Priscilla Shirer - How God Prepares You Through Divine Disruption

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
He did not know that all of that training that
seemed unnecessary and seemed mundane, and just like he was
actually accomplishing nothing in that mundane training was actually everything
that he needed to be prepared for the fight. He
was learning. He was becoming masterful at the craft. It
just didn't look like it in the moment a couple

(00:21):
of years ago, now twenty eighteen, is that correct, twenty
eighteen where our cousin, she was one of our clothes.
She was really more like a sibling than a cousin.
But Winter, unexpectedly just her heart just gave out. So
she was thirty eight years old, and literally she was
fine one day and the next day her heart stopped.

(00:43):
And so that started a string of losses over the.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Next two years.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Every four to six months, another family member passed away.
And the reason why we were acknowledging Dad's loss in
this is because every single person was directly connected to Daddy,
so and obviously to all of us, but really directly
to Dad.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
So he lost his niece.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
That was Winter, and then shortly thereafter your brother passed away,
then your sister passed away, then your sister's wife passed away.
So all our aunts and uncles on that side of
the family. And then we had another cousin pass away
and then to Daddy, your dad.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
In the same month as mom.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
And then shockingly as well, actually an eighth person passed
away because then my mother in law eight months after mom,
my mother in law passed away who was very close
to all of us as well. So we had eight
losses in the course of two years, just back to
back losses. So it has been quite a journey emotionally.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Yeah, it's been.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
It's been a lot and a lot of people, you know,
up until mommy maybe they didn't really know all of
that because exactly winter and but didn't really know about
all of that and wouldn't really think about it because
of how Daddy operates. He continues to preach, he continues

(02:10):
to keep rolling, he continues to build, he continues to encourage,
and all of those different things. So how do you
One of my thoughts is, as your son is man,
this guy keeps going even while it seems like things
are falling around him. So how do you keep that up?

Speaker 5 (02:29):
Do that?

Speaker 4 (02:29):
How are you able to be that faithful in a
season like that?

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Well, I mean it starts with you.

Speaker 6 (02:37):
I you of God, if God is sovereign, if God
is in control, if you're going to trust him, if
you believe that there is life to come, and if
we're still here and therefore have a job to do,
then while we should, while we should be struggling with loss,
we should be struggling hopefully and that hope less. That's

(03:01):
two different perspectives and struggle. And so when the hope
is there, then you keep going. Even if you're going
slower than you used to, even if you're going with
sadness or tears or struggles or you know, sleepless nights,
you still you still go because God is still true
to his word. He's true to his promises, he's true

(03:22):
to his provisions, and he's true to our future. So so,
and there's still people other people are grieving too. So
you know, during this season of COVID and race and
politics and economics and all the global crisis we're facing,
we're not the only ones grieving. So they need they
need they need ministry too. So you got to keep

(03:43):
ministrying to our local flock. First of all, it'll cliff,
but then nationally, through the every alternative we wanted to
let what God was doing with us and through us,
and in our pain, be a ministry to others as
well as we walk this journey together, because everybody's going
to walk this journey at some point in their lives.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
And speaking of.

Speaker 7 (04:04):
Continuing to do ministry, that is why we are all
sitting here together, is because we collectively made a decision
to try to figure out a way to use what
we've been facing and how we've dealt with it to
minister to people. So we did something very unique. We
have as a it's a book, but it's like this,
it's the conversation. It's a family conversation. We all have different, crazy,

(04:29):
different personalities. I'm the hyper emotional one. Crystal is she's
the smart, like logical, she's really super smart. So right
here you may think she's being quiet, but she's formulating
things that she's going to say in a minute.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
They are going to change your life.

Speaker 7 (04:44):
No pressure forri Scilla's Thisth's personality as you've seen in very.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Cpposed to the smart one.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
I mean, she's also smart and dynamic, but she's growing up.

