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October 7, 2025 • 45 mins

We all experience some level of pain, heartbreak, and disappointment. Yet when we ignore our need to address our emotional injuries, we allow them to fester and infect every aspect of our lives—including our closest relationships. Take heart! Your journey toward freedom begins the moment you choose to stand up and face your life with courage. Author Ann White will share with us the tools you need to learn how to act more than react, make intentional choices, experience the power of fearless choices, and find joy in the journey of healthy choices. With honesty, kindness, and vulnerability, she will provide step-by-step direction and proven guidance through seven intentional, doable steps that will ultimately alter your life, no matter what difficult situation you’re experiencing.

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S1 (00:00):
Hi friend, thank you so much for downloading this podcast
of In the Market with Janet Parshall, and it is
my most sincere hope that you are edified, equipped, enlightened,
encouraged and then it makes you just want to get
out there in the marketplace of ideas and influence and
occupy until he comes. But before you start listening, let
me just take a moment of your time to tell
you about this month's truth tool. It's called The Steadfast
Love of the Lord by my friend and frequent guest,

(00:22):
Doctor Sam Storms. You know, he tells us that so
often we struggle with this idea of feeling like we're
loved by God, or that somehow we've done something that
separates us from the love of God. But we fail
to remember the Scripture that reminds us that while we
were yet sinners, not perfect, not all put together, not
everything's all been worked out while we were yet sinners.
That's when Christ died. For us. Love is an action word,

(00:44):
and that's what Doctor Sam Storms reminds us in his book,
The Steadfast Love of God. I don't know about you,
but with the headlines of the day, being reminded of
who God is is about the most precious news I
could hear on a regular basis. And I'd love for
you to have a copy written by a man who
understands the Bible and always delivers rich theology. So just
call eight seven, seven Janet 58. When you give a

(01:05):
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(01:26):
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(01:49):
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And now with all my heart, I hope you hear

(02:10):
something today that really changes your perspective and makes you
excited about being a follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the program!

S2 (02:19):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.

S3 (02:21):
The conference was over. The president won a pledge.

S4 (02:23):
Americans worshiping government over God.

S5 (02:25):
Extremely rare safety move by a major 17 years.

S4 (02:29):
The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated every.

S5 (02:31):
Time.

S3 (02:33):
We hear a lot of questions.

S1 (02:47):
Hi, friends. Welcome to In the Market with Janet Parshall.
Thank you so much for joining me this hour. Raise
your hand. I'm talking to people from Guam to the
Cayman Islands. Wish I could see you all, but I'm
going to send you. Nonetheless, how many of you have
ever experienced fear? Show of hands. Oh, okay. Okay. All
across that huge footprint. I believe it because my hands

(03:08):
up to. Why is it? Why is it that God,
who loves us so much, gave himself for us, sent
His Son to pay the penalty for our sins? Why
did he know? Being fully God and fully man, why
did Jesus again and again and again remind us in
His word to fear not? I'm guessing because it's he

(03:28):
knew that we would have an issue with being courageous,
with being faithful. And I think that's the antithesis of fear.
By the way, I've been memorizing a bunch of verses
about this lately about the importance of being still. Take heed.
Be quiet. Do not be fearful or fainthearted. One of
the verses I've just memorized. Now that's a pretty strong directive,

(03:49):
isn't it? From the Lord. Do not fear or be fainthearted. Now.
It's one thing to get that directive from the God
who loves me, and it's another for me to recognize. Honestly,
I can't do it. And you want to know? One
of the most liberating prayers in the world is God.
I want to, but I can't help me because if
you're Christ focused, you know that the strength, the ability,
the power, the authority comes from him. It's nothing that
we can do. So when he tells us not to

(04:11):
fear what he's also saying in that same breath, Impliedly is,
come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. He will supplant that
fear that's in my heart. So how do we learn
to be courageous Christians? We talk about that all the
time on this program. It's time for us to get
off that diet of milk, move to a diet of meat,
get some spiritual heft on our bones. And in these

(04:32):
latter days, when good is called evil, evil is called good,
and men are doing what is right in their own eyes.
How do we become courageous Christians? It's important. It's an
important topic. So today, not so much out in the marketplace.
We're going to gather around our own kitchen table here,
and we're going to talk about learning to have courage,
in fact, courage for life. And white knows a little
something about that. She's an internationally known author, a speaker,

(04:54):
and a Bible teacher. She's the founder and the CEO
of an organization. You're about to learn a little bit
more about called courage for life. She wears many hats wife, mom, grandmother.
She wants to equip and encourage individuals from all walks
of life to embrace their God given courage for life.
She creates all kinds of resources that will help people
to do just that. Two of those resources are a

(05:15):
book called courage for Life and courage for life, a
study guide so that you can read the book in
one hand, the study guide in the other, and you
can learn the Seven Steps to Courage and the Warmest
of welcomes. Thank you for being here. And I'm going
to start with what I think is kind of a
self-evident question. If you found and become the head of
an organization called courage for life that didn't come ex-nihilo,

(05:36):
it had to be something that you yourself were dealing
with and therefore felt you could pass this on to
other people. Talk to me about your relationship with fear.

