September 6, 2024 • 29 mins
Have you ever felt invisible? In this powerful episode, we continue an amazing story from our previous podcast with two incredible guests, Eddie Gottlieb and Dianne Partain. Eddie shares his miraculous testimony of transformation from living on the streets for 10 years to finding hope and a new life.
The story of their divine connection sparked a journey of faith and friendship. Eddie recounts his experiences from the darkest moments of feeling invisible to the miraculous changes that occurred when he met Dianne. Eddie speaks candidly about his struggles with homelessness, his attempts to take his own life, and the turning point that led him to choose life and find purpose.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the show that gives you the tools to break through into all you were created to be.
It's the Pam Raimi Show, and Jesus, girls, and guys, let's find our roar.
Hey, hey, hey, Jesus, girls, and guys, welcome back to the Pam Raimi Show.
I want to start today by just asking you a question if you have ever felt invisible.
(00:28):
That God does not see you, that you just feel so completely alone.
Because we have such an amazing, well, we actually have two amazing guests today
in the studio, and this is a continuation from our previous podcast.
Podcast, and we're going to just kind of dive in to really a truly miraculous testimony.
(00:52):
First of all, I'd like to welcome back to the studio, Eddie Gottlieb.
How are you doing today, my friend?
I'm doing great. How are y'all doing today? We're doing so good,
and thank you for sticking with us because we just recorded a show,
and we're going to do a continuation because you have such a powerful story to share.
(01:14):
And so thank you so much for being here with us today, Eddie.
And we're sitting right next to both of us is our good friend, Miss Diane Partain.
How you doing, girl? I'm doing awesome. Doing good.
It's good. It's so good to see you. Yeah, it really is.
And, you know, in our last show, we talked about the really the story,
(01:37):
the miracle story of how God has worked in both of your lives.
And we got to see that story from your perspective, Diane, and how God had placed
things on your heart and how you first met Eddie.
And where I'd like to go with this show, Eddie, is the absolute reverse of that,
(01:58):
of where you were before God placed Diane in your life,
and you had been living on the street for 10 years.
I'm sure that was a very dark place for you, and I'm going to just start off
by asking you this question.
Did you feel invisible? No.
(02:22):
I did. There were certain times within those 10 years where I knew that God
was in my life, was part of it.
Yes, you can feel invisible, especially in that length of time.
We can give up hope, which I did.
(02:45):
I met Miss Diane, which brought a lot of hope back into my life,
maybe, that I had forgotten and needed.
Eddie, before we actually go to the place where you did meet Diane,
can you tell us a little bit about what was your experience living on the streets
(03:06):
for 10 years? Tell us what that's like.
It's a very cutthroat.
People anyone that has something other people want it's very hard to be able
to go to work come home and i say home because your tent is your home.
(03:30):
To find all your things have been rummaged through or you've gone home to nothing.
Wow. You know, there was a time in those 10 years where I wanted to move to Texas.
I packed up everything that I owned, everything that I wanted to take with me.
And I went to say my goodbyes at the church, kind of my last meal with everyone.
(03:53):
So this was a church where you were able to receive a meal. Correct.
You went there. Okay. Correct.
Said my goodbyes and went to
pick up my belongings only to find that they were gone. Oh, my goodness.
It was rather devastating, you know, because it was everything that. Everything you had.
Everything that I had, everything that I owned, everything that was worth anything was gone.
(04:18):
Days went by and I found an article clothing here or there. so it's very.
Very trying out there Eddie how
let's just take that experience right there how were you able to keep going
bounce back put one foot in front of the other did you feel like giving up like
(04:42):
that must just be hard to feel like you can go on I absolutely felt like giving
up but I knew that I couldn't,
I'm a fighter I always have been and I knew that I just had to keep pushing
forward and just make the best of it.
You know, eventually, you know, something would change.
(05:05):
They're all material things that you can get back. Yes, it's a huge,
huge, huge inconvenience.
I'm a very tall guy, so getting clothes my size are not that easy,
especially when you're on the streets.
So here you are, Eddie, for 10 years, living in.
(05:25):
On the streets with a great deal of unpredictability from day to day,
truly not knowing if you, like you just said,
if you can just even hold on to the very few pieces of personal belongings that you have.
And you did this for one full decade. That's a long time to live on the street. That is a long time.
(05:49):
And then one day, your life intersected with a person that God was going to
use that would ultimately change your life.
Take us to that day. When did you meet Diane Partain?
I met Diane about a little over a year ago.
(06:10):
She came to serve dinner at the church.
She was new. there's many many
different ministries that that do
come out and serve i was gravitated
to diane i didn't know what it was about her there was just something that i
(06:31):
was gravitated to and she reminded me she reminded me not too long ago i don't
know if it was the first First Thursday that she was there, second Thursday, whatever it was,
I had told her, and I was under the influence of alcohol.
And I told her that I was going to make donations out of whatever...
