The Unseen Bonds of Community and Individual Faith

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Sometimes life throws a curveball, and you find yourself stepping up to the plate in ways you hadn't imagined; this rang true for me, Yanni, as I planned this season's episodes. Expecting to share the spotlight with family and friends, I was nudged by unforeseen rescheduling to embrace the solo journey, realizing my own stories held a wealth of wisdom waiting to be uncovered. As I take you through this heartfelt revelation, you'll hear about the profound experiences that reinforce my belief in the power of presence, both in our personal spiritual paths and in supporting others through their moments of vulnerability.

At Hope Alive Church, I witnessed a tapestry of human connection that illustrated the impact of simply showing up. I share an emotional encounter where every teardrop-stained hug at the altar and each whispered prayer became a testament to the shared strength of our community. Through this narrative, you'll feel the embrace of compassion as we consider the role we play in each other's healing stories, and be reminded of the importance of being present—truly present—for one another. Join me as we explore these deeply personal yet universally resonant moments that highlight the unexpected beauty found in faith, obedience, and the human spirit.

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Standing In Your Truth Podcast with Yanni Thomas

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everyone, welcome to season two of
standing your truth podcast.
I'm your host, yanni.
On this podcast, you will hearmyself, family and friends
having open ended discussions onanything from faith, finances,
relationships and how to staymotivated during life trying
times.
Make sure you follow me on all.
My social media link is in thebio.

(00:24):
Sit back and get ready to enjoy.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Once I recorded the last one, I had actually reached
out to some family and friendsand I was like you know, this
year I'm not going to start offwith just by myself or my side
with the bang and have familyand friends on, and I did.
I scheduled three people in noshade to them, but all three had
to reschedule for differentreasons they had.
You know, it was a reason, notan excuse, you know, and I was

(01:18):
just sitting there thinking Ithink I even mentioned this to
Erin I was like is this a signthat I need to just record by
myself and stop kind of relyingon I won't say relying, but I
think my reasoning for planningfor speakers to come on.
So I guess it was relying.
Actually, no, I think about it.
But I was like you know, Ithink I don't know if I have

(01:39):
anything else to say, so I'mgoing to get people on and kind
of maybe tell their stories andnot really believing in myself,
in that aspect of like I havesomething else to share.
So that's why I had otherpeople booked.
They had good stories too, butin good wisdom and good advice,
but that's not believing inmyself in that way.
And then all of them literallythree of them were like, hey, I

(02:00):
can't do it, cool.
So I'm like, oh well, here I amBack to the basics, but I can
say I kind of miss recording.
I was going to go for a walkinstead and I was like, no, I
think I'm going to record apodcast episode.
So, for those who don't know, Iattend Hope Alive Church here in

(02:21):
Odessa.
It's completely changed my lifeand my walk with Christ, for
sure.
But yesterday was a very youknow, I'm still trying to
actually put yesterday's servicein words, but you can just feel
the Holy Spirit in service andHim moving and touching people

(02:41):
and people becoming free.
It was a beautiful, beautiful,beautiful service and just to
see people becoming free andreleasing stuff and allowing God
to do what he does in theirlives.
It was amazing to watch.
But there was a moment where Ikind of took a step back because

(03:01):
I had a hoodie on, becauseSunday was freezing for whatever
reason in Odessa.
But my hoodie was full of tearsand it wasn't my tears, it was
tears of those who had came tothe service carrying whatever
burdens.

(03:21):
They were caring and, I wouldsay, with me being obedient in
the sense of showing up tochurch and going up to the altar

(03:42):
and to pray for these beautifulsouls and to allow them to have
a safe place to release thoughtand to you know it's different
when you give someone a hug andwhen you give them a hug and you
can feel the tears coming likethey're crying.

(04:03):
It was a beautiful moment andone that I definitely stopped
and took a second and just thankGod for allowing me to be there
.
Yes, if I wasn't there, therewould have been someone else,
they would have hugged and youknow, and it would have been a

(04:23):
safe place as well.
But just for me to show up andto be a part of possibly
someone's healing journey,someone's story with Christ, to
be able to pray for these Ithink everyone I hugged
yesterday was a woman, so I'mgoing to say pray for these
women, young and old.
It was just one of those timeswhere I think for me, because I

(04:45):
do give back so much andsometimes I do have a tendency
to make it routine and I kind ofhave to check myself because
it's not a routine thing at alland just to make sure that I'm
present each time that I am outin the community and am serving.
But yesterday was just areminder of how important it is
for me to make sure that I'mpresent and I come filled with

(05:14):
the Holy Spirit.
That way I can hear God and Ifeel like, when I'm praying,
that He'll be able to give methe words for that individual
that I'm praying for, to knowthat he's listening to them too.
I think sometimes we forget howimportant it is for us to be
obedient, because you never knowif or when God is going to use

(05:35):
you in someone else's story.
You know the person who comes tothe church doors, who could be
thinking about suicide.
Hey, you know what.
You showed up for church thatday.
Not only did you show up, youshowed up with a great attitude,
listened to praise and worship.
When you got there you prayed.
Well, now you're ready to go.
So when they come to the door,you know you're filled, like

(05:57):
you're filled and you're able tofill someone else, and you just
don't know, like how you could,you know, be using that
person's story.
So don't take that for granted.
That was my kind of um what Igot from that here today.
It was really, really, reallybeautiful.
But I also just want to make anote to say I think I said it on

(06:19):
here before, but I'm not abitch to draw my Facebook page
but for those who may belistening and don't feel like
they have a safe place meaningyou don't have anyone you feel
like you can talk to about someof those hard things, um
abortion, um, some of the pathsthat you may be embarrassed of

(06:39):
for whatever reason um, I'm asafe place for you.
So if you don't have, as far asmaybe, on me on social media,
you can just DM me.
If those of you who arelistening have my phone number,
please reach out, you know, viatext message.
I always say text message isbetter than phone call.
I probably will call you, butsometimes I'm not always
available, so I don't want tomiss that opportunity.