Speaker 7 (04:54):
She got in trouble for talking a lot, but now
God's used all things for good, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (05:00):
He's worked out.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
I show you God of the miracle.

Speaker 7 (05:01):
Working yes, because that's this personality. And then Jonathan's the athlete,
the self proclaimed favorite. But no, he makes a decision
and then he goes after it. But we get to
talk about how, from all these different personality types, how
we held on to.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Faith in these moments.

Speaker 7 (05:21):
So I want to know just a kind of a
blanket statement, a blanket question for everybody is how, specifically,
given all the things that we face collectively and things
you've faced in your life as an individual, how have
you what are some practical steps you've taken to hold
on to faith when life was shaking you up.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Chrissy, I think.

Speaker 8 (05:45):
When we talk about you, Dad and how you have
continued to do ministry, I think that that is a
big part of it. Us as children watching you, us
as children, our whole lives watching you and Mommy because
the truth be told.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
While this is definitely.

Speaker 8 (06:08):
A major major lass for our family, there have been
lots of things over the years that have happened that
have been hard, that you all have had to walk through.
And what we've seen you do and seeing you do
consistently and faithfully is stay the course. M We didn't
just see you and Mom do that. We saw our
grandparents do that on both sides. So there's this legacy

(06:31):
of faithfulness that it has been deposited in us generationally
as a legacy we are not when people ask me
how I'm doing, or they ask any of us how
we're doing, I think to say that we're able to
do that because of our wiring. That's just a small
part of the I the design is also something that

(06:54):
has been gifted m to us and granted to us
and blessed to us by generational faithfulness. And so while
it's hard, it's not hard. While it has been uphill,
it's been at a pace that's been doable.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
And I think at the end of the.

Speaker 8 (07:10):
Day, what we have done individually and what I have
done individually is, you know, the Bible says we look
to Jesus, who is the author and the finisher of
our faith.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
And if I can take a little.

Speaker 8 (07:24):
Liberty with that, you know, I look to Dad, you know,
I look at Mom. I look at her example, and
I say, Okay, if they can do it, I can
do it, you know.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
And I think that.

Speaker 8 (07:34):
The good thing is when I share that and say okay,
it's because of family and because of legacy, because of support,
and because I can go to Daddy and say, Okay, Dad,
this is hard, Like I have these questions and I
have that relationship with my dad to do that. The
good news is for somebody who listens and says, but
that's not my story. Well, then dad always tells the story,

(07:56):
of course of his dad who didn't have that. So
any of us get to start anywhere. And if you
don't have a dad to look at, like I've been
able to look at my dad, or look at our
aunt you know Auntie, or look at her siblings or
look at each other for support, you do have somebody
to look at, you know, someone who is the author
and the finisher of your faith. So my ability to

(08:18):
keep it going is not because I got.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Some juice to keep it going.

Speaker 8 (08:23):
It's because there is faithfulness to stand on from legacy
that I've inherited that ultimately traces its way back to
Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
It's fact.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
But that faithfulness that we've watched them, you know, live out,
has come through. Like this setup is not a representation
of what we've been through. Okay, this is nice, what
we went through with crocodile tears. What we went through
was the lowest of the low. When Daddy told us
the news and ran to the other side of the

(08:53):
room and was bawling crying, and then Anthony and Priscilla
chased after him and they were bawling, crying, And then
I felt like somebody rubbed icy hot all over my
body and didn't even know what to do. I mean,
you're talking about going all the way to the lower
the low, and in Crystal talking about those examples that
obviously being the lowest in my in my view, but

(09:16):
them holding on the faith through the lowest of the low,
Like people need to know that the Evans family ain't
sitting up here. This is nice. That's not what it
looked like. This is this is you know, a year
and a half later or however long we're able to
use that time. And I wrestled with God big time. Yeah,