(07:00):
Cash that was given to me to try and help her he did indeed tell us how did
that make you feel diane it really touched my heart i thought here's this man
i knew he was under the influence,
but here he is out here trying to get some spare change or something just to
meet some of his needs and he's like well i'm going to give it to your ministry
(07:20):
and i'm going to help you i want to be a blessing to you and that's what he
kept saying he wanted to be able to bless me and i was like Like, okay, cool.
I'll take it. That says a lot about your heart. Right there, Eddie.
So you, this is, see, this is so supernatural, the connection that the two of you have,
is that, yes, you did feel unseen, and God directed your steps to meet somebody,
(07:46):
because you kept, you did, you kept hanging on to God, didn't you?
I did. and so you say
this to diane and she responds
with that so so how where did the relationship go from there because you were
going through a lot of health issues for a while weren't you i was i used to
(08:11):
make it a point to go and see diane on thursdays i tried very very very hard
not to be drunk.
He did. Which was very, very hard at the time.
But once I realized that, you know, that wasn't, Diane had always told me, this is not you.
(08:33):
When I finally, finally accepted that and realized that, that's when all the
changes started happening.
How did it feel to have somebody that believed in you that much,
that would say, this is not you, this is not who you are?
It was amazing. I've never had that at all in my life.
(08:54):
I grew up a very hard life, school of hard knocks.
And Diane gave me that faith, that feeling that someone actually really does care.
Someone actually does notice me.
And I guess you could say I took the ball and ran with it.
I love that. And you know, how God moves on the earth is through his sons and daughters.
(09:20):
So Diane really was Jesus with skin to you.
Absolutely. She absolutely was. was where did
your relationship like so you're now you're going back to
the church you want to go on the night that that her ministry
is is has taken over and is serving and
you want to you're trying you want to be not under
(09:43):
the influence when you go there and so you two begin developing a friendship
tell us about that well it's something that we both i think took very cautiously
continuously and slowly gaining each other's trusts and just letting letting god speak to us.
(10:03):
Yeah diane what would you how would you like to speak into that well i
think i just always i love i loved eddie
from the moment i met him because i saw god's hand all over
him and so i would find myself and he
knew it i would always look for him if he wasn't there i
would worry i'd like where's eddie why isn't he here and i'd
be asking everybody but you know he hung out with you know
(10:23):
where he was and sometimes he was maybe drunk in his tent you
know whatever but that made me feel good at least knowing he was okay he was
there right because i constantly found myself always looking for eddie and actually
i i didn't have many reservations towards eddie at all but i can see why coming
from where he was coming from he would be reserved about,
(10:46):
Someone actually like, is this woman actually for real? Does she really care?
Is she just out here saying she cares or does she really truly care?
Is that how you felt, Eddie?
Well, you go through a lot of different people being homeless.
You're very, very disposable in certain people's eyes.
(11:07):
So it's very hard to just take that wall down and let someone in when you see
such generosity that you're craving.
And I guess that's where the reservation all comes in when you see someone like
(11:28):
Diane that generally does care. because it's not something that is really found
when you're a homeless person.
Wow. You know, I'm drawn to this scripture right here, as you say that,
Eddie, in Psalms 34, 18, that says, the Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain.
(11:54):
And your heart was crushed by pain and God, you could feel that God was close
to you and here he brought you somebody.
And now you have to learn how to trust. Right. And that was the place that you were in.
What did it take for you to believe that what Diane said to you was true,
(12:17):
to trust her as a, as a friend?
It was just the, the, The way that God spoke to me, it's hard to describe.
I guess the easiest way would be like magnets. There was just a drawing feeling
(12:43):
that was around Diane and I.
I knew that if there was something on my mind, I could go and talk to her.
I love that. She wouldn't judge.
Even if she really didn't have the time to talk, she'd make the time and help
me with whatever it was that I was going through at the time.
(13:03):
So you know what I'm really hearing right now? And Diane, you can chime in here.
As you began this ministry of feeding those without homes, it was not just about
giving them food for their bodies.
You were giving this precious brother food for his soul.
(13:24):
And that's just as important you believed in him oh absolutely and i'll get emotional.
Trying to say but you know i
loved eddie and i actually love the people that i serve every week i mean i
truly love them you know i see them i care about them some of them i know may
(13:44):
not be in a place that i can let them into my life like i did eddie and the
more that i let eddie in it's when I knew that God,
like there was times before that Eddie would go, Ms.
Diane, I'm through, I'm through, I'm so ready, I'm so ready to quit.
And the Lord would speak to me and go, He's not there yet.
And as much as I wanted to be able to do something and say, you know,
(14:07):
come rush to His aid or whatever, the Lord would caution me and go, No, He's not there yet.
But then that last time He spoke to me and He said, you know,
I was actually, my heart became concerned in that moment because I knew he really
did come to a place where he was through and almost to the place I was afraid
that he was even suicidal.
Were you suicidal, Eddie? I was. Ms. Diane knows this. I tried committing suicide twice.
(14:33):
Was it during this time period? It was while I knew Diane.
I tried. I laid down on a sleeping bag, and I had just given up. I lit it on fire.
Hoping to burn to death. The fire went out.
