July 10, 2025 • 65 mins
In this episode of Hope Unlocked, Kristin Kurtz sits down with Linda D. Moore for a powerful, Spirit-led conversation. Linda shares how God has moved through her story—including powerful moments of surrender, divine redirection, and obedience that unlocked her next steps. Together, they talk about hope, healing, and how to walk boldly into your God-given assignment, no matter your past. Get ready to be deeply encouraged and reminded that your story is far from over.
Linda's Contact Info:
Website - www.lindadmoore.com
Email - info@lindadmoore.com
Linda's Books:Â
Write Your Story and Launch Your Legacy: Casting Hope with Seeds of Truth and GraceÂ
Write Your Story and Launch Your Legacy Workbook: Casting Hope with Seeds of Truth and Grace
 When Love Shows Up: A Devotional of Hope, Healing, and Redemption through Poetry and Prose
🎙️Hope Unlocked Listener Exclusive! Feeling stirred but not sure what to do next? Book a 45-minute Holy Spirit-led 1:1 coaching session w/ Hope Unlocked host Kristin Kurtz, founder of New Wings Coaching. This powerful conversation will help you move from stirred to activated—with peace, clarity, & a Spirit-led next step. Book your call HERE now–special pricing to listeners!
Connect with Kristin Kurtz:
Website - https://msha.ke/newwings
Email - kristinkurtz@newwingscoaching.net
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/renew.wings/
Gift for you from Hope Unlocked- bit.ly/3O3rfcK
Expressing gratitude for taking the time to rate, review, & share the show with your friends & family!
Medical Disclaimer: Information in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your physician, qualified health provider, functional medicine specialist or health coach with any questions regarding any medical conditions. The views and testimonies expressed are those of the individuals. Use the information at your own discretion.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast.
I'm your host, kristen Kurtz,and I'm also the founder of New
Wings Coaching.
I help and empower wildheartedand adventurous women of faith
feeling caged and stuck, unlocktheir true purpose and potential
, break free from limitationsand thrive with confidence,
courage and hope.
If you're curious to learn moreabout coaching with me, head to
newwingscoachingnet and be sureto explore the show notes for
(00:38):
ways to connect with me further.
Get ready to dive in as weuncover empowering keys and
insights in this episode.
So tune in and let's unlockhope together.
Welcome to the Hope Unlockedpodcast.
I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host.
I pray this episode is like aholy IV of hope for your soul.
Please help me.
Welcome my new friend, linda DMoore, to the show.
(00:59):
I'm so excited to have her here.
I know that she is going torelease so much goodness and
share parts of her story thatare really going to impact you
and tell you more about whatshe's been up to.
So, linda, would you be open tofirst sharing a little bit
about yourself?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, I'd be happy to Kristen.
I'm so excited to be here.
I remember how we found eachother.
I remember you talking abouthope and seeds and I thought, oh
my gosh, I need to reach out toher because my book is called
casting hope with seeds of truthand grace and I thought okay, I
(01:39):
I understand, lord, what you'redoing.
You're connecting us here forsome reason.
And here we are.
It's been a while.
It's taken us a long time toget together.
I think this is our fourth try.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, today is the day Today is the day I know I'm
excited.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's beautiful here.
I'm in the state of Washington,in the desert side of the state
, over on the Eastern side, andit's beautiful, it's sunny, it's
clear.
We went golfing this morning.
Already, my husband and I golfevery morning and yeah, so we're
(02:18):
ready, we're ready.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well you have.
You shared some things with meprior to us getting started, and
I know that he has had you onquite the adventure in life,
right?
Yes, where would you want tostart in sharing more about you
and where he's taken you?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
When I was a little girl, I was old enough to write
a poem maybe 8, 9, 10.
And I was so proud of thislittle poem.
It was called A Dirty Bar ofSoap.
And I thought it was socreative and so clever and so
unique.
And I was so proud of thatlittle poem and I took it into
my mother mother.
I remember we were in herbedroom and I handed it to her
(03:09):
to read and she read it and shesaid, linda, this is the most
stupid thing I've ever read.
And she threw it on the floor ohmy gosh and I never wrote
another word, word, and I sowish I had that little poem.
Oh, my word.
So here, all these years later,god's message to me has never
(03:35):
changed Speak up and write, bekind and gentle and let him
handle everything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Can you say that again?
Somebody needs to.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Speak up and write, be kind and gentle and let him
handle everything.
I joined Toastmasters to learnhow to speak.
And in order to give a speech,one must write a speech.
And it was there I learned Iwas a writer, and that was about
(04:09):
10 years ago, in 2014.
Wow, just 10.
And I thought, oh my goodness,I was.
I started to write and Ithought, oh my goodness, this is
really good.
Oh my God, I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I had no idea oh my god, I had no idea.
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh and how many years was that between your mom and
this?
This, yeah so say I was 10, andso 10 years ago I would be so
50, almost 60 years ago when Iwrote that little poem.
And so I am now the author oftwo best-selling, number one
(04:56):
best-selling books on Amazon.
I have a workbook and I'm nowworking on book number four, and
I have self-published two books, and two different publishers
have picked up books three andbook four.
Oh, my goodness.
So I'm thinking what would havehappened if I would have kept
(05:18):
writing right from the age of 10.
Uh, I I don't concentrate onthat for very long, but I
realized.
You know what One of mymessages is even though your
purpose was squelched when youwere little, it's still in there
(05:40):
, and let God bring it out.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yes, yes, yeah, oh, my gosh, yeah, that's so.
Resonates with me because, um,I think you know a lot of the
women that I encounter, and evenpart of my own story is, you
know, the voice got cut off at ayoung age.
Um, and I won't get into mystory, but I've noticed that you
know, there's something thatsnags people.
(06:04):
There's, there's, whether it'screative, usually in the
creativity space, would you say,like people you've talked about
, like when it comes to arts,you know singing, um just
different ways of expressingyourself.
And if somebody like puts youdown in that area.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It can really snag you.
Yeah, I, I had no idea whatthat little episode would do
when I was 10 years old, that itwould squelch that whole line
of thinking.
Yeah, and creativity, all thatcreativity um, was she?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
she probably had no idea.
You know, looking back withyour mom, she probably had no
idea that that would no theculmination of those words, what
that would actually do, right?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
No, in fact, I never got to share that with her
either.
We never really talked aboutthat.
Really talked about that, um.
But my story is about growingup with my mom who, um, was not
available emotionally yeah andit's taken us.
(07:21):
It took us till the end of ourlife, till the end of my
mother's life.
It took us that long to beemotionally connected and it was
only through god that thathappened and I'm so thankful.
You know, in the bible thattalks about store up your
treasures in heaven.
And I never understood that.
(07:41):
I didn't know what that meantexactly.
Let's see, whenever I became aChristian at 52 oh, wow, so I
know both sides.
So 52, so 25 years ago, andwhen I, when my mom told me she
(08:04):
loved me for the first time, Irealized that's a treasure that
we store in heaven.
That's a treasure that nobodycan steal.
You know, it can't rust.
So I love the treasures that wego through in life that God
just hands us.
He just hands them to us andthey're stored in heaven.
(08:28):
I just, I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And it's the simplicity of the words that you
caught right, and not everybodycatches those words when it's,
you know, maybe for those who'velived in a space where it's on
repeat, right Exactly, would yousay.
(08:51):
So I want to go back a littlebit.
You were 52 when you came toChrist.
I was.
You must have some stories.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I have some stories and in fact I've written them
all down and I've published mystories and I um, I marvel at
what god has been able to dowith, uh, his simple request of
speak up and write.
So when I'm writing and whenI'm speaking, I know I'm in his
(09:24):
favor and it just happens sosimply and so easily.
It's not an effort and, uh,when I was see 52, I was going
through my second divorce.
My dad had just died and I wascompletely lost.
(09:44):
My second divorce, my dad hadjust died and I was completely
lost and I didn't know.
Even though I was raised in thechurch we went to church every
weekend I just never got themessage about God and the Holy
Spirit and Jesus, and I was newto Bible study at 52, and I had
(10:06):
a little brochure from Biblestudy fellowship.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And I was holding on to it.
I wasn't sure quite why, but Ipicked it up one day when I was
at a meeting and I didn't knowanything about the meeting and I
didn't know anything about thebible.
I didn't know anything aboutChristianity.
I like to say that I backed intoeverything because, uh, I
wasn't aware, I was just openand I was, uh, available and I
(10:38):
had, I was lost.
I was completely lost.
When my dad died I thought Ithought my dad would live
forever.
I really did, and he was mybuddy.
And somebody said well, youknow, he will live forever if he
was a believer.
And I actually don't know if mydad accepted Christ or not
before he died, but I was, so Iguess I was so open that day it
(11:07):
was February 2nd 2000.
And I sat down at the kitchentable one morning and I went
through this little brochure ithas about 40 verses in it and I
accepted Christ and I didn'tknow, I didn't know what I was
doing.
But the first word you'll likethis, kristen, you'll appreciate
this the very first message Igot right after I finished going
(11:31):
through this process.
These are the words I heardyour hope is misplaced.
You need to hope in me.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Oh my word, Say that again.
That's for somebody.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, your hope is misplaced.
You need to hope in me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So when you heard that like you immediately like
heard a message.
Right, I did.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'm sure it meant a lot to you.
So what did that do to you?
When you heard that, yeah, well, uh, it caught my attention for
sure.
I knew, I knew what.
I knew what it was.
I was confused.
I did go to, I was take.
I was going to al-anon at thetime because my dad had admitted
his dependency.
So I was in al-anon and I wentto al-anon that night and my
(12:23):
question was okay, I've justaccepted Christ.
And these are the words I heard.
And I have a question for allof you Can I no longer hope in
my fellow man?
And somebody came up to meafter the meeting and he said no
, you can hope in your fellowman, you just need to hope in
God first.
And that was my first day ofbeing a believer.
(12:43):
This is your first day, firstday, the very first day.
But two days later I had now, Ididn't know at the time that it
was a holy ground moment, but Ihad a holy ground moment.
Two days later, in my kitchen,in the same house, I found
myself down on my hands andknees.
(13:05):
I was in the fetal position andGod was there with me.
God was standing over me in mykitchen and he was.
He was big and I was little, hewas everything and I was
nothing.
He was God and I was sinner.
He was judge and I was guilty.
He was right and I was wrong.
(13:25):
He was everything and I wasnothing and I was whimpering.
And he had me watch the movieof my life and I saw who I had
been being in the world and Inever wanted to be that woman
(13:47):
ever again.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Wow, and this is just two days later.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Two days later, that was February 4th, and then guess
what?
And then he was gone.
But guess what he left behind.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
He left behind love.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
He left behind love, he, love, he left behind love,
he.
He loved me enough um to scoldme and to love me at the same
time, and he had.
He did it so beautifully and sogently and, uh, it still makes
me cry because, um, it was, um,I got love for the first time.
(14:25):
That was, I got that.
He loved me.
