October 31, 2023 • 21 mins
Have you ever wondered how struggles, trials, and tribulations can shape your life in unexpected ways? In today's episode, we explore this thought-provoking question by discussing my own personal journey of transformation. From battling depression, financial struggles, and weight issues, to losing loved ones, I unravel the darkest chapters of my life in hopes of illuminating your path.
Join me as we discover how life's challenges can become stepping stones to your purpose. I share my journey from despair to triumph, overcoming depression, financial hardship, and finding hope in the midst of adversity. You're not alone; there's beauty in the broken."
God has been so faithful, even in the darkest of times. His power to transform our seemingly hopeless situations into something amazing is awe-inspiring. Let's embark on this journey of finding hope in the most unlikely of places together.
Follow on Instagram & Facebook: @AndyBHoward
Buy the book on Amazon: www.amazon.com/When-Words-Dont-Come-Easy/dp/1955362084
Listen to the first chapter: soundcloud.com/andy-howard-788712319
Learn more at AndyHoward.com!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up everybody?
I'm going to spend the next fewminutes just sharing about the
very things in my life that Ibelieve were meant to take me
out and not only take me out,but I think there are some
things that may be meant to takeyou out as well.
And the very things that almostbroke me are the very things
that propelled me in life.
(00:20):
It is no joke, the very thingsthat were being used against me.
God took the exact same thing.
He didn't bring something fromleft field.
He said you already got it.
Let's use that thing that'sagainst you and let's use it for
you.
And I just want to share thosestories so that they can be
hopeful for you.
(00:40):
So stick around to the end aswell, because I have a request
for some people who might behurting, and I know that God's
going to lay them on your heart.
So stick around to the end sothat you can hear what my
request is.
But thank you so much.
All this and more is happeningright after this.
Welcome back to the when WordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
(01:20):
My name is Andy Howard and I amso excited.
I am so glad you're here.
If this is your first time,welcome.
I remember several times in mylife when I was looking for a
podcast just like this, and whatI mean by that.
This is a podcast about hope,no matter who's on, if I'm
(01:44):
interviewing somebody, or ifit's just something that I'm
sharing from the book orsomething God's laid on my heart
.
This podcast will be used as atool to push people to hope,
because there were so many timesin my life where I remember
being in a very dark place andyou may not be in a dark place,
(02:10):
maybe you're just having a badday, or you're in a funk, or
some dear friend has just sentthis to you because you were on
their heart.
This will be a podcast of hope,and there were many times in my
life when I was in a dark placewhere I would have loved to
have a podcast like this, and soI hope it'll be a blessing to
(02:31):
you.
That's my prayer, that's thereason I do this that it will be
a blessing to you and that itwill help you to keep fighting
and keep going For me.
I don't claim to be the expertby any means on mental health.
I'm just a dude in the trenchesjust like you, trying to put
(02:52):
one foot in front of the other.
I survived.
I say that proudly.
I survived depression and I saythat because there was a time
where I didn't want to live.
But today God is using me and Icouldn't see, I couldn't see all
the things that were ahead ofme.
Back then I couldn't see this.
Back then I couldn't see thelife that I would have today.
(03:14):
Back then I couldn't seetomorrow.
Back then I was just at a placewhere, where I was just focused
on all the negative thingsaround me and all the broken
things around me and I couldn'tsee the beauty in the broken.
And God has restored that in myheart and now I'm able to help
(03:35):
others with my story and I prayit'll be a blessing to you so
that you can help others withyours.
But today we're just gonnaspend a few minutes here.
I probably won't be as long asother podcasts have been in the
past, but I wanted to talk justabout that, about the beauty of
the broken.
And there's been so many timesin my life that the very thing
(03:57):
this is wild, the very thingthat almost killed me is what
God is using for his glory.
Man, isn't that so cool?
The very thing that almost tookme out is what God has turned
around and what was meant forharm he's turned for good, just
like his scripture say, justlike his word says.
I can think of so many areas,but for one, I was 345 pounds.
(04:23):
At one time in my life.
I was so sick, so sick man.
