September 2, 2023 • 20 mins
Every day we are called to be on mission for the Gospel. May this FAITH episode encourage you to be aware and prepared for the opportunity to share God's love with someone daily.
@puzzleisreal
www.mattandemelissapisani.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Puzzle is Real podcast where we
(00:02):
will be discussing Faith,family, and Relationships
hosted by Matt and MelissaPisani. This is The Puzzle is
Real podcast when you know, youknow.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right . Here we are. Hey
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Guys. What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We are a traveling family band , baby
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Beam. Beam beam.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We just had the gasoline filled up in the old
faith tank and we are ready forthe next big move of God. What
does that mean? I don't evenknow what he's talking about.
Well, we just got backfrom a 10 day trip and it was
(00:46):
really powerful and it mm-hmm .
stemmed from aleap of faith we took years ago
and we were watching adocumentary and it was about a
former wrestler, Jake the SnakeRoberts, and it was on Netflix
and mm-hmm . . Wewere compelled to write an
email to try to partner withhim, and we were really
inspired by his story. So thatwas in 2016. Mm-hmm.
(01:09):
. And at the endof last year I received an
email from his managementsaying that they wanted to talk
to us about doing somethingwith him. So over six and a
half years later, we got aresponse. And that's amazing.
'cause you know, there's timeswhere we've emailed people. I
mean, I think we've emailedeveryone from Ellen DeGeneres
(01:31):
to , um, I don't even know.
It's just, it's a long list. Sowe we're very thorough about
letting people know about CleanSlate Living, which is the
platform that we've been justusing to reach people, to share
with people the love of Jesusin different ways, healthy
lifestyle programs, alldifferent things. A multitude
of different things. So we ,um, yeah, we just, we have a
(01:55):
few different highlights wewanted to share with you about
that trip and how it tied intoa greater, greater commission
than we thought.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah. And I think just to tie in the fact that
like, God's timing is perfect,you know, we reached out in
2016 and obviously didn't hearanything back until the end of
2022, because now looking backand looking at what we just did
with , um, Jake the SnakeRoberts, we wouldn't have been
prepared for .
Speaker 2 (02:23):
We weren't ready
Speaker 3 (02:24):
At that time. So I think God was just waiting for
us to truly be ready and thenhe was like, okay, now I'm
gonna open the floodgates.
Yeah. So I guess we'll sharewhat,
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I had a question for the listener too
before we , um, really dumpedthis on everyone. Have you ever
been prepared for somethingthat was like a big opportunity
and you went and like crushedit? We had an opportunity like
that once and it was to be onnational TV with the Nasdaq and
(02:59):
that was what, 2017?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
20 beginning of 2018.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So we were just ready to go. We were ready for
the opportunity and we went andwe were prepared. And we've
always said like, wow, you haveto be ready for those
opportunities. And I think thatthis was just another reminder
of like being prepared for likewhat God's calling you into.
It's not always like big likepublicity type moves . Like,
oh, I'm gonna be on TVtomorrow. Right . But it's
sometimes just whatever thatthat opportunity is. Like, are
(03:27):
you ready to go on that, thatnext trip to go minister to
people in Zimbabwe? Are youready to go and, you know,
support the local soup kitchen,whatever it is that you're
calling to do to serve others?
Or it could be your job, avocation. Um, preparation is
huge and then obviously it'sGod's timing. But yes, we, we
felt a nudge to move forwardwith a project that is a video
(03:50):
series with Jake the SnakeRoberts. And it was so much
more that came from thatjourney that we just went on to
Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah. So, I
don't even know where to start
'cause there's just so much,but, so it was great 'cause
Matt's parents , um, flew toCharleston and hung out with us
for a few days and I ended upgetting sick, which was not
great. And I knew that we hadto film this. I knew that
things were coming up and thistends to happen. It happened
(04:18):
before our wedding. I got sickbefore our wedding. Anyway, so
his parents come and theygraciously said that they were
gonna drive to Atlanta behindus or follow us there, that way
they could watch the kids whilewe shot this film. Um, so they
did. And that was incredible.
