July 30, 2025 • 61 mins
📢 Viewer Discretion Advised: This episode includes sensitive content related to infant loss, grief, and trauma. Please listen with care.
In this heartfelt episode of Emerge and Empower Podcast TV, we sit down with Debbie Simmons, a woman of unwavering faith who has walked through the valley of loss and emerged with divine purpose. After giving birth to four premature babies who did not survive, Debbie found herself drowning in grief, holding on to the question “Why?”
But through prayer, healing, and surrender, she gave that Y back to God, and He gave her purpose in return. Debbie shares how she went from the pain of infant loss to the joy and responsibility of adopting nine beautiful children. This powerful conversation is a testimony of grief transformed into grace, and how God can rebuild a life from ashes into something beautiful.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/emerge-empower-podcast-tv--6068978/support.
🎙 Emerge & Empower Podcast TV – Hosted by Dr. Linda Joseph
📺 Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@EmergeandEmpowerTV
🌐 Website: www.emergeandempowertv.com
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💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drlindajoseph
📧 Guest inquiries & speaking requests: shemergenceinfo@gmail.com
⚠️Disclaimer: Viewer and listener discretion is advised. Content may include sensitive topics. Guest views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Dr. Linda Joseph, Shemergence, or Emerge & Empower Media.
In this heartfelt episode of Emerge and Empower Podcast TV, we sit down with Debbie Simmons, a woman of unwavering faith who has walked through the valley of loss and emerged with divine purpose. After giving birth to four premature babies who did not survive, Debbie found herself drowning in grief, holding on to the question “Why?”
But through prayer, healing, and surrender, she gave that Y back to God, and He gave her purpose in return. Debbie shares how she went from the pain of infant loss to the joy and responsibility of adopting nine beautiful children. This powerful conversation is a testimony of grief transformed into grace, and how God can rebuild a life from ashes into something beautiful.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/emerge-empower-podcast-tv--6068978/support.
🎙 Emerge & Empower Podcast TV – Hosted by Dr. Linda Joseph
📺 Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@EmergeandEmpowerTV
🌐 Website: www.emergeandempowertv.com
📘 Facebook: facebook.com/dr.lindajoseph
💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drlindajoseph
📧 Guest inquiries & speaking requests: shemergenceinfo@gmail.com
⚠️Disclaimer: Viewer and listener discretion is advised. Content may include sensitive topics. Guest views are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Dr. Linda Joseph, Shemergence, or Emerge & Empower Media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Emerge and Empower podcast TV, a platform where
resilience meets transformation. Here we amplify voices that have faced trials, trauma,
and adversity, stories that inspire hope, healing and empowerment. Every
episode brings raw, unfiltered conversations with individuals who have risen
(00:21):
from hardship, embracing faith, strength and purpose. Join us as
we break the silence, uplift one another, and emerge stronger together.
New episodes air Wednesdays at six pm English and Saturdays
at six pm, with select Saturdays in Creole for our
Haitian audience.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello everyone, and welcome again to Emerge and Empower with
your host, Doctor Lynn J.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Welcome, Welcome, we have back.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I know you've seen a lot of awesome, awesome, amazing
things that has been happening around us, and we are
truly thankful for what God has done for us. We
had the magazine that just came out, the Jewing Magazine,
and immediately, immediately, like within the hour, we went up
to three K views and that is all thanks to you.
(01:18):
As we continue to bring you great content and information. Remember,
this is a platform where we believe that we need
to heal for real, not superficially, but for real. Individuals
come onto this podcast each time to share their own
journey and they want to see change. They turned their
(01:41):
life where they took purpose from the pain and testimony
from all that they have gone through and they bring
it here on the set. So on today, I would
like to encourage you right now, go ahead and click
the link, share it with your friends, share it in
all the groups and let them know that doctor Lynjay
(02:04):
is on today on Emerge and Empower.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yep, I'm waiting for you.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Go ahead, and if you have not subscribed yet, let's
build a viewing audience and subscribe on today. Now, I
will go right in and introduce our guests, none other
than Debbie Simmons. Debbie Simmons is a trauma informed coach,
nonprofit CEO, and legacy build up whose journey is marked
(02:31):
by both profound.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Laws and redemptive purpose.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
After the heartbreaking laws of our biological quadruplets, Debbie stepped
into life of radical obedience, adopting nine children from trauma
backgrounds and founding Anchor Point, a multi site organization supporting
families through counseling, education, medical care, and spiritual development through
(02:59):
decades of pair and leading and healing, Debbie discovered the
power of trauma informed tools, faith, and emotional resilience. Her
story is one of rising from burnout, chaos, deep grief
to equip others with practical strategies that transform homes, hearts, legacies,
(03:23):
and legacies. Today she empowers overwhelmed parents, caregivers, and women
in transition to go from stuff to anchored, one next
best step at a time, again, one next best step
at a time. So we are truly honored and blessed
(03:45):
to have Debbie understaid. Debbie, welcome to emerge and empower
on today that our audience know that you are here
and where you are tuning in from and connected from today.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I am super excited to be here with you guys,
and I am in the Houston, Texas area right where
NaSTA Mission Control Center.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
That's where I am.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Wow, Wow, let's applaud, let's flap and welcome heavy to
emerge and empower again. If you have not done so already,
get on the front road seat in your life right now.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Listen in because you heard it.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
She lost quad druplets, but turn around and adopted nine children.
We'll talk about a woman on a mission, a woman
who's not letting her beIN define her. So, Debbie, we're
going to dive right into your story on today. So
let's dive into that breaking point in your life.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Well, I'm going to go a little before the breaking point.
And what I like to tell people is, hey, it's
a ride of highs and lows, so buckle your seat
belt and get ready. But when I was young, a teenager,
I had this dream of being a young grandma. Okay,
so I had this goal in my mind. And it
(05:07):
was because my parents were the youngest of big sibling groups,
and my grandparents were passed away before I came kind
of on the scene, and we had a lady that
kind of adopted us as a grandma and I loved
her and everything, but she had multiple scrosses for years.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
And I watched her.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
I learned how to have joy and suffering from her,
and I loved her. But what it made me realize
was I was like, I want to be young when
I have my kids and grandkids, right, and so being
a person who can accomplish objectives and set a goal
and everything, I knew that I needed to figure out
a guy and fall in love, get married, have children,
(05:51):
then I could have grandbabies, right right. That was the
journey I sat out on and lo and behold. Met
my husband in college, we got married and I said,
can we start having kids? And we started trying and
we ended up with many, many years of infertility struggles,
(06:11):
and infertility itself is a defining moment for you in
regards to I remember one of our last attempts was
I was just so devastated because we didn't get pregnant,
and I laid there and was going, I don't even
feel like I'm worth anything. You know, a failure as
(06:33):
a mom, and a failure as a wife, and a
failure as a woman, and on and on and on
the list goes. You know, you can really ral out
of control. And my husband was like, look, we got
two more tries on this study. And I said, okay.
Well I was MOPy that night and I said I'll
pick myself up the next day. But I was mopi
all night And the next day we got up and
(06:56):
we tried again and it didn't work. And on our
very last attempt, and we went to two different doctors
two hours apart, two different types of ultrasounds, and they
told us we were having twins, and I was like, great,
back on for young grandma, you know a five years
ago wrote you know curve, you know, and all this stuff,
(07:17):
and so off we go. And you know, when you
have twins, it's kind of you know, the pregnancy moves
into the high risk category and you got to walk
through all that. And so we were doing that, and
I remember being a little overwhelmed at first, trying to
figure out, like how we're going to do this two
kids and all this stuff. But somehow we got really
(07:37):
comfortable that we could figure this out. And if you spiritually,
I became a Christian as a very young child, and
so God was always in the picture in this, and
we learned, you know, to trust Him in this.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
And we started walking. At thirteen weeks.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I thought I'd made it out of my first trimester,
which is always the issue. And I was on my
way up the egg in the Excellent building where I worked,
and all of a sudden, I started bleeding everywhere. Wow,
and I was sure I was going to lose one
of the boys, or maybe both of them. And they
go to the emergency room and they say, looks like
(08:16):
everything is calmed down but you need to go home
and rest. We hear a heartbeat, but we don't know
if there's one or two, but go home and then
on Monday go to the high risk doctor. So on Monday,
we went to the high risk doctor. And while we
were there, sitting in the lobby, because infertility and high
risk pregnancies, all you do is hurry up and wait.
(08:39):
So we're sitting in the lobby and I look at
my husband and I said, dude, we think we're going
to lose one or both of the kids. And wouldn't
it be funny if we went in there and they
told us we were having triplets. And so we go
into the exam room and the lady, the ultrasound tech
starts the exam and I meet imediately noticed there's three
(09:02):
and I'm like, oh, oh, there's three, and she was
like yeah. So she does all her measurements and she's like,
let's just take one last picture, and so she gets
all the babies on the screen and.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I immediately go, oh, there's four.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
And I said, don't even bother looking for five, six,
seven or eight. It's all it's all high risk at
this point. And yeah, and so she's like Okay, I
probably need to get the doctor. And I'm like, uh huh,
I bet And so she gets the doctor and the
doctor comes in confirms everything, and she's like, well, help
you figure your way, and you know all this stuff.
(09:39):
And obviously I was attempting to miscarry because I wasn't
taking care of five of us. I didn't even know
there was five of us in there, right, you know,
me and me and four more. And so when we
left the doctor that day, we knew that to make
it to the next day was pretty amazing when you
carry that many children. And so our goal was thirty weeks,
(10:01):
and we're like at thirteen weeks.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So off we go. We do all the right things.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I drink gallons and gallons and gallons of water and
never pass my task. But I always drank a lot
of water, you know, did everything, ate like a horse,
all these good things. And around twenty three weeks, we
decided to go to the hospital to take the tour
that you would usually do before you went in for delivery.
And it was because I was getting very large and
(10:29):
we didn't know how much longer I'd be moving around
that much.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
And we were.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Driving down the Houston freeway, traffic stops, the car behind
us rear ends us. Not super bad, but they rear
end us. The cop and I remember telling my husband,
I don't feel very good.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And the cop does all his thing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
We finish all that, and I'm like, let's go onto
the hospital because I might not want to come back,
and so we went onto the hospital. By the time
I got there, I was like, I really don't feel
good and I couldn't feel anything because I was so
long charge. And so when I got to the hospital,
I convinced him to check me in and I'm like,
see if I'm having contractions, because I don't want to
(11:08):
drive home and have to drive back up here, so
check it out. And so I was having contractions about
two minutes apart, and they checked me in, got me hydrated,
kept me overnight, got everything calm back down, and when
we left the hospital at twenty three weeks, we realized
that it's a miracle to make it to the next day.
(11:30):
So we go home and life continues on. And at
twenty six weeks, I am walking around the house and
I realized all of a sudden, there's water on the floor,
and I'm like, oh, that it must be one of
the baby sacks maybe rupturing. And I told my husband,
I said, we got to go back to the doctor.
(11:52):
And I said, as we go, why don't you go
ahead and grab my bag, because if this is the
baby sack rupturing, they're going to put us in the hospital.
All right, And off we went to the doctor. We
sat and waited, and the doctor did say yes, the
baby sack had ruptured, and the goal was to go
to the hospital, get in the bed and stay there
(12:13):
and see if I could get him to thirty weeks.