I would spend more time drivingaround the parking lot than I
would in the grocery storetrying to find that good parking
spot that was up close, becauseI did not wanna walk.
And if I didn't find that goodspot, I had to walk that far in.
I was out of breath by the timeI even got in the store.
(04:44):
Not kidding, I was alwayslooking for shortcuts, did not
want to take the stairs by anymeans.
I would take the elevator, Iwould wait in line for the
elevator.
All the things man.
And now God is using us.
Isn't that funny?
He is using us to reachthousands of people's lives
(05:06):
through our ministry.
We call it through our health,helping others find health.
God is so faithful man.
He is so faithful.
And if you had told me way backthen that, hey, man, god is
gonna use you in your 345 poundcell with so many just diseases,
(05:27):
dis-eases, so many uneasy areasof my life.
He's gonna use that to helpothers.
So crazy.
I don't even believe it.
I still don't believe it.
But along with that we were sobroke financially.
(05:47):
We were so hurting financially.
There's always been so manytimes in our life where we
wanted to help others, where wewere somebody whether it was
angels, you know, aroundChristmas time when people will
put the angels on the tree andyou can help adopt a family.
I remember so many hard timesin our life.
(06:08):
I remember one in particularand I talk about this in the
book and it's just probably itplays a role in all of it where
I was feeling like a failure orthe whole part of my depression
that we had already had patent.
At this point, ms Jeannie,that's Tiffany's mom, had moved
in with us and we thought it wasa win-win situation.
(06:30):
She had moved in with usbecause she had lost Tiffany's
dad, her husband Gary Underwood.
He had died of brain cancer, sohe's gone.
She's grieving him, she movesin and we move into a brand new
house together.
It seemed like a win-winsituation.
(06:50):
She's going through somedepression herself, grieving the
loss of her husband.
We needed help with Peyton aswell.
We needed help with thefinances.
She was able to help us withthe house, so we could kind of
split it half and half, havzies,if you will Win-win for
(07:12):
everybody.
Until one morning we found thatshe had had a heart attack and
passed away in the middle of thenight.
Besides all the grieving and Iwant you to hear me, it still to
this day hurts Tiffany, becauseTiffany found her mom in the
(07:33):
guest bathroom getting ready forwork.
She found her.
There was nothing she could do,she had already passed away.
She found her.
And not only that, the grievingof finding your own mom, the
heartache, the stress, I mean,think about that.
That's enough.
(07:55):
But after that, now, all of asudden, the house payment was a
Havzies is now the whole thingwe inherited.
And then we inherited a brandnew car which was her mom's and
we didn't have the money for it.
But what do you do?
(08:15):
Right, this was the last thing,that of her mom's.
I mean, there were so manylittle notes in there, those
sticky notes.
There was the scent of her momwas in there, so many little
hidden things in the glove boxthat just reminded Tiffany so
much of her mom and she lovedthat car so much and I would
never forget I getting one night, getting a loud bang on the
(08:38):
door and there's the repo me.
It was there and there wasabsolutely nothing I could do.
There's two of them.
I'm not a fighter, anyways, I'ma lover.
I'm kidding, I've never beenthe fighting type.
You won't have to worry aboutme getting in a fight with you
if you're wondering.
But even still, there wasabsolutely nothing we could do.
(09:01):
They already had the car and hedid stop to tell me that they
were taking it.
So that was, I guess, courteousof him.
But I could already see it onthe back of their tow truck and
they were leaving and he left acard and said here you go, this
is where it will be.
And it was just ridiculous.
Just all the heartache and hurtand I remember to beating,
(09:26):
beating my chest with her fists.
And you cannot let them takethis car.
There was nothing I could doabout it and I hate it as a man,
as a husband, and then youstart getting beat up as like
weren't you supposed to be aprovider and all the things it
was.
(09:47):
It was hard and I don't want aPity party or anything like that
.
I'm just trying to tell you howbad it was, there was more
bills than Paycheck, and itwasn't that we didn't work hard,
we just didn't have the rightvehicle.