(09:36):
I was like, man, we prayed your word says this
that I was, you know, based on the scriptures. Good
Dad always taught take the scripture and throw it back
into God's face because God is, you know what I'm saying,
obligated to his word. His word is obligated to him.
So we did all of that where two or three gathered,
we had the whole world praying. We had so we
did it by the book, and we had an expectation

(09:59):
that God is going to come through, and it felt
like he didn't. It felt like we were just like yeah,
there's a lot of people feel like that. A lot
of people are like, yeah, you know, so you know,
is he God or not? You know what I mean?
And so people need to realize that that's what it
really looked like. It didn't look like this. And so

(10:19):
when we're watching mom and Dad hold on the faith
through those times, it was some hard times that looked
like hard times that we had to go through. And
so there's definitely been a wrestle.

Speaker 7 (10:32):
Well, the book is called Divine Disruption, and I'm having
trying really hard. You have to try really hard for
me an emotional person, if you're anything like me. I know,
I'm hoping a lot of the viewers are like me
because it's sometimes the lonely world out here in this family,
but everybody's so so strong. But it's called Divine disruptions,

(10:53):
So I want to know finding God in disruptions, what
do you need to do to change to get your
perspective to where you can see God pass because disruption
is such a it's such a thing for an emotional
person like me. How do you see God when there's
so much disturbance? How do you get that that clear?

(11:14):
Daddy or Priscilla or anybody?

Speaker 6 (11:16):
But well, you know what, there are many times in
the Bible where people are struggling with God. Yes, Rebecca
wants to know why how long? Job's big question is
why did the righteous suffer?

Speaker 5 (11:28):
You know?

Speaker 6 (11:28):
So, it is fake news to assume that to be
committed to Christ means that you will not suffer in
this world. You will have tribulations. John thirty three says,
But then he says, be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. So the circumstances are never to have
the final say so, although they are real that you

(11:51):
have to deal with. So the question is how do
you deal with them? Well, a lot of times what
people do is they want to find God in the
mid of it when they have been built a relationship
with God before it came. And it's hard, the poor
foundation in the storm, that's a hard thing to do.
The idea is to increasingly build your confidence in a

(12:13):
sovereign God. God has two wills. He has a unconditional
will of conditional will. His unconditional will means he's going
to do it whether you like it or not, because
he's decided to do it. His conditional will means he's
going to do it if you meet the conditions. Well,
obviously it was God's unconditional will to take Mom home
at seventeen years old when he did because we met

(12:34):
the conditions and he still did it. So that's his
unconditional will. But if you only believe God has a
conditional will, then you're gonna be disappointed when you've met
the conditions and the opposite thing happens. But when you
know he has an unconditional will, that his sovereign plan
overrides our desires for his glory and our good. And

(12:56):
maybe what God wanted to do was to use our
life loss, which was in his will, to help others
in their loss and their grief and their hurt and
their struggle. Because God never wastes bad times on us,
he uses them for good times for others.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
And just to your point, Dad, about building your confidence
and your relationship with the Lord before the storm comes,
I think one of the ways that people can do that.
I know it's been helpful for me. I didn't even
realize I was doing it, but actually writing down and
keeping a track record of when you see the fingerprints
of God in your life. I look back now and

(13:39):
realize I was probably just keeping a little journal. I'm
not one of those people the journals like every day
or you know, even every you know, religiously, every week
or anything like that. But just when something happens that
I see the fingerprints of God opening a door or
closing a door that in hindsight, I realized was his
best plan for me, or I see something happening where
it's just what some would consider or but there's the

(14:01):
traces of God's handiwork just moving things around. I write
that down because you won't remember what happened a decade ago.
But when you open up this little book, you've rich
scribbled some notes about what God has done, and then
you look back and you begin to actually see how
things that seemed disconnected at the time or just seemed
like it wasn't going your way, how you're working God,
watching God work that out. Then it helps to build