And on our way to the hospital, I was like,
I'm not ready for the hospital. They're not ready for
me and I it's one of those times that I
kind of flipped out because I was just like, oh,
this is just like going to jail. I'm going to
be stuck in the bed and all this stuff. And
we get there and make it through that first night.
(12:34):
I asked my husband to stay because I was like,
I know you can't do it every night, but stay
with me this first night and let's just get settled.
And my parents were coming real early the next day.
Go to sleep. I wake up the next morning, I
have definitely am having contractions. I know it, and I
tell my husband, go get the doctor.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I know I'm having.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Contractions, and the doctor comes in. They check everything out,
and basically one of the babies had stuck their hand
through my stitch cervix and was waving to the world, Hello,
I'm coming. And the doctor looked at me and she said,
you're gonna have to deliver the baby. And I just
(13:15):
remember sitting there just like, is this for you know,
for real? I'm like, can you just like put the
hand back and like we'll forget that this ever happened,
and we'll just go on like nothing happened.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And she's like, no, you have to deliver.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
And I was like okay, and so I just kind
of sat there and I was like, I gotta figure
my way through.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
I got to figure my way through this.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And so I just resolved to figure my way and
they sent me off into surgery, brought me back into
the exam room, and we waited and several hours passed,
and then little Zach arrived on the scene, and because
medical technology at that point was not available to save him,
he was going to pass away. So they just simply
(14:03):
put Zack into my arms and I held him and
I rocked him, and he took his little hand and
wrapped it around my finger and squeezed, Hey, Mom, I'm here,
I love you, you know. And I just held that
baby as he drifted off into eternity. And then we
waited because we needed to see if my body was
(14:25):
going to be able to let me carry the other
three or.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
If I was going to get sick.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
And after several hours, I was getting sicker and thicker,
and the blood work came back and it was all
messed up, and they doctor came in and she said,
You're going to have to induce the other three. And
I was like okay, And so they induced and I
sat there and was like, I'm going to have to
(14:52):
figure my way through this. And the boys, the rest
of the boys showed up, Josh, Natan, Chris showed up
about three hours later, and they place. They placed them
in my arms and I rocked them and held them
as they drifted off into eternity. And after all the
dust settled that day, it was a very long day.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
It should have been going, should have been there to celebrate,
and here I am trying to figure out, like how
do I how do I plan four funerals. You know,
it just wasn't even on my radar, right, And so
the desk settles, it's just me and my husband in
the room, and I just looked at you know, kind
(15:35):
of looked around and was thinking, and I'm like, how
do I figure my way through this mess? There's so
much pain, there's so much hurt. This dream that I
have of being a young grandmam, my love of children,
all of this is just I can do everything and I.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Can't figure this out right.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
And the only thing I could come up with was
I just don't know anywhere else to turn but.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
To trust God in this situation.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I mean, I just I thought, I thought about everything,
and I'm like, I just don't know how to do
this unless God walks me through this.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So I just was like, God, I trust you with this.
I just don't know what to do.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
But what I learned is that, you know, when we're
faced with really hard situations, the thing that rises up
in me usually is this question of why why me?
Why now?
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Why? God?
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Why?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
The boys? Why?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Why? And you just like why?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
You just want to scream, right, and God whispers to me,
I need you to give me your why and I'm like,
uh no, I like my why because it's the last
thing I got left you what you want it, I'm
like what, And I'm you know, if God himself would
(16:55):
have showed up and stood in front of me in
that room or anybody else try to answer my why question,
I just realized that, you know, no answer that I
would have gotten would have satisfied nothing, not one right.
And so God's like, give me the why, and I'm like, okay, I'll.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Give you my why.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
So I just like open my hands up and I'm like, okay,
you can have my why.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
And then I'm like, what do I do now? You
just took my security blanket.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And He's like, ask me a different question, and I'm like,
what am I supposed to ask?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
And he's like, ask me, how do I survive? So
that's the question I started asking, how do I survive?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And it came down to something very simple. It came
down to breathing. Because if we're not breathing, we're going
to be in our lower part of our brain.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Where we make emotional decisions.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
If we take nice, big, deep breaths, you get into
the prefront of corte, so you actually think better, right,
so breathe, okay, And then.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
What is my next best step?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And it doesn't have to be the right step, because
the right step question will cause us to be stuck.
Why keeps me stuck? And the right question, you know,
the right step keeps me stuck. So what's the next
best thing I could do? And what I did was
just simply out of trust and faith and obedience. I
(18:31):
just took that first step, whatever it was, and then
God met me there and then he shined a light
at my feet to show me what the next best
step could be, and he met me there.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
And this went.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
On and on and on about yes, step after step,
and sometimes I went backwards and things like that. And
I don't you know, I never want people to walk
away thinking I'm some superhero type person, because my next
best step early on could be like pulling the covers
off my head, getting up, brushing my teeth, walking around
(19:05):
for thirty seconds, and getting back in the bed. And
that was success that day. And that's okay because it
was movement. And the next day, maybe I could do
something around my house, or I could go, you know,
to the store and eventually I could work my job,
and on and on and on it goes. And so
this was how the healing journey played out for me.
(19:25):
And at some point in that journey, the question began
to change, and the question went from how do I survive?
To how do I thrive? Because here's what I knew.
I knew I wanted to live. I wanted to feel.
I wanted to have joy. I wanted to be able
(19:47):
to be happy. And I knew that I didn't want
to be stuck. I have friends that have had losses
of children thirty years ago and they're still stuck. And
I'm like, I don't want to be like that. God, Please,
please don't let me be like that. And so the
question of how do I thrive created a sweet space
(20:09):
for God to begin to work and to redeem the
story for me. And so it gave me opportunities to
work with women who had lost children and lead grief groups,
and it led us on the wild ride and journey
of adopting nine children, and it led us into starting
the ministry anchor point where we get to we get
(20:33):
to minister to thousands of people each and every year
when we help families. It led to writing the book
The Heart of Legacy and all of these things, and
I got to be the young grandma. I have fifteen grandkids,
and so I got that, you know, in a different way.
But the reality is is that you know, the truth
be told. I don't wish my story on anyone, but
(20:56):
you know, all of these things have come because I
have gone through that difficult situation and God used it
to form me into the person that he needed me
to be to be able to do all these other things.
And so the joy for me is that my boy's
legacy lives on even today through me and the impact
(21:20):
that I get to make. And I realize, you know
now that you know when I get to heaven, why
won't matter.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
My boys will be there. Jesus is there.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
And when we think about eternity, it's a really long
term view, right, We'll be together a really long time.
And this season on this earth, while it feels like forever,
is really going to be short in comparison. Yeah, And
so that's that's my journey of working my way through
(21:50):
a really big loss and figuring my way back and
having joy and letting God redeem that story.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, everyone, we heard it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
We're going to take a break and we'll come back
because you took us through the journey and I understand
that there were highs and there were lows, and when
you were acting that, why that was something that you
could hold onto.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
You nursed it.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
You know, that was you know, that was what you
had and for God to absent you because he realized
there needed to be a release. So we'll be right
back as we go to our paid commercial break.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
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Speaker 3 (23:26):
All right everyone, So we are back. We are back.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
When I go to a commercial about feeling alive and everything,
it shows that you had that will to want to
live and for more. Giving up your why was what
God realized you needed to do in order for you
to move forward into your next season.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Sometimes, like you mentioned earlier, there are those who lost
that child maybe thirty years ago, and they're still stuck
in that place.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But God realized there was so much more war to you, Debbie,
and you had so much more to give, all right,
So we asked you for the one thing that you
wanted to hold onto, the one thing that you wanted
to nurse, the one thing you were like, I just
want to stay here.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I lost.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I want to stay in this because if I don't,
then it might be that I'm forgetting them.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It might be that you know, I you know, I'm
just tuning them out.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
But no, God said, you know what, Let's turn this, Okay,
let's turn this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Let me take this why, and let me give you
a reason.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Let me take this pain and let me give you
a purpose, all right, And that is how the legacy
continued because if you were just holding on to that.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Why and being who you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Are today, it would have disabled you in such a
way that getting out of bed would not be exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I remember, like you said, taking the covers.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
On certain days was a lot, right, because that's how
much it weighed down on you.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
It wasn't one but four.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You understand all at the same time when you are
at least if I had one that I could hold
on to. But in not having that, you know, it
is very difficult, okay for women. Even men go to
this too.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
A lot of people don't think that men do.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But men just because they didn't carry the child did
not mean they two didn't suffer because they have to
go to the emotions with you, the heis and the
lows with you, And maybe they don't talk about it
like us women. You know, we are about our feelings
and our emotions. We will share, it will come, we'll
do everything. But men don't. It doesn't mean that they're not.
But here it is now. God has abstinute. I want
(25:36):
that because there's more to you. And now you go
into this journey, continuing the legacy, pouring it in other children.
All right, now you went into nine children that you adopted.
All right, now take us through. Now that you was
at a point where you had your own you lost it,
(25:58):
How was it like now to X set, you know,
let me just adopt.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
What was going through your mind? What was your emotions
like as you decided on such a journey.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
After we lost the Boys about probably within about a year,
I decided that we were going to try, maybe and
get pregnant again.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
And we started to do that.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
And I just realized, because most of the infertility issues
were my issues, that I.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Just could not handle it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I could not be poked and prodded, and I just
was like, I can't do this. And so we started
and then I was just like, Okay, God, that's not
going to work. And at that point, I was an
engineer for Exon, and God kind of pulled me out
of that.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
And because one of the things.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
That changed when we lost the Boys was this perspective
on eternity became very clear, and I wanted every everything
in my life to be about eternal things. And so
when I went back to work at Exxon, great place.
Loved my job, you know, it just wasn't quite as
exciting to work on tanks and pumps and all this
(27:12):
cool stuff to make sure you have explain and all
that stuff. And God just started pulling me toward ministry.
He just did over about a two year period. So
I actually ended up leaving that career and going into
seminary to get a seminary degree because I really felt
like God was leading me to do something in ministry.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Let me just let me say this.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Now, you move from being a woman of in Floyd
is a woman that was moving and shaking making like
they call it today. You are making the coin you
had the bag right now going into ministry. A lot
of people might not understand that because there's a lot
of people who come away from you know, the comfort
(27:56):
environment come from having an x amount every month every year,
you know, so many zeros and then to make a
decision that I am going to go ministry, I.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Am going to go kingdom.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
What people don't understand is that's also a part of
the healing journey for you as an individual. Okay, it's
more than oh why did you leave such a high
paying job? You know, like you said an exon you know, uh,
you know, being the brain behind the movement and bringing
everything together. Because now you realize, above all of that,
(28:31):
even though you were the designer engineer in this thing,
God was the greatest engineer, and you decided to say
yes to God the engineer, chief engineer.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
So yeah, so we began to trust him with that,
and you know, it was really it was really funny
because my journey to obedience was not quick, okay, Because.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
God like I want you to go do this.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I'm like, I'm like, heck, no, are you crazy? And
so it took a little while to get to a yes. Okay,
but I do know and in confident of that, God
doesn't let you go off the hook. And so he
eventually got me to yes. And so I've learned to
try to be a yes girl much sooner. Okay. So
(29:19):
when we went to seminary, it was actually funny because
my husband was in graduate school and he was not
near completion and I walked away from my excellent job,
he walked away from finishing his doctoral work, and we
swapped and that is very unusual, and we just prayed
(29:40):
for God to provide him a job because we didn't
know what he was going to do.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
And God did. He was faithful.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
My husband, you know, works at Nasagus to train you know,
astronauts and cosmonauts, which is kind of cool, but it's
he's done that for almost thirty years and it's.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
The perfect thing.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
And it was the thing that God provided so that
I could walk away from engineering. And that just took
us on a wild ride of learning to follow God
even when we don't have all the answers. And so yeah, yeah,
And so when I finished seminary, we actually I was
working full time, part time pay on a church staff,
(30:22):
which was fine. But I went to the pastor and
I said, Hey, do you ever think this will become
full time pay? And he was like, I don't know, Dad,
And I said, well, with your blessing, I want to
explore what else might be out there and maybe I'll
be called to stay here, but maybe not, and I
want your blessing. And so he gave me the blessing.
