows living in rural villages
in Africa whose husbands died in tragic circumstances leaving them and their
children destitute. But now they know they're not abandoned and that God has
heard their cries and answered that cry with tangible help. Please pray about
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joining our number with a gift at hergodstory.org and click on Help Now.
We even accept cryptocurrency. Throughout the Bible we read stories of how God
rescued people from oppression and danger. He even rescued those who did not
yet know him like Ruth the Moabite who he led to Bethlehem to experience his
love and faithfulness and the Samaritan woman at the well who Jesus set free from
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guilt and shame and he's still doing the same thing today rescuing people who
are trapped in darkness and bringing them into his family. The Psalmist declares
in chapter 35 verse 10, who is like you Lord you rescue the poor from those too
strong for them the poor and needy from those who robbed them. My guest Don
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Givler has experienced the rescue of the Lord in her life and now she has
devoted her life to allowing the Lord to rescue others through her. A wife and
mother of five sons two daughter-in-laws and a golden doodle. Don was a middle
school English teacher for several years before the Lord called her to help
rescue women from sex trafficking. Now on staff of a ministry that intervenes in
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sex trafficking cases Don personally sees the powerful hand of God rescuing
daughters and sons from the darkness of the sex trade. Welcome Don. Thank you.
It's great to be here. Don your early years were quite tumultuous leaving you
with trauma you did not even realize you had until many years later. Tell us a
little about your life as a child. Yeah so it's kind of funny because I didn't
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know that my life was tumultuous until I was older but I was not raised in a
Christian home. I had parents who said that they believed in God but you didn't
see any evidence of that in their life and when I was four years old I remember
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waking up one morning and walked out of my bedroom like I always did and I saw
my mother chopping down the apple tree that was in our front yard and that was
my father's favorite tree and so even at that young age I knew something was
wrong and I went out and asked her what was happening and she told me to go
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back in well after the tree was down my mother took me to the neighbor's house
and told me that she was just gonna leave me there for a little while because
she was gonna go to the store and she actually took me there and then did not
come back for many many years. Basically my dad raised me with the help of his
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parents they moved in and now my grandparents were believers but they
had already raised six children and other grandchildren so they were tired but
you know I was raised by my dad until I was 14 years old and my dad was an
alcoholic and my dad was abusive. I just thought as a kid though I that was my
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normal that was my reality so to speak and other kids you know in my
neighborhood while no one else was divorced they all had parents who acted
a lot like my dad so I wasn't completely out of place in my neighborhood in total
between my two parents because my mom did end up coming back into my life like
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many years later I'll never forget that day Jodi she just showed up at the door
I was laying in my bed I heard the knock on the door and I I believe it was the
Holy Spirit who just told me it's your mom because I hadn't heard from my mom
in years and I just had this like sinking, sickening feeling in my stomach but
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yet paired with great excitement because my mom you know had come back and sure
enough my grandma came into my room and said your mom's at the door and my
grandma didn't let her in the house she made her stay outside and and she said
it's your choice do you want to see her or do not and so I said yes and I walked
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down the hallway that seemed like it was 10 miles long to get to the front door
and my mom was standing there with a Mary Poppins record and a green sweater
and she greeted me like she had literally just gotten back from the store and I
didn't know what to do with that and so from that point on my mom was in and out
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of my life it was the kind of thing well I'm gonna come and see you I'm gonna see
you on the weekends and she'd arrange a weekend for my brother and I to go visit
with her and stay at her place and she just wouldn't show up and my grandma I
didn't remember a lot of this because I don't after my mom left I really don't
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have many childhood memories that I can remember I have memories of like my
friends and I playing outside but as far as my family is concerned I can't
remember anything but my grandmother would tell me that I would just sit
outside our front door with my little bag packed waiting because my mom was
supposed to show up and I would even turn down sleepovers with some close
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friends of ours who I had been friends with since we were babies and I would you
know say no I don't want to go because I'm supposed to go with my mom and my
mom never came so it was abandonment followed by more abandonment that just
kept continuing throughout the course of my childhood but in total my parents had
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nine marriages and I have had so many stepbrothers and sisters and half
siblings it's just you know kind of crazy but when I was 10 years old my dad
married a woman who was very verbally abusive she was very young she was
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actually closer to my brother's age who he's four years older than me than my
father's age so when I when I look back now that I'm a mom and a grandmother when
I look back I understand she really was just in over her head she took in two
very traumatized children and she didn't know how to do it and didn't get a whole
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lot of help from my dad not only was she verbally abusive but she was becoming
physically abusive so when I was 14 I ran away and the friends that I mentioned
earlier that I've known since we were little children because they were they
were friends their parents were friends with my mom and dad before my mom left
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their mom knew where my mom was and so she picked me up and she took me to my
mom's house and basically said okay it's time for you to be a mom so here I am
all of a sudden with a woman that I've only seen you know just very few times
in my childhood and now all of a sudden I was living with her you know I was
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really grateful that I was now with my mom and out of that situation but that
proved to be an incredibly difficult time as well my mom was married at the
time I don't remember what number husband that was but she was married at
the time and that didn't last and things got very rocky and my mom would do
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really weird things like I would come home from school high school and she
would have changed the locks on the doors and I couldn't get in and so you
know this is back in the early 80s and people just didn't call CPS like they
do now you know children's protective services and so I had high school
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friends who this one family in particular the Mitchell's who were just
amazing and they would just say come to our house because what I had to do is
this is before cell phones so I walked to a payphone I called my friend Nikki
Nikki tells her mom and her mom says yeah come on over and I would just stay
with them until all of a sudden the key would get delivered to my high school in
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an envelope that just had my name on it and that's when I knew I could come home
and that would happen on the regular for me and I never understood why I wasn't
allowed to or I wouldn't say allowed my mom and I didn't have the kind of
relationship where I could ask her why all I knew was the key arrived and I
could go home and so it was pretty it was pretty crazy and when I went away to
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college I the only knowledge that I had of what a functioning family was was
from my friends that I'd known since childhood my grandparents and then the
Mitchell family that was it and I didn't even get to see all of those as
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much as you need to build that good foundation now in my childhood years
like elementary and junior high before I had run away my dad did take me to
church sometimes it was he would drop me off at church sometimes he would go he
played on the church softball team but like I said before there there was no
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evidence of the truth at that time and then when I lived with my mother there
was absolutely like no sense of right and wrong in her mind it seemed like
anything went and when I first moved in with her I really wanted her to love me
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and so I you know tried to earn that love and I became an athlete and I was
you know working on my grades and trying to do all of the things that what I
thought a good kid should do and that was just met with her utter disappointment
in me she was so unhappy with me because I wasn't like her and she basically told
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me that to gain her approval I needed to become popular and the way you become
popular is by partying and by being promiscuous and so I ended up getting
hurt late in my junior year of high school I couldn't run my senior year I
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was in cross-country and track and I couldn't run my senior year and so my
senior year I listened to my mom and I began that party lifestyle where I
began drinking and you know having boyfriends and you know doing things
that I knew deep down I shouldn't have been doing but my mom was not only
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telling me to do it she was kind of coaching me in how to do these things
and so that's what I thought I was supposed to be doing and so sadly my
childhood ended pretty early yeah so I began that type of a lifestyle and then
took that into college my college years so that was very confusing as a
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childhood you're hearing the gospel at the church you're not seeing it lived
out you know you're you're being told different messages so yeah when you got
to college you I'm sure you were looking for just any kind of truth and what
did you find well my first week there I met a guy and he was everything that I
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thought I wanted I thought he was gonna be that foundation you know that that I
was craving and longing for and yep and that was the first week there and so I
met him he was this all-American athlete he was from a wealthy family his
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parents the big thing for me his parents were still married and I thought you