S6 (05:44):
Well, Janet, thank you so much for having me today.
And yes, you know, I always thought I was courageous
when I was a little girl. You know, I didn't
mind riding roller coasters. I didn't mind doing anything. But
when it came to my faith in the Lord, and
really walking in true faith and walking the direction that
God would have me to walk, I experienced a lot
of fears. The fear of rejection, the fear of failure,

(06:07):
the fear of abandonment. Um, growing up in a dysfunctional
childhood really put a lot of those fears into my life,
and I carried them around like baggage throughout my adulthood,
into my marriage, into raising my children. And it wasn't
until in my early 40s that I finally got to
kind of the end of my rope, and I finally said, God,

(06:29):
I don't know what to do. I love it when
you said that. You know that that's the greatest prayer
that we can say, because God wants us to lean
on him. And I finally let go because I thought
I could control everything in my life. I was this
type A personality, but I realized that without God and
without leaning on him, a lot of things were completely

(06:51):
out of my control.

S1 (06:53):
Isn't that the truth? Wow. You know the old idea,
Horatio Alger. I'm just going to pull myself up by
my bootstraps, and I'm going to be courageous. Doesn't work.
Maybe it lasts for five nanoseconds. Then I fall flat
on my face and realize I can't do anything without him.
So for you. And I'm asking because I have a
funny feeling, an that your story is replicated over and
over and over again in the lives of the people

(07:13):
listening right now, was fear. You talked about some of
the things that you dealt with that can build that
spirit of fear, something that doesn't come from the Lord
because the Bible says he didn't give us a spirit
of fear, but power, love, and of a sound mind.
Was it sort of atmospheric because you said it wasn't
until your early 40s. So you go from kind of
atmospherics and it's always with you, like, like a character

(07:34):
out of a Charles Schulz comic strip, you know, it
hangs over your head all the time. What happened at
that point in your life, in your 40s, where you
suddenly went beyond the atmospherics to it's right in front
of me, this is something I'm going to have to
deal with.

S6 (07:47):
Well, I had been growing closer to the Lord. I
had really out of a desperate need to find answers.
I had been searching, you know, God help me, God
help me with my relationships. God help me in my marriage.
God help me with what I'm doing. Because as I
was trying to control everything in my life and was not,

(08:08):
and it was kind of going out of control, I
was just kind of getting to the end of my rope.
I was kind of getting to a loss, and I
did not realize growing up in a dysfunctional household and
growing up with a mom who I absolutely adored, wonderful woman.
But she was a codependent and very unhealthy relationship with
my father. And so I really didn't know how to

(08:31):
have a healthy marriage. I didn't know how to pass
down healthy traits to my kids. I just kind of
was going through the motions. You know, we started having
we got married, we were high school sweethearts, got married
in our early 20s, and then started having kids right away.
And so had two beautiful boys. But just, you know,
I was just doing what I thought I was supposed

(08:53):
to do, kind of everything that I had learned to do,
but never really turning to God, even though I was
a believer from the age of 19 on. I had
had some scars in my past and some things that
I had not let go of that I was dealing with.
And so it wasn't until I got into my 40s and,
and I was getting kind of to the end of
my rope. And I had been growing closer to the
Lord because I was reaching out for a lifeline. And

(09:17):
that was the only lifeline I knew I could count on.
I started reading God's Word. I started growing closer to him,
and that actually began changing me from the inside out.
But it also made things around me a little more
difficult as far as my relationship with my husband and
so forth. So all of that kind of came to
a head, and I really had to gain courage for

(09:40):
life at that point in my life.

S1 (09:41):
What a great way to set up this conversation. And
I want to get to the formation of the organization
courage for life as well. But, you know, when you
were just talking and I thought, isn't that the truth?
The more we know about him, the deeper we get
into his Word, the more we realize that it's Jesus. Period.
Without him, we can do absolutely nothing. We're talking about

(10:01):
courage this hour, courage for life. And white has written
a book and a study guide that addresses that topic,
founded an organization that bears that name. We're just getting started.
We'll continue right after this. If you've ever felt unworthy

(10:29):
of God's love, we need to remember that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's why I've
chosen the steadfast love of the Lord as this month's
truth tool. Unworthiness doesn't disqualify you from God's love, it
magnifies it. As for your copy of The Steadfast Love
of the Lord, when you give a gift of any
amount to in the market, call 877 Janet 58. That's
877 Janet 58 or go to in the market with

(10:51):
Janet Parshall. We are spending the hour with Anne White,
who is an author, a speaker, a Bible teacher, founder
and CEO of an organization called courage for life. And
she's written a book, in fact, two, that deal with
this topic. One is called courage for life, and the
other is the study guide that goes along with the
book courage for Life The Study Guide. And I want

(11:12):
to go back to something you said, Anne, because I
bet there are a whole boatload of people listening who
caught what you just said. And I think it's worth examining.
So something happened where you started to let go and
really press into the Lord. And the deeper you got
in his word, the more dependent you became on him.
And God was supplanting all the things you were trying
to control in your own life, with the power that
he provides to you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

(11:34):
But and here's the difficult part. It began to change
your relationship with people around you. Tell me more about that.