And so my question my questionfor him.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, go ahead.
Oh, I was just gonna say, likeyou, you had never experienced
love in that way before no, no,not at all.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I've been scolded, but not with love.
Yeah, mom had a heavy hand anduh, I thought, oh my gosh, and I
could feel it.
I could wear it like a coat.
It was so tangible, that love,like I felt it, and that from
(15:07):
there I went through this longrepentance process.
I didn't know what repentancewas.
I had no idea.
Again, I kind of backed intoeverything.
I went through a long repentanceprocess because my questions to
God were okay, lord, why have Ibeen divorced twice?
(15:28):
Why have I been raped twice?
Why have I been strugglingfinancially twice?
And he said well, do youremember those two abortions you
had?
And I said well, nobody knowsabout those.
And he said well, I know.
He says you've kept yourself injail for 34 years.
(15:49):
He said if you would have cometo me at any time along the way,
I would have forgiven you.
You kept yourself inself-imposed prison for 34 years
because, guess what, I nevertold anybody I had a divorce.
I had an abortion at 18, and Ihad an abortion at 18, and I had
an abortion at 21.
And I never told anyone.
The two fathers, of course, butno one else, not my mom, not my
(16:12):
dad, nobody.
I had no friends.
I was all alone in the worldand I believed that those
abortions did not happen.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And I went on with my life as if they didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And every once in a while they would creep back up
into my consciousness and I'dtamp them down.
I'd say no, no, no, it didn'thappen, it didn't happen, it
didn't happen.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you were denying the fact that it happened?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yes, yeah, the fact that it happened.
Yes, yeah, this was back in theday, you know when, abortion
was illegal okay and so, uh, I,I just told no one you know, I
back then, I mean I knewpremarital sex was forbidden,
but I did it anyway.
But when I got pregnant Irealized oh, I can't tell
(17:08):
anybody, because then peoplewill know I had sex, premarital
sex, and I wasn't about to gothere.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So was there a lot of shame that you felt at that
time?
I'm sorry, were you floodedwith shame at that point.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Definitely, definitely, were you flooded
with shame at that point,definitely, definitely.
I think that's why, you know,even though I wasn't a Christian
, I think I knew that what I didwas wrong and I couldn't admit
it to myself.
Even so, guilt and shame andremorse and sadness and, uh, it
(17:53):
was.
It's such a huge step that weknow I didn't realize how, how
big that step was.
I didn't realize, uh, what abig deal it was until afterwards
.
And then I just ignored it andI.
So here's what I believe todaythat, um, I didn't put two and
(18:13):
two together.
I didn't know that, uh, so two,two divorces.
I, as I understand it now, Iunderstand that I back then,
even though I had a greatmarriage my first husband was
(18:35):
amazing, my second husband wasamazing what I believed is that,
because of the abortions whichdidn't even tell myself about, I
believe that I didn't deserve agood marriage.
You know, way down deep inside,I did not deserve a good
marriage.
I didn't deserve to be happy, Ididn't deserve to have fun, I
(18:55):
didn't deserve to have a goodlife.
And I didn't even know, Ibelieved that I didn't know any
of that until later.
Now I can see it clearly.
It's like, oh, I ruined twoperfectly good marriages,
because I didn't believe that Ium deserved anything good in
(19:18):
life.
And that's the sad part aboutabortion.
You know, we take these inneruh thoughts and ideas and we
live that way.
We live that way yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And especially if you didn't have anybody to talk to
about it.
No Like literally it.
No Like literally nobody, noone.
I wonder.
You know it makes me wonder.
You know I'm always thinkingand wondering and you know I
wonder how many women out therewho are, you know, potentially
(20:01):
listening in, who have had anabortion, who've never talked to
anybody about it before.
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
oh well, I would love to talk to them.
I would love to just give thema big hug and um be a friend
yeah, I just love your heart.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Oh my gosh, like I can.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I can feel you like literally reaching out and
hugging these women right now infact, when I I I now stand in
front of planned parenthood witha big sign and um, my sign on
one side says need a hug and theother side says, uh, no, it
(20:48):
says free hugs on one side andneed a friend on the other.
Because I believe that if wejust could be a friend to
somebody, that we could change,that.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
We could change someone's life wow, and, and you
know you're coming, you'recoming at it with a posture of
love.
Yes, right Would you say and I'mjust kind of going to go here
when it comes to people, here'sanother just kind of a little
avenue for those who are takinga stand against abortion.
(21:22):
We definitely have.
There's different, you knowthings that I've seen out there
on the streets.
Right, how, how would you speakto somebody who's wanting to
stop it?
How would you help them posturethemselves?
(21:43):
What?
What is going to help thesewomen?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
the women who want to have an abortion.
The ones who are like standingin the gap standing in the gap,
the ones who want to help.
Yeah, there are people who wantto help.
It's going to take every singleperson up.
It's going to take every singleone of us, because the harvest
is so great and the workers areso few, and my is so great and
(22:12):
the workers are so few and my um, the whole.
My book, uh, write your storyand launch your legacy.
Um is geared towards forgivingourselves.
So what happened was, eventhough God forgave me when I was
52, it took another 20 yearsfor me to forgive myself.
(22:37):
Wow, so you just recently, justrecently, yeah, just recently,
when I wrote my first book.
So I have been through threedifferent abortion Bible study
recoveries, sessions and youknow it's.
I love my story, I absolutelylove my story.
(22:59):
The first Bible study was myfirst entree into showing up in
person at a meeting like thatand I remember, oh gosh, I was
so timid but I went.
It was a meeting at night andbut it was during the summer, so
(23:22):
it was broad daylight and itwas in this little portable
building on a church campus andI, I went there by myself and I
I remember thinking, oh boy, Isure hope nobody sees me walking
into this building, as if therewas this big abortion recovery
sign, you know, neon, flashingright.
(23:42):
Oh my gosh, oh my.
And then the next years later,the next abortion recovery Bible
study was held in someone'shome and forgiven and set free
by Linda Cochran, and I criedand I cried and I cried and I
cried and I tell the story abouthow I wish I had caught all
(24:06):
these tears in a bottle.
It's like when I was goingthrough repentance, I was crying
and crying and crying and Iwish I had caught those tears in
a bottle and then I went toanother abortion healing
workshop and I went out of stateto a weekend seminar retreat
(24:28):
and I came away from there withsuch a sparkly clean heart and I
came home and I wanted to cleanmy whole house because I wanted
everything around me to besparkly clean.
And, uh, the, it was deeperstill, deeper still out of
tennessee and I, the um, I, the,the founder and CEO, karen
(24:52):
Ellison, was asking a lot of usif we wanted to write our story
and submit it to her because shewas writing a book.
And I said, sure, yeah.
And I got home and guess what?
I couldn't do it.
There was still something inthe way and I didn't know what
it was, but I just could notsubmit my story.
Something in the way and Ididn't know what it was, but I
(25:13):
just could not submit my story.
And about, I don't know well, in2018, so it's probably about
five or six years later um, Iwas asking God, um, is this all
there is?
You know, I was taking care ofmy elderly mother and my new
husband I married again a thirdtime and my daughter and her two
(25:35):
children, and everything wasseemingly good.
But my question was okay, isthis?
It?
Is this all there is, it's okay, this is good.
And he said oh no, my child, Ihave more for you.
And shortly thereafter yeah,shortly thereafter he sat me
down one long weekend, very longweekend, and words started
(25:57):
falling out of the sky.
It was like manna falling fromheaven and I just picked up my
pen and I started writing.
And I wrote non-stop for fouror five days he just never let
up, even in the night.
Oh my gosh, I'd get up out ofbed and I'd run in the bathroom
and I'd turn on the light andI'd write uh, because I didn't
(26:18):
want to wake up my husband, andI'd write something down because
I learned that if you don'twrite it down it's gone.
You won't be able to rememberit in the morning especially as
we get older.
Yeah, yes, and so I'd get backinto bed and bam, I'd get more
words.
So I'd get up out of bed andI'd go write some more, and this
(26:38):
went on for four or five daysand I you know, uh, I've just
never had anything like thathappen.
and uh, at the end of four orfive days, I looked down and I
had written a book and I thought, oh my goodness, I have my
story.
And God took me through thisvery gentle process of how to
(27:01):
write my story.
And when I got all done, I wentout the next morning to where
my husband was sitting in thedining room and I sat down and I
said oh, I feel great.
And he said you have forgivenyourself.
You have forgiven yourself.
(27:22):
And that was the last hurdle.
I needed to find my voice tospeak up and be all that God
wants me to be.
And the interesting thing iswhen this happens after
something like abortion, when Ilook back over my life, I
(27:46):
realize, okay, I can't make upfor lost time, but I can go back
and start over.
And so I feel like I'm 18 again, my whole life ahead of me, and
I'm excited.
And there's nothing in the way.
There are no secrets, there'snothing that I haven't shared,
and I am.
That's my message is I want tohelp people write their story.
(28:10):
Uh, forgive themselves, get itall out there, look at the truth
, share the truth, be okay withthe truth and realize that God's
got this and there's a lot ofwork to be done.
So I'm excited to be here.
I didn't realize I would everbe here, but I signed on.
(28:36):
I signed on early with God.
When I first became a ChristianI said okay, lord, I'll go
wherever you want me to go, I'lldo whatever you want me to do.
I'll have whatever you want meto have.
I'll say whatever you want meto say.
I'm yours 100%.
And he started by asking me tohave.
I'll say whatever you want meto say.
Uh, I'm yours 100.
And he started by asking me todo tiny little things.
And he saw me get into actionand he was so excited he went oh
(28:59):
, my girl, here she is, she'smoving, she's moving, she's
ready so that he would just keepasking me to do bigger and
bigger things, and, and here weare today, stepping into this
giant conversation.
Yes, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Oh, my gosh.
Well, and it reminds me of.
You know, don't despise thesmall beginning.
So do you remember one of thosefirst small steps he took?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
First small steps.
Yes, he said, he asked me toenter a Christian radio station
contest.
Oh, wow.
And this was early on, this wasway back when I was going
through that first Bible studyand I heard the request.
Definitely I knew exactly whathe was talking about because I
(29:46):
knew the radio station.
I knew exactly what he wastalking about because I knew the
radio station, I knew thecontest and I had about six
weeks before the contest wasover and I thought I have some
time and I was hesitant, I washesitant but I kept hearing it,
kept hearing it.
Finally he gave me theChristian radio station.
(30:08):
Contest was think of a charity,think of something that you
want to create as a charity andif you win you get five thousand
dollars oh, wow and I thought,okay, all right, okay.
So then he told me exactly whathe wanted me to enter.
I said, okay, lord, okay, I waslike so tentative, but I knew I
(30:33):
was going to have to recordsomething on my little phone,
okay, and I didn't have rememberback in the day when you had to
have a sim card, yeah, to putin your phone to be able to
record on it.
And I didn't have that and Ithought, oh gosh, I'm gonna have
to go to the store and get one.
