April 18, 2025 • 55 mins
Lindy shares her family's remarkable journey from financial hardship to abundance, revealing how God's faithfulness transformed their lives through seasons of bankruptcy, food bank visits, and entrepreneurial challenges.
• Fellow homeschool mom of three who has been educating her children at home for 10 years
• Her husband Gavin declared bankruptcy before they met, teaching him valuable lessons about pride and God's provision
• Started a business on a card table in their living room when Gavin lost his job
• Used food banks and extreme budgeting during lean times while raising their family
• God strategically positioned Gavin's career to gain unique PEIMS experience that became the foundation for their successful educational consulting business
• Now own two homes including a property in Arkansas that has become their peaceful retreat
• Views their business as "marketplace ministry" where they represent Christ's compassion while serving schools
• Prophetic words spoken over them 17 years ago have come to fruition in unexpected ways
• Encourages listeners to trust God's timeline for prophetic promises, recognizing development happens between receiving a word and its fulfillment
• Emphasizes being with God rather than just doing things for Him
🔗 Connect with Lindy Dickson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dicksontreeacademy/
Mail: lindy@dicksontree.net
Website: https://www.peims.com
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Transcript
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 GracevilleCommunity.
I want to thank you for tuningin to Graceville 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.
Hello Graceville community.
Once again, I am so excited towelcome you to the Graceville
Community Podcast, where we haveauthentic, transparent
conversation, truly just aboutthe goodness of God.
We may talk about some hardthings, we may talk about some
(00:43):
great things, but all togetherwe know it's going to be good
conversation because it's theconversation of the God things.
And so, once again, I am soexcited Y'all I know I say that
each time like I'm so excited,but I really am I am truly just
grateful and excited to justhave these conversations and
(01:05):
bring some people that over timeI have known and loved and got
to interact with and just seehow God has moved in their lives
, and today is no different.
So I'm going to start off byjust giving you a little bit
about who we have today.
She is a fellow homeschool mom.
I know that we have been inspaces, especially in social of,
(01:28):
like homeschool network anddoing this homeschool life.
She is a homemaker, definitelya household manager, business
advisor and so much more.
I can't wait for you guys tohear her story and really just
dive into what God has done forher.
So join with me today as Iwelcome Lindy Hi Lindy.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hello, hello, friends , I'm so excited to be on your
show and thanks for having me.
I am just excited to share anynumber of testimonies that the
Lord's done in our lives, in ourfamily, and hopefully, by
sharing our testimonies, thatwill encourage any of the
listeners that God is faithful.
(02:13):
Through every season in ourlives We've definitely had our
fair share of challenges, evendating back to our parents and
grandparents.
That's all part of ourtestimony today, so I'm happy to
start wherever you would likeme to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, no, definitely.
I do want to say Iintentionally kind of went
through like an overview aboutyou, but I do want to talk about
so you've been homeschoolingfor how many years?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Okay, so my oldest son is now 14 and we've
homeschooled since he was inkindergarten.
So what is that?
10 years?
Oh my gosh, already already 10years and we're we're knocking
on the door of high school,which means transcripts and
college applications and dualcredit, and it's like this
(03:05):
mountain in front of me that I'mfacing going.
Oh my goodness, can I do this?
But you know, I've had lots offellow homeschool moms that are
on the other side of that thathave poured into me.
So I'm just going to take thatdeep breath and we're going to
tackle it one day at a time.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes, yes, that's the thing.
And then you okay.
So you have three children, yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Remind me of their ages.
Okay, so my oldest is 14.
My second is 12, will be 13this year, and my youngest is
about to turn 11.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Awesome, and you have been married for 17 years.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Our anniversary is in March.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, 17 years congratulations so thank you and
then also doing business foreight years uh, eight years,
right going on nine.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I have to kind of think back again.
And you know there's too manynumbers.
That's how you know, there'stoo many numbers to keep.
I don't even remember how old Iam.
So, yeah, I think we're ateight and a half years now and
that's.
That is a whole like.
I've got to write a book thatI'll.
(04:18):
I'll just dive into that, causeI think you kind of opened the
door.
Let's do it so.
I think that really one of thecoolest aspects of where we're
at today which we'll get there.
But one of the coolest aspectsof it is the fact that before my
husband and I ever met, he hadto declare bankruptcy.
(04:40):
He had graduated college fromWest Texas and moved to Fort
Worth to go to seminary.
Originally he felt like theLord had called him into
ministry.
So in his mind he was going togo to seminary and become a
licensed, ordained pastor and hewas not out looking for a job.
(05:05):
He just, you know, nope, god'sgoing to provide, god's going to
provide.
And he had a lot of wisecounselors trying to advise him.
You need to get something, evenif it's flipping burgers at
McDonald's, but nope, god'sgoing to provide, god's going to
provide.
And he was basically living offcredit cards for a while and it
finally came around to bite himand he had creditors calling
(05:30):
him, even at work.
He had dropped out of seminaryand instead pursued his master's
degree in education at Tarletonand he was teaching at a small
private school in the area.
So you know, he was barelymaking by, but you had creditors
(05:51):
calling him and and heultimately had to declare
bankruptcy and that was veryhard and very humbling, and he
realized that the Lord wasworking out that pride in his
heart and that he also, in thatseason, realized his call to
ministry was not a formal as apastor calling at that time.
(06:15):
That may come at some point inthe future, but no, the Lord was
not calling him in that role.
And so he pursued education andhe and then, right when he
right around the time hegraduated with his master's was
when we met and shortlythereafter we got engaged and he
(06:36):
he had been able to purchase ahouse.
The Lord worked out all that.
You know, you have to have acredit score, you have to
qualify for a loan, you have tobe able to afford a down payment
.
You know whatever all thenumbers and all the stuff
involved with that, and thatthat was also another miracle.
Like, wow, god worked it outfor me to buy a house or for him
(06:57):
to buy a house.
And so we met and got engaged,got married, and then we moved
to West Texas, back to hishometown of Lubbock, for a few
years, and he went from being ateacher to being an assistant
principal and then, when we wereout in West Texas, he got to
work for the district offices.
(07:19):
And then during that time, youknow, I had our first son and we
had always agreed he wanted meto be able to stay home.
So I quit my job and we had toadjust to that single income
which you know.
I mean I was the coupon queenfor a while, right, you know I
(07:41):
had my three grocery storeslined up down the same stretch.
You know I had my three grocerystores lined up down the same
stretch and I knew what I couldget at each store the cheapest.
And you know all that budgetingand and it was hard on our
marriage, it was just anotherstress factor and we, and then
his father, passed away there inLubbock and then we felt like
(08:04):
we were ready to move back toFort Worth.
We had struggled to really growroots in West Texas and then,
you know, we thought maybe theLord brought us here because he
knew Gavin's dad was going topass away and that was a season
to have.
We had two.
Our two oldest were born there,um, and we had that time with
(08:24):
his dad before he passed.
But, um, get at the timegateway.
You know we mentioned gatewaychurch earlier.
We were, we were involved atgateway and we were watching
online and that was home and ourhearts were ready to come home,
both to Fort worth and um andthe Lord.
This, this is another part of.
I kind of glaze over this partof our testimony sometimes
(08:47):
because I don't think peoplewill understand it, but Gavin
applied for so many jobs thatfall of 2013.
And when school started, itkind of was discouraging,
because when you're in education, a lot of times when the school
year starts then people arekind of in their places.
(09:08):
So, but you know, I really feltthe Lord leading me to pack out
of faith Like he's.
He's got something.
We are going to just keepwalking in faith.
In October he got a phone callfor an interview and it was at
the region center in Fort Worthand he got this job and that's
(09:38):
what helped us get moved back toFort Worth by Christmas.
And later we found out thatthey were looking for somebody
specifically with experience asa principal or like an
administrator and at thedistrict offices, because see,
what I didn't mention earlierwas in West Texas.
They moved him to the districtoffices.
(09:59):
He didn't want to go, he wantedto stay on the campus, but he
he saw that as a demotionbecause he was starting to work
in the, the peems area, whichpeems is just all the, the
information management and thedata that gets reported to the
state, that that determines thefunding for that school district
, and so typically that's beenheld by just an admin assistant
(10:24):
or like a secretary typeposition.
So he was like God, what areyou doing?
Like I'm more qualified thanthis.
But he finally came to acceptokay, god, if this is where
you're going to have me, thenI'm going to do it to the best
of my ability.
And he went to all thetrainings and really mastered
PEMS.
And so then when he got the jobin Fort Worth, he later found
(10:47):
out they were specificallylooking for somebody with both
admin experience and PEMSexperience and everybody was
like that's a unicorn, you'renever going to find that because
people either go this route orthat route.
So when they found him theywere like, oh my gosh, we found
our guy.
So that was another kind ofmiracle in all of that.
(11:11):
That got us to the regioncenter, got us moved back to
Fort Worth and I was.
I was halfway through mypregnancy with my third when we
moved back and she was, she was,was born.
So we had her here and Gavinworked there at the region
center for about four years andyou know workplace politics are
(11:36):
everywhere yeah so you know,don't really need to go into
detail, but things were changingand we just were sensing his
time is coming, something'schanging and his time is coming
to an end there.
But what was next?
Well, what he did with theregion center he was under, his
(11:59):
job was funded by a grantthrough TEA and his job was to
support new charter schools andto help them with their data
reporting so they could besuccessful and not have to shut
down.
And as he would travel to theseconferences and he would teach
(12:21):
breakout sessions for PEMS anddata reporting and help make
sense of it all Cause PEMS iskind of like a bad word in the
education world Okay, okay.