know he had to a sister and a brother and I'm like oh my gosh this is great he
was a straight-a student he he was majoring in engineering and he was I
think second in his class at the university so he was really smart and
he looked like everything that I wanted but once we got married everything
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changed when we first got married we had left the university and we were in
Michigan and things were getting I could I was starting to see a lot of the
signs then but I you know I was just so in love that I ignored a lot of what I
thought I was in love a lot of things I should have paid attention to but it
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wasn't until we moved back to Texas that things really went downhill in in the
marriage and we were married for 12 years and it was an abusive situation I'm not
I was not a battered wife okay I want to I want to be very clear with that there
was a lot of emotional abuse escalating into physical abuse and then he had
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some addictions that as a wife I could not tolerate even though I wasn't a
believer it was just something that that I could not tolerate and so after an
incident that was violent I had to leave that relationship and ended up having
over the course of the coming months I ended up having to get a protective
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order from him and in the midst of that 12 years we also had two amazing sons
and so yeah so what disappointment you know after you thought you had found
everything you wanted everything you dreamed about here you were back with a
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you know alone two children but you started to sense you needed to get
back into church even though you didn't really know what really what was
drawing you and that eventually led you to the Lord share how that happened
because it's it's not a real clear straightforward story is it it never is
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but yeah so during the marriage I felt this just urge to go to church and he
flat out said no and so I kind of started sneaking and this is horrible I was
lying to him about where I was going so that I could go to church but I didn't
do it you know regularly but after the marriage ended I went to a church similar
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to the church that I had grown up in and I didn't know what it meant to have a
relationship with Jesus Christ so I just got very involved in the church I just
started serving and serving and serving in many different capacities and one of
them was I was kind of the behind-the-scenes person for the worship
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team and I was doing something for them and this is after probably I don't know a
year and a half to two years of serving I was setting something up and I was just
singing like the worship song that you know was going on and someone on the
worship team heard me and they said hey why don't you actually be on the
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worship team instead of just being behind the scenes and I was pretty
hesitant and what's crazy is at this time I was not even saved I was just
filling every moment of my life with churchy things because that's what I
thought I was supposed to be doing and so I ended up joining the worship team
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and through this and I was on a few different worship teams I was on their
contemporary worship team I also sang in their their choir their traditional
choir and then I sang at their youth and young adult service so like high
school and college age service and on that team is where I met this guy and
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he was a guitar player and a singer in the band but he actually didn't go to the
church that we were both now leading worship for he went to a different
church and was just being hired out to play on this worship team or I guess
moonlighting I don't I don't know if he was always paid to do it but he was
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there and so after the church service which was on Sunday night sometimes the
team would come back to my house and we would we would eat dinner or we would
like play games and one night we just happened to come back to my house and
play monopoly of all things and it was kind of a funny story I was talking to
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another band member and he reached over and stole one of my properties which is
not very godly by the way and so when I landed on that property I said oh I'm so
glad I own that and he's like wait a minute I own it look and it was in front
of him and I got confused well at the end of the game he confessed his you know
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his fevery and it got us all started on this conversation with the Holy Spirit
and in this particular denomination we didn't talk about the Holy Spirit very
much and so this was all very new to me I had been reading the Bible I had been
trying to understand it did not understand it I thought Paul was a
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hater of women I was very confused and then now I have this guy telling me
about Holy Spirit and everything that the Holy Spirit had done in his life and
it got me interested and so all the other band members ended up leaving and
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he said at one end of my couch and I said at the other I had to teach the next
morning it was the craziest thing but all of a sudden I looked at the clock and
it was 5 a.m. and he had just been telling me story after story after story
about what the Holy Spirit had you know had done in his life and so I was very
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intrigued and that just really caused me to seek the Lord and eventually I mean I
got saved through that now it's a funny thing about getting saved because the
church that he and I then started going to which was his home church really
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talked a lot about you know once you're saved the old things don't affect you
anymore but one thing that I learned that I did not get immediately delivered
from the trauma of my childhood I had old hurt I had attitude very bad
attitudes I had responses that just didn't align with God's heart and it's
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so beautiful that God walks with you through that and and he did and he was
so patient with me and you know the patient comes later but even just with
my belief system I had so many things that God needed to tweak and refine
which he did and is still doing so yeah well it's that you know sanctification
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justification right balance and those are big words but you know when we come to
Christ we are immediately made right in the sight of God when he looks at us
everything is perfect because we have we are covered with the righteousness of
Christ Jesus but yes we still have to go to that sanctification process that
process of being changed and growing into Christ yeah so it's kind of a you
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know double thing you know it's hard to understand sometimes but God looks at us
and we're perfect but the Holy Spirit is working us to really make us perfect
the perfection that God knows we will be one day right yeah so after you gave
your life to Christ you you actually married the guy and you started attending
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his church and God started working in your life tell us about that well I did
I made the same mistake I did at the previous church I still at that point
thought that getting to know God and seeking the Lord was serving him I'm a
doer I am I've always been a doer when I was a little girl I saw that Jerry Lewis
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telephone for muscular dystrophy and the next day I'm baking cupcakes and out
selling cupcakes to get money for you know because that's just my personality
and even as a little girl and so I threw myself into serving realized that oh my
gosh I'm not really pursuing God I'm not getting to know him because I'm so busy I
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mean every waking moment was filled with ministry and so I wasn't getting to know
the Lord but again God was patient with me my husband was patient with me and
my husband helped me gain balance in my life because I was the one oh no I got
this I've got this you know and from the outside it looks like I was seeking the
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Lord but inside is what counts and I wasn't doing what I what I what my heart
truly desired to do and so a lot of the service even though it was good and
these and good things were coming from it I didn't have the fulfillment the
fullness of Christ that I longed for so my husband taught me how to just get
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before the Lord and be still and to know him and so during that time I stepped out
of teaching and my husband had become the worship pastor and I became the youth
pastor and together we did inner city pastoring as well we did inner city
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outreach through that you know we so we're working with worship we're working
with students like junior high and high school students and then we have this
inner city outreach where we're working with a lot of gang members and some
prostitutes as well and some homeless actually there was quite a few homeless
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yeah so as you are as you were growing in the Lord the Lord was starting to
direct your steps to where he wanted you to be yeah oh my goodness you know along
the way while you were still teaching or maybe you went back to teaching after
working on staff at the church for a while but while you were teaching eighth
grade you began volunteering at one of these ministries that the Lord brought
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you to and you started learning more about the sex trade and what it does to
those who are involved and you realized at that point that you had some
unresolved issues in your life tell us about that process and how you finally
overcame those issues that you had been dealing with it you didn't even really
know were issues for a long time one thing I tell new staff members here to
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Elijah Rising is that whatever you have not dealt with from your past God's
gonna bring it out and he's gonna give you that opportunity to deal with it and
that's exactly what I experienced what most of the staff has experienced very
quickly upon joining Elijah Rising I realized that there is a very high
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probability that I was sexually assaulted when I was a child which would
also explain why I don't have a lot of memories from that time and so like I
said I don't remember it happening but I have behaviors that are just textbook
of what a child who has been sexually assaulted exhibits in their adult life
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when it has not been dealt with and so that all came out and again my husband
was super patient and gracious with me as I worked for over three years now on
these issues it was very stressful on our marriage my husband had you know left
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pastoring and become a police officer I had left teaching and is now working for
an anti-sex trafficking organization we still have the children you know life
was just really crazy and our marriage was struggling even though he was being