We would just Burn the candleat both ends, literally trying
(10:07):
to work whatever jobs wereavailable.
I'm trying to stay in ourcalling as youth pastors, trying
to do that as well and Justworking at all the hours of the
week trying to make enough money, but it just wasn't enough.
But even that the very thingthat almost killed us.
Now we are helping so manyothers find freedom In their
(10:32):
finances and it takes.
It's not that we're doing,we're teaching them the skills
that we learned and then theywork hard and God is blessing
their hard work and it's just socool being on the other end of
that right.
So this is two of the areas Withmy depression as well.
I already told you you know Imentioned this in past episodes
(10:55):
as well but I never had a planfor Suicide per se, but I didn't
want to live.
I Didn't want to live anymore.
I was praying God just take mehome from all the things with
with Peyton's diagnosis, to allthe stressors of Losing you know
(11:16):
, her mom and her dad, laterlosing my dad just so many, so
many things that happened andjust a lot of heartache and a
lot of why, me prayers, and Iwas hurting.
I was so broken and in the timewhen I should have been at my
(11:38):
happiest, we went on vacationand all I could see was all the
things Peyton couldn't do.
I couldn't see all the thingsthat she was doing or could do,
all the joys and all thepotential for her story to reach
Millions, because that'ssomething I prayed every day for
, her Lord and let her storyreach millions, and I couldn't
see it.
(11:58):
I couldn't say how are yougonna do it?
She, nothing was happening.
It's like God didn't even hearme anymore and my depression got
worse and worse and worse.
But he's so faithful, you guys,he's been so faithful to us.
I'll never forget the shortversion of this and I've
mentioned it on other episodes,but you can go back and listen,
or it's in the book as well ifyou want to hear the whole story
(12:20):
, but the short version.
I was walking along the beachand I heard him whisper to me
there is beauty in the broken.
There is beauty in the broken.
It was at that moment like thisthis damn love, depression
began to burst and thisoverwhelming peace and joy just
began to fill my life, and thevery thing that almost killed me
(12:43):
.
Now I'm helping others findfreedom in their depression or
their mental health or all thethings of struggles that they
may be continuing with.
So, while so, we talked aboutdepression, we talked about
finances, and we talked what didwe talk about in the beginning?
Totally drawing a blankDepression, finances, and oh in
(13:07):
health, all the things that I'vebeen doing, finances and oh, in
health, all the things thatalmost killed me.
When God has turned around, IJust want you to know there is
hope for you.
Today, in fact, there's this,this piece of Japanese art.
It's called kids kintsugi.
(13:27):
I believe if I'm saying thatright, I don't have my power
point with me, my slides that Iusually use when I'm speaking,
but I believe it's calledkintsugi and it's what it's like
any kind of ceramic or broken,like pottery or bowls or
Whatever that they'll take thesebroken pieces and then they
will end up by using melted gold, hot gold, and reform them and
(13:52):
shape them and put them backtogether again.
And what happens?
What's really cool about thispiece is, when it's done, it is
stronger than it was before.
It's actually more valuablethan it was before.
So what you need to know isWhatever, whatever it is in your
life that is almost broke.
You Maybe you're here today andit's Somebody shared this
(14:16):
podcast with you, or youstumbled on it or whatever
reason.
I don't.
I don't care how you got here,I, but something I've said is
just struck an air with you andyou feel broken.
In fact, you're weeping.
You're so, you're so hurt rightnow.
I've been there, I have beenthere.
I care for you.
I'm here to tell you you'regoing to get put back together
(14:39):
again and there's there's hopefor you.
There's so much hope for you tokeep going forward.
Don't give up, don't quit,because the enemy who's going up
against us in this spiritualwarfare, this game of tug of war
that's going on for for yoursoul, for your life, trying to
(15:00):
break you?
You would love nothing morethan for you to quit and lose
out on all the hope that God'slaid before your life and the
very things that have almostbroken you could be the very
things that God wants to use youto help others with, and I
believe he can do that, but youhave to be willing to step out
(15:24):
first.
I love the story.
I love the story of the storyof Peter walking on the water
right, and this is the shortversion as well.