So we began to pray, and here's the things we
(30:43):
prayed for. We said, God, show me, Debbie, what job
you want me to do. Show Scott what job you
want him to do, and wherever it is in the country,
and we'll go. And that was our three things that
we started praying and God, and God revealed what he
wanted me to do, and he revealed the area of
(31:03):
the country, which was in South Carolina, and so we
agreed to move without knowing what my husband was going
to do. And he was training astronauts for a shuttle
launch and he stayed behind for it was going to
be about six months while I went ahead and went
to South Carolina. And in that six month time, God
(31:24):
made a way for that boy to be able to
work out of our home in South Carolina and do
very similar to what he was already doing. It was
amazing and so God, you know, God answered that. So
when we got to South Carolina, that was the first
time we both the dusk kind of settled and We're
both standing there and I'm looking at him and I'm going, Okay, dude,
(31:46):
I'm not getting any younger. And if we're going to
try again, then maybe we need to try again or
would we be open to considering adoption? And we had
never really thought about it before, but we sat down
and we started talking and about it, you know, and
all those things that you think about, like Okay, could
I could I love a child that's.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Not my own, like not my own blood, And you know.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
I said down, I was thinking about that, and I
was like, you know what, I love my husband and
he ain't my blood and so so God must be
able to do something in that.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
So that's probably not going to be an issue.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
You know. I like your logic on that.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
I'm like, okay, I know. So I ruled that out.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
And then I was like, I know, I want multiple
kids because remember I still want to be a younger
friend Grandma.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
I was just going, yeah, And.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
So we were open to sibling groups. We didn't feel
called to international adoption and we didn't feel called to
infinite adoption, and so we were open to a sibling group.
And generally we wanted the youngest kid to be about five, which,
if you if you learn the CPS system and all
that stuff, older children over to and large sibling groups
(33:02):
are very hard to place. And so we just started
the process. We didn't have a clue what we were doing,
but we just kind of started it. And it wasn't
this desire to replace the children that we lost. It
was this was just now. This Plan B became our
Plan A, and God graciously gave us in our first adoption,
(33:24):
a sibling group of five and they were six, seven, eight, nine,
and ten when they were home. Yes, so we moved
a basketball team in. So it's kind of.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
Exciting and I remember it totally.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
I mean we've been married eleven years and we were
kind of setting our ways. You know, we had our plans,
we did it, we did whatever. This light disrupted everything.
I mean everything. I mean I remember the very first day,
the youngest child he comes in. They had been outside
playing in the backyard. He comes in the house and
he is looking up at me and he's like mom,
(33:58):
and I'm looking down at him and I'm like yeah,
and he's like, mom, what's for dinner? And I'm like
looking at him and I was like do you ask
this question every day?
Speaker 5 (34:10):
And he's like yeah, And I'm like seriously unprepared.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
And so h At that time, I had a master's
in organizational management and it kind of kicked in and.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
I listen, moms have all degreens. Okay, you want to
a resume? Yeah, you know, you're Jeley the golts.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Yeah yeah, so uh so that kicked into high gear.
I got systems everywhere, you know, a laundry system, a
food system and everything, and we started making our way.
And I will tell you that that was really all
we really planned was those you know, like five I
wanted four. Five seems like enough, and the other this
(34:56):
is a really cool God piece of that. Okay, my
boys were born on April first of nineteen ninety five.
My first five children came into my home on April
first of two thousand and two.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
That is seven years to the day.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
And we say that God redeemed that day for us
and gave us more than our four, just like Job
was blessed as he walked through it.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
So we thought, this is it.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
This is great, it's like overwhelming, it's wonderful, you know,
and off we go and everything. And it was about
and it's hard because all my kids have trauma background.
They all have experienced abuse and neglect and all kinds
of things that children shouldn't have to forget. And so
what I learned was that Debbie had a lot of
(35:48):
growing to do. Because Debbie had some of her own
stuff that still needed to be healed and God gives
you children, and they're wonderful little things. They just poke
right at those places and you all lit up. And
so I have. I just became really good and very
intentional about walking through my junk and figured out how
(36:10):
to get rid of my junk so that I could
be fully present for these children and help them walk
through their junk. And I just teach parents, I'm like,
you cannot go where you not. You can't take a
child where you have not gone to yourself, right, and
so you know, so this just became the mantra. And
I had five, so I got lots of chances to
(36:31):
figure that.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
Stuff out right.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
And about seven years later, I told my husband, I've
been at a conference and Francis Chan was talking, and
he told a story about a couple that adopted children
in a third world country and he was a paraplegic
and they just kept adding these orphans into their home
that were left on the streets, and it just really
(36:54):
convicted me, and I knew enough to go.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
I know how big my house is, and if.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
I rearranged the kid, I could get fourteen kids in
here based on CPS regulations. And so as soon as
Francis finished he said this one thing at the very end,
he said, you know, none of us, all of us,
would want to be this man and this woman when
they get in front of Jesus and he says, well done,
(37:21):
good and faithful servant, and he said, none of us
would want to be them. Now, okay, And anyway, he
prayed and it was over. I didn't even get out
of my seat. I called my husband. I was in Georgia,
and I said, dude, we're supposed to turn our application
into adopt again.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
And he was like, no way.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
He was like stay gone, and I was like, you
gotta pray about it. And he agreed to pray about it.
And it was about six weeks and he came and
he said, okay, we can turn it in. And the
kids were super like. They just has such great hearts.
They wanted to help other ks heads. And we turned
(38:02):
our stuff in, just trying to be obedient, not really
wanting more kids, but.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
It's being obedience.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
And six months later we have another sibling group in
our home. And at that point they were eleven and fourteen,
and then mine were fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen in the lost.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
And that at that point we became the latest version
of the Heraldo Show.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Is what it looked like, you know, when they're all like, ah,
you know, that's what our home is like. And it
was hard because we're already a blended family. Now you're
bringing a blended family and everybody's got trauma and it's
you know, chaotic, but it's a good mess, but it's hard.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
And we we would.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
At times lay in the bed at night and I'm
looking at my husband, I'm like, dude, if God is
not real, we are idiots.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
I don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
And the next our next thing, our very big, mature
prayer was God Help, and that's it. And so off
we go, and we certainly think seven is it right?
Speaker 5 (39:14):
I mean seven is it?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Because now it's like, you know, and we get about
three years down the road, and my oldest daughter had
gotten pregnant and was in a very bad relationship, and look,
it looked like the grand baby was going to end
up in CPS custody. And I just felt really convicted
(39:37):
that we needed to turn our application in in order
to be prepared if something happened with that grand baby.
And my husband was like, no, no, this is too risky. No,
and I was like, I'm just telling you, got to
start praying about it. So this went on for about
six months of praying about it because I was like,
(39:59):
I just can't let it. I'm telling you, we're supposed
to turn it in, and I said, I don't know
if it's to take care of the grand baby, if
we're supposed to adopt more people are, if there's another
reason God's doing it. I just know we're supposed to
turn the application.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
You have to try it.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
So after six months he was like okay, and I
was like all right. So I mean you can just
imagine I'm calling the adoption places and I'm talking to them,
and you know, they're trying to convince me how good
adoption is. I'm like, check, this ain't my first rodeo.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
You don't have to tell me all.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
That, I said, skip all that. I said, I just
need to know your process and I need to turn
my paperwork in.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
And she's like, well.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Why do you want to adopt it? And I'm like,
I don't want to adopt. I want to be obedient.
That's all I'm trying to do is just turn it in.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
And she was like she was like you're perfect, You're great.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. And so,
as it turns out, my my grand did not end
up in CPS custody, which was wonderful. It was in
that adoption cycle that we learned about trust based relational
intervention and the work of doctor Karen Purpos out of TCU.
(41:15):
And I remember being in that first training and I
looked at my husband when it was over and I
was like, dude, this is the missing piece. This is
what we didn't have an understanding trauma and how to
work with these kids. And I said, there better be
a God or we've screwed up our kids back and
so and so, fortunately there's a God and we you know,
he can work past my imperfections, and so we got
(41:38):
introduced to that, which revolutionized what we do at Anchor Point. Okay,
so it was definitely useful there, and we were blessed
with two more kids. So yeah, so we ended up
with our last two. And then just so you can
have the whole story, is that right when we were
almost fifty, a lot of them were moving out of
(42:03):
the house and we were getting a lot of space
in rooms, you know, and everything, and I said, I said,
do you think we had to adopt again? And my
husband was like his no, technique had never worked before.
So he swapped up his technique and he said, I
need you to pray about it. And I was like, Okay,
what do you want me to pray about? And he's like,
(42:24):
you need to pray about whether we bring more children
in our home, which would be good, or should we
invest our time in family more families that can bring
children into their homes. And so I started I started
praying about that, and over about a three or four
week period, my youngest child had some massive disruptions in
(42:47):
his life. And they always happened when I had a
CEO meeting to go to, and I'm like, i had
to put my meeting on hold and I'm going to
take care of my child. But it disrupted a lot
of the stuff I was trying to do. Ministry wise.
It's absolutely fine and we work through all those things.
But when it happened two or three or four times,
I realized, maybe it's not time to bring more children
(43:10):
in the home. So my husband was like, pew, you know,
so not that God would not still bring children into
our home. We're totally open to that, but we spend
more of our time now investing in others to bring
kiddos in there.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
And that's that's been a.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Wonderful, hard and good ride. And it has lots of stories.
And when you have trauma backgrounds and we get into
adulthood the world sometimes you can slip into bad situations
and the world can be a hard place for my children,
and so they've done some things that I don't always
(43:48):
agree with. But guess what, these are my kids, and
these are they've been given to me. And you know,
whether I have one living on the streets homeless, or
have one that's a drug dealer, or have one that's
a prostitute, you know, I've had all these cases. And
God has just given us a heartbeat to understand that
(44:08):
his parents. Our job is to plant positive seeds, leave
them a bridge to Jesus and love them no matter
where they are, you know, and be there when they
hit bottom. And so there's been lots of good things
and highs and all that, but there's been a lot
of hearts in that too, and it's still in the
(44:28):
center of God's heartbeat, and it is worth it. And
it's been a wonderful journey for us to do that
with them.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Wow, Wow, that is indeed a wonderful journey to see
what you have emerged from what was meant to deter you,
what was meant to break you. That God put those
pieces together so that you can continue and open up
(44:57):
your home. Now, you said the seven, because we're still
missing two.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Right, No, no, no, the third adoption got the last two. So yeah, yeah,
so I did get nine.