Thank you, Jesus. I said, okay. So I got it all situated again. I tried again.
(14:59):
Fire went out again. I said, okay, God, I get it. It's not my time. You don't want me.
Oh, he wants you. He just wanted you here.
He just didn't want you dead yet. He didn't want you dead.
You know, one of the things that just comes to my mind right now,
out talking to the two of you.
And I'm, I'm kind of going back to that moment, Eddie, where you were packed
(15:22):
up, ready to go to Texas and you had planned a different future for yourself.
You were on your way to Texas.
I'm going to Texas. I don't know how to sing a song about Texas,
but you were on your way there, but God stopped you then too.
You know, I mean, he's not the one that had somebody steal your belongings,
(15:43):
but he stopped you because he had another plan.
He already had gone before you and prepared a person that he was going to use
to absolutely change 100% the trajectory of your life.
Absolutely. And I've seen that in this short amount of time,
(16:06):
the changes that I have made,
leaps and bounds from the person that I was to the person that I'm becoming
or that I'm supposed to be.
Would you say that the connection and just the intersecting of your lives together,
(16:27):
would you say that's a supernatural thing?
I think so, hands down. I would agree. I would agree.
Yeah. I mean, I feel like, to me, it's so supernatural that God would put a
ministry on my heart where I would meet this man that was going to be so much
(16:47):
a part of my future that I had no idea.
I mean, I knew he was a part of my ministry and what I was doing,
and I loved and cared about him.
But never in a million years did i think he
would be such a big part of my life and such a actually such
a good friend i mean i trust
joyful part of your life joyful part because like
we had taught previously you know going through a process of losing your partner
(17:12):
and losing someone you love and it's you you know you know because you're a
close friend of mine i mean i was drained i mean I was caretaker 24-7 for a
very long time and it was just sucking the life out of me.
I know I'm just being blunt about that but it does. For people that are caretakers
24-7, it drains you of life.
(17:34):
When I got through with that and when Mike had passed, I just...
I just didn't, I was so tired. I mean, it was all I could do just to do a one
night a week ministry. I remember.
You know what I'm just feeling right now, listening to the two of you.
You know, when you look at your story, it looks like you, God used you to rescue
(17:57):
Eddie, but he used Eddie to rescue you, Diane.
Absolutely. That is what's going, that's the beauty of this story.
Eddie isn't that exciting you
you he needed god knew that you needed
him as much as i had no idea what i needed absolutely
none i just was trusting god but
(18:21):
i absolutely had no idea of direction what my
life was going to look like what i needed in my life absolutely
clueless at that time in my life and then
but god knew and he always knew it
blessed me knowing that this is such
a such a good experience for someone like when
god always has your future he always has you may not understand it you may not
(18:44):
know what it's going to look like but you can you can trust that god has already
been there he's already provided everything that you need every person that
you need every relationship that you need god has already worked it out and
orchestrated it all and he is just is waiting to divinely connect you.
So I feel like, yes, we were a divine connection over a year ago.
That's when we were divinely connected. And when God divinely connects you with
(19:08):
another person, it's for both of those people.
Absolutely. That goes both ways. So I love that, Diane.
So Eddie, take us back again, if you could.
To now you're going to, on Thursday nights, you're going to to see Miss Diane,
you're going to get a meal, but you're, you're, you're, you're,
(19:30):
you have now tried to commit suicide twice and God stopped you literally in your tracks both times.
Let's go back to there. What happened from there?
I realized that I was important.
I love that. Amen. I was. I am someone.
(19:53):
And it gave me hope, made me want to try harder,
and just started getting my faith back to where I had once given up on it.
You know, it was just amazing.
(20:15):
God started bringing you back to life, didn't he? He sure did.
And it sounds to me like you were choosing life, Eddie, that you wanted to live.
Oh, definitely. Definitely.
It was, it's not how I wanted things to be or end.
That is so exciting. I love how God just steps into the middle of our mess.
(20:40):
All of us, we all have a bunch of mess. And he steps into the middle of our
mess and he lets us know. I loved what you just said, that we're important.
Absolutely. That he sees us, that we matter.
Eddie, can we fast forward to what your life looks like today? My life is amazing.
Give us an overview of your life right now, Eddie.
(21:03):
Absolutely amazing. In a short four months, I have gone from being homeless
for 10 years to having an apartment, a full-time job,
sober for these four months. Amen.
Something that I never, ever foresaw coming.
Coming, actually being happy, you know, having someone very,
(21:29):
very close and dear, special in my life, it's just believe,
believe in God and want those changes and you can become unstoppable.
Those things are all possible. You just have to believe. You know,
(21:52):
that's a pretty darn powerful word that you just gave to our listeners, because you know what?
There's a lot of people that are still in the situation you were in,
and they need to hear that, those words.
Is there any, do you have any other words that you could say, Eddie, to people?
Our listeners who might be in the situation, who might be in a homeless situation,
(22:15):
that are on that verge of giving up.
What would you say to that person?
Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. Continue to believe in yourself.
Look for God. Oh, that's good. And you will be amazed the things that will happen.