I mean a lot of people hate itbecause it's so complicated it's
.
Imagine, you know, we talkabout medical coding and we talk
about health insurance and ifit's coded wrong and that it's
(12:43):
not paid for, you know, whatever.
Well, that's themes in theeducation world is how
everything is coded and how it'sfunded and everything has to
line up.
All the data and I'm not a dataperson, so somebody listening
to this might it might make alot more sense to them, but
that's all about.
All I can say about it is it'sjust all about the data and how
it lines up and it affects thefunding.
(13:03):
All about the data and how itlines up and it affects the
funding.
So, um, but he built areputation for being able to
teach on this how to do teams tobe successful, and it made
sense to people, and so peoplereally liked him and appreciated
him and valued his, hisleadership and his teaching.
(13:25):
And when things began changingat the Regent Center and we
realized it may not be the placefor him much longer, I started
telling him you know, maybe youshould think about starting your
own business, Because the grantposition at the Regent Center
was only for new charters thatwere three years or younger, but
(13:49):
he would meet people from othercharters, older, and they would
be like we could really useyour services, but legally he
couldn't, you know, because ofconflict of interest.
So in my mind I was just likeit makes sense, you have people
know who you are, they knowyou're good at what you do and
clearly people are saying theycould use your services.
(14:11):
So if this isn't going tocontinue and if you apply and
can't find another job which hedidn't then I was like why not?
Of course, that's a lot easiersaid than done, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So that summer he went to the, the um parent
County courthouse there inSouthlake and he got his LLC to
be all official and he startedthat August with one little
bitty contract that paid lessthan a teacher's salary.
And I mean, our kids were alittle bitty and we were.
(14:51):
We had canceled Netflix, we hadcanceled, we had, you know, cut
out all the extra expenses andand I thought, are we going to
have to get on food stamps?
And I honestly didn't feel apiece about that.
And that's not to say thatsomebody shouldn't, because
there's a time and place, right,right, right.
But I did utilize the food bank.
I utilized two, two local foodbanks and that helped us get
(15:17):
through for about four or fivemonths.
Finally, by Christmas he startedgetting a couple more contracts
and slowly started building up.
He started right here in ourliving room on a card table,
similar to what I'm doing rightnow, and he, as he, slowly
started getting more contractsthat then, one year later, he
(15:39):
was able to rent a small officehere in the area and then he
finally had to hire help.
So he got himself an adminassistant for a while and just
slowly, um, over the years he'sbeen able to, he needed to hire
another helper.
He was able to rent the officenext door and then at one point
(16:01):
he had the whole hallway ofoffices at this little executive
building that's here in thearea.
And then two no, three yearsago I think, he was able to move
and now he's renting still, buthe's got his whole own office.
We are up to, let me think, one,two, three, four, five, six,
(16:24):
seven, eight, seven or eightemployees now, which is still
small, but having started on acard table, that's a huge.
You know, in eight years we'vecome a long way.
We've been able to pay off alot of debt.
We have continued to justreally remain humble, not to say
(16:49):
that we haven't struggled withpride and, you know, excitement
when we get the next big win,and and it's, you know, yeah, we
want to get excited, and butevery time those moments happen,
I have to go hey, lord, protectmy heart, cause I don't.
I don't want to become pridefuland I don't want to come across
like I'm bragging, but I wantto brag on God, because look
(17:10):
what the Lord has done when Iwould be stuck at home because
we couldn't afford to goanywhere or or all we could do
was go down the street to thepark or the library to rent DVDs
or borrow books and play withthe chalk again outside, or the
(17:32):
Play-Doh the cheap and easy andthe free stuff.
And, you know, looking at socialmedia, wondering how can these
people afford a trip to Disneyor how are they affording a trip
to the beach?
And then, slowly, we were ableto kind of finagle the budget
(17:54):
and we were able to make a tripto the beach.
And it was tight and we reallyhad to, you know, watch the
budget before and after to tostay on top of things.
But we were able to do that.
And then it was like, oh, okay,they didn't teach me these
things in school.
Like I need a, I need a classon budgeting.
(18:15):
Like why was I never taughtthis?
Right, you know?
But but you live and learn,right, you literally live and
learn.
Like, oh, maybe I shouldn'thave spent that much on a jar of
peanut butter, because thatadds up over time and and I need
to be buying this peanut butterso we can have more over here
to to pay down this debt or tosave up for this trip, and so,
(18:36):
um, you know, I feel like Idon't know.
I just feel like there's, maybethere's some young families out
there, maybe there's a youngmom out there that might feel
like she's struggling andfeeling like, you know she's not
meeting that.
That was me.
That was me.
I felt like we were struggling.
I felt like I couldn't afford ahaircut, I couldn't afford to
(19:00):
buy myself new clothes, right.
But I have just reached thisplace where, um, it's easy now
because we're we.
We still, no matter how muchyou make, you still have to
watch your budget.
Yes, you know, but like I don'tstress about it as much like I
(19:24):
did then and I, I know it'sgonna be okay, no matter what
happens, it's gonna be okay.
But I still ask myself, and,and it's humbling to think, but
why is it easier now?
Because, financially, we'retaking care of?
Why was it harder than?
(19:45):
Oh Lord, forgive me, forgive me, lord, and help me to always
put my trust in you and not toput my trust in money, right,
right, and and, man, that'sconvicting, very convicting, um,
because money can become anidol and can become its own god,
(20:07):
and I think that it's adelicate balance.
I was just talking to a friendthe other day about this, who
who's in similar shoes that wewere in.
You know, they're, they're,they're making it month to month
and I'm just, I'm trying mybest to love on them and support
them and encourage them, and wewere talking about it's.
It's one thing we have to thinkabout.
(20:28):
Money, right, we have to thinkabout it because that's the tool
that we use in our world todayfor spying and selling and
trading, and we have to thinkabout it and we have to make
sure we're going to have enoughto pay the bills.
But how do we balance thatwithout crossing over into
idolizing it?
I don't have the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, you know, I want to say, not that it's the
answer to that, but even as youwere telling your story, and I
can't help but to even think ofmy own experience as developing,
you know, in life and Isaiahand I, and as entrepreneurship,
and then even the stages thatyou go through, and I really
think that a great portion of itis really God developing our
(21:13):
heart, developing our character,like there's a reason why you
have those humble beginnings.
I think about the wordscripture tells us don't despise
small beginnings.
There's something that happensin that small beginning stage.
I remember starting a businessand there was times I literally
was out door dashing Uber Eatswhile doing this business and,
(21:36):
you know, using that to helpsupply what was needed for the
family, and going day to day andpraying like Lord, please let
me DoorDash enough to make youknow, and I remember like make
$45 today, and praying that,like putting gas in the car to
DoorDash to hope to make the $45, $50 was a stretch.
(21:58):
Wow, yeah you know not very,very similar not being able to
go places, looking at all thefree events to do like I was the
queen for Facebook events likewhat's free, what can we go to
that I don't have to spend moneyon it, we can still engage.
I remember times taking my kidsplaces where it was a free event
but then there was stuff thatyou could purchase and having to
say no and even the characterbeing developed in that learning
(22:21):
, like the boundaries that camewith that not needing to prove
something to someone else or tryand please um an image.
There's so much that isdeveloped yes that stage of
small beginnings, and I thinkthat's why the scripture tells
us like don't despise thosesmall beginnings, don't run
(22:42):
almost it like embrace them andallow it to do its work right.
I think about the scripturethat tells us about like um when
we go through trials andtribulations.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
There's a formula in that, there's a process that
develops us yes, rejoice whenyou face trials and tribulations
, because it produces endurance,patience, perseverance.
Yes, that is, but they'rebasically a formula and that's a
beautiful reminder because, um,yeah, I, I do see that in
(23:11):
myself now.
Now right back then, yeah, backthen, when life threw us a curve
ball and I needed new tires onmy car, I was, you know, really
stressed out and worrying how inthe world are we going to do
this?
We take a deep breath and wejust we have to do what needs to
(23:43):
be done.
And then we do what, what needsto be done to compensate for
that, whatever it is, and andit's just the Lord maturing us,
absolutely, a hundred percent ismaturing us, and and it is hard
when you're in those earlybeginnings, those humble
beginnings, it's hard.
Um had prophetic words spokenover us right after we were
(24:06):
married.
We were candidates for thepresbytery.
You know that they do they Idon't know if they still do or
used to do but and a lot, what'sreally cool?
I have the transcript, you know, typed out, folded in my bible,
and I pull it out every now andthen, and there's certain
aspects that have just alwaysstuck with me, and what's really
(24:27):
cool is a lot of that has cometo fruition.
One of the things that wasspoken over Gavin was being a
leader, training other people,having a pastoral mantle on him,
but that it would notnecessarily be within the four
walls of the church, that it maybe in, it may be out, it may be
(24:49):
here, it may be out there, andhe has.
Just this morning even he wastelling me our business as
educational consultants.
The first priority is we are aministry.
We're here to represent thecompassion of Christ and if
(25:10):
there's a spiritual need, wewant to be sensitive to that.
Are we out there on theseschools blatantly preaching the
gospel?
No, our purpose is to help withteams and data management.
But opportunities arise manytimes to ask somebody you know
well, do you go to churchanywhere?
Well, would you like me to praywith you?
(25:32):
Sometimes people ask us willyou pray for me, will you please
pray for my husband or mydaughter or so-and-so?
And so it's not that, it's notthat in your face, um, like
evangelizing, but I think Iheard somebody use the term.
Um, what did they say?
(25:53):
Mark, business, workplaceevangelism marketplace ministry.