Speaker 5 (45:09):
I got nine. Believe me, I know all nine of
them and they're great.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
All right, So we're going to go right here. So
we're here into your book here, which is the heart
of legacy. So this book takes us through what journey exactly.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
So this is a book that about it. I actually
wrote it the first past about seven years ago, but
about it, and I did it out of obedience. And
then I'm like, shut the lid on the computer. I'm like, okay, God,
we're done with that. And about a year and a
half ago, God said I want you to get the
book out.
Speaker 5 (45:46):
We're finishing it.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
It's time and I was like, oh really, And it
is my journey story of a lot of what we
talked about today, but you get the whole deal.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
There and then.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
It's about, you know, I want people to be legacy
makers and this idea of being extremely intentional in everything.
You have to live your legacy now to have one
that lasts later. We're going to have one, but do
you want it to be?
Speaker 3 (46:16):
You know?
Speaker 4 (46:16):
So like when we were sitting when I was sitting
around with a friend, I was like, Hey, do you
want to start this anchor point thing that's going to
outlive us and everything? And it was about how could
I be intentional? And so it is that journey that
God has had me on in the very center. It
focuses on three kind of core concepts to be focused, faithful,
and fearless, and it gives you all wonderful application things
(46:40):
where you can learn to begin to apply these things
in your life so that you and I can be
more intentional together. And then the last part of the
book has wonderful stories of life change for people that
have gone through the anchor Point ministry. But it is
such a valuable thing when you and I are living intentional,
living out our legacies, the ripple effects that we can
(47:03):
have for God now and into eternity are just amazing.
So that is the heart behind that book.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
That is indeed amazing, amazing, amazing. We it is truly
I believe everyone shouldn't be able to connect with this book.
And when I listen to your story, when I listen
to your story here, I am seeing obedience that keeps
being the one even though because I've been talking in
(47:33):
this past season about delayed obedience, because delayed obedience is
disobedience correct. But what happens now is the fact that
even though there was a delay in your obedience, you
eventually did, you know, say yes. But what you learned
in this journey was when God said it, to just
(47:54):
go ahead and do it, even you didn't understand to
step out on faith. So that is why he took
you a why, because if you were still holding onto
your why, you would be obedient.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
Yeah. And guess what this is.
Speaker 4 (48:07):
The other piece too that I've learned is that, you know,
sometimes it's really hard for me to say yes.
Speaker 5 (48:13):
Because I go, oh my gosh, how am I going
to do that?
Speaker 4 (48:16):
Right?
Speaker 5 (48:16):
Or I don't know, you can't know you know, or whatever.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
And the really easy yes for me to give if
I believe my Daddy God loves me and he's in charge,
is when he asked me to do something. I like
to add yes in him, I can do it in you.
Speaker 5 (48:34):
I can do it.
Speaker 4 (48:34):
Yes in you, And then I know it's not dependent
on me. I am just a vessel at that point,
because he wants to do something in and through me.
And when I go yes, and you I can, then
you'll help me figure it out. And then I go, Okay,
Daddy God, I said yes, but I don't have a clue.
So you're going to need to let me know what's
(48:55):
next because I have no.
Speaker 5 (48:56):
Idea how to do this.
Speaker 4 (48:58):
And then is all it's all on him, and he
wants it to be all on him anyway.
Speaker 5 (49:02):
He just wants us to be willing.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
And so I just like to tell people, is this
whole journey in my life has just taught me how
to build a faith muscle and to strengthen it. And
you work it out and you say yes, and you
keep going, you say yes again, and you say yes,
and then your little faith muscle becomes a big faith muscle.
And so that's that's the journey we're on together.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Indeed, indeed, so we're going to close out on this
segment number one, where can they find your book?
Speaker 5 (49:35):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (49:35):
So they can go to my website. It's the TG
Debbie Simmons dot com and there's information there on speaking
and on the book and on coaching and all good
stuff that's there and.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
All what do they tell me?
Speaker 4 (49:48):
All those cool social media handles are there that you
need to like, connect, follow whatever they are. So I
would love I would love for people to do that
because I love being on the journey to together because
I think that makes it way more special when we
can do it all together.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Right indeed, and also your organization, we would have all
these links in the bio as we give a description
for this podcast and if you would like to reach out,
if you would like to donate as well to what
is the name of the foundation again, Debbie, Yes.
Speaker 4 (50:23):
So the ministry is Anchorpoint dot us. Yes, And I
would tell you one real cool thing that they can do.
I know a lot of your listeners are prayers and
there if you go to the Anchorpoint dot us, they
can click on the nine to one one prayer and
what they will get is they will get a text
every time we need to be pleading on the behalf
(50:44):
of one of our clients. So whether they're trying to
choose life or whether they're struggling with a kid. You
get to be on the frontlines of ministry. So I
would encourage them to join us on that tech string
because it is invaluable for making a difference.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
And that is anchor Point.
Speaker 5 (51:01):
So if I could add this in here dot us, so.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
Someone type it in.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Type it in while you're watching, help my fingers because
you're watching work to anchor point dot us. And also
for the emergency the nine one one prayer. All right
there you can connect as well. All right, so put
it in the chat anchor point dot us, go ahead,
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
And this is another way to connect with Debbie.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Now Debbie is Anchor Points just local or is it international?
Speaker 4 (51:41):
It's local, but we also have a lot of families
that come from across the country to do a lot
of therapeutic camps and so it is great and anybody
can be anywhere and pray.
Speaker 5 (51:52):
So I'm like, you can be on the team. So
we'd love to have you.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Okay, great, great, So everyone you heard it here an
emergent in power while we have Debbie on. What I
just love and it's amazing about the story is how
you know God? The great designer of all things, engineer
of all things, calling on an engineer, or realize you
know what, I cant be obedient to God here and
how God flipped the script. But just this story is
(52:18):
reminding me about when Abram left. He was with his
family and everything, and God asked him to leave. He
didn't ask any question. He just got up and go
and his obedience brought him into his life. Okay, it
brought him into He did go through difficulties, it didn't.
It wasn't all a bed of roses. They were childless
(52:40):
for so many years. Okay, even today we still see
this war going on among brothers, all right, because when
God asks us to do something, we have to understand
the key. Here is the obedience in that, all right.
And this is what he said when he was talking
to King Saul, what it is better to obey than
(53:01):
to sacrifice. So eventually, like Debbie said in the beginning,
like God, you know, I don't know about this right now, right,
I don't know about this right now, I'll pull you in.
I don't know about this right now. But eventually she
realized she had to submit her will to God. And
once she did this, the next time God asks her.
(53:22):
She didn't stall, she just moved, and that had that
push to just do it. I don't know what's gonna
come out of this, but I know what I need
to do. There are many of you that might be
listening under this life where you've been into spaces or
heard things that you needed to connect with, but you
ignored it and you walked away from it. And you
knew that you had to pull on you at that
(53:43):
time to move right, to react, but instead didn't. So
I hope this brings you repentance, right repentance and ask God,
so I regard I've been delaying delayed obedience.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
I know I will eventually do it.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Just like telling that child to wash the dishes and
you'll come back home from work and the dishes are
not washed.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
It's still disobedience.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
If they decide to start washing the dish as soon
as you get in the driveway. They didn't do it
when you ask them to do it. They eventually came
about to do it. So delayed obedience is disobedience, all right. So, Debbie,
as we're closing out on today, right before, I ask you,
because I feel to have you lead us in prayer
as we close Outlet what does God have on your
(54:27):
heart to say to the audience, whoever that is that
God put in your spirit right now, speak life into
them at this time.
Speaker 5 (54:35):
Sure, I'd love to do that.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
I would tell your audience if it's someone who is
struggling and feels like their world is just over, and
I would just say, it's like the fog has just landed,
and the way through the fog is the path that
they have to go, and they can trust their Daddy God.
He is not surprised by anywhere we sit or anything
(55:00):
that we face, and that he is still near. Sometimes
we don't feel that way, but when he looks at you,
he sees value, and he loves you, and he wants
nothing but the best for you. And so lean in
and trust him with that pain, with that wide question,
with the unknown. And he is faithful. He shows it
(55:23):
over and over in the Bible. But he also has
shown it over and over in my story. And I
can tell you every time he's always there. He always
helps us figure our way and it is worth it
and it has been rich the journey. So hang in there,
hold tight, lean in, trust your Daddy God.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
He's got you, Hey man, trusts. That's the key word
to trust. You cannot let go. Unless you trust, you
cannot heal until you're ready to talk about it, to
step in and say, you know what, I need to
face the ugly truth. That's the only way that you
can release this unforgiveness is another thing that you hold onto.
(56:05):
Because remember Debbie was holding onto a Hawaii and God
didn't want her to hold onto that because it was
blocking her from her next from her elevation, from what
God had destined for her life.
Speaker 3 (56:18):
Okay, she was able to bring.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
In these children into her home, all right, to do
the best that she can to train them up in
a godly way. But what happens is when children come
from dramatic experiences. Again, I pray that they even now
continue on this path of healing, because the healing journey
is not something that's overnight, all right, it's not forced upon,
(56:43):
but the decision must be made.
Speaker 3 (56:45):
And I am praying.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
For those children that have come through your dolls and
also the lives of children that they will touch. Okay,
through such a powerful testimony that you were a vessel,
you know, ready to be you and say God, use me.
You know, during the time that you are talking, I'm
reminded of the song that says, all to Jesus, I
(57:08):
surrender all to him, I truly give. That was the
song as you were talking. This is what I was
hearing in my spirit. All to Jesus, I surrender. And yes,
he will say, good and faithful servant for taking in
children and.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
Continuing to help others to do the theme. You know
that is commendable.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
And may God continue to strengthen you make God continue
to bless you and your husband and the ministry that
He has entrusted you with. So right now, Debbie, let
us go ahead and lead us out in prayer at
this time.
Speaker 5 (57:44):
All right, I'll be glad to standing.
Speaker 3 (57:47):
God.
Speaker 4 (57:47):
We just come ufore you, and we thank you for
today and for life and for breath, for we know
it all comes from you, and that you look at
us and you smile, and you choose to use each
one of us. You could have chosen so many different
ways to save the world, and you choose to allow
(58:08):
us to be part of your journey. And we want
to be those people, God, but sometimes it's hard, and
so I pray that you would encourage each one of
us to be brave and to be courageous. And you
know what, it really isn't risky to lean into the
God of the universe, but God, it seems like it.
And so I just pray, make us brave, make us courageous,
(58:31):
teach us how to let go of our wives, and
to trust you that you are writing a beautiful.
Speaker 5 (58:37):
And wonderful story.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
And in you we can do each and everything, whether
it's a tragedy we've gone through or whether it's a
new adventure. God, you want us to link arms with you,
and you want to guide us through the way and
that we can just go. Okay, Daddy, God, we don't
get it, show us the way, and Father, most of all,
what we want to do is to bring glory to
(58:58):
you our lives, reveal to people who may never pick
up a Bible who you are, and may draw them
to you so that they will ask us what makes
us different, and we'll be able to say, let me
tell you about mind.
Speaker 5 (59:13):
Jesus, we love.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
Amen, Amen, Amen, a beautiful prayer. Now you might look
at the date on this time stamp for those who
are watching in a month from now, a year from now,
however long that this podcast is out there, the time
that you are watching and listening. It is the time
that God is speaking to you at that moment.
Speaker 3 (59:37):
So yes, He's speaking to you right now.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
Let go of that why that has become your crush
and lean on to God and not your own understanding.
Speaker 3 (59:47):
Acknowledge them. Amen.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
So thank you so much Debbie for being here on
Emergent and Power.