very patient with me I was the source of a lot of the issues in our marriage and
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then finally and I kept trying to fix everything but finally just one day I
was up in my closet and I was so utterly frustrated with my situation with
myself and I realized I I can't do this I was trying to carry the world on my
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shoulders I was failing and I I finally at that moment understood what it means
to truly surrender everything to lay everything before the Lord and so I
begin to cry out to him and when I mean cry out I was crying out so loudly that
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my neighbor calls to check and see if I was okay I was great that's loud I'm
like I'm just praying and they're like okay whatever but we're in a duplex so
it's a wall but still it's a pretty big wall and so I I in this time I told God
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that I was angry with him that I was disappointed in him that I was angry
with myself and disappointed in myself I did a lot of yelling I did a lot of
crying and then I began to write out everything I was writing up my feelings
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and realized that ever since I was a child I hadn't truly allowed myself to
feel anything from the time I was a little kid even through the abuse that
was happening in the marriage I I put up I don't I don't know if it's a wall but
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I was like stone cold like I wasn't I didn't let myself feel things and so I
realized that I need to feel all of this and God God let me that night and so
after I wrote it all out I finally kind of conceded I guess to the Lord and and
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I I'm like okay well I have tried everything that I can think of I have
tried every tool in my belt every arsenal and you know weapon in my arsenal
and that's when I said okay I will try it your way I will do it your way God and
I you know I remembered scripture saying that my life can be transformed by the
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renewing of my mind and so I said can we start there can you renew my mind and
release came in that moment like I had I had a brain fog that was so thick I
thought it was menopause it wasn't it was just everything that had it had
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built up to this like breaking point and so he renewed my mind and so yeah it was
just it was a beautiful it was a hard moment but it was a beautiful moment
yeah you know sometimes we we you know we hear well we have to release it to the
Lord we hear yes we have to do this but you know we often times don't really
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know how to do that exactly but it's getting real and raw with God you know
and for you it was being in your closet and just venting all of your
frustration to the Lord he can take it you know and then at the end finally
saying okay I got it all out Lord and now I'm ready you come in you come in God
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yes and that that's exactly how it happened yeah so before you started
working at Elijah Rising you were when you were still I guess volunteering with
them you were an eighth grade teacher and even at that point God started using
what you were doing to educate families and to really intervene in some very
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troubling situations so I know some of it is sensitive and you can't reveal all
the details about it but explain what happened and how God started to use you
yes so I was like you said I was volunteering teaching English and 13
and 14 year old students they are very curious and they always Google their
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teachers to see what they can find about you and I didn't even remember doing
this but I had done a video testimony for Elijah Rising as a volunteer and it
explained in great detail that I used to go out to or that at the time I went out
to Bissinette Street and I was ministering to prostitutes and sex
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traffickers and so this spicy little 13 year old girl comes in right before
first period and she puts her hand on her hip and she said I know where you go
every Friday night and I'm thinking there's no way so I said oh you do do you
and sure enough she did she knew she must have memorized the video and so of
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course that was first period by the end of first period the entire eighth grade
new and the students began to just demand on Monday mornings that I would
just give them a little snippet about what was happening on Friday nights and
I had been you know I was kind of getting tired of teaching anyway so I
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thought this could probably get me fired maybe sued but I did I felt I felt like
it was something that the Lord was actually leading me into and so I I
would take the first five minutes of class and I would talk about sex trafficking
obviously in an age-appropriate manner and after that had gone on for a short
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period of time I got an email from a parent and the only the subject line
just said topics of class discussions and I remember thinking well that's it
it's been a good run I'm about to get fired but rather than that it was a mom
who said you know my my daughter's at this weird age she never wants to talk
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to me anymore but she's coming home and she's talking about what you're talking
about in class and so we began to look into what sex trafficking is together
and you know and thank you so much and then the next parent email came in and
so all of a sudden on my weekly newsletter that I would send home to the
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parents about what we were gonna cover in class that week I'm putting in now
tips and educating parents about what sex trafficking is and how they can help
protect their children from it so it ended up being absolutely amazing and
and because of this my students and I had 150 students every year they were
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becoming educated and so I was sitting in my classroom one day and this young
man comes through the door I was grading papers it was my off period and he was
crying big old football player so it was unusual for him to be crying and I
said what's going on and he said I think and then he said her name is being sex
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trafficked and I said well what what would make you think that and he showed
me something on his phone and and sure enough it was happening but and we were
able to get her into safety but because he understood what sex trafficking was
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and saw what he saw and he said something about it you know he was able to get
her help and there's so many other kids in schools there were three in my school
alone just in in less than two years when you were in an eighth grade you were
teaching eighth grade so you're not even in a high school at this point oh no no
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these are yeah like the oldest kids were you know 14 years old and so yeah so
God really used you to intervene really rescue three girls even before you went
on staff at Elijah Rising but that was the only one that I was able to really
intervene in the other one was recovered she was actually taken through an online
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relationship and she was recovered by law enforcement and then the third one we
don't know where she is and so yeah yeah I just want to be clear about that and so
okay yeah well I mean I'm sure that there were parents and children who had
conversations many more than you know about that hopefully led some kids away
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from those who are trying to catfish them absolutely so eventually a position
of awareness director opened up for Elijah Rising and you left teaching to do
that you're now also the intervention director share some of the ways that you've
seen God rescue people trapped in this darkness well well so at Elijah Rising
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we we don't call ourselves a rescue organization we are we empower women
through the gospel of Jesus Christ and so what we do is we go into strip
clubs out onto the streets into kentinas into massage parlors and we share the
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truth that Jesus Christ brings we speak identity to the women and to the men we
meet and we build relationship with them one of the things we tell them is we
love you in this life and we will love you out of this life because we realize
they were manipulated into the life and it would be very easy for us to go in
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and convince them that they are victims and manipulate them out of the life and
that doesn't work and so what we do is we go in we love them we befriend them and
we like I said empower them by the gospel and when they're ready to get out
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they can tell us and then we are equipped to help get them safely away from
their pimp their trafficker and so gosh we have we have just seen amazing
things happen we out on Bissinette Street there was a woman who it took about
two and a half years to build a relationship with her and one day just
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out of the blue she grabbed my arm and she dragged me over to her traffickers
car she introduced me to him and and she was like hey this is Miss Dawn and and I
had no idea what to say I don't even know what I did say actually I have like a
few snippets but the Holy Spirit just began to speak well he liked I guess
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what the Holy Spirit said through me to him so then he starts coming and seeing
us every Friday and fast forward he called me in the middle of the night one
night and said hey we both went out of the game will you help us wow and so we
were able to exit the the guy who was trafficking the girl and their three
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children from the life of exploitation through prostitution and they're still
out of it to this day and so you know that's that's one example but it's
amazing when women and men see authenticity just through the faithfulness
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of showing up week after week and by continually speaking the truth in love
to the point where a lot of times people aren't you afraid to go out there some
of the traffickers even though they're doing like really horrible bad things
they're very protective of our groups and they will come over and they allow us
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to minister to them as well and so it's it's really interesting just how God is
moving and working through our intervention teams I have a great group
of volunteers who go out week after week and share the gospel of Jesus Christ
love people to the point where they're strong enough to make good decisions and
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then we can help and your your teams are covered in prayer and you have safety
protocols in place absolutely and they don't go out alone so listeners
listeners who want to get involved with something like this make sure you
connect with people who are seasoned in this in this way that can show you how
to do do it correctly yes so if you're feeling called to this listeners
