May 11, 2025 • 24 mins
The phrase "one day" can represent either endless procrastination or a powerful declaration of faith. For many of us, it becomes the anthem we cling to when faced with seemingly impossible family situations. This is exactly what happened when my eldest son abruptly left home as a teenager, disappearing for nearly a year without contact.
I'll never forget when I spotted him while driving – he didn't look like himself, but a mother knows her child. As tears streamed down my face, my assistant said, "One day he'll come back, he'll come home." Those words became my lifeline through months of uncertainty, judgment, and heartache.
What makes this story remarkable isn't just the reconciliation that eventually happened, but how it happened. While teaching a workshop called "Rising to Your Destiny," I shared my ongoing prayers for John's return, declaring my faith that "one day" we would reunite despite having no evidence this would happen. That very same day, in a Walmart I rarely visited, my sister spotted John. The God-orchestrated reunion that followed brought healing tears and opened a pathway to restoration that continues today.
This journey taught me painful truths about Christian community. Often, those who should stand with you through your children's struggles are the first to criticize. As I vulnerably share, "When you're in ministry, people expect you to show up for them when they don't even show up for you." They forget that pastors' children aren't "angels that dropped from heaven" but humans navigating their paths.
Whether you're currently waiting for your prodigal to return or facing any seemingly impossible situation, I encourage you: keep believing, keep pressing, remove the naysayers, and hold fast to your "one day." And while you wait, become someone else's miracle by lifting them up when they're down. Your breakthrough might be closer than you think, and your faith journey could be inspiring someone watching silently from the sidelines.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Faith Unmuted.
The place where Christian womenget the opportunity to press
the button and say what theywant, how they want and exactly
how they feel.
The one place where, together,we can collectively walk through
our truths, liveunapologetically and stop hiding
.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Have you ever said to yourself you know one day, one
day I'm going to travel theworld, one day I'm going to lose
weight or release weight, oneday I'm going to quit this job,
one day I'm going to do this,that or the other One day, and
(00:45):
then that one day you think willnever come right.
I want to give a differentperspective, with one day right,
because there's good, you know,there's good and bad to one day
.
You know you could look at oneday from a negative standpoint
and say, one day I'm going to dothis, but you know I haven't
done it, but one day I will.
Or you could look at itdepending on what you're facing.
(01:06):
One day this is going to cometo pass in my life.
So I've got a really goodone-day story with my son.
You know, we've got John and I.
We've got three beautifulchildren they're adults now and
(01:26):
we've got one beautiful bonusdaughter that was given to us
several years ago.
But our eldest son has always,always say that he's caused me
to pray, really caused me, youknow, to get really close to God
.
Right, because you know, whenthey become teenagers you kind
(01:46):
of have to figure out well, whois this person?
You know, it's like they justhave a whole different
personality, and so John wasalways that one that would
challenge.
You know, I've got my other sonas well.
He's a whole other story, butJohn was always the one that
would just challenge everything.
You know well why do we have todo this and why is this and why
(02:09):
is that.
And one day John made a decisionto move out because he just
didn't want to follow the rulesanymore.
Fine, when he moved out, wedidn't hear from him for quite a
while.
As a matter of fact, I was on abusiness trip.
My husband was home and when Icame home I said where's John?
(02:36):
My husband said he's not here.
I was like what do you mean?
He's not here?
I was like what do you mean?
He's not here, he's just nothere.
Okay, where is he?
My husband said I don't know.
So after this long drawn-outconversation turns out, john
decided to leave.
He didn't take his clothes withhim, he just left.
(03:01):
And for several months not one,not two, several months, it may
have even been like almost ayear we didn't know where he was
.
He didn't reach out to us, hedidn't contact us.
And I remember one day I wasdriving from one of my
(03:22):
facilities checking on myemployees.
I had a meeting and myassistant was in the car with me
and I was driving down thestreet and I see this person
walking and he looked sofamiliar and it was my son.
He didn't look like himself butI could tell it was my son and
(03:49):
I kept driving and immediately,you know, because I have my
employee there I didn't want tojust break down crying.
So tears just began to rolldown my cheeks and my employee
looked over at me and she saidMrs Graham, she's from Mexico.
And she said one day he'll comeback, he'll come home.
(04:15):
That was all she said One day.
And so I really took that intomy heart, I really pondered it,
thought about it quite a while,and every day since then, you
(04:36):
know, before I talked aboutgoing on my 40-day prayer
challenge, and embedded in my40-day prayer challenge, there's
a story, there's a one-daystory, a one day that this could
happen, a one-day that thatcould happen.