And he saw me get in my car,drive to the store, get the
little sim card, put it in, aska friend to help me.
(30:57):
I had to explain to her what Iwas doing.
This was all out of characterfor me.
I, I love it, uh, and then, butthe contest submission was okay
, so this is interesting too.
It was to go stand in front ofa pregnancy center, a Planned
(31:17):
Parenthood and I'm just nowrealizing this and offer to them
, have a conversation, offerthem $5,000 plus 5,000 friends,
plus 5,000 prayers.
And if they would, if theywould receive that, then would
they change their mind.
So that was my mission.
(31:39):
Okay, if I give you $5,000 and5,000 friends and 5,000 prayers.
Would you not go in to whatyou're you know?
Will you not do what you'replanning to do today?
Yeah and um, I had waited.
I had waited quite a whilebefore the contest, so the
(31:59):
contest was almost up and, uh, Isubmitted it to the radio
station and it got accepted tobe on the on the radio station,
and.
But then the next process onthe on the radio station, and.
But then the next process wasthat you were supposed to tell
all your friends to vote for you, and that's how they determined
the winner.
Well, I ran out of time to doall that.
(32:20):
I started it, I did, I didstart it, but I didn't win.
But that was the very firstthing that he asked me to do.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And more fives, but that was the very first thing
that he asked me to do, and Morefives.
Yeah, oh, my gosh, so you hadlike your first airtime then.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Oh, you're right, I did.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
And the radio station was open to sharing about this.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Uh-huh, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
That's right they were.
Were you able to share some ofyour story there as well?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
No, uh-uh, okay, no, no, no.
Then I went on here's anotherbig one, you can see it was
growing.
But when I was yeah, when I wasdating my third husband now I
(33:22):
had met him in college, but Iwasn't looking for an honorable
man in college.
But when I became a Christian,I realized, oh my gosh, I'm
deserving of an honorable manand college.
But when I became a christian,I realized, oh my gosh, I'm
deserving of an honorable man,and I went looking for this
gentleman and I couldn't findhim.
Um, this was about 14 years agoand I thought, well, if god
wants me to be with somebody,you know he'll deliver him to my
(33:44):
front door.
And so this is the time whenI'm falling head over heels in
love with Jesus.
And I've got this cute littlecondo and I'm just, I'm happy as
a bug.
I'm falling in love with Jesus.
And whoops, sorry, oh, you'regood One's ringing, no problem,
(34:10):
no problem.
And this I was.
I had a new um cell phone.
So back in the day, whenfacebook was just starting to
come out, and I got a ding on myFaceTime Facebook and it was
(34:31):
from this gentleman that I hadbeen looking for and couldn't
find.
And I sat up in bed and I wentthis is the guy I was looking
for.
Well, it was the guy fromcollege.
I was apologizing to so many ofmy friends for being a jerk and
(34:53):
that was part of the wholeprocess that god was taking me
through repentance and I knew Iwanted to apologize to him
because I had left collegewithout saying goodbye and I, we
started talking and he livedabout four hours away and, uh,
um, as we kept talking, Istarted thinking okay, lord,
(35:14):
this is not the man for me.
I wanted to be a pastor's wife.
I wanted someone with a deepercommitment to Christ than I had.
And I kept thinking, okay, lord,no, this isn't the guy for me.
And God kept saying let mehandle it.
Remember, he told me let mehandle everything, right.
(35:34):
And he kept saying let mehandle it.
And I kept saying no, no, no,he's not the guy.
And I even went to church andprayed at the front of the
church saying, oh gosh, I'm inthis dilemma, I don't know what
to do.
You know, can you help me?
This isn't the guy for me.
And and I was sure right and hekept saying let me handle it.
(36:04):
And I kept saying no.
And then there are two pointshere I want to make.
Yeah, one of them is wait asecond.
I'm arguing with God.
Why did I never argue withSatan?
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Whoa Say that again.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I was arguing with God and I realized, wait a
second, I never argued withsatan.
Why, lord, have I not arguedwith satan?
And I didn't get the answer tothat until later, just before my
book was coming out.
The first book was coming outand I had to stop the presses
(36:48):
and say wait a second.
The reason I never argued withsatan is because I was such a
slave to sin.
All I could say is yes, masteroh oh, oh is right.
Wow, I was such a slave to sin.
All I could say was yes, master.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Oh my goodness, that's a whole word right there,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And that's how Satan.
That's how.
That's how Satan works,unfortunately.
And then the other point Iwanted to make is that I kept
saying no to God, this isn't theguy, this isn't the guy.
And that went on for about sixmonths.
(37:41):
And one day we used to meethalfway in the middle of the
state.
So I'm on one side of the stateand he's on the other side of
the state and we meet halfwayand have a picnic.
And we met halfway one day andhad a little picnic and, uh, he
didn't mean to propose and Ididn't mean to say yes, but we
(38:02):
found ourselves happily engaged.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
That is the cutest thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
He didn't mean to propose, and I didn't mean to
say yes, right, oh, my goodness.
And we found ourselves happilyengaged and we got married
shortly thereafter and we havethe most amazing wedding, most
amazing marriage.
I had no idea how joyful wewould be and how perfect this
(38:27):
union is and what a covenant isand what love is all about.
And we just had our 13thwedding anniversary and, um, I'm
just in awe.
I'm just in awe.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
yeah and wow so that was one of the bigger things Can
.
I take it back a second, though.
Uh-huh.
Yes, he didn't know he wasgoing to propose.
No, how does that work?
Did he literally not know thathe was going to ask you to marry
him that day?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I don't think so, really.
We were sitting at a picnictable and he was talking about
how, when he was in college.
And he was talking about howwhen he was in college, he
didn't want to get anybodypregnant because he didn't have
any money and he couldn't afforda wife and he had saved every
penny he ever earned.
(39:22):
And when we had that littlepicnic at the table, he said one
of his things was well, youknow what?
I have money now and I think Ican afford you, oh my gosh.
And he was really bashful andhe just said would you marry me?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
And I said, yes, oh my gosh.
So you had like no idea.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
He didn't have a ring or anything.
No, no, this you had like, noidea he didn't have a ring or
anything.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
No, no, no, this is a movie, linda.
Do you remember what I said toyou before we got started?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yes, oh my goodness, oh, my goodness.
So then he renewed hiscommitment to Christ and he
became a deacon at our churchand he talks about God and going
to church and Jesus everychance he gets.
We're both in Bible study,we're in small group.
We went back to the church.
We were looking for a churchhere where he lived, because I
(40:23):
moved four hours away to be withhim and we were looking for a
church and we ended up goingback to the church where he grew
up in and we know that hismother is absolutely thrilled
because guess what?
He'd never been married and hewas 65.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah.
Yeah, and so it really goesback to, you know, one of my
favorite things to say, and I'msure it's one of your favorite
things to say as well as.
Can you guess what it is?
Speaker 1 (40:52):
no, it's never too late it's never too late, that's
right, oh boy.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's nevertoo late.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
I, I feel like there's many out there who you
know have wild stories like us.
You know, we've we've had wildstories that have taken us to
maybe do things that in laterstages in life and, um, I think
one of my favorite things ishearing um, if people are doing
(41:24):
the math, they can figure outwhat your age is based on what
you've been sharing.
Can you just declare your age?
I'm 77 yeah and I feel like I'm18, starting all over again yeah
, I mean, no wonder I was likehearing my spirit, like grow up
(41:45):
in your child likeness thismorning oh, that's right, that's
it really goes along with, likelinda's story here.
Oh yeah, you're right, you'renow like you're, like you know,
freestyling as a teenager,you're almost.
(42:06):
You know, you said you, youkind of fell into things going
backwards and I I do if it's.
I sense that he's reallyrestoring.
You know those years, if youguys know the verse um joel to
like restoring the years thelocust has eaten do you know?
that, that passage, yes, yes,that perfect.
(42:27):
He's done such a work in yourlife.
Well, could you tell us about,like sure you have, how many
books that you released?
Speaker 1 (42:37):
I have three published.
I have two that Iself-published and one that was
picked up by redemption press.
So my first book when I it waslaunched in 2020, I just
relaunched it in December andlaunched a workbook as well,
(43:00):
because the process that Godtook me through to get me to
where I am today is in the book,and it's an eight-step well
well, it's a 14 step process,but there are six steps that he
had me go through before I couldstart writing my story so it
was a cleansing.
It was this enormous cleansing,um, of being able to get to the
(43:24):
bottom, to unload, offload,download, dump, erase, delete
everything in our lives and getit out on paper so that we can
see the truth.
So we can see the truth and wecan know the love then that's
underneath all of that, that isjust waiting, sitting there,
(43:45):
waiting to come out.
But we have this story thatkeeps us in jail and frozen and
we can't.
So many people I talk to theysay, oh, I can't share my story,
oh, no, I would never share mystory.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
But you know what?
yeah there's so much in ourstory that is like gold.
(44:06):
Yes, we, when we really look atit and take it apart and look
at what the message is that godhas created over our whole
entire life and what it lookslike really, in honesty, um,
it's mind-blowing.
It's like, oh my gosh, look atthis.
(44:27):
Yes, I can't believe it.
So, finally, at one point, whenI was a new christian and I was
telling everybody in my familythat I had I was a new christian
and then I had two abortionsand you know really spilling it
out there, um, for the firsttime ever, um, my mom said, oh,
(44:49):
honey, I never taught you aboutsex.
Oh, oh my gosh.
She took it all upon herself andI said, no, mom, it's not your
fault, yes, it is, it's my fault.
I said, no, it's not, and Idon't.
I don't think we ever got tothe end of that argument.
But, um, when I started sharingthe truth, guess what people
(45:12):
started sharing the truth withme?
Yeah, and I had no idea thatthe love was there.
I just couldn't see it.
I just couldn't see it.
So another message of mine isthat is to share the truth and
be okay with the truth of ourlives.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
As you're talking, even I'm thinking back to what
was the name of your poem.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
A Dirty.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Bar of Soap, and I'm being reminded of Psalm 51.7 for
you now, at this point, it's ofPsalm 51, 7 for you now, at
this point.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
It's urge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,
wash me and I shall be whiterthan snow.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Yeah, I love that verse.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yes, yes, it's so beautiful what he has done with
your life, with your yes, withyour surrender right, exactly,
yeah, complete surrender, wow,and repentance.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You know, one of my favorite books is the Doctrine
of Repentance by Thomas Watson.
Oh, okay, oh, it was written, Ithink in the 1600s.
Oh, it was written, I think inthe 1600s.
It's my absolute favorite bookbecause of what repentance is
all about, what it can do for us, what it's intended to do, how
(46:39):
we must repent and what comesfrom repentance when we're truly
sorry for who we've been and wenever want to be that person
ever again.
Oh, it's just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
It's beautiful oh, I love how you just said that,
like there's so much joyexploding through you, do you
guys hear the joy that explodesthrough linda?
I mean it's so beautiful, likewhat he has done through you
truly.