Yes, yes, there's a couple ofdifferent terms there, and so we
see it as as a type ofundercover ministry, not like
undercover in the sense of likein China, you know.
Not like we're trying to hideanything, but many people that
(26:14):
know us know that, a we're afamily owned business and that,
B we seek to honor the Lord andput him first and we're not here
to push anything on anybody,but we're here to just represent
Christ prayerfully, representhim well and draw others to him.
Because I know there's a lot ofpeople out there today that
(26:36):
have been hurt by the church andthat have a bad taste in their
mouth when it comes toChristians and and that saddens
my heart because in a lot ofways they're right, because we
as Christians haven't alwaysgotten it right and and I'm sad
and I'm I'm sorry for that Ihope to represent Christ well,
(26:58):
without compromising the truthand effort to build a bridge to
people like that, Because I wantthem to know God's not some
angry God that's out to get youand some of this stuff happening
in the church that maybe hurtthem.
That's not God's heart to her.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
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Unless we reverse this trend,experts predict that for the
(27:56):
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Take a few seconds to thinkabout it.
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(28:17):
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Even so-called healthy foodsare full of artificial
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Only 2% of us get our dailyrecommended servings of fruits
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(28:42):
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(29:03):
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(29:42):
notes of this podcast we haveexperienced church hurt.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Gavin and I, both as individuals, as a couple, as a
family, we have had church hurtand there have been many times I
thought if I didn't know anybetter I would have left the
church a long time ago.
But I know that's not God'sheart towards me, yes, and and
(30:06):
we have had to make the harddecisions to say, okay, this may
not be the right church placefor us to go any longer.
Our season here is finished.
We don't ever want to leave aplace out of offense, right, we
want to leave in in a, in ablessing, where we're blessing
the church, and we won't wantthe church to bless us as we
move on to wherever God has forus.
(30:26):
And sometimes that hasn'thappened.
We, we we seek to leave withoutoffense.
But we have had others offendedthat we were leaving and we
just, and like I told Gavin, Isaid well, the you know, when
one of the situations happened,I said well, I think we made the
right decision.
That reaction confirms we'remaking the right decision.
(30:47):
And then also we need to prayfor that leadership, because for
them to respond that way tellsme there's deeper issues.
So that's the body of Christ.
We're not perfect, but the Lordcalls us to forgive, and as
hard as that is, um, so, so yeah, all of these things, you know,
(31:07):
it's just incredible how it allties together.
And, um, we, we some extracapital in our business and we,
(31:29):
we, that was when we faced adifficult situation where we
decided it was time for us tostep away from a particular
church we were at at the timeand, um, we went to the Gateway
Justin campus as a temporarylanding pad.
We weren't sure if we weregoing to stay at Gateway long
term or if that was just atemporary place, but we were
(31:49):
going to the Justin campus for awhile.
This was before the campus wasbuilt.
They were still meeting at theMarriott.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And, yeah, that was a hard situation.
Gavin faced some difficultiesin the business.
Um, uh, we had an employee thatleft us and it was just a hard
situation.
And one particular week, um,his mom and I both were trying
to tell him you need to get away, you need to go get a hotel
(32:17):
room and just turn off yourphone, turn off your computer
and just be with God, right, andhe looks up at me with the
puppy dog eyes and he says, okay, well, will you go with me?
I was like, well, yeah, if youwant me to, but bottom line is
you need a break, right, um, sowe went to a little bed and
breakfast in Duncan, oklahomatwo hours away and we turned our
(32:42):
phones off and traded them sothere would be no temptation.
Yes, and we had the mostpeaceful weekend.
We both spent time reading ourBibles, praying, spent time
together and on the way home,gavin said those two little
magic words we could, becausethat's how it always starts.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Right, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And he said you know, we could buy a house up here
and have our own little Airbnband and just you know, it's only
two hours away.
So I was like, are you sure?
Because he's the one thathandles the budget, like I'm,
I'm, I'm girl math over here,I'll admit it he handles the
(33:31):
numbers, paying the bills,taking care of all that?
Because I couldn't, it's toocomplicated for me, so he knew
better than I did.
If we could, he was like, well,yeah, we, we've, we've got
enough cushion.
He said I think we could put adown payment and I think I think
(33:51):
we can do it.
That was the fall of 2020, ayear later.
We first started looking inoklahoma because it was closer,
just a couple hours away, but welost, I think, four offers.
That was when the market wasreally hot and people were
(34:11):
paying cash above asking price.
We finally pulled back laborday, weekend and um, it was
mentioned why don't we look inarkansas?
And okay, so all these housespulled up in a place called hot
springs village, about 30minutes north of hot springs yes
(34:34):
and they had amenities.
it was a gated community, it wasin the woods, I mean tall trees
, shade, and so that was laborday.
On wednesday we were driving upthere and looking at houses and
(34:54):
over the next about three weekswe we went up there two or
three times and we lost aboutthree more.
We lost a total of seven offersbetween Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The eighth house had been onthe market for a couple months
no offers, very few showings,and our first thought was what's
(35:16):
wrong with it?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, nothing was wrong.
So we and it wasn't that wereally liked the house.
It wasn't like, oh, hey, well,let's just put an offer on it.
It was like this this really isa good house, I think it will
work put an offer on it and itwas accepted.
That night Come to find out itwas owned by a pastor.
(35:38):
I thought that was interesting.
So so, fall of 21, we were ableto move in and that became our
second home, kind of our getawayhome, and we fell in love with
it so much that we callourselves accidental Arkansans.
(36:01):
We found a little church therethat is a smaller community
church.
It has that family feel theyare my family and we found
ourselves just wanting to bethere more and more, and so we
made it home and we adore it.
(36:24):
Out there it's a slower pace oflife, it's peaceful, and we
still have to come back to tothe fort worth area occasionally
because of gavin's.
Business is still based here.
Yes, but to see where we'vegone, from bankruptcy 20 years
ago to the food bank nine-ishyears ago, yes, to now.
(36:51):
Technically, we own two homes.
Wow, the Lord's brought us along way.
And I remember people telling usyou know, everybody's got their
beans and weenies days and,it's true, everybody had their
beans and weenies days, and man.
It seems like those days candrag on and on.
(37:13):
But, um, hold on, hold onbecause, yes, like you said, the
Lord is, is growing us in thoseseasons and strength, I think,
strengthening our faith.
And my prayer used to be adangerous prayer to pray is Lord
, deepen my trust in you, deepenmy trust in you and, like that
(37:37):
song, you know, spirit, lead mewhere my trust is, without
borders.
Yes, wow, has he brought us.
And and now you know, even now,where we're at.
We still have big decisions wehave to make that are difficult.
What do we do?
We can't hold onto this houseanymore.
Do we sell?
Do we rent?
Do we hold onto it?
(37:58):
Do we?
What do we do, lord?
Because in the end, his wisdomis the best right.
The mind of man plants its ways, but the Lord directs his steps
.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yes, absolutely, you know I.
I want to go back to somethingthat you mentioned was like
having prophetic words spokenover you.
Cause I remember a time.
You know I have talked abouthaving own church for experience
, like I grew up in the church,so all my life has been in the
church.
I've been behind the scenes ofministry since 14.
(38:29):
Wow, definitely seen a lotright and so um.
One of the things, though, is Iremember Isaiah and I were up
for Presbytery and the Lord toldme to write out all my past
prophetic words, and I'm likewhat, like some of them I had on
(38:49):
my phone.
Some of them I may have had anemail, like you know, some
might've been in my journal, andwe just jotting stuff down, and
even the Holy spirit brought meto remember it's a words from
even like teen years.
Spirit brought me toremembrance of words from even
like teen years, and so I juststarted typing all the words out
, and as I was doing it, it waslike I could see from like a
(39:11):
word from like 15, how like, oh,okay, that that happened, like
this happened at 24, you know,and then see a word from like
being 24 and be like oh, thishappened two years ago.
But what we don't talk about isthe timeframe from the time that
you got the word and all thedevelopment like practical,
(39:33):
natural and spiritual, all thedevelopment that happens before
that word actually comes tofruition.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
And I just want to encourage the listener.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
That's like I have.
I've had these prophetic wordsI know what I'm called to do, I
know where I'm called to sit, orwhy is it such a struggle to do
the thing that I know God'sasked me to do?
Um?
Yeah get discouraged in it.
Like don't be discouraged, Ithink in our humanity we think,
oh, okay, I heard from the Lordto do this.
(40:04):
And we think because we heardfrom the Lord.
It's supposed to be easy, yes,and when it gets hard we're like
did I really hear from him?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And like, even you know, whenGavin felt a call to ministry,
he was like, okay, I'm going toseminary, I'm going to be a
pastor.
But the Lord was like yourministry is in education, your
ministry is through yourbusiness.
And, um, you know it was.
It was 17 years ago when we hadthat, those prophetic words
(40:34):
spoken over us at gateway, andand it just hit me I mean within
this past year, like wow,almost all of this has come to
fruition.
One of the things spoken overme was I would be raising the
next generation, teaching thenext generation.
I never had any thoughts abouthomeschooling 17 years ago you
know, and what's even cooler Iwant to add to that about the
(40:58):
idea of prophetic.
That about the idea ofprophetic is that before Gavin
and I met, I had a propheticdream, and I do believe that the
Lord speaks to us in our dreams.
I think sometimes, sometimesthey're just dreams, sometimes
it's just our brain processingwhat happened yesterday or the
pizza we ate last night.
(41:18):
But I definitely encouragepeople if you think there's
anything, any symbolism in yourdream, journal that down,
because maybe next weeksomething will come to you and
you'll go wait a minute.
Maybe that was my dream.
You know, anything can happen.