And we just, there's like somany tidbits. So I guess, so
(04:43):
one thing that I will say isright before we were about to
leave , um, the person who wassupposed to film for us backed
out and we were kind of put ina little bit of a pickle Oh
yeah. And we're like, all right, God, are you telling us not
to do this? Are you telling usto do to do this? And , um,
(05:03):
Matt's friend Eric, what theweek before?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah. Not far before. Had met someone in
Texas who was a film person,was a photographer, like, like
fit the whole description ofwhat we would, what we would
need. And I was meaning tofollow up to find out about
this person. And the night thatwe found out that we didn't
(05:29):
have the film people to shootin Atlanta, I was at a local
Walmart and you can't make thisup. I literally at that point
was still determined that we, Ireally felt like we were
supposed to do it mm-hmm .
and I didn't knowhow, but I just trust that guy
was gonna provide someone. Andthere was this shirt in the kid
section of the Walmart , onered shirt. And I was like, man,
(05:50):
what is that? And it was acartoon esque WrestleMania
shirt and right in the middlewith all the wrestlers was Jake
the snake Roberts character.
Right. And I , I just knewlike, wow, this is just a wink.
I really feel like God hasconfirmed we're supposed to
still move forward with this.
So the next day we got on acall with Eric. We got on a
call with , uh, our now friendKen, who committed to driving
(06:14):
from Texas and filmingthis amazing docuseries and
doing of excellence. Um, we hadthe person, we didn't even know
that he was gonna be the guy,but God knew and God knew
before we even had any ideathat we were gonna need
to find someone. And
Speaker 3 (06:34):
What's so cool is like the people that they had
that were gonna film for us inAtlanta, we weren't really
gonna have tons of editorialcontrol. I think they would've
just made certain cuts to,
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah. It might have looked different than what it
might have looked a littledifferent, what we were going
after. So this was a hugeprovision and um, and it just
worked. So we, we met inAtlanta the day before the
shoot went to go get somedinner and just God started
moving right away.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah. I feel like when you're aligned with people
who are just really in tunewith the Holy Spirit, just
things happen and we've seenthis time and time and time
again. And it's not for us togo out and go on mission trips.
Right. Like Matt and I alwayssay that we wanna live a
mission-driven life. You know,the mission field is at our
front door every single
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Day. Yeah. We're on mission every day,
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Every day. So we go , it's fun , it's , yeah, it is
fun. 'cause God's just amazingand he just when you
say, okay, he will just open upeverything for you. And it's
just incredible. So we went toa restaurant first time we got
to meet Ken, who was awesome.
We brought the kids and gotsome food, you know, got to
(07:39):
know each other a little bitbetter before the shoot. And ,
um, we had a waiter that was,you know , living an
alternative lifestyle, put itthat way. Very nice. Ended up
being from New York. So we weretalking about New York and just
kind of hit it off, but I couldtell that he was more
comfortable speaking to me thanhe was to the men. So we finish
(08:01):
, we pay the bill, we leave,and then we're all standing
outside and we're like, wegotta go back in there. We
gotta talk to this guy. Andwe're like, what do we do? And
so Matt and Ken are like,Melissa, you have to do it. And
I'm like, me. I'm like, what amI gonna say? You know? And you
get fearful. Yeah . 'cause it'slike you think you, you know,
have to say something, but Godwill really speak through you
when you just ask him to. Sowe're like, all right , let's,
(08:24):
I'll go back in there and givehim, you know, a little bit
more of a tip and just let Godspeak through me. And so I went
back inside, I had Magnolia onmy hip and he sees me from a
distance and he's like, oh, didyou forget something? And I was
like, no, actually I justwanted to talk to you. And he's
like me. And he was kind oftaken back and I said, listen,
I don't even remember exactlywhat I said, but I just felt
(08:46):
like God just showered him withhis love. And he ended up
crying. And I be , I think acouple things that came out out
were , you know, God loves you.
He hasn't forgotten you. Hesees you and you have a
purpose. And if no one's evertold you that, God wants you to
know that and Jesus loves youso much. And he started crying.
(09:08):
So I said, can I hug you? Andhe's like, yes. So we just had
this warm embrace and I just, Ijust felt like he needed to
hear that from maybe like amother figure or hear that a
father would say that to him asI was just in tune with what
the spirit wanted to tell him.
And it was just such abeautiful moment. And I'm not
(09:28):
saying this to exalt us at all.
I'm just saying like , we haveso many opportunities
throughout the day to show thelove of Christ to people, and
we pass by them all the time.