Um, would you tell us about somath again?
(47:12):
First book, released when youwere 72.
Amazing Right, self-published,your first book, amazing, like.
What was that process like?
Would you kind of pull us backbehind the curtain for a moment?
Speaker 1 (47:29):
yeah, so uh, the book , um, as written by god, right I
?
My first thought was, oh, nowwhat do I do?
Who's gonna read this?
What do I do?
Yeah, um, I belong to thenorthwest christ Writers
(47:51):
Association because, you know,when he told me to speak up and
write, I thought, okay, well, Ineed to hang out with authors.
So I've been with the NorthwestChristian Writers Association,
oh gosh, for oh, 40, 50 years.
And I was just hanging out,right, I was just 40 or 50 years
(48:12):
, yeah, when I first, when hefirst said speak up and write,
be kind and gentle let me handleeverything.
I joined toastmasters to learnhow to speak, yeah, and it was
there that so I.
I learned that if you have togive a speech, you have to write
(48:33):
a speech.
So then I realized, okay, I,I'm a writer.
I thought, oh my gosh, what I'mwriting here is amazing.
And then at the northwestchristian Association I had met
a woman and this is how Godworks, it's so amazing.
(48:57):
At one of the meetings she hada book for sale and I was at her
table and I was chit-chattingwith her and I learned that she
lives over by me on the otherside of the state, and couldn't
we maybe drive together to themeetings every month over in
Seattle?
Well, come to find out.
(49:18):
She's not only an author but shewas a senior editor and God had
me in the car with a senioreditor long before I knew I was
going to need an editor, and soI thought okay, lord, I see what
you're up to here, so I havethis book right.
(49:42):
And um, I'm uh, I didn't reallyknow what I had.
I didn't understand exactly whatI had and I called Dory my
editor friend and I said Dory, Ihave an idea for a book.
And so we had a meeting and shesaid so, linda, what's on your
(50:04):
mind?
And I said well, I have thisidea for a book.
And I started talking, but thewords that were coming out
weren't my own and she was busytaking notes.
And when I stopped talking andshe started stopped writing, she
said Linda, you've got a winnerhere.
(50:25):
I said but, doryory, what did Isay?
I didn't know what I said andso holy ghost speaker holy ghost
, holy ghost speaking.
So she said send me a roughdraft.
And I said, okay.
So I went home and I startedworking on a rough draft and, um
, this is when the word startedfalling from the sky and I
(50:53):
forgot.
I was supposed to send her arough draft or an outline, so I
sent it off to Dory as anoutline.
She said Linda, keep writing,keep writing, keep writing.
So here I am writing this bookand I'm thinking you know, okay,
now what do I?
I do?
What do I do with this book?
And the she.
(51:14):
So she edited it for me.
She said linda, this is amazing, this is ready.
Uh, I had hired on with a coach,a christian coach, and they
(51:37):
were going to interview me onesaturday morning about the book
and I thought, well, this isinteresting.
So I'm pacing the floor thenight before and I'm thinking,
okay, what, what am I going tosay?
What am I going to say?
I don't know what to say.
Who's going to buy this book?
You know who is this book for?
And dory called me.
(51:59):
She said linda, did you justsee?
Your book went number one onamazon.
I said, what?
No way, she goes.
Yeah, go look, check it out.
Well, the book went number oneon Amazon before it was even
announced, before it was evenpublished.
So this is how God works, yeah,and so then I was facing the
(52:21):
floor Saying to God, god, what,what is going on, what are you
doing?
What are you doing what youknow?
and so uh, I love this it's just, uh, it's hard to put it into
(52:47):
words, it's hard to it's fun togo through all this with you
because all of this has beenhappening in the background of
my life.
So it's good to go back andreview everything because it's
I'm amazed and honored to beused by God, and it's just so.
(53:09):
Then let's see.
So then I did a workbook to gowith the first book, to help
people through all these steps.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
And the formatter.
When we were getting ready toupload it, she was working on it
.
She said, Linda, there isnothing like this out there.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (53:27):
And so it was just more confirmation.
Um, because I didn't know, Ididn't know, say it again, say
it again, say it again.
Yeah, say it again.
I didn't know anything, knowanything.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
That is the perfect position to be in.
You guys like when guests saythat whoo yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:49):
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
And then to see what he can do through somebody who
doesn't know anything.
I want you guys to really catchthis, because I think too often
.
We think we need to knoweverything before we do
something.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
How far does that get us?
Yeah, yeah, we don't move,right?
Yeah, sometimes you don't moveif you feel like you need to
know everything.
You're not going to knoweverything exactly.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
Wow, this is incredible goodness so then, so
then, okay, so there's more.
Yeah, are we?
I love it?
How are we doing?
Okay, are we good?
Speaker 2 (54:39):
okay, we'll roll for another like five minutes or so.
How's that okay, okay?
Speaker 1 (54:44):
so then, okay, so I I now know I'm a writer, right,
yes, and I'm very competitive.
And I saw this poetry contestand I was getting ready to go on
vacation and the deadline wascoming up and they wanted 45
pages of brand new poetry Neverbefore written, I mean never
(55:07):
before published, right.
And I'm thinking I had justwritten a poem for my To before
published, right, and I'mthinking I had just written a
poem for my Toastmasters groupand it kind of went over well,
and I thought I'm going to dothis.
So I sat down at my computerand I'm writing away and I'm
writing all these poems just forfun, total fun.
No rhyme or reason, no, nothing.
I didn't even have a title forthe book.
But it was getting down to thelast minute and I was writing my
(55:30):
little heart out and I waswriting all these poems and I
was having so much fun, right.
And guess what?
I submitted it and it of course, I didn't get anything.
I didn't get recognition oranything, nothing.
It ended up being 25 poems,random, completely random poems.
So I had these poems and I'msitting on them.
(55:53):
Well, once you realize that youcan submit something to a
publisher, you kind of want tokeep going.
And so I thought Dory, who wasmy editor for the first book,
she now works for RedemptionPress and it's a Christianian
publisher and I thought I'mgoing to submit these 25 poems
to redemption press just for fun, right?
(56:14):
So I sent them to redemptionpress, my very first publisher
to to be involved with, and theywanted them.
They took it, they wanted tosend me a contract and I, I said
wait a minute.
I said you must take everybodyand they said no, we don't.
(56:39):
And I was shocked and they saidthey said okay, no, we love the
poems.
What, what, what, what do youthink about writing five more
and we'll make it a 30 daydevotional, and then would you
write a devotional to go witheach poem?
And I said sure.
I said I didn't know anythingabout writing devotionals, but I
knew my fourth book was goingto be about devotion, so I said
sure.
Speaker 2 (56:58):
I didn't know anything again.
Speaker 1 (57:03):
And so they said, well, send us five more poems.
And I thought, wait a second.
I was writing poetry when I wasrecovering from one of my
abortion recovery Bible studies.
I had written poetry and Ithought, huh, I wonder where
those poems are.
I went looking for them.
I had no idea where they were.
Well, guess what?
(57:23):
I found them.
Guess how many there were.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
I can gather, yep, there were.
I can gather, yep, there werefive.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
And so, there I had, my new insight was okay, lord, I
see what you're doing.
This book will be about myabortion story and my redemption
story, and it will be allpoetry and devotional and um.
That's when I realized, okay,lord, I'm stepping into this new
(57:57):
conversation and I submittedthem.
Um, I worked with a, a coach,on how to write devotionals.
Uh, redemption press had acoach, and so, um, and that book
, um, just went number one aswell in February and I am in awe
, I'm still in awe, and now I'mwriting my fourth book and um, I
(58:23):
just um.
It's just hard to put into words.
Speaker 2 (58:28):
Yeah, I can only imagine I mean to be sitting
here and, like you said, kind oflooking back over the years.
I do feel like this is a reallyencouraging testimonial and
also just a pivot point forsomebody who's listening to even
go back and look at their story, because I think sometimes you
(58:49):
know, even myself right now I'mfinding myself kind of in the
hallway at times, like waitingfor the next door, and it's like
okay, we're in the wait, right,like some things, but we can
look back over our story and seehow he connected the dots that
we could never in a millionyears put together right, no,
(59:12):
never.
I think this is a hugeencouragement and you've been
able to just see how he'sinterwoven so many things to go
full circle and you can declareI am a writer, I am a speaker, a
writer and a speaker, and tosee the redemption that came out
(59:33):
of something that you knowreally did start out with not
the best start there, you knowright.
He took you right back into thatanointing, and it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
So one of the poems, kristen, is called um a dirty
bar of soap.
I recreated a poem with thesame title, so that's in the
book the dirty bar of soap youguys, oh isn't linda.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Just precious, that's the word I hear for over you.
So you are just so precious.
Um, as I'm gonna close up fortoday and we'll probably have to
have you back on again at somepoint um, I always like to just
think of like I'm alwaysthinking of the one who's
listening in.
Um, as you're thinking of theone who's listening in today, um
(01:00:22):
, I'd love for you to just kindof put in mind that person who's
listening and share any wordsof encouragement or wisdom.
You'd feel that led to speakover them, and then would you
pray us out today.
Yes, I would love to.
Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Yes, there's a scripture in the Bible.
I think it's in Jeremiah 30,verse 2.
Take every word that I give youand put it in a book Wow put it
in a book.
Wow.
And the other one is Ezekiel 36, 26.
I will remove your heart ofstone and give you a heart of
(01:00:58):
flesh.
And that's exactly what God didwith my heart, and I remember I
actually could feel my heartpumping and jumping around with
joy in my heart.
He healed my heart.
Only he can do the work that hedoes so beautifully.
(01:01:26):
And, yes, I would love to pray apsalm Thank you, so beautifully
.
And yes, I would love to prayus out.
Thank you, oh, dear heavenlyfather.
Thank you for this divineappointment.
Um, how you brought christineand I together and the purpose
that you have for it, that wecannot see and can't even
imagine.
Um, thank you for her heart foryou, thank you for her obeying
(01:01:49):
your requests.
And look what happens when we do.
We submit our whole entirelives to you and our stories.
We submit our stories to you,lord, so that you can use them
the way that you have alwaysintended to use them.
And every single person has astory, and I know that you will
(01:02:12):
do the same type of work as eachperson steps out to tell the
story that they don't want totell and that they'll start to
see it for what it really is.
And it's all about truth andlove and joy and forgiveness and
sanctification and redemptionand repentance and all the
things that we, that we learnabout, lord, through you, that
(01:02:34):
we don't even know about untilwe say yes.
So thank you, thank you God,thank you Holy spirit, thank you
, jesus, for showing up hugelyin our lives, especially all of
us who are hurting, and that wecan, we can have, we can we have
something to say, yeah, sothank you.
(01:02:56):
It's in the beautiful name ofJesus that we pray.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Amen, oh my gosh, oh gosh.
Thank you so much for being abrave voice.
Who's setting so many free?
I am going to close with theanchoring verse May the God of
hope fill you with all joy andpeace in believing, so that, by
the power of the Holy Spirit,you may abound in hope, and that
is Romans 15, 13.