But I had a dream in 2006,august of 2006, that there were
(41:43):
several different parts to it,but there was like a brown horse
and there was a donkey that Ihad to like.
It was like a wild donkey and Ihad to get a hold of it and I
had to take it back to itsowners and they were in like a
mobile home park and they werelike oh, thank you, thank you.
And I said, well, I'm lookingfor a place to live and a job
(42:05):
around here, if you know ofanything.
And they were like oh, yeah,yeah, we'll let you know.
And in my mind I thought, okay,they're saying that, but I
don't think they're going toactually follow through.
But that's okay, god's going totake care of it.
There was a part in my dreamwhere I was like on this huge
stadium, like soccer field orfootball field, and I had like
(42:28):
my backpack that I've had sinceeighth grade, and then I left it
behind and I was riding thisbus home and I suddenly went oh,
I left my backpack, oh well,that's okay, I can go back for
it later.
And this bus opened up on thebackside and it was like a
flatbed trailer with bleacherson it and it was all empty and I
(42:50):
thought, oh, I'm glad I got onit now before it gets full.
And then you know how dreamstransition.
And then I was in this likekind of a dormitory and it was
like this ultimate collegehangout place.
There was a place to do laundryand there was a place to play
ping pong or watch a movie orhave snacks and there was a girl
(43:11):
in there that was yakking awayand really distracting.
And then I finally left andthen I walked outside and
suddenly I was like sliding downthis rocky hill, like it was
iced over, but it wasn't ice andthere was three people with me
in my dream.
And all of these things havesymbolism, like horses represent
(43:36):
strength and authority andbrown the color brown represents
compassion and humanity.
You know, donkeys can representstubbornness or determination.
So the fact that it was like awild donkey could have been
stubbornness, but I tackled it.
So that was to me was like theLord said you have this negative
(43:59):
aspect, but we're going totackle that and it's going to
turn into determination in agood way.
And the, the bus and the fieldand the university hangout place
through prayer and other peoplekind of telling me their
thoughts on the dream was likethese are all like higher levels
(44:20):
of education.
And so I didn't know if I waslike, okay, am I supposed to go
get a master's degree or is itjust like?
Now, looking back, I'm like no,like that was the Lord growing
me all these years higher levelsthat he's teaching me and
growing me.
And the bus that was likesomewhere in my dream was a
little moped and a bicycle andthese are all like.
(44:43):
Bicycles mean there's a personalcalling.
A moped or a motorbike meanslike moving from one place to
the next through moving throughdifficult areas is what it means
Buses and the is many is likereaching many.
And then I thought it was realinteresting the last part,
sliding down this Rocky Hillwith three people, and I thought
(45:05):
, well, I have three kids.
We moved to Arkansas, thenatural state, and it's all
rocks.
And I thought it's just hit methis past year Like, wow, lord,
was that?
You know that was almost 20years ago now, was that like my
life flashing before my eyes,kind of thing?
(45:26):
You know, like, wow, look whatyou have done, lord.
And in my dream there werepeople that I knew from a past
season in life and somebody saidwell, I think the fact that
they were familiar means there,there's going to be familiarity,
like it's not just going to beyou and God on this calling, but
(45:46):
he's going to put people inyour life that you know and that
will support you.
And that's true through everydifficult season that we have
been in.
Yes, Friendships come and goand sometimes they kind of wane,
so to speak, but the Lordalways provides what we need,
not just financially, not justmaterially, but relationally.
(46:11):
He will provide the people,even if it is the grocery store
clerk that has the crossnecklace to remind you God is
with you, even if it is justthat random text or a phone call
.
Or, like I had one lady say, Ihad cookies left in my fridge.
I put them in a Ziploc bag andI just ran them by my friend and
said, hey, I was thinking aboutyou today.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
That's all that's needed, so all of that's just
like you know.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
It's so cool how God just he wants that, that
intimacy with us.
He wants to pour into our livesand speak to us.
And you know, and, and then youtalked about when you have that
prophetic word and you think,okay, this is what I'm supposed
to do.
Well, sometimes if we hear aword from the lord and we think
okay, and then we try to make ithappen in our own strength.
(46:58):
Yes, sometimes it's okay and weneed to take a step back and say
, okay, lord, how do you wantthis to come to fruition?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
and, when you know, also ask when right and just
waiting the aspect ofunderstanding often comes over
time as well.
I know, um, you know, I had aprophetic word that led to a
vision, and in the vision it waslike this field.
It was just a field and it waslike dirt and every mugs like
(47:34):
you walk through, you would seelike there was a leaf here, or
like a leaf a little bit moregrown, maybe some fruit from it,
and then you would have like alittle like like a leaf a little
bit more grown, maybe somefruit from it, and then you
would have like a little likelike a house, but it would have
a cross on it remind me of achurch and then, as I kept
walking, I started like wateringthem and they would grow, and
(47:55):
they each were growing into thelittle like houses, and so I
remember like I'm am I supposedto have all this property?
Like there was not anunderstanding and I had went
before people and, you know,gave the dream and prayed for
people to agree with me in itand it was so many different
things.
And then it came that likeyou're going to be a part of
(48:17):
church planting and even I gotmy I got a prophetic word about
Priscilla and Aquila, and I'mlike church planning.
I'm like Lord, I don't want tohave a church.
Like what do you mean, you know?
And then I look and I fastforward to what I do now, and
even three years ago, four yearsago, I never would have
imagined that I would transitionand take all the skills that he
(48:39):
gave me in business, all of myexperience, all of my experience
in ministry, and literally betraveling to help small churches
grow and develop.
And I think back and I'm likeyou showed me that over 20 years
ago.
Wow, and I didn't have anunderstanding.
And all this time, you know Ididn't purposely say, oh, let me
(49:00):
do business for these manyyears to get this aspect of
training or let me be inministry to get this training.
But you were developing and youwere creating it and you were
like giving me the skills tocarry out the vision that you
have for me.
Just like he says, like he knewbefore we even formed the plans
, like he has a good plan for it.
(49:21):
And so I'm, I'm like you knew,and now I look just like you.
I'm looking like, oh my gosh,it's so incredible about the
fact that I didn't understand itand even at times when I tried
because I did I was like maybe Ishould do real estate, like,
and I tried to do the realestate, I tried to get the
houses, but that's not what itwas for, right?
(49:42):
so we mentioned like moving fastand moving off of, like oh I
think I have an understandingthe importance of really just
sitting with God and not tryingto move from that place and move
from a place of just being withGod and bring those things
Right.
The difference of being versusdoing right.
We want to be with God while wedo for God, not be doing for
(50:03):
God, thinking that that gets usbeing with God.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yeah, oh, that's so good Can you say that again, oh
Lord.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
I'm like let me try and say it again we don't need
to be.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah, we don't need to.
We need to be with God and thendo for him.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Because sometimes we think doing for him is going to
be a bring us closer man that isso powerful.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
That's really good, that's really good, yeah, yeah.
And you know, everything I'mhearing you say is like, we know
people that like they want tomaybe it's a personality thing,
sure, even they want to map outtheir whole life and like, okay,
I'm gonna go to college and getthis degree and then I'm gonna
get this.
You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonnafast track to and then I'm going
to work this kind of job forthis many years and then I'm
(50:45):
going to work my way up theladder and do this and and some
people do and they're successfuland they're great, that's
awesome.
But you know what, for me, thatain't working and I just have
(51:05):
to sit back.
I literally have to let go andlet God let him be.
God because he's in charge.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
I look back over my life and I never could have
planned it this way, never,never could have planned it this
way, and here we are here weare, yes, and there's a certain
piece that comes with it, right,a piece of just lending to you.
Like, lord, you take the will.
Like, literally, jesus take thewill, like you guide me.
There's a piece that comes fromtrusting him, knowing that,
like I'm going to trust yourplan and trust that you have a
good, good plan.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
Once again, I feel like time flew by and I'm like
it feels like we've been talkingfor five minutes.
How has it been 40 somethingminutes already?
This is wow.
I wish we could talk all day Iknow, yes, well, I absolutely
(51:51):
have loved the time of you beingconnected and coming on to the
podcast.
I mean we stay connectedthrough social.
I've watched you guys Like I'mlike Arkansas, which is so funny
.
My father's from Arkansas, so Ihave very fond memories of
Arkansas and being there forsummers growing up.
But I continue to just pray ablessing for all the endeavors
that you guys are doing to unitepeople and be that example of
Christ living in you.
(52:13):
And so thank you, thank you,thank you, oh Graceville
listeners, thank you again fortuning in today.
As always, we hope that thisepisode has encouraged you, has
inspired you, and we want tolend the opportunity, as we
always do.
If you don't have communityaround you, we want to support
(52:37):
you Email grow.
At gracevillecommunitycom, wehave community partners globally
that we would love to partneryou with that we believe are
trustworthy and safe for you tobuild community within.
As always, thank you forlistening.
Thank you so much for being ontoday.
You're welcome.
(52:58):
Thanks so much for having methis has been awesome.
Oh, thank you, it sure has.
I'm like I think we should dothis again so much more to talk
about.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yes, yeah, a lot more .
We definitely have to do itagain.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Yes, we will, man, I would love to.
I'm even thinking like, oh, weneed to talk about this
homeschooling stuff Cause I bothyou and I have some journeys
that the Lord has walked usthrough with it.
Yes, yes we will All rightlisteners.
Thanks for tuning in.
As always, may the Lord be withyou.
Thank you for tuning in totoday's episode of Graceville
(53:29):
Community Podcast.
We would like to invite you tovisit gracevillecommunitycom.