(22:39):
And you're a living test and testimony of that
i am yes and i love i love
the scripture that says we overcome by the blood
of the lamb and the word of our testimony and as you're speaking these words
over the airwaves eddie right now you're saying to people who could be in your
in the situation you were in if god did it for me he can do it for you that's
(23:03):
what you're saying Exactly. Exactly.
You just have to want it. You have to want it. Amen. Amen.
Diane, any closing comments? This story is so powerful.
No, I'm just blessed. Like you said, I've been truly blessed by having a relationship with this man.
He's an awesome friend. He's a lot of fun. And I can't get over.
(23:28):
Yeah, I even adopted a dog recently that we both deal with. He's a big old huge
pit bull something or another.
For some reason, I was just thinking about Titan. I swear to you.
Well, Titan brings us both a lot of joy. I'm not sure what God has for the future,
but Titan, we both love this big old goofy dog, and we just enjoy messing with him. But I'm amazed.
(23:48):
You know, I'm amazed. Eddie's faithful, coming to church every Sunday.
I'm just amazed at how different he is, but yet the whole time I saw this person,
this person I'm sitting with right now, Now, this is the person I saw in the
man that I met over a year ago.
Even when he was under the influence, you saw this man. All I saw was this man
(24:10):
right here, and I'm so grateful to actually see that man that I always knew
was inside of him being able to just come out and blossom.
And, Eddie, I want to speak these words to you right now as a very close friend of Diane.
I have seen my friend come back to life.
(24:31):
Because I did see you when you lost your husband, Mike.
I did see you closing yourself off. I did see you just...
Just in so much grief, in so much pain, completely worn out, completely worn out.
And I look at you right now, Diane, and I see so much joy on your face.
(24:56):
Honestly, it is. And Eddie, as much as God used this woman to put that smile
on your face, God used you to put this smile on her face.
And that is the way God works. I know it. It's a win-win situation.
It's win-win. That's how he is. So when we reach out to others,
when we see God in others, when we see who they really are and don't look at their situation,
(25:22):
their circumstances as who they are, because a homeless person,
that's not their identity. That's just their circumstance.
Amen. There's a real person there inside that we need to see those people that
they truly are, because I'm believing for way more stories, Eddie stories.
But I tell you, I don't think they're going to, you know, this is who God decided
(25:44):
to bring into my life at this time.
But I know that he's got a lot of other people that he wants to be who they
are and become the person that they were created to be.
That is just, that's so fantastic. And boy, what a turnaround, Eddie.
What a turnaround. You are a walking miracle.
(26:06):
You're a walking miracle, my friend. I am. Yes, he is. Yeah. Most definitely.
I'll tell you, this story just impacts me so much.
And it's just such a blessing that you would both be so transparent because
people need to hear this story.
They need to hear this story. And we all need to be looking for the best in people.
(26:32):
Absolutely. Yes. See them through the eyes of God. Because when we allow,
when we see people through the eyes of the Father, we're going to see them for the person that He is.
We're going to see them for who they really are and not maybe their circumstances
or the way they're behaving because behavior is not a person either.
That's so true. You know, Eddie being drunk, that's not who he was.
(26:54):
And I would tell him that.
Sometimes he'd be super drunk. One night he got really super drunk and was a
little aggressive with somebody, and I just reached up, and I just went and
grabbed him and tried to hug him.
And he is a tall guy, so I'm standing on my tippy toes trying to hug him.
And he ended up putting his head on my shoulder and was kind of crying.
And I go, Eddie, this is not who you are.
That's all I can say is this is not who you are. And sometimes in life,
(27:16):
when we're in a hard place like that, we need to be reminded that it isn't who we are.
Absolutely. You know, I was thinking about the scripture as you're speaking,
Diane, in Psalm 139, where the
psalmist writes, you know, if I'm on the mountaintop, you're with me, God.
But if I make my bed in hell, you're with me there, too.
Because he doesn't ever leave us or forsake us. And I love what you were saying,
(27:40):
Eddie, that even when you were in such darkness, you would go looking for God
and you would find him. You would find him.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
That's really powerful that you held on to that faith.
Well, I mean, you don't have much more out there than that.
(28:01):
But it takes a little bit of realization to remember that.
Don't take everything for granted.
Those are good words. We all have so much to be grateful for, don't we?
We do. Absolutely. We have so much to be grateful for. And listeners, we are grateful for you.
(28:24):
Diane and Eddie, thank you so much for being in the studio and sharing your story.
I know that it's going to touch the lives of so many people and give so many people hope.
And if you are in a hard situation right now, just know that God says in Psalm
34, 18, the Lord is close to all All whose hearts are crushed by pain.
(28:48):
If your heart today is crushed by pain, just know God is close to you.
He loves you and he will love you back to life if you let him.
Right? Amen. Amen. Amen. So thank you so much for being here with us today.
We hope you've been encouraged. If you've been encouraged, share this with your
(29:10):
friends. If you know of somebody who could use this testimony,
make sure to get this testimony into their hands and like and subscribe.
