January 24, 2025 • 67 mins
Imagine winning a court case only to find the victory felt hollow. That’s where my journey of forgiveness began, paving the way for spiritual revelations and unexpected blessings. Join us as we welcome the inspiring Jennifer Beeman, a multifaceted wife, mother, author, and student, whose powerful spiritual journey reveals how a profound connection with Christ can transform life’s challenges into opportunities for growth and renewal. Jennifer shares insights from her book, "Before She Knew Jesus," and explores the beauty of sanctification and forgiveness, even when it seems counter to worldly wisdom.
The power of letting go and trusting in divine provision is a recurring theme highlighted by personal stories of overcoming bitterness and finding grace in adversity. From a car accident that left us without a vehicle to unexpected financial blessings and the surprising gift of a car, discover how humility, gratitude, and faith can open doors you never imagined possible. Jennifer and I also reflect on the deeply personal act of sacrificing worldly desires to align with spiritual values, illustrating the peace that comes with tithing and trusting in God's guidance.
As we explore the principles of the early church community, listeners are invited to connect with the Graceville Community, fostering a collective spirit of sharing and support reflective of the Church of Acts. Through powerful anecdotes and heartfelt conversations, this episode underscores the importance of community, faith, and the transformative power of sharing God's stories. Embark on this journey with us and uncover how aligning with God's will can bring peace, purpose, and unexpected joy into your life.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Nicole Cater, your host, founder and
servant leader of GracefieldCommunity.
I want to thank you for tuningin to Gracefield Community
Podcast.
This is a safe space, a placein which we just share stories
of how God has touchedindividuals' lives all across
the world and how they are nowimpacting the kingdom of God.
(00:21):
Thank you for tuning in.
Blessings to you All right.
Well, hello there, gracevillelisteners.
Thank you once again for tuningin to our Graceville Community
Podcast.
I am so excited about all thatwe have in store for this
recording today, so I'm notgoing to waste much time.
(00:43):
I'm going to dive right in, andfirst I want to introduce you
to our guests.
Today we have Ms JenniferBeeman.
She is a wife, a mother, authorand student Wow.
Most recently, she hasco-authored a book called Before
she Knew Jesus, where eachnarrative unfolds as a testament
(01:04):
to the transformative journeyfrom merely knowing Jesus to
experiencing the profoundreality of being truly known by
him and, in turn, intimatelyknowing him.
She is on a mission to shareevidence of God's word coming to
life through stories of hisglory shining through live,
(01:28):
lived experiences.
She is from Phoenix, arizona itgets hot out there where she
lives with her hubby, twochildren and mama.
She is working towards herbachelor of arts in
communications, interpersonaland Human Relations emphasis.
She can often be found bakingsomething yummy and playing
(01:49):
barista in the church cafe.
All right, so celebrate with me.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Jennifer, hello, hello, hello.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Absolutely.
I am so excited for ourconversation today and let me
just say even in I know thelisteners are kind of heard your
bio there, but I'm like girlyou're doing a lot, but I love
it.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I am, and I'm only able to do a lot because I'm
anointed in this season to dothis.
When I'm not anointed in aseason, it's not going to happen
.
Yes, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm not anointed in a season.
It's not going to happen.
Yes, I hear you.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm right there with you, so yeah for right now it's
a bit, but this is where God hasme and this is what I'm going
to do.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yes, yes, well, that's that's so true.
We're anointed and we're givinggrace for the season that he
placed us in Right, amen, oh mygosh.
Yes, yes, well, I'm so excitedfor our conversation today.
I actually have some pointersjotted down just from having
time and look into what it isthat you do, and some about the
stories and so forth.
But before I like get our mybox about it all, first, I'm
(03:01):
going to ask just tell us aboutyour encounter.
How did you hear from him, holySpirit, conviction, like tell
us more.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Sure, absolutely so.
In just one example, man, hehas been in my life since as far
back as I can, years.
I found myself coming to Godand listening and then walking
(03:33):
away Through and through, andtime and time again, he has
proven that God is so much morededicated, completely dedicated
to our sanctification, evenbefore we are fully surrendered
to him.
And that was just mind blowing.
(03:56):
And through the scenario that Ishare in the book that's coming
out, is this story offorgiveness when it just feels
flat out offensive.
(04:16):
We were absolutely, by all theworld's standards, had the right
to be offended and to not giveforgiveness.
But, man, when I think aboutwhat Jesus did on the cross, and
if you close your eyes and Idon't know if you've seen the
passion, but anybody who has yousit there in that moment and
you think about that.
And if I was there, who am I tonot forgive other humans?
Man, we're just.
(04:38):
We're humans living a humanexperience in a spiritual, with
a spiritual God who has given useverything that we need, and so
it has been those moments andthose revelations that has
really got me to where I'm atnow yes, yes, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
You know that's so true.
I I've seen the passion.
I remember showing the passionto my kids when they were fairly
young and kind of, uh, I hopeit's a like, I hope I didn't
traumatize them, but right, butI will say it is a, a movie that
we talk about often because itdoes give you an imaginative,
(05:16):
imaginatory picture, right, ofwhat all Jesus went through.
And I often say this he did it,he chose me, he chose to
sacrifice, knowing all the waysthat I would offend him, all the
times that I would deny him andturn away from him, but yet he
(05:39):
still selected, like all of me,and said, hey, I'm gonna do this
for her right.
And so I love how you say likethat that allows us.
When we look at it in that way,it's like how can I not forgive
the next person?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I think that's exactly right.
Like that is just what comes tomind, those images, and I'm
like, okay, humility, let's sitdown.
Where am I at?
What have I done?
Like he's forgiving me of somuch, like I can't hold on to
this, yeah, just can't.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So let's talk about sanctification, because I heard
you mention that and I have somany thoughts about it.
Um, how do you think that itplays into making you more like
Christ, like Christ mind,christ-mind, christ-body in a
sense?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
For sure.
So I believe the sanctificationprocess is God's guiding and
prompting.
He's prompting us to maturityand renewing our minds and our
hearts and our desires, and thewhole purpose is to display
Christ through us to the world.
And it's moment by moment.
(06:49):
Sometimes they're big momentsand there's a big pivotal shift,
and sometimes they're justlittle subtle moments that make
a big impact.
And it is really him comingalongside of us and we're
working with him because we areresponding and we are choosing.
He is prompting our choosing,but we ultimately are choosing
(07:12):
and when we choose him, wechoose love, because that is
that's love.
It's a choice.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yes, absolutely.
You know.
I think that often, as we lookat the fruits of the spirit, and
you know, sometimes I thinkit's the thing that we memorize,
right, like love, patience,kindness, and like we could spit
it out there's songs all aboutit, but it's the reality of
taking hold of it and acting itout, and it is a moment by
moment renewing of the mind,daily choice to say that I'm
(07:42):
going to act out these fruitsbecause this is what represents
my heavenly father, right?
And so when we think about likemind, body and soul components,
like I like how you talk aboutthe aspect of sanctification,
being Christ-like, itencompasses all yeah it does, it
(08:06):
absolutely does, and that hasbeen.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
He's working on me, even, like on the body part of
things.
I've got, you know, reallymatured in my spirit man.
I've really matured in so manymindful ways.
And so now what he's doing isis prompting me to to work on
the body portion, because thisis his temple.
When he went to the cross andhe was resurrected and that
(08:31):
temple was gone, there was noneed because we have full access
.
And so now he's, you know,taking that next step to say
like I need you to build thetemple, I'm inside of you and I
need you to be strong enough todo what I'm asking you to go do
next.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yes, and if you see me looking, I just you know, as
we're talking, I'm like, oh, Ihave to pull up that scripture
relative to just the temple.
We in our home we tend to, myhusband and I meet together.
We do a vision meeting at thebeginning of or towards the end
of every year, preparing for thenew year, and so we just some
(09:07):
like to call it vision retreat.
Unfortunately, this past yearwe didn't have the space and
time to retreat away.
It was kind of like let's breakit up in multiple days, right,
but we just spend that timereally seeking God, like what do
you have for us for this comingyear?
Like Holy spirit, we want youto feel like write our pages of
what you have for us for thiscoming year.
Like Holy Spirit, we want youto feel like write our pages of
what you have for us.
(09:28):
What do you have for our family?
Right?
And you know, in that this year, once we do it, isaiah and I
would meet together and then wemeet as a family and we kind of
lay out like, hey, this is thevision.
We follow what we call the Godpriorities, and so it's God
spouse, kids, church, family,friends.
So we follow the priority listand literally break down like
(09:50):
this is what we've heard fromthe Lord for our family for this
upcoming year.
And in doing that, one of thescriptures that he brought about
was really talking about takingcare of our temple and it being
that living sacrifice, right.
And so I I love how youmentioned that, first of all,
(10:11):
the Lord knows we go from gloryto glory, right, like we grow in
stages.
It's not necessarily like, okay, we go from this and overnight
we reach perfection, becauseperfection comes when we reach
into that heavenly place, right.
So we all have stuff that we'restill improving, still working
on, but I do love about thataspect because, yes, just like
(10:33):
you, I could say like, oh, okay,I'm spiritually, I have grown,
I have grown.
But then there's the thing that, like, our physical flesh is a
part of what we fight against,and so it's just an example of,
like, how all of those thingsplay together.
I'm one that's very big ourphysical, spiritual, emotional
and mental, right, it all comestogether to our representation
(10:55):
of Christ.
And as I'm pulling this up, Ialso just want to ask you like,
unpack some of the moments when,like, the Lord has asked you to
step into, like holiness on adeeper level, like give me an
example of what that looked likefor you oh man, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So, uh, a high-end overview of this scenario is
that I we were were living inArizona and prior to becoming
mama, I found my identity inlike sea turtle rescue and
marine biology stuff and I was,I was so deep and I loved it.
(11:35):
And then, when I became mom, Ikind of lost myself.
I wasn't in a job I couldidentify myself with, I wasn't
volunteering, I wasn't doinganything and I had this little
baby who just screamed and Ifelt like I was losing myself
because I wasn't anchored to Godin a good way at that time and
(12:02):
I decided that I was going toseek opportunities to surf for
sea turtles.
I wanted to go back to that andHubby's family.
They lived in North Carolinaand that's where one of the big
things was, where you could go,be involved, and so we decided
to move across the country and,man, coming from Arizona, we
(12:24):
found a place by the beach.
We found a place in the country.
We found this neighborhoodwhere it was a community garden
and like it was just perfect.
And so we we went and we didthe, we signed the papers and
thought we had met, like thisgreat community and she's like,
(12:46):
okay, well, um, the trailer thatyou're getting needs some work
on it, so in two weeks you guyscan move in.
And we were like, yes, and thentwo weeks comes by.
And so we're like, you know,can we come by?
Can we go, can we get some time?
She's like, oh, yeah, come over.
So we came and it was in worseshape than when we left and
(13:06):
she's like, oh no, no, I'm sosorry.
Like, uh, yours is next, it'llbe ready, give us two more weeks
.
Um, I know you paid yourdeposit in your first month, but
you know, can you have a littlebit more?
And I was so naive at the time,like I was.
Oh, that was, um, we gave heranother half a month's rent and
(13:27):
then she's like, okay, two weeks.
And so two weeks came and she'slike, you know, we were texting
, can we move in?
Can we move in?
Cause we were staying in theliving room of his mom's house
and so we were very eager to toget into our own place and start
our own thing.
And so we show up and there'sanother family living in our
house and we searched around.
(13:48):
We were asked uh, we asked, youknow, asked around.
What's going on?
You know, did something happen?
Try and get some understanding.
And we were met with you need toleave because you're
trespassing.
I'm like hold on, I have papersand receipts that says I have
the right to be here.
And they were like no, we'regoing to.
You know, we're going to callthe law if you don't leave.
(14:09):
And I was like you know whereare we going to go.
So we had everything we ownedin the truck that we had.
We had a cat and a baby andourselves, in the middle of
winter, in a town we didn't knowit was two and a half hours
away from his mom's house,middle of winter, in a town we
didn't know it's two and a halfhours away from his mom's house.
And that bitterness just satand I was like, oh, and I found
(14:32):
out, um, where, like?
We went to the corner store andif you start opening and asking
questions, you find out a wholelot of information um nothing
like the corner store, likeright there.
Bless you, bless your hearts, ornot?
Right?
So, um, we found out a wholelot of information and I was
(14:55):
like lord, they've done this toother people.
Like this is not okay, I'mgonna stop this.
And I took it on as my ownpersonal, like my legalistic
thinking.
I was like man, I'm gonna putan end to this.
And I God, just dropped and hewas like forgive them.
