Episode Ten: Don't Stop

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I don't know what you've been praying for. Maybe it is finances, a relationship, a situation and NOTHING seems to change. In this episode I share a time in my life where despite my ceaseless praying I didn't see change. Then God showed up. He hears you. He loves you. Don't stop praying. He is at work!

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:15):
Hi, welcome to and then it's a podcast where we look at
what comes after a hardship,hard time the struggle of season
of trial. And we look at howthat actually transforms us and
changes us and moves us into abetter place and a better
person. Today, I'm going to tellyou a story. I came across a

(00:36):
Facebook memory. Actually today,and I was just compelled to
share this story with you guys.
This one stopped me in mytracks. It's a memory, I'm not
sure that it's ever popped upbefore. And it was a picture
that I could probably title,miracles, or answered prayer, or
goodness of God or faithfulnessof God. And I can't wait to

(01:01):
share this story with you, youmight be in a place where you're
wondering, Is God even hearingmy prayers, I have been praying
about this particular thing forso, so long, and I'm not seeing
any movement is even hearing myprayers. Or you might be in a
place where maybe you have achild, a teenager and adult

(01:24):
child who's, you know, notliving out his or her best, and
you know that you're praying forthem to return home, or you're
praying them to return back tothe Father. If that's you, the
story is for you. If you arestressed out about your

(01:44):
finances, the economy inflationis crazy right now, and you're
worried how in the world can mystretch my dollars to cover the
month, there's more month thandollars, then this story is for
you. And if you need just areminder of just how incredibly
much God loves you, this storyis for you. If you happen to

(02:09):
look at my Facebook or Instagrampage, you're going to see this
picture that I'm referring tothis snapshot of this amazing
culmination of miracles momentin time. I'll describe the
picture to you it is a pictureof the four of my kids. It's
2014, march 11 2014. That wasone day after my oldest turned

(02:35):
19 years old and was a freshmanin college. My daughter was 17,
a junior in high school. And mytwins were 14 and in eighth
grade at middle school. Andthey're standing the four of
them all huddled togethersmiling on the edge of a cliff.
And behind them is this vastPacific Ocean was just

(02:59):
incredibly beautiful. And what'sin front of them. What you don't
see in the picture is thisbeautiful campus called Point
Loma Nazarene University in SanDiego, California. But before I
go further, I need to back up Ineed to set up this amazing
moment before I can tell youwhat that moment represented.
Like a lot of families, mychildren have suffered from

(03:25):
birth order syndrome. You know,I know I grew up always being
the baby and the rights andprivileges that came with that.
And my sister was the oldestchild that always comes with the
rights and privileges that camewith that. But in our family,
you know, it, it definitelyhappened to be true that I was
guilty of having that crazy,terrible disease that makes

(03:47):
first time parents obsessive andover protective. And the exact
same parents same to people whoyou know, at the end with
multiple children findthemselves just going with their
with their last ones or thebabies. And that was certainly
true. In our case, my oldest,being the firstborn had 21

(04:12):
months of being the only childpaired with the craziness of a
first time mom paired with theenergy of a 23 year old and that
child was read to so many booksthat was his favorite thing to
do is just sit my lap and listento books and we would read and

(04:32):
read and read and we built blocktowers and puzzles and he was
just got a lot of really greatattention. And I was just
pouring into him and I even hadthese flashcards like even
before the time he was two hecould I would ask him to point
out you know any letter of thealphabet and he could point to
it he knew what the letters inthe alphabet word. And needless

(04:54):
to say, you know he's doing thisI'm I'm like, he's this child's
prodigy. He's a genius. He's sosmart. You know, like every new
mother is with all of theirchildren. And he had the crazy
over protective side of me that,you know, he was the first with

(05:14):
everything that I did withevery, you know, he got, he got
the brunt of my motheringmistakes. I was so overly
protective of him that I even,like, forbid him to play with
Pokeyman. I know like, why pokehim on what in the world Susie,
like, I'm not sure why I thoughtPokeyman was so terrible. But

(05:35):
all the other kids inkindergarten, first grade got to
play with Pokeyman, but not myson, poor child. And I have
apologize, just so you know, forbeing such a weirdo mother in
those early years. But hedefinitely had that first child,
the parents the higherexpectations, these standards on

(05:57):
him a lot of pressure that I puton him. And partly because I
knew he hid he did have a gift,he had a gift with numbers and
science and spatial reasoningand things like that everything
in life that has alwaysconfounded me came extremely
easy for him. And he didn't haveto study much. And let's say,