That really helps us just get this word out and get the testimonies to you of
what God is doing supernaturally on the earth through his sons and daughters.
And as you go through your day to day, above all things, remember this,
(29:35):
Jesus is crazy about you.
We'll see you next time on The Pam Raimi Show. Bye-bye.
Music.
Welcome to the show that gives you the tools to break through into all you were created to be.
It's the Pam Raimi Show, and Jesus, girls, and guys, let's find our roar.
Hey, hey, hey, Jesus, girls, and guys, welcome back to the Pam Raimi Show.
I want to start today by just asking you a question if you have ever felt invisible.
(00:28):
That God does not see you, that you just feel so completely alone.
Because we have such an amazing, well, we actually have two amazing guests today
in the studio, and this is a continuation from our previous podcast.
Podcast, and we're going to just kind of dive in to really a truly miraculous testimony.
(00:52):
First of all, I'd like to welcome back to the studio, Eddie Gottlieb.
How are you doing today, my friend?
I'm doing great. How are y'all doing today? We're doing so good,
and thank you for sticking with us because we just recorded a show,
and we're going to do a continuation because you have such a powerful story to share.
(01:14):
And so thank you so much for being here with us today, Eddie.
And we're sitting right next to both of us is our good friend, Miss Diane Partain.
How you doing, girl? I'm doing awesome. Doing good.
It's good. It's so good to see you. Yeah, it really is.
And, you know, in our last show, we talked about the really the story,
(01:37):
the miracle story of how God has worked in both of your lives.
And we got to see that story from your perspective, Diane, and how God had placed
things on your heart and how you first met Eddie.
And where I'd like to go with this show, Eddie, is the absolute reverse of that,
(01:58):
of where you were before God placed Diane in your life,
and you had been living on the street for 10 years.
I'm sure that was a very dark place for you, and I'm going to just start off
by asking you this question.
Did you feel invisible? No.
(02:22):
I did. There were certain times within those 10 years where I knew that God
was in my life, was part of it.
Yes, you can feel invisible, especially in that length of time.
We can give up hope, which I did.
(02:45):
I met Miss Diane, which brought a lot of hope back into my life,
maybe, that I had forgotten and needed.
Eddie, before we actually go to the place where you did meet Diane,
can you tell us a little bit about what was your experience living on the streets
(03:06):
for 10 years? Tell us what that's like.
It's a very cutthroat.
People anyone that has something other people want it's very hard to be able
to go to work come home and i say home because your tent is your home.
(03:30):
To find all your things have been rummaged through or you've gone home to nothing.
Wow. You know, there was a time in those 10 years where I wanted to move to Texas.
I packed up everything that I owned, everything that I wanted to take with me.
And I went to say my goodbyes at the church, kind of my last meal with everyone.
(03:53):
So this was a church where you were able to receive a meal. Correct.
You went there. Okay. Correct.
Said my goodbyes and went to
pick up my belongings only to find that they were gone. Oh, my goodness.
It was rather devastating, you know, because it was everything that. Everything you had.
Everything that I had, everything that I owned, everything that was worth anything was gone.
(04:18):
Days went by and I found an article clothing here or there. so it's very.
Very trying out there Eddie how
let's just take that experience right there how were you able to keep going
bounce back put one foot in front of the other did you feel like giving up like
(04:42):
that must just be hard to feel like you can go on I absolutely felt like giving
up but I knew that I couldn't,
I'm a fighter I always have been and I knew that I just had to keep pushing
forward and just make the best of it.
You know, eventually, you know, something would change.
(05:05):
They're all material things that you can get back. Yes, it's a huge,
huge, huge inconvenience.
I'm a very tall guy, so getting clothes my size are not that easy,
especially when you're on the streets.
So here you are, Eddie, for 10 years, living in.
(05:25):
On the streets with a great deal of unpredictability from day to day,
truly not knowing if you, like you just said,
if you can just even hold on to the very few pieces of personal belongings that you have.
And you did this for one full decade. That's a long time to live on the street. That is a long time.
(05:49):
And then one day, your life intersected with a person that God was going to
use that would ultimately change your life.
Take us to that day. When did you meet Diane Partain?
I met Diane about a little over a year ago.
(06:10):
She came to serve dinner at the church.
She was new. there's many many
different ministries that that do
come out and serve i was gravitated
to diane i didn't know what it was about her there was just something that i
(06:31):
was gravitated to and she reminded me she reminded me not too long ago i don't
know if it was the first First Thursday that she was there, second Thursday, whatever it was,
I had told her, and I was under the influence of alcohol.
And I told her that I was going to make donations out of whatever...
(07:00):
Cash that was given to me to try and help her he did indeed tell us how did
that make you feel diane it really touched my heart i thought here's this man
i knew he was under the influence,
but here he is out here trying to get some spare change or something just to
meet some of his needs and he's like well i'm going to give it to your ministry
(07:20):
and i'm going to help you i want to be a blessing to you and that's what he
kept saying he wanted to be able to bless me and i was like Like, okay, cool.
I'll take it. That says a lot about your heart. Right there, Eddie.