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absolutely get involved but get involved through a tried and true
organization that can show you how to do it the right way yeah we have a lot of
training and a mentorship program that you have to come like go through to be
able to serve on our teams just throwing that out there so what does your family
think about what you're doing my family is amazing and they are all in even
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even my two oldest sons who are from another father from the moment we started
doing the inner city ministry working with gang members we've involved them
our youngest children we they know nothing else but serving the Lord through
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that type of ministry and so they are so supportive they are willing to do
whatever needs to be done to make sure that I can serve in the way that I do
my husband my kids they really do they carry a lot of the load at home
oftentimes when things are crazy in my work life they pray for me they support
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me when I have a heartbreak which in this line of work you're gonna have
heartbreak they they're there they they just step in they they fill the gaps for
me they're so supportive and they want to see this be successful because they
they truly and they've all told this to me they truly believe that God's just
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moving so powerfully through the ministry and so they they're there yeah
so you're not in it alone you've got a you've got a support system there for
your for you well dawn looking back over your life you you must be amazed at how
God has uniquely prepared you for this type of ministry the type that you're in
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and do you have any last thoughts you want to share with our listeners oh gosh
if if I could go back and not be so afraid of facing the trauma that happened
to me like because apparently I suppressed it if I could go back and do
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with that part again where I met God in the moments of my trauma and allowed
him to heal me back then you know here I waited till I was in my 50s to you know
take care of all that I would I would just highly recommend not not not denying
your trauma not not um because my my take on it was well I'm saved you know I
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God's blood runs through my veins now so everything that happened in my past it
doesn't affect me anymore I would just tell myself that yet my behaviors were
you know saying otherwise and so just not being afraid to face it and you know
face it head-on with the Lord laid at his feet and just see what he'll do because
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I think that that would have saved me a lot of years of having to struggle and
fight to get to to where I am but I can use all of this because so many of the
women that I serve now that are being exploited they're where I am or I was
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because they know they need change in their life but they're not willing to
admit it and so it does actually open up a lot of ministry doors I've had a lot
of just very candid very raw conversations with women and it's it's
been so powerful and not that I'm happy that the things happened in my life
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that did but you know God does turn all things to good and he's using what I've
gone through to help others and so I truly am thankful for that I know it
sounds kind of cliche but I really am well it's so I think important for all
of us to know whatever the Lord has brought us out of because we've all
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come out of different things God did it for our good but he also wants us to
share it with others so they can be rescued as well and you know you said
you don't say you're rescuing you you you share that you know how do you
empower them with Christ Jesus which is exactly right and Christ Jesus the one
who rescues but we all need to rescue from something so Donna as you close
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would you share about a woman in the Bible whose story has inspired encouraged
or taught you something yes and this I believe it's Luke 10 I shouldn't look
this up I'm sorry but it's Mary and Martha and it's when Mary sat at the
feet of Jesus that has been something that I have clung to because like I said
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before I am so much of I guess you would call me a Martha I can fix it I can do
it I can carry that load I can make sure everything's perfect I can do all these
things and it wasn't until I sat at the feet of Jesus did I begin to experience
his fullness and to experience freedom true freedom if you would have asked me
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10 years ago I would have told you what a free woman I was but I was not free it
wasn't until I just sat with him put it all down there and that's what changed
my life like just boom right then amen Jesus changes everything Psalm 30 was
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written by King David who boy he had a lot of trauma in his life even though he
was following the Lord closely all the days of his life so but King David was
rescued by God numerous times and numerous occasions and in Psalm 30
verses 1 through 5 11 and 12 the new in the new living translation reads I would
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exalt you Lord for you rescued me you refuse to let my enemies triumph over
me oh Lord my God I cried to you for help and you restored my health you
brought me up from the grave oh Lord you kept me from falling into the pit of
death sing to the Lord all you godly ones praise his holy name for his anger
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lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime weeping may last through the
night but joy comes in the morning you have turned my morning into joyful
dancing you have taken away my clothes of morning and clothes me with joy that I
might sing praises to you and not be silent oh Lord my God I will give thanks
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to you forever you know God is such a loving father who rescues us to bring
us to himself he takes us from the grave keeps us from faith falling those who
look to him are given joy instead of weeping and dancing instead of morning
but it takes surrender to his good plan and trust in his faithfulness if you've
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experienced rescue by the Lord you know this and I'm sure you're filled with
praise to him and if you're waiting for rescue call on the name of the Lord
Jesus and he will come through for you don't would you take a moment pray for
our listeners oh I'd love to oh heavenly father God I thank you I thank you for
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this time I thank you that you are a God who sees everything about us that you
see the things that we don't even know about us Lord you are a God who answers
the cries of your people yeah when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus he
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will come through for you or for us God he who Lord the way you come through
isn't always what we've planned out so Lord I ask that our listeners that are
calling upon your name God would have ears to hear your plan and if it
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differs from what they had planned God open their heart to receive what you
have because Lord you you know you know far better than we do you are the
beginning you are the end and you are everything in between and there's so
little that we actually know about even sometimes our own situations but you can
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see into them you can see through them you can see beyond them and so Lord as
we cry out and you hear our prayers God pause our minds from racing and trying
to go to the next step and trying to figure out what's next and just like
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Mary God let us just sit at your feet and hear what you have for us so give us
eyes to see when when you bring these things into our life give us ears to
hear as we as we read your word and as we seek you God that you will put our
feet upon the path that you have for us that you will lead us in the direction
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that you want us to go and that you will bring us through every trial that comes
our way Lord truly no weapon formed against us will prosper because we're
yours and everything that happens in our life even when we don't understand it
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God has a different purpose Lord I Lord I think I've been studying Job and just
God how he just struggled and struggled and struggled for understanding just
like I did for so long I needed to understand things before I took my next
steps or whatever so God I I ask that for anyone listening today who is calling
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upon your name that they would just be calm that they would just not try to do
all that figuring out but they would just sit with you that they would pour into
your word and that you would speak to them in Jesus name
listeners if you would like to pray with someone directly and personally we'd
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love to pray with you we have a 24-7 prayer in text line you can give us a
call or text us anytime at 855-459-CARE that's 855-459-CARE or you can email us
at prayer at somebodycares.org thank you for tuning in check out the show notes
(51:56):
at hergodstory.org for scriptures and other information we talked about and
there you can find a free download of a six-week devotional on women of the
Bible and while you're there consider joining our company of women by
supporting the widow and orphan fund and now dear friends I bless you with an
adaptation from 1st Samuel 26-24 now may the Lord value your life and may he
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rescue you from all your troubles her God story is a ministry of somebody
cares America and International to find out more about or support the ministry
go to somebodycares.org
Welcome friends! Thank you to tuning in to the Her God Story podcast where you
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will always hear a good story to encourage and inspire you in your walk
with the Lord. I am glad you tuned in. I'm your host, Jodie Chiricosta, ministry
leader at Somebody Cares America, an international author and traveler on this
journey with Jesus. You know, God cares so deeply about the overlooked and
hurting among us and he has a special place in his heart for widows and
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orphans over and over again in scripture. He directs us to care for orphans
and widows which is why Somebody Cares created the Widow and Orphan Fund. As a
company of women we can do so much together to take care of the special
needs of those he's put in the care of our ministry partners around the world.
Last year we built an indoor shower house and bathroom for a children's home in
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Kenya and together we've been helping three widows living in rural villages
in Africa whose husbands died in tragic circumstances leaving them and their
children destitute. But now they know they're not abandoned and that God has
heard their cries and answered that cry with tangible help. Please pray about
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joining our number with a gift at hergodstory.org and click on Help Now.