(06:18):
you know, around his junior yearof high school, he decided, you
know, like any normal kid, like,he's gonna enjoy high school,
it's totally normal. But let'sjust say that he and I butted
our heads quite a bit over,let's call them some of the you
know, quote, unquote, choicesthat he was making. In March of
my oldest senior year, the weekbefore spring break, I started a

(06:43):
new business, I saw the writingon the wall, I saw that my kids,
you know, over the next fiveyears, we're going to be moving
out. And I found an opportunityto run, run a neighborhood
magazine. And with all of mykids, you know, looking like on
the way out that I was like,Yeah, this is great, this is

(07:04):
perfect. I can say it's gonnagive me something to do. But I
can still you know, be that mom,I can still go to PTA meetings
and be on the board or dowhatever and, and still take the
kids to soccer practice andorthodontist or whatever I do
all of those things. It was itwas a great setup. So a few
months after I started thatopportunity, the week before

(07:26):
spring break, I went totraining, then we went to spring
break and then started mybusiness from there. And I and
that later, a couple monthslater, my son graduated from
high school, and went on touniversity on a complete
academic scholarship. And wewere very proud of him,

(07:47):
obviously. And then he did whatyou know, most kids do when they
go to college, he pledged afraternity. Apparently, it was a
really, really crazy fraternity.
And I'm sure people were like,how did you not know that was
like a crazy fraternity. And Imean, I guess maybe we should

(08:09):
have known but my husband and I,we got married in college, we
went to a school where there wasno Greek system, you know, our
nights out, we're basicallystudying and then if we could
afford it, we were lucky to geta party burrito at Taco bueno.
Like all we were doing wasstudying and working so we could
live, you know, our meagerexistence in our apartment. So I

(08:33):
had no idea. I had no idea whatthe Greek life was like or what
to expect. But apparently thisfraternity he joined was, was
pretty wild. So he started offhis freshman year, and I would
go visit him about once or twicea month, maybe sometimes more.
And I would just drive up forthe day, spend the afternoon
with them, have lunch with them,take him shopping, get him

(08:55):
whatever he needed, that kind ofthing. And every single time I
left, I had this completeuneasiness about where he was
physically, spiritually,emotionally. And I knew this
fraternity was compromising him.
I knew it was a it was really,really bad thing for him for his
future. It was it was full oftemptations. And I know I'm sure

(09:20):
all fraternities and sororitieshave temptations, but some of
the kids in this fraternity hadso much wealth that it really
compounded the amount of thingsthat he was exposed to, and had
access to, I guess. And so aboutevery single night of that year,
I woke up and I couldn't go backto sleep. I just would be

(09:43):
praying and praying and prayingsometimes for hours just asking
God to guard him to watch overhim to protect him to intercede
for himto preserve him because I knew I
knew how I How much he couldaccomplish. And I knew that this
was not the right place for him.

(10:04):
And I had absolutely no peace.
None, not at all.
Simultaneously. This is thefirst year of my business and my
business is actually taking off.
It was the success and I washaving a lot of fun doing it.
And I was experiencing somefinancial success that just came
as a result of the success ofthe publication that frankly, I

(10:24):
never got, I never expected tohave really came into it. It's
kind of like a fun part timehobby kind of thing and it
really exploded from there. Oneyear later to that week, we were
preparing to take our otherthree kids on his southern
California college tour. Mydaughter has always wanted to go
to Pepperdine. And so we weregoing to make a big trip out of

(10:45):
it, you know, see some stateschools in addition to
Pepperdine and Point LomaNazarene University. Westmont,
we had a nice whole trip plannedout, it was gonna be great.
Literally, just before we leftmy oldest calls, and asks if he
can come. He was supposed to begoing to the beach with a bunch

(11:07):
of guys from his fraternity. Butthe rental understandably backed
out at the last minute, wasn'tgoing to rent to this, this
group of college guys. It's asmart move on their part, and he
had nowhere to go. So we bookedanother ticket for him. And he
came along with us quiteunexpectedly. On our college

(11:27):
tour trip. We started our tripin San Diego. And we stayed in
the Sheridan, if you ever beento San Diego that's like right
across the street from theairport. And the day after my
oldest turn 19 March 11 2014. Wehad a tour at Point Loma

(11:48):
Nazarene University, I want topaint a picture of what that he
was like. So imagine the oldest19 He's posted with the beach
with all his college buddies.
This was now he's being forcedto be going on this college tour
that he doesn't even want to goon. He's not in a good mood.