But when we're truly in tunewith the spirit, you see things
from the spiritual realm. AndMatt and I have been talking
about this a lot lately, islike, once you see things from
(09:50):
the spiritual, you can't unseethem. Right? Like there's just
so much like heaviness that youfeel like, oh my gosh, I have
to talk to this person. I Iwant to hug that. Yeah . That
person, there's just so muchmore promptings that happen and
you see things so much moredeeply than you do when you're
just going about your day. Sothat was just a really cool
(10:11):
moment. And from that point on,we just knew God was gonna
continue doing really specialthings throughout the project
and our trip and our family andall the new people that we're
meeting.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah. And I would just add too , like just to
like sit on the whole being outto eat with a waiter or a
waitress. Like don'tunderestimate when someone is
being friendly and sharing withyou. It's not them just trying
to maybe earn a tip or, youknow, kill time. I think that's
their unique moments tominister to people that work in
(10:42):
that business. Right. AndMelissa and I have both been in
the food and beverage businessbefore and you know, this, this
gentleman was looking forconnection and we could have
easily overlooked that anddismissed it. And the fact that
we were obedient to just loveon him and to let him know that
he's seen mm-hmm .
administered tohim. And that's powerful. So I
(11:04):
just encourage, it's an uncomfuncomfortable thing to do, but
I encourage you , if you canlook for those moments when
you're out to eat with friendsand family, to just minister to
the people that are servingyou, it'll, it'll blow their
mind. And it's a great way toremind them that Jesus loves
them. So yeah. That was
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Great . That was great. And then you can even
share a quick story aboutanother way that we just had
recently where you asked him atPaige's. Oh ,
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Right. Yeah. So, and you know, we had a , uh, we
were getting brunch somewhereand I dunno why the guy was
just , um, it was on my heartand I was gonna ask him if he
needed prayer before we weregoing to eat. And, you know,
was that resistance? And Idefinitely thought it was like
a, like, why , why am I notasking him yet? And you know, I
(11:52):
dismissed it and I ended upwaiting till after we got the
bill and I asked him, Hey,like, you know, is there
anything I could pray for youfor this week? And he just
started opening up to us mm-hmm. . And it was,
it was awesome. He was reallyreceptive.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah. It's just really cool how you don't
realize how many people areactually open. Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You just have to ask and you just have to ask. You
can't be afraid of therejection. Mm-hmm.
or, you know,this was a guy who literally
said, I've been trying to, mywife and I have been trying to
have a a baby for a while andnow we're finally having our
baby. It's, it's coming inDecember, our baby, she's
coming and mm-hmm .
, it's allhappening. And just pray
Speaker 3 (12:28):
For
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And just pray for her. Yeah . And , and it was
just awesome. So like, youjust, you never know how God is
gonna use you. So Yeah. Thatwas , that was just a quick
little extra for you there thatI just thought was important.
'cause a lot of times wedismiss those moments and
think, oh, well that's only,only so and so can do that type
of stuff. That's their gifting.
We're all equipped to do it.
(12:48):
And it doesn't have to beperfect and you don't need a
lot of words.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, I mean, read the Bible. So there's so
many stories of people who werenot equipped, but God equipped
them because they were readyand willing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah. So we, we got nudged to go do this project
and we got nudged to see ourfamily in Texas sooner than we
had planned, which was anotherpart of this mm-hmm.
podcast episode.
We want to encourage you thatif you're feeling a nudge to go
, to go and push up a trip andit's something that you just
feel like God's saying, it'stime to go now. Be sensitive to
(13:22):
go. Don't try to figure it out.
'cause we, we were sensitive tosay, all right , we're gonna
go, we got to Texas mm-hmm .
unexpectedly. Um,we're asked to speak at a
woman's center, a uh , a placefor , um, from single moms.