So you, this is, see, this is so supernatural, the connection that the two of you have,
is that, yes, you did feel unseen, and God directed your steps to meet somebody,
(07:46):
because you kept, you did, you kept hanging on to God, didn't you?
I did. and so you say
this to diane and she responds
with that so so how where did the relationship go from there because you were
going through a lot of health issues for a while weren't you i was i used to
(08:11):
make it a point to go and see diane on thursdays i tried very very very hard
not to be drunk.
He did. Which was very, very hard at the time.
But once I realized that, you know, that wasn't, Diane had always told me, this is not you.
(08:33):
When I finally, finally accepted that and realized that, that's when all the
changes started happening.
How did it feel to have somebody that believed in you that much,
that would say, this is not you, this is not who you are?
It was amazing. I've never had that at all in my life.
(08:54):
I grew up a very hard life, school of hard knocks.
And Diane gave me that faith, that feeling that someone actually really does care.
Someone actually does notice me.
And I guess you could say I took the ball and ran with it.
I love that. And you know, how God moves on the earth is through his sons and daughters.
(09:20):
So Diane really was Jesus with skin to you.
Absolutely. She absolutely was. was where did
your relationship like so you're now you're going back to
the church you want to go on the night that that her ministry
is is has taken over and is serving and
you want to you're trying you want to be not under
(09:43):
the influence when you go there and so you two begin developing a friendship
tell us about that well it's something that we both i think took very cautiously
continuously and slowly gaining each other's trusts and just letting letting god speak to us.
(10:03):
Yeah diane what would you how would you like to speak into that well i
think i just always i love i loved eddie
from the moment i met him because i saw god's hand all over
him and so i would find myself and he
knew it i would always look for him if he wasn't there i
would worry i'd like where's eddie why isn't he here and i'd
be asking everybody but you know he hung out with you know
(10:23):
where he was and sometimes he was maybe drunk in his tent you
know whatever but that made me feel good at least knowing he was okay he was
there right because i constantly found myself always looking for eddie and actually
i i didn't have many reservations towards eddie at all but i can see why coming
from where he was coming from he would be reserved about,
(10:46):
Someone actually like, is this woman actually for real? Does she really care?
Is she just out here saying she cares or does she really truly care?
Is that how you felt, Eddie?
Well, you go through a lot of different people being homeless.
You're very, very disposable in certain people's eyes.
(11:07):
So it's very hard to just take that wall down and let someone in when you see
such generosity that you're craving.
And I guess that's where the reservation all comes in when you see someone like
(11:28):
Diane that generally does care. because it's not something that is really found
when you're a homeless person.
Wow. You know, I'm drawn to this scripture right here, as you say that,
Eddie, in Psalms 34, 18, that says, the Lord is close to all whose hearts are crushed by pain.
(11:54):
And your heart was crushed by pain and God, you could feel that God was close
to you and here he brought you somebody.
And now you have to learn how to trust. Right. And that was the place that you were in.
What did it take for you to believe that what Diane said to you was true,
(12:17):
to trust her as a, as a friend?
It was just the, the, The way that God spoke to me, it's hard to describe.
I guess the easiest way would be like magnets. There was just a drawing feeling
(12:43):
that was around Diane and I.
I knew that if there was something on my mind, I could go and talk to her.
I love that. She wouldn't judge.
Even if she really didn't have the time to talk, she'd make the time and help
me with whatever it was that I was going through at the time.
(13:03):
So you know what I'm really hearing right now? And Diane, you can chime in here.
As you began this ministry of feeding those without homes, it was not just about
giving them food for their bodies.
You were giving this precious brother food for his soul.
(13:24):
And that's just as important you believed in him oh absolutely and i'll get emotional.
Trying to say but you know i
loved eddie and i actually love the people that i serve every week i mean i
truly love them you know i see them i care about them some of them i know may
(13:44):
not be in a place that i can let them into my life like i did eddie and the
more that i let eddie in it's when I knew that God,
like there was times before that Eddie would go, Ms.
Diane, I'm through, I'm through, I'm so ready, I'm so ready to quit.
And the Lord would speak to me and go, He's not there yet.
And as much as I wanted to be able to do something and say, you know,
(14:07):
come rush to His aid or whatever, the Lord would caution me and go, No, He's not there yet.
But then that last time He spoke to me and He said, you know,
I was actually, my heart became concerned in that moment because I knew he really
did come to a place where he was through and almost to the place I was afraid
that he was even suicidal.
Were you suicidal, Eddie? I was. Ms. Diane knows this. I tried committing suicide twice.
(14:33):
Was it during this time period? It was while I knew Diane.
I tried. I laid down on a sleeping bag, and I had just given up. I lit it on fire.
Hoping to burn to death. The fire went out.
Thank you, Jesus. I said, okay. So I got it all situated again. I tried again.
(14:59):
Fire went out again. I said, okay, God, I get it. It's not my time. You don't want me.
Oh, he wants you. He just wanted you here.
He just didn't want you dead yet. He didn't want you dead.