I was like you cannot beserious, like roll of the eyes
(15:17):
towards heaven, like I know thatyou, you can't be serious, like
no, and he just kept repeatingit and I'm like no, and then I
started I'm like okay, maybethere's something to this.
So I started digging into theword.
(15:37):
And then I started listeningagain, and I started listening
to the Christian radio stationand hearing things on there and
my heart started to get softened.
But it was pretty hard,especially towards them, and I
uh got to the point where I waslike you know what?
I'm gonna take them, I'm gonnatake them to court, like we're
(16:00):
gonna get our money back, andthrough every step of that
process because it's amulti-step process to get to the
point to get into there I justfelt sick.
I'm like, oh, what is happening?
I'm not hearing God audiblytell me to forgive them.
But now I feel like I'm sick inmy spirit.
(16:21):
I just felt bad and I wentthrough the whole process and
then, after it was done, we hadwon.
They didn't show up, shocker,because you don't want to show
up and admit to that right.
Right.
So I was like we won.
Oh, this is not good.
And it just like I had like abreaking moment where I realized
(16:43):
that moment of Jesus on thecross, I was being the
unforgiving servant that we hearabout in scripture, who was
forgiven so much that hecouldn't pay it back in his
lifetime, and turned around andwas like you owe me a hundred.
I need that.
Like I was being that and itjust absolutely broke me and I
(17:06):
spent a few days in tears beforethe Lord, just like I'm so
sorry.
I'm so sorry.
And he was like you know, lether know, let her know.
And so I called the courts andI was like stop, you know, stop
the presses, stop everything,don't, don't pursue them.
I forgive them.
And they're like I'm sorry,what's done is done.
(17:28):
You can't undo this.
You went all the way through.
And that was just another levelof oh my God, what did I do?
What did I do to these people?
And it was through that wholeprocess God is just showing me
and I feel like he was takingscales off of my eyes and
letting me see them how he seesme and how he sees them and
(17:55):
through the whole thing.
And it was after that, when Itold her, I was like you know
what I called the courts and Iasked and they won't do anything
, anything.
But we're not going to pursueyou anymore, you are forgiven.
Like that just is what it is.
And she said thank you.
And that was the last time wespoke.
But since then there was likethis release of blessing almost
(18:18):
immediately.
The place we were living indidn't have heat.
It was the middle of winter andso we didn't have heat.
Like we had ants in the walls.
We were doing cloth diapers'thave heat.
It was the middle of winter andso we didn't have heat.
Like we had ants in the walls.
We were doing cloth diapers byhand, laundry by hand, because
we couldn't afford to do laundry.
And there was one day and theLord was like we were driving
down the road looking for a newplace, he's like turn here.
And I looked to the left.
(18:39):
I'm like Lord, those are rightby on the beach, they are nice,
they're nearly new.
There's no way we're going toafford that.
And Javi hasn't even startedhis job yet, like we don't even
check yet.
And he's like just pull in.
I was like all right.
So I told Javi to pull in andit was just like sureness of
success.
It was a holy nudge, yes, andwe go in and I was telling them
(19:03):
our story and they're like, well, you know, let's run the credit
.
And they ran it and they'relike you're approved, you need
double.
You know double deposit.
And I was like, oh, we're notever going to have that.
And so I was like, well, thankyou for your time.
And as we're getting in thetruck, the manager runs out.
(19:24):
It's just like you need to comeback inside I was like no, we
don't have it, just in case.
She didn't hear me first time,just in case.
So I was like, and she stoppedme, she looked me dead in the
eye and she goes when God tellsyou to do something, you just do
it.
You don't fight with them, youjust do it.
(19:44):
And he told me you need to livehere and we'll work out the
rest.
And we walked back in and wesigned the papers, gave him
everything we had and we had aplace, it was nice and it was
just beautiful.
And it goes beyond that becausewe ended up having to leave and
break the lease and that amounthad been forgiven, like through
(20:09):
circumstances that nobody couldhave predicted, and it just
keeps going.
So when I'm in a spot, foryears after that, I would get in
a spot where money would bereally tight and I'm like, oh, I
just want my $700.
And I was like oh, no, no, no no, no, no, no, nope, nope, okay,
nope, I don't want it.
I don't want it.
I said I forget and I have tolet go.
(20:29):
I can't go grab those chainsand pull her back, right, yeah,
they're gone, they, he bustedthem.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
They're gone yes, you know, and it's uh oh, talk
about what bitterness will do tous, right, like Like, I'm not
the scientist individual, that'sjust not my area of expertise,
right.
But I do recall, thanks to allthese lovely reels, right,
watching a reel that talks aboutthe stress that comes when you
(20:57):
have unforgiveness, and thatthey linked cancer to
unforgiveness.
And I remember just thinking,like you know, and I'm just
sharing my own natural thoughts,y'all Like, I don't have no
biblical reference, I don't havea scientific reference.
So, if you're listening, don'tbe like, okay, we want the case
studies.
I don't have case studies, okay, got it.
(21:18):
But what I do have is just whatmade sense and was just like oh
, okay, if unforgiveness cancause the body to respond in a
way that allows cancer cells todevelop and grow, okay, in like
manner, what can the opposite dofor us?
(21:38):
When we do forgive, what doesthat do to our body?
How does that impact our whole,like our wholeness and our
wellness in him?
How does that impact thehealing cells that God naturally
created within us?
Right, you know.
And then there's a componentthat I also think about is you
(22:01):
know, we know that we have timeswhere there's generational
curses that play in, and we knowthat, like, for example, cancer
.
You know, in my family therehas been breast cancer, and so
when I go to the doctor, thefirst thing they say like oh, is
there a history of cancer?
Which side?
Da, da, da, da, da, da.
Now I even had it where theysay, okay, we're going to test
early because there's thishistory there, right?
(22:21):
Well, red flag.
Just like there's agenerational aspect that we
evaluate on the medical side, Ineed to evaluate generational
aspect on the spiritual side,because is there some
unforgiveness that's linked here, that maybe happened
generationally before me that Ineed to be mindful of, to say I
don't want to enter into that, Iwant to break that right now
(22:43):
because I don't want thosecancerous cells, right, 100%,
yes, I love that and you'reabsolutely right.
Like the Lord rewards those whodo things in his principle, in
his way.
Right, the Bible tells us aboutbitterness.
You know, ephesians 4.31, itsays let all bitterness, wrath,
(23:04):
anger, clamor and evil speakingbe put away from you with all
malice.
Like, remove it, take it away,and the only way to do that is
to release it.
Right, great, yes, I love thatand I know I mean you mentioned
how, like, sometimes it comes uplike, oh, my $700 back, and
(23:24):
that's just like the enemy,right, to try to remind us.
Like, well, if you had did this, you wouldn't be in this, when
the reality is like with God,it's so much sweeter, it's so
much better, right, you know,recently we, a few months ago,
we were in a situation.
About three years ago I had beenin a car accident totaled out
our main primary vehicle, andwhen the van was totaled out, we
(23:49):
were in the process ofsearching for a house, and so
you know, if anybody has beenthrough that process, you know
that they look at every dollaryou spend and where is it going
and what is your debt ratio andall of these things.
And so when the vehicle istotaled out, it was like, okay,
we don't, it wouldn't be wise togo just grab another car, note
(24:10):
Right.
So we didn't do so.
We ended up being blessed withsomeone that let us utilize a
vehicle in the interim while wewere finding a house.
So we find a house which is aGod story in and of itself.
That's one for another day.
But, like we find a house atthe very last minute we talk
about like the last hour.
(24:31):
It's 9pm.
We come into this house thatwas beyond what we could afford,
was more than what our levelwas.
And then the day that we getready to look, she's like, oh, I
just got an email for our endof the year closeout sale.
They took $20,000 off the homeprice, which put us right at
(24:53):
where we wanted to be.
And so we go into this.
We get the home, we end upgetting a vehicle.
So we're now working with onevehicle and, uh, those that know
me and our followers that knowme know like I I tend to do a
lot.
Um, my husband is the primaryprovider.
I do have a business and thenwe do a lot in ministry, our
(25:15):
entire family, um, and we liveabout 30 minutes on a good day
with no traffic from our church.
So we have one vehicle.
So there's times that I'mliterally driving to do
something in the morning, comingback to get like another family
member, going back, and thenwe're going back.
There were days that, like, thewhole family would go to that
(25:37):
side of town so that we couldjust be there for what we need
to be.
Like I need to be there for aBible women's thing that morning
and we all need to be there forsomething that evening.
Right, and it was a sacrificein it, I'm not going to lie.
I got weary, I got exhaustedand I got to a point of like
Lord, like we need another car.
(25:57):
Am I supposed to be doing allof this?
And my husband and I we saidlike, okay, we're gonna pray
about it, we'll come togetherand talk and I remember it so
clearly because we went to thelovely local sonic drive-thru
and we were sitting in sonic.
We got our little ice creamsundaes I like to say our dollar
ice cream right.
And so we got our sundaes and wewere just having like
(26:20):
conversation about like okay,this is like these are the
things that's kind of we'retoiling with.
And I remember he said like hey, like I know you're doing all
this driving, but I just don'tfeel like the Lord saying go buy
a car right now.
And I remember thinking likethat's easy for you to say, you
know, like you're sitting athome working and then I'm
(26:43):
driving back and forth takingthe kids and going back and
forth and then picking you upfor whatever's that evening.
And so in my natural mind I waslike no way that's easy to say.
And it almost even got into apoint of entitlement, of like
you should do this for me, likeyou should go figure out how to
give me a piece oftransportation, right?
But yet even in that moment,just so softly and quickly, the
(27:09):
Holy Spirit said thank him forleading your family well.
And I'm like, oh, whenforgiveness?
fills a pensive Right Like ohwhen forgiveness fills a pensive
Right Like oh what.
And so I will never forgetthose words because, one, it was
hard to say, it was hard to sayOkay, and then, two, because it
(27:29):
was actually God's truth, likehe was making wise choices and
trusting that the Lord would bethe one to provide the necessary
thing for us to continue doingGod's work, right, yeah.
And so I remember I said thosewords and I just said, honey,
thank you for leading our familyso well.
And I remember the look on hisface and probably the look on my
(27:51):
own face too, you know.
So that was a Thursday night.
And the next next, the very nextday, I'm in a grocery store and
we're sitting there and we gotthe grocery store.
It's a hev, so they have alittle barbecue, eat and then go
(28:12):
do groceries.
So we're sitting there and Iget this text, and the text is
from a woman I'm connected to,again from doing God's work in
the kingdom.
A woman I'm connected to andshe gives me this whole thing.
Like you're a giver, I want youto have a heart to receive, I
want to talk to you.
The Lord's been telling me todo something and I'm like, okay,
(28:34):
and in an instance it was,she's going to try and give you
a car.
And I remember thinking like atthat point I had settled in my
mind like if you find me athousand dollar car, that's like
like fucking and blowing smokedown the street, like if I could
just get from point A to B, I'mgoing to be happy with it,
(28:55):
right, whatever it is like.
And so I came home and at firstshe was like, hey, let's try to
schedule a time to meet.
And then I was like, oh, I canmeet next week or so forth.
She's like actually, no, justcall me, I don't want to put
this off longer.
And I call and I mean, um,sometimes when I take phone
calls, I walk the neighborhoodbecause you know I have three
(29:16):
teens and we do a lot ofministry, so I try to be mindful
.
Sometimes I walk in theneighborhood because you know I
have three teens and we do a lotof ministry, so I try to be
mindful.
Sometimes I walk in theneighborhood to talk in private,
right?
So I'm just walking, I'mwalking, and my neighbors
probably were looking like whatis wrong with that lady?
She's at it again, because I amnow walking and bawling, crying
with tears.
This lady gets on the phone andshe says you know, some time ago
, a couple of months ago, theLord told me to give you this
(29:40):
car.
And she said, and I kind offelt like, oh, I don't know
about that, like I don't knowwhat my husband will think, I
don't you know, like that'sgoing to sound crazy.
I just want to give her thisvehicle and so forth.
And then she said last night Iheard a message that said what
has the Lord been telling you todo that you've been delayed?
That's where your blessingsconnected to.
(30:00):
And she said, and I immediatelythought I'm supposed to get in
the car.
And she said I told my husband.
And she said and really it waskind of like, okay, like this is
in his hands, like what he willsee, what he does.
And she said, at 4 AM he wokeup and said okay, let's do it.
That same night that she heardthat message was the same night
that I had to be obedient andsay to my husband thank you for
(30:23):
leading us so well when I didn'tfeel it on the inside, right,
right.
And so I say all that becauseit's just in direct connection
to what you said.
It's like when we release thatbitterness.
We'll release that, because itreally does come from a form of
entitlement, right and I thinkof how, like scripture tells us,
you know, in Philippians, aboutlike how Jesus came to this
(30:46):
earth, how he humbled himself.