But they see Jesus and they'relike is that Jesus?
I don't know.
And Peter's like if that's you,lord, tell me to come out and I
will come.
I mean, like I don't know, evenif I love his faith.
(15:50):
But even if you, if you don'tknow who it is, are you really
going to trust them If you don'tknow who it is and it's like a
bad guy trying to get you tosink?
Nevermind, that's, that's justhow I think.
I think a little warpssometimes, but forgive me, but
he sees Jesus.
He says is that you Lord?
If it is, tell me to come andI'll come.
And sure enough, he's like it'sme, come on, peter.
(16:10):
And Peter, and it's what's socool about this?
People give Peter a hard time,right?
Peter's the dude that blows upon a lot of people.
He's the dude that cuts cutsthe soldier's ears off.
He's the one that denies Christthree times.
Even after being warned thathe's going to going to do it, he
still does it.
Peter gets, he has a hard time.
(16:32):
And I wrote man.
He reminds me so much of myself.
He reminds me so much of me, hereminds me so much of me that I
have I have the gifting of, ofscrewing up the most simplest
tasks sometimes.
But here it is and Peter isasked hey, peter, is I come see
me?
Here I am, come on.
(16:53):
And here's what the dude does,cause I didn't see any other
disciples volunteer or jump up.
Peter doesn't dude, he walks onwater.
It's in the word.
It says it.
Right, he takes a step, he'swalking on water, he's looking
at Jesus, he's walking on water.
But what happens?
(17:13):
It says in the word that hebegins to take his eyes off of
Jesus and he puts his eyes onthe storm.
He starts to see the winds andthe waves around him and it's at
that moment he begins to sink,he begins to fall.
But Jesus got him, he had himthe whole time.
He grabbed, he reached out, hepicked him up.
He's got you.
(17:34):
He didn't tell him hey, oh, youlittle faith.
It gave him a little scolding,but he still had in the whole
time he said I got you, he's gotyou.
Here's the thing.
It's easy sometimes to losevision of God, of Jesus.
It's easy to set our eyes onthe, the winds and the waves
(17:57):
that are around us.
But our hope comes from Jesus.
Our hope comes into him, and Ipromise you he didn't bring you
this far to let you drill down.
He's got you because he caresabout you.
He cares about you just likethat broken ceramic pot or
whatever it is.
(18:18):
He's going to piece you backtogether, one piece at a time.
You're going to come backstronger and more valuable than
you were before the storm.
He cares for you.
He's got a plan for you.
And how do I know this?
Because our enemy that's out toget us would not try so hard,
(18:42):
it would not be trying so hardto mess you up if you didn't
have a big plan ahead for you.
So don't quit.
Hang in there with me, with you.
Thank you so much for joiningtoday.
If this has been a blessing foryou, please, please, share this
to someone who got his late onyour heart.
Stay tuned for this.
Hey, I hope that's been ablessing for you.
(19:03):
Do me a favor, just like Imentioned earlier, if God laid
someone on your heart while youwere listening to this episode,
wait for this particular podcastto them.
I really feel like, especiallyin this day and age we're living
in, that sometimes people aregasping at their last straws.
They're like holding on for abreath of fresh air.
(19:24):
This could be it.
Something I've said, I don'tknow I prayed, something I said
would be a blessing to them,would be encouraging to them to
help them keep fighting, to keepgoing on.
Be that hope to just get tothat next step, that flashlight
of hope to be able to guide thenext step for you.
Maybe it doesn't line upeverything, the whole path,
(19:47):
maybe you don't see the wholepicture, the whole puzzle, but
that next piece comes in lineEnough for you to say, okay, I
made it here, now what?
And you will have that samefaith to keep going step by step
with the Lord.
Thank you for tuning in andplease pass this on to someone
who it can be a blessing to, ifit has been a blessing to you.
Please, please, please, leave afive-star review for this
(20:11):
podcast and even for the book onAmazon.
That will help more readers andmore listeners find when words
don't come easy and that's ourwhole goal is to help people.
So will you do that?