Speaker 3 (59:53):
Everyone. I want to thank you.
Speaker 2 (59:55):
Like I said, we are here just bringing you a
story after story inspiration, empowerment, and it's all to help
you get on the front row seat of your life.
That's why now we put in the background this big
comfy couch for you to know it's okay. Relax and
(01:00:15):
let go and let God. And I want to thank
you once again for tuning in with us on Emerge
and Empower.
Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Let's take this global.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
We're spreading the good news on Jesus Christ, one story
at a time, and stay tuned until next week.
Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Everyone, Bye bye bye Debbie.
Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Thank you for coming on today, all right, bye bye
bye bye bl
Welcome to Emerge and Empower podcast TV, a platform where
resilience meets transformation. Here we amplify voices that have faced trials, trauma,
and adversity, stories that inspire hope, healing and empowerment. Every
episode brings raw, unfiltered conversations with individuals who have risen
(00:21):
from hardship, embracing faith, strength and purpose. Join us as
we break the silence, uplift one another, and emerge stronger together.
New episodes air Wednesdays at six pm English and Saturdays
at six pm, with select Saturdays in Creole for our
Haitian audience.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hello everyone, and welcome again to Emerge and Empower with
your host, Doctor Lynn J.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Welcome, Welcome, we have back.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I know you've seen a lot of awesome, awesome, amazing
things that has been happening around us, and we are
truly thankful for what God has done for us. We
had the magazine that just came out, the Jewing Magazine,
and immediately, immediately, like within the hour, we went up
to three K views and that is all thanks to you.
(01:18):
As we continue to bring you great content and information. Remember,
this is a platform where we believe that we need
to heal for real, not superficially, but for real. Individuals
come onto this podcast each time to share their own
journey and they want to see change. They turned their
(01:41):
life where they took purpose from the pain and testimony
from all that they have gone through and they bring
it here on the set. So on today, I would
like to encourage you right now, go ahead and click
the link, share it with your friends, share it in
all the groups and let them know that doctor Lynjay
(02:04):
is on today on Emerge and Empower.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yep, I'm waiting for you.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Go ahead, and if you have not subscribed yet, let's
build a viewing audience and subscribe on today. Now, I
will go right in and introduce our guests, none other
than Debbie Simmons. Debbie Simmons is a trauma informed coach,
nonprofit CEO, and legacy build up whose journey is marked
(02:31):
by both profound.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Laws and redemptive purpose.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
After the heartbreaking laws of our biological quadruplets, Debbie stepped
into life of radical obedience, adopting nine children from trauma
backgrounds and founding Anchor Point, a multi site organization supporting
families through counseling, education, medical care, and spiritual development through
(02:59):
decades of pair and leading and healing, Debbie discovered the
power of trauma informed tools, faith, and emotional resilience. Her
story is one of rising from burnout, chaos, deep grief
to equip others with practical strategies that transform homes, hearts, legacies,
(03:23):
and legacies. Today she empowers overwhelmed parents, caregivers, and women
in transition to go from stuff to anchored, one next
best step at a time, again, one next best step
at a time. So we are truly honored and blessed
(03:45):
to have Debbie understaid. Debbie, welcome to emerge and empower
on today that our audience know that you are here
and where you are tuning in from and connected from today.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
I am super excited to be here with you guys,
and I am in the Houston, Texas area right where
NaSTA Mission Control Center.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
That's where I am.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Wow, Wow, let's applaud, let's flap and welcome heavy to
emerge and empower again. If you have not done so already,
get on the front road seat in your life right now.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Listen in because you heard it.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
She lost quad druplets, but turn around and adopted nine children.
We'll talk about a woman on a mission, a woman
who's not letting her beIN define her. So, Debbie, we're
going to dive right into your story on today. So
let's dive into that breaking point in your life.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
Well, I'm going to go a little before the breaking point.
And what I like to tell people is, hey, it's
a ride of highs and lows, so buckle your seat
belt and get ready. But when I was young, a teenager,
I had this dream of being a young grandma. Okay,
so I had this goal in my mind. And it
(05:07):
was because my parents were the youngest of big sibling groups,
and my grandparents were passed away before I came kind
of on the scene, and we had a lady that
kind of adopted us as a grandma and I loved
her and everything, but she had multiple scrosses for years.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
And I watched her.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
I learned how to have joy and suffering from her,
and I loved her. But what it made me realize
was I was like, I want to be young when
I have my kids and grandkids, right, and so being
a person who can accomplish objectives and set a goal
and everything, I knew that I needed to figure out
a guy and fall in love, get married, have children,
(05:51):
then I could have grandbabies, right right. That was the
journey I sat out on and lo and behold. Met
my husband in college, we got married and I said,
can we start having kids? And we started trying and
we ended up with many, many years of infertility struggles,
(06:11):
and infertility itself is a defining moment for you in
regards to I remember one of our last attempts was
I was just so devastated because we didn't get pregnant,
and I laid there and was going, I don't even
feel like I'm worth anything. You know, a failure as
(06:33):
a mom, and a failure as a wife, and a
failure as a woman, and on and on and on
the list goes. You know, you can really ral out
of control. And my husband was like, look, we got
two more tries on this study. And I said, okay.
Well I was MOPy that night and I said I'll
pick myself up the next day. But I was mopi
all night And the next day we got up and
(06:56):
we tried again and it didn't work. And on our
very last attempt, and we went to two different doctors
two hours apart, two different types of ultrasounds, and they
told us we were having twins, and I was like, great,
back on for young grandma, you know a five years
ago wrote you know curve, you know, and all this stuff,
(07:17):
and so off we go. And you know, when you
have twins, it's kind of you know, the pregnancy moves
into the high risk category and you got to walk
through all that. And so we were doing that, and
I remember being a little overwhelmed at first, trying to
figure out, like how we're going to do this two
kids and all this stuff. But somehow we got really
(07:37):
comfortable that we could figure this out. And if you spiritually,
I became a Christian as a very young child, and
so God was always in the picture in this, and
we learned, you know, to trust Him in this.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
And we started walking. At thirteen weeks.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I thought I'd made it out of my first trimester,
which is always the issue. And I was on my
way up the egg in the Excellent building where I worked,
and all of a sudden, I started bleeding everywhere. Wow,
and I was sure I was going to lose one
of the boys, or maybe both of them. And they
go to the emergency room and they say, looks like
(08:16):
everything is calmed down but you need to go home
and rest. We hear a heartbeat, but we don't know
if there's one or two, but go home and then
on Monday go to the high risk doctor. So on Monday,
we went to the high risk doctor. And while we
were there, sitting in the lobby, because infertility and high
risk pregnancies, all you do is hurry up and wait.
(08:39):
So we're sitting in the lobby and I look at
my husband and I said, dude, we think we're going
to lose one or both of the kids. And wouldn't
it be funny if we went in there and they
told us we were having triplets. And so we go
into the exam room and the lady, the ultrasound tech
starts the exam and I meet imediately noticed there's three
(09:02):
and I'm like, oh, oh, there's three, and she was
like yeah. So she does all her measurements and she's like,
let's just take one last picture, and so she gets
all the babies on the screen and.
Speaker 5 (09:14):
I immediately go, oh, there's four.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
And I said, don't even bother looking for five, six,
seven or eight. It's all it's all high risk at
this point. And yeah, and so she's like Okay, I
probably need to get the doctor. And I'm like, uh huh,
I bet And so she gets the doctor and the
doctor comes in confirms everything, and she's like, well, help
you figure your way, and you know all this stuff.
(09:39):
And obviously I was attempting to miscarry because I wasn't
taking care of five of us. I didn't even know
there was five of us in there, right, you know,
me and me and four more. And so when we
left the doctor that day, we knew that to make
it to the next day was pretty amazing when you
carry that many children. And so our goal was thirty weeks,
(10:01):
and we're like at thirteen weeks.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So off we go. We do all the right things.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
I drink gallons and gallons and gallons of water and
never pass my task. But I always drank a lot
of water, you know, did everything, ate like a horse,
all these good things. And around twenty three weeks, we
decided to go to the hospital to take the tour
that you would usually do before you went in for delivery.
And it was because I was getting very large and
(10:29):
we didn't know how much longer I'd be moving around
that much.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
And we were.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Driving down the Houston freeway, traffic stops, the car behind
us rear ends us. Not super bad, but they rear
end us. The cop and I remember telling my husband,
I don't feel very good.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And the cop does all his thing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
We finish all that, and I'm like, let's go onto
the hospital because I might not want to come back,
and so we went onto the hospital. By the time
I got there, I was like, I really don't feel
good and I couldn't feel anything because I was so
long charge. And so when I got to the hospital,
I convinced him to check me in and I'm like,
see if I'm having contractions, because I don't want to
(11:08):
drive home and have to drive back up here, so
check it out. And so I was having contractions about
two minutes apart, and they checked me in, got me hydrated,
kept me overnight, got everything calm back down, and when
we left the hospital at twenty three weeks, we realized
that it's a miracle to make it to the next day.
(11:30):
So we go home and life continues on. And at
twenty six weeks, I am walking around the house and
I realized all of a sudden, there's water on the floor,
and I'm like, oh, that it must be one of
the baby sacks maybe rupturing. And I told my husband,
I said, we got to go back to the doctor.
(11:52):
And I said, as we go, why don't you go
ahead and grab my bag, because if this is the
baby sack rupturing, they're going to put us in the hospital.
All right, And off we went to the doctor. We
sat and waited, and the doctor did say yes, the
baby sack had ruptured, and the goal was to go
to the hospital, get in the bed and stay there
(12:13):
and see if I could get him to thirty weeks.
And on our way to the hospital, I was like,
I'm not ready for the hospital. They're not ready for
me and I it's one of those times that I
kind of flipped out because I was just like, oh,
this is just like going to jail. I'm going to
be stuck in the bed and all this stuff. And
we get there and make it through that first night.
(12:34):
I asked my husband to stay because I was like,
I know you can't do it every night, but stay
with me this first night and let's just get settled.
And my parents were coming real early the next day.
Go to sleep. I wake up the next morning, I
have definitely am having contractions. I know it, and I
tell my husband, go get the doctor.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I know I'm having.
Speaker 4 (12:55):
Contractions, and the doctor comes in. They check everything out,
and basically one of the babies had stuck their hand
through my stitch cervix and was waving to the world, Hello,
I'm coming. And the doctor looked at me and she said,
you're gonna have to deliver the baby. And I just
(13:15):
remember sitting there just like, is this for you know,
for real? I'm like, can you just like put the
hand back and like we'll forget that this ever happened,
and we'll just go on like nothing happened.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
And she's like, no, you have to deliver.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
And I was like okay, and so I just kind
of sat there and I was like, I gotta figure
my way through.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
I got to figure my way through this.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And so I just resolved to figure my way and
they sent me off into surgery, brought me back into
the exam room, and we waited and several hours passed,
and then little Zach arrived on the scene, and because
medical technology at that point was not available to save him,
he was going to pass away. So they just simply
(14:03):
put Zack into my arms and I held him and
I rocked him, and he took his little hand and
wrapped it around my finger and squeezed, Hey, Mom, I'm here,
I love you, you know. And I just held that
baby as he drifted off into eternity. And then we
waited because we needed to see if my body was
(14:25):
going to be able to let me carry the other
three or.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
If I was going to get sick.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
And after several hours, I was getting sicker and thicker,
and the blood work came back and it was all
messed up, and they doctor came in and she said,
You're going to have to induce the other three. And
I was like okay, And so they induced and I
sat there and was like, I'm going to have to
(14:52):
figure my way through this. And the boys, the rest
of the boys showed up, Josh, Natan, Chris showed up
about three hours later, and they place. They placed them
in my arms and I rocked them and held them
as they drifted off into eternity. And after all the
dust settled that day, it was a very long day.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
It should have been going, should have been there to celebrate,
and here I am trying to figure out, like how
do I how do I plan four funerals. You know,
it just wasn't even on my radar, right, And so
the desk settles, it's just me and my husband in
the room, and I just looked at you know, kind
(15:35):
of looked around and was thinking, and I'm like, how
do I figure my way through this mess? There's so
much pain, there's so much hurt. This dream that I
have of being a young grandmam, my love of children,
all of this is just I can do everything and I.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
Can't figure this out right.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
And the only thing I could come up with was
I just don't know anywhere else to turn but.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
To trust God in this situation.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
I mean, I just I thought, I thought about everything,
and I'm like, I just don't know how to do
this unless God walks me through this.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
So I just was like, God, I trust you with this.