He took human form and in thathumility, right, like if of all
people that could have had aform of entitlement, right, yet
he humbled himself and releasedthat on our behalf, right?
right on your behalf for ourlisteners.
(31:06):
Like he chose you, he chose me,he chose jennifer, like before
time, like he chose us.
And so when I think of that, I,when we release that
entitlement of like somethingwas owed to me or there was
something I should have got, andwe step into that forgiveness,
that's when we could really justreceive the glory from above.
(31:27):
And again, it's just anotheraspect and component that
relates to sanctification Right.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Right and that, like what you were saying is how you
knew it was him, is so correct.
Like it was the calm in thestorm, it was the biblical thing
, it was against what my fleshwas telling me.
Like it it was god.
Yes, no doubt.
Like you know, when you knowthat, you're like okay, this is
(31:55):
totally opposite.
Like that it was God.
And what's so funny is I havenever heard anybody with a story
almost exactly the same as minethat you just told.
I had a lady who almost did theexact same words to her husband
, who I had known through thekingdom, who gave us a van, like
(32:21):
paid for they put new tires,they got an oil change, they
paid for the registration, theydid everything.
I've never heard of anybodyelse with that story.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
I love it, that's amazing oh, my goodness, that is
so the story goes are.
Let me tell you, I, I, I wantedto.
I've always liked SUVs.
My husband's been a fan of avan Right and it's just the
thing that like.
And you know, I'm going tospeak to the women right now in
our audience, but God does hearhis daughters, right.
He gives all his children, butsometimes, as a daughter, I'm
(32:53):
like you do love me, sir, likeyou love me.
And so I wanted an SUV and thisvehicle again.
You know when I talk about Iwas ready to take like the
hoopty, I was good with it,whatever it was yeah right, you
know, but it was an SUV,seven-seater.
It has the tv in it, it haschrome wheels, it has all the
(33:15):
automatic features I wanted.
It has a system like everythingthat I could have ever laid out
and said this is what I wouldlike in a vehicle.
This is what I received, by nomight of my own Right, no, and
so I love that.
Oh, my goodness, that's so cool.
I love it, I love it, I love it.
(33:36):
Hey, let's take a quick break totell you about Grace Filled
Community.
Grace Filled Community is anorganization that focuses on the
primary principles of theChurch of Acts, centered around
building communities that impactthe kingdom of God.
(33:56):
We do this through three coreextensions One, graceville
Church Network, where we empowerchurches and nonprofits for
God's success and growth.
We offer tailored growthstrategies rooted in biblical
principles that will help youexpand your reach and impact
your communities.
Just like the early church, wefocus not on attendance and
(34:22):
numbers, but on discipleship,providing leadership teachings
and trainings to today'sministry leaders.
Our second extension is Projectof the Grace Field, where we
provide biblical counseling,mentorship, workshops and events
that are dedicated toencouraging individuals to live
a life filled with grace andpurpose, rooted in the
(34:44):
understanding that all havefallen short and are a working
project.
Let us help the individuals inyour community grow as they walk
with God and experience thefullness of his love.
Our third extension isGrace-Filled Business.
Grace-filled Business is hereto help small, faith-based
(35:04):
business owners develop theirbusiness in a way that honors
God, that brings increase andallows them to pour back into
his kingdom through marketplaceministry and financing his
kingdom.
We do this through our 15 yearsof experience of virtual
administrative work, digitalmarketing, business development
and consulting.
(35:25):
Welcome back, you know.
I do want to just make sure that, because I'd like to.
If I'm going to referencesomething for our listeners
Romans 12 and 1.
I'm just going to read a quickportion of it, right?
I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of God,
(35:45):
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is yourreasonable service, and do not
be conformed to this world, butbe transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may provewhat is good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
(36:05):
And I do want to say, like ifyou've been in church for a
period of time, you probablyhave heard the scripture time
and time again, right, and so,as we were talking about earlier
, just recognizing like that itcomes in all areas.
It comes in the spiritual, itcomes in the emotional, it comes
in physical areas.
It comes in the spiritual,comes in emotional, comes in
physical, it comes in the mental, um, you know, there's an
aspect here, though, is like ourservice is a dedication of
(36:29):
honor.
It's the way that we honor god,and when we forgive, we go
through that sanctificationprocess that you're talking
about, jennifer.
Like that's how we honor him,that's how we say thank you for
who you are, for what you'vedone, for what you will continue
to do.
Like that's the form ofhonoring I think often of, like,
(36:52):
even with our children, youknow, we've always taught them
like hey, I don't want you to dothis because it's me or
something.
I want you to do the rightthing because it honors God.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
And with that mentality, it carries out that,
like you know, you're not doingsomething just to be pleasing
unto me, right, it's an honorthat is only unto God.
Now, out of your honor for me,because the Bible does say honor
thy mother and father so thatyour days could be longer, and I
often remind them like you wantto live, leon, right, like,
(37:26):
please honor me.
Like, but there is a realitythat in your love for a person,
you honor them.
And so I think that and I'mgoing to kind of veer out a
little bit and just go into theaspect of like understanding
what it's like to love, to loveGod kind of love, because the
(37:52):
best example we have is God'slove for us and that lends us to
say like us.
And that lends us to say likehey, I want to honor you, I can
make the sacrifice, I can be aliving sacrifice, I can honor
you with my temple, I can honoryou with my words, with my heart
, with my options.
It's out of a form of love.
And so I just want to ask you,jennifer, like in what ways have
(38:16):
you found that you have had tolike sacrifice to exemplify your
love for God over, maybe, alove for an aspect of things of
this world?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
That's a great question.
So one of the things that Godhas been asking me to do is
honor him with our finances evenmore.
So we have been doing like wedo offerings and we sponsor
(38:52):
children through the differentorganizations, organizations and
where tithing.
There'll be times where I willbe comfortable in tithing and I
will just tithe and be faithfuland and all of that.
And then there'll be times when, like bills and money, they're
(39:13):
not adding up and I strugglebetween I need to pay this and
like I want to honor and nothave my debts.
But you say, give you first 10%.
If I do that, I'm breaking theother one, like I don't know
what to do.
And there was just thisreworking.
(39:34):
It was just the other week,honestly, where I had come off
of a time where I'm like, okay,you know, we had put so much
towards other good things, goodthings but the tithing had which
was on an automatic thing, hadfallen off and I didn't go on
and fix it.
(40:24):
No-transcript held that and it'ssuch a tight space and it's so
encompassing and it's heavier,it's like a weighted blanket but
not a good one.
And and I was like I washolding onto that and I was like
gosh, you know, I'm just tryingto to, to do all the right
(40:47):
things.
And it was just brought to melike when we're not tithing and
we're not, you know, we'resacrificing the things of the
world.
Like you know, we'resacrificing the things of the
world like, okay, I'm not gonnahave coffee from this place or
I'm not gonna um, go crazy onthe birthday party, which I love
to do because I love tocelebrate and have people over,
(41:10):
so, but so this is like okay,well, I have to.
And I went to my husband and Iwas like you, you know what we
need to do, and he was like Iwas like okay, I know I'm
talking to myself, but you needto listen.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Help me work this out .
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Just just just listen .
So I was like, okay, here'swhat I'm going to do and here's
the plan.
And I went on immediately andput the tithing right back where
it needed to be and put it backon automatic.
So I'm not thinking about it.
But it was also realizing, okay, I'm gonna have to scale back
(41:52):
we have a birthday party comingup and not letting the pressure
of what everybody's expectingwhen they come, that it's more
about.
It's about being together,which it always has been.
But I love to bring joy andsurprises and and and all of
that.
And just realizing that all ofthat can kind of come down,
(42:14):
because the truth is we need tobe together and need to love on
these people and love my family.
And the surprises are going tobe forgotten, but the time we
spend together is not for thatworldly thing or to fulfill that
(42:44):
, that desire in myself, or tomeet whatever need is there that
he didn't place there, and it'sreally access and that hedge of
protection.
So am I willing to to pull upthose, those spokes or, uh, of
the fence, you know, to takethat blanket off, that
protective place off, becauseI'm trying to fulfill something
(43:08):
that's not going to last andit's just going to be there for
a moment and it's going to feelamazing for a moment, but then
it's going to be gone and whatgonna be left with?
What am I gonna have?
And then I got that shameblanket.
That's right there and I'm likeI don't need that.
You took that from me and Ineed to quit going back to go
get it like it's.
(43:29):
I used to scuba dive and Ialways used to joke well, like
I'm going deeper this time and Idon't want to see anything you
threw at the bottom right, Idon't want to see a fish flying
by with like a little sign.
This is what I did.
So, but it was just thatreckoning that I had really made
some of those things my idolsand it was, you know, just the
(43:54):
pressure of, but people weren'teven talking about.
I gave the pressure myself.
Certainly they weren't eventalking about.
I gave the pressure myself.
They weren't pressuring me, butI wanted the things, even good
things, of the world, but it wastaking the place of God's place
and what he deserves from meand what is rightfully his, and
I was stealing it to use itsomewhere else, and that's not
(44:16):
okay.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yes, you know that is a excellent, excellent example.
I think that my heart hasalways been connected to where
we spend our money.
We can find the connection ofour heart Right and I've had
(44:38):
many conversations over theyears and have had my own bouts
over the years of trying toevaluate, like the legalistic
side of tithing versus the sideof tithing out of love versus is
it old testament or newtestament or just all the
components right and when I stepback from all the argumentous
schematics of it, all thetheology of it, right.
(44:59):
When I step back from that, theone thing that I can say that
I've seen in my own life is thatwhen I've tithed, there is a
piece of all financialcomponents right.
When I don't tithe, it's metrying to consistently make
something happen and it's almostlike I am really telling God
(45:21):
that I can do better than youcreated, when Lord knows, would
put up probably every time.
Okay, yep, yep, versus he getsit right every time.
Uh, you know.
And just a testament to thatlike we, we tithe, we believe in
(45:43):
tithing, we teach our childrenevery aspect you bring in, like
you tithe from it.
It is a form and we do it outof love.
I don't, at this point, I don'tcare whether it was old
Testament, new Testament, Idon't, I don't care, it's out of
love.
Just like I would give gifts tomy children that I love, I'm,
I'm giving back to the Lord whenI truly all things are his, all
(46:05):
things.
I'm grateful for anything that Iam able to utilize in this
world, since because it allbelongs to him and so,
understanding that and the firstyou know component it's like
there is, there's a convictionthat comes with, like I didn't
do this, yeah, and I want tospeak to that.
(46:26):
The enemy loves to try and pullthat shame component.
When we start with the place ofbeing convicted because it
always starts with there's thiswarning, right, I like to say,
god doesn't do anything withouta warning to us.
So there's this warning throughthe conviction that we have the
opportunity to act upon, and Ifind that it's when we don't act
(46:48):
up on that warning that theenemy comes into shame, right,
yes, and so then we have to pullourselves, like out of the pit
like that shame to, to get backinto, within our own minds, a
rightful place, because the Lordnever put us in that shame like
we did it to ourselves.
So we have to like pull up andget back to that rightful place
(47:10):
in him and doing so, but I thinkthat that is a phenomenal
example.
You know, we have made somesacrifices that were sacrifices
that we did not intend on makingright.
You know, in this most recentpast year, my husband had a
(47:31):
contract.
He does contract work typically, uh, like software, project
management stuff, and so he hada contract that was like the
best paying, highest payingcontract we've had, like
wonderful, things are goingamazingly well.
Um, and it's time for thatcontract to end and and so we're
sitting at this place of likeokay, this contract's gonna end.
(47:53):
You know, we really would liketo get on someplace a little bit
more permanent, just becauseit's schematics of like oh, you
know, there's health insuranceand all these things you pay out
of pocket for when you're notin, like a contract, right I?
mean we're not in a likefull-time employment.
And so we really were just like, okay, lord, we're going to
pray, we're going to seek you onwhat to do next.
And so he gets this offer,which was a God thing.
(48:15):
I mean even in the way ithappened, like I go to church,
which I won, I mean, obviously,graceville community.
I, I heavily believe in thepower community.
I believe that God uses hispeople to speak into our lives.
Still, he still uses his peopleto bless us.
He still uses his people tospeak into our lives.
Still, he still uses his peopleto bless us.
He still uses his people, thatis, the hands and feet of them.
(48:35):
So we need to be in communityso that we can be used and also
receive right, right.
And so we were at church one dayand I am serving as normal and
a couple comes up and the guy'slike, hey, you know where's
(48:57):
Isaiah?
And I'm like, oh, hi, thanks,yeah, like reality, he.
He's like, he's like, hey, I'vebeen thinking of you, like
where is he?