Do me a favor, and then, ifyou're, also, if you would like
for me to read the book for you,you can get it from Audible.
I will read the story for youas well, and then it's available
(20:35):
on Kindle.
If you would like to know whereI'm going to be out over the
next few weeks, please, or ifyou're interested in booking me
for for a service, I would be sohonored to come and speak and
share hope to your people.
You can find that atAndyHowardcom, and all the stuff
about the book is there as well.
Thank you, guys, so much.
(20:55):
We'll talk to you next time,god bless.
What's up everybody?
I'm going to spend the next fewminutes just sharing about the
very things in my life that Ibelieve were meant to take me
out and not only take me out,but I think there are some
things that may be meant to takeyou out as well.
And the very things that almostbroke me are the very things
that propelled me in life.
(00:20):
It is no joke, the very thingsthat were being used against me.
God took the exact same thing.
He didn't bring something fromleft field.
He said you already got it.
Let's use that thing that'sagainst you and let's use it for
you.
And I just want to share thosestories so that they can be
hopeful for you.
(00:40):
So stick around to the end aswell, because I have a request
for some people who might behurting, and I know that God's
going to lay them on your heart.
So stick around to the end sothat you can hear what my
request is.
But thank you so much.
All this and more is happeningright after this.
Welcome back to the when WordsDon't Come Easy podcast.
(01:20):
My name is Andy Howard and I amso excited.
I am so glad you're here.
If this is your first time,welcome.
I remember several times in mylife when I was looking for a
podcast just like this, and whatI mean by that.
This is a podcast about hope,no matter who's on, if I'm
(01:44):
interviewing somebody, or ifit's just something that I'm
sharing from the book orsomething God's laid on my heart
.
This podcast will be used as atool to push people to hope,
because there were so many timesin my life where I remember
being in a very dark place andyou may not be in a dark place,
(02:10):
maybe you're just having a badday, or you're in a funk, or
some dear friend has just sentthis to you because you were on
their heart.
This will be a podcast of hope,and there were many times in my
life when I was in a dark placewhere I would have loved to
have a podcast like this, and soI hope it'll be a blessing to
(02:31):
you.
That's my prayer, that's thereason I do this that it will be
a blessing to you and that itwill help you to keep fighting
and keep going For me.
I don't claim to be the expertby any means on mental health.
I'm just a dude in the trenchesjust like you, trying to put
(02:52):
one foot in front of the other.
I survived.
I say that proudly.
I survived depression and I saythat because there was a time
where I didn't want to live.
But today God is using me and Icouldn't see, I couldn't see all
the things that were ahead ofme.
Back then I couldn't see this.
Back then I couldn't see thelife that I would have today.
(03:14):
Back then I couldn't seetomorrow.
Back then I was just at a placewhere, where I was just focused
on all the negative thingsaround me and all the broken
things around me and I couldn'tsee the beauty in the broken.
And God has restored that in myheart and now I'm able to help
(03:35):
others with my story and I prayit'll be a blessing to you so
that you can help others withyours.
But today we're just gonnaspend a few minutes here.
I probably won't be as long asother podcasts have been in the
past, but I wanted to talk justabout that, about the beauty of
the broken.
And there's been so many timesin my life that the very thing
(03:57):
this is wild, the very thingthat almost killed me is what
God is using for his glory.
Man, isn't that so cool?
The very thing that almost tookme out is what God has turned
around and what was meant forharm he's turned for good, just
like his scripture say, justlike his word says.
I can think of so many areas,but for one, I was 345 pounds.
(04:23):
At one time in my life.
I was so sick, so sick man.
I would spend more time drivingaround the parking lot than I
would in the grocery storetrying to find that good parking
spot that was up close, becauseI did not wanna walk.
And if I didn't find that goodspot, I had to walk that far in.
I was out of breath by the timeI even got in the store.
(04:44):
Not kidding, I was alwayslooking for shortcuts, did not
want to take the stairs by anymeans.
I would take the elevator, Iwould wait in line for the
elevator.
All the things man.
And now God is using us.
Isn't that funny?