(01:03:20):
So, linda, what is the best wayfor listeners to contact you?
I'll be sure to add that to theshow notes as well.
Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Oh sure, my email is info at lyndadmoorecom.
Okay, and do you have a websiteas well?
And my website islyndadmoorecom.
Linda D Moore, diaz andDisciple, I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
It's so good.
Oh, everything's with intention, so beautiful.
Well, I would love to have youback at another time and,
listeners, I will be back withanother episode next week.
Thank you again, linda.
You are amazing.
Keep going, you are so welcome,thank you.
Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast.
I'm your host, kristen Kurtz,and I'm also the founder of New
Wings Coaching.
I help and empower wildheartedand adventurous women of faith
feeling caged and stuck, unlocktheir true purpose and potential
, break free from limitationsand thrive with confidence,
courage and hope.
If you're curious to learn moreabout coaching with me, head to
newwingscoachingnet and be sureto explore the show notes for
(00:38):
ways to connect with me further.
Get ready to dive in as weuncover empowering keys and
insights in this episode.
So tune in and let's unlockhope together.
Welcome to the Hope Unlockedpodcast.
I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host.
I pray this episode is like aholy IV of hope for your soul.
Please help me.
Welcome my new friend, linda DMoore, to the show.
(00:59):
I'm so excited to have her here.
I know that she is going torelease so much goodness and
share parts of her story thatare really going to impact you
and tell you more about whatshe's been up to.
So, linda, would you be open tofirst sharing a little bit
about yourself?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yes, I'd be happy to Kristen.
I'm so excited to be here.
I remember how we found eachother.
I remember you talking abouthope and seeds and I thought, oh
my gosh, I need to reach out toher because my book is called
casting hope with seeds of truthand grace and I thought okay, I
(01:39):
I understand, lord, what you'redoing.
You're connecting us here forsome reason.
And here we are.
It's been a while.
It's taken us a long time toget together.
I think this is our fourth try.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, today is the day Today is the day I know I'm
excited.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It's beautiful here.
I'm in the state of Washington,in the desert side of the state
, over on the Eastern side, andit's beautiful, it's sunny, it's
clear.
We went golfing this morning.
Already, my husband and I golfevery morning and yeah, so we're
(02:18):
ready, we're ready.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well you have.
You shared some things with meprior to us getting started, and
I know that he has had you onquite the adventure in life,
right?
Yes, where would you want tostart in sharing more about you
and where he's taken you?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
When I was a little girl, I was old enough to write
a poem maybe 8, 9, 10.
And I was so proud of thislittle poem.
It was called A Dirty Bar ofSoap.
And I thought it was socreative and so clever and so
unique.
And I was so proud of thatlittle poem and I took it into
my mother mother.
I remember we were in herbedroom and I handed it to her
(03:09):
to read and she read it and shesaid, linda, this is the most
stupid thing I've ever read.
And she threw it on the floor ohmy gosh and I never wrote
another word, word, and I sowish I had that little poem.
Oh, my word.
So here, all these years later,god's message to me has never
(03:35):
changed Speak up and write, bekind and gentle and let him
handle everything.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Can you say that again?
Somebody needs to.
Yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Speak up and write, be kind and gentle and let him
handle everything.
I joined Toastmasters to learnhow to speak.
And in order to give a speech,one must write a speech.
And it was there I learned Iwas a writer, and that was about
(04:09):
10 years ago, in 2014.
Wow, just 10.
And I thought, oh my goodness,I was.
I started to write and Ithought, oh my goodness, this is
really good.
Oh my God, I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I had no idea oh my god, I had no idea.
I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Oh and how many years was that between your mom and
this?
This, yeah so say I was 10, andso 10 years ago I would be so
50, almost 60 years ago when Iwrote that little poem.
And so I am now the author oftwo best-selling, number one
(04:56):
best-selling books on Amazon.
I have a workbook and I'm nowworking on book number four, and
I have self-published two books, and two different publishers
have picked up books three andbook four.
Oh, my goodness.
So I'm thinking what would havehappened if I would have kept
(05:18):
writing right from the age of 10.
Uh, I I don't concentrate onthat for very long, but I
realized.
You know what One of mymessages is even though your
purpose was squelched when youwere little, it's still in there
(05:40):
, and let God bring it out.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yes, yes, yeah, oh, my gosh, yeah, that's so.
Resonates with me because, um,I think you know a lot of the
women that I encounter, and evenpart of my own story is, you
know, the voice got cut off at ayoung age.
Um, and I won't get into mystory, but I've noticed that you
know, there's something thatsnags people.
(06:04):
There's, there's, whether it'screative, usually in the
creativity space, would you say,like people you've talked about
, like when it comes to arts,you know singing, um just
different ways of expressingyourself.
And if somebody like puts youdown in that area.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It can really snag you.
Yeah, I, I had no idea whatthat little episode would do
when I was 10 years old, that itwould squelch that whole line
of thinking.
Yeah, and creativity, all thatcreativity um, was she?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
she probably had no idea.
You know, looking back withyour mom, she probably had no
idea that that would no theculmination of those words, what
that would actually do, right?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
No, in fact, I never got to share that with her
either.
We never really talked aboutthat.
Really talked about that, um.
But my story is about growingup with my mom who, um, was not
available emotionally yeah andit's taken us.
(07:21):
It took us till the end of ourlife, till the end of my
mother's life.
It took us that long to beemotionally connected and it was
only through god that thathappened and I'm so thankful.
You know, in the bible thattalks about store up your
treasures in heaven.
And I never understood that.
(07:41):
I didn't know what that meantexactly.
Let's see, whenever I became aChristian at 52 oh, wow, so I
know both sides.
So 52, so 25 years ago, andwhen I, when my mom told me she
(08:04):
loved me for the first time, Irealized that's a treasure that
we store in heaven.
That's a treasure that nobodycan steal.
You know, it can't rust.
So I love the treasures that wego through in life that God
just hands us.
He just hands them to us andthey're stored in heaven.
(08:28):
I just, I love that.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And it's the simplicity of the words that you
caught right, and not everybodycatches those words when it's,
you know, maybe for those who'velived in a space where it's on
repeat, right Exactly, would yousay.
(08:51):
So I want to go back a littlebit.
You were 52 when you came toChrist.
I was.
You must have some stories.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I have some stories and in fact I've written them
all down and I've published mystories and I um, I marvel at
what god has been able to dowith, uh, his simple request of
speak up and write.
So when I'm writing and whenI'm speaking, I know I'm in his
(09:24):
favor and it just happens sosimply and so easily.
It's not an effort and, uh,when I was see 52, I was going
through my second divorce.
My dad had just died and I wascompletely lost.
(09:44):
My second divorce, my dad hadjust died and I was completely
lost and I didn't know.
Even though I was raised in thechurch we went to church every
weekend I just never got themessage about God and the Holy
Spirit and Jesus, and I was newto Bible study at 52, and I had
(10:06):
a little brochure from Biblestudy fellowship.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
And I was holding on to it.
I wasn't sure quite why, but Ipicked it up one day when I was
at a meeting and I didn't knowanything about the meeting and I
didn't know anything about thebible.
I didn't know anything aboutChristianity.
I like to say that I backed intoeverything because, uh, I
wasn't aware, I was just openand I was, uh, available and I
(10:38):
had, I was lost.
I was completely lost.
When my dad died I thought Ithought my dad would live
forever.
I really did, and he was mybuddy.
And somebody said well, youknow, he will live forever if he
was a believer.
And I actually don't know if mydad accepted Christ or not
before he died, but I was, so Iguess I was so open that day it
(11:07):
was February 2nd 2000.
And I sat down at the kitchentable one morning and I went
through this little brochure ithas about 40 verses in it and I
accepted Christ and I didn'tknow, I didn't know what I was
doing.
But the first word you'll likethis, kristen, you'll appreciate
this the very first message Igot right after I finished going
(11:31):
through this process.
These are the words I heardyour hope is misplaced.
You need to hope in me.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Oh my word, Say that again.
That's for somebody.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, your hope is misplaced.
You need to hope in me.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So when you heard that like you immediately like
heard a message.
Right, I did.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'm sure it meant a lot to you.
So what did that do to you?
When you heard that, yeah, well, uh, it caught my attention for
sure.
I knew, I knew what.
I knew what it was.
I was confused.
I did go to, I was take.
I was going to al-anon at thetime because my dad had admitted
his dependency.
So I was in al-anon and I wentto al-anon that night and my
(12:23):
question was okay, I've justaccepted Christ.
And these are the words I heard.
And I have a question for allof you Can I no longer hope in
my fellow man?
And somebody came up to meafter the meeting and he said no
, you can hope in your fellowman, you just need to hope in
God first.
And that was my first day ofbeing a believer.
(12:43):
This is your first day, firstday, the very first day.
But two days later I had now, Ididn't know at the time that it
was a holy ground moment, but Ihad a holy ground moment.
Two days later, in my kitchen,in the same house, I found
myself down on my hands andknees.
(13:05):
I was in the fetal position andGod was there with me.
God was standing over me in mykitchen and he was.
He was big and I was little, hewas everything and I was
nothing.
He was God and I was sinner.
He was judge and I was guilty.
He was right and I was wrong.
(13:25):
He was everything and I wasnothing and I was whimpering.
And he had me watch the movieof my life and I saw who I had
been being in the world and Inever wanted to be that woman
(13:47):
ever again.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Wow, and this is just two days later.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Two days later, that was February 4th, and then guess
what?
And then he was gone.
But guess what he left behind.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
He left behind love.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
He left behind love, he, love, he left behind love,
he.
He loved me enough um to scoldme and to love me at the same
time, and he had.
He did it so beautifully and sogently and, uh, it still makes
me cry because, um, it was, um,I got love for the first time.
(14:25):
That was, I got that.
He loved me.
And so my question my questionfor him.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, go ahead.
Oh, I was just gonna say, likeyou, you had never experienced
love in that way before no, no,not at all.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I've been scolded, but not with love.
Yeah, mom had a heavy hand anduh, I thought, oh my gosh, and I
could feel it.
I could wear it like a coat.
It was so tangible, that love,like I felt it, and that from
(15:07):
there I went through this longrepentance process.
I didn't know what repentancewas.
I had no idea.
Again, I kind of backed intoeverything.
I went through a long repentanceprocess because my questions to
God were okay, lord, why have Ibeen divorced twice?
(15:28):
Why have I been raped twice?
Why have I been strugglingfinancially twice?
And he said well, do youremember those two abortions you
had?
And I said well, nobody knowsabout those.
And he said well, I know.
He says you've kept yourself injail for 34 years.
(15:49):
He said if you would have cometo me at any time along the way,
I would have forgiven you.
You kept yourself inself-imposed prison for 34 years
because, guess what, I nevertold anybody I had a divorce.
I had an abortion at 18, and Ihad an abortion at 18, and I had
an abortion at 21.