And so for me, that one day wasso significant when it came to
(05:00):
our son John.
He went through a rough timewhen he left, made some
decisions that he probablyshould not have made, and as he
looks back, he realizes thedecisions that he made did not
lead to a path of success at thetime.
He's great now, doing wonderfulas a matter of fact, but it
actually did something for me.
(05:21):
He helped me build such astrong relationship.
I had to stand up for him,while he couldn't stand for
himself.
As a woman, as a Christian woman, a woman of faith, a woman
that's a pastor, a pastor's wifeand all of these different
things surrounding everybody'slooking at how you're handling
(05:44):
this.
Where is your son?
What's going on?
You should have did this, youshould have did that, and you're
listening to all these voicesand sometimes the voices you're
hearing they're not exactlypositive.
You know, esther, you shouldhave did this.
(06:06):
John, jonathan, you should havedone that.
Why did you let him do this?
And I had to sit back and I hadto learn how to get rid of all
the negative voices and I had toget to a place to where I can
(06:29):
love on my son from a distance,no matter what.
Yeah, no-transcript ended up ina lot of trouble.
That really brought me and hisdad to our knees.
(06:55):
I could talk about it now,because John and I we've talked
about it.
We've looked back at where he'scome from and where he is right
now and the things that haveshifted and changed in our lives
, and when I look at it now, Ithink I just thank God for it,
because if he didn't go throughthe things that he went through,
made the decisions that he made, maybe I wouldn't have been the
person I am today.
(07:15):
Maybe I wouldn't have been thatperson who said no, you
silenced your voice while I'mgoing to speak up for him.
In other words, there werethings that you know I would get
phone calls.
You know, hey, did you see John?
John did this and he did that,and it was just so much y'all.
Have you ever had it to whereyou know people could always see
(07:36):
what's wrong with your kid, butthey can never see what's wrong
with theirs or what they'redoing.
Have you ever had that to wherepeople can always point out the
issues when you would thinkpeople will stand by you and
support you and embrace you andstand with you as you're going
through this challenge with yourchild?
Those are the ones that they'renot there.
(07:56):
They're looking for the fault.
I had to find what was good inmy son at that time and my
employee who said one day Inother words, she was the one
that gave that glimmer of hopethat one day he's going to come
(08:17):
home, one day it will all bewell, one day that relationship
will come back.
And someone may say, well, whenwill that day be?
Well, at the time I didn't knowwhen that day would be, but I
had hope that one day thingswill change.
(08:44):
And so one day I had a seminar,I wrote some material called
Rising to your Destiny, becauseI believe that destiny comes in
levels.
Right, like today.
I'm destined for this.
This is my destiny at thispoint in my life, this unit of
(09:05):
time in my life.
This is what I should be doing.
Life, this unit of time in mylife, this is what I should be
doing.
And so Rise Into your Destinywas really a workshop, teaching
women how to embrace where youare right now, to lean into it,
because this could be a journey,a stepping stone to where
you're supposed to be.
So it's a level of destiny atthis period in your life, this
(09:30):
unit of time.
And so here I am, I'm standing,75 women and I'm teaching the
workshop material.
And I began to talk about theone day, the one day, and I
began to tell the story about myson, john, and at the time I
(09:53):
said you know, I don't knowwhere he is, but I keep praying
that one day he will come home.
It's kind of like the prodigalson.
If you know the story of theprodigal son.
He goes away and you know hisdad says, ok, go away and I'm
going to give you yourinheritance.
And he gives him hisinheritance and he goes out and
(10:17):
he's just having a good time.
He's partying and it doesn'treally say how long that he was
out there for, but he was outthere, gives the impression that
it was for a while and he's outpartying.
He spent all his money andduring that time he's got all
these friends around him.
Why?
Because he had a lot of moneyUntil he hit rock bottom.
(10:38):
He hit rock bottom and itturned out that he was sleeping
with the pigs in the slotbecause he had nowhere to go.
His friends when he ran out ofmoney, he also ran out of
friends.
Have you ever had that To whereyou know, when you're not doing
so good, then you find out.
Honestly, that's when you findout who your true friends are.
It's not in the moment of thegood times that you know who
(11:02):
you're really connected with.
It's those bad times, thosechallenging times, that you
really know who you're connectedwith.
That person that's going tostay with you through the thick,
the sin, the ugly, everything.