He is using us to reachthousands of people's lives
(05:06):
through our ministry.
We call it through our health,helping others find health.
God is so faithful man.
He is so faithful.
And if you had told me way backthen that, hey, man, god is
gonna use you in your 345 poundcell with so many just diseases,
(05:27):
dis-eases, so many uneasy areasof my life.
He's gonna use that to helpothers.
So crazy.
I don't even believe it.
I still don't believe it.
But along with that we were sobroke financially.
(05:47):
We were so hurting financially.
There's always been so manytimes in our life where we
wanted to help others, where wewere somebody whether it was
angels, you know, aroundChristmas time when people will
put the angels on the tree andyou can help adopt a family.
I remember so many hard timesin our life.
(06:08):
I remember one in particularand I talk about this in the
book and it's just probably itplays a role in all of it where
I was feeling like a failure orthe whole part of my depression
that we had already had patent.
At this point, ms Jeannie,that's Tiffany's mom, had moved
in with us and we thought it wasa win-win situation.
(06:30):
She had moved in with usbecause she had lost Tiffany's
dad, her husband Gary Underwood.
He had died of brain cancer, sohe's gone.
She's grieving him, she movesin and we move into a brand new
house together.
It seemed like a win-winsituation.
(06:50):
She's going through somedepression herself, grieving the
loss of her husband.
We needed help with Peyton aswell.
We needed help with thefinances.
She was able to help us withthe house, so we could kind of
split it half and half, havzies,if you will Win-win for
(07:12):
everybody.
Until one morning we found thatshe had had a heart attack and
passed away in the middle of thenight.
Besides all the grieving and Iwant you to hear me, it still to
this day hurts Tiffany, becauseTiffany found her mom in the
(07:33):
guest bathroom getting ready forwork.
She found her.
There was nothing she could do,she had already passed away.
She found her.
And not only that, the grievingof finding your own mom, the
heartache, the stress, I mean,think about that.
That's enough.
(07:55):
But after that, now, all of asudden, the house payment was a
Havzies is now the whole thingwe inherited.
And then we inherited a brandnew car which was her mom's and
we didn't have the money for it.
But what do you do?
(08:15):
Right, this was the last thing,that of her mom's.
I mean, there were so manylittle notes in there, those
sticky notes.
There was the scent of her momwas in there, so many little
hidden things in the glove boxthat just reminded Tiffany so
much of her mom and she lovedthat car so much and I would
never forget I getting one night, getting a loud bang on the
(08:38):
door and there's the repo me.
It was there and there wasabsolutely nothing I could do.
There's two of them.
I'm not a fighter, anyways, I'ma lover.
I'm kidding, I've never beenthe fighting type.
You won't have to worry aboutme getting in a fight with you
if you're wondering.
But even still, there wasabsolutely nothing we could do.
(09:01):
They already had the car and hedid stop to tell me that they
were taking it.
So that was, I guess, courteousof him.
But I could already see it onthe back of their tow truck and
they were leaving and he left acard and said here you go, this
is where it will be.
And it was just ridiculous.
Just all the heartache and hurtand I remember to beating,
(09:26):
beating my chest with her fists.
And you cannot let them takethis car.
There was nothing I could doabout it and I hate it as a man,
as a husband, and then youstart getting beat up as like
weren't you supposed to be aprovider and all the things it
was.
(09:47):
It was hard and I don't want aPity party or anything like that
.
I'm just trying to tell you howbad it was, there was more
bills than Paycheck, and itwasn't that we didn't work hard,
we just didn't have the rightvehicle.
We would just Burn the candleat both ends, literally trying
(10:07):
to work whatever jobs wereavailable.
I'm trying to stay in ourcalling as youth pastors, trying
to do that as well and Justworking at all the hours of the
week trying to make enough money, but it just wasn't enough.
But even that the very thingthat almost killed us.
Now we are helping so manyothers find freedom In their
(10:32):
finances and it takes.
It's not that we're doing,we're teaching them the skills
that we learned and then theywork hard and God is blessing
their hard work and it's just socool being on the other end of
that right.