Graceville Community is allabout doing church the way
Church of Acts did, using fivemain principles that we see in
the book of Acts Sharingresources, as believers pooled
(53:50):
their possessions and resourcesto support those in need, as we
see in Acts 2.44.
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
(54:13):
believers in Judea during a timeof famine, as described in Acts
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 guidancethe apostles and elders
(54:37):
provided spiritual guidance andteaching to help strengthen and
build the community, as we seein 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
(54:59):
individuals alike, to help bringback the church of acts.
My name is Nicole Cater, your host, founder and
servant leader of GracevilleCommunity.
I want to thank you for tuningin to Graceville 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.
Hello Graceville community.
Once again, I am so excited towelcome you to the Graceville
Community Podcast, where we haveauthentic, transparent
conversation, truly just aboutthe goodness of God.
We may talk about some hardthings, we may talk about some
(00:43):
great things, but all togetherwe know it's going to be good
conversation because it's theconversation of the God things.
And so, once again, I am soexcited Y'all I know I say that
each time like I'm so excited,but I really am I am truly just
grateful and excited to justhave these conversations and
(01:05):
bring some people that over timeI have known and loved and got
to interact with and just seehow God has moved in their lives
, and today is no different.
So I'm going to start off byjust giving you a little bit
about who we have today.
She is a fellow homeschool mom.
I know that we have been inspaces, especially in social of,
(01:28):
like homeschool network anddoing this homeschool life.
She is a homemaker, definitelya household manager, business
advisor and so much more.
I can't wait for you guys tohear her story and really just
dive into what God has done forher.
So join with me today as Iwelcome Lindy Hi Lindy.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hello, hello, friends , I'm so excited to be on your
show and thanks for having me.
I am just excited to share anynumber of testimonies that the
Lord's done in our lives, in ourfamily, and hopefully, by
sharing our testimonies, thatwill encourage any of the
listeners that God is faithful.
(02:13):
Through every season in ourlives We've definitely had our
fair share of challenges, evendating back to our parents and
grandparents.
That's all part of ourtestimony today, so I'm happy to
start wherever you would likeme to.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, no, definitely.
I do want to say Iintentionally kind of went
through like an overview aboutyou, but I do want to talk about
so you've been homeschoolingfor how many years?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Okay, so my oldest son is now 14 and we've
homeschooled since he was inkindergarten.
So what is that?
10 years?
Oh my gosh, already already 10years and we're we're knocking
on the door of high school,which means transcripts and
college applications and dualcredit, and it's like this
(03:05):
mountain in front of me that I'mfacing going.
Oh my goodness, can I do this?
But you know, I've had lots offellow homeschool moms that are
on the other side of that thathave poured into me.
So I'm just going to take thatdeep breath and we're going to
tackle it one day at a time.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yes, yes, that's the thing.
And then you okay.
So you have three children, yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Remind me of their ages.
Okay, so my oldest is 14.
My second is 12, will be 13this year, and my youngest is
about to turn 11.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Awesome, and you have been married for 17 years.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Our anniversary is in March.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah, 17 years congratulations so thank you and
then also doing business foreight years uh, eight years,
right going on nine.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I have to kind of think back again.
And you know there's too manynumbers.
That's how you know, there'stoo many numbers to keep.
I don't even remember how old Iam.
So, yeah, I think we're ateight and a half years now and
that's.
That is a whole like.
I've got to write a book thatI'll.
(04:18):
I'll just dive into that, causeI think you kind of opened the
door.
Let's do it so.
I think that really one of thecoolest aspects of where we're
at today which we'll get there.
But one of the coolest aspectsof it is the fact that before my
husband and I ever met, he hadto declare bankruptcy.
(04:40):
He had graduated college fromWest Texas and moved to Fort
Worth to go to seminary.
Originally he felt like theLord had called him into
ministry.
So in his mind he was going togo to seminary and become a
licensed, ordained pastor and hewas not out looking for a job.
(05:05):
He just, you know, nope, god'sgoing to provide, god's going to
provide.
And he had a lot of wisecounselors trying to advise him.
You need to get something, evenif it's flipping burgers at
McDonald's, but nope, god'sgoing to provide, god's going to
provide.
And he was basically living offcredit cards for a while and it
finally came around to bite himand he had creditors calling
(05:30):
him, even at work.
He had dropped out of seminaryand instead pursued his master's
degree in education at Tarletonand he was teaching at a small
private school in the area.
So you know, he was barelymaking by, but you had creditors
(05:51):
calling him and and heultimately had to declare
bankruptcy and that was veryhard and very humbling, and he
realized that the Lord wasworking out that pride in his
heart and that he also, in thatseason, realized his call to
ministry was not a formal as apastor calling at that time.
(06:15):
That may come at some point inthe future, but no, the Lord was
not calling him in that role.
And so he pursued education andhe and then, right when he
right around the time hegraduated with his master's was
when we met and shortlythereafter we got engaged and he
(06:36):
he had been able to purchase ahouse.
The Lord worked out all that.
You know, you have to have acredit score, you have to
qualify for a loan, you have tobe able to afford a down payment
.
You know whatever all thenumbers and all the stuff
involved with that, and thatthat was also another miracle.
Like, wow, god worked it outfor me to buy a house or for him
(06:57):
to buy a house.
And so we met and got engaged,got married, and then we moved
to West Texas, back to hishometown of Lubbock, for a few
years, and he went from being ateacher to being an assistant
principal and then, when we wereout in West Texas, he got to
work for the district offices.
(07:19):
And then during that time, youknow, I had our first son and we
had always agreed he wanted meto be able to stay home.
So I quit my job and we had toadjust to that single income
which you know.
I mean I was the coupon queenfor a while, right, you know I
(07:41):
had my three grocery storeslined up down the same stretch.
You know I had my three grocerystores lined up down the same
stretch and I knew what I couldget at each store the cheapest.
And you know all that budgetingand and it was hard on our
marriage, it was just anotherstress factor and we, and then
his father, passed away there inLubbock and then we felt like
(08:04):
we were ready to move back toFort Worth.
We had struggled to really growroots in West Texas and then,
you know, we thought maybe theLord brought us here because he
knew Gavin's dad was going topass away and that was a season
to have.
We had two.
Our two oldest were born there,um, and we had that time with
(08:24):
his dad before he passed.
But, um, get at the timegateway.
You know we mentioned gatewaychurch earlier.
We were, we were involved atgateway and we were watching
online and that was home and ourhearts were ready to come home,
both to Fort worth and um andthe Lord.
This, this is another part of.
I kind of glaze over this partof our testimony sometimes
(08:47):
because I don't think peoplewill understand it, but Gavin
applied for so many jobs thatfall of 2013.
And when school started, itkind of was discouraging,
because when you're in education, a lot of times when the school
year starts then people arekind of in their places.
(09:08):
So, but you know, I really feltthe Lord leading me to pack out
of faith Like he's.
He's got something.
We are going to just keepwalking in faith.
In October he got a phone callfor an interview and it was at
the region center in Fort Worthand he got this job and that's
(09:38):
what helped us get moved back toFort Worth by Christmas.
And later we found out thatthey were looking for somebody
specifically with experience asa principal or like an
administrator and at thedistrict offices, because see,
what I didn't mention earlierwas in West Texas.
They moved him to the districtoffices.
(09:59):
He didn't want to go, he wantedto stay on the campus, but he
he saw that as a demotionbecause he was starting to work
in the, the peems area, whichpeems is just all the, the
information management and thedata that gets reported to the
state, that that determines thefunding for that school district
, and so typically that's beenheld by just an admin assistant
(10:24):
or like a secretary typeposition.
So he was like God, what areyou doing?
Like I'm more qualified thanthis.
But he finally came to acceptokay, god, if this is where
you're going to have me, thenI'm going to do it to the best
of my ability.
And he went to all thetrainings and really mastered
PEMS.
And so then when he got the jobin Fort Worth, he later found
(10:47):
out they were specificallylooking for somebody with both
admin experience and PEMSexperience and everybody was
like that's a unicorn, you'renever going to find that because
people either go this route orthat route.
So when they found him theywere like, oh my gosh, we found
our guy.
So that was another kind ofmiracle in all of that.
(11:11):
That got us to the regioncenter, got us moved back to
Fort Worth and I was.
I was halfway through mypregnancy with my third when we
moved back and she was, she was,was born.
So we had her here and Gavinworked there at the region
center for about four years andyou know workplace politics are
(11:36):
everywhere yeah so you know,don't really need to go into
detail, but things were changingand we just were sensing his
time is coming, something'schanging and his time is coming
to an end there.
But what was next?
Well, what he did with theregion center he was under, his
(11:59):
job was funded by a grantthrough TEA and his job was to
support new charter schools andto help them with their data
reporting so they could besuccessful and not have to shut
down.
And as he would travel to theseconferences and he would teach
(12:21):
breakout sessions for PEMS anddata reporting and help make
sense of it all Cause PEMS iskind of like a bad word in the
education world Okay, okay.
I mean a lot of people hate itbecause it's so complicated it's
.
Imagine, you know, we talkabout medical coding and we talk
about health insurance and ifit's coded wrong and that it's
(12:43):
not paid for, you know, whatever.
Well, that's themes in theeducation world is how
everything is coded and how it'sfunded and everything has to
line up.
All the data and I'm not a dataperson, so somebody listening
to this might it might make alot more sense to them, but
that's all about.
All I can say about it is it'sjust all about the data and how
it lines up and it affects thefunding.
(13:03):
All about the data and how itlines up and it affects the
funding.
So, um, but he built areputation for being able to
teach on this how to do teams tobe successful, and it made
sense to people, and so peoplereally liked him and appreciated
him and valued his, hisleadership and his teaching.