Yeah . And I'll let Melissajust share a little bit about
that real quick here. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So my sister volunteers at a place in Texas
, um, and it's all for singlemoms who come from various
backgrounds and who just need alittle bit of help. And it's a
Christian organization that'sreally amazing. And my sister
asked us to come and speak tosome of the girls who live in
the house with their youngbabies. And we did, you know,
(14:03):
and we didn't know what toexpect or even have any sort of
preparation. We just kind ofwent and showed up and said,
all right , God, you just dowhat you wanna do. And he
always does. So we showed upand, you know, it was very
informal. We were sitting inthe living room area, a few of
the girls came and obviously afew of them , um, you know, had
(14:25):
their arms crossed and youcould tell were kind of
resistant to us at first, butthen once we just started
opening up and sharing and justbeing real and genuine and
sharing about who we are andwhy we're there, and , um, God
just like showed up in such acool way that there was one
girl who came down a little bitlater after we had already all
(14:46):
started talking and she wasn'tfeeling well. And Matt and I
just started sharing aboutfamily and how, how we met and
just kind of our story and justencouraging these girls that,
you know, want, that they wantto have family, they want to
have that unit. They don'twanna do this alone. They're
raising these babies aloneright now. Um, and I guess one
(15:11):
of the girls, she, that morningshe was praying and asking God
to not be alone and to have afamily. And so after we shared
everything that we wanted totalk about, she just kind of
broke down in tears and said, Iliterally was praying to God
this morning for everythingthat you guys just shared
today. And I have goosebumps.
(15:33):
Yeah . Because it was just sucha powerful moment that, you
know, you think, well, what amI gonna say? It's like we have
to get out of our own heads andrealize it's not anything that
we are going to do, or we aregoing to say that God is just
truly gonna speak through uswhen we're open and we're open
vessels and he's gonna usethose words to encourage
(15:53):
others. Right . And he does itevery single time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And you can't discount your anointing. Each
of you have an anointing. Ifyou are following God's call in
your life and you're living forhim, the Holy Spirit is going
to operate through you and youjust have to show up. I mean,
think of it this way, thatnudge that led us to go to
Atlanta, drive across the southto Texas, led us to this young
(16:17):
lady who was only gonna live atthat home for a short period of
time. This is not a permanentresidence for her. Right. If we
would've done this trip laterin the year, we never meet her,
right? Mm-hmm. .
But God loves this young ladyso much, and her baby and her
kids, I think she had more thanone kid and he had two kids.
She needed to hear from him.
And, and we were just thevessels for that moment. And it
(16:39):
was really powerful. When youthink of a time span of all
this, right? From the 2016,Jake the snake email mm-hmm .
to the actualevent of doing this video shoot
to going to Texas. And we havethis moment at this woman's
center where we get to pray fornow these women who are single
(17:00):
moms, so much more happened inTexas. Oh my goodness.
. We could go on for hours, itcould be like a , a movie. And
we're driving back now to ourhome in Charleston. We're
stopping in Mississippi. Mm-hmm. , we're
listening to a , a message fromone of the pastors of the
church that we attend inCharleston , um, pastor , uh,
(17:27):
Greg sra . He was talking aboutdivine appointments. Right. It
was, I believe a , a reallygreat mm-hmm . Message. And ,
and we were just like, drive .
I'm like , well , I'm prayingfor divine appointments today.
Mm-hmm. , and weliterally are in Jackson,
Mississippi, decide to go getice cream. We're wearing
shirts, faith-based shirts, andwe start talking to this
(17:48):
gentleman and boom, withinminutes, retired military
fellow follower of Christpastor end up blessing him,
getting him ice cream and justawesome conversation. So God
wants these moments to happenevery day. Mm-hmm.
, we just have tocontinue to be obedient and be
willing to engage. Right. It'seasy to not wanna engage. There
(18:11):
are days where I fall short ofdoing it mm-hmm .
where I'm like, oh man, I'mjust, I'm tapped out. I don't
know if I have it in me, butjust continue to seek out on
how you can be that voice inthe wilderness that, that voice
of, of just letting people knowthat, that God is with you.
That God is here, God can moldand shape and change and
transform you. And it's allabout us just following that
(18:35):
prompting that nudge, thatlittle, Hey, go talk to that
person over there. Hey, takethat drive down to that
supermarket. Why am I going now? God, I don't know. I'm not
sure why you're telling me, butI'll go. It's just being
obedient.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah. Because you know what ? God's always going
after the one, and if he canuse you to go after the one
he's going to and he will.
Yeah. And it's ,
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And if you have three kids Yep . From ages five
and under, you're qualified todo this. 'cause we just did it
. So it's, it's , it'sa wild time.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
The cool part is like, our kids are seeing us do
this, and it's part of ourlife. It is not a,
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's not a show.