And I'm like, oh, he's servingin this area.
He's like, okay, I'm going toconnect with him.
He didn't know that it was timethat he was looking for a job.
(49:17):
There was no way for him tohave known that we were at the
week of having to make somedecisions.
He sees my husband and he sayslike hey, my job is hiring.
I thought of you.
I want to, you know, send yourinformation.
It's a small, private company.
(49:38):
You only get in throughreferrals, so this isn't even
like the job's not publiclyposted or anything.
He proceeds to send myhusband's resume, meet with my
husband and go over like all thedetails of like, even showing
the background of the program,coach him along or like hey,
this is you know what, who'sgoing to be interviewing?
This is some things about them.
(49:58):
Just, you know those areaswhere you see God working right
into detail.
And so my husband goes throughthe process and we get to this
point.
I'm like I'm going to speed itup.
So we get to this point where,like, we now have an opportunity
to renew this other contractthat makes good money, but it's
a short-term contract and italso has pulled heavily on him.
(50:22):
Being home, being able to teachthrough action with our
teenagers, and having twoteenage boys, that's a huge
aspect, right.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Of what?
Speaker 1 (50:35):
it plays a toll on our bodies because I'm literally
we were still in one car atthat time so I'm driving him to
a train station.
He's taking a train for an hourand a half.
He's sometimes missing thingsthat we were connected with the
church for the evening.
There were things happening.
So we have this that, likemoney looks great and it looks
like this is what you shouldtake, and then this other
(50:57):
opportunity comes in and thisopportunity pays significantly,
like I'm going to say,estimating about a third less,
but it comes with fully remotework from home.
You kind of set your own pace,your own schedule, you kind of
(51:18):
manage your calendar.
Uh, unlimited vacations, oh,the health package we wanted.
Now, at the very beginning oflast year, we we always do this
thing.
We have New Year's Eve events,and so we do this thing where
it's a name tag game.
You got to call that person bytheir name and then their name
(51:39):
is a goal of theirs.
So his was take more time off.
So here we are, eight monthslater and now there's a time to
make a decision and I mean youcan imagine, as a man, like he's
the provider, so he's like I'mthinking this may look good,
like you know, like I'm herewith it, right, and I was like,
(52:01):
well, I don't know, I don't know.
And so we prayed about it and Iremember he came and he said you
know, I've always heard thisscripture count the cost.
And he was like, and I'vealways related that to counting
the cost, just financially,right, you think about, count
the cost before you build, like,make sure you can afford it,
and so forth.
And he's like but it really is,count the cost of being with
(52:25):
Christ, count the cost of whatit is to disciple, count the
cost.
It is that the sacrifice thatyou signed up for, right, that's
counting the cost.
And so he's like and how can Ifocus on discipling others when
I'm not having the time to do itright here, right, yeah, and
again, at this time we stillhave two teenage boys.
(52:48):
But there's this reality of likethey need to see more from you,
right, like, there I'm, I'm nolonger feeding, I'm no longer
like y'all, I probably cook oncea week because everybody has
their days.
Like you know, yeah, there's,there's a shift happening and
it's for a season, because theLord, he, he created seasons, so
(53:08):
there are seasons, right.
So with that we went ahead andwe both had a piece and said
we're going to take thisopportunity here.
It's less money, but itprovides you more time at home.
It provides unlimited vacation.
Now we don't know how we'regoing to take a vacation,
because the money ain'tconnecting with money right
(53:28):
Staycation, right staycation.
yes, I say all that to say inthe last six months we have went
from never taking a cruise tonow taking three.
We have went from rarelytraveling, like once a year as a
family to we have had multiplefamily trips and then all being
(53:49):
provided by God in ways that wenever could have anticipated.
Between gifts, coming in tosomeone saying like hey, you
know what?
For you guys' birthday, I'msending you on a cruise what?
And then us going on a cruiseand connecting to where we get a
free cruise because of storiesthat hit and credits and so like
(54:10):
.
And what I see in that is justthe Lord saying, like, if you
take care of my kingdom, I'lltake care of you, not even just
you the necessity, becausetraveling is not a necessity,
these vacations are not anecessity, but it's the desire
of my heart and he knows thatand he sees that.
Yeah, and so that's the beautyin the sanctification process.
(54:36):
It's a good father that reallywants what's best for us.
He wants to give us those goodthings.
But like everything else,there's a process through the
process.
Speaker 2 (54:48):
Yes, so true honor the process so true, yeah, and
it's, you know, in the day thatwe live, like processes, for
these things, like, uh, one ofthe best ones that I can think
of is growing food, and it'sthat process in that soil,
(55:09):
that's it's growing in itmatters, because when you are
trying to produce so much, youknow you're stripping that soil
away, it's not renewing, it'snot having time to sit, it's not
doing its process, the thingscoming out of it are not as high
quality as they could be ifeverything was resting as it
(55:33):
needs to rest, taking thesabbath it needs to take.
And I was just listening.
Um, I have a nine to five joband when I'm doing that, I the
first part of my day, I listento the word and just let the
bible play for a little bit andI was listening.
It was talking about the sowingand the reaping, but it was
talking about rest and Sabbathand letting the land rest, and
(55:58):
that was just really speaking.
And, like you said, you know themoney.
What does the money matter ifeverything about life isn't
there?
So the relationship, the time,the leading, the communication,
the connection, all that moneydoesn't matter if that's not
(56:19):
happening.
And when it comes down to it,like you, you need him there.
He needs to be there right now,and so that just is a beautiful
reflection of him leading yourfamily, but in you guys,
trusting in God, realizing thatthe rest is needed, even coming
off of what he just had and thetime that he was just doing,
(56:42):
like you needed to recharge, youneeded that rest and that
connection, and he doesn't wasteanything.
So you're right, thosevacations aren't like a vacation
of that such as is notnecessarily necessary, but he's
going to use it and I guaranteeyou that you met people and you
loved on people and you, like hedidn't waste anything, anything
(57:07):
, anything.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
You know I love how you brought up the Sabbath
because even in those vacationsI was bringing this whole church
of aspects and bringing backthe heart of like why we even
(57:35):
have church and community Right,and so it was.
It was a tough year, like therewas a heavy pool, there was a
lot of heavy things happening inkingdom as a whole and so I was
just telling a friend'm likeyou know, god knew that he knew
all of this was going to happenbefore I did and the beauty of
(57:58):
my husband being able to bepresent, I mean, even in this
podcast, I would not be doingthis if he wasn't able to be
present and to take on some ofthose components.
That really is the needful thingright now.
Right, but what I found waslike I would go hard.
And when I say go hard, likeyou know the Lord, it would be
(58:19):
like, okay, you have thisspeaking engagement, okay, I
want you to go talk about somehard things with this church and
I want you to be present forthis.
And hey, we're going to do allthese biblical counseling
appointments.
And then it was like, oh, andhere, here's a vacation, take,
take a week, go sit by the ocean.
And then I would come back andbe like, oh, I come back, I look
at the calendar, I'll be like,whoa, this is, this is a hard
(58:41):
couple of months.
Here we go and go for it.
And it was like, right at thatpoint where I would start
feeling like, whoosh, it'd belike, oh, here's another
vacation.
And so it's just the beauty ofhow, like when we trust in him,
he knows, he knows, he knowswhat's ahead of us.
You know, we know, we oftenhear the jeremiah like he knew,
(59:03):
before we even formed and Ithink of that so often right,
like with even you and I thisconnection, like he knew that
this moment would come and thatyou would be jumping on the
podcast and I just I love yourheart, I love your spirit.
I've absolutely loved everythingabout our conversation and look
forward to having another onebut, like he, he knew, and so,
(59:26):
in that, I just would like tosay I'm so grateful for you
taking the time joining us andcoming on a podcast and just
sharing more about what reallythe Lord has done for you and
what your heart is to impact thekingdom.
I do want to make sure that ourlisteners know.
So, Jennifer, please tell themwhere can they connect with you?
(59:47):
I know we have the upcomingbook that I'm waiting for the
release for, but please let usknow how we could connect with
you.
Speaker 2 (59:54):
Honestly and thank you so much for this opportunity
.
Like I, was an unknown toanybody who God has given a
story to, and he's like you needto do and whatever it is he's
telling you to do, you need todo it Because people need to
hear your story.
They're faith builders, and somy platform is completely new.
(01:00:16):
We just started this year orthe end of last year.
It's calledstoriesofafaithbuildercom.
We're on Facebook, instagramthreads and starting up on
YouTube.
We'll be starting a podcasthere in the next couple of
months and it's just it's.
(01:00:37):
It's those stories, it's thoseGod did it stories, because
miracles still happen andsometimes you just need to hear
a story of okay, look, I know Ineed, I need to hear a story of
God moved and God was presentand God was there.
So, um, I'm so excited to makesure that you get a copy of this
(01:00:58):
book called before she knewJesus and, uh, we officially
launched on February 14th, uh,which, being Valentine's Day, is
all about God's love, and so,yeah, absolutely, We'll be on
Amazon, definitely available forBefore she Knew Jesus, and I
(01:01:24):
just thank you so much for thisopportunity and this connection.
I have fully enjoyed getting toknow you a little bit and I
look forward to talking more.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Absolutely, absolutely Well.
It is truly my pleasure.
This is definitely a God thing,this podcast all together.
I tell people I'm like this wasnot what I necessarily was
signing up for, like this is notsomething that.
I was like, let's throw this onmy plate.
Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
The.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Holy Spirit knew, and so I'm so grateful for just
people like you that, with theheart that just wants to get the
goodness of God out thereBefore we go.
I have a question that I askall of our podcast guests, and
it really is.
I'm a firm believer that theword is the thing that carries
us through, and so I love theword of God, I love Jesus, who
(01:02:11):
is our word, right?
Yes, so I like to ask, likewhat is a favorite scripture?
What is a scripture that youhave held on to, maybe through a
season?
Or what is a scripture that isjust yours, that you possess,
like?
Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
oh yeah, that's a good way to put it.
It because I was gonna say thishas been a lifelong.
When I come back to any momentwhere I am struggling, it is
Proverbs 3, 5 through 6.
Lean not unto your ownunderstanding.
Acknowledge the Lord in all ofyour ways and he will make your
(01:02:47):
path straight yes, I, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Well, thank you again .
So much for our time.
I look forward to doing thisagain.
Like let's come back for likeespecially okay.
So February 14th y'all.
Amazon, I'm ready.
I will order my copy of thebook as well as I think it'd be
a nice gift to give to a fewothers, so I'm gonna order a few
and yes, I would love to haveyou on after the book release.
(01:03:13):
Like, let's talk about the booksome.
Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Yeah, let's.
We're going to have anotherbook coming out, actually called
Sacrificial Love, all aboutmarriage.
And when you get that momentwe're like is this what I said?
I do too Really.
And then just honoring thosevows and how we worked through
it, uh, it's a much smallerproject, but it's also
co-authored.
Uh, and where we are raw, we'redigging in again and just
(01:03:37):
bringing the truth of how jesushas continued to work.
It's kind of the continuation,after the situation, of our
story.
So awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Well, I look forward to it.
I'm so excited to read aboutyour story and for the
continuation um.
Marriages are heavy hitter,heavy heart for us within the
graceville community, especiallywith isaiah and i's own
testimony to marriage, and lastweek we had the privilege of
celebrating 20 years andcongratulations, thank you,
(01:04:09):
thank you so much.
Uh, I tell people we have haddefinitely the roller coaster,
oh, those those 20 years, but Iwouldn't change it because it
definitely shaped who we aretoday.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
So for sure.
Well, you are amazing.
Thank you so much for all youdo and having this platform,
because it's so needed, and Icannot wait to have you on
Stories of a Faith Builder yes,I would love it Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Thank you so much.
Well listeners, thank you againfor tuning in to Graceful
Community, where we are allabout sharing God's stories.
So I hope that you enjoyedtoday's episode.
We look forward to connectingwith you and be sure, as always,
to connect with Gracevillecommunity.
If you are in a space where youneed community, whether that is
(01:05:02):
community through marriages,community through business,
community through ministryleading, we are here for all
those things.
Love you and God bless.
Thank you for tuning in totoday's episode of Graceville
Community Podcast.
We would like to invite you tovisit gracevillecommunitycom.
(01:05:24):
Graceville Community is allabout doing church the way
Church of Acts did, Using fivemain principles that we see in
the book of Acts.
Sharing resources, as believerspooled their possessions and
resources to support those inneed, as we see in Acts 2.44.
(01:05:44):
Through hospitality the earlyChristians practiced hospitality
by opening their homes toothers, as we see in Acts 2 and
46.