So this is two of the areas Withmy depression as well.
I already told you you know Imentioned this in past episodes
(10:55):
as well but I never had a planfor Suicide per se, but I didn't
want to live.
I Didn't want to live anymore.
I was praying God just take mehome from all the things with
with Peyton's diagnosis, to allthe stressors of Losing you know
(11:16):
, her mom and her dad, laterlosing my dad just so many, so
many things that happened andjust a lot of heartache and a
lot of why, me prayers, and Iwas hurting.
I was so broken and in the timewhen I should have been at my
(11:38):
happiest, we went on vacationand all I could see was all the
things Peyton couldn't do.
I couldn't see all the thingsthat she was doing or could do,
all the joys and all thepotential for her story to reach
Millions, because that'ssomething I prayed every day for
, her Lord and let her storyreach millions, and I couldn't
see it.
(11:58):
I couldn't say how are yougonna do it?
She, nothing was happening.
It's like God didn't even hearme anymore and my depression got
worse and worse and worse.
But he's so faithful, you guys,he's been so faithful to us.
I'll never forget the shortversion of this and I've
mentioned it on other episodes,but you can go back and listen,
or it's in the book as well ifyou want to hear the whole story
(12:20):
, but the short version.
I was walking along the beachand I heard him whisper to me
there is beauty in the broken.
There is beauty in the broken.
It was at that moment like thisthis damn love, depression
began to burst and thisoverwhelming peace and joy just
began to fill my life, and thevery thing that almost killed me
(12:43):
.
Now I'm helping others findfreedom in their depression or
their mental health or all thethings of struggles that they
may be continuing with.
So, while so, we talked aboutdepression, we talked about
finances, and we talked what didwe talk about in the beginning?
Totally drawing a blankDepression, finances, and oh in
(13:07):
health, all the things that I'vebeen doing, finances and oh, in
health, all the things thatalmost killed me.
When God has turned around, IJust want you to know there is
hope for you.
Today, in fact, there's this,this piece of Japanese art.
It's called kids kintsugi.
(13:27):
I believe if I'm saying thatright, I don't have my power
point with me, my slides that Iusually use when I'm speaking,
but I believe it's calledkintsugi and it's what it's like
any kind of ceramic or broken,like pottery or bowls or
Whatever that they'll take thesebroken pieces and then they
will end up by using melted gold, hot gold, and reform them and
(13:52):
shape them and put them backtogether again.
And what happens?
What's really cool about thispiece is, when it's done, it is
stronger than it was before.
It's actually more valuablethan it was before.
So what you need to know isWhatever, whatever it is in your
life that is almost broke.
You Maybe you're here today andit's Somebody shared this
(14:16):
podcast with you, or youstumbled on it or whatever
reason.
I don't.
I don't care how you got here,I, but something I've said is
just struck an air with you andyou feel broken.
In fact, you're weeping.
You're so, you're so hurt rightnow.
I've been there, I have beenthere.
I care for you.
I'm here to tell you you'regoing to get put back together
(14:39):
again and there's there's hopefor you.
There's so much hope for you tokeep going forward.
Don't give up, don't quit,because the enemy who's going up
against us in this spiritualwarfare, this game of tug of war
that's going on for for yoursoul, for your life, trying to
(15:00):
break you?
You would love nothing morethan for you to quit and lose
out on all the hope that God'slaid before your life and the
very things that have almostbroken you could be the very
things that God wants to use youto help others with, and I
believe he can do that, but youhave to be willing to step out
(15:24):
first.
I love the story.
I love the story of the storyof Peter walking on the water
right, and this is the shortversion as well.
But they see Jesus and they'relike is that Jesus?
I don't know.
And Peter's like if that's you,lord, tell me to come out and I
will come.
I mean, like I don't know, evenif I love his faith.
(15:50):
But even if you, if you don'tknow who it is, are you really
going to trust them If you don'tknow who it is and it's like a
bad guy trying to get you tosink?
Nevermind, that's, that's justhow I think.
I think a little warpssometimes, but forgive me, but
he sees Jesus.
He says is that you Lord?