(13:25):
And when things began changingat the Regent Center and we
realized it may not be the placefor him much longer, I started
telling him you know, maybe youshould think about starting your
own business, Because the grantposition at the Regent Center
was only for new charters thatwere three years or younger, but
(13:49):
he would meet people from othercharters, older, and they would
be like we could really useyour services, but legally he
couldn't, you know, because ofconflict of interest.
So in my mind I was just likeit makes sense, you have people
know who you are, they knowyou're good at what you do and
clearly people are saying theycould use your services.
(14:11):
So if this isn't going tocontinue and if you apply and
can't find another job which hedidn't then I was like why not?
Of course, that's a lot easiersaid than done, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So that summer he went to the, the um parent
County courthouse there inSouthlake and he got his LLC to
be all official and he startedthat August with one little
bitty contract that paid lessthan a teacher's salary.
And I mean, our kids were alittle bitty and we were.
(14:51):
We had canceled Netflix, we hadcanceled, we had, you know, cut
out all the extra expenses andand I thought, are we going to
have to get on food stamps?
And I honestly didn't feel apiece about that.
And that's not to say thatsomebody shouldn't, because
there's a time and place, right,right, right.
But I did utilize the food bank.
I utilized two, two local foodbanks and that helped us get
(15:17):
through for about four or fivemonths.
Finally, by Christmas he startedgetting a couple more contracts
and slowly started building up.
He started right here in ourliving room on a card table,
similar to what I'm doing rightnow, and he, as he, slowly
started getting more contractsthat then, one year later, he
(15:39):
was able to rent a small officehere in the area and then he
finally had to hire help.
So he got himself an adminassistant for a while and just
slowly, um, over the years he'sbeen able to, he needed to hire
another helper.
He was able to rent the officenext door and then at one point
(16:01):
he had the whole hallway ofoffices at this little executive
building that's here in thearea.
And then two no, three yearsago I think, he was able to move
and now he's renting still, buthe's got his whole own office.
We are up to, let me think, one,two, three, four, five, six,
(16:24):
seven, eight, seven or eightemployees now, which is still
small, but having started on acard table, that's a huge.
You know, in eight years we'vecome a long way.
We've been able to pay off alot of debt.
We have continued to justreally remain humble, not to say
(16:49):
that we haven't struggled withpride and, you know, excitement
when we get the next big win,and and it's, you know, yeah, we
want to get excited, and butevery time those moments happen,
I have to go hey, lord, protectmy heart, cause I don't.
I don't want to become pridefuland I don't want to come across
like I'm bragging, but I wantto brag on God, because look
(17:10):
what the Lord has done when Iwould be stuck at home because
we couldn't afford to goanywhere or or all we could do
was go down the street to thepark or the library to rent DVDs
or borrow books and play withthe chalk again outside, or the
(17:32):
Play-Doh the cheap and easy andthe free stuff.
And, you know, looking at socialmedia, wondering how can these
people afford a trip to Disneyor how are they affording a trip
to the beach?
And then, slowly, we were ableto kind of finagle the budget
(17:54):
and we were able to make a tripto the beach.
And it was tight and we reallyhad to, you know, watch the
budget before and after to tostay on top of things.
But we were able to do that.
And then it was like, oh, okay,they didn't teach me these
things in school.
Like I need a, I need a classon budgeting.
(18:15):
Like why was I never taughtthis?
Right, you know?
But but you live and learn,right, you literally live and
learn.
Like, oh, maybe I shouldn'thave spent that much on a jar of
peanut butter, because thatadds up over time and and I need
to be buying this peanut butterso we can have more over here
to to pay down this debt or tosave up for this trip, and so,
(18:36):
um, you know, I feel like Idon't know.
I just feel like there's, maybethere's some young families out
there, maybe there's a youngmom out there that might feel
like she's struggling andfeeling like, you know she's not
meeting that.
That was me.
That was me.
I felt like we were struggling.
I felt like I couldn't afford ahaircut, I couldn't afford to
(19:00):
buy myself new clothes, right.
But I have just reached thisplace where, um, it's easy now
because we're we.
We still, no matter how muchyou make, you still have to
watch your budget.
Yes, you know, but like I don'tstress about it as much like I
(19:24):
did then and I, I know it'sgonna be okay, no matter what
happens, it's gonna be okay.
But I still ask myself, and,and it's humbling to think, but
why is it easier now?
Because, financially, we'retaking care of?
Why was it harder than?
(19:45):
Oh Lord, forgive me, forgive me, lord, and help me to always
put my trust in you and not toput my trust in money, right,
right, and and, man, that'sconvicting, very convicting, um,
because money can become anidol and can become its own god,
(20:07):
and I think that it's adelicate balance.
I was just talking to a friendthe other day about this, who
who's in similar shoes that wewere in.
You know, they're, they're,they're making it month to month
and I'm just, I'm trying mybest to love on them and support
them and encourage them, and wewere talking about it's.
It's one thing we have to thinkabout.
(20:28):
Money, right, we have to thinkabout it because that's the tool
that we use in our world todayfor spying and selling and
trading, and we have to thinkabout it and we have to make
sure we're going to have enoughto pay the bills.
But how do we balance thatwithout crossing over into
idolizing it?
I don't have the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, you know, I want to say, not that it's the
answer to that, but even as youwere telling your story, and I
can't help but to even think ofmy own experience as developing,
you know, in life and Isaiahand I, and as entrepreneurship,
and then even the stages thatyou go through, and I really
think that a great portion of itis really God developing our
(21:13):
heart, developing our character,like there's a reason why you
have those humble beginnings.
I think about the wordscripture tells us don't despise
small beginnings.
There's something that happensin that small beginning stage.
I remember starting a businessand there was times I literally
was out door dashing Uber Eatswhile doing this business and,
(21:36):
you know, using that to helpsupply what was needed for the
family, and going day to day andpraying like Lord, please let
me DoorDash enough to make youknow, and I remember like make
$45 today, and praying that,like putting gas in the car to
DoorDash to hope to make the $45, $50 was a stretch.
(21:58):
Wow, yeah you know not very,very similar not being able to
go places, looking at all thefree events to do like I was the
queen for Facebook events likewhat's free, what can we go to
that I don't have to spend moneyon it, we can still engage.
I remember times taking my kidsplaces where it was a free event
but then there was stuff thatyou could purchase and having to
say no and even the characterbeing developed in that learning
(22:21):
, like the boundaries that camewith that not needing to prove
something to someone else or tryand please um an image.
There's so much that isdeveloped yes that stage of
small beginnings, and I thinkthat's why the scripture tells
us like don't despise thosesmall beginnings, don't run
(22:42):
almost it like embrace them andallow it to do its work right.
I think about the scripturethat tells us about like um when
we go through trials andtribulations.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
There's a formula in that, there's a process that
develops us yes, rejoice whenyou face trials and tribulations
, because it produces endurance,patience, perseverance.
Yes, that is, but they'rebasically a formula and that's a
beautiful reminder because, um,yeah, I, I do see that in
(23:11):
myself now.
Now right back then, yeah, backthen, when life threw us a curve
ball and I needed new tires onmy car, I was, you know, really
stressed out and worrying how inthe world are we going to do
this?
We take a deep breath and wejust we have to do what needs to
(23:43):
be done.
And then we do what, what needsto be done to compensate for
that, whatever it is, and andit's just the Lord maturing us,
absolutely, a hundred percent ismaturing us, and and it is hard
when you're in those earlybeginnings, those humble
beginnings, it's hard.
Um had prophetic words spokenover us right after we were
(24:06):
married.
We were candidates for thepresbytery.
You know that they do they Idon't know if they still do or
used to do but and a lot, what'sreally cool?
I have the transcript, you know, typed out, folded in my bible,
and I pull it out every now andthen, and there's certain
aspects that have just alwaysstuck with me, and what's really
(24:27):
cool is a lot of that has cometo fruition.
One of the things that wasspoken over Gavin was being a
leader, training other people,having a pastoral mantle on him,
but that it would notnecessarily be within the four
walls of the church, that it maybe in, it may be out, it may be
(24:49):
here, it may be out there, andhe has.
Just this morning even he wastelling me our business as
educational consultants.
The first priority is we are aministry.
We're here to represent thecompassion of Christ and if
(25:10):
there's a spiritual need, wewant to be sensitive to that.
Are we out there on theseschools blatantly preaching the
gospel?
No, our purpose is to help withteams and data management.
But opportunities arise manytimes to ask somebody you know
well, do you go to churchanywhere?
Well, would you like me to praywith you?
(25:32):
Sometimes people ask us willyou pray for me, will you please
pray for my husband or mydaughter or so-and-so?
And so it's not that, it's notthat in your face, um, like
evangelizing, but I think Iheard somebody use the term.
Um, what did they say?
(25:53):
Mark, business, workplaceevangelism marketplace ministry.
Yes, yes, there's a couple ofdifferent terms there, and so we
see it as as a type ofundercover ministry, not like
undercover in the sense of likein China, you know.
Not like we're trying to hideanything, but many people that
(26:14):
know us know that, a we're afamily owned business and that,
B we seek to honor the Lord andput him first and we're not here
to push anything on anybody,but we're here to just represent
Christ prayerfully, representhim well and draw others to him.
Because I know there's a lot ofpeople out there today that
(26:36):
have been hurt by the church andthat have a bad taste in their
mouth when it comes toChristians and and that saddens
my heart because in a lot ofways they're right, because we
as Christians haven't alwaysgotten it right and and I'm sad
and I'm I'm sorry for that Ihope to represent Christ well,
(26:58):
without compromising the truthand effort to build a bridge to
people like that, Because I wantthem to know God's not some
angry God that's out to get youand some of this stuff happening
in the church that maybe hurtthem.