By financial aid the church inAntioch sent financial aid to
believers in Judea during a timeof famine, as described in Acts
(01:06:06):
11 and 29.
As described in Acts 11 and 29.
Prayer and encouragement theysupported each other through
prayer and encouragement, as wesee in Acts 4 and 24.
And finally, spiritual guidance.
The apostles and eldersprovided spiritual guidance and
teaching to help strengthen andbuild the community, as we see
(01:06:29):
in Acts 15, 30.
I would like to encourage you.
If any of those areas are areasin which you are in need or can
contribute, please reach out toGraceville Community.
We are working together acrossthe world with ministries and
individuals alike to help bringback the Church of Acts.
My name is Nicole Cater, your host, founder and
servant leader of GracefieldCommunity.
I want to thank you for tuningin to Gracefield Community
Podcast.
This is a safe space, a placein which we just share stories
of how God has touchedindividuals' lives all across
the world and how they are nowimpacting the kingdom of God.
(00:21):
Thank you for tuning in.
Blessings to you All right.
Well, hello there, gracevillelisteners.
Thank you once again for tuningin to our Graceville Community
Podcast.
I am so excited about all thatwe have in store for this
recording today, so I'm notgoing to waste much time.
(00:43):
I'm going to dive right in, andfirst I want to introduce you
to our guests.
Today we have Ms JenniferBeeman.
She is a wife, a mother, authorand student Wow.
Most recently, she hasco-authored a book called Before
she Knew Jesus, where eachnarrative unfolds as a testament
(01:04):
to the transformative journeyfrom merely knowing Jesus to
experiencing the profoundreality of being truly known by
him and, in turn, intimatelyknowing him.
She is on a mission to shareevidence of God's word coming to
life through stories of hisglory shining through live,
(01:28):
lived experiences.
She is from Phoenix, arizona itgets hot out there where she
lives with her hubby, twochildren and mama.
She is working towards herbachelor of arts in
communications, interpersonaland Human Relations emphasis.
She can often be found bakingsomething yummy and playing
(01:49):
barista in the church cafe.
All right, so celebrate with me.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Jennifer, hello, hello, hello.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Absolutely.
I am so excited for ourconversation today and let me
just say even in I know thelisteners are kind of heard your
bio there, but I'm like girlyou're doing a lot, but I love
it.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I am, and I'm only able to do a lot because I'm
anointed in this season to dothis.
When I'm not anointed in aseason, it's not going to happen
.
Yes, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm not anointed in a season.
It's not going to happen.
Yes, I hear you.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm right there with you, so yeah for right now it's
a bit, but this is where God hasme and this is what I'm going
to do.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yes, yes, well, that's that's so true.
We're anointed and we're givinggrace for the season that he
placed us in Right, amen, oh mygosh.
Yes, yes, well, I'm so excitedfor our conversation today.
I actually have some pointersjotted down just from having
time and look into what it isthat you do, and some about the
stories and so forth.
But before I like get our mybox about it all, first, I'm
(03:01):
going to ask just tell us aboutyour encounter.
How did you hear from him, holySpirit, conviction, like tell
us more.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Sure, absolutely so.
In just one example, man, hehas been in my life since as far
back as I can, years.
I found myself coming to Godand listening and then walking
(03:33):
away Through and through, andtime and time again, he has
proven that God is so much morededicated, completely dedicated
to our sanctification, evenbefore we are fully surrendered
to him.
And that was just mind blowing.
(03:56):
And through the scenario that Ishare in the book that's coming
out, is this story offorgiveness when it just feels
flat out offensive.
(04:16):
We were absolutely, by all theworld's standards, had the right
to be offended and to not giveforgiveness.
But, man, when I think aboutwhat Jesus did on the cross, and
if you close your eyes and Idon't know if you've seen the
passion, but anybody who has yousit there in that moment and
you think about that.
And if I was there, who am I tonot forgive other humans?
Man, we're just.
(04:38):
We're humans living a humanexperience in a spiritual, with
a spiritual God who has given useverything that we need, and so
it has been those moments andthose revelations that has
really got me to where I'm atnow yes, yes, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
You know that's so true.
I I've seen the passion.
I remember showing the passionto my kids when they were fairly
young and kind of, uh, I hopeit's a like, I hope I didn't
traumatize them, but right, butI will say it is a, a movie that
we talk about often because itdoes give you an imaginative,
(05:16):
imaginatory picture, right, ofwhat all Jesus went through.
And I often say this he did it,he chose me, he chose to
sacrifice, knowing all the waysthat I would offend him, all the
times that I would deny him andturn away from him, but yet he
(05:39):
still selected, like all of me,and said, hey, I'm gonna do this
for her right.
And so I love how you say likethat that allows us.
When we look at it in that way,it's like how can I not forgive
the next person?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I think that's exactly right.
Like that is just what comes tomind, those images, and I'm
like, okay, humility, let's sitdown.
Where am I at?
What have I done?
Like he's forgiving me of somuch, like I can't hold on to
this, yeah, just can't.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So let's talk about sanctification, because I heard
you mention that and I have somany thoughts about it.
Um, how do you think that itplays into making you more like
Christ, like Christ mind,christ-mind, christ-body in a
sense?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
For sure.
So I believe the sanctificationprocess is God's guiding and
prompting.
He's prompting us to maturityand renewing our minds and our
hearts and our desires, and thewhole purpose is to display
Christ through us to the world.
And it's moment by moment.
(06:49):
Sometimes they're big momentsand there's a big pivotal shift,
and sometimes they're justlittle subtle moments that make
a big impact.
And it is really him comingalongside of us and we're
working with him because we areresponding and we are choosing.
He is prompting our choosing,but we ultimately are choosing
(07:12):
and when we choose him, wechoose love, because that is
that's love.
It's a choice.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yes, absolutely.
You know.
I think that often, as we lookat the fruits of the spirit, and
you know, sometimes I thinkit's the thing that we memorize,
right, like love, patience,kindness, and like we could spit
it out there's songs all aboutit, but it's the reality of
taking hold of it and acting itout, and it is a moment by
moment renewing of the mind,daily choice to say that I'm
(07:42):
going to act out these fruitsbecause this is what represents
my heavenly father, right?
And so when we think about likemind, body and soul components,
like I like how you talk aboutthe aspect of sanctification,
being Christ-like, itencompasses all yeah it does, it
(08:06):
absolutely does, and that hasbeen.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
He's working on me, even, like on the body part of
things.
I've got, you know, reallymatured in my spirit man.
I've really matured in so manymindful ways.
And so now what he's doing isis prompting me to to work on
the body portion, because thisis his temple.
When he went to the cross andhe was resurrected and that
(08:31):
temple was gone, there was noneed because we have full access
.
And so now he's, you know,taking that next step to say
like I need you to build thetemple, I'm inside of you and I
need you to be strong enough todo what I'm asking you to go do
next.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yes, and if you see me looking, I just you know, as
we're talking, I'm like, oh, Ihave to pull up that scripture
relative to just the temple.
We in our home we tend to, myhusband and I meet together.
We do a vision meeting at thebeginning of or towards the end
of every year, preparing for thenew year, and so we just some
(09:07):
like to call it vision retreat.
Unfortunately, this past yearwe didn't have the space and
time to retreat away.
It was kind of like let's breakit up in multiple days, right,
but we just spend that timereally seeking God, like what do
you have for us for this comingyear?
Like Holy spirit, we want youto feel like write our pages of
what you have for us for thiscoming year.
Like Holy Spirit, we want youto feel like write our pages of
what you have for us.
(09:28):
What do you have for our family?
Right?
And you know, in that this year, once we do it, isaiah and I
would meet together and then wemeet as a family and we kind of
lay out like, hey, this is thevision.
We follow what we call the Godpriorities, and so it's God
spouse, kids, church, family,friends.
So we follow the priority listand literally break down like
(09:50):
this is what we've heard fromthe Lord for our family for this
upcoming year.
And in doing that, one of thescriptures that he brought about
was really talking about takingcare of our temple and it being
that living sacrifice, right.
And so I I love how youmentioned that, first of all,
(10:11):
the Lord knows we go from gloryto glory, right, like we grow in
stages.
It's not necessarily like, okay, we go from this and overnight
we reach perfection, becauseperfection comes when we reach
into that heavenly place, right.
So we all have stuff that we'restill improving, still working
on, but I do love about thataspect because, yes, just like
(10:33):
you, I could say like, oh, okay,I'm spiritually, I have grown,
I have grown.
But then there's the thing that, like, our physical flesh is a
part of what we fight against,and so it's just an example of,
like, how all of those thingsplay together.
I'm one that's very big ourphysical, spiritual, emotional
and mental, right, it all comestogether to our representation
(10:55):
of Christ.
And as I'm pulling this up, Ialso just want to ask you like,
unpack some of the moments when,like, the Lord has asked you to
step into, like holiness on adeeper level, like give me an
example of what that looked likefor you oh man, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So, uh, a high-end overview of this scenario is
that I we were were living inArizona and prior to becoming
mama, I found my identity inlike sea turtle rescue and
marine biology stuff and I was,I was so deep and I loved it.
(11:35):
And then, when I became mom, Ikind of lost myself.
I wasn't in a job I couldidentify myself with, I wasn't
volunteering, I wasn't doinganything and I had this little
baby who just screamed and Ifelt like I was losing myself
because I wasn't anchored to Godin a good way at that time and
(12:02):
I decided that I was going toseek opportunities to surf for
sea turtles.
I wanted to go back to that andHubby's family.
They lived in North Carolinaand that's where one of the big
things was, where you could go,be involved, and so we decided
to move across the country and,man, coming from Arizona, we
(12:24):
found a place by the beach.
We found a place in the country.
We found this neighborhoodwhere it was a community garden
and like it was just perfect.
And so we we went and we didthe, we signed the papers and
thought we had met, like thisgreat community and she's like,
(12:46):
okay, well, um, the trailer thatyou're getting needs some work
on it, so in two weeks you guyscan move in.
And we were like, yes, and thentwo weeks comes by.
And so we're like, you know,can we come by?
Can we go, can we get some time?
She's like, oh, yeah, come over.
So we came and it was in worseshape than when we left and
(13:06):
she's like, oh no, no, I'm sosorry.
Like, uh, yours is next, it'llbe ready, give us two more weeks
.
Um, I know you paid yourdeposit in your first month, but
you know, can you have a littlebit more?
And I was so naive at the time,like I was.
Oh, that was, um, we gave heranother half a month's rent and
(13:27):
then she's like, okay, two weeks.
And so two weeks came and she'slike, you know, we were texting
, can we move in?
Can we move in?
Cause we were staying in theliving room of his mom's house
and so we were very eager to toget into our own place and start
our own thing.
And so we show up and there'sanother family living in our
house and we searched around.
(13:48):
We were asked uh, we asked, youknow, asked around.
What's going on?
You know, did something happen?
Try and get some understanding.
And we were met with you need toleave because you're
trespassing.
I'm like hold on, I have papersand receipts that says I have
the right to be here.
And they were like no, we'regoing to.
You know, we're going to callthe law if you don't leave.
(14:09):
And I was like you know whereare we going to go.
So we had everything we ownedin the truck that we had.
We had a cat and a baby andourselves, in the middle of
winter, in a town we didn't knowit was two and a half hours
away from his mom's house,middle of winter, in a town we
didn't know it's two and a halfhours away from his mom's house.
And that bitterness just satand I was like, oh, and I found
(14:32):
out, um, where, like?
We went to the corner store andif you start opening and asking
questions, you find out a wholelot of information um nothing
like the corner store, likeright there.
Bless you, bless your hearts, ornot?
Right?
So, um, we found out a wholelot of information and I was
(14:55):
like lord, they've done this toother people.
Like this is not okay, I'mgonna stop this.
And I took it on as my ownpersonal, like my legalistic
thinking.
I was like man, I'm gonna putan end to this.
And I God, just dropped and hewas like forgive them.
I was like you cannot beserious, like roll of the eyes
(15:17):
towards heaven, like I know thatyou, you can't be serious, like
no, and he just kept repeatingit and I'm like no, and then I
started I'm like okay, maybethere's something to this.
So I started digging into theword.
(15:37):
And then I started listeningagain, and I started listening
to the Christian radio stationand hearing things on there and
my heart started to get softened.
But it was pretty hard,especially towards them, and I
uh got to the point where I waslike you know what?
I'm gonna take them, I'm gonnatake them to court, like we're
(16:00):
gonna get our money back, andthrough every step of that
process because it's amulti-step process to get to the
point to get into there I justfelt sick.
I'm like, oh, what is happening?
I'm not hearing God audiblytell me to forgive them.
But now I feel like I'm sick inmy spirit.
(16:21):
I just felt bad and I wentthrough the whole process and
then, after it was done, we hadwon.