They're going to stick with youno matter what.
And so the story with theprodigal son and after a while,
(11:22):
when he couldn't handle itanymore, when he had hit rock
bottom, no one was there.
He says look, I just want toreturn back to my father, I just
want to return back to myfather, I just want to return
home.
And the story goes on to say hebegan, he decided to return
home and his father looks out ofthe window and his father sees
the son coming up let's say inmy mind, this pathway and he
(11:44):
runs out to greet the son and hehugs him and he covers him to
welcome him home, says ah, myson, who was gone, he was lost,
he was all these differentthings.
He is now home.
(12:04):
I know that many of us may havechildren out there that we're
saying you know, I don't have arelationship with them.
The relationship is gone.
As a matter of fact, a few,several weeks ago, I was
speaking to someone that said Idon't have a relationship with
my son, my children.
I wish that I did and I wasreally actually able to sit and
(12:26):
share my story, share the storyof one day and what I said to
them.
I said don't give up, Keeppraying, keep circling, because
one day they will come.
So again, going back to I'mteaching this material and I'm
(12:46):
speaking about one day.
This was several years ago,y'all Several years ago.
And when I'm finished teachingthe material and I began to
really talk about, you know, myson not being around.
I don't know where he is and Ihaven't seen him.
But one thing I have been doingis that I just kept praying for
(13:06):
him and I kept saying that oneday he's going to come back, one
day his mind is going to changeand he's going to come home and
we're going to embrace eachother and we're going to love on
each other and we will talk andhave a conversation, a deep,
deep conversation, not asuperficial conversation, but a
deep conversation, and I'm goingto welcome him home with love
(13:28):
and acceptance, because that'swhat we have to do.
See, what happens sometimes isthat we don't accept where our
children are and what they'redoing, not forgetting, honestly,
that we were them at one point,like, really like, you know, we
were the one that was way outthere and our parents were
saying, oh my God, what's goingon with her, what's going on
(13:49):
with him?
And now it's like we are nowthe parent and we forget that
our children have to createtheir own pathways, and
sometimes it's just not easy.
But one day and so, when I wasfinished teaching, you know, we
were finished with the workshopand I needed to go to Walmart.
(14:10):
Now I have to tell you, walmartis not my store, y'all.
It is absolutely not my store.
So many people are in there,and especially on a Saturday,
and I don't like to go.
But I needed to go, for,whatever the reason may be, I
just felt I need to go toWalmart and I need to go pick
something up, and, as a norm,someone will go pick it, like my
husband, he will go intoWalmart and he'll pick up
(14:31):
whatever I need, you know.
But this time it's like no, Ineed to go.
And I went into Walmart and I'min Walmart for I'm not even sure
how long I don't even know ifit was 30 minutes and my sister,
who was visiting me at the time, because she came in for the
workshop, went into Walmart withme.
(14:53):
Now I have to tell you that mysister, she loves Walmart, so
she could take a year and a dayin Walmart, but while she was in
Walmart, in a day in Walmart,but while she was in Walmart,
she came, she found where I wasand she said Esther, guess who I
saw?
And I said who?
She said I saw John.
I said you're kidding me.
(15:13):
And I said John, who?
Your nephew John, my son John?
She said yeah, he's in Walmart,my son John.
She said yeah, he's in Walmart.
And she said I told him thatyou're in here.
And so he came looking for meand I said son, I said come home
(15:33):
, come and let's talk.
And he said, okay, mom.
So I want to set this up,because when I'm in the workshop
, I'm speaking about one day,I'm speaking about my prayer,
I'm speaking about my faith, mybelief.
I'm saying that I just believethat one day that my son will
(15:55):
come home and we'll have achance, an opportunity to talk.
And I said and I've beenspeaking this for several months
now and he hasn't come yet andI don't know when he's going to
come, but I just know what'sgoing to happen.
See, this is faith.
This is like no matter what'sgoing on in your life, that you
just got to know what you know,what you know, and you got to
(16:16):
take the naysayers out and youjust have to stay focused on
what you believe.
And I focused on that one day.
One day, when I went home fromWalmart, I was so excited, as a
matter of fact, I was crying,and I was so grateful to God and
(16:36):
I said, oh, thank you God,thank you Jesus, because I'm a
Jesus girl.
And I said, oh, thank you God,thank you Jesus, because I'm a
Jesus girl.
And I said great, he's cominghome.
And John came home.