And I never told anyone.
The two fathers, of course, butno one else, not my mom, not my
(16:12):
dad, nobody.
I had no friends.
I was all alone in the worldand I believed that those
abortions did not happen.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
And I went on with my life as if they didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And every once in a while they would creep back up
into my consciousness and I'dtamp them down.
I'd say no, no, no, it didn'thappen, it didn't happen, it
didn't happen.
Wow.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So you were denying the fact that it happened?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yes, yeah, the fact that it happened.
Yes, yeah, this was back in theday, you know when, abortion
was illegal okay and so, uh, I,I just told no one you know, I
back then, I mean I knewpremarital sex was forbidden,
but I did it anyway.
But when I got pregnant Irealized oh, I can't tell
(17:08):
anybody, because then peoplewill know I had sex, premarital
sex, and I wasn't about to gothere.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
So was there a lot of shame that you felt at that
time?
I'm sorry, were you floodedwith shame at that point.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Definitely, definitely, were you flooded
with shame at that point,definitely, definitely.
I think that's why, you know,even though I wasn't a Christian
, I think I knew that what I didwas wrong and I couldn't admit
it to myself.
Even so, guilt and shame andremorse and sadness and, uh, it
(17:53):
was.
It's such a huge step that weknow I didn't realize how, how
big that step was.
I didn't realize, uh, what abig deal it was until afterwards
.
And then I just ignored it andI.
So here's what I believe todaythat, um, I didn't put two and
(18:13):
two together.
I didn't know that, uh, so two,two divorces.
I, as I understand it now, Iunderstand that I back then,
even though I had a greatmarriage my first husband was
(18:35):
amazing, my second husband wasamazing what I believed is that,
because of the abortions whichdidn't even tell myself about, I
believe that I didn't deserve agood marriage.
You know, way down deep inside,I did not deserve a good
marriage.
I didn't deserve to be happy, Ididn't deserve to have fun, I
(18:55):
didn't deserve to have a goodlife.
And I didn't even know, Ibelieved that I didn't know any
of that until later.
Now I can see it clearly.
It's like, oh, I ruined twoperfectly good marriages,
because I didn't believe that Ium deserved anything good in
(19:18):
life.
And that's the sad part aboutabortion.
You know, we take these inneruh thoughts and ideas and we
live that way.
We live that way yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And especially if you didn't have anybody to talk to
about it.
No Like literally it.
No Like literally nobody, noone.
I wonder.
You know it makes me wonder.
You know I'm always thinkingand wondering and you know I
wonder how many women out therewho are, you know, potentially
(20:01):
listening in, who have had anabortion, who've never talked to
anybody about it before.
What would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
oh well, I would love to talk to them.
I would love to just give thema big hug and um be a friend
yeah, I just love your heart.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Oh my gosh, like I can.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I can feel you like literally reaching out and
hugging these women right now infact, when I I I now stand in
front of planned parenthood witha big sign and um, my sign on
one side says need a hug and theother side says, uh, no, it
(20:48):
says free hugs on one side andneed a friend on the other.
Because I believe that if wejust could be a friend to
somebody, that we could change,that.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
We could change someone's life wow, and, and you
know you're coming, you'recoming at it with a posture of
love.
Yes, right Would you say and I'mjust kind of going to go here
when it comes to people, here'sanother just kind of a little
avenue for those who are takinga stand against abortion.
(21:22):
We definitely have.
There's different, you knowthings that I've seen out there
on the streets.
Right, how, how would you speakto somebody who's wanting to
stop it?
How would you help them posturethemselves?
(21:43):
What?
What is going to help thesewomen?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
the women who want to have an abortion.
The ones who are like standingin the gap standing in the gap,
the ones who want to help.
Yeah, there are people who wantto help.
It's going to take every singleperson up.
It's going to take every singleone of us, because the harvest
is so great and the workers areso few, and my is so great and
(22:12):
the workers are so few and my um, the whole.
My book, uh, write your storyand launch your legacy.
Um is geared towards forgivingourselves.
So what happened was, eventhough God forgave me when I was
52, it took another 20 yearsfor me to forgive myself.
(22:37):
Wow, so you just recently, justrecently, yeah, just recently,
when I wrote my first book.
So I have been through threedifferent abortion Bible study
recoveries, sessions and youknow it's.
I love my story, I absolutelylove my story.
(22:59):
The first Bible study was myfirst entree into showing up in
person at a meeting like thatand I remember, oh gosh, I was
so timid but I went.
It was a meeting at night andbut it was during the summer, so
(23:22):
it was broad daylight and itwas in this little portable
building on a church campus andI, I went there by myself and I
I remember thinking, oh boy, Isure hope nobody sees me walking
into this building, as if therewas this big abortion recovery
sign, you know, neon, flashingright.
(23:42):
Oh my gosh, oh my.
And then the next years later,the next abortion recovery Bible
study was held in someone'shome and forgiven and set free
by Linda Cochran, and I criedand I cried and I cried and I
cried and I tell the story abouthow I wish I had caught all
(24:06):
these tears in a bottle.
It's like when I was goingthrough repentance, I was crying
and crying and crying and Iwish I had caught those tears in
a bottle and then I went toanother abortion healing
workshop and I went out of stateto a weekend seminar retreat
(24:28):
and I came away from there withsuch a sparkly clean heart and I
came home and I wanted to cleanmy whole house because I wanted
everything around me to besparkly clean.
And, uh, the, it was deeperstill, deeper still out of
tennessee and I, the um, I, the,the founder and CEO, karen
(24:52):
Ellison, was asking a lot of usif we wanted to write our story
and submit it to her because shewas writing a book.
And I said, sure, yeah.
And I got home and guess what?
I couldn't do it.
There was still something inthe way and I didn't know what
it was, but I just could notsubmit my story.
Something in the way and Ididn't know what it was, but I
(25:13):
just could not submit my story.
And about, I don't know well, in2018, so it's probably about
five or six years later um, Iwas asking God, um, is this all
there is?
You know, I was taking care ofmy elderly mother and my new
husband I married again a thirdtime and my daughter and her two
(25:35):
children, and everything wasseemingly good.
But my question was okay, isthis?
It?
Is this all there is, it's okay, this is good.
And he said oh no, my child, Ihave more for you.
And shortly thereafter yeah,shortly thereafter he sat me
down one long weekend, very longweekend, and words started
(25:57):
falling out of the sky.
It was like manna falling fromheaven and I just picked up my
pen and I started writing.
And I wrote non-stop for fouror five days he just never let
up, even in the night.
Oh my gosh, I'd get up out ofbed and I'd run in the bathroom
and I'd turn on the light andI'd write uh, because I didn't
(26:18):
want to wake up my husband, andI'd write something down because
I learned that if you don'twrite it down it's gone.
You won't be able to rememberit in the morning especially as
we get older.
Yeah, yes, and so I'd get backinto bed and bam, I'd get more
words.
So I'd get up out of bed andI'd go write some more, and this
(26:38):
went on for four or five daysand I you know, uh, I've just
never had anything like thathappen.
and uh, at the end of four orfive days, I looked down and I
had written a book and I thought, oh my goodness, I have my
story.
And God took me through thisvery gentle process of how to
(27:01):
write my story.
And when I got all done, I wentout the next morning to where
my husband was sitting in thedining room and I sat down and I
said oh, I feel great.
And he said you have forgivenyourself.
You have forgiven yourself.
(27:22):
And that was the last hurdle.
I needed to find my voice tospeak up and be all that God
wants me to be.
And the interesting thing iswhen this happens after
something like abortion, when Ilook back over my life, I
(27:46):
realize, okay, I can't make upfor lost time, but I can go back
and start over.
And so I feel like I'm 18 again, my whole life ahead of me, and
I'm excited.
And there's nothing in the way.
There are no secrets, there'snothing that I haven't shared,
and I am.
That's my message is I want tohelp people write their story.
(28:10):
Uh, forgive themselves, get itall out there, look at the truth
, share the truth, be okay withthe truth and realize that God's
got this and there's a lot ofwork to be done.
So I'm excited to be here.
I didn't realize I would everbe here, but I signed on.
(28:36):
I signed on early with God.
When I first became a ChristianI said okay, lord, I'll go
wherever you want me to go, I'lldo whatever you want me to do.
I'll have whatever you want meto have.
I'll say whatever you want meto say.
I'm yours 100%.
And he started by asking me tohave.
I'll say whatever you want meto say.
Uh, I'm yours 100.
And he started by asking me todo tiny little things.
And he saw me get into actionand he was so excited he went oh
(28:59):
, my girl, here she is, she'smoving, she's moving, she's
ready so that he would just keepasking me to do bigger and
bigger things, and, and here weare today, stepping into this
giant conversation.
Yes, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Oh, my gosh.
Well, and it reminds me of.
You know, don't despise thesmall beginning.
So do you remember one of thosefirst small steps he took?
Speaker 1 (29:23):
First small steps.
Yes, he said, he asked me toenter a Christian radio station
contest.
Oh, wow.
And this was early on, this wasway back when I was going
through that first Bible studyand I heard the request.
Definitely I knew exactly whathe was talking about because I
(29:46):
knew the radio station.
I knew exactly what he wastalking about because I knew the
radio station, I knew thecontest and I had about six
weeks before the contest wasover and I thought I have some
time and I was hesitant, I washesitant but I kept hearing it,
kept hearing it.
Finally he gave me theChristian radio station.
(30:08):
Contest was think of a charity,think of something that you
want to create as a charity andif you win you get five thousand
dollars oh, wow and I thought,okay, all right, okay.
So then he told me exactly whathe wanted me to enter.
I said, okay, lord, okay, I waslike so tentative, but I knew I
(30:33):
was going to have to recordsomething on my little phone,
okay, and I didn't have rememberback in the day when you had to
have a sim card, yeah, to putin your phone to be able to
record on it.
And I didn't have that and Ithought, oh gosh, I'm gonna have
to go to the store and get one.
And he saw me get in my car,drive to the store, get the
little sim card, put it in, aska friend to help me.
(30:57):
I had to explain to her what Iwas doing.
This was all out of characterfor me.
I, I love it, uh, and then, butthe contest submission was okay
, so this is interesting too.
It was to go stand in front ofa pregnancy center, a Planned
(31:17):
Parenthood and I'm just nowrealizing this and offer to them
, have a conversation, offerthem $5,000 plus 5,000 friends,
plus 5,000 prayers.
And if they would, if theywould receive that, then would
they change their mind.
So that was my mission.
(31:39):
Okay, if I give you $5,000 and5,000 friends and 5,000 prayers.
Would you not go in to whatyou're you know?
Will you not do what you'replanning to do today?
Yeah and um, I had waited.
I had waited quite a whilebefore the contest, so the
(31:59):
contest was almost up and, uh, Isubmitted it to the radio
station and it got accepted tobe on the on the radio station,
and.
But then the next process onthe on the radio station, and.
But then the next process wasthat you were supposed to tell
all your friends to vote for you, and that's how they determined
the winner.