They didn't show up, shocker,because you don't want to show
up and admit to that right.
Right.
So I was like we won.
Oh, this is not good.
And it just like I had like abreaking moment where I realized
(16:43):
that moment of Jesus on thecross, I was being the
unforgiving servant that we hearabout in scripture, who was
forgiven so much that hecouldn't pay it back in his
lifetime, and turned around andwas like you owe me a hundred.
I need that.
Like I was being that and itjust absolutely broke me and I
(17:06):
spent a few days in tears beforethe Lord, just like I'm so
sorry.
I'm so sorry.
And he was like you know, lether know, let her know.
And so I called the courts andI was like stop, you know, stop
the presses, stop everything,don't, don't pursue them.
I forgive them.
And they're like I'm sorry,what's done is done.
(17:28):
You can't undo this.
You went all the way through.
And that was just another levelof oh my God, what did I do?
What did I do to these people?
And it was through that wholeprocess God is just showing me
and I feel like he was takingscales off of my eyes and
letting me see them how he seesme and how he sees them and
(17:55):
through the whole thing.
And it was after that, when Itold her, I was like you know
what I called the courts and Iasked and they won't do anything
, anything.
But we're not going to pursueyou anymore, you are forgiven.
Like that just is what it is.
And she said thank you.
And that was the last time wespoke.
But since then there was likethis release of blessing almost
(18:18):
immediately.
The place we were living indidn't have heat.
It was the middle of winter andso we didn't have heat.
Like we had ants in the walls.
We were doing cloth diapers'thave heat.
It was the middle of winter andso we didn't have heat.
Like we had ants in the walls.
We were doing cloth diapers byhand, laundry by hand, because
we couldn't afford to do laundry.
And there was one day and theLord was like we were driving
down the road looking for a newplace, he's like turn here.
And I looked to the left.
(18:39):
I'm like Lord, those are rightby on the beach, they are nice,
they're nearly new.
There's no way we're going toafford that.
And Javi hasn't even startedhis job yet, like we don't even
check yet.
And he's like just pull in.
I was like all right.
So I told Javi to pull in andit was just like sureness of
success.
It was a holy nudge, yes, andwe go in and I was telling them
(19:03):
our story and they're like, well, you know, let's run the credit
.
And they ran it and they'relike you're approved, you need
double.
You know double deposit.
And I was like, oh, we're notever going to have that.
And so I was like, well, thankyou for your time.
And as we're getting in thetruck, the manager runs out.
(19:24):
It's just like you need to comeback inside I was like no, we
don't have it, just in case.
She didn't hear me first time,just in case.
So I was like, and she stoppedme, she looked me dead in the
eye and she goes when God tellsyou to do something, you just do
it.
You don't fight with them, youjust do it.
(19:44):
And he told me you need to livehere and we'll work out the
rest.
And we walked back in and wesigned the papers, gave him
everything we had and we had aplace, it was nice and it was
just beautiful.
And it goes beyond that becausewe ended up having to leave and
break the lease and that amounthad been forgiven, like through
(20:09):
circumstances that nobody couldhave predicted, and it just
keeps going.
So when I'm in a spot, foryears after that, I would get in
a spot where money would bereally tight and I'm like, oh, I
just want my $700.
And I was like oh, no, no, no no, no, no, no, nope, nope, okay,
nope, I don't want it.
I don't want it.
I said I forget and I have tolet go.
(20:29):
I can't go grab those chainsand pull her back, right, yeah,
they're gone, they, he bustedthem.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
They're gone yes, you know, and it's uh oh, talk
about what bitterness will do tous, right, like Like, I'm not
the scientist individual, that'sjust not my area of expertise,
right.
But I do recall, thanks to allthese lovely reels, right,
watching a reel that talks aboutthe stress that comes when you
(20:57):
have unforgiveness, and thatthey linked cancer to
unforgiveness.
And I remember just thinking,like you know, and I'm just
sharing my own natural thoughts,y'all Like, I don't have no
biblical reference, I don't havea scientific reference.
So, if you're listening, don'tbe like, okay, we want the case
studies.
I don't have case studies, okay, got it.
(21:18):
But what I do have is just whatmade sense and was just like oh
, okay, if unforgiveness cancause the body to respond in a
way that allows cancer cells todevelop and grow, okay, in like
manner, what can the opposite dofor us?
(21:38):
When we do forgive, what doesthat do to our body?
How does that impact our whole,like our wholeness and our
wellness in him?
How does that impact thehealing cells that God naturally
created within us?
Right, you know.
And then there's a componentthat I also think about is you
(22:01):
know, we know that we have timeswhere there's generational
curses that play in, and we knowthat, like, for example, cancer
.
You know, in my family therehas been breast cancer, and so
when I go to the doctor, thefirst thing they say like oh, is
there a history of cancer?
Which side?
Da, da, da, da, da, da.
Now I even had it where theysay, okay, we're going to test
early because there's thishistory there, right?
(22:21):
Well, red flag.
Just like there's agenerational aspect that we
evaluate on the medical side, Ineed to evaluate generational
aspect on the spiritual side,because is there some
unforgiveness that's linked here, that maybe happened
generationally before me that Ineed to be mindful of, to say I
don't want to enter into that, Iwant to break that right now
(22:43):
because I don't want thosecancerous cells, right, 100%,
yes, I love that and you'reabsolutely right.
Like the Lord rewards those whodo things in his principle, in
his way.
Right, the Bible tells us aboutbitterness.
You know, ephesians 4.31, itsays let all bitterness, wrath,
(23:04):
anger, clamor and evil speakingbe put away from you with all
malice.
Like, remove it, take it away,and the only way to do that is
to release it.
Right, great, yes, I love thatand I know I mean you mentioned
how, like, sometimes it comes uplike, oh, my $700 back, and
(23:24):
that's just like the enemy,right, to try to remind us.
Like, well, if you had did this, you wouldn't be in this, when
the reality is like with God,it's so much sweeter, it's so
much better, right, you know,recently we, a few months ago,
we were in a situation.
About three years ago I had beenin a car accident totaled out
our main primary vehicle, andwhen the van was totaled out, we
(23:49):
were in the process ofsearching for a house, and so
you know, if anybody has beenthrough that process, you know
that they look at every dollaryou spend and where is it going
and what is your debt ratio andall of these things.
And so when the vehicle istotaled out, it was like, okay,
we don't, it wouldn't be wise togo just grab another car, note
(24:10):
Right.
So we didn't do so.
We ended up being blessed withsomeone that let us utilize a
vehicle in the interim while wewere finding a house.
So we find a house which is aGod story in and of itself.
That's one for another day.
But, like we find a house atthe very last minute we talk
about like the last hour.
(24:31):
It's 9pm.
We come into this house thatwas beyond what we could afford,
was more than what our levelwas.
And then the day that we getready to look, she's like, oh, I
just got an email for our endof the year closeout sale.
They took $20,000 off the homeprice, which put us right at
(24:53):
where we wanted to be.
And so we go into this.
We get the home, we end upgetting a vehicle.
So we're now working with onevehicle and, uh, those that know
me and our followers that knowme know like I I tend to do a
lot.
Um, my husband is the primaryprovider.
I do have a business and thenwe do a lot in ministry, our
(25:15):
entire family, um, and we liveabout 30 minutes on a good day
with no traffic from our church.
So we have one vehicle.
So there's times that I'mliterally driving to do
something in the morning, comingback to get like another family
member, going back, and thenwe're going back.
There were days that, like, thewhole family would go to that
(25:37):
side of town so that we couldjust be there for what we need
to be.
Like I need to be there for aBible women's thing that morning
and we all need to be there forsomething that evening.
Right, and it was a sacrificein it, I'm not going to lie.
I got weary, I got exhaustedand I got to a point of like
Lord, like we need another car.
(25:57):
Am I supposed to be doing allof this?
And my husband and I we saidlike, okay, we're gonna pray
about it, we'll come togetherand talk and I remember it so
clearly because we went to thelovely local sonic drive-thru
and we were sitting in sonic.
We got our little ice creamsundaes I like to say our dollar
ice cream right.
And so we got our sundaes and wewere just having like
(26:20):
conversation about like okay,this is like these are the
things that's kind of we'retoiling with.
And I remember he said like hey, like I know you're doing all
this driving, but I just don'tfeel like the Lord saying go buy
a car right now.
And I remember thinking likethat's easy for you to say, you
know, like you're sitting athome working and then I'm
(26:43):
driving back and forth takingthe kids and going back and
forth and then picking you upfor whatever's that evening.
And so in my natural mind I waslike no way that's easy to say.
And it almost even got into apoint of entitlement, of like
you should do this for me, likeyou should go figure out how to
give me a piece oftransportation, right?
But yet even in that moment,just so softly and quickly, the
(27:09):
Holy Spirit said thank him forleading your family well.
And I'm like, oh, whenforgiveness?
fills a pensive Right Like ohwhen forgiveness fills a pensive
Right Like oh what.
And so I will never forgetthose words because, one, it was
hard to say, it was hard to sayOkay, and then, two, because it
(27:29):
was actually God's truth, likehe was making wise choices and
trusting that the Lord would bethe one to provide the necessary
thing for us to continue doingGod's work, right, yeah.
And so I remember I said thosewords and I just said, honey,
thank you for leading our familyso well.
And I remember the look on hisface and probably the look on my
(27:51):
own face too, you know.
So that was a Thursday night.
And the next next, the very nextday, I'm in a grocery store and
we're sitting there and we gotthe grocery store.
It's a hev, so they have alittle barbecue, eat and then go
(28:12):
do groceries.
So we're sitting there and Iget this text, and the text is
from a woman I'm connected to,again from doing God's work in
the kingdom.
A woman I'm connected to andshe gives me this whole thing.
Like you're a giver, I want youto have a heart to receive, I
want to talk to you.
The Lord's been telling me todo something and I'm like, okay,
(28:34):
and in an instance it was,she's going to try and give you
a car.
And I remember thinking like atthat point I had settled in my
mind like if you find me athousand dollar car, that's like
like fucking and blowing smokedown the street, like if I could
just get from point A to B, I'mgoing to be happy with it,
(28:55):
right, whatever it is like.
And so I came home and at firstshe was like, hey, let's try to
schedule a time to meet.
And then I was like, oh, I canmeet next week or so forth.
She's like actually, no, justcall me, I don't want to put
this off longer.
And I call and I mean, um,sometimes when I take phone
calls, I walk the neighborhoodbecause you know I have three
(29:16):
teens and we do a lot ofministry, so I try to be mindful
.
Sometimes I walk in theneighborhood because you know I
have three teens and we do a lotof ministry, so I try to be
mindful.
Sometimes I walk in theneighborhood to talk in private,
right?
So I'm just walking, I'mwalking, and my neighbors
probably were looking like whatis wrong with that lady?
She's at it again, because I amnow walking and bawling, crying
with tears.
This lady gets on the phone andshe says you know, some time ago
, a couple of months ago, theLord told me to give you this
(29:40):
car.
And she said, and I kind offelt like, oh, I don't know
about that, like I don't knowwhat my husband will think, I
don't you know, like that'sgoing to sound crazy.
I just want to give her thisvehicle and so forth.
And then she said last night Iheard a message that said what
has the Lord been telling you todo that you've been delayed?
That's where your blessingsconnected to.
(30:00):
And she said, and I immediatelythought I'm supposed to get in
the car.
And she said I told my husband.
And she said and really it waskind of like, okay, like this is
in his hands, like what he willsee, what he does.
And she said, at 4 AM he wokeup and said okay, let's do it.
That same night that she heardthat message was the same night
that I had to be obedient andsay to my husband thank you for
(30:23):
leading us so well when I didn'tfeel it on the inside, right,
right.
And so I say all that becauseit's just in direct connection
to what you said.
It's like when we release thatbitterness.
We'll release that, because itreally does come from a form of
entitlement, right and I thinkof how, like scripture tells us,
you know, in Philippians, aboutlike how Jesus came to this
(30:46):
earth, how he humbled himself.
He took human form and in thathumility, right, like if of all
people that could have had aform of entitlement, right, yet
he humbled himself and releasedthat on our behalf, right?
right on your behalf for ourlisteners.
(31:06):
Like he chose you, he chose me,he chose jennifer, like before
time, like he chose us.
And so when I think of that, I,when we release that
entitlement of like somethingwas owed to me or there was
something I should have got, andwe step into that forgiveness,
that's when we could really justreceive the glory from above.
(31:27):
And again, it's just anotheraspect and component that
relates to sanctification Right.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Right and that, like what you were saying is how you
knew it was him, is so correct.
Like it was the calm in thestorm, it was the biblical thing
, it was against what my fleshwas telling me.