(14:23):
your confidence when you're going through something now because you realize,
wait a minute, if He sustained me in my twenties
and my thirties and even in my teenage years, when
I look back and see little things I wrote down,
and I go, oh, my gosh, the Lord was. The
Lord was moving even then to derail me into a
particular direction. That track record becomes a booster for you

(14:44):
in the current things that you're facing in your life.
So I've even done that with my sons. I've kept
a little journal for each of the boys. I bought
a little journal when I started, when my oldest was five.
I went to Ross Dress for Less in the back
corner there. They've got these little journals for five ninety
nine and I've had the same ones, or I guess
now fifteen years. And every now and then, when I
just see just a little hint in a question they've asked,

(15:07):
or a conversation we've had, or some way I can
see God working and moving in something he's lined up
for them, I write it down because I want to
be able to give it to them and say, look,
if He did this for you, then when you hit
the bumps of life, which we all are, then you
can trust him because he's already proven to you that
he's going to be faithful.

Speaker 7 (15:28):
And Jonathan, you mentioned wrestling with God, which we are
watched you do firsthand because you are the athlete of
the family, Like you do this and then you end
up here, you work out and you end up doing that.
Like that's just kind of how your mind works. But
as we talk about, as we've heard these things that
were said, I remember, think of chapter nine of the book,
you basically talk about getting the place where you realized

(15:49):
that God's answer was yes or yes, and you had
to get yourself there. Can you elaborate on that when
it comes to absolutely just thinking about you know what
Dad is saying in his conditional and unconditioned will, Like,
we met the conditions.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
So I'm like, I'm just waiting the whole time. I'm
hopeful whole time, and I'm watching mommy kind of decline.
But I'm like, it's okay, because he's gonna it's gonna
be a greater you know what I mean. So I've
done that in my mind, and that the effort that
we had put forward just calling on the name of
the Lord, and I felt like this was a great

(16:24):
opportunity for him for God put it on him. God,
this is a great opportunity for you now, No, you
need to take advantage of this when this is everybody's watching.
And so I kind of got to a place where
I really felt was hopeful about it. And when he
basically said no, That's how I received it initially, that
we did all of this and you just didn't come through.

(16:47):
You didn't make a way out of no way. You know,
you didn't do those things. But then God, you know,
in my quiet time and silence and solitude, I got
clarity and just spending time with God, and he just said,
you know, you don't understand my victory. You're complaining because
you don't really understand what Jesus Christ has done. So
it was hard for you to watch your mother die,

(17:08):
But how much harder was it to to watch my
son die so your mother can actually live? And when
I thought about the life that has been given and
his unconditional will, that his unconditional will, even meeting his conditions,
was better than what I prayed for trying to meet
his conditional will. You asked for healing, she's got it.

(17:28):
You asked her to be with family, She's got it.
You asked her to be well taken care of. She's
got it. You don't understand. I've given you everything you
asked for on a higher level than you ask for it,
and you don't understand it because you're a kid. You're
not you know what I'm saying the same thing with
my kids. They just don't get it until they get
to a point of maturity where they're able to say, oh, Dad,

(17:50):
his will is just best, and now we can do
what my mom always said. With my mom, like she's
not yours, we can do it. Her mom always said,
your greatest ministry will come right out of your greatest
misery and keep on going.

Speaker 5 (18:05):
You know.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
One of the ways me and Daddy encourage each other,
you know, through football is you know, in football, every
player has to retire. It happens every time, and the
players that are still on the field are sad, you know,
because that's their guy, right. But all you can do
is put your head down and keep playing until you
retire too, because you want to hear the coach say
the same thing to you that he said to him,

(18:27):
Well done, you played hard, here's your gold jacket. Enjoy retirement.
And that's what Mommy's doing. She retired, she's enjoying that
retirement in his rest, and we're gonna put our heads down.
We won't keep playing hard. That's great, all the way
to the finish.