It's not
Speaker 3 (19:13):
A show. This is our everyday life. And this has
been us just going deeper, youknow, in the word and just
being filled with his spiritevery time we go out of these
doors. And , um, we just watchwhat God does. He does miracles
every day . We just have to bewilling. And we love you guys.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Love you guys. Thank you for sharing our podcast. If
you haven't already, pleaserepost it in social media land,
encourage people to send us areview. Yes. Good, bad or
indifferent, we'll take it and, uh, subscribe. Five
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Stars, please,. All right . See you
guys next time.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Peace . See you later.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Hey guys, thanks so much for listening to the
Puzzle is Real Podcast. Pleasesubscribe today and share with
the friend. See you soon.
Welcome to the Puzzle is Real podcast where we
(00:02):
will be discussing Faith,family, and Relationships
hosted by Matt and MelissaPisani. This is The Puzzle is
Real podcast when you know, youknow.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
All right . Here we are. Hey
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Guys. What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We are a traveling family band , baby
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Beam. Beam beam.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We just had the gasoline filled up in the old
faith tank and we are ready forthe next big move of God. What
does that mean? I don't evenknow what he's talking about.
Well, we just got back
(00:46):
really powerful and it mm-hmm .
and we were watching adocumentary and it was about a
former wrestler, Jake the SnakeRoberts, and it was on Netflix
and mm-hmm .
email to try to partner withhim, and we were really
inspired by his story. So thatwas in 2016. Mm-hmm.
(01:09):
email from his managementsaying that they wanted to talk
to us about doing somethingwith him. So over six and a
half years later, we got aresponse. And that's amazing.
'cause you know, there's timeswhere we've emailed people. I
mean, I think we've emailedeveryone from Ellen DeGeneres
(01:31):
to , um, I don't even know.
It's just, it's a long list. Sowe we're very thorough about
letting people know about CleanSlate Living, which is the
platform that we've been justusing to reach people, to share
with people the love of Jesusin different ways, healthy
lifestyle programs, alldifferent things. A multitude
of different things. So we ,um, yeah, we just, we have a
(01:55):
few different highlights wewanted to share with you about
that trip and how it tied intoa greater, greater commission
than we thought.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah. And I think just to tie in the fact that
like, God's timing is perfect,you know, we reached out in
2016 and obviously didn't hearanything back until the end of
2022, because now looking backand looking at what we just did
with , um, Jake the SnakeRoberts, we wouldn't have been
prepared for .
Speaker 2 (02:23):
We weren't ready
Speaker 3 (02:24):
At that time. So I think God was just waiting for
us to truly be ready and thenhe was like, okay, now I'm
gonna open the floodgates.
Yeah. So I guess we'll sharewhat,
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, I had a question for the listener too
before we , um, really dumpedthis on everyone. Have you ever
been prepared for somethingthat was like a big opportunity
and you went and like crushedit? We had an opportunity like
that once and it was to be onnational TV with the Nasdaq and
(02:59):
that was what, 2017?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
20 beginning of 2018.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
So we were just ready to go. We were ready for
the opportunity and we went andwe were prepared. And we've
always said like, wow, you haveto be ready for those
opportunities. And I think thatthis was just another reminder
of like being prepared for likewhat God's calling you into.
It's not always like big likepublicity type moves . Like,
oh, I'm gonna be on TVtomorrow. Right . But it's
sometimes just whatever thatthat opportunity is. Like, are
(03:27):
you ready to go on that, thatnext trip to go minister to
people in Zimbabwe? Are youready to go and, you know,
support the local soup kitchen,whatever it is that you're
calling to do to serve others?
Or it could be your job, avocation. Um, preparation is
huge and then obviously it'sGod's timing. But yes, we, we
felt a nudge to move forwardwith a project that is a video
(03:50):
series with Jake the SnakeRoberts. And it was so much
more that came from thatjourney that we just went on to
Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yeah. So
'cause there's just so much,but, so it was great 'cause
Matt's parents , um, flew toCharleston and hung out with us
for a few days and I ended upgetting sick, which was not
great. And I knew that we hadto film this. I knew that
things were coming up and thistends to happen. It happened
(04:18):
before our wedding. I got sickbefore our wedding. Anyway, so
his parents come and theygraciously said that they were
gonna drive to Atlanta behindus or follow us there, that way
they could watch the kids whilewe shot this film. Um, so they
did. And that was incredible.