S6 (11:41):
Well, you know, I really I know God had a
plan for my life, and I can see it now,
looking back 12 years past, when all of this kind
of came to a boiling point. I can see the
plans now, but I had no clue what the plans were.
But I sensed in my spirit God wanted me to
go in a different direction than I was going. And so,

(12:01):
you know, that was difficult for my husband. That was
difficult for my kids. It wasn't, you know, ending a
relationship or anything. But there was turmoil there in the household.
There was turmoil in the marriage. And I had to
I couldn't fix it, but I had to heal myself.
I had to heal the anger, the frustration, the bitterness,
the the past baggage, the pain, the hurt and pain

(12:24):
that I had lingering around in order to fully embrace
those plans that God had for me. And they were
ministry plans. And so as I dug in further, I
knew God wanted me to go in this direction, but
I had to take baby steps one at a time.
And then that required me going into counseling. And so
I remember telling my husband I was actually in Israel,

(12:45):
and I tell about this in my book. I tell
at the very beginning that crisis point when my son
and I, he was in his early 20s, we went
with our church group, our pastor and his wife to Israel,
and we're sitting in a hotel room after the first
day and I'm on the phone with my husband, just
trying to explain to him, I'm I'm in a breaking

(13:06):
point and I'm going to get help. You know, I
know our relationship needs help. I personally need help as well.
And so whether you choose to do anything or not,
I know what I've got to do. And I'm seeking
help and counseling and you know, and just digging in
further to the Lord. So having said that, I was

(13:28):
very blessed that my husband came alongside me and said,
I want to do the same thing. I want you
to be healed. I want us to be healed. I
want our family. And he was a very he's a
very courageous man. So I was very blessed in that.
So in the book, I tell about that moment in
time when I am in that hotel room, I was

(13:48):
hiding things. I was a Bible teacher at our church,
leading 2 or 3 classes, teaching other teachers to teach,
and so have a real passion about in-depth study of
God's Word. But there were things that I was hiding,
you know, scars, just demons that I was personally dealing with.
And so having to come clean and say I need

(14:10):
help was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do.
And so it boiled down to a note I had
to write that God said, write this. Note the reality
of what's going on in your life. Take it to
your pastor and his wife, give it to them and
tell them you need help. And that was difficult. It's
difficult for leaders to do that. But when you've been
walking around and coming into church and pretending that everything

(14:32):
in your life is great, and that you've got this
perfect Christian family and this perfect Christian life, and it's
really not true. And you've got to tell the pastor
that you've, as has been your pastor for 17, 18 years.
That was very scary for me.

S1 (14:51):
But what you exemplified and here's the word, was courage.
How did you find the courage to do that?

S6 (14:57):
You know, I gave I gave it to God. I
just said, God, you tell me what to do and
I'm going to do it. And so he told me
to write this letter. I wrote the words on the
page I wrote. I probably tore it up and wrote
it 2 or 3 times. And then I walked down
that hallway and I made myself go and take it.
Now I knew what would happen if I hadn't done
it right that very moment. I would have not ever

(15:19):
done it. But I got up the next morning. We
had to go back touring, and I talk about this
in the book. I was scared to death. I did
not want to face them. I didn't want to see them.
I didn't want to face them because it's like, oh
my goodness, what have I done? I've opened up this
can of worms, but thank God I did, because since
that time, I've learned to walk through those seven steps

(15:41):
of courage, which are just basic steps that anybody can
take to be more courageous in their faith, walk, and
to open up the abundant life that God wants us
all to live.

S1 (15:53):
Amen to that. I want to go to those seven
steps in a minute. But you talked about God giving
you plans for a ministry out of all of this
and the Crucible in particular, sitting in that hotel room
in Israel, how was courage for life birth then? And
tell me and our listeners exactly what the purpose of
the ministry is?

S6 (16:11):
Yes. So it took a few years. I came back
from our trip to Israel, went into counseling, spent several
years just digging into God's Word and and working with
a Christian counselor to unpack all that baggage, to make
the courageous changes I needed to make, and to overcome
come some of those obstacles and stumbling blocks that were

(16:32):
in my way. And in the process, I wanted to
write a book. You know, at first I didn't. I was,
you know, when God tells you he wants you to
do something, a lot of times I know it was
for me. It's like, that's the last thing I want
to do because I'm not qualified, right?