Speaker 7 (18:40):
Yeah, there are so many things that we had had
to learn. I mean I didn't realize. I think Daddy
told me this. He thought that when we were going
through this, and Mommy thought this too. She would look
at me and be like, are you okay? But it
wasn't a normal are you okay? It was kind of like,
this is the kid that could fall apart with this
much weight on him emotional that.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
It was that kind of are you okay?

Speaker 7 (19:02):
And I all the things that we've talked about, all
the lessons that I learned along the way, even in
the hard moments of my life, I didn't realize we're
training me for this moment. In the book, I can't
remember what chapter, but we tell the story of the
Karate Kid, which I want to tell the whole thing now.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Priscilla tells it a lot. Do you want to just
hit on that real quick?

Speaker 1 (19:18):
I mean, well, just that there was a lot of training.
I mean the Karate Kid, you know, the one with
Daniel Son and mister.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Stuff.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Oh that was good too, but the original one. You know,
Danielson wants training and in karate, so he goes to
mister Miyagi, and mister Miyagi basically has him managing his house,
cleaning cars, peyton Fence is standing the floor, and he
just Daniel becomes extremely frustrated.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
He's like, this is not what I've heard.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, I came here to train to be able to
be excellent at the craft of karate. And so mister
Miyagi sees his frustration and he starts throwing punches, and Daniel,
without thinking about it, begins to block all of these
punches and kicks that are coming his direction. He did
not know that all of that training that seemed unnecessary
and seemed mundane and just like he was actually accomplishing

(20:10):
nothing in that mundane training was actually everything that he
needed to be prepared for the fight. He was learning.
He was becoming masterful at the craft. It just didn't
look like it in the moment.

Speaker 7 (20:22):
Even as a worship leader and traveling around and all
of us and are different, we collectively do things a
lot together. But for me, even as a worship leader
and stuff, I didn't know and being in full time ministry.
I didn't know that I was capable of that fight,
of the fight we have gone through collectively, I did
not know I was capable of that and the punches
that got, the blocks that came out of me. Naturally,

(20:42):
I was like, oh, I really do believe this. I
really I didn't know that I believed it this deep.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
So a lot of my faith through that time came
from you, which he never knew it wild yep, because
you heard you were coming to me and say, I
mean you were settled in I'm not even worried about it.
I already know it's going to work out. And you
would say, do you think it's weird that I'm so hopeful?
And I would say, no, I'm right there with you.

(21:09):
I mean that's what we were. So the greater the disappointment,
you know that we felt, but that's the training that
you had.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Because I believed.

Speaker 7 (21:17):
I guess I believed kind of along the lines of
what you're saying, Like, Mommy, even though I don't want
to see her in pain, I don't ever want to
experience that on any level. I don't want anybody to
ever have to experience watching a family member go through that.
But I think I just knew, I cognitively and in
my heart knew like this is our faith will play
itself out, that's the bottom line, And you were right. Yeah,

(21:39):
it's so wild to me. I didn't A chapter was
a chapter fifteen we talk about well, Crystal mostly talks
about doing the right thing along the way.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
As you are all the things.

Speaker 7 (21:50):
We talked about, you're understanding that God is divine, Our
God has a conditional and conditional will. You're learning about
what it means to really be hopeful. But what about
they like, what do I do next? The right thing
along the way even when you're hurting? Can you speak
to that?

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah? You know, I think.

Speaker 8 (22:16):
I was literally just recently talking to my daughter who's
thirty years old and whatever. She was asking me my
answer as I answered her, you know I heard Mommy's
voice because it was the same thing. You know, it's
it's a new problem to her, but it's not to me.
But one of the things we know Mommy would say
all the time is this too shall pass.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
When you have.

Speaker 8 (22:42):
A history with God and you know that the thing
that seems the most difficult for you in a moment
that you'll get past it. So one way or another,
you'll you'll get past it. You'll learn from it, you'll
go from it, you'll experience God in a new way.

Speaker 2 (22:59):
That is is often just the next right thing. You
don't have.