You know, one of the things that just comes to my mind right now,
out talking to the two of you.
And I'm, I'm kind of going back to that moment, Eddie, where you were packed
(15:22):
up, ready to go to Texas and you had planned a different future for yourself.
You were on your way to Texas.
I'm going to Texas. I don't know how to sing a song about Texas,
but you were on your way there, but God stopped you then too.
You know, I mean, he's not the one that had somebody steal your belongings,
(15:43):
but he stopped you because he had another plan.
He already had gone before you and prepared a person that he was going to use
to absolutely change 100% the trajectory of your life.
Absolutely. And I've seen that in this short amount of time,
(16:06):
the changes that I have made,
leaps and bounds from the person that I was to the person that I'm becoming
or that I'm supposed to be.
Would you say that the connection and just the intersecting of your lives together,
(16:27):
would you say that's a supernatural thing?
I think so, hands down. I would agree. I would agree.
Yeah. I mean, I feel like, to me, it's so supernatural that God would put a
ministry on my heart where I would meet this man that was going to be so much
(16:47):
a part of my future that I had no idea.
I mean, I knew he was a part of my ministry and what I was doing,
and I loved and cared about him.
But never in a million years did i think he
would be such a big part of my life and such a actually such
a good friend i mean i trust
joyful part of your life joyful part because like
we had taught previously you know going through a process of losing your partner
(17:12):
and losing someone you love and it's you you know you know because you're a
close friend of mine i mean i was drained i mean I was caretaker 24-7 for a
very long time and it was just sucking the life out of me.
I know I'm just being blunt about that but it does. For people that are caretakers
24-7, it drains you of life.
(17:34):
When I got through with that and when Mike had passed, I just...
I just didn't, I was so tired. I mean, it was all I could do just to do a one
night a week ministry. I remember.
You know what I'm just feeling right now, listening to the two of you.
You know, when you look at your story, it looks like you, God used you to rescue
(17:57):
Eddie, but he used Eddie to rescue you, Diane.
Absolutely. That is what's going, that's the beauty of this story.
Eddie isn't that exciting you
you he needed god knew that you needed
him as much as i had no idea what i needed absolutely
none i just was trusting god but
(18:21):
i absolutely had no idea of direction what my
life was going to look like what i needed in my life absolutely
clueless at that time in my life and then
but god knew and he always knew it
blessed me knowing that this is such
a such a good experience for someone like when
god always has your future he always has you may not understand it you may not
(18:44):
know what it's going to look like but you can you can trust that god has already
been there he's already provided everything that you need every person that
you need every relationship that you need god has already worked it out and
orchestrated it all and he is just is waiting to divinely connect you.
So I feel like, yes, we were a divine connection over a year ago.
That's when we were divinely connected. And when God divinely connects you with
(19:08):
another person, it's for both of those people.
Absolutely. That goes both ways. So I love that, Diane.
So Eddie, take us back again, if you could.
To now you're going to, on Thursday nights, you're going to to see Miss Diane,
you're going to get a meal, but you're, you're, you're, you're,
(19:30):
you have now tried to commit suicide twice and God stopped you literally in your tracks both times.
Let's go back to there. What happened from there?
I realized that I was important.
I love that. Amen. I was. I am someone.
(19:53):
And it gave me hope, made me want to try harder,
and just started getting my faith back to where I had once given up on it.
You know, it was just amazing.
(20:15):
God started bringing you back to life, didn't he? He sure did.
And it sounds to me like you were choosing life, Eddie, that you wanted to live.
Oh, definitely. Definitely.
It was, it's not how I wanted things to be or end.
That is so exciting. I love how God just steps into the middle of our mess.
(20:40):
All of us, we all have a bunch of mess. And he steps into the middle of our
mess and he lets us know. I loved what you just said, that we're important.
Absolutely. That he sees us, that we matter.
Eddie, can we fast forward to what your life looks like today? My life is amazing.
Give us an overview of your life right now, Eddie.
(21:03):
Absolutely amazing. In a short four months, I have gone from being homeless
for 10 years to having an apartment, a full-time job,
sober for these four months. Amen.
Something that I never, ever foresaw coming.
Coming, actually being happy, you know, having someone very,
(21:29):
very close and dear, special in my life, it's just believe,
believe in God and want those changes and you can become unstoppable.
Those things are all possible. You just have to believe. You know,
(21:52):
that's a pretty darn powerful word that you just gave to our listeners, because you know what?
There's a lot of people that are still in the situation you were in,
and they need to hear that, those words.
Is there any, do you have any other words that you could say, Eddie, to people?
Our listeners who might be in the situation, who might be in a homeless situation,
(22:15):
that are on that verge of giving up.
What would you say to that person?
Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. Continue to believe in yourself.
Look for God. Oh, that's good. And you will be amazed the things that will happen.
(22:39):
And you're a living test and testimony of that
i am yes and i love i love
the scripture that says we overcome by the blood
of the lamb and the word of our testimony and as you're speaking these words
over the airwaves eddie right now you're saying to people who could be in your
in the situation you were in if god did it for me he can do it for you that's
(23:03):
what you're saying Exactly. Exactly.