(12:10):
He's very sour. Our daughter whowe're doing this tour for, she's
in the hotel room. And she wasin this like space, like every
teenager goes through the youknow, they like to express
their, their selves throughcertain accessories. And she had
these combat boots. And like,you know, if she had maybe been

(12:33):
the last I probably would havebeen like, whatever were the
stupid combat boots. But I waslike, you know, come on, honey,
it's a college interview, canyou please just change your
shoes. And she was not happywith me. She put on different
shoes. She's hurt her fee, sothat we're just hearing all
about that. And then I thoughtshe was having an interview. It

(12:54):
wasn't an interview, but Ithought she was going to have an
interview and so I shouldn'thave any makeup on and she's
very, very pretty didn't needmakeup, but I just was like
Well, maybe you just want to puton a little mascara. And that
definitely was not the rightthing to say to that she's like,
what you don't think I'm pretty?
And I'm like No honey, ofcourse. I think you're
beautiful. But you know it's anit's an interview so you don't

(13:15):
maybe just touch so that dramasgoing on with her. And then you
have the 214 year olds who werelike, you know, 14 They could
care less about a college theydon't want to go on the tour.
They're like I want to go to thepool. I want to go see the
beach. I want to do all theseother things. So you know why do
we have to go Can't we stayback? So we have all of that

(13:35):
happiness just packed into thecar as we dry on to the Point
Loma campus. If you've seen themovie Maverick you know that
last movie The second Top Gunmovie with Tom Cruise in it, you
will know exactly where theschool is. Visually take
yourself back to the scene whereIseman was buried, that

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beautiful cemetery with all ofthose white headstones that's
actually a naval cemetery inPoint Loma. It's next to
Cabrillo National Monument. It'san incredible it's one of the
most breathtaking cemeteriesI've ever seen. It's a beautiful
view. Cabrillo NationalMonuments incredibly gorgeous as
well. And Point Loma NazareneUniversity is right next door.

(14:22):
The school has that same exactincredible, amazing,
breathtaking views. So if you'recurious, like what you're trying
to visualize what it will looklike that's that's what it
looked like take yourself backthere. So we get to the car with
all those happy happy children.

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You know, we get out of the car,of course my 14 year olds
mediately start engaging in ashoving match. You know, I'm
like stops, stops tight stomachand we get inside. We're trying
to look like we're happy family.
And they start with this video.
And I'm sitting in a row behindmy oldest two and I'm just
Listening to the narrative ofthe video, I'm watching my

(15:03):
oldest two, I'm especiallywatching my son. And I just knew
he was listening, coming up withall these reasons of why she
should not even consider theschool, you know that it wasn't
going to be any fun. There wasno Greek system. They didn't
even have a football team, forgoodness sakes, like why would
you want to go to the school.
And the video kept talking abouthow getting an education wasn't

(15:28):
just about getting a degree. Buttaking that education and making
a difference. They had studentsgiving testimonials on the video
about how their faith haddeepened and strengthened and
how much closer they had grownto Christ is next, the tour
started and I'm thinking surely,my oldest is going to corner my
daughter, take her aside, and,you know, try to talk some sense

(15:51):
into her. But he doesn't. And wecontinue on the tour. And like I
said, it's a stunning, stunningcampus. Every view is gorgeous,
you cannot stand on that campusand not marble, it God's
creation, the sheer vastness ofthe ocean, the dramatic cliffs

(16:13):
and the drops, drop offs to thebeach. It's just the most
breathtaking beauty. And we'rein this beautiful place taking
in this tour. And the tour isabout to come to a conclusion
and my husband and my daughter,my twins are in front of us
since my son is hanging backwith me. We're just walking and

(16:34):
just taking it all in and hestops. And he says to me with
100% seriousness, Mom, do youthink I can transfer here? And
of course, to which I answerwithout even, you know, you
probably should have consultedmy husband didn't I've just

(16:56):
like, yes, of course. Of courseyou can. And he and I marched
straight into the admissionsbuilding. But I want to I want
to pause here and point out someof these amazing miracles that
happened in this story. I wantto start with provision. One
year to the week, I started abusiness. I was doing so well

(17:16):
financially for that business.
That without hesitating, I couldsay yes. Now remember, he had a
full scholarship. Youtransferring to a new school,
you're not gonna get a fullscholarship, you might get
something but you're not goingto get a full scholarship. And

(17:37):
God provided those resources ina new way, provided a way for
him to go and prepared thatpath. Before he started college.
He started that process evenbefore he ever was in college.
second miracle timing. Our sonwasn't even supposed to be with

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us. That God worked to interveneto make sure that our son was
with us on that trip was not anaccident. The third miracle, and
something that just reallyhumbled me to my core is seeing
God show up in such an amazingway with his love to see how