Well, I ran out of time to doall that.
(32:20):
I started it, I did, I didstart it, but I didn't win.
But that was the very firstthing that he asked me to do.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
And more fives, but that was the very first thing
that he asked me to do, and Morefives.
Yeah, oh, my gosh, so you hadlike your first airtime then.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Oh, you're right, I did.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
And the radio station was open to sharing about this.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Uh-huh, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
That's right they were.
Were you able to share some ofyour story there as well?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
No, uh-uh, okay, no, no, no.
Then I went on here's anotherbig one, you can see it was
growing.
But when I was yeah, when I wasdating my third husband now I
(33:22):
had met him in college, but Iwasn't looking for an honorable
man in college.
But when I became a Christian,I realized, oh my gosh, I'm
deserving of an honorable manand college.
But when I became a christian,I realized, oh my gosh, I'm
deserving of an honorable man,and I went looking for this
gentleman and I couldn't findhim.
Um, this was about 14 years agoand I thought, well, if god
wants me to be with somebody,you know he'll deliver him to my
(33:44):
front door.
And so this is the time whenI'm falling head over heels in
love with Jesus.
And I've got this cute littlecondo and I'm just, I'm happy as
a bug.
I'm falling in love with Jesus.
And whoops, sorry, oh, you'regood One's ringing, no problem,
(34:10):
no problem.
And this I was.
I had a new um cell phone.
So back in the day, whenfacebook was just starting to
come out, and I got a ding on myFaceTime Facebook and it was
(34:31):
from this gentleman that I hadbeen looking for and couldn't
find.
And I sat up in bed and I wentthis is the guy I was looking
for.
Well, it was the guy fromcollege.
I was apologizing to so many ofmy friends for being a jerk and
(34:53):
that was part of the wholeprocess that god was taking me
through repentance and I knew Iwanted to apologize to him
because I had left collegewithout saying goodbye and I, we
started talking and he livedabout four hours away and, uh,
um, as we kept talking, Istarted thinking okay, lord,
(35:14):
this is not the man for me.
I wanted to be a pastor's wife.
I wanted someone with a deepercommitment to Christ than I had.
And I kept thinking, okay, lord,no, this isn't the guy for me.
And God kept saying let mehandle it.
Remember, he told me let mehandle everything, right.
(35:34):
And he kept saying let mehandle it.
And I kept saying no, no, no,he's not the guy.
And I even went to church andprayed at the front of the
church saying, oh gosh, I'm inthis dilemma, I don't know what
to do.
You know, can you help me?
This isn't the guy for me.
And and I was sure right and hekept saying let me handle it.
(36:04):
And I kept saying no.
And then there are two pointshere I want to make.
Yeah, one of them is wait asecond.
I'm arguing with God.
Why did I never argue withSatan?
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Whoa Say that again.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I was arguing with God and I realized, wait a
second, I never argued withsatan.
Why, lord, have I not arguedwith satan?
And I didn't get the answer tothat until later, just before my
book was coming out.
The first book was coming outand I had to stop the presses
(36:48):
and say wait a second.
The reason I never argued withsatan is because I was such a
slave to sin.
All I could say is yes, masteroh oh, oh is right.
Wow, I was such a slave to sin.
All I could say was yes, master.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Oh my goodness, that's a whole word right there,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And that's how Satan.
That's how.
That's how Satan works,unfortunately.
And then the other point Iwanted to make is that I kept
saying no to God, this isn't theguy, this isn't the guy.
And that went on for about sixmonths.
(37:41):
And one day we used to meethalfway in the middle of the
state.
So I'm on one side of the stateand he's on the other side of
the state and we meet halfwayand have a picnic.
And we met halfway one day andhad a little picnic and, uh, he
didn't mean to propose and Ididn't mean to say yes, but we
(38:02):
found ourselves happily engaged.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
That is the cutest thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
He didn't mean to propose, and I didn't mean to
say yes, right, oh, my goodness.
And we found ourselves happilyengaged and we got married
shortly thereafter and we havethe most amazing wedding, most
amazing marriage.
I had no idea how joyful wewould be and how perfect this
(38:27):
union is and what a covenant isand what love is all about.
And we just had our 13thwedding anniversary and, um, I'm
just in awe.
I'm just in awe.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
yeah and wow so that was one of the bigger things Can
.
I take it back a second, though.
Uh-huh.
Yes, he didn't know he wasgoing to propose.
No, how does that work?
Did he literally not know thathe was going to ask you to marry
him that day?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I don't think so, really.
We were sitting at a picnictable and he was talking about
how, when he was in college.
And he was talking about howwhen he was in college, he
didn't want to get anybodypregnant because he didn't have
any money and he couldn't afforda wife and he had saved every
penny he ever earned.
(39:22):
And when we had that littlepicnic at the table, he said one
of his things was well, youknow what?
I have money now and I think Ican afford you, oh my gosh.
And he was really bashful andhe just said would you marry me?
Speaker 2 (39:44):
And I said, yes, oh my gosh.
So you had like no idea.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
He didn't have a ring or anything.
No, no, this you had like, noidea he didn't have a ring or
anything.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
No, no, no, this is a movie, linda.
Do you remember what I said toyou before we got started?
Speaker 1 (40:00):
Yes, oh my goodness, oh, my goodness.
So then he renewed hiscommitment to Christ and he
became a deacon at our churchand he talks about God and going
to church and Jesus everychance he gets.
We're both in Bible study,we're in small group.
We went back to the church.
We were looking for a churchhere where he lived, because I
(40:23):
moved four hours away to be withhim and we were looking for a
church and we ended up goingback to the church where he grew
up in and we know that hismother is absolutely thrilled
because guess what?
He'd never been married and hewas 65.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah.
Yeah, and so it really goesback to, you know, one of my
favorite things to say, and I'msure it's one of your favorite
things to say as well as.
Can you guess what it is?
Speaker 1 (40:52):
no, it's never too late it's never too late, that's
right, oh boy.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's nevertoo late.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
I, I feel like there's many out there who you
know have wild stories like us.
You know, we've we've had wildstories that have taken us to
maybe do things that in laterstages in life and, um, I think
one of my favorite things ishearing um, if people are doing
(41:24):
the math, they can figure outwhat your age is based on what
you've been sharing.
Can you just declare your age?
I'm 77 yeah and I feel like I'm18, starting all over again yeah
, I mean, no wonder I was likehearing my spirit, like grow up
(41:45):
in your child likeness thismorning oh, that's right, that's
it really goes along with, likelinda's story here.
Oh yeah, you're right, you'renow like you're, like you know,
freestyling as a teenager,you're almost.
(42:06):
You know, you said you, youkind of fell into things going
backwards and I I do if it's.
I sense that he's reallyrestoring.
You know those years, if youguys know the verse um joel to
like restoring the years thelocust has eaten do you know?
that, that passage, yes, yes,that perfect.
(42:27):
He's done such a work in yourlife.
Well, could you tell us about,like sure you have, how many
books that you released?
Speaker 1 (42:37):
I have three published.
I have two that Iself-published and one that was
picked up by redemption press.
So my first book when I it waslaunched in 2020, I just
relaunched it in December andlaunched a workbook as well,
(43:00):
because the process that Godtook me through to get me to
where I am today is in the book,and it's an eight-step well
well, it's a 14 step process,but there are six steps that he
had me go through before I couldstart writing my story so it
was a cleansing.
It was this enormous cleansing,um, of being able to get to the
(43:24):
bottom, to unload, offload,download, dump, erase, delete
everything in our lives and getit out on paper so that we can
see the truth.
So we can see the truth and wecan know the love then that's
underneath all of that, that isjust waiting, sitting there,
(43:45):
waiting to come out.
But we have this story thatkeeps us in jail and frozen and
we can't.
So many people I talk to theysay, oh, I can't share my story,
oh, no, I would never share mystory.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
But you know what?
yeah there's so much in ourstory that is like gold.
(44:06):
Yes, we, when we really look atit and take it apart and look
at what the message is that godhas created over our whole
entire life and what it lookslike really, in honesty, um,
it's mind-blowing.
It's like, oh my gosh, look atthis.
(44:27):
Yes, I can't believe it.
So, finally, at one point, whenI was a new christian and I was
telling everybody in my familythat I had I was a new christian
and then I had two abortionsand you know really spilling it
out there, um, for the firsttime ever, um, my mom said, oh,
(44:49):
honey, I never taught you aboutsex.
Oh, oh my gosh.
She took it all upon herself andI said, no, mom, it's not your
fault, yes, it is, it's my fault.
I said, no, it's not, and Idon't.
I don't think we ever got tothe end of that argument.
But, um, when I started sharingthe truth, guess what people
(45:12):
started sharing the truth withme?
Yeah, and I had no idea thatthe love was there.
I just couldn't see it.
I just couldn't see it.
So another message of mine isthat is to share the truth and
be okay with the truth of ourlives.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
As you're talking, even I'm thinking back to what
was the name of your poem.
Speaker 1 (45:41):
A Dirty.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Bar of Soap, and I'm being reminded of Psalm 51.7 for
you now, at this point, it's ofPsalm 51, 7 for you now, at
this point.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
It's urge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean,
wash me and I shall be whiterthan snow.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Oh, that's beautiful.
Yeah, I love that verse.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Yes, yes, it's so beautiful what he has done with
your life, with your yes, withyour surrender right, exactly,
yeah, complete surrender, wow,and repentance.
Speaker 1 (46:19):
You know, one of my favorite books is the Doctrine
of Repentance by Thomas Watson.
Oh, okay, oh, it was written, Ithink in the 1600s.
Oh, it was written, I think inthe 1600s.
It's my absolute favorite bookbecause of what repentance is
all about, what it can do for us, what it's intended to do, how
(46:39):
we must repent and what comesfrom repentance when we're truly
sorry for who we've been and wenever want to be that person
ever again.
Oh, it's just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
It's beautiful oh, I love how you just said that,
like there's so much joyexploding through you, do you
guys hear the joy that explodesthrough linda?
I mean it's so beautiful, likewhat he has done through you
truly.
Um, would you tell us about somath again?
(47:12):
First book, released when youwere 72.
Amazing Right, self-published,your first book, amazing, like.
What was that process like?
Would you kind of pull us backbehind the curtain for a moment?
Speaker 1 (47:29):
yeah, so uh, the book , um, as written by god, right I
?
My first thought was, oh, nowwhat do I do?
Who's gonna read this?
What do I do?
Yeah, um, I belong to thenorthwest christ Writers
(47:51):
Association because, you know,when he told me to speak up and
write, I thought, okay, well, Ineed to hang out with authors.
So I've been with the NorthwestChristian Writers Association,
oh gosh, for oh, 40, 50 years.
And I was just hanging out,right, I was just 40 or 50 years
(48:12):
, yeah, when I first, when hefirst said speak up and write,
be kind and gentle let me handleeverything.
I joined toastmasters to learnhow to speak, yeah, and it was
there that so I.