S1 (16:46):
Right. So.

S6 (16:47):
But he just wouldn't let up. And I said, okay, Lord. Okay.
If I write this book, then I want it to
be the book that I needed to read. The book
that would give me practical steps that would help my
emotional health, you know, because what I began to realize
is I had grown spiritually stronger. My relationship with the

(17:08):
Lord was very good, but my emotional health was a mess.
And so God really led me to a wonderful counselor
who helped me break down all of those items, work
on exercises, learn about my codependency, learn about things that
I was clinging to and the fears I was holding
on to. Lies I was leaning on, you know, about

(17:32):
myself and so forth that I needed to let go of.
And that became the beginning of the ministry for courage,
for life.

S1 (17:41):
So the book again is called courage for life. Here's
the subtitle, and it echoes what Andrea shared. Discover a
life full of confidence, hope and opportunity. When we come back,
let's roll up our sleeves and take a look at
those seven steps of courage. And again, you can tell
that Anne is a teacher at heart because she not
only has the book courage for life, but she has
a study guide that goes along with it. So all

(18:01):
of that's posted on our information page for you to
learn more. We're going to take a break and come
right back. Plus, I have a link to Anne's website.
Can you guess what it's called? If you said courage
for life. Spot on. Courage for life.org ton of great
resources there. Back after this. Visiting with Anne White, who

(18:29):
is an author, a speaker, a passionate Bible teacher, and
she is the founder and CEO of courage for Life
ministry that you just learned about. And you understand the backstory,
which I love. I think people care for ministries more
when they know those backstories. So Anne's written a book
called courage for life, and then she's written a study
guide that goes along with it as well. And this
is your passion. So through courage for life, is it

(18:50):
through your teaching and speaking? And plus books like the
book courage for life and the Study Guide, are those
the resources you produce? Tell me more about your vision
for the ministry and then we'll talk about those seven steps.

S6 (19:00):
Yes. So it all began with courage for life book,
because that was telling my story, my story of how
I went from fear based decision making to truly having
faith based decisions in my life. And so, of course,
then the study guide came along because being a Bible teacher,
I really wanted to give people a deep dive into
God's word that goes right along with those seven steps

(19:23):
to courage. From there, God just went on a fast
train with our ministry and I had a passion for
hurting women. We began working in crisis pregnancy centers and and, um,
you know, homeless shelters, wherever we could find hurting women.
Battered women's shelters was where I really felt like we
were going to be. But God immediately opened the door

(19:44):
into the jail system and the prison system, which really
surprised me. Um, wow. And so from that, we created
a program called courage for My Life, which addresses emotional
health and trauma issues along with a spiritual growth component,
because that's really what we're about. Our ministry is about
creating resources that address emotional health and spiritual growth. They

(20:10):
are both so very important. And we do print resources
that I love. You know, get me a study guide
in my hands, get me a Bible study in my hands.
And I can just scribble away and I can write
and make notes and so forth. And it's wonderful. And
we also have digital resources for those of us on
the go. So over the past 12 years, we've have

(20:31):
a book, the courage for life book that is updated
and revised. This is the new revised version that's got
all the updated information and the study guide to go
along with it. We have a program in our prison
ministry that we offer a program called courage for My
Life that has a workbook, video driven, um, teaching. We
have chaplains teaching. We have volunteers teaching in 39 states

(20:56):
in the United States where in the prison systems, um,
working with both women and now with men, because the
program has been so successful, we went from serving women
to creating products that men are teaching as well. And
so we in addition to that, I wanted our women
to have an audio Bible that was female voice. And

(21:17):
at the time when I started thinking about that and
praying about that was 2017. There wasn't one out there
that was genesis to revelations read by women. And so
I said, Lord, what are we supposed to do? These
gals don't read on a great reading level. They need you.
They need your word. That needs to be the foundation

(21:38):
in their life to help begin the healing process. And
so we raised the money. It was just a it
was truly a God thing. You know, none of this
isn't a God thing. So we created the first fully
female voiced audio Bible, and we have it in the
39 states on tablets. And not only are the women

(21:59):
listening to it, but the men are listening to it
and loving it. Because what we realized and found out,
and God knew this all along, obviously, was that many
of the men that are incarcerated today, and there are
a lot of men out here that have father wounds,
and many times the only one who maybe showed them care,

(22:20):
love and concern in their life, or mentioned the Lord
or showed them something to do with God. Was a
woman in their life? Was their mother, their grandmother, their aunt.
And so the female voice audio Bible we have in
English and Spanish, it's available on a free app. You
can download the app on any Android or Apple device,

(22:40):
and we have it throughout the prison systems. But then
God put on our heart to create study Bibles for
the courage for life that incorporated those seven steps to courage.
So now with Tyndale, we released back about two years
ago the courage for life study Bibles that have an
amazing they're great discipleship Bibles. They have 1364 Bible studies,

(23:06):
one at the bottom of every Scripture page. They have
courageous faith stories, introductions, a glossary of, you know, all
sorts of things and components, maps and so forth that
help a new reader or a seasoned reader study God's Word,
understand God's Word, and apply it to their life in

(23:28):
practical ways, and gain the courage that they need to
embrace those plans that God has for them.