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much he loves our children evenmore than we do. He cares so
much. And my goodness, I reallylove my kids. And I'm sure if
you're a mom, you really loveyour kids. I mean, I remember
one time my oldest was bitten inMother's Day out this kid like
took a look didn't actually takea hug but it felt like it looked
like these giant teeth marks inhis leg. I was like ready, go

(18:41):
hunt that kid down. And youknow, have some serious words
with that child. I mean, Mama'slove is fierce. And then God
shows up. And he's like, my loveis even more. I love him even
more than you do.
And the last miracle wasanswered prayer. You'll remember

(19:06):
and it talked about the wholeever since he started school,
that whole academic school year.
Every night I had been prayingfor him. Every night I woke up,
I was completely not at peace. Ihad no peace. I knew that there
was spiritual warfare going onover there. And God showed up.
And he answered he heard myprayers, even when I felt like

(19:27):
they weren't being answered whenI didn't see any movement. You
know, I know a lot of times wepray and we pray. We just don't
see anything on the outsidehappening. But he was there and
he was working a miracle thewhole time. So that picture of
the four of them on the cliffwas taken just after we finished
at the admissions office. We gotin the car and we continued to

(19:51):
drive around campus and the fourof them got out and explored the
cliffs. We're all marveling atthe incredible beauty And I,
they stood there, and I tookthat picture. And today, that
picture showing up is thatpicture says to me, how
incredibly faithful God is. Itwas nine years ago, I want to

(20:14):
tell you what has happened inthis past nine years. So he
didn't end up transferring. Hedid all the legwork, you know, I
wasn't gonna make it easy forhim. If he was going to do it,
you needed to do it, and he didmake it happen. And God was so
good. And he provided theprovision for not just for him
to go to that school. But hissister ended up following him

(20:37):
there. They both graduated fromthat university. My oldest when
he got there, he completelychanged like the it was like a
reversion back to kind of hisold self. He was in leadership.
And he studied and he graduatedwith honors in biochemistry. And
he went on to medical school,and he's now a doctor in

(21:01):
residency almost finished withhis residency. And he's, you
know, serving patients and makereally, really making a
difference. My daughter aftershe graduated from high school,
she went to the school as welland just had a real heart for
missions and for humantrafficking. And she spent a

(21:22):
summer in Costa Rica, helpingwomen. And that's where she
actually met her husband thatshe's married to now. And now
she's she and her husband areback in San Diego. And she is in
law school and only has about ayear left. And our twins, the 14
year olds at the time, they theytwo ended up there. They they

(21:45):
they took the low rest traveled,which is totally fine. They took
a few year break, they spent iton a mountain working at a ski
resort living the dream, Iguess, you know, we all work so
hard, so we can go skiing, andthey got to ski every day. So
that was pretty awesome forthem. And now they're back in
school, and they're finishingup. And this last week, 10 years

(22:08):
ago, to the time that I startedmy training, I started my
business, I launched anotherbusiness, another publication in
San Diego. And I look over theselast 10 years, and how can I not

(22:28):
see God's hand over every singleaspect, it was his path. It was
his leading. It was his timinghis direction over all of it.
God was so good. Every time Ithink about it just makes me

(22:51):
want to cry. Cuz he was he wasso so good. So today, if you're
scared, you have that childwho's on a path, you know, is
not the right path. If you thinkthere's no way finances could
just miraculously show up in away that you never thought or or

(23:11):
planned for. Just know that Hisways are higher. His ways are
better. He has an outcome, hehas an answered prayer for you.
And it comes in His timing. Iknow we want it on our timing,
but it is His timing that hehears you. And he's so good.
Right now, one of my favoriteworship songs is called the

(23:34):
goodness of grace. And I justwant to read some of these
lyrics over you. I wish I couldsing them but he would cry. So
I'm just going to read them. Ilove you, Lord. For Your mercy
never fails me. All my days,I've been held in your hands.
From the moment that I wake upuntil I lay my head. Oh, I will

(23:56):
sing of the goodness of God. Allmy life you have been faithful.
All my life, you have been so sogood. With every breath that I
am able, I will sing of thegoodness of God. I love your
voice. You have led me throughthe fire. In the darkest night.

(24:17):
You were close like no other.
I've known you as a father. I'veknown you as friend. And I have
lived in the goodness of God. Ihope this session blessed you in
some way or encouraged you. Ihave some really great

(24:38):
interviews coming up. I knowI've been on a little bit of a
pause as I've been ramping upthat other business that I just
mentioned. So I'm getting backto my podcasts new episodes are
coming out. And I can't wait toshare those stories with you.
You guys are gonna be soencouraged. I have three amazing
interviews that are coming up.
So stay tuned for those anduntil then I'll We'll see you

(24:59):
next time.