Like it it was god.
Yes, no doubt.
Like you know, when you knowthat, you're like okay, this is
(31:55):
totally opposite.
Like that it was God.
And what's so funny is I havenever heard anybody with a story
almost exactly the same as minethat you just told.
I had a lady who almost did theexact same words to her husband
, who I had known through thekingdom, who gave us a van, like
(32:21):
paid for they put new tires,they got an oil change, they
paid for the registration, theydid everything.
I've never heard of anybodyelse with that story.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
I love it, that's amazing oh, my goodness, that is
so the story goes are.
Let me tell you, I, I, I wantedto.
I've always liked SUVs.
My husband's been a fan of avan Right and it's just the
thing that like.
And you know, I'm going tospeak to the women right now in
our audience, but God does hearhis daughters, right.
He gives all his children, butsometimes, as a daughter, I'm
(32:53):
like you do love me, sir, likeyou love me.
And so I wanted an SUV and thisvehicle again.
You know when I talk about Iwas ready to take like the
hoopty, I was good with it,whatever it was yeah right, you
know, but it was an SUV,seven-seater.
It has the tv in it, it haschrome wheels, it has all the
(33:15):
automatic features I wanted.
It has a system like everythingthat I could have ever laid out
and said this is what I wouldlike in a vehicle.
This is what I received, by nomight of my own Right, no, and
so I love that.
Oh, my goodness, that's so cool.
I love it, I love it, I love it.
(33:36):
Hey, let's take a quick break totell you about Grace Filled
Community.
Grace Filled Community is anorganization that focuses on the
primary principles of theChurch of Acts, centered around
building communities that impactthe kingdom of God.
(33:56):
We do this through three coreextensions One, graceville
Church Network, where we empowerchurches and nonprofits for
God's success and growth.
We offer tailored growthstrategies rooted in biblical
principles that will help youexpand your reach and impact
your communities.
Just like the early church, wefocus not on attendance and
(34:22):
numbers, but on discipleship,providing leadership teachings
and trainings to today'sministry leaders.
Our second extension is Projectof the Grace Field, where we
provide biblical counseling,mentorship, workshops and events
that are dedicated toencouraging individuals to live
a life filled with grace andpurpose, rooted in the
(34:44):
understanding that all havefallen short and are a working
project.
Let us help the individuals inyour community grow as they walk
with God and experience thefullness of his love.
Our third extension isGrace-Filled Business.
Grace-filled Business is hereto help small, faith-based
(35:04):
business owners develop theirbusiness in a way that honors
God, that brings increase andallows them to pour back into
his kingdom through marketplaceministry and financing his
kingdom.
We do this through our 15 yearsof experience of virtual
administrative work, digitalmarketing, business development
and consulting.
(35:25):
Welcome back, you know.
I do want to just make sure that, because I'd like to.
If I'm going to referencesomething for our listeners
Romans 12 and 1.
I'm just going to read a quickportion of it, right?
I beseech you therefore,brethren, by the mercies of God,
(35:45):
that you present your bodies aliving sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is yourreasonable service, and do not
be conformed to this world, butbe transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may provewhat is good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.
(36:05):
And I do want to say, like ifyou've been in church for a
period of time, you probablyhave heard the scripture time
and time again, right, and so,as we were talking about earlier
, just recognizing like that itcomes in all areas.
It comes in the spiritual, itcomes in the emotional, it comes
in physical areas.
It comes in the spiritual,comes in emotional, comes in
physical, it comes in the mental, um, you know, there's an
aspect here, though, is like ourservice is a dedication of
(36:29):
honor.
It's the way that we honor god,and when we forgive, we go
through that sanctificationprocess that you're talking
about, jennifer.
Like that's how we honor him,that's how we say thank you for
who you are, for what you'vedone, for what you will continue
to do.
Like that's the form ofhonoring I think often of, like,
(36:52):
even with our children, youknow, we've always taught them
like hey, I don't want you to dothis because it's me or
something.
I want you to do the rightthing because it honors God.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
And with that mentality, it carries out that,
like you know, you're not doingsomething just to be pleasing
unto me, right, it's an honorthat is only unto God.
Now, out of your honor for me,because the Bible does say honor
thy mother and father so thatyour days could be longer, and I
often remind them like you wantto live, leon, right, like,
(37:26):
please honor me.
Like, but there is a realitythat in your love for a person,
you honor them.
And so I think that and I'mgoing to kind of veer out a
little bit and just go into theaspect of like understanding
what it's like to love, to loveGod kind of love, because the
(37:52):
best example we have is God'slove for us and that lends us to
say like us.
And that lends us to say likehey, I want to honor you, I can
make the sacrifice, I can be aliving sacrifice, I can honor
you with my temple, I can honoryou with my words, with my heart
, with my options.
It's out of a form of love.
And so I just want to ask you,jennifer, like in what ways have
(38:16):
you found that you have had tolike sacrifice to exemplify your
love for God over, maybe, alove for an aspect of things of
this world?
Speaker 2 (38:29):
That's a great question.
So one of the things that Godhas been asking me to do is
honor him with our finances evenmore.
So we have been doing like wedo offerings and we sponsor
(38:52):
children through the differentorganizations, organizations and
where tithing.
There'll be times where I willbe comfortable in tithing and I
will just tithe and be faithfuland and all of that.
And then there'll be times when, like bills and money, they're
(39:13):
not adding up and I strugglebetween I need to pay this and
like I want to honor and nothave my debts.
But you say, give you first 10%.
If I do that, I'm breaking theother one, like I don't know
what to do.
And there was just thisreworking.
(39:34):
It was just the other week,honestly, where I had come off
of a time where I'm like, okay,you know, we had put so much
towards other good things, goodthings but the tithing had which
was on an automatic thing, hadfallen off and I didn't go on
and fix it.
(40:24):
No-transcript held that and it'ssuch a tight space and it's so
encompassing and it's heavier,it's like a weighted blanket but
not a good one.
And and I was like I washolding onto that and I was like
gosh, you know, I'm just tryingto to, to do all the right
(40:47):
things.
And it was just brought to melike when we're not tithing and
we're not, you know, we'resacrificing the things of the
world.
Like you know, we'resacrificing the things of the
world like, okay, I'm not gonnahave coffee from this place or
I'm not gonna um, go crazy onthe birthday party, which I love
to do because I love tocelebrate and have people over,
(41:10):
so, but so this is like okay,well, I have to.
And I went to my husband and Iwas like you, you know what we
need to do, and he was like Iwas like okay, I know I'm
talking to myself, but you needto listen.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
Help me work this out .
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Just just just listen .
So I was like, okay, here'swhat I'm going to do and here's
the plan.
And I went on immediately andput the tithing right back where
it needed to be and put it backon automatic.
So I'm not thinking about it.
But it was also realizing, okay, I'm gonna have to scale back
(41:52):
we have a birthday party comingup and not letting the pressure
of what everybody's expectingwhen they come, that it's more
about.
It's about being together,which it always has been.
But I love to bring joy andsurprises and and and all of
that.
And just realizing that all ofthat can kind of come down,
(42:14):
because the truth is we need tobe together and need to love on
these people and love my family.
And the surprises are going tobe forgotten, but the time we
spend together is not for thatworldly thing or to fulfill that
(42:44):
, that desire in myself, or tomeet whatever need is there that
he didn't place there, and it'sreally access and that hedge of
protection.
So am I willing to to pull upthose, those spokes or, uh, of
the fence, you know, to takethat blanket off, that
protective place off, becauseI'm trying to fulfill something
(43:08):
that's not going to last andit's just going to be there for
a moment and it's going to feelamazing for a moment, but then
it's going to be gone and whatgonna be left with?
What am I gonna have?
And then I got that shameblanket.
That's right there and I'm likeI don't need that.
You took that from me and Ineed to quit going back to go
get it like it's.
(43:29):
I used to scuba dive and Ialways used to joke well, like
I'm going deeper this time and Idon't want to see anything you
threw at the bottom right, Idon't want to see a fish flying
by with like a little sign.
This is what I did.
So, but it was just thatreckoning that I had really made
some of those things my idolsand it was, you know, just the
(43:54):
pressure of, but people weren'teven talking about.
I gave the pressure myself.
Certainly they weren't eventalking about.
I gave the pressure myself.
They weren't pressuring me, butI wanted the things, even good
things, of the world, but it wastaking the place of God's place
and what he deserves from meand what is rightfully his, and
I was stealing it to use itsomewhere else, and that's not
(44:16):
okay.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yes, you know that is a excellent, excellent example.
I think that my heart hasalways been connected to where
we spend our money.
We can find the connection ofour heart Right and I've had
(44:38):
many conversations over theyears and have had my own bouts
over the years of trying toevaluate, like the legalistic
side of tithing versus the sideof tithing out of love versus is
it old testament or newtestament or just all the
components right and when I stepback from all the argumentous
schematics of it, all thetheology of it, right.
(44:59):
When I step back from that, theone thing that I can say that
I've seen in my own life is thatwhen I've tithed, there is a
piece of all financialcomponents right.
When I don't tithe, it's metrying to consistently make
something happen and it's almostlike I am really telling God
(45:21):
that I can do better than youcreated, when Lord knows, would
put up probably every time.
Okay, yep, yep, versus he getsit right every time.
Uh, you know.
And just a testament to thatlike we, we tithe, we believe in
(45:43):
tithing, we teach our childrenevery aspect you bring in, like
you tithe from it.
It is a form and we do it outof love.
I don't, at this point, I don'tcare whether it was old
Testament, new Testament, Idon't, I don't care, it's out of
love.
Just like I would give gifts tomy children that I love, I'm,
I'm giving back to the Lord whenI truly all things are his, all
(46:05):
things.
I'm grateful for anything that Iam able to utilize in this
world, since because it allbelongs to him and so,
understanding that and the firstyou know component it's like
there is, there's a convictionthat comes with, like I didn't
do this, yeah, and I want tospeak to that.
(46:26):
The enemy loves to try and pullthat shame component.
When we start with the place ofbeing convicted because it
always starts with there's thiswarning, right, I like to say,
god doesn't do anything withouta warning to us.
So there's this warning throughthe conviction that we have the
opportunity to act upon, and Ifind that it's when we don't act
(46:48):
up on that warning that theenemy comes into shame, right,
yes, and so then we have to pullourselves, like out of the pit
like that shame to, to get backinto, within our own minds, a
rightful place, because the Lordnever put us in that shame like
we did it to ourselves.
So we have to like pull up andget back to that rightful place
(47:10):
in him and doing so, but I thinkthat that is a phenomenal
example.
You know, we have made somesacrifices that were sacrifices
that we did not intend on makingright.
You know, in this most recentpast year, my husband had a
(47:31):
contract.
He does contract work typically, uh, like software, project
management stuff, and so he hada contract that was like the
best paying, highest payingcontract we've had, like
wonderful, things are goingamazingly well.
Um, and it's time for thatcontract to end and and so we're
sitting at this place of likeokay, this contract's gonna end.
(47:53):
You know, we really would liketo get on someplace a little bit
more permanent, just becauseit's schematics of like oh, you
know, there's health insuranceand all these things you pay out
of pocket for when you're notin, like a contract, right I?
mean we're not in a likefull-time employment.
And so we really were just like, okay, lord, we're going to
pray, we're going to seek you onwhat to do next.
And so he gets this offer,which was a God thing.
(48:15):
I mean even in the way ithappened, like I go to church,
which I won, I mean, obviously,graceville community.
I, I heavily believe in thepower community.
I believe that God uses hispeople to speak into our lives.
Still, he still uses his peopleto bless us.
He still uses his people tospeak into our lives.
Still, he still uses his peopleto bless us.
He still uses his people, thatis, the hands and feet of them.
(48:35):
So we need to be in communityso that we can be used and also
receive right, right.
And so we were at church one dayand I am serving as normal and
a couple comes up and the guy'slike, hey, you know where's
(48:57):
Isaiah?
And I'm like, oh, hi, thanks,yeah, like reality, he.
He's like, he's like, hey, I'vebeen thinking of you, like
where is he?
And I'm like, oh, he's servingin this area.
He's like, okay, I'm going toconnect with him.
He didn't know that it was timethat he was looking for a job.
(49:17):
There was no way for him tohave known that we were at the
week of having to make somedecisions.
He sees my husband and he sayslike hey, my job is hiring.
I thought of you.
I want to, you know, send yourinformation.
It's a small, private company.
(49:38):
You only get in throughreferrals, so this isn't even
like the job's not publiclyposted or anything.
He proceeds to send myhusband's resume, meet with my
husband and go over like all thedetails of like, even showing
the background of the program,coach him along or like hey,
this is you know what, who'sgoing to be interviewing?