S1 (23:34):
I love the way you thought and prayed through this.
I'd be particularly interested in some of the feedback from
female prisoners and what their response has been to the
materials you provided.

S6 (23:45):
Oh, absolutely. We get testimonies all the time and actually
brought a couple with me. Um, and I'm so glad
you asked that question because, uh, let's see. Jamie from
Chillicothe Correctional Center said my favorite part of the courage
for my life was the R step. Replace worldly lies
with scriptural truth. Because she said I didn't feel good

(24:05):
about myself. And I've always believed what other people said
about me. She went on to say, now I want
to see myself the way God sees me. I want
to replace the lies that I've been told with what
God's Word has to say about me. That I am
beautifully and wonderfully made, that I am loved unconditionally, and

(24:25):
that God does have plans for me, plans to make
me prosper and have good things in my life that
I can have a second chance. And so that's just
one I have many, many, many I could share with you.
And we have men writing into us. So in our
classes they are learning to love themselves and see themselves

(24:47):
the way God sees them.

S1 (24:50):
The website courage for life. Now you're getting a greater sense,
aren't you? Of what? Courage for life the ministry is
all about. So Ann just referenced the R out of
the word courage. That's exactly what she did. She took
the word courage, and she made an acrostic out of it.
And every one of the letters of that word is
a step toward courage. So we're going to walk through
those when we get back. And remember, there's a ton

(25:10):
of information in the book I haven't covered. That's okay.
I'm not doing a book report. I just want you
to think about this. And if fearfulness is something you
struggle with all the time, if you've been leaning into
the lies around you, you need this conversation back after this.

(25:32):
Let me give a big shout out to our partial partners.
Thank you. Friends. Partial partners are becoming the backbone of
this ministry. They're generous. Monthly gifts allow us to provide relevant,
compelling programming every day. When you become a partial partner,
you will receive private emails directly from me. A weekly
audio message only you will hear, and special behind the
scenes updates as well. Become a partial partner today by
calling 877 Janet 58 or go to in the market

(25:55):
with Janet Parshall. We are visiting with Ann White, who
is an internationally known speaker and author, Bible teacher, founder
and CEO of courage for life. Wife, mother, grandmother. She
wants to equip and encourage individuals from all walks of
life to embrace their God given courage for life. So
she creates a lot of resources, some of which we've

(26:16):
just discussed. But the two primary for the purpose of
our conversation today is the courage for life book, which
has been revised and updated, and the study guide that
goes along. Both of them are on our information page
at in the market with Janet Parshall. Under the summation
of each of the hours we do, you'll see a
red box. It says program Details and audio. Click that

(26:36):
on takes you over to the information page. You're going
to see a picture of Ann's beautiful face, a link
to courage for life. Dot. And on the right hand side,
the two resources that we're talking about today. So let's
go to the acrostic. First of all, brilliant idea. How
did you come up with the idea of using c
o u r a g e? And to make sure
I got the e in there to get this right,

(26:57):
how did that work out exactly?

S6 (26:59):
You know, Janet, I was actually out for a walk
one day and just talking to the Lord as I
was writing the book and I said, God, I want
to make this practical. I practical, I want to make
this easy and easy to to remember because we don't
walk through courage one time and then, okay, we've got it.
We're done. This is something we do every single day.

(27:20):
We wake up in the morning and we need courage.
We need God given courage to face whatever comes our
way that day. And so I asked the Lord. I said, okay, God. Um,
what was the first step? Because I really just thought
about steps that I was going to include in the book.
What was that first step that I, that I took
as I was walking in courage with you and it

(27:41):
was commit to change. I mean, it really, truly just
came to me. I had to make a commitment because,
you know, you can go, you can waver. It's kind
of like, that was what I did that first night
when I was walking that hallway with that note to
give to my pastor and his wife, telling them that
my life was a mess and I needed help, and
nobody knew. And I was about to unveil just the

(28:04):
the mess in my life. And so I had to
make a commitment and I did. And so that's really
that first step. And it became the key step. Uh,
I thought about it and I said, okay, what's next? Well,
there's a bunch of obstacles in our way because Satan
doesn't want us to change, right? He wants us to
stay in the mess that we're in. He doesn't want
us to embrace that abundant life. So I had to

(28:26):
look for those obstacles and overcome them. And that became
the O step. And then it was like, okay, what's next, father?
I knew I had to uncover my true self, and
I did. I began to put aside the lies that
I'm not good enough, that no matter what God had
called me for, I would say to myself, my mind
had my stinking thinking would say, I'm not prepared. Um.