I learned that if you have togive a speech, you have to write
(48:33):
a speech.
So then I realized, okay, I,I'm a writer.
I thought, oh my gosh, what I'mwriting here is amazing.
And then at the northwestchristian Association I had met
a woman and this is how Godworks, it's so amazing.
(48:57):
At one of the meetings she hada book for sale and I was at her
table and I was chit-chattingwith her and I learned that she
lives over by me on the otherside of the state, and couldn't
we maybe drive together to themeetings every month over in
Seattle?
Well, come to find out.
(49:18):
She's not only an author but shewas a senior editor and God had
me in the car with a senioreditor long before I knew I was
going to need an editor, and soI thought okay, lord, I see what
you're up to here, so I havethis book right.
(49:42):
And um, I'm uh, I didn't reallyknow what I had.
I didn't understand exactly whatI had and I called Dory my
editor friend and I said Dory, Ihave an idea for a book.
And so we had a meeting and shesaid so, linda, what's on your
(50:04):
mind?
And I said well, I have thisidea for a book.
And I started talking, but thewords that were coming out
weren't my own and she was busytaking notes.
And when I stopped talking andshe started stopped writing, she
said Linda, you've got a winnerhere.
(50:25):
I said but, doryory, what did Isay?
I didn't know what I said andso holy ghost speaker holy ghost
, holy ghost speaking.
So she said send me a roughdraft.
And I said, okay.
So I went home and I startedworking on a rough draft and, um
, this is when the word startedfalling from the sky and I
(50:53):
forgot.
I was supposed to send her arough draft or an outline, so I
sent it off to Dory as anoutline.
She said Linda, keep writing,keep writing, keep writing.
So here I am writing this bookand I'm thinking you know, okay,
now what do I?
I do?
What do I do with this book?
And the she.
(51:14):
So she edited it for me.
She said linda, this is amazing, this is ready.
Uh, I had hired on with a coach,a christian coach, and they
(51:37):
were going to interview me onesaturday morning about the book
and I thought, well, this isinteresting.
So I'm pacing the floor thenight before and I'm thinking,
okay, what, what am I going tosay?
What am I going to say?
I don't know what to say.
Who's going to buy this book?
You know who is this book for?
And dory called me.
(51:59):
She said linda, did you justsee?
Your book went number one onamazon.
I said, what?
No way, she goes.
Yeah, go look, check it out.
Well, the book went number oneon Amazon before it was even
announced, before it was evenpublished.
So this is how God works, yeah,and so then I was facing the
(52:21):
floor Saying to God, god, what,what is going on, what are you
doing?
What are you doing what youknow?
and so uh, I love this it's just, uh, it's hard to put it into
(52:47):
words, it's hard to it's fun togo through all this with you
because all of this has beenhappening in the background of
my life.
So it's good to go back andreview everything because it's
I'm amazed and honored to beused by God, and it's just so.
(53:09):
Then let's see.
So then I did a workbook to gowith the first book, to help
people through all these steps.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
And the formatter.
When we were getting ready toupload it, she was working on it
.
She said, Linda, there isnothing like this out there.
Speaker 2 (53:26):
Oh, I love that.
Speaker 1 (53:27):
And so it was just more confirmation.
Um, because I didn't know, Ididn't know, say it again, say
it again, say it again.
Yeah, say it again.
I didn't know anything, knowanything.
Speaker 2 (53:41):
That is the perfect position to be in.
You guys like when guests saythat whoo yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:49):
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
And then to see what he can do through somebody who
doesn't know anything.
I want you guys to really catchthis, because I think too often
.
We think we need to knoweverything before we do
something.
Speaker 1 (54:07):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
How far does that get us?
Yeah, yeah, we don't move,right?
Yeah, sometimes you don't moveif you feel like you need to
know everything.
You're not going to knoweverything exactly.
Speaker 1 (54:26):
Wow, this is incredible goodness so then, so
then, okay, so there's more.
Yeah, are we?
I love it?
How are we doing?
Okay, are we good?
Speaker 2 (54:39):
okay, we'll roll for another like five minutes or so.
How's that okay, okay?
Speaker 1 (54:44):
so then, okay, so I I now know I'm a writer, right,
yes, and I'm very competitive.
And I saw this poetry contestand I was getting ready to go on
vacation and the deadline wascoming up and they wanted 45
pages of brand new poetry Neverbefore written, I mean never
(55:07):
before published, right.
And I'm thinking I had justwritten a poem for my To before
published, right, and I'mthinking I had just written a
poem for my Toastmasters groupand it kind of went over well,
and I thought I'm going to dothis.
So I sat down at my computerand I'm writing away and I'm
writing all these poems just forfun, total fun.
No rhyme or reason, no, nothing.
I didn't even have a title forthe book.
But it was getting down to thelast minute and I was writing my
(55:30):
little heart out and I waswriting all these poems and I
was having so much fun, right.
And guess what?
I submitted it and it of course, I didn't get anything.
I didn't get recognition oranything, nothing.
It ended up being 25 poems,random, completely random poems.
So I had these poems and I'msitting on them.
(55:53):
Well, once you realize that youcan submit something to a
publisher, you kind of want tokeep going.
And so I thought Dory, who wasmy editor for the first book,
she now works for RedemptionPress and it's a Christianian
publisher and I thought I'mgoing to submit these 25 poems
to redemption press just for fun, right?
(56:14):
So I sent them to redemptionpress, my very first publisher
to to be involved with, and theywanted them.
They took it, they wanted tosend me a contract and I, I said
wait a minute.
I said you must take everybodyand they said no, we don't.
(56:39):
And I was shocked and they saidthey said okay, no, we love the
poems.
What, what, what, what do youthink about writing five more
and we'll make it a 30 daydevotional, and then would you
write a devotional to go witheach poem?
And I said sure.
I said I didn't know anythingabout writing devotionals, but I
knew my fourth book was goingto be about devotion, so I said
sure.
Speaker 2 (56:58):
I didn't know anything again.
Speaker 1 (57:03):
And so they said, well, send us five more poems.
And I thought, wait a second.
I was writing poetry when I wasrecovering from one of my
abortion recovery Bible studies.
I had written poetry and Ithought, huh, I wonder where
those poems are.
I went looking for them.
I had no idea where they were.
Well, guess what?
(57:23):
I found them.
Guess how many there were.
Speaker 2 (57:28):
I can gather, yep, there were.
I can gather, yep, there werefive.
Speaker 1 (57:35):
And so, there I had, my new insight was okay, lord, I
see what you're doing.
This book will be about myabortion story and my redemption
story, and it will be allpoetry and devotional and um.
That's when I realized, okay,lord, I'm stepping into this new
(57:57):
conversation and I submittedthem.
Um, I worked with a, a coach,on how to write devotionals.
Uh, redemption press had acoach, and so, um, and that book
, um, just went number one aswell in February and I am in awe
, I'm still in awe, and now I'mwriting my fourth book and um, I
(58:23):
just um.
It's just hard to put into words.
Speaker 2 (58:28):
Yeah, I can only imagine I mean to be sitting
here and, like you said, kind oflooking back over the years.
I do feel like this is a reallyencouraging testimonial and
also just a pivot point forsomebody who's listening to even
go back and look at their story, because I think sometimes you
(58:49):
know, even myself right now I'mfinding myself kind of in the
hallway at times, like waitingfor the next door, and it's like
okay, we're in the wait, right,like some things, but we can
look back over our story and seehow he connected the dots that
we could never in a millionyears put together right, no,
(59:12):
never.
I think this is a hugeencouragement and you've been
able to just see how he'sinterwoven so many things to go
full circle and you can declareI am a writer, I am a speaker, a
writer and a speaker, and tosee the redemption that came out
(59:33):
of something that you knowreally did start out with not
the best start there, you knowright.
He took you right back into thatanointing, and it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 1 (59:46):
So one of the poems, kristen, is called um a dirty
bar of soap.
I recreated a poem with thesame title, so that's in the
book the dirty bar of soap youguys, oh isn't linda.
Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
Just precious, that's the word I hear for over you.
So you are just so precious.
Um, as I'm gonna close up fortoday and we'll probably have to
have you back on again at somepoint um, I always like to just
think of like I'm alwaysthinking of the one who's
listening in.
Um, as you're thinking of theone who's listening in today, um
(01:00:22):
, I'd love for you to just kindof put in mind that person who's
listening and share any wordsof encouragement or wisdom.
You'd feel that led to speakover them, and then would you
pray us out today.
Yes, I would love to.
Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Yes, there's a scripture in the Bible.
I think it's in Jeremiah 30,verse 2.
Take every word that I give youand put it in a book Wow put it
in a book.
Wow.
And the other one is Ezekiel 36, 26.
I will remove your heart ofstone and give you a heart of
(01:00:58):
flesh.
And that's exactly what God didwith my heart, and I remember I
actually could feel my heartpumping and jumping around with
joy in my heart.
He healed my heart.
Only he can do the work that hedoes so beautifully.
(01:01:26):
And, yes, I would love to pray apsalm Thank you, so beautifully
.
And yes, I would love to prayus out.
Thank you, oh, dear heavenlyfather.
Thank you for this divineappointment.
Um, how you brought christineand I together and the purpose
that you have for it, that wecannot see and can't even
imagine.
Um, thank you for her heart foryou, thank you for her obeying
(01:01:49):
your requests.
And look what happens when we do.
We submit our whole entirelives to you and our stories.
We submit our stories to you,lord, so that you can use them
the way that you have alwaysintended to use them.
And every single person has astory, and I know that you will
(01:02:12):
do the same type of work as eachperson steps out to tell the
story that they don't want totell and that they'll start to
see it for what it really is.
And it's all about truth andlove and joy and forgiveness and
sanctification and redemptionand repentance and all the
things that we, that we learnabout, lord, through you, that
(01:02:34):
we don't even know about untilwe say yes.
So thank you, thank you God,thank you Holy spirit, thank you
, jesus, for showing up hugelyin our lives, especially all of
us who are hurting, and that wecan, we can have, we can we have
something to say, yeah, sothank you.
(01:02:56):
It's in the beautiful name ofJesus that we pray.
Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Amen, oh my gosh, oh gosh.
Thank you so much for being abrave voice.
Who's setting so many free?
I am going to close with theanchoring verse May the God of
hope fill you with all joy andpeace in believing, so that, by
the power of the Holy Spirit,you may abound in hope, and that
is Romans 15, 13.
(01:03:20):
So, linda, what is the best wayfor listeners to contact you?
I'll be sure to add that to theshow notes as well.
Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Oh sure, my email is info at lyndadmoorecom.
Okay, and do you have a websiteas well?
And my website islyndadmoorecom.
Linda D Moore, diaz andDisciple, I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
It's so good.
Oh, everything's with intention, so beautiful.
Well, I would love to have youback at another time and,
listeners, I will be back withanother episode next week.
Thank you again, linda.
You are amazing.
Keep going, you are so welcome,thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.