He saw his dad, he hugged hisdad and we sat and we talked and
(16:58):
I began to share with him howmuch I loved him, how much I was
concerned.
My concern was because of mylove for him, that how we will
always be there, that we may notagree with what he's doing or
his lifestyle or anything likethat, but at the end of the day,
he is still our son and that wewill continue to pray, that we
(17:19):
will continue to stand with him,no matter what.
And he sat there and tearsrolled down his eyes and he
hugged me and he said thank you,mom.
And then he went to talk to hisdad privately.
(17:40):
It was such a healing momentfor us.
And then he went to talk to hisdad privately.
It was such a healing momentfor us that one day came.
But I have to tell you that itwasn't easy all the time.
It wasn't easy to hold on tothat faith, to that one day, god
(18:04):
, this is going to change thatone day.
God, this is going to happenOne day.
Sometimes it's just not theeasiest thing at all to do, just
to believe it's not.
But that one day came and sincethen we've had several one days
.
Did he move back home on thatday?
Absolutely not, he did not.
Was I expecting him to moveback that day?
No, I wasn't, because I didn'tknow Really at this point, I had
(18:30):
no expectations.
I was just glad to see him.
I was in the present moment,just glad to see my son, that he
was okay.
And since then we've hadseveral one days.
(18:50):
Since then, on his journey hastaken us through several
challenges, challenges, yeah,yeah, several, several times
where we had to stand in faith,just us, because nobody else was
going to stand with us.
Can I tell you something in alltransparency and truth?
Sometimes the people that youthink that's going to support
(19:13):
you and stand with you theyabsolutely do not, but yet they
expect for you to show up forthem.
I think that's especially truewhen, like you're in ministry
you know what I mean.
Like people think that you knowyou're just supposed to be
there all the time for them,when they don't even show up for
you when you need them.
And then here's the other piecethat many times they expect for
(19:35):
you to leave your child, yourfamily, to come and help support
them in theirs.
I know this doesn't sound likeit should be coming out of my
mouth, a woman of faith, youknow, a woman in ministry.
It shouldn't be coming out.
But this is the truth.
Like, if I'm going to show upand be present for you all the
(19:55):
time in your family and pray foryou and stand with you, can you
do that for me too?
Can you not criticize mychildren when they make mistakes
, because yours make mistakes aswell, because, you see, when we
got into ministry and had ourchildren, they weren't angels
that dropped out of heaven.
No, they're human beings justlike everybody else.
(20:18):
And one of the things that Idiscovered with our son was that
he was just so hurt on how hewas treated, not in his family,
but those outside that weresupposed to love him.
I never forget one day and itjust brought tears to my eyes
(20:40):
when he said, mom, I saw thisperson and he said it was a bad
day for me and she kicked mewhile I was still down.
My heart sunk, I mean literallysunk, and I thought how could
(21:02):
anybody do that?
How can you kick a person whilethey're still down?
You're supposed to love them,you're supposed to pick them up.
We have really good friends ofours and I remember my husband
and I we were leaving church onenight and we saw their son.
(21:24):
Of course, at the time wedidn't know it was their son.
We didn't know who he wasbecause we didn't even know them
at the time.
We discovered years later, whenwe remembered the story, because
here's this one day again.
And so he just happened tostumble in front of our church
and he was a little bit, youknow, a little bit tipsy, a
(21:44):
little bit drunk, a little bithigh, all these different things
, and he fell and we ran outthere to pick him up and to help
him.
And he said, hey, do you knowwho I am?
And we didn't know who he was.
He told us his name and then hetold us who his dad was.
Didn't know he was.
He told us his name and then hetold us who his dad was, his
parents and we're like okay, andhis parents pastors in the area
(22:06):
.
And he even remembers itbecause what he remembers this
was several years before we evenknew, actually met and became
really good friends with hisparents.
But he remembers that he said Iwas down, it was bad.
He said, and you picked me up.
See, that's our job, y'all.
(22:26):
Our job is to pick people up.
There's the one day.
One day someone is going to beable to help you.
One day, some things are goingto come to pass in your life.
But while you're waiting forthe one day, can you serve
someone else, can you picksomebody else up, because you're
(22:48):
that pathway, you could be thatpathway to that person's one
day.
My employee, who we're stillfriends to this day, spoke into
me and said one day he will comehome and I held on to that.
She didn't say, oh, my God,look at him.
It's just so bad.
You need to.
She didn't do that like whateverybody else was doing.
What was even interesting wasthat we didn't even have the
(23:08):
same belief system.