I just don't know what to do.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
But what I learned is that, you know, when we're
faced with really hard situations, the thing that rises up
in me usually is this question of why why me?
Why now?
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Why? God?
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Why?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
The boys? Why?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Why?
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Why? And you just like why?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
You just want to scream, right, and God whispers to me,
I need you to give me your why and I'm like,
uh no, I like my why because it's the last
thing I got left you what you want it, I'm
like what, And I'm you know, if God himself would
(16:55):
have showed up and stood in front of me in
that room or anybody else try to answer my why question,
I just realized that, you know, no answer that I
would have gotten would have satisfied nothing, not one right.
And so God's like, give me the why, and I'm like, okay, I'll.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Give you my why.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
So I just like open my hands up and I'm like, okay,
you can have my why.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
And then I'm like, what do I do now? You
just took my security blanket.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
And He's like, ask me a different question, and I'm like,
what am I supposed to ask?
Speaker 5 (17:34):
I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
And he's like, ask me, how do I survive? So
that's the question I started asking, how do I survive?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
And it came down to something very simple. It came
down to breathing. Because if we're not breathing, we're going
to be in our lower part of our brain.
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Where we make emotional decisions.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
If we take nice, big, deep breaths, you get into
the prefront of corte, so you actually think better, right,
so breathe, okay, And then.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
What is my next best step?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And it doesn't have to be the right step, because
the right step question will cause us to be stuck.
Why keeps me stuck? And the right question, you know,
the right step keeps me stuck. So what's the next
best thing I could do? And what I did was
just simply out of trust and faith and obedience. I
(18:31):
just took that first step, whatever it was, and then
God met me there and then he shined a light
at my feet to show me what the next best
step could be, and he met me there.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
And this went.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
On and on and on about yes, step after step,
and sometimes I went backwards and things like that. And
I don't you know, I never want people to walk
away thinking I'm some superhero type person, because my next
best step early on could be like pulling the covers
off my head, getting up, brushing my teeth, walking around
(19:05):
for thirty seconds, and getting back in the bed. And
that was success that day. And that's okay because it
was movement. And the next day, maybe I could do
something around my house, or I could go, you know,
to the store and eventually I could work my job,
and on and on and on it goes. And so
this was how the healing journey played out for me.
(19:25):
And at some point in that journey, the question began
to change, and the question went from how do I survive?
To how do I thrive? Because here's what I knew.
I knew I wanted to live. I wanted to feel.
I wanted to have joy. I wanted to be able
(19:47):
to be happy. And I knew that I didn't want
to be stuck. I have friends that have had losses
of children thirty years ago and they're still stuck. And
I'm like, I don't want to be like that. God, Please,
please don't let me be like that. And so the
question of how do I thrive created a sweet space
(20:09):
for God to begin to work and to redeem the
story for me. And so it gave me opportunities to
work with women who had lost children and lead grief groups,
and it led us on the wild ride and journey
of adopting nine children, and it led us into starting
the ministry anchor point where we get to we get
(20:33):
to minister to thousands of people each and every year
when we help families. It led to writing the book
The Heart of Legacy and all of these things, and
I got to be the young grandma. I have fifteen grandkids,
and so I got that, you know, in a different way.
But the reality is is that you know, the truth
be told. I don't wish my story on anyone, but
(20:56):
you know, all of these things have come because I
have gone through that difficult situation and God used it
to form me into the person that he needed me
to be to be able to do all these other things.
And so the joy for me is that my boy's
legacy lives on even today through me and the impact
(21:20):
that I get to make. And I realize, you know
now that you know when I get to heaven, why
won't matter.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
My boys will be there. Jesus is there.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
And when we think about eternity, it's a really long
term view, right, We'll be together a really long time.
And this season on this earth, while it feels like forever,
is really going to be short in comparison. Yeah, And
so that's that's my journey of working my way through
(21:50):
a really big loss and figuring my way back and
having joy and letting God redeem that story.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, everyone, we heard it.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
We're going to take a break and we'll come back
because you took us through the journey and I understand
that there were highs and there were lows, and when
you were acting that, why that was something that you
could hold onto.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
You nursed it.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
You know, that was you know, that was what you
had and for God to absent you because he realized
there needed to be a release. So we'll be right
back as we go to our paid commercial break.
Speaker 6 (22:25):
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Speaker 3 (23:26):
All right everyone, So we are back. We are back.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
When I go to a commercial about feeling alive and everything,
it shows that you had that will to want to
live and for more. Giving up your why was what
God realized you needed to do in order for you
to move forward into your next season.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Sometimes, like you mentioned earlier, there are those who lost
that child maybe thirty years ago, and they're still stuck
in that place.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But God realized there was so much more war to you, Debbie,
and you had so much more to give, all right,
So we asked you for the one thing that you
wanted to hold onto, the one thing that you wanted
to nurse, the one thing you were like, I just
want to stay here.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I lost.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I want to stay in this because if I don't,
then it might be that I'm forgetting them.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
It might be that you know, I you know, I'm
just tuning them out.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
But no, God said, you know what, Let's turn this, Okay,
let's turn this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Let me take this why, and let me give you
a reason.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Let me take this pain and let me give you
a purpose, all right, And that is how the legacy
continued because if you were just holding on to that.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Why and being who you.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Are today, it would have disabled you in such a
way that getting out of bed would not be exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
I remember, like you said, taking the covers.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
On certain days was a lot, right, because that's how
much it weighed down on you.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
It wasn't one but four.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You understand all at the same time when you are
at least if I had one that I could hold
on to. But in not having that, you know, it
is very difficult, okay for women. Even men go to
this too.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
A lot of people don't think that men do.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
But men just because they didn't carry the child did
not mean they two didn't suffer because they have to
go to the emotions with you, the heis and the
lows with you, And maybe they don't talk about it
like us women. You know, we are about our feelings
and our emotions. We will share, it will come, we'll
do everything. But men don't. It doesn't mean that they're not.
But here it is now. God has abstinute. I want
(25:36):
that because there's more to you. And now you go
into this journey, continuing the legacy, pouring it in other children.
All right, now you went into nine children that you adopted.
All right, now take us through. Now that you was
at a point where you had your own you lost it,
(25:58):
How was it like now to X set, you know,
let me just adopt.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
What was going through your mind? What was your emotions
like as you decided on such a journey.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
After we lost the Boys about probably within about a year,
I decided that we were going to try, maybe and
get pregnant again.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
And we started to do that.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
And I just realized, because most of the infertility issues
were my issues, that I.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Just could not handle it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
I could not be poked and prodded, and I just
was like, I can't do this. And so we started
and then I was just like, Okay, God, that's not
going to work. And at that point, I was an
engineer for Exon, and God kind of pulled me out
of that.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
And because one of the things.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
That changed when we lost the Boys was this perspective
on eternity became very clear, and I wanted every everything
in my life to be about eternal things. And so
when I went back to work at Exxon, great place.
Loved my job, you know, it just wasn't quite as
exciting to work on tanks and pumps and all this
(27:12):
cool stuff to make sure you have explain and all
that stuff. And God just started pulling me toward ministry.
He just did over about a two year period. So
I actually ended up leaving that career and going into
seminary to get a seminary degree because I really felt
like God was leading me to do something in ministry.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Let me just let me say this.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Now, you move from being a woman of in Floyd
is a woman that was moving and shaking making like
they call it today. You are making the coin you
had the bag right now going into ministry. A lot
of people might not understand that because there's a lot
of people who come away from you know, the comfort
(27:56):
environment come from having an x amount every month every year,
you know, so many zeros and then to make a
decision that I am going to go ministry, I.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Am going to go kingdom.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
What people don't understand is that's also a part of
the healing journey for you as an individual. Okay, it's
more than oh why did you leave such a high
paying job? You know, like you said an exon you know, uh,
you know, being the brain behind the movement and bringing
everything together. Because now you realize, above all of that,
(28:31):
even though you were the designer engineer in this thing,
God was the greatest engineer, and you decided to say
yes to God the engineer, chief engineer.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
Yeah wow.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
So yeah, so we began to trust him with that,
and you know, it was really it was really funny
because my journey to obedience was not quick, okay, Because.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
God like I want you to go do this.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I'm like, I'm like, heck, no, are you crazy? And
so it took a little while to get to a yes. Okay,
but I do know and in confident of that, God
doesn't let you go off the hook. And so he
eventually got me to yes. And so I've learned to
try to be a yes girl much sooner. Okay. So
(29:19):
when we went to seminary, it was actually funny because
my husband was in graduate school and he was not
near completion and I walked away from my excellent job,
he walked away from finishing his doctoral work, and we
swapped and that is very unusual, and we just prayed
(29:40):
for God to provide him a job because we didn't
know what he was going to do.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
And God did. He was faithful.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
My husband, you know, works at Nasagus to train you know,
astronauts and cosmonauts, which is kind of cool, but it's
he's done that for almost thirty years and it's.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
The perfect thing.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
And it was the thing that God provided so that
I could walk away from engineering. And that just took
us on a wild ride of learning to follow God
even when we don't have all the answers. And so yeah, yeah,
And so when I finished seminary, we actually I was
working full time, part time pay on a church staff,
(30:22):
which was fine. But I went to the pastor and
I said, Hey, do you ever think this will become
full time pay? And he was like, I don't know, Dad,
And I said, well, with your blessing, I want to
explore what else might be out there and maybe I'll
be called to stay here, but maybe not, and I
want your blessing. And so he gave me the blessing.
So we began to pray, and here's the things we
(30:43):
prayed for. We said, God, show me, Debbie, what job
you want me to do. Show Scott what job you
want him to do, and wherever it is in the country,
and we'll go. And that was our three things that
we started praying and God, and God revealed what he
wanted me to do, and he revealed the area of
(31:03):
the country, which was in South Carolina, and so we
agreed to move without knowing what my husband was going
to do. And he was training astronauts for a shuttle
launch and he stayed behind for it was going to
be about six months while I went ahead and went
to South Carolina. And in that six month time, God
(31:24):
made a way for that boy to be able to
work out of our home in South Carolina and do
very similar to what he was already doing. It was
amazing and so God, you know, God answered that. So
when we got to South Carolina, that was the first
time we both the dusk kind of settled and We're
both standing there and I'm looking at him and I'm going, Okay, dude,
(31:46):
I'm not getting any younger. And if we're going to
try again, then maybe we need to try again or
would we be open to considering adoption? And we had
never really thought about it before, but we sat down
and we started talking and about it, you know, and
all those things that you think about, like Okay, could
I could I love a child that's.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Not my own, like not my own blood, And you know.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
I said down, I was thinking about that, and I
was like, you know what, I love my husband and
he ain't my blood and so so God must be
able to do something in that.