And we just, there's like somany tidbits. So I guess, so
(04:43):
one thing that I will say isright before we were about to
leave , um, the person who wassupposed to film for us backed
out and we were kind of put ina little bit of a pickle Oh
yeah. And we're like, all right, God, are you telling us not
to do this? Are you telling usto do to do this? And , um,
(05:03):
Matt's friend Eric, what theweek before?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah. Not far before. Had met someone in
Texas who was a film person,was a photographer, like, like
fit the whole description ofwhat we would, what we would
need. And I was meaning tofollow up to find out about
this person. And the night thatwe found out that we didn't
(05:29):
have the film people to shootin Atlanta, I was at a local
Walmart and you can't make thisup. I literally at that point
was still determined that we, Ireally felt like we were
supposed to do it mm-hmm .
was gonna provide someone. Andthere was this shirt in the kid
section of the Walmart , onered shirt. And I was like, man,
(05:50):
what is that? And it was acartoon esque WrestleMania
shirt and right in the middlewith all the wrestlers was Jake
the snake Roberts character.
Right. And I , I just knewlike, wow, this is just a wink.
I really feel like God hasconfirmed we're supposed to
still move forward with this.
So the next day we got on acall with Eric. We got on a
call with , uh, our now friendKen, who committed to driving
(06:14):
from Texas
doing of excellence. Um, we hadthe person, we didn't even know
that he was gonna be the guy,but God knew and God knew
before we even had any ideathat we were gonna need
to find someone. And
Speaker 3 (06:34):
What's so cool is like the people that they had
that were gonna film for us inAtlanta, we weren't really
gonna have tons of editorialcontrol. I think they would've
just made certain cuts to,
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah. It might have looked different than what it
might have looked a littledifferent, what we were going
after. So this was a hugeprovision and um, and it just
worked. So we, we met inAtlanta the day before the
shoot went to go get somedinner and just God started
moving right away.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Yeah. I feel like when you're aligned with people
who are just really in tunewith the Holy Spirit, just
things happen and we've seenthis time and time and time
again. And it's not for us togo out and go on mission trips.
Right. Like Matt and I alwayssay that we wanna live a
mission-driven life. You know,the mission field is at our
front door every single
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Day. Yeah. We're on mission every day,
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Every day. So we go , it's fun , it's , yeah, it is
fun. 'cause God's just amazingand he just
say, okay, he will just open upeverything for you. And it's
just incredible. So we went toa restaurant first time we got
to meet Ken, who was awesome.
We brought the kids and gotsome food, you know, got to
(07:39):
know each other a little bitbetter before the shoot. And ,
um, we had a waiter that was,you know , living an
alternative lifestyle, put itthat way. Very nice. Ended up
being from New York. So we weretalking about New York and just
kind of hit it off, but I couldtell that he was more
comfortable speaking to me thanhe was to the men. So we finish
(08:01):
, we pay the bill, we leave,and then we're all standing
outside and we're like, wegotta go back in there. We
gotta talk to this guy. Andwe're like, what do we do? And
so Matt and Ken are like,Melissa, you have to do it. And
I'm like, me. I'm like, what amI gonna say? You know? And you
get fearful. Yeah . 'cause it'slike you think you, you know,
have to say something, but Godwill really speak through you
when you just ask him to. Sowe're like, all right , let's,
(08:24):
I'll go back in there and givehim, you know, a little bit
more of a tip and just let Godspeak through me. And so I went
back inside, I had Magnolia onmy hip and he sees me from a
distance and he's like, oh, didyou forget something? And I was
like, no, actually I justwanted to talk to you. And he's
like me. And he was kind oftaken back and I said, listen,
I don't even remember exactlywhat I said, but I just felt
(08:46):
like God just showered him withhis love. And he ended up
crying. And I be , I think acouple things that came out out
were , you know, God loves you.
He hasn't forgotten you. Hesees you and you have a
purpose. And if no one's evertold you that, God wants you to
know that and Jesus loves youso much. And he started crying.
(09:08):
So I said, can I hug you? Andhe's like, yes. So we just had
this warm embrace and I just, Ijust felt like he needed to
hear that from maybe like amother figure or hear that a
father would say that to him asI was just in tune with what
the spirit wanted to tell him.
And it was just such abeautiful moment. And I'm not
(09:28):
saying this to exalt us at all.
I'm just saying like , we haveso many opportunities
throughout the day to show thelove of Christ to people, and
we pass by them all the time.