That's not God's heart to her.
Speaker 4 (27:34):
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Unless we reverse this trend,experts predict that for the
(27:56):
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So why aren't we healthier?
It's largely because we'reoverfed and undernourished.
Take a few seconds to thinkabout it.
We often choose convenience overour health.
(28:17):
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Even so-called healthy foodsare full of artificial
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(28:42):
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(29:42):
notes of this podcast we haveexperienced church hurt.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Gavin and I, both as individuals, as a couple, as a
family, we have had church hurtand there have been many times I
thought if I didn't know anybetter I would have left the
church a long time ago.
But I know that's not God'sheart towards me, yes, and and
(30:06):
we have had to make the harddecisions to say, okay, this may
not be the right church placefor us to go any longer.
Our season here is finished.
We don't ever want to leave aplace out of offense, right, we
want to leave in in a, in ablessing, where we're blessing
the church, and we won't wantthe church to bless us as we
move on to wherever God has forus.
(30:26):
And sometimes that hasn'thappened.
We, we we seek to leave withoutoffense.
But we have had others offendedthat we were leaving and we
just, and like I told Gavin, Isaid well, the you know, when
one of the situations happened,I said well, I think we made the
right decision.
That reaction confirms we'remaking the right decision.
(30:47):
And then also we need to prayfor that leadership, because for
them to respond that way tellsme there's deeper issues.
So that's the body of Christ.
We're not perfect, but the Lordcalls us to forgive, and as
hard as that is, um, so, so yeah, all of these things, you know,
(31:07):
it's just incredible how it allties together.
And, um, we, we some extracapital in our business and we,
(31:29):
we, that was when we faced adifficult situation where we
decided it was time for us tostep away from a particular
church we were at at the timeand, um, we went to the Gateway
Justin campus as a temporarylanding pad.
We weren't sure if we weregoing to stay at Gateway long
term or if that was just atemporary place, but we were
(31:49):
going to the Justin campus for awhile.
This was before the campus wasbuilt.
They were still meeting at theMarriott.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And, yeah, that was a hard situation.
Gavin faced some difficultiesin the business.
Um, uh, we had an employee thatleft us and it was just a hard
situation.
And one particular week, um,his mom and I both were trying
to tell him you need to get away, you need to go get a hotel
(32:17):
room and just turn off yourphone, turn off your computer
and just be with God, right, andhe looks up at me with the
puppy dog eyes and he says, okay, well, will you go with me?
I was like, well, yeah, if youwant me to, but bottom line is
you need a break, right, um, sowe went to a little bed and
breakfast in Duncan, oklahomatwo hours away and we turned our
(32:42):
phones off and traded them sothere would be no temptation.
Yes, and we had the mostpeaceful weekend.
We both spent time reading ourBibles, praying, spent time
together and on the way home,gavin said those two little
magic words we could, becausethat's how it always starts.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Right, yes.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
And he said you know, we could buy a house up here
and have our own little Airbnband and just you know, it's only
two hours away.
So I was like, are you sure?
Because he's the one thathandles the budget, like I'm,
I'm, I'm girl math over here,I'll admit it he handles the
(33:31):
numbers, paying the bills,taking care of all that?
Because I couldn't, it's toocomplicated for me, so he knew
better than I did.
If we could, he was like, well,yeah, we, we've, we've got
enough cushion.
He said I think we could put adown payment and I think I think
(33:51):
we can do it.
That was the fall of 2020, ayear later.
We first started looking inoklahoma because it was closer,
just a couple hours away, but welost, I think, four offers.
That was when the market wasreally hot and people were
(34:11):
paying cash above asking price.
We finally pulled back laborday, weekend and um, it was
mentioned why don't we look inarkansas?
And okay, so all these housespulled up in a place called hot
springs village, about 30minutes north of hot springs yes
(34:34):
and they had amenities.
it was a gated community, it wasin the woods, I mean tall trees
, shade, and so that was laborday.
On wednesday we were driving upthere and looking at houses and
(34:54):
over the next about three weekswe we went up there two or
three times and we lost aboutthree more.
We lost a total of seven offersbetween Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The eighth house had been onthe market for a couple months
no offers, very few showings,and our first thought was what's
(35:16):
wrong with it?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Yeah, nothing was wrong.
So we and it wasn't that wereally liked the house.
It wasn't like, oh, hey, well,let's just put an offer on it.
It was like this this really isa good house, I think it will
work put an offer on it and itwas accepted.
That night Come to find out itwas owned by a pastor.
(35:38):
I thought that was interesting.
So so, fall of 21, we were ableto move in and that became our
second home, kind of our getawayhome, and we fell in love with
it so much that we callourselves accidental Arkansans.
(36:01):
We found a little church therethat is a smaller community
church.
It has that family feel theyare my family and we found
ourselves just wanting to bethere more and more, and so we
made it home and we adore it.
(36:24):
Out there it's a slower pace oflife, it's peaceful, and we
still have to come back to tothe fort worth area occasionally
because of gavin's.
Business is still based here.
Yes, but to see where we'vegone, from bankruptcy 20 years
ago to the food bank nine-ishyears ago, yes, to now.
(36:51):
Technically, we own two homes.
Wow, the Lord's brought us along way.
And I remember people telling usyou know, everybody's got their
beans and weenies days and,it's true, everybody had their
beans and weenies days, and man.
It seems like those days candrag on and on.
(37:13):
But, um, hold on, hold onbecause, yes, like you said, the
Lord is, is growing us in thoseseasons and strength, I think,
strengthening our faith.
And my prayer used to be adangerous prayer to pray is Lord
, deepen my trust in you, deepenmy trust in you and, like that
(37:37):
song, you know, spirit, lead mewhere my trust is, without
borders.
Yes, wow, has he brought us.
And and now you know, even now,where we're at.
We still have big decisions wehave to make that are difficult.
What do we do?
We can't hold onto this houseanymore.
Do we sell?
Do we rent?
Do we hold onto it?
(37:58):
Do we?
What do we do, lord?
Because in the end, his wisdomis the best right.
The mind of man plants its ways, but the Lord directs his steps
.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yes, absolutely, you know I.
I want to go back to somethingthat you mentioned was like
having prophetic words spokenover you.
Cause I remember a time.
You know I have talked abouthaving own church for experience
, like I grew up in the church,so all my life has been in the
church.
I've been behind the scenes ofministry since 14.
(38:29):
Wow, definitely seen a lotright and so um.
One of the things, though, is Iremember Isaiah and I were up
for Presbytery and the Lord toldme to write out all my past
prophetic words, and I'm likewhat, like some of them I had on
(38:49):
my phone.
Some of them I may have had anemail, like you know, some
might've been in my journal, andwe just jotting stuff down, and
even the Holy spirit brought meto remember it's a words from
even like teen years.
Spirit brought me toremembrance of words from even
like teen years, and so I juststarted typing all the words out
, and as I was doing it, it waslike I could see from like a
(39:11):
word from like 15, how like, oh,okay, that that happened, like
this happened at 24, you know,and then see a word from like
being 24 and be like oh, thishappened two years ago.
But what we don't talk about isthe timeframe from the time that
you got the word and all thedevelopment like practical,
(39:33):
natural and spiritual, all thedevelopment that happens before
that word actually comes tofruition.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
And I just want to encourage the listener.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
That's like I have.
I've had these prophetic wordsI know what I'm called to do, I
know where I'm called to sit, orwhy is it such a struggle to do
the thing that I know God'sasked me to do?
Um?
Yeah get discouraged in it.
Like don't be discouraged, Ithink in our humanity we think,
oh, okay, I heard from the Lordto do this.
(40:04):
And we think because we heardfrom the Lord.
It's supposed to be easy, yes,and when it gets hard we're like
did I really hear from him?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And like, even you know, whenGavin felt a call to ministry,
he was like, okay, I'm going toseminary, I'm going to be a
pastor.
But the Lord was like yourministry is in education, your
ministry is through yourbusiness.
And, um, you know it was.
It was 17 years ago when we hadthat, those prophetic words
(40:34):
spoken over us at gateway, andand it just hit me I mean within
this past year, like wow,almost all of this has come to
fruition.
One of the things spoken overme was I would be raising the
next generation, teaching thenext generation.
I never had any thoughts abouthomeschooling 17 years ago you
know, and what's even cooler Iwant to add to that about the
(40:58):
idea of prophetic.
That about the idea ofprophetic is that before Gavin
and I met, I had a propheticdream, and I do believe that the
Lord speaks to us in our dreams.
I think sometimes, sometimesthey're just dreams, sometimes
it's just our brain processingwhat happened yesterday or the
pizza we ate last night.
(41:18):
But I definitely encouragepeople if you think there's
anything, any symbolism in yourdream, journal that down,
because maybe next weeksomething will come to you and
you'll go wait a minute.
Maybe that was my dream.
You know, anything can happen.
But I had a dream in 2006,august of 2006, that there were
(41:43):
several different parts to it,but there was like a brown horse
and there was a donkey that Ihad to like.
It was like a wild donkey and Ihad to get a hold of it and I
had to take it back to itsowners and they were in like a
mobile home park and they werelike oh, thank you, thank you.
And I said, well, I'm lookingfor a place to live and a job
(42:05):
around here, if you know ofanything.
And they were like oh, yeah,yeah, we'll let you know.
And in my mind I thought, okay,they're saying that, but I
don't think they're going toactually follow through.
But that's okay, god's going totake care of it.