(28:49):
I'm not good enough. Um, why would God ever want
to use me? All the things Satan wants to put
in our head. But I needed to uncover. And I
did my true self. I uncovered what God thought of
me and that identity piece. And then I replaced the
worldly lies with scriptural truth. Now, that was an exercise
that my counselor took me through that I'd never done before.

(29:10):
I never thought of it. I was a Bible teacher.
I knew God's word. I was reciting God's Word to
other people, but I was still had worldly lies and
lies about myself that I just believed. And so I
needed to identify worldly lies. And I do that in
the book and in the study guide. I take the
top 20 and I say, okay, here's the top 20

(29:31):
lies I believed. And then here's the scriptural truth that
I had to replace them with. And it was an
exercise that my counselor made me do for 90 days,
every single day. I had my note cards, and I
had to read that lie and that truth, that scriptural truth,
and replace it so that when Satan tried to tell
me the lie again, I would replace it with the

(29:52):
scripture automatically and know the truth. That became the R step,
then the A step. This was toughie for me, except
the things you cannot change. I wanted to change everybody
around me except for myself, because I didn't think I
needed to change at first. Is that not true for all?

S1 (30:11):
Yes. Yes, yes.

S6 (30:13):
So that became the A step. Except the things you
cannot change. Change the things you can and have the
wisdom to know the difference. God, give me the wisdom
to know the difference. But that became the a step
in courage. Accept the things you cannot change. Because I
had to. I had to accept that I couldn't change
my past, but I could change how I let my

(30:33):
past impact my future. The g step grasp God's love
for me. I could tell everyone as a Bible teacher
just how much God loved them, but I really thought,
how could God truly love me? The mess I made
of my past, the things I did in my teenage
years that I'm not proud of, whatever you know, the

(30:55):
things that that I've been through or the things that
I've felt about myself and I needed to grasp God's
love in just a real phenomenal way because it's it's amazing.
It's healing. And I had to do that. And then
I needed that step. Embrace a life of grace. I
needed to receive God's grace for me. But I also

(31:17):
needed to give grace to others, people that had hurt
me in my life. I needed to see them as
broken vessels, as people that God needs to heal, so
that I would have that grace for them as well.
So that became the Seven Steps to Courage. Now, they
didn't start out perfectly like that, but I truly was
walking and saying, God, tell me what the steps are.

(31:39):
Of course, seven is a perfect number for the Lord,
and courage was I knew what he had given me.
You know, I had a I had a friend who
and he and his wife became just really integral part
of helping me birth the ministry. And he said to
me as we were talking about it one day with

(32:00):
he and his wife. Phil said, if you could think
of one word that described the message that God has
given you, what would it be? And I said, I
know what it is. It's courage. And so it just
the pieces fall into place. And so that's why I
knew this ministry is from God. For God all about

(32:22):
God never would have happened without him. Because if you
put your yes on the table, and you keep your
hands wide open and you get out, get yourself out
of the way, God will put the puzzle pieces together
and it will just happen. May not happen immediately. You
got to take those baby steps. But it has unfolded
step by step and looking back over the last 12, 13,

(32:45):
really almost 15 years, I can see everything, number one
that God allowed me to go through. And then God
prepared me for. And I am so honored to be
walking in his way and in his footsteps.

S1 (33:02):
Amen. Let me just linger on that last point for
a minute, because I think it's important for all our
friends listening to understand this. There's never a minute wasted
in God's classroom. It might not feel like it at
the time, but isn't it interesting how you can look
back and say, God was preparing me for this when
he did that? Oh, that we would have the vision
to understand that in the midst of the experience. But

(33:22):
how blessed we are that we don't miss it when
we look back and say, that's perhaps why God allowed
that in my life. And that certainly was part of
the the anvil of adversity on what you were hammered
that gave birth to this ministry. Courage for life. I
have so many questions about the acrostic. Let me go
to the one about replacing worldly lies with spiritual truth.
This is so profound, particularly in a day and an age.

(33:44):
And you know this an as a Bible teacher where
we are wantonly, biblically illiterate. When you start looking at
all the survey data and I spend a lot of
time doing that about what Christians believe evangelical professing, born
again Christians believe about God, the Trinity, the Bible I.
It doesn't give me fear because we're talking about courage
here and fear doesn't come from the Lord. But it's

(34:04):
a wake up call. It is a shot across the
bow that we are going to. Book of Colossians be
taken captive through vain and hollow philosophies predicated on this world,
rather than on the Word of God. And that's not
just the stuff in the marketplace of ideas that's in
our own personal lives, the lives we believe about ourselves.
Because the father of lies wants you to not know

(34:25):
what God has said, and the last thing he wants
you to do is to spend time in His word.
So I'm so glad that this is one of the
letters of the acrostic because it's so important. But in
that section of the book, you talk about recognizing the
truth trifecta. It's fascinating. Explain that to our friends.