We even accept cryptocurrency. Throughout the Bible we read stories of how God
rescued people from oppression and danger. He even rescued those who did not
yet know him like Ruth the Moabite who he led to Bethlehem to experience his
love and faithfulness and the Samaritan woman at the well who Jesus set free from
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guilt and shame and he's still doing the same thing today rescuing people who
are trapped in darkness and bringing them into his family. The Psalmist declares
in chapter 35 verse 10, who is like you Lord you rescue the poor from those too
strong for them the poor and needy from those who robbed them. My guest Don
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Givler has experienced the rescue of the Lord in her life and now she has
devoted her life to allowing the Lord to rescue others through her. A wife and
mother of five sons two daughter-in-laws and a golden doodle. Don was a middle
school English teacher for several years before the Lord called her to help
rescue women from sex trafficking. Now on staff of a ministry that intervenes in
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sex trafficking cases Don personally sees the powerful hand of God rescuing
daughters and sons from the darkness of the sex trade. Welcome Don. Thank you.
It's great to be here. Don your early years were quite tumultuous leaving you
with trauma you did not even realize you had until many years later. Tell us a
little about your life as a child. Yeah so it's kind of funny because I didn't
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know that my life was tumultuous until I was older but I was not raised in a
Christian home. I had parents who said that they believed in God but you didn't
see any evidence of that in their life and when I was four years old I remember
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waking up one morning and walked out of my bedroom like I always did and I saw
my mother chopping down the apple tree that was in our front yard and that was
my father's favorite tree and so even at that young age I knew something was
wrong and I went out and asked her what was happening and she told me to go
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back in well after the tree was down my mother took me to the neighbor's house
and told me that she was just gonna leave me there for a little while because
she was gonna go to the store and she actually took me there and then did not
come back for many many years. Basically my dad raised me with the help of his
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parents they moved in and now my grandparents were believers but they
had already raised six children and other grandchildren so they were tired but
you know I was raised by my dad until I was 14 years old and my dad was an
alcoholic and my dad was abusive. I just thought as a kid though I that was my
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normal that was my reality so to speak and other kids you know in my
neighborhood while no one else was divorced they all had parents who acted
a lot like my dad so I wasn't completely out of place in my neighborhood in total
between my two parents because my mom did end up coming back into my life like
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many years later I'll never forget that day Jodi she just showed up at the door
I was laying in my bed I heard the knock on the door and I I believe it was the
Holy Spirit who just told me it's your mom because I hadn't heard from my mom
in years and I just had this like sinking, sickening feeling in my stomach but
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yet paired with great excitement because my mom you know had come back and sure
enough my grandma came into my room and said your mom's at the door and my
grandma didn't let her in the house she made her stay outside and and she said
it's your choice do you want to see her or do not and so I said yes and I walked
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down the hallway that seemed like it was 10 miles long to get to the front door
and my mom was standing there with a Mary Poppins record and a green sweater
and she greeted me like she had literally just gotten back from the store and I
didn't know what to do with that and so from that point on my mom was in and out
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of my life it was the kind of thing well I'm gonna come and see you I'm gonna see
you on the weekends and she'd arrange a weekend for my brother and I to go visit
with her and stay at her place and she just wouldn't show up and my grandma I
didn't remember a lot of this because I don't after my mom left I really don't
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have many childhood memories that I can remember I have memories of like my
friends and I playing outside but as far as my family is concerned I can't
remember anything but my grandmother would tell me that I would just sit
outside our front door with my little bag packed waiting because my mom was
supposed to show up and I would even turn down sleepovers with some close
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friends of ours who I had been friends with since we were babies and I would you
know say no I don't want to go because I'm supposed to go with my mom and my
mom never came so it was abandonment followed by more abandonment that just
kept continuing throughout the course of my childhood but in total my parents had
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nine marriages and I have had so many stepbrothers and sisters and half
siblings it's just you know kind of crazy but when I was 10 years old my dad
married a woman who was very verbally abusive she was very young she was
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actually closer to my brother's age who he's four years older than me than my
father's age so when I when I look back now that I'm a mom and a grandmother when
I look back I understand she really was just in over her head she took in two
very traumatized children and she didn't know how to do it and didn't get a whole
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lot of help from my dad not only was she verbally abusive but she was becoming
physically abusive so when I was 14 I ran away and the friends that I mentioned
earlier that I've known since we were little children because they were they
were friends their parents were friends with my mom and dad before my mom left
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their mom knew where my mom was and so she picked me up and she took me to my
mom's house and basically said okay it's time for you to be a mom so here I am
all of a sudden with a woman that I've only seen you know just very few times
in my childhood and now all of a sudden I was living with her you know I was
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really grateful that I was now with my mom and out of that situation but that
proved to be an incredibly difficult time as well my mom was married at the
time I don't remember what number husband that was but she was married at
the time and that didn't last and things got very rocky and my mom would do
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really weird things like I would come home from school high school and she
would have changed the locks on the doors and I couldn't get in and so you
know this is back in the early 80s and people just didn't call CPS like they
do now you know children's protective services and so I had high school
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friends who this one family in particular the Mitchell's who were just
amazing and they would just say come to our house because what I had to do is
this is before cell phones so I walked to a payphone I called my friend Nikki
Nikki tells her mom and her mom says yeah come on over and I would just stay
with them until all of a sudden the key would get delivered to my high school in
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an envelope that just had my name on it and that's when I knew I could come home
and that would happen on the regular for me and I never understood why I wasn't
allowed to or I wouldn't say allowed my mom and I didn't have the kind of
relationship where I could ask her why all I knew was the key arrived and I
could go home and so it was pretty it was pretty crazy and when I went away to
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college I the only knowledge that I had of what a functioning family was was
from my friends that I'd known since childhood my grandparents and then the
Mitchell family that was it and I didn't even get to see all of those as
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much as you need to build that good foundation now in my childhood years
like elementary and junior high before I had run away my dad did take me to
church sometimes it was he would drop me off at church sometimes he would go he
played on the church softball team but like I said before there there was no
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evidence of the truth at that time and then when I lived with my mother there
was absolutely like no sense of right and wrong in her mind it seemed like
anything went and when I first moved in with her I really wanted her to love me
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and so I you know tried to earn that love and I became an athlete and I was
you know working on my grades and trying to do all of the things that what I
thought a good kid should do and that was just met with her utter disappointment
in me she was so unhappy with me because I wasn't like her and she basically told
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me that to gain her approval I needed to become popular and the way you become
popular is by partying and by being promiscuous and so I ended up getting
hurt late in my junior year of high school I couldn't run my senior year I
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was in cross-country and track and I couldn't run my senior year and so my
senior year I listened to my mom and I began that party lifestyle where I
began drinking and you know having boyfriends and you know doing things
that I knew deep down I shouldn't have been doing but my mom was not only
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telling me to do it she was kind of coaching me in how to do these things
and so that's what I thought I was supposed to be doing and so sadly my
childhood ended pretty early yeah so I began that type of a lifestyle and then