Does that make sense, y'all?
She just knew that one day,hold on.
I hope this is all making senseto you.
One day it's going to come topass.
One day they will come home.
One day it will happen.
Keep believing, keep pressing,remove all the naysayers and
(23:29):
hold on to your one day.
And while you're holding on toyour one day, help somebody else
out so they can also experiencea one day.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Wasn't that episode amazing Living unapologetically.
Faith unmuted has allowed usonce again to ask ourselves the
kind of questions that will helpus get to the next level and
live this life unapologetically.
Your next step head on over towwwesthergramcom and let me know
(23:59):
what your favorite episode isAsk a question or share this
with a friend.
I can't wait to be with younext week as we dive deeper into
redefining what it means to bea Christian woman and redefining
what it means to live in ourtruth.
You are listening to Faith Unmuted.
The place where Christian womenget the opportunity to press
the button and say what theywant, how they want and exactly
how they feel.
The one place where, together,we can collectively walk through
our truths, liveunapologetically and stop hiding
.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Have you ever said to yourself you know one day, one
day I'm going to travel theworld, one day I'm going to lose
weight or release weight, oneday I'm going to quit this job,
one day I'm going to do this,that or the other One day, and
(00:45):
then that one day you think willnever come right.
I want to give a differentperspective, with one day right,
because there's good, you know,there's good and bad to one day
.
You know you could look at oneday from a negative standpoint
and say, one day I'm going to dothis, but you know I haven't
done it, but one day I will.
Or you could look at itdepending on what you're facing.
(01:06):
One day this is going to cometo pass in my life.
So I've got a really goodone-day story with my son.
You know, we've got John and I.
We've got three beautifulchildren they're adults now and
(01:26):
we've got one beautiful bonusdaughter that was given to us
several years ago.
But our eldest son has always,always say that he's caused me
to pray, really caused me, youknow, to get really close to God
.
Right, because you know, whenthey become teenagers you kind
(01:46):
of have to figure out well, whois this person?
You know, it's like they justhave a whole different
personality, and so John wasalways that one that would
challenge.
You know, I've got my other sonas well.
He's a whole other story, butJohn was always the one that
would just challenge everything.
You know well why do we have todo this and why is this and why
(02:09):
is that.
And one day John made a decisionto move out because he just
didn't want to follow the rulesanymore.
Fine, when he moved out, wedidn't hear from him for quite a
while.
As a matter of fact, I was on abusiness trip.
My husband was home and when Icame home I said where's John?
(02:36):
My husband said he's not here.
I was like what do you mean?
He's not here?
I was like what do you mean?
He's not here, he's just nothere.
Okay, where is he?
My husband said I don't know.
So after this long drawn-outconversation turns out, john
decided to leave.
He didn't take his clothes withhim, he just left.
(03:01):
And for several months not one,not two, several months, it may
have even been like almost ayear we didn't know where he was
.
He didn't reach out to us, hedidn't contact us.
And I remember one day I wasdriving from one of my
(03:22):
facilities checking on myemployees.
I had a meeting and myassistant was in the car with me
and I was driving down thestreet and I see this person
walking and he looked sofamiliar and it was my son.
He didn't look like himself butI could tell it was my son and
(03:49):
I kept driving and immediately,you know, because I have my
employee there I didn't want tojust break down crying.
So tears just began to rolldown my cheeks and my employee
looked over at me and she saidMrs Graham, she's from Mexico.
And she said one day he'll comeback, he'll come home.
(04:15):
That was all she said One day.
And so I really took that intomy heart, I really pondered it,
thought about it quite a while,and every day since then, you
(04:36):
know, before I talked aboutgoing on my 40-day prayer
challenge, and embedded in my40-day prayer challenge, there's
a story, there's a one-daystory, a one day that this could
happen, a one-day that thatcould happen.
And so for me, that one day wasso significant when it came to
(05:00):
our son John.
He went through a rough timewhen he left, made some
decisions that he probablyshould not have made, and as he
looks back, he realizes thedecisions that he made did not
lead to a path of success at thetime.
He's great now, doing wonderfulas a matter of fact, but it
actually did something for me.
(05:21):
He helped me build such astrong relationship.
I had to stand up for him,while he couldn't stand for
himself.
As a woman, as a Christian woman, a woman of faith, a woman
that's a pastor, a pastor's wifeand all of these different
things surrounding everybody'slooking at how you're handling
(05:44):
this.
Where is your son?
What's going on?