(07:00):
So I would just say send me atext and, um, let's work on
getting you free from some ofthose burdens that you may have.
Um, and I'm always availablefor prayer.
So if you need a prayer, justshoot it over, text it to me, dm
me and say hey, you know, yanni, can you pray for this?
And I got you.

(07:21):
And then I got friends, um,that are prayer warriors, that I
can say hey, so-and-so needsprayer, um, and they'll be
praying for you as well.
So please note that if you justdo not have a safe place, no one
else to talk to, I will say itagain I am and I can be, if you
allow me, to be, a safe placefor you.

(07:41):
So that's that.
But I think I just want I thinkthat's my whole episode.
I just feel like a lot of timesas adults, we feel like, um,
adults and kids.
I should not limit it to justadults, because kids nowadays
for sure carrying differentburdens than I carry when I was
in school.
But I can be a safe place ifyou don't have one.

(08:03):
And if you have one, I just say, um, if you have a person in
your life that you know you cantalk to and walk through and
that can pray for you and guideyou, I will say use them.
We can't do this thing calledlife by ourselves.
We need community.
You need people that you canjust release some stuff on.
If you hold it in um, it'sgoing to drive you crazy and

(08:26):
drive you in circles and nothingabout it is going to make any
sense.
I have friends, um, that I callwhen I'm frustrated and when
I'm happy, when I'm sad, when Ihave a prayer support, but I
have friends that I know that Ican call for that and it's just
an important part of my journey,especially now where I feel
like I'm in this growth umjourney, where there's sometimes
where that my friends do haveto check me and correct me and

(08:48):
tell me hey, you're going aboutthis the wrong way or have you
thought about it like this?
That's important too for thethose you have in your community
.
You don't want it to be all yes,man Cause then you're just um,
what's the nice way of sayingthis?
It's just going to be a highmess, like you're going to miss
a lot of things if everyone inyour corner is telling is a yes,

(09:08):
yes, yes, no, it's okay to bechecked every once in a while.
So, with that being said, justremember I'm here for you.
Guys.
If I can be your safe place orif you have someone in your
immediate corner that can be,just make some time for them.
You know you can love on them,they can love on you and y'all
can just be a support system andhelp and watch each other grow.

(09:29):
It's a beautiful thing whenyou're able to watch your
friends grow and mature and thethings that you know that either
you guys prayed about togetheror they've been praying about
you know for themselves toactually see them come.
It's a beautiful thing.
So, with that being said, let'spray, heavenly Father.

(09:51):
Thank you, lord, for allowingus to see another day.
I pray for the individual thatmay be listening to this podcast
Episode, lord, that they justsurrender their plans to you,
lord, that they allow you tolead their footsteps and that
they realize that you love them.
You have not forgotten them andthey are Yours.

(10:15):
Not of this world, they belongto you, father, but they just,
whatever talents they have, theyallow you to use them to uplift
your Kingdom, father, andwhatever burdens or whatever
they feel like is has them inchains and they can't move
forward.
They just release it to you,lord, that they find someone

(10:37):
that can kind of help guide themthrough, that they're a safe
place.
And, lord, if it just happensto be me, lord, I pray that you
just give me the wisdom,discernment, understanding,
patience that's needed for eachindividual and just want to say,
lord, we love you and thank youagain for all that.
You're doing, stuff that we seewe don't see in the stuff to

(11:00):
come in the future.
Father, I just say thank you,lord.
Just pray for a hedge ofprotection around the individual
that's listening as well.
There's so much that's going onin the world.
Once again, just say thank you,lord, and we love you.
In Jesus' name.
I pray Amen.
Hey, no one's told you today.
They love you, I love you.
You're beautiful.

(11:20):
You're uniquely made.
There's only one you in theworld.
So guess what?
Go rock it and go do whatyou're supposed to be doing.
Peace out, guys.
I was getting ready to put thispodcast episode out then I
realized I wanted to challengesome of you guys to become a
safe place for people.
Like, are you carrying yourselfin a manner to where people

(11:41):
realize, like, if they come toyou, like, you'll pray for them,
you won't judge them, you'llhear them out and help guide
them through whatever they'regoing through in life?
Just a challenge for those whoare interested.
But peace out.
And I would just say, if you'renot following me on social
media, go follow me on Facebookit's just Danny and your truth

(12:03):
with Yanni, and then onInstagram, or IG as people call
it, it's talks with Yanni, yaand NI.
For those who don't know how tospell my last name, well,
that's my first name, father,but anyway, go follow me.
But y'all go be great, go helpshape the next generation as
well.
Peace out for real this time.
Hee, hee.