took that into college my college years so that was very confusing as a
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childhood you're hearing the gospel at the church you're not seeing it lived
out you know you're you're being told different messages so yeah when you got
to college you I'm sure you were looking for just any kind of truth and what
did you find well my first week there I met a guy and he was everything that I
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thought I wanted I thought he was gonna be that foundation you know that that I
was craving and longing for and yep and that was the first week there and so I
met him he was this all-American athlete he was from a wealthy family his
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parents the big thing for me his parents were still married and I thought you
know he had to a sister and a brother and I'm like oh my gosh this is great he
was a straight-a student he he was majoring in engineering and he was I
think second in his class at the university so he was really smart and
he looked like everything that I wanted but once we got married everything
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changed when we first got married we had left the university and we were in
Michigan and things were getting I could I was starting to see a lot of the
signs then but I you know I was just so in love that I ignored a lot of what I
thought I was in love a lot of things I should have paid attention to but it
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wasn't until we moved back to Texas that things really went downhill in in the
marriage and we were married for 12 years and it was an abusive situation I'm not
I was not a battered wife okay I want to I want to be very clear with that there
was a lot of emotional abuse escalating into physical abuse and then he had
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some addictions that as a wife I could not tolerate even though I wasn't a
believer it was just something that that I could not tolerate and so after an
incident that was violent I had to leave that relationship and ended up having
over the course of the coming months I ended up having to get a protective
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order from him and in the midst of that 12 years we also had two amazing sons
and so yeah so what disappointment you know after you thought you had found
everything you wanted everything you dreamed about here you were back with a
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you know alone two children but you started to sense you needed to get
back into church even though you didn't really know what really what was
drawing you and that eventually led you to the Lord share how that happened
because it's it's not a real clear straightforward story is it it never is
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but yeah so during the marriage I felt this just urge to go to church and he
flat out said no and so I kind of started sneaking and this is horrible I was
lying to him about where I was going so that I could go to church but I didn't
do it you know regularly but after the marriage ended I went to a church similar
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to the church that I had grown up in and I didn't know what it meant to have a
relationship with Jesus Christ so I just got very involved in the church I just
started serving and serving and serving in many different capacities and one of
them was I was kind of the behind-the-scenes person for the worship
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team and I was doing something for them and this is after probably I don't know a
year and a half to two years of serving I was setting something up and I was just
singing like the worship song that you know was going on and someone on the
worship team heard me and they said hey why don't you actually be on the
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worship team instead of just being behind the scenes and I was pretty
hesitant and what's crazy is at this time I was not even saved I was just
filling every moment of my life with churchy things because that's what I
thought I was supposed to be doing and so I ended up joining the worship team
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and through this and I was on a few different worship teams I was on their
contemporary worship team I also sang in their their choir their traditional
choir and then I sang at their youth and young adult service so like high
school and college age service and on that team is where I met this guy and
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he was a guitar player and a singer in the band but he actually didn't go to the
church that we were both now leading worship for he went to a different
church and was just being hired out to play on this worship team or I guess
moonlighting I don't I don't know if he was always paid to do it but he was
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there and so after the church service which was on Sunday night sometimes the
team would come back to my house and we would we would eat dinner or we would
like play games and one night we just happened to come back to my house and
play monopoly of all things and it was kind of a funny story I was talking to
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another band member and he reached over and stole one of my properties which is
not very godly by the way and so when I landed on that property I said oh I'm so
glad I own that and he's like wait a minute I own it look and it was in front
of him and I got confused well at the end of the game he confessed his you know
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his fevery and it got us all started on this conversation with the Holy Spirit
and in this particular denomination we didn't talk about the Holy Spirit very
much and so this was all very new to me I had been reading the Bible I had been
trying to understand it did not understand it I thought Paul was a
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hater of women I was very confused and then now I have this guy telling me
about Holy Spirit and everything that the Holy Spirit had done in his life and
it got me interested and so all the other band members ended up leaving and
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he said at one end of my couch and I said at the other I had to teach the next
morning it was the craziest thing but all of a sudden I looked at the clock and
it was 5 a.m. and he had just been telling me story after story after story
about what the Holy Spirit had you know had done in his life and so I was very
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intrigued and that just really caused me to seek the Lord and eventually I mean I
got saved through that now it's a funny thing about getting saved because the
church that he and I then started going to which was his home church really
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talked a lot about you know once you're saved the old things don't affect you
anymore but one thing that I learned that I did not get immediately delivered
from the trauma of my childhood I had old hurt I had attitude very bad
attitudes I had responses that just didn't align with God's heart and it's
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so beautiful that God walks with you through that and and he did and he was
so patient with me and you know the patient comes later but even just with
my belief system I had so many things that God needed to tweak and refine
which he did and is still doing so yeah well it's that you know sanctification
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justification right balance and those are big words but you know when we come to
Christ we are immediately made right in the sight of God when he looks at us
everything is perfect because we have we are covered with the righteousness of
Christ Jesus but yes we still have to go to that sanctification process that
process of being changed and growing into Christ yeah so it's kind of a you
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know double thing you know it's hard to understand sometimes but God looks at us
and we're perfect but the Holy Spirit is working us to really make us perfect
the perfection that God knows we will be one day right yeah so after you gave
your life to Christ you you actually married the guy and you started attending
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his church and God started working in your life tell us about that well I did
I made the same mistake I did at the previous church I still at that point
thought that getting to know God and seeking the Lord was serving him I'm a
doer I am I've always been a doer when I was a little girl I saw that Jerry Lewis
(22:49):
telephone for muscular dystrophy and the next day I'm baking cupcakes and out
selling cupcakes to get money for you know because that's just my personality
and even as a little girl and so I threw myself into serving realized that oh my
gosh I'm not really pursuing God I'm not getting to know him because I'm so busy I
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mean every waking moment was filled with ministry and so I wasn't getting to know
the Lord but again God was patient with me my husband was patient with me and
my husband helped me gain balance in my life because I was the one oh no I got
this I've got this you know and from the outside it looks like I was seeking the
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Lord but inside is what counts and I wasn't doing what I what I what my heart
truly desired to do and so a lot of the service even though it was good and
these and good things were coming from it I didn't have the fulfillment the
fullness of Christ that I longed for so my husband taught me how to just get
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before the Lord and be still and to know him and so during that time I stepped out
of teaching and my husband had become the worship pastor and I became the youth
pastor and together we did inner city pastoring as well we did inner city
(24:23):
outreach through that you know we so we're working with worship we're working
with students like junior high and high school students and then we have this
inner city outreach where we're working with a lot of gang members and some
prostitutes as well and some homeless actually there was quite a few homeless
(24:43):
yeah so as you are as you were growing in the Lord the Lord was starting to
direct your steps to where he wanted you to be yeah oh my goodness you know along