But when we're truly in tunewith the spirit, you see things
from the spiritual realm. AndMatt and I have been talking
about this a lot lately, islike, once you see things from
(09:50):
the spiritual, you can't unseethem. Right? Like there's just
so much like heaviness that youfeel like, oh my gosh, I have
to talk to this person. I Iwant to hug that. Yeah . That
person, there's just so muchmore promptings that happen and
you see things so much moredeeply than you do when you're
just going about your day. Sothat was just a really cool
(10:11):
moment. And from that point on,we just knew God was gonna
continue doing really specialthings throughout the project
and our trip and our family andall the new people that we're
meeting.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah. And I would just add too , like just to
like sit on the whole being outto eat with a waiter or a
waitress. Like don'tunderestimate when someone is
being friendly and sharing withyou. It's not them just trying
to maybe earn a tip or, youknow, kill time. I think that's
their unique moments tominister to people that work in
(10:42):
that business. Right. AndMelissa and I have both been in
the food and beverage businessbefore and you know, this, this
gentleman was looking forconnection and we could have
easily overlooked that anddismissed it. And the fact that
we were obedient to just loveon him and to let him know that
he's seen mm-hmm .
(11:04):
just encourage, it's an uncomfuncomfortable thing to do, but
I encourage you , if you canlook for those moments when
you're out to eat with friendsand family, to just minister to
the people that are servingyou, it'll, it'll blow their
mind. And it's a great way toremind them that Jesus loves
them. So yeah. That was
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Great . That was great. And then you can even
share a quick story aboutanother way that we just had
recently where you asked him atPaige's. Oh ,
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Right. Yeah. So, and you know, we had a , uh, we
were getting brunch somewhereand I dunno why the guy was
just , um, it was on my heartand I was gonna ask him if he
needed prayer before we weregoing to eat. And, you know,
was that resistance? And Idefinitely thought it was like
a, like, why , why am I notasking him yet? And you know, I
(11:52):
dismissed it and I ended upwaiting till after we got the
bill and I asked him, Hey,like, you know, is there
anything I could pray for youfor this week? And he just
started opening up to us mm-hmm.
it was awesome. He was reallyreceptive.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah. It's just really cool how you don't
realize how many people areactually open. Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You just have to ask and you just have to ask. You
can't be afraid of therejection. Mm-hmm.
said, I've been trying to, mywife and I have been trying to
have a a baby for a while andnow we're finally having our
baby. It's, it's coming inDecember, our baby, she's
coming and mm-hmm .
Speaker 3 (12:28):
For
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And just pray for her. Yeah . And , and it was
just awesome. So like, youjust, you never know how God is
gonna use you. So Yeah. Thatwas , that was just a quick
little extra for you there thatI just thought was important.
'cause a lot of times wedismiss those moments and
think, oh, well that's only,only so and so can do that type
of stuff. That's their gifting.
We're all equipped to do it.
(12:48):
And it doesn't have to beperfect and you don't need a
lot of words.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
No, I mean, read the Bible
many stories of people who werenot equipped, but God equipped
them because they were readyand willing. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah. So we, we got nudged to go do this project
and we got nudged to see ourfamily in Texas sooner than we
had planned, which was anotherpart of this mm-hmm.
We want to encourage you thatif you're feeling a nudge to go
, to go and push up a trip andit's something that you just
feel like God's saying, it'stime to go now. Be sensitive to
(13:22):
go. Don't try to figure it out.
'cause we, we were sensitive tosay, all right , we're gonna
go, we got to Texas mm-hmm .
woman's center, a uh , a placefor , um, from single moms.
Yeah . And I'll let Melissajust share a little bit about
that real quick here. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So my sister volunteers at a place in Texas
, um, and it's all for singlemoms who come from various
backgrounds and who just need alittle bit of help. And it's a
Christian organization that'sreally amazing. And my sister
asked us to come and speak tosome of the girls who live in
the house with their youngbabies. And we did, you know,
(14:03):
and we didn't know what toexpect or even have any sort of
preparation. We just kind ofwent and showed up and said,
all right , God, you just dowhat you wanna do. And he
always does. So we showed upand, you know, it was very
informal. We were sitting inthe living room area, a few of
the girls came and obviously afew of them , um, you know, had
(14:25):
their arms crossed and youcould tell were kind of
resistant to us at first, butthen once we just started
opening up and sharing and justbeing real and genuine and
sharing about who we are andwhy we're there, and , um, God
just like showed up in such acool way that there was one
girl who came down a little bitlater after we had already all
(14:46):
started talking and she wasn'tfeeling well. And Matt and I
just started sharing aboutfamily and how, how we met and
just kind of our story and justencouraging these girls that,
you know, want, that they wantto have family, they want to
have that unit. They don'twanna do this alone. They're
raising these babies aloneright now. Um, and I guess one
(15:11):
of the girls, she, that morningshe was praying and asking God
to not be alone and to have afamily. And so after we shared
everything that we wanted totalk about, she just kind of
broke down in tears and said, Iliterally was praying to God
this morning for everythingthat you guys just shared
today. And I have goosebumps.