You should have did this, youshould have did that, and you're
listening to all these voicesand sometimes the voices you're
hearing they're not exactlypositive.
You know, esther, you shouldhave did this.
(06:06):
John, jonathan, you should havedone that.
Why did you let him do this?
And I had to sit back and I hadto learn how to get rid of all
the negative voices and I had toget to a place to where I can
(06:29):
love on my son from a distance,no matter what.
Yeah, no-transcript ended up ina lot of trouble.
That really brought me and hisdad to our knees.
(06:55):
I could talk about it now,because John and I we've talked
about it.
We've looked back at where he'scome from and where he is right
now and the things that haveshifted and changed in our lives
, and when I look at it now, Ithink I just thank God for it,
because if he didn't go throughthe things that he went through,
made the decisions that he made, maybe I wouldn't have been the
person I am today.
(07:15):
Maybe I wouldn't have been thatperson who said no, you
silenced your voice while I'mgoing to speak up for him.
In other words, there werethings that you know I would get
phone calls.
You know, hey, did you see John?
John did this and he did that,and it was just so much y'all.
Have you ever had it to whereyou know people could always see
(07:36):
what's wrong with your kid, butthey can never see what's wrong
with theirs or what they'redoing.
Have you ever had that to wherepeople can always point out the
issues when you would thinkpeople will stand by you and
support you and embrace you andstand with you as you're going
through this challenge with yourchild?
Those are the ones that they'renot there.
(07:56):
They're looking for the fault.
I had to find what was good inmy son at that time and my
employee who said one day Inother words, she was the one
that gave that glimmer of hopethat one day he's going to come
(08:17):
home, one day it will all bewell, one day that relationship
will come back.
And someone may say, well, whenwill that day be?
Well, at the time I didn't knowwhen that day would be, but I
had hope that one day thingswill change.
(08:44):
And so one day I had a seminar,I wrote some material called
Rising to your Destiny, becauseI believe that destiny comes in
levels.
Right, like today.
I'm destined for this.
This is my destiny at thispoint in my life, this unit of
(09:05):
time in my life.
This is what I should be doing.
Life, this unit of time in mylife, this is what I should be
doing.
And so Rise Into your Destinywas really a workshop, teaching
women how to embrace where youare right now, to lean into it,
because this could be a journey,a stepping stone to where
you're supposed to be.
So it's a level of destiny atthis period in your life, this
(09:30):
unit of time.
And so here I am, I'm standing,75 women and I'm teaching the
workshop material.
And I began to talk about theone day, the one day, and I
began to tell the story about myson, john, and at the time I
(09:53):
said you know, I don't knowwhere he is, but I keep praying
that one day he will come home.
It's kind of like the prodigalson.
If you know the story of theprodigal son.
He goes away and you know hisdad says, ok, go away and I'm
going to give you yourinheritance.
And he gives him hisinheritance and he goes out and
(10:17):
he's just having a good time.
He's partying and it doesn'treally say how long that he was
out there for, but he was outthere, gives the impression that
it was for a while and he's outpartying.
He spent all his money andduring that time he's got all
these friends around him.
Why?
Because he had a lot of moneyUntil he hit rock bottom.
(10:38):
He hit rock bottom and itturned out that he was sleeping
with the pigs in the slotbecause he had nowhere to go.
His friends when he ran out ofmoney, he also ran out of
friends.
Have you ever had that To whereyou know, when you're not doing
so good, then you find out.
Honestly, that's when you findout who your true friends are.
It's not in the moment of thegood times that you know who
(11:02):
you're really connected with.
It's those bad times, thosechallenging times, that you
really know who you're connectedwith.
That person that's going tostay with you through the thick,
the sin, the ugly, everything.
They're going to stick with youno matter what.
And so the story with theprodigal son and after a while,
(11:22):
when he couldn't handle itanymore, when he had hit rock
bottom, no one was there.
He says look, I just want toreturn back to my father, I just
want to return back to myfather, I just want to return
home.
And the story goes on to say hebegan, he decided to return
home and his father looks out ofthe window and his father sees
the son coming up let's say inmy mind, this pathway and he
(11:44):
runs out to greet the son and hehugs him and he covers him to
welcome him home, says ah, myson, who was gone, he was lost,
he was all these differentthings.
He is now home.
(12:04):
I know that many of us may havechildren out there that we're
saying you know, I don't have arelationship with them.
The relationship is gone.
As a matter of fact, a few,several weeks ago, I was
speaking to someone that said Idon't have a relationship with
my son, my children.