the way while you were still teaching or maybe you went back to teaching after
working on staff at the church for a while but while you were teaching eighth
grade you began volunteering at one of these ministries that the Lord brought
(25:04):
you to and you started learning more about the sex trade and what it does to
those who are involved and you realized at that point that you had some
unresolved issues in your life tell us about that process and how you finally
overcame those issues that you had been dealing with it you didn't even really
know were issues for a long time one thing I tell new staff members here to
(25:28):
Elijah Rising is that whatever you have not dealt with from your past God's
gonna bring it out and he's gonna give you that opportunity to deal with it and
that's exactly what I experienced what most of the staff has experienced very
quickly upon joining Elijah Rising I realized that there is a very high
(25:53):
probability that I was sexually assaulted when I was a child which would
also explain why I don't have a lot of memories from that time and so like I
said I don't remember it happening but I have behaviors that are just textbook
of what a child who has been sexually assaulted exhibits in their adult life
(26:20):
when it has not been dealt with and so that all came out and again my husband
was super patient and gracious with me as I worked for over three years now on
these issues it was very stressful on our marriage my husband had you know left
(26:44):
pastoring and become a police officer I had left teaching and is now working for
an anti-sex trafficking organization we still have the children you know life
was just really crazy and our marriage was struggling even though he was being
very patient with me I was the source of a lot of the issues in our marriage and
(27:08):
then finally and I kept trying to fix everything but finally just one day I
was up in my closet and I was so utterly frustrated with my situation with
myself and I realized I I can't do this I was trying to carry the world on my
(27:32):
shoulders I was failing and I I finally at that moment understood what it means
to truly surrender everything to lay everything before the Lord and so I
begin to cry out to him and when I mean cry out I was crying out so loudly that
(27:54):
my neighbor calls to check and see if I was okay I was great that's loud I'm
like I'm just praying and they're like okay whatever but we're in a duplex so
it's a wall but still it's a pretty big wall and so I I in this time I told God
(28:17):
that I was angry with him that I was disappointed in him that I was angry
with myself and disappointed in myself I did a lot of yelling I did a lot of
crying and then I began to write out everything I was writing up my feelings
(28:38):
and realized that ever since I was a child I hadn't truly allowed myself to
feel anything from the time I was a little kid even through the abuse that
was happening in the marriage I I put up I don't I don't know if it's a wall but
(28:59):
I was like stone cold like I wasn't I didn't let myself feel things and so I
realized that I need to feel all of this and God God let me that night and so
after I wrote it all out I finally kind of conceded I guess to the Lord and and
(29:27):
I I'm like okay well I have tried everything that I can think of I have
tried every tool in my belt every arsenal and you know weapon in my arsenal
and that's when I said okay I will try it your way I will do it your way God and
I you know I remembered scripture saying that my life can be transformed by the
(29:52):
renewing of my mind and so I said can we start there can you renew my mind and
release came in that moment like I had I had a brain fog that was so thick I
thought it was menopause it wasn't it was just everything that had it had
(30:14):
built up to this like breaking point and so he renewed my mind and so yeah it was
just it was a beautiful it was a hard moment but it was a beautiful moment
yeah you know sometimes we we you know we hear well we have to release it to the
Lord we hear yes we have to do this but you know we often times don't really
(30:37):
know how to do that exactly but it's getting real and raw with God you know
and for you it was being in your closet and just venting all of your
frustration to the Lord he can take it you know and then at the end finally
saying okay I got it all out Lord and now I'm ready you come in you come in God
(30:58):
yes and that that's exactly how it happened yeah so before you started
working at Elijah Rising you were when you were still I guess volunteering with
them you were an eighth grade teacher and even at that point God started using
what you were doing to educate families and to really intervene in some very
(31:23):
troubling situations so I know some of it is sensitive and you can't reveal all
the details about it but explain what happened and how God started to use you
yes so I was like you said I was volunteering teaching English and 13
and 14 year old students they are very curious and they always Google their
(31:47):
teachers to see what they can find about you and I didn't even remember doing
this but I had done a video testimony for Elijah Rising as a volunteer and it
explained in great detail that I used to go out to or that at the time I went out
to Bissinette Street and I was ministering to prostitutes and sex
(32:08):
traffickers and so this spicy little 13 year old girl comes in right before
first period and she puts her hand on her hip and she said I know where you go
every Friday night and I'm thinking there's no way so I said oh you do do you
and sure enough she did she knew she must have memorized the video and so of
(32:31):
course that was first period by the end of first period the entire eighth grade
new and the students began to just demand on Monday mornings that I would
just give them a little snippet about what was happening on Friday nights and
I had been you know I was kind of getting tired of teaching anyway so I
(32:53):
thought this could probably get me fired maybe sued but I did I felt I felt like
it was something that the Lord was actually leading me into and so I I
would take the first five minutes of class and I would talk about sex trafficking
obviously in an age-appropriate manner and after that had gone on for a short
(33:15):
period of time I got an email from a parent and the only the subject line
just said topics of class discussions and I remember thinking well that's it
it's been a good run I'm about to get fired but rather than that it was a mom
who said you know my my daughter's at this weird age she never wants to talk
(33:36):
to me anymore but she's coming home and she's talking about what you're talking
about in class and so we began to look into what sex trafficking is together
and you know and thank you so much and then the next parent email came in and
so all of a sudden on my weekly newsletter that I would send home to the
(33:57):
parents about what we were gonna cover in class that week I'm putting in now
tips and educating parents about what sex trafficking is and how they can help
protect their children from it so it ended up being absolutely amazing and
and because of this my students and I had 150 students every year they were
(34:21):
becoming educated and so I was sitting in my classroom one day and this young
man comes through the door I was grading papers it was my off period and he was
crying big old football player so it was unusual for him to be crying and I
said what's going on and he said I think and then he said her name is being sex
(34:47):
trafficked and I said well what what would make you think that and he showed
me something on his phone and and sure enough it was happening but and we were
able to get her into safety but because he understood what sex trafficking was
(35:07):
and saw what he saw and he said something about it you know he was able to get
her help and there's so many other kids in schools there were three in my school
alone just in in less than two years when you were in an eighth grade you were
teaching eighth grade so you're not even in a high school at this point oh no no
(35:31):
these are yeah like the oldest kids were you know 14 years old and so yeah so
God really used you to intervene really rescue three girls even before you went
on staff at Elijah Rising but that was the only one that I was able to really
intervene in the other one was recovered she was actually taken through an online
(35:54):
relationship and she was recovered by law enforcement and then the third one we
don't know where she is and so yeah yeah I just want to be clear about that and so
okay yeah well I mean I'm sure that there were parents and children who had
conversations many more than you know about that hopefully led some kids away
(36:18):
from those who are trying to catfish them absolutely so eventually a position
of awareness director opened up for Elijah Rising and you left teaching to do
that you're now also the intervention director share some of the ways that you've
seen God rescue people trapped in this darkness well well so at Elijah Rising
(36:43):
we we don't call ourselves a rescue organization we are we empower women
through the gospel of Jesus Christ and so what we do is we go into strip
clubs out onto the streets into kentinas into massage parlors and we share the
(37:06):
truth that Jesus Christ brings we speak identity to the women and to the men we
meet and we build relationship with them one of the things we tell them is we
love you in this life and we will love you out of this life because we realize
they were manipulated into the life and it would be very easy for us to go in
(37:28):
and convince them that they are victims and manipulate them out of the life and
that doesn't work and so what we do is we go in we love them we befriend them and
we like I said empower them by the gospel and when they're ready to get out
(37:49):
they can tell us and then we are equipped to help get them safely away from
their pimp their trafficker and so gosh we have we have just seen amazing
things happen we out on Bissinette Street there was a woman who it took about
two and a half years to build a relationship with her and one day just
(38:12):
out of the blue she grabbed my arm and she dragged me over to her traffickers
car she introduced me to him and and she was like hey this is Miss Dawn and and I
had no idea what to say I don't even know what I did say actually I have like a
few snippets but the Holy Spirit just began to speak well he liked I guess
(38:36):
what the Holy Spirit said through me to him so then he starts coming and seeing
us every Friday and fast forward he called me in the middle of the night one