(15:33):
Yeah . Because it was just sucha powerful moment that, you
know, you think, well, what amI gonna say? It's like we have
to get out of our own heads andrealize it's not anything that
we are going to do, or we aregoing to say that God is just
truly gonna speak through uswhen we're open and we're open
vessels and he's gonna usethose words to encourage
(15:53):
others. Right . And he does itevery single time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And you can't discount your anointing. Each
of you have an anointing. Ifyou are following God's call in
your life and you're living forhim, the Holy Spirit is going
to operate through you and youjust have to show up. I mean,
think of it this way, thatnudge that led us to go to
Atlanta, drive across the southto Texas, led us to this young
(16:17):
lady who was only gonna live atthat home for a short period of
time. This is not a permanentresidence for her. Right. If we
would've done this trip laterin the year, we never meet her,
right? Mm-hmm.
But God loves this young ladyso much, and her baby and her
kids, I think she had more thanone kid and he had two kids.
She needed to hear from him.
And, and we were just thevessels for that moment. And it
(16:39):
was really powerful. When youthink of a time span of all
this, right? From the 2016,Jake the snake email mm-hmm .
to going to Texas. And we havethis moment at this woman's
center where we get to pray fornow these women who are single
(17:00):
moms, so much more happened inTexas. Oh my goodness.
. We could go on for hours, itcould be like a , a movie. And
we're driving back now to ourhome in Charleston. We're
stopping in Mississippi. Mm-hmm.
listening to a , a message fromone of the pastors of the
church that we attend inCharleston , um, pastor , uh,
(17:27):
Greg sra . He was talking aboutdivine appointments. Right. It
was, I believe a , a reallygreat mm-hmm . Message. And ,
and we were just like, drive .
I'm like , well , I'm prayingfor divine appointments today.
Mm-hmm.
Mississippi, decide to go getice cream. We're wearing
shirts, faith-based shirts, andwe start talking to this
(17:48):
gentleman and boom, withinminutes, retired military
fellow follower of Christpastor end up blessing him,
getting him ice cream and justawesome conversation. So God
wants these moments to happenevery day. Mm-hmm.
willing to engage. Right. It'seasy to not wanna engage. There
(18:11):
are days where I fall short ofdoing it mm-hmm .
where I'm like, oh man, I'mjust, I'm tapped out. I don't
know if I have it in me, butjust continue to seek out on
how you can be that voice inthe wilderness that, that voice
of, of just letting people knowthat, that God is with you.
That God is here, God can moldand shape and change and
transform you. And it's allabout us just following that
(18:35):
prompting that nudge, thatlittle, Hey, go talk to that
person over there. Hey, takethat drive down to that
supermarket. Why am I going now? God, I don't know. I'm not
sure why you're telling me, butI'll go. It's just being
obedient.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Yeah. Because you know what ? God's always going
after the one, and if he canuse you to go after the one
he's going to and he will.
Yeah. And it's ,
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And if you have three kids Yep . From ages five
and under, you're qualified todo this. 'cause we just did it
Speaker 3 (19:06):
The cool part is like, our kids are seeing us do
this, and it's part of ourlife. It is not a,
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's not a show.
It's not
Speaker 3 (19:13):
A show. This is our everyday life. And this has
been us just going deeper, youknow, in the word and just
being filled with his spiritevery time we go out of these
doors. And , um, we just watchwhat God does. He does miracles
every day . We just have to bewilling. And we love you guys.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Love you guys. Thank you for sharing our podcast. If
you haven't already, pleaserepost it in social media land,
encourage people to send us areview. Yes. Good, bad or
indifferent, we'll take it and, uh, subscribe. Five
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Stars, please,
guys next time.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Peace . See you later.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Hey guys, thanks so much for listening to the
Puzzle is Real Podcast. Pleasesubscribe today and share with
the friend. See you soon.
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