I wish that I did and I wasreally actually able to sit and
(12:26):
share my story, share the storyof one day and what I said to
them.
I said don't give up, Keeppraying, keep circling, because
one day they will come.
So again, going back to I'mteaching this material and I'm
(12:46):
speaking about one day.
This was several years ago,y'all Several years ago.
And when I'm finished teachingthe material and I began to
really talk about, you know, myson not being around.
I don't know where he is and Ihaven't seen him.
But one thing I have been doingis that I just kept praying for
(13:06):
him and I kept saying that oneday he's going to come back, one
day his mind is going to changeand he's going to come home and
we're going to embrace eachother and we're going to love on
each other and we will talk andhave a conversation, a deep,
deep conversation, not asuperficial conversation, but a
deep conversation, and I'm goingto welcome him home with love
(13:28):
and acceptance, because that'swhat we have to do.
See, what happens sometimes isthat we don't accept where our
children are and what they'redoing, not forgetting, honestly,
that we were them at one point,like, really like, you know, we
were the one that was way outthere and our parents were
saying, oh my God, what's goingon with her, what's going on
(13:49):
with him?
And now it's like we are nowthe parent and we forget that
our children have to createtheir own pathways, and
sometimes it's just not easy.
But one day and so, when I wasfinished teaching, you know, we
were finished with the workshopand I needed to go to Walmart.
(14:10):
Now I have to tell you, walmartis not my store, y'all.
It is absolutely not my store.
So many people are in there,and especially on a Saturday,
and I don't like to go.
But I needed to go, for,whatever the reason may be, I
just felt I need to go toWalmart and I need to go pick
something up, and, as a norm,someone will go pick it, like my
husband, he will go intoWalmart and he'll pick up
(14:31):
whatever I need, you know.
But this time it's like no, Ineed to go.
And I went into Walmart and I'min Walmart for I'm not even sure
how long I don't even know ifit was 30 minutes and my sister,
who was visiting me at the time, because she came in for the
workshop, went into Walmart withme.
(14:53):
Now I have to tell you that mysister, she loves Walmart, so
she could take a year and a dayin Walmart, but while she was in
Walmart, in a day in Walmart,but while she was in Walmart,
she came, she found where I wasand she said Esther, guess who I
saw?
And I said who?
She said I saw John.
I said you're kidding me.
(15:13):
And I said John, who?
Your nephew John, my son John?
She said yeah, he's in Walmart,my son John.
She said yeah, he's in Walmart.
And she said I told him thatyou're in here.
And so he came looking for meand I said son, I said come home
(15:33):
, come and let's talk.
And he said, okay, mom.
So I want to set this up,because when I'm in the workshop
, I'm speaking about one day,I'm speaking about my prayer,
I'm speaking about my faith, mybelief.
I'm saying that I just believethat one day that my son will
(15:55):
come home and we'll have achance, an opportunity to talk.
And I said and I've beenspeaking this for several months
now and he hasn't come yet andI don't know when he's going to
come, but I just know what'sgoing to happen.
See, this is faith.
This is like no matter what'sgoing on in your life, that you
just got to know what you know,what you know, and you got to
(16:16):
take the naysayers out and youjust have to stay focused on
what you believe.
And I focused on that one day.
One day, when I went home fromWalmart, I was so excited, as a
matter of fact, I was crying,and I was so grateful to God and
(16:36):
I said, oh, thank you God,thank you Jesus, because I'm a
Jesus girl.
And I said, oh, thank you God,thank you Jesus, because I'm a
Jesus girl.
And I said great, he's cominghome.
And John came home.
He saw his dad, he hugged hisdad and we sat and we talked and
(16:58):
I began to share with him howmuch I loved him, how much I was
concerned.
My concern was because of mylove for him, that how we will
always be there, that we may notagree with what he's doing or
his lifestyle or anything likethat, but at the end of the day,
he is still our son and that wewill continue to pray, that we
(17:19):
will continue to stand with him,no matter what.
And he sat there and tearsrolled down his eyes and he
hugged me and he said thank you,mom.
And then he went to talk to hisdad privately.
(17:40):
It was such a healing momentfor us.
And then he went to talk to hisdad privately.
It was such a healing momentfor us that one day came.
But I have to tell you that itwasn't easy all the time.
It wasn't easy to hold on tothat faith, to that one day, god
(18:04):
, this is going to change thatone day.
God, this is going to happenOne day.