S6 (34:41):
Yes. I mean, you can't know the truth unless you
recognize the lies. It's it's one of those things that
it's like a light bulb going off. You've got to
learn the lies that you see and their lies about us,
their lies. So there's. There's also sin in my life. Okay.

(35:03):
Fear hurts. Sin and shame. And part of that truth
is identifying all of the things in my life that
are keeping me from God's truth, that are keeping me
bound up in Satan's lies. You know, I love it
when you said all Satan has to do is say,
Did God say.

S1 (35:22):
Exactly?

S6 (35:22):
He just wants us to doubt. And so when we study.
And that was a big part of this. Um, what
I write in matter of fact, the very first part
of our study guide is going into why and how
we do a deep, inductive study of God's Word. And
how do we do that? We pray, observe, interpret, and apply.

(35:45):
Because it is so important to get that truth into
our lives, because if we don't have it, that foundation
is missing and we we're really lost.

S1 (35:59):
Yeah, and not only that, but just let me go
to the hierarchical issue here, which is the idea of
courage again and again and again. You know, someone once
said there's 365 times in the Bible where it says,
fear not. Actually, that's not true. It depends on the translation,
but I'm not hung up on the numbers. I much
more want to grasp the concept. And the point is,
God reminds us it's the directive to fear not. For

(36:21):
I am with you always. Fear not over and over
and over again. So God wants us to be courageous Christians.
Be bold and courageous. Joshua says four times in the
first chapter of the book that bears his name. So
courage is a posture that he wants us to have.
The wonderful thing an about studying God's Word is if
he wants us to have it. He says, the only
way you're going to get it is through me. And

(36:42):
how do we get it through him, through His Word
and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit? So this
stuff doesn't happen. And I very much appreciate Anne's work.
It doesn't happen by reading Anne's book. It happens by
reading Anne's book that tells you to get into the
book that will tell you how to have courage for life.
And the fact that she loves to teach the word.
And by the way, in the study guide, Anne, I

(37:03):
thank you for the way you talk about inductive Bible study.
Walk through the basics of that. In the workbook you
have people take notes. You're a great teacher because this
is hands on. This is your workbook. You write in
the study guide to learn about these things. So when
we come back and again this is not a complete
book report of the books that Anne have written and
is written and the study guide, it's an overview to

(37:24):
start thinking about what it means to be courageous and
how you can have courage for life. More with Anne
White right after this. Courage for life. Courage for life.

(38:05):
That is the website for Anne White. We have the
privilege of spending the hour with her. She speaks, she writes,
she teaches. And she has a heart for people, especially
people who need courage for life, as do we all.
So she's issued a book out that's now revised and
updated called courage for life. And then there's a marvelous
study guide that goes along with it as well, really
hands on, so you can really learn and apply the

(38:27):
biblical teachings on this topic that she puts out. So
we were looking at the acrostic courage. And you'll learn
more about this, by the way, by getting the book.
And also get the study guide. Because the two go
hand in hand, the study guide constantly refers back to
the book page here, page there. So you really do
need the two hand in hand. Um, and as she
points out, don't get a photocopy. Just get one yourself
because you're going to want to write all over it

(38:48):
and keep it and go back in and review it
and review it and review it. Because, as Ann said earlier,
courage is an everyday battle. Isn't it a moment by
moment surrendering to him. So looking again at the acrostic
and we go full circle to you, sitting in that
hotel room in Israel, one of the things the you
is uncover your true self. So you're sitting on that bed.
The Lord prompts you to write a note and to
hand deliver it in the middle of a tour. Let

(39:09):
the record reflect to your pastor with people on a bus.
I've been there, done that a thousand times. I know
exactly what that's like. And you would have thought, oh,
I'm going to be really ostracized. Marginalized. I don't want
to talk to him anyway. I'd like to put a
paper bag over my head. But you didn't do that.
You put into place instead. Authentic identity. Now, I can't
speak for men married to one. Two of the four

(39:30):
of my children are. But I can't speak from a
man's perspective. But I can tell you, I think a
lot of women struggle in particular with the idea of
authentic identity. How does being inauthentic keep us from being courageous?