You just have to want it. You have to want it. Amen. Amen.
Diane, any closing comments? This story is so powerful.
No, I'm just blessed. Like you said, I've been truly blessed by having a relationship with this man.
He's an awesome friend. He's a lot of fun. And I can't get over.
(23:28):
Yeah, I even adopted a dog recently that we both deal with. He's a big old huge
pit bull something or another.
For some reason, I was just thinking about Titan. I swear to you.
Well, Titan brings us both a lot of joy. I'm not sure what God has for the future,
but Titan, we both love this big old goofy dog, and we just enjoy messing with him. But I'm amazed.
(23:48):
You know, I'm amazed. Eddie's faithful, coming to church every Sunday.
I'm just amazed at how different he is, but yet the whole time I saw this person,
this person I'm sitting with right now, Now, this is the person I saw in the
man that I met over a year ago.
Even when he was under the influence, you saw this man. All I saw was this man
(24:10):
right here, and I'm so grateful to actually see that man that I always knew
was inside of him being able to just come out and blossom.
And, Eddie, I want to speak these words to you right now as a very close friend of Diane.
I have seen my friend come back to life.
(24:31):
Because I did see you when you lost your husband, Mike.
I did see you closing yourself off. I did see you just...
Just in so much grief, in so much pain, completely worn out, completely worn out.
And I look at you right now, Diane, and I see so much joy on your face.
(24:56):
Honestly, it is. And Eddie, as much as God used this woman to put that smile
on your face, God used you to put this smile on her face.
And that is the way God works. I know it. It's a win-win situation.
It's win-win. That's how he is. So when we reach out to others,
when we see God in others, when we see who they really are and don't look at their situation,
(25:22):
their circumstances as who they are, because a homeless person,
that's not their identity. That's just their circumstance.
Amen. There's a real person there inside that we need to see those people that
they truly are, because I'm believing for way more stories, Eddie stories.
But I tell you, I don't think they're going to, you know, this is who God decided
(25:44):
to bring into my life at this time.
But I know that he's got a lot of other people that he wants to be who they
are and become the person that they were created to be.
That is just, that's so fantastic. And boy, what a turnaround, Eddie.
What a turnaround. You are a walking miracle.
(26:06):
You're a walking miracle, my friend. I am. Yes, he is. Yeah. Most definitely.
I'll tell you, this story just impacts me so much.
And it's just such a blessing that you would both be so transparent because
people need to hear this story.
They need to hear this story. And we all need to be looking for the best in people.
(26:32):
Absolutely. Yes. See them through the eyes of God. Because when we allow,
when we see people through the eyes of the Father, we're going to see them for the person that He is.
We're going to see them for who they really are and not maybe their circumstances
or the way they're behaving because behavior is not a person either.
That's so true. You know, Eddie being drunk, that's not who he was.
(26:54):
And I would tell him that.
Sometimes he'd be super drunk. One night he got really super drunk and was a
little aggressive with somebody, and I just reached up, and I just went and
grabbed him and tried to hug him.
And he is a tall guy, so I'm standing on my tippy toes trying to hug him.
And he ended up putting his head on my shoulder and was kind of crying.
And I go, Eddie, this is not who you are.
That's all I can say is this is not who you are. And sometimes in life,
(27:16):
when we're in a hard place like that, we need to be reminded that it isn't who we are.
Absolutely. You know, I was thinking about the scripture as you're speaking,
Diane, in Psalm 139, where the
psalmist writes, you know, if I'm on the mountaintop, you're with me, God.
But if I make my bed in hell, you're with me there, too.
Because he doesn't ever leave us or forsake us. And I love what you were saying,
(27:40):
Eddie, that even when you were in such darkness, you would go looking for God
and you would find him. You would find him.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
That's really powerful that you held on to that faith.
Well, I mean, you don't have much more out there than that.
(28:01):
But it takes a little bit of realization to remember that.
Don't take everything for granted.
Those are good words. We all have so much to be grateful for, don't we?
We do. Absolutely. We have so much to be grateful for. And listeners, we are grateful for you.
(28:24):
Diane and Eddie, thank you so much for being in the studio and sharing your story.
I know that it's going to touch the lives of so many people and give so many people hope.
And if you are in a hard situation right now, just know that God says in Psalm
34, 18, the Lord is close to all All whose hearts are crushed by pain.
(28:48):
If your heart today is crushed by pain, just know God is close to you.
He loves you and he will love you back to life if you let him.
Right? Amen. Amen. Amen. So thank you so much for being here with us today.
We hope you've been encouraged. If you've been encouraged, share this with your
(29:10):
friends. If you know of somebody who could use this testimony,
make sure to get this testimony into their hands and like and subscribe.
That really helps us just get this word out and get the testimonies to you of
what God is doing supernaturally on the earth through his sons and daughters.
And as you go through your day to day, above all things, remember this,
(29:35):
Jesus is crazy about you.
We'll see you next time on The Pam Raimi Show. Bye-bye.
Music.
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