Sometimes it's just not theeasiest thing at all to do, just
to believe it's not.
But that one day came and sincethen we've had several one days
.
Did he move back home on thatday?
Absolutely not, he did not.
Was I expecting him to moveback that day?
No, I wasn't, because I didn'tknow Really at this point, I had
(18:30):
no expectations.
I was just glad to see him.
I was in the present moment,just glad to see my son, that he
was okay.
And since then we've hadseveral one days.
(18:50):
Since then, on his journey hastaken us through several
challenges, challenges, yeah,yeah, several, several times
where we had to stand in faith,just us, because nobody else was
going to stand with us.
Can I tell you something in alltransparency and truth?
Sometimes the people that youthink that's going to support
(19:13):
you and stand with you theyabsolutely do not, but yet they
expect for you to show up forthem.
I think that's especially truewhen, like you're in ministry
you know what I mean.
Like people think that you knowyou're just supposed to be
there all the time for them,when they don't even show up for
you when you need them.
And then here's the other piecethat many times they expect for
(19:35):
you to leave your child, yourfamily, to come and help support
them in theirs.
I know this doesn't sound likeit should be coming out of my
mouth, a woman of faith, youknow, a woman in ministry.
It shouldn't be coming out.
But this is the truth.
Like, if I'm going to show upand be present for you all the
(19:55):
time in your family and pray foryou and stand with you, can you
do that for me too?
Can you not criticize mychildren when they make mistakes
, because yours make mistakes aswell, because, you see, when we
got into ministry and had ourchildren, they weren't angels
that dropped out of heaven.
No, they're human beings justlike everybody else.
(20:18):
And one of the things that Idiscovered with our son was that
he was just so hurt on how hewas treated, not in his family,
but those outside that weresupposed to love him.
I never forget one day and itjust brought tears to my eyes
(20:40):
when he said, mom, I saw thisperson and he said it was a bad
day for me and she kicked mewhile I was still down.
My heart sunk, I mean literallysunk, and I thought how could
(21:02):
anybody do that?
How can you kick a person whilethey're still down?
You're supposed to love them,you're supposed to pick them up.
We have really good friends ofours and I remember my husband
and I we were leaving church onenight and we saw their son.
(21:24):
Of course, at the time wedidn't know it was their son.
We didn't know who he wasbecause we didn't even know them
at the time.
We discovered years later, whenwe remembered the story, because
here's this one day again.
And so he just happened tostumble in front of our church
and he was a little bit, youknow, a little bit tipsy, a
(21:44):
little bit drunk, a little bithigh, all these different things
, and he fell and we ran outthere to pick him up and to help
him.
And he said, hey, do you knowwho I am?
And we didn't know who he was.
He told us his name and then hetold us who his dad was.
Didn't know he was.
He told us his name and then hetold us who his dad was, his
parents and we're like okay, andhis parents pastors in the area
(22:06):
.
And he even remembers itbecause what he remembers this
was several years before we evenknew, actually met and became
really good friends with hisparents.
But he remembers that he said Iwas down, it was bad.
He said, and you picked me up.
See, that's our job, y'all.
(22:26):
Our job is to pick people up.
There's the one day.
One day someone is going to beable to help you.
One day, some things are goingto come to pass in your life.
But while you're waiting forthe one day, can you serve
someone else, can you picksomebody else up, because you're
(22:48):
that pathway, you could be thatpathway to that person's one
day.
My employee, who we're stillfriends to this day, spoke into
me and said one day he will comehome and I held on to that.
She didn't say, oh, my God,look at him.
It's just so bad.
You need to.
She didn't do that like whateverybody else was doing.
What was even interesting wasthat we didn't even have the
(23:08):
same belief system.
Does that make sense, y'all?
She just knew that one day,hold on.
I hope this is all making senseto you.
One day it's going to come topass.
One day they will come home.
One day it will happen.
Keep believing, keep pressing,remove all the naysayers and
(23:29):
hold on to your one day.
And while you're holding on toyour one day, help somebody else
out so they can also experiencea one day.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Wasn't that episode amazing Living unapologetically.
Faith unmuted has allowed usonce again to ask ourselves the
kind of questions that will helpus get to the next level and
live this life unapologetically.
Your next step head on over towwwesthergramcom and let me know
(23:59):
what your favorite episode isAsk a question or share this
with a friend.
I can't wait to be with younext week as we dive deeper into
redefining what it means to bea Christian woman and redefining
what it means to live in ourtruth.
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