This is some things about them.
(49:58):
Just, you know those areaswhere you see God working right
into detail.
And so my husband goes throughthe process and we get to this
point.
I'm like I'm going to speed itup.
So we get to this point where,like, we now have an opportunity
to renew this other contractthat makes good money, but it's
a short-term contract and italso has pulled heavily on him.
(50:22):
Being home, being able to teachthrough action with our
teenagers, and having twoteenage boys, that's a huge
aspect, right.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Of what?
Speaker 1 (50:35):
it plays a toll on our bodies because I'm literally
we were still in one car atthat time so I'm driving him to
a train station.
He's taking a train for an hourand a half.
He's sometimes missing thingsthat we were connected with the
church for the evening.
There were things happening.
So we have this that, likemoney looks great and it looks
like this is what you shouldtake, and then this other
(50:57):
opportunity comes in and thisopportunity pays significantly,
like I'm going to say,estimating about a third less,
but it comes with fully remotework from home.
You kind of set your own pace,your own schedule, you kind of
(51:18):
manage your calendar.
Uh, unlimited vacations, oh,the health package we wanted.
Now, at the very beginning oflast year, we we always do this
thing.
We have New Year's Eve events,and so we do this thing where
it's a name tag game.
You got to call that person bytheir name and then their name
(51:39):
is a goal of theirs.
So his was take more time off.
So here we are, eight monthslater and now there's a time to
make a decision and I mean youcan imagine, as a man, like he's
the provider, so he's like I'mthinking this may look good,
like you know, like I'm herewith it, right, and I was like,
(52:01):
well, I don't know, I don't know.
And so we prayed about it and Iremember he came and he said you
know, I've always heard thisscripture count the cost.
And he was like, and I'vealways related that to counting
the cost, just financially,right, you think about, count
the cost before you build, like,make sure you can afford it,
and so forth.
And he's like but it really is,count the cost of being with
(52:25):
Christ, count the cost of whatit is to disciple, count the
cost.
It is that the sacrifice thatyou signed up for, right, that's
counting the cost.
And so he's like and how can Ifocus on discipling others when
I'm not having the time to do itright here, right, yeah, and
again, at this time we stillhave two teenage boys.
(52:48):
But there's this reality of likethey need to see more from you,
right, like, there I'm, I'm nolonger feeding, I'm no longer
like y'all, I probably cook oncea week because everybody has
their days.
Like you know, yeah, there's,there's a shift happening and
it's for a season, because theLord, he, he created seasons, so
(53:08):
there are seasons, right.
So with that we went ahead andwe both had a piece and said
we're going to take thisopportunity here.
It's less money, but itprovides you more time at home.
It provides unlimited vacation.
Now we don't know how we'regoing to take a vacation,
because the money ain'tconnecting with money right
(53:28):
Staycation, right staycation.
yes, I say all that to say inthe last six months we have went
from never taking a cruise tonow taking three.
We have went from rarelytraveling, like once a year as a
family to we have had multiplefamily trips and then all being
(53:49):
provided by God in ways that wenever could have anticipated.
Between gifts, coming in tosomeone saying like hey, you
know what?
For you guys' birthday, I'msending you on a cruise what?
And then us going on a cruiseand connecting to where we get a
free cruise because of storiesthat hit and credits and so like
(54:10):
.
And what I see in that is justthe Lord saying, like, if you
take care of my kingdom, I'lltake care of you, not even just
you the necessity, becausetraveling is not a necessity,
these vacations are not anecessity, but it's the desire
of my heart and he knows thatand he sees that.
Yeah, and so that's the beautyin the sanctification process.
(54:36):
It's a good father that reallywants what's best for us.
He wants to give us those goodthings.
But like everything else,there's a process through the
process.
Speaker 2 (54:48):
Yes, so true honor the process so true, yeah, and
it's, you know, in the day thatwe live, like processes, for
these things, like, uh, one ofthe best ones that I can think
of is growing food, and it'sthat process in that soil,
(55:09):
that's it's growing in itmatters, because when you are
trying to produce so much, youknow you're stripping that soil
away, it's not renewing, it'snot having time to sit, it's not
doing its process, the thingscoming out of it are not as high
quality as they could be ifeverything was resting as it
(55:33):
needs to rest, taking thesabbath it needs to take.
And I was just listening.
Um, I have a nine to five joband when I'm doing that, I the
first part of my day, I listento the word and just let the
bible play for a little bit andI was listening.
It was talking about the sowingand the reaping, but it was
talking about rest and Sabbathand letting the land rest, and
(55:58):
that was just really speaking.
And, like you said, you know themoney.
What does the money matter ifeverything about life isn't
there?
So the relationship, the time,the leading, the communication,
the connection, all that moneydoesn't matter if that's not
(56:19):
happening.
And when it comes down to it,like you, you need him there.
He needs to be there right now,and so that just is a beautiful
reflection of him leading yourfamily, but in you guys,
trusting in God, realizing thatthe rest is needed, even coming
off of what he just had and thetime that he was just doing,
(56:42):
like you needed to recharge, youneeded that rest and that
connection, and he doesn't wasteanything.
So you're right, thosevacations aren't like a vacation
of that such as is notnecessarily necessary, but he's
going to use it and I guaranteeyou that you met people and you
loved on people and you, like hedidn't waste anything, anything
(57:07):
, anything.
Speaker 1 (57:08):
You know I love how you brought up the Sabbath
because even in those vacationsI was bringing this whole church
of aspects and bringing backthe heart of like why we even
(57:35):
have church and community Right,and so it was.
It was a tough year, like therewas a heavy pool, there was a
lot of heavy things happening inkingdom as a whole and so I was
just telling a friend'm likeyou know, god knew that he knew
all of this was going to happenbefore I did and the beauty of
(57:58):
my husband being able to bepresent, I mean, even in this
podcast, I would not be doingthis if he wasn't able to be
present and to take on some ofthose components.
That really is the needful thingright now.
Right, but what I found waslike I would go hard.
And when I say go hard, likeyou know the Lord, it would be
(58:19):
like, okay, you have thisspeaking engagement, okay, I
want you to go talk about somehard things with this church and
I want you to be present forthis.
And hey, we're going to do allthese biblical counseling
appointments.
And then it was like, oh, andhere, here's a vacation, take,
take a week, go sit by the ocean.
And then I would come back andbe like, oh, I come back, I look
at the calendar, I'll be like,whoa, this is, this is a hard
(58:41):
couple of months.
Here we go and go for it.
And it was like, right at thatpoint where I would start
feeling like, whoosh, it'd belike, oh, here's another
vacation.
And so it's just the beauty ofhow, like when we trust in him,
he knows, he knows, he knowswhat's ahead of us.
You know, we know, we oftenhear the jeremiah like he knew,
(59:03):
before we even formed and Ithink of that so often right,
like with even you and I thisconnection, like he knew that
this moment would come and thatyou would be jumping on the
podcast and I just I love yourheart, I love your spirit.
I've absolutely loved everythingabout our conversation and look
forward to having another onebut, like he, he knew, and so,
(59:26):
in that, I just would like tosay I'm so grateful for you
taking the time joining us andcoming on a podcast and just
sharing more about what reallythe Lord has done for you and
what your heart is to impact thekingdom.
I do want to make sure that ourlisteners know.
So, Jennifer, please tell themwhere can they connect with you?
(59:47):
I know we have the upcomingbook that I'm waiting for the
release for, but please let usknow how we could connect with
you.
Speaker 2 (59:54):
Honestly and thank you so much for this opportunity
.
Like I, was an unknown toanybody who God has given a
story to, and he's like you needto do and whatever it is he's
telling you to do, you need todo it Because people need to
hear your story.
They're faith builders, and somy platform is completely new.
(01:00:16):
We just started this year orthe end of last year.
It's calledstoriesofafaithbuildercom.
We're on Facebook, instagramthreads and starting up on
YouTube.
We'll be starting a podcasthere in the next couple of
months and it's just it's.
(01:00:37):
It's those stories, it's thoseGod did it stories, because
miracles still happen andsometimes you just need to hear
a story of okay, look, I know Ineed, I need to hear a story of
God moved and God was presentand God was there.
So, um, I'm so excited to makesure that you get a copy of this
(01:00:58):
book called before she knewJesus and, uh, we officially
launched on February 14th, uh,which, being Valentine's Day, is
all about God's love, and so,yeah, absolutely, We'll be on
Amazon, definitely available forBefore she Knew Jesus, and I
(01:01:24):
just thank you so much for thisopportunity and this connection.
I have fully enjoyed getting toknow you a little bit and I
look forward to talking more.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Absolutely, absolutely Well.
It is truly my pleasure.
This is definitely a God thing,this podcast all together.
I tell people I'm like this wasnot what I necessarily was
signing up for, like this is notsomething that.
I was like, let's throw this onmy plate.
Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
The.
Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
Holy Spirit knew, and so I'm so grateful for just
people like you that, with theheart that just wants to get the
goodness of God out thereBefore we go.
I have a question that I askall of our podcast guests, and
it really is.
I'm a firm believer that theword is the thing that carries
us through, and so I love theword of God, I love Jesus, who
(01:02:11):
is our word, right?
Yes, so I like to ask, likewhat is a favorite scripture?
What is a scripture that youhave held on to, maybe through a
season?
Or what is a scripture that isjust yours, that you possess,
like?
Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
oh yeah, that's a good way to put it.
It because I was gonna say thishas been a lifelong.
When I come back to any momentwhere I am struggling, it is
Proverbs 3, 5 through 6.
Lean not unto your ownunderstanding.
Acknowledge the Lord in all ofyour ways and he will make your
(01:02:47):
path straight yes, I, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Well, thank you again .
So much for our time.
I look forward to doing thisagain.
Like let's come back for likeespecially okay.
So February 14th y'all.
Amazon, I'm ready.
I will order my copy of thebook as well as I think it'd be
a nice gift to give to a fewothers, so I'm gonna order a few
and yes, I would love to haveyou on after the book release.
(01:03:13):
Like, let's talk about the booksome.
Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
Yeah, let's.
We're going to have anotherbook coming out, actually called
Sacrificial Love, all aboutmarriage.
And when you get that momentwe're like is this what I said?
I do too Really.
And then just honoring thosevows and how we worked through
it, uh, it's a much smallerproject, but it's also
co-authored.
Uh, and where we are raw, we'redigging in again and just
(01:03:37):
bringing the truth of how jesushas continued to work.
It's kind of the continuation,after the situation, of our
story.
So awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Well, I look forward to it.
I'm so excited to read aboutyour story and for the
continuation um.
Marriages are heavy hitter,heavy heart for us within the
graceville community, especiallywith isaiah and i's own
testimony to marriage, and lastweek we had the privilege of
celebrating 20 years andcongratulations, thank you,
(01:04:09):
thank you so much.
Uh, I tell people we have haddefinitely the roller coaster,
oh, those those 20 years, but Iwouldn't change it because it
definitely shaped who we aretoday.
Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
So for sure.
Well, you are amazing.
Thank you so much for all youdo and having this platform,
because it's so needed, and Icannot wait to have you on
Stories of a Faith Builder yes,I would love it Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Thank you so much.
Well listeners, thank you againfor tuning in to Graceful
Community, where we are allabout sharing God's stories.
So I hope that you enjoyedtoday's episode.
We look forward to connectingwith you and be sure, as always,
to connect with Gracevillecommunity.
If you are in a space where youneed community, whether that is
(01:05:02):
community through marriages,community through business,
community through ministryleading, we are here for all
those things.
Love you and God bless.
Thank you for tuning in totoday's episode of Graceville
Community Podcast.
We would like to invite you tovisit gracevillecommunitycom.
(01:05:24):
Graceville Community is allabout doing church the way
Church of Acts did, Using fivemain principles that we see in
the book of Acts.
Sharing resources, as believerspooled their possessions and
resources to support those inneed, as we see in Acts 2.44.
(01:05:44):
Through hospitality the earlyChristians practiced hospitality
by opening their homes toothers, as we see in Acts 2 and
46.
By financial aid the church inAntioch sent financial aid to
believers in Judea during a timeof famine, as described in Acts
(01:06:06):
11 and 29.
As described in Acts 11 and 29.
Prayer and encouragement theysupported each other through
prayer and encouragement, as wesee in Acts 4 and 24.
And finally, spiritual guidance.
The apostles and eldersprovided spiritual guidance and
teaching to help strengthen andbuild the community, as we see
(01:06:29):
in Acts 15, 30.
I would like to encourage you.
If any of those areas are areasin which you are in need or can
contribute, please reach out toGraceville Community.
We are working together acrossthe world with ministries and
individuals alike to help bringback the Church of Acts.
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