S6 (39:44):
It isolates us. My biggest, my biggest issue was isolation
because I didn't have anyone that I could really tell
what was really going on other than my husband. But
you know, you're in the you're in the mix and
you're in the mess together. And so that's you really
need someone, a safe person. I talk about this in
my book, How You Need safe Sisters and for the

(40:07):
men safe brothers that you can confide in who will
love you unconditionally, who will listen to you, pray with you,
and lift you up and encourage you. I didn't have
that in my life. It isolates you when you don't
have a good identity of yourself because you don't want
anyone to know you. You don't want anyone to see
your pain. You don't want them to see you as

(40:30):
a mess. Because for women especially, I think, and I'm
sure men suffer with this as well. I know they do.
We're trying to be what everybody, what we think everyone
else either needs us to be or wants us to be,
and we get stuck right there and lose who we
truly are in God's eyes.

S1 (40:53):
Yeah. Absolutely. Truly so. This is circular thinking in some respects,
but I want to pursue it nonetheless. When we unmask
and we're going to be authentic, by the way, I
happen to think that's the very best kind of ambassador
you can be for Christ authentic Christianity, that they're not
just hearing us talk about it, but they're seeing it
in our life. But authenticity is problematic in the church

(41:16):
because we are still strapped in the ankles with chains.
That makes us think that when we come to Christ,
it's the perfect marriage, the perfect kids, the perfect checkbook,
the perfect house. And we don't dare talk about any
of those areas that are messy and out of control. Because,
you know, I think it's fear. I think this is
why this is an important part of this conversation, that
the pushback is going to be you have unconfessed sin
in your life, you don't have enough faith. And that

(41:38):
fear of being criticized or called out for the two
things you don't want as a person who wants to
follow Christ is sin, unconfessed sin, or a lack of faith.
You just keep your mouth closed, thinking that somehow that's
going to be the remedy. Where do we find the courage?
And so much of this is about making volitional choices.
And over and over and over again, they're action words.

(41:58):
They're verbs. You have to make a choice to do this.
How do you get over the fear of ramifications if
you're going to be going from being the mask, the church?
In fact, I remember a wonderful book years ago called
The Problem of Transparency in the church. If you're going
to be authentic and authentic requires transparency. How do you
get over the fear of being marginalized or subjugated to

(42:19):
other people's unbridled tongues and criticism because of what's going
on in your life? And oh, by the way, that
person needs to stop and take a look in the
mirror as well. But tell me how we have the
courage to be authentic regardless of the consequences.

S6 (42:32):
It's it's you choose to be and you lean into God.
You care more about what God thinks than about what
the people around you think. Because I had someone tell
me one time it was a counselor who said, you
can't control what other people think about you. And so
when I put my yes on the table for the ministry, um,
I was not one who was a speaker, you know,

(42:53):
I was a teacher, but I had my classroom. I
was in a safe environment at church. Right. So when
I'm going to come out and speak publicly about my mess,
about my healing, about God, so forth and so on,
you're going to get pushback and you're going to get rejection,
something I had a great fear of. But you you
just know. You just say, Lord, give me the courage

(43:16):
to do this. And you take those baby steps, but
you have to take a step. You continue moving forward
and it gets easier. It's like the first time you
ride a bike, or the first time you dive into
the pool. You know, it's scary at first, but you
begin to you just do it and you know that
if I'm looking. So the first time I went on television,

(43:36):
I got an opportunity to be on the Christian view
and I thought, Lord, I've never been behind a camera.
What are you thinking? And so I prayed, and he said,
I really felt that he wanted me to do this.
And I said, okay, what's the worst thing that could
happen if I embarrassed myself? Make a fool of myself.
I'll do it for the Lord. And I know in
his eyes he will be pleased. You have to care

(43:58):
more about what God thinks than what others think.

S1 (44:02):
Yeah, yeah, that idea of being first, right? Um, vertically
before you are horizontally, you know, pleasing God or pleasing men.
All of those challenges. The hour has gone very quickly.
There's so much more in the book. I really want
to underscore that from my friends listening book study guide,
both bear the same name. Courage for life. It's all
there on our website, two clicks away. Just click on
through and you can follow the path to Tyndale to

(44:23):
get a copy of the book. To learn how to
get your copy of the book. First steps. Very important.
It's how you start your journey to the person listening
today that says, okay, I've been locked in this bondage
of fear. I want to have courage for life. Moment
by moment, day by day. Why would you tell them
to take their first step today?

S6 (44:42):
Ask God to lead you to someone in your life
that you can lean into who will encourage you, pray
with you, and help you as you take that first
step in your journey of courage.

S1 (44:56):
Thank you Ann, so very, very much. So let me
just again recap. Information is important. You want more information
here it is courage for life. That's the website. The
two books are called courage for life and courage for
life study Guide again both on our website so you
can click through and get an easy path for your
purchase for those books as well. Thank you and so

(45:16):
much for getting us to think deeply about the Word
of God and the power that we glean from him,
from the Holy Spirit and from His Word. I can
do all things through Christ who strengthens me and gives
me courage. Thanks, Anne. Thank you friends. We'll see you
next time on In the Market with Janet Parshall.
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