If it is, tell me to come andI'll come.
And sure enough, he's like it'sme, come on, peter.
(16:10):
And Peter, and it's what's socool about this?
People give Peter a hard time,right?
Peter's the dude that blows upon a lot of people.
He's the dude that cuts cutsthe soldier's ears off.
He's the one that denies Christthree times.
Even after being warned thathe's going to going to do it, he
still does it.
Peter gets, he has a hard time.
(16:32):
And I wrote man.
He reminds me so much of myself.
He reminds me so much of me, hereminds me so much of me that I
have I have the gifting of, ofscrewing up the most simplest
tasks sometimes.
But here it is and Peter isasked hey, peter, is I come see
me?
Here I am, come on.
(16:53):
And here's what the dude does,cause I didn't see any other
disciples volunteer or jump up.
Peter doesn't dude, he walks onwater.
It's in the word.
It says it.
Right, he takes a step, he'swalking on water, he's looking
at Jesus, he's walking on water.
But what happens?
(17:13):
It says in the word that hebegins to take his eyes off of
Jesus and he puts his eyes onthe storm.
He starts to see the winds andthe waves around him and it's at
that moment he begins to sink,he begins to fall.
But Jesus got him, he had himthe whole time.
He grabbed, he reached out, hepicked him up.
He's got you.
(17:34):
He didn't tell him hey, oh, youlittle faith.
It gave him a little scolding,but he still had in the whole
time he said I got you, he's gotyou.
Here's the thing.
It's easy sometimes to losevision of God, of Jesus.
It's easy to set our eyes onthe, the winds and the waves
(17:57):
that are around us.
But our hope comes from Jesus.
Our hope comes into him, and Ipromise you he didn't bring you
this far to let you drill down.
He's got you because he caresabout you.
He cares about you just likethat broken ceramic pot or
whatever it is.
(18:18):
He's going to piece you backtogether, one piece at a time.
You're going to come backstronger and more valuable than
you were before the storm.
He cares for you.
He's got a plan for you.
And how do I know this?
Because our enemy that's out toget us would not try so hard,
(18:42):
it would not be trying so hardto mess you up if you didn't
have a big plan ahead for you.
So don't quit.
Hang in there with me, with you.
Thank you so much for joiningtoday.
If this has been a blessing foryou, please, please, share this
to someone who got his late onyour heart.
Stay tuned for this.
Hey, I hope that's been ablessing for you.
(19:03):
Do me a favor, just like Imentioned earlier, if God laid
someone on your heart while youwere listening to this episode,
wait for this particular podcastto them.
I really feel like, especiallyin this day and age we're living
in, that sometimes people aregasping at their last straws.
They're like holding on for abreath of fresh air.
(19:24):
This could be it.
Something I've said, I don'tknow I prayed, something I said
would be a blessing to them,would be encouraging to them to
help them keep fighting, to keepgoing on.
Be that hope to just get tothat next step, that flashlight
of hope to be able to guide thenext step for you.
Maybe it doesn't line upeverything, the whole path,
(19:47):
maybe you don't see the wholepicture, the whole puzzle, but
that next piece comes in lineEnough for you to say, okay, I
made it here, now what?
And you will have that samefaith to keep going step by step
with the Lord.
Thank you for tuning in andplease pass this on to someone
who it can be a blessing to, ifit has been a blessing to you.
Please, please, please, leave afive-star review for this
(20:11):
podcast and even for the book onAmazon.
That will help more readers andmore listeners find when words
don't come easy and that's ourwhole goal is to help people.
So will you do that?
Do me a favor, and then, ifyou're, also, if you would like
for me to read the book for you,you can get it from Audible.
I will read the story for youas well, and then it's available
(20:35):
on Kindle.
If you would like to know whereI'm going to be out over the
next few weeks, please, or ifyou're interested in booking me
for for a service, I would be sohonored to come and speak and
share hope to your people.
You can find that atAndyHowardcom, and all the stuff
about the book is there as well.
Thank you, guys, so much.
(20:55):
We'll talk to you next time,god bless.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.