night and said hey we both went out of the game will you help us wow and so we
were able to exit the the guy who was trafficking the girl and their three
(38:59):
children from the life of exploitation through prostitution and they're still
out of it to this day and so you know that's that's one example but it's
amazing when women and men see authenticity just through the faithfulness
(39:23):
of showing up week after week and by continually speaking the truth in love
to the point where a lot of times people aren't you afraid to go out there some
of the traffickers even though they're doing like really horrible bad things
they're very protective of our groups and they will come over and they allow us
(39:46):
to minister to them as well and so it's it's really interesting just how God is
moving and working through our intervention teams I have a great group
of volunteers who go out week after week and share the gospel of Jesus Christ
love people to the point where they're strong enough to make good decisions and
(40:11):
then we can help and your your teams are covered in prayer and you have safety
protocols in place absolutely and they don't go out alone so listeners
listeners who want to get involved with something like this make sure you
connect with people who are seasoned in this in this way that can show you how
to do do it correctly yes so if you're feeling called to this listeners
(40:34):
absolutely get involved but get involved through a tried and true
organization that can show you how to do it the right way yeah we have a lot of
training and a mentorship program that you have to come like go through to be
able to serve on our teams just throwing that out there so what does your family
think about what you're doing my family is amazing and they are all in even
(41:02):
even my two oldest sons who are from another father from the moment we started
doing the inner city ministry working with gang members we've involved them
our youngest children we they know nothing else but serving the Lord through
(41:23):
that type of ministry and so they are so supportive they are willing to do
whatever needs to be done to make sure that I can serve in the way that I do
my husband my kids they really do they carry a lot of the load at home
oftentimes when things are crazy in my work life they pray for me they support
(41:49):
me when I have a heartbreak which in this line of work you're gonna have
heartbreak they they're there they they just step in they they fill the gaps for
me they're so supportive and they want to see this be successful because they
they truly and they've all told this to me they truly believe that God's just
(42:14):
moving so powerfully through the ministry and so they they're there yeah
so you're not in it alone you've got a you've got a support system there for
your for you well dawn looking back over your life you you must be amazed at how
God has uniquely prepared you for this type of ministry the type that you're in
(42:36):
and do you have any last thoughts you want to share with our listeners oh gosh
if if I could go back and not be so afraid of facing the trauma that happened
to me like because apparently I suppressed it if I could go back and do
(42:57):
with that part again where I met God in the moments of my trauma and allowed
him to heal me back then you know here I waited till I was in my 50s to you know
take care of all that I would I would just highly recommend not not not denying
your trauma not not um because my my take on it was well I'm saved you know I
(43:26):
God's blood runs through my veins now so everything that happened in my past it
doesn't affect me anymore I would just tell myself that yet my behaviors were
you know saying otherwise and so just not being afraid to face it and you know
face it head-on with the Lord laid at his feet and just see what he'll do because
(43:50):
I think that that would have saved me a lot of years of having to struggle and
fight to get to to where I am but I can use all of this because so many of the
women that I serve now that are being exploited they're where I am or I was
(44:11):
because they know they need change in their life but they're not willing to
admit it and so it does actually open up a lot of ministry doors I've had a lot
of just very candid very raw conversations with women and it's it's
been so powerful and not that I'm happy that the things happened in my life
(44:31):
that did but you know God does turn all things to good and he's using what I've
gone through to help others and so I truly am thankful for that I know it
sounds kind of cliche but I really am well it's so I think important for all
of us to know whatever the Lord has brought us out of because we've all
(44:56):
come out of different things God did it for our good but he also wants us to
share it with others so they can be rescued as well and you know you said
you don't say you're rescuing you you you share that you know how do you
empower them with Christ Jesus which is exactly right and Christ Jesus the one
who rescues but we all need to rescue from something so Donna as you close
(45:19):
would you share about a woman in the Bible whose story has inspired encouraged
or taught you something yes and this I believe it's Luke 10 I shouldn't look
this up I'm sorry but it's Mary and Martha and it's when Mary sat at the
feet of Jesus that has been something that I have clung to because like I said
(45:46):
before I am so much of I guess you would call me a Martha I can fix it I can do
it I can carry that load I can make sure everything's perfect I can do all these
things and it wasn't until I sat at the feet of Jesus did I begin to experience
his fullness and to experience freedom true freedom if you would have asked me
(46:10):
10 years ago I would have told you what a free woman I was but I was not free it
wasn't until I just sat with him put it all down there and that's what changed
my life like just boom right then amen Jesus changes everything Psalm 30 was
(46:33):
written by King David who boy he had a lot of trauma in his life even though he
was following the Lord closely all the days of his life so but King David was
rescued by God numerous times and numerous occasions and in Psalm 30
verses 1 through 5 11 and 12 the new in the new living translation reads I would
(46:53):
exalt you Lord for you rescued me you refuse to let my enemies triumph over
me oh Lord my God I cried to you for help and you restored my health you
brought me up from the grave oh Lord you kept me from falling into the pit of
death sing to the Lord all you godly ones praise his holy name for his anger
(47:14):
lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime weeping may last through the
night but joy comes in the morning you have turned my morning into joyful
dancing you have taken away my clothes of morning and clothes me with joy that I
might sing praises to you and not be silent oh Lord my God I will give thanks
(47:37):
to you forever you know God is such a loving father who rescues us to bring
us to himself he takes us from the grave keeps us from faith falling those who
look to him are given joy instead of weeping and dancing instead of morning
but it takes surrender to his good plan and trust in his faithfulness if you've
(47:59):
experienced rescue by the Lord you know this and I'm sure you're filled with
praise to him and if you're waiting for rescue call on the name of the Lord
Jesus and he will come through for you don't would you take a moment pray for
our listeners oh I'd love to oh heavenly father God I thank you I thank you for
(48:21):
this time I thank you that you are a God who sees everything about us that you
see the things that we don't even know about us Lord you are a God who answers
the cries of your people yeah when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus he
(48:48):
will come through for you or for us God he who Lord the way you come through
isn't always what we've planned out so Lord I ask that our listeners that are
calling upon your name God would have ears to hear your plan and if it
(49:11):
differs from what they had planned God open their heart to receive what you
have because Lord you you know you know far better than we do you are the
beginning you are the end and you are everything in between and there's so
little that we actually know about even sometimes our own situations but you can
(49:38):
see into them you can see through them you can see beyond them and so Lord as
we cry out and you hear our prayers God pause our minds from racing and trying
to go to the next step and trying to figure out what's next and just like
(49:58):
Mary God let us just sit at your feet and hear what you have for us so give us
eyes to see when when you bring these things into our life give us ears to
hear as we as we read your word and as we seek you God that you will put our
feet upon the path that you have for us that you will lead us in the direction
(50:23):
that you want us to go and that you will bring us through every trial that comes
our way Lord truly no weapon formed against us will prosper because we're
yours and everything that happens in our life even when we don't understand it
(50:45):
God has a different purpose Lord I Lord I think I've been studying Job and just
God how he just struggled and struggled and struggled for understanding just
like I did for so long I needed to understand things before I took my next
steps or whatever so God I I ask that for anyone listening today who is calling
(51:12):
upon your name that they would just be calm that they would just not try to do
all that figuring out but they would just sit with you that they would pour into
your word and that you would speak to them in Jesus name
listeners if you would like to pray with someone directly and personally we'd
(51:35):
love to pray with you we have a 24-7 prayer in text line you can give us a
call or text us anytime at 855-459-CARE that's 855-459-CARE or you can email us
at prayer at somebodycares.org thank you for tuning in check out the show notes
(51:56):
at hergodstory.org for scriptures and other information we talked about and
there you can find a free download of a six-week devotional on women of the
Bible and while you're there consider joining our company of women by
supporting the widow and orphan fund and now dear friends I bless you with an
adaptation from 1st Samuel 26-24 now may the Lord value your life and may he
(52:20):
rescue you from all your troubles her God story is a ministry of somebody
cares America and International to find out more about or support the ministry
go to somebodycares.org
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