Speaker 5 (32:22):
So that's probably not going to be an issue.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
You know. I like your logic on that.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
I'm like, okay, I know. So I ruled that out.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
And then I was like, I know, I want multiple
kids because remember I still want to be a younger
friend Grandma.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
I was just going, yeah, And.
Speaker 4 (32:39):
So we were open to sibling groups. We didn't feel
called to international adoption and we didn't feel called to
infinite adoption, and so we were open to a sibling group.
And generally we wanted the youngest kid to be about five, which,
if you if you learn the CPS system and all
that stuff, older children over to and large sibling groups
(33:02):
are very hard to place. And so we just started
the process. We didn't have a clue what we were doing,
but we just kind of started it. And it wasn't
this desire to replace the children that we lost. It
was this was just now. This Plan B became our
Plan A, and God graciously gave us in our first adoption,
(33:24):
a sibling group of five and they were six, seven, eight, nine,
and ten when they were home. Yes, so we moved
a basketball team in. So it's kind of.
Speaker 5 (33:35):
Exciting and I remember it totally.
Speaker 4 (33:38):
I mean we've been married eleven years and we were
kind of setting our ways. You know, we had our plans,
we did it, we did whatever. This light disrupted everything.
I mean everything. I mean I remember the very first day,
the youngest child he comes in. They had been outside
playing in the backyard. He comes in the house and
he is looking up at me and he's like mom,
(33:58):
and I'm looking down at him and I'm like yeah,
and he's like, mom, what's for dinner? And I'm like
looking at him and I was like do you ask
this question every day?
Speaker 5 (34:10):
And he's like yeah, And I'm like seriously unprepared.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
And so h At that time, I had a master's
in organizational management and it kind of kicked in and.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
I listen, moms have all degreens. Okay, you want to
a resume? Yeah, you know, you're Jeley the golts.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Yeah yeah, so uh so that kicked into high gear.
I got systems everywhere, you know, a laundry system, a
food system and everything, and we started making our way.
And I will tell you that that was really all
we really planned was those you know, like five I
wanted four. Five seems like enough, and the other this
(34:56):
is a really cool God piece of that. Okay, my
boys were born on April first of nineteen ninety five.
My first five children came into my home on April
first of two thousand and two.
Speaker 5 (35:10):
That is seven years to the day.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
And we say that God redeemed that day for us
and gave us more than our four, just like Job
was blessed as he walked through it.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
So we thought, this is it.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
This is great, it's like overwhelming, it's wonderful, you know,
and off we go and everything. And it was about
and it's hard because all my kids have trauma background.
They all have experienced abuse and neglect and all kinds
of things that children shouldn't have to forget. And so
what I learned was that Debbie had a lot of
(35:48):
growing to do. Because Debbie had some of her own
stuff that still needed to be healed and God gives
you children, and they're wonderful little things. They just poke
right at those places and you all lit up. And
so I have. I just became really good and very
intentional about walking through my junk and figured out how
(36:10):
to get rid of my junk so that I could
be fully present for these children and help them walk
through their junk. And I just teach parents, I'm like,
you cannot go where you not. You can't take a
child where you have not gone to yourself, right, and
so you know, so this just became the mantra. And
I had five, so I got lots of chances to
(36:31):
figure that.
Speaker 5 (36:31):
Stuff out right.
Speaker 4 (36:32):
And about seven years later, I told my husband, I've
been at a conference and Francis Chan was talking, and
he told a story about a couple that adopted children
in a third world country and he was a paraplegic
and they just kept adding these orphans into their home
that were left on the streets, and it just really
(36:54):
convicted me, and I knew enough to go.
Speaker 5 (36:56):
I know how big my house is, and if.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
I rearranged the kid, I could get fourteen kids in
here based on CPS regulations. And so as soon as
Francis finished he said this one thing at the very end,
he said, you know, none of us, all of us,
would want to be this man and this woman when
they get in front of Jesus and he says, well done,
(37:21):
good and faithful servant, and he said, none of us
would want to be them. Now, okay, And anyway, he
prayed and it was over. I didn't even get out
of my seat. I called my husband. I was in Georgia,
and I said, dude, we're supposed to turn our application
into adopt again.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
And he was like, no way.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
He was like stay gone, and I was like, you
gotta pray about it. And he agreed to pray about it.
And it was about six weeks and he came and
he said, okay, we can turn it in. And the
kids were super like. They just has such great hearts.
They wanted to help other ks heads. And we turned
(38:02):
our stuff in, just trying to be obedient, not really
wanting more kids, but.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
It's being obedience.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
And six months later we have another sibling group in
our home. And at that point they were eleven and fourteen,
and then mine were fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen in the lost.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
And that at that point we became the latest version
of the Heraldo Show.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Is what it looked like, you know, when they're all like, ah,
you know, that's what our home is like. And it
was hard because we're already a blended family. Now you're
bringing a blended family and everybody's got trauma and it's
you know, chaotic, but it's a good mess, but it's hard.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
And we we would.
Speaker 4 (38:48):
At times lay in the bed at night and I'm
looking at my husband, I'm like, dude, if God is
not real, we are idiots.
Speaker 5 (38:57):
I don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
And the next our next thing, our very big, mature
prayer was God Help, and that's it. And so off
we go, and we certainly think seven is it right?
Speaker 5 (39:14):
I mean seven is it?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Because now it's like, you know, and we get about
three years down the road, and my oldest daughter had
gotten pregnant and was in a very bad relationship, and look,
it looked like the grand baby was going to end
up in CPS custody. And I just felt really convicted
(39:37):
that we needed to turn our application in in order
to be prepared if something happened with that grand baby.
And my husband was like, no, no, this is too risky. No,
and I was like, I'm just telling you, got to
start praying about it. So this went on for about
six months of praying about it because I was like,
(39:59):
I just can't let it. I'm telling you, we're supposed
to turn it in, and I said, I don't know
if it's to take care of the grand baby, if
we're supposed to adopt more people are, if there's another
reason God's doing it. I just know we're supposed to
turn the application.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
You have to try it.
Speaker 5 (40:14):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
So after six months he was like okay, and I
was like all right. So I mean you can just
imagine I'm calling the adoption places and I'm talking to them,
and you know, they're trying to convince me how good
adoption is. I'm like, check, this ain't my first rodeo.
Speaker 5 (40:30):
You don't have to tell me all.
Speaker 4 (40:32):
That, I said, skip all that. I said, I just
need to know your process and I need to turn
my paperwork in.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
And she's like, well.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
Why do you want to adopt it? And I'm like,
I don't want to adopt. I want to be obedient.
That's all I'm trying to do is just turn it in.
Speaker 5 (40:48):
And she was like she was like you're perfect, You're great.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. And so,
as it turns out, my my grand did not end
up in CPS custody, which was wonderful. It was in
that adoption cycle that we learned about trust based relational
intervention and the work of doctor Karen Purpos out of TCU.
(41:15):
And I remember being in that first training and I
looked at my husband when it was over and I
was like, dude, this is the missing piece. This is
what we didn't have an understanding trauma and how to
work with these kids. And I said, there better be
a God or we've screwed up our kids back and
so and so, fortunately there's a God and we you know,
he can work past my imperfections, and so we got
(41:38):
introduced to that, which revolutionized what we do at Anchor Point. Okay,
so it was definitely useful there, and we were blessed
with two more kids. So yeah, so we ended up
with our last two. And then just so you can
have the whole story, is that right when we were
almost fifty, a lot of them were moving out of
(42:03):
the house and we were getting a lot of space
in rooms, you know, and everything, and I said, I said,
do you think we had to adopt again? And my
husband was like his no, technique had never worked before.
So he swapped up his technique and he said, I
need you to pray about it. And I was like, Okay,
what do you want me to pray about? And he's like,
(42:24):
you need to pray about whether we bring more children
in our home, which would be good, or should we
invest our time in family more families that can bring
children into their homes. And so I started I started
praying about that, and over about a three or four
week period, my youngest child had some massive disruptions in
(42:47):
his life. And they always happened when I had a
CEO meeting to go to, and I'm like, i had
to put my meeting on hold and I'm going to
take care of my child. But it disrupted a lot
of the stuff I was trying to do. Ministry wise.
It's absolutely fine and we work through all those things.
But when it happened two or three or four times,
I realized, maybe it's not time to bring more children
(43:10):
in the home. So my husband was like, pew, you know,
so not that God would not still bring children into
our home. We're totally open to that, but we spend
more of our time now investing in others to bring
kiddos in there.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
And that's that's been a.
Speaker 4 (43:28):
Wonderful, hard and good ride. And it has lots of stories.
And when you have trauma backgrounds and we get into
adulthood the world sometimes you can slip into bad situations
and the world can be a hard place for my children,
and so they've done some things that I don't always
(43:48):
agree with. But guess what, these are my kids, and
these are they've been given to me. And you know,
whether I have one living on the streets homeless, or
have one that's a drug dealer, or have one that's
a prostitute, you know, I've had all these cases. And
God has just given us a heartbeat to understand that
(44:08):
his parents. Our job is to plant positive seeds, leave
them a bridge to Jesus and love them no matter
where they are, you know, and be there when they
hit bottom. And so there's been lots of good things
and highs and all that, but there's been a lot
of hearts in that too, and it's still in the
(44:28):
center of God's heartbeat, and it is worth it. And
it's been a wonderful journey for us to do that
with them.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
Wow, Wow, that is indeed a wonderful journey to see
what you have emerged from what was meant to deter you,
what was meant to break you. That God put those
pieces together so that you can continue and open up
(44:57):
your home. Now, you said the seven, because we're still
missing two.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Right, No, no, no, the third adoption got the last two. So yeah, yeah,
so I did get nine.
Speaker 5 (45:09):
I got nine. Believe me, I know all nine of
them and they're great.
Speaker 2 (45:15):
All right, So we're going to go right here. So
we're here into your book here, which is the heart
of legacy. So this book takes us through what journey exactly.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
So this is a book that about it. I actually
wrote it the first past about seven years ago, but
about it, and I did it out of obedience. And
then I'm like, shut the lid on the computer. I'm like, okay, God,
we're done with that. And about a year and a
half ago, God said I want you to get the
book out.
Speaker 5 (45:46):
We're finishing it.
Speaker 4 (45:47):
It's time and I was like, oh really, And it
is my journey story of a lot of what we
talked about today, but you get the whole deal.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
There and then.
Speaker 4 (45:58):
It's about, you know, I want people to be legacy
makers and this idea of being extremely intentional in everything.
You have to live your legacy now to have one
that lasts later. We're going to have one, but do
you want it to be?
Speaker 3 (46:16):
You know?
Speaker 4 (46:16):
So like when we were sitting when I was sitting
around with a friend, I was like, Hey, do you
want to start this anchor point thing that's going to
outlive us and everything? And it was about how could
I be intentional? And so it is that journey that
God has had me on in the very center. It
focuses on three kind of core concepts to be focused, faithful,
and fearless, and it gives you all wonderful application things
(46:40):
where you can learn to begin to apply these things
in your life so that you and I can be
more intentional together. And then the last part of the
book has wonderful stories of life change for people that
have gone through the anchor Point ministry. But it is
such a valuable thing when you and I are living intentional,
living out our legacies, the ripple effects that we can
(47:03):
have for God now and into eternity are just amazing.