There was a part in my dreamwhere I was like on this huge
stadium, like soccer field orfootball field, and I had like
(42:28):
my backpack that I've had sinceeighth grade, and then I left it
behind and I was riding thisbus home and I suddenly went oh,
I left my backpack, oh well,that's okay, I can go back for
it later.
And this bus opened up on thebackside and it was like a
flatbed trailer with bleacherson it and it was all empty and I
(42:50):
thought, oh, I'm glad I got onit now before it gets full.
And then you know how dreamstransition.
And then I was in this likekind of a dormitory and it was
like this ultimate collegehangout place.
There was a place to do laundryand there was a place to play
ping pong or watch a movie orhave snacks and there was a girl
(43:11):
in there that was yakking awayand really distracting.
And then I finally left andthen I walked outside and
suddenly I was like sliding downthis rocky hill, like it was
iced over, but it wasn't ice andthere was three people with me
in my dream.
And all of these things havesymbolism, like horses represent
(43:36):
strength and authority andbrown the color brown represents
compassion and humanity.
You know, donkeys can representstubbornness or determination.
So the fact that it was like awild donkey could have been
stubbornness, but I tackled it.
So that was to me was like theLord said you have this negative
(43:59):
aspect, but we're going totackle that and it's going to
turn into determination in agood way.
And the, the bus and the fieldand the university hangout place
through prayer and other peoplekind of telling me their
thoughts on the dream was likethese are all like higher levels
(44:20):
of education.
And so I didn't know if I waslike, okay, am I supposed to go
get a master's degree or is itjust like?
Now, looking back, I'm like no,like that was the Lord growing
me all these years higher levelsthat he's teaching me and
growing me.
And the bus that was likesomewhere in my dream was a
little moped and a bicycle andthese are all like.
(44:43):
Bicycles mean there's a personalcalling.
A moped or a motorbike meanslike moving from one place to
the next through moving throughdifficult areas is what it means
Buses and the is many is likereaching many.
And then I thought it was realinteresting the last part,
sliding down this Rocky Hillwith three people, and I thought
(45:05):
, well, I have three kids.
We moved to Arkansas, thenatural state, and it's all
rocks.
And I thought it's just hit methis past year Like, wow, lord,
was that?
You know that was almost 20years ago now, was that like my
life flashing before my eyes,kind of thing?
(45:26):
You know, like, wow, look whatyou have done, lord.
And in my dream there werepeople that I knew from a past
season in life and somebody saidwell, I think the fact that
they were familiar means there,there's going to be familiarity,
like it's not just going to beyou and God on this calling, but
(45:46):
he's going to put people inyour life that you know and that
will support you.
And that's true through everydifficult season that we have
been in.
Yes, Friendships come and goand sometimes they kind of wane,
so to speak, but the Lordalways provides what we need,
not just financially, not justmaterially, but relationally.
(46:11):
He will provide the people,even if it is the grocery store
clerk that has the crossnecklace to remind you God is
with you, even if it is justthat random text or a phone call
.
Or, like I had one lady say, Ihad cookies left in my fridge.
I put them in a Ziploc bag andI just ran them by my friend and
said, hey, I was thinking aboutyou today.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
That's all that's needed, so all of that's just
like you know.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
It's so cool how God just he wants that, that
intimacy with us.
He wants to pour into our livesand speak to us.
And you know, and, and then youtalked about when you have that
prophetic word and you think,okay, this is what I'm supposed
to do.
Well, sometimes if we hear aword from the lord and we think
okay, and then we try to make ithappen in our own strength.
(46:58):
Yes, sometimes it's okay and weneed to take a step back and say
, okay, lord, how do you wantthis to come to fruition?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
and, when you know, also ask when right and just
waiting the aspect ofunderstanding often comes over
time as well.
I know, um, you know, I had aprophetic word that led to a
vision, and in the vision it waslike this field.
It was just a field and it waslike dirt and every mugs like
(47:34):
you walk through, you would seelike there was a leaf here, or
like a leaf a little bit moregrown, maybe some fruit from it,
and then you would have like alittle like like a leaf a little
bit more grown, maybe somefruit from it, and then you
would have like a little likelike a house, but it would have
a cross on it remind me of achurch and then, as I kept
walking, I started like wateringthem and they would grow, and
(47:55):
they each were growing into thelittle like houses, and so I
remember like I'm am I supposedto have all this property?
Like there was not anunderstanding and I had went
before people and, you know,gave the dream and prayed for
people to agree with me in itand it was so many different
things.
And then it came that likeyou're going to be a part of
(48:17):
church planting and even I gotmy I got a prophetic word about
Priscilla and Aquila, and I'mlike church planning.
I'm like Lord, I don't want tohave a church.
Like what do you mean, you know?
And then I look and I fastforward to what I do now, and
even three years ago, four yearsago, I never would have
imagined that I would transitionand take all the skills that he
(48:39):
gave me in business, all of myexperience, all of my experience
in ministry, and literally betraveling to help small churches
grow and develop.
And I think back and I'm likeyou showed me that over 20 years
ago.
Wow, and I didn't have anunderstanding.
And all this time, you know Ididn't purposely say, oh, let me
(49:00):
do business for these manyyears to get this aspect of
training or let me be inministry to get this training.
But you were developing and youwere creating it and you were
like giving me the skills tocarry out the vision that you
have for me.
Just like he says, like he knewbefore we even formed the plans
, like he has a good plan for it.
(49:21):
And so I'm, I'm like you knew,and now I look just like you.
I'm looking like, oh my gosh,it's so incredible about the
fact that I didn't understand itand even at times when I tried
because I did I was like maybe Ishould do real estate, like,
and I tried to do the realestate, I tried to get the
houses, but that's not what itwas for, right?
(49:42):
so we mentioned like moving fastand moving off of, like oh I
think I have an understandingthe importance of really just
sitting with God and not tryingto move from that place and move
from a place of just being withGod and bring those things
Right.
The difference of being versusdoing right.
We want to be with God while wedo for God, not be doing for
(50:03):
God, thinking that that gets usbeing with God.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yeah, oh, that's so good Can you say that again, oh
Lord.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
I'm like let me try and say it again we don't need
to be.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
Yeah, we don't need to.
We need to be with God and thendo for him.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Because sometimes we think doing for him is going to
be a bring us closer man that isso powerful.
Speaker 2 (50:24):
That's really good, that's really good, yeah, yeah.
And you know, everything I'mhearing you say is like, we know
people that like they want tomaybe it's a personality thing,
sure, even they want to map outtheir whole life and like, okay,
I'm gonna go to college and getthis degree and then I'm gonna
get this.
You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonnafast track to and then I'm going
to work this kind of job forthis many years and then I'm
(50:45):
going to work my way up theladder and do this and and some
people do and they're successfuland they're great, that's
awesome.
But you know what, for me, thatain't working and I just have
(51:05):
to sit back.
I literally have to let go andlet God let him be.
God because he's in charge.
Speaker 1 (51:07):
I look back over my life and I never could have
planned it this way, never,never could have planned it this
way, and here we are here weare, yes, and there's a certain
piece that comes with it, right,a piece of just lending to you.
Like, lord, you take the will.
Like, literally, jesus take thewill, like you guide me.
There's a piece that comes fromtrusting him, knowing that,
like I'm going to trust yourplan and trust that you have a
good, good plan.
Speaker 2 (51:29):
Yes, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (51:31):
Once again, I feel like time flew by and I'm like
it feels like we've been talkingfor five minutes.
How has it been 40 somethingminutes already?
This is wow.
I wish we could talk all day Iknow, yes, well, I absolutely
(51:51):
have loved the time of you beingconnected and coming on to the
podcast.
I mean we stay connectedthrough social.
I've watched you guys Like I'mlike Arkansas, which is so funny
.
My father's from Arkansas, so Ihave very fond memories of
Arkansas and being there forsummers growing up.
But I continue to just pray ablessing for all the endeavors
that you guys are doing to unitepeople and be that example of
Christ living in you.
(52:13):
And so thank you, thank you,thank you, oh Graceville
listeners, thank you again fortuning in today.
As always, we hope that thisepisode has encouraged you, has
inspired you, and we want tolend the opportunity, as we
always do.
If you don't have communityaround you, we want to support
(52:37):
you Email grow.
At gracevillecommunitycom, wehave community partners globally
that we would love to partneryou with that we believe are
trustworthy and safe for you tobuild community within.
As always, thank you forlistening.
Thank you so much for being ontoday.
You're welcome.
(52:58):
Thanks so much for having methis has been awesome.
Oh, thank you, it sure has.
I'm like I think we should dothis again so much more to talk
about.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yes, yeah, a lot more .
We definitely have to do itagain.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
Yes, we will, man, I would love to.
I'm even thinking like, oh, weneed to talk about this
homeschooling stuff Cause I bothyou and I have some journeys
that the Lord has walked usthrough with it.
Yes, yes we will All rightlisteners.
Thanks for tuning in.
As always, may the Lord be withyou.
Thank you for tuning in totoday's episode of Graceville
(53:29):
Community Podcast.
We would like to invite you tovisit gracevillecommunitycom.
Graceville Community is allabout doing church the way
Church of Acts did, using fivemain principles that we see in
the book of Acts Sharingresources, as believers pooled
(53:50):
their possessions and resourcesto support those in need, as we
see in Acts 2.44.
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
(54:13):
believers in Judea during a timeof famine, as described in Acts
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 guidancethe apostles and elders
(54:37):
provided spiritual guidance andteaching to help strengthen and
build the community, as we seein 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
(54:59):
individuals alike, to help bringback the church of acts.
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