So that is the heart behind that book.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
That is indeed amazing, amazing, amazing. We it is truly
I believe everyone shouldn't be able to connect with this book.
And when I listen to your story, when I listen
to your story here, I am seeing obedience that keeps
being the one even though because I've been talking in
(47:33):
this past season about delayed obedience, because delayed obedience is
disobedience correct. But what happens now is the fact that
even though there was a delay in your obedience, you
eventually did, you know, say yes. But what you learned
in this journey was when God said it, to just
(47:54):
go ahead and do it, even you didn't understand to
step out on faith. So that is why he took
you a why, because if you were still holding onto
your why, you would be obedient.
Speaker 5 (48:05):
Yeah. And guess what this is.
Speaker 4 (48:07):
The other piece too that I've learned is that, you know,
sometimes it's really hard for me to say yes.
Speaker 5 (48:13):
Because I go, oh my gosh, how am I going
to do that?
Speaker 4 (48:16):
Right?
Speaker 5 (48:16):
Or I don't know, you can't know you know, or whatever.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
And the really easy yes for me to give if
I believe my Daddy God loves me and he's in charge,
is when he asked me to do something. I like
to add yes in him, I can do it in you.
Speaker 5 (48:34):
I can do it.
Speaker 4 (48:34):
Yes in you, And then I know it's not dependent
on me. I am just a vessel at that point,
because he wants to do something in and through me.
And when I go yes, and you I can, then
you'll help me figure it out. And then I go, Okay,
Daddy God, I said yes, but I don't have a clue.
So you're going to need to let me know what's
(48:55):
next because I have no.
Speaker 5 (48:56):
Idea how to do this.
Speaker 4 (48:58):
And then is all it's all on him, and he
wants it to be all on him anyway.
Speaker 5 (49:02):
He just wants us to be willing.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
And so I just like to tell people, is this
whole journey in my life has just taught me how
to build a faith muscle and to strengthen it. And
you work it out and you say yes, and you
keep going, you say yes again, and you say yes,
and then your little faith muscle becomes a big faith muscle.
And so that's that's the journey we're on together.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Indeed, indeed, so we're going to close out on this
segment number one, where can they find your book?
Speaker 5 (49:35):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (49:35):
So they can go to my website. It's the TG
Debbie Simmons dot com and there's information there on speaking
and on the book and on coaching and all good
stuff that's there and.
Speaker 5 (49:47):
All what do they tell me?
Speaker 4 (49:48):
All those cool social media handles are there that you
need to like, connect, follow whatever they are. So I
would love I would love for people to do that
because I love being on the journey to together because
I think that makes it way more special when we
can do it all together.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
Right indeed, and also your organization, we would have all
these links in the bio as we give a description
for this podcast and if you would like to reach out,
if you would like to donate as well to what
is the name of the foundation again, Debbie, Yes.
Speaker 4 (50:23):
So the ministry is Anchorpoint dot us. Yes, And I
would tell you one real cool thing that they can do.
I know a lot of your listeners are prayers and
there if you go to the Anchorpoint dot us, they
can click on the nine to one one prayer and
what they will get is they will get a text
every time we need to be pleading on the behalf
(50:44):
of one of our clients. So whether they're trying to
choose life or whether they're struggling with a kid. You
get to be on the frontlines of ministry. So I
would encourage them to join us on that tech string
because it is invaluable for making a difference.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
And that is anchor Point.
Speaker 5 (51:01):
So if I could add this in here dot us, so.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
Someone type it in.
Speaker 2 (51:10):
Type it in while you're watching, help my fingers because
you're watching work to anchor point dot us. And also
for the emergency the nine one one prayer. All right
there you can connect as well. All right, so put
it in the chat anchor point dot us, go ahead,
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
And this is another way to connect with Debbie.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
Now Debbie is Anchor Points just local or is it international?
Speaker 4 (51:41):
It's local, but we also have a lot of families
that come from across the country to do a lot
of therapeutic camps and so it is great and anybody
can be anywhere and pray.
Speaker 5 (51:52):
So I'm like, you can be on the team. So
we'd love to have you.
Speaker 2 (51:56):
Okay, great, great, So everyone you heard it here an
emergent in power while we have Debbie on. What I
just love and it's amazing about the story is how
you know God? The great designer of all things, engineer
of all things, calling on an engineer, or realize you
know what, I cant be obedient to God here and
how God flipped the script. But just this story is
(52:18):
reminding me about when Abram left. He was with his
family and everything, and God asked him to leave. He
didn't ask any question. He just got up and go
and his obedience brought him into his life. Okay, it
brought him into He did go through difficulties, it didn't.
It wasn't all a bed of roses. They were childless
(52:40):
for so many years. Okay, even today we still see
this war going on among brothers, all right, because when
God asks us to do something, we have to understand
the key. Here is the obedience in that, all right.
And this is what he said when he was talking
to King Saul, what it is better to obey than
(53:01):
to sacrifice. So eventually, like Debbie said in the beginning,
like God, you know, I don't know about this right now, right,
I don't know about this right now, I'll pull you in.
I don't know about this right now. But eventually she
realized she had to submit her will to God. And
once she did this, the next time God asks her.
(53:22):
She didn't stall, she just moved, and that had that
push to just do it. I don't know what's gonna
come out of this, but I know what I need
to do. There are many of you that might be
listening under this life where you've been into spaces or
heard things that you needed to connect with, but you
ignored it and you walked away from it. And you
knew that you had to pull on you at that
(53:43):
time to move right, to react, but instead didn't. So
I hope this brings you repentance, right repentance and ask God,
so I regard I've been delaying delayed obedience.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
I know I will eventually do it.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
Just like telling that child to wash the dishes and
you'll come back home from work and the dishes are
not washed.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
It's still disobedience.
Speaker 2 (54:05):
If they decide to start washing the dish as soon
as you get in the driveway. They didn't do it
when you ask them to do it. They eventually came
about to do it. So delayed obedience is disobedience, all right. So, Debbie,
as we're closing out on today, right before, I ask you,
because I feel to have you lead us in prayer
as we close Outlet what does God have on your
(54:27):
heart to say to the audience, whoever that is that
God put in your spirit right now, speak life into
them at this time.
Speaker 5 (54:35):
Sure, I'd love to do that.
Speaker 4 (54:37):
I would tell your audience if it's someone who is
struggling and feels like their world is just over, and
I would just say, it's like the fog has just landed,
and the way through the fog is the path that
they have to go, and they can trust their Daddy God.
He is not surprised by anywhere we sit or anything
(55:00):
that we face, and that he is still near. Sometimes
we don't feel that way, but when he looks at you,
he sees value, and he loves you, and he wants
nothing but the best for you. And so lean in
and trust him with that pain, with that wide question,
with the unknown. And he is faithful. He shows it
(55:23):
over and over in the Bible. But he also has
shown it over and over in my story. And I
can tell you every time he's always there. He always
helps us figure our way and it is worth it
and it has been rich the journey. So hang in there,
hold tight, lean in, trust your Daddy God.
Speaker 2 (55:44):
He's got you, Hey man, trusts. That's the key word
to trust. You cannot let go. Unless you trust, you
cannot heal until you're ready to talk about it, to
step in and say, you know what, I need to
face the ugly truth. That's the only way that you
can release this unforgiveness is another thing that you hold onto.
(56:05):
Because remember Debbie was holding onto a Hawaii and God
didn't want her to hold onto that because it was
blocking her from her next from her elevation, from what
God had destined for her life.
Speaker 3 (56:18):
Okay, she was able to bring.
Speaker 2 (56:20):
In these children into her home, all right, to do
the best that she can to train them up in
a godly way. But what happens is when children come
from dramatic experiences. Again, I pray that they even now
continue on this path of healing, because the healing journey
is not something that's overnight, all right, it's not forced upon,
(56:43):
but the decision must be made.
Speaker 3 (56:45):
And I am praying.
Speaker 2 (56:46):
For those children that have come through your dolls and
also the lives of children that they will touch. Okay,
through such a powerful testimony that you were a vessel,
you know, ready to be you and say God, use me.
You know, during the time that you are talking, I'm
reminded of the song that says, all to Jesus, I
(57:08):
surrender all to him, I truly give. That was the
song as you were talking. This is what I was
hearing in my spirit. All to Jesus, I surrender. And yes,
he will say, good and faithful servant for taking in
children and.
Speaker 3 (57:25):
Continuing to help others to do the theme. You know
that is commendable.
Speaker 2 (57:30):
And may God continue to strengthen you make God continue
to bless you and your husband and the ministry that
He has entrusted you with. So right now, Debbie, let
us go ahead and lead us out in prayer at
this time.
Speaker 5 (57:44):
All right, I'll be glad to standing.
Speaker 3 (57:47):
God.
Speaker 4 (57:47):
We just come ufore you, and we thank you for
today and for life and for breath, for we know
it all comes from you, and that you look at
us and you smile, and you choose to use each
one of us. You could have chosen so many different
ways to save the world, and you choose to allow
(58:08):
us to be part of your journey. And we want
to be those people, God, but sometimes it's hard, and
so I pray that you would encourage each one of
us to be brave and to be courageous. And you
know what, it really isn't risky to lean into the
God of the universe, but God, it seems like it.
And so I just pray, make us brave, make us courageous,
(58:31):
teach us how to let go of our wives, and
to trust you that you are writing a beautiful.
Speaker 5 (58:37):
And wonderful story.
Speaker 4 (58:38):
And in you we can do each and everything, whether
it's a tragedy we've gone through or whether it's a
new adventure. God, you want us to link arms with you,
and you want to guide us through the way and
that we can just go. Okay, Daddy, God, we don't
get it, show us the way, and Father, most of all,
what we want to do is to bring glory to
(58:58):
you our lives, reveal to people who may never pick
up a Bible who you are, and may draw them
to you so that they will ask us what makes
us different, and we'll be able to say, let me
tell you about mind.
Speaker 5 (59:13):
Jesus, we love.
Speaker 2 (59:15):
Amen, Amen, Amen, a beautiful prayer. Now you might look
at the date on this time stamp for those who
are watching in a month from now, a year from now,
however long that this podcast is out there, the time
that you are watching and listening. It is the time
that God is speaking to you at that moment.
Speaker 3 (59:37):
So yes, He's speaking to you right now.
Speaker 2 (59:40):
Let go of that why that has become your crush
and lean on to God and not your own understanding.
Speaker 3 (59:47):
Acknowledge them. Amen.
Speaker 2 (59:49):
So thank you so much Debbie for being here on
Emergent and Power.
Speaker 3 (59:53):
Everyone. I want to thank you.
Speaker 2 (59:55):
Like I said, we are here just bringing you a
story after story inspiration, empowerment, and it's all to help
you get on the front row seat of your life.
That's why now we put in the background this big
comfy couch for you to know it's okay. Relax and
(01:00:15):
let go and let God. And I want to thank
you once again for tuning in with us on Emerge
and Empower.
Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Let's take this global.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
We're spreading the good news on Jesus Christ, one story
at a time, and stay tuned until next week.
Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Everyone, Bye bye bye Debbie.
Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Thank you for coming on today, all right, bye bye
bye bye bl
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