Speaker 8 (23:06):
You and I keep talking about our history, but I
even remember our grandmother saying, because you know, daddy's a
doctorate of theology, and our uncle was a doctorate of sociology.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
He had a doctor of sociology.

Speaker 8 (23:16):
And I said, people ask you, how did you do that?
Like how did you have these kids that were so
highly educated? And she said, I just kept doing the
next right thing to have children who were law abiding
citizens and were good people, Like I.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Wasn't trying to achieve that.

Speaker 8 (23:33):
And I think when people would ask Mommy and Daddy
about us, how do you do that? Like how do
you get four kids who are all still involved in
your church, who involved in ministry. What they were doing
was the next right thing. And for Mommy that was
fixing dinner and making gulagh and putting cheese on.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
We don't know what it was, but it tasted good
because cheese was on it.

Speaker 8 (23:53):
And the idea that this was not necessarily the specific
thing I don't think you can correct me that you
had in mind. It was just that we would love God,
love each other, and be faithful.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
So I think the next right thing is look at
where you are.

Speaker 8 (24:11):
And what I was saying to my daughter today is
often we're looking at the big thing and thinking, how
do we get through the big thing? Moses asked God
the same question when God stopped by the burning bush
and said, all right, so it's time I need you
to tell Pharaoh to let.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
My people go.

Speaker 8 (24:28):
And Moses is like, how am I going to do that?
And God said, what do you have in your hand?
So we're often looking purpose and calling and what am
I supposed to do? And how's God going to get
me through this? And we walked with mommy through that season,
one day at a time, getting her what she wanted
to drink, try to make her comfortable, being there for

(24:49):
each other. And so the next right thing is not
the next right big thing. It's usually the next right
small thing. And because it's the next right small thing,
it's usually something that obvious to you to do, and
it's easy, it's right there. So I think if I
could say anything to encourage everybody from my experience, it's
stop trying to get over the mountain and just make

(25:10):
sure you don't stumble on that one rock that's in
front of you, and just keep going forwards.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Great, that's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
You're a beast.

Speaker 7 (25:20):
I was actually about to say that, and I thought
maybe I shouldn't say.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
You're a beast. That's a good things.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
It's a loving word in our family.

Speaker 5 (25:29):
Somehow, a loving.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Word in our family.

Speaker 7 (25:32):
And yes, for those of you questions who are thinking,
are they saying daddy and mommy, we still call our
parents daddy, just so you.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
Know that's I'm.

Speaker 7 (25:41):
Proud of that. Yes, daddy, you mentioned daddy. You mentioned disruption.
And I always get weird when I'm quoting you because
you're Tony Evans and I'm Tony Evans Junior, and it
feels weird because you're such an amazing communicator, beast, because
you're such a beast, So I vine reset a lot
of I mean, sorry, divine disruption.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Disruptions in our life are God's.

Speaker 7 (26:05):
God is wanting to reset us and uses the disruption
that can you talk about what that means?

Speaker 6 (26:11):
God creates or allows confusion, chaos, trouble because he's trying
to get things that are either out of order back
in order or to take us to a new level.
Hebrews Chapter twelve talks about God shaking things in the

(26:31):
physical because he wants to do something in the spiritual.
So when there is disturbance in the five senses of
our lives, in the environment of our lives, and the
chaos of the culture, it is because He is shaking
things to remake something in its proper order. Things have
gotten either out of order or there is a new

(26:52):
purpose that he is moving to, and so he will.
He will allow Pharaoh to get tougher so that you
can leave Egypt and not get comfortable there. So he
will create. So I just want to encourage people. If
you're going through pain, struggle, grief, disappointment, while those feelings
are real and you don't deny them, also ask God,

(27:16):
what new thing, what new experience?

Speaker 5 (27:19):
I love Job forty two. He's come through great loss.

Speaker 6 (27:22):
I mean, twenty four hours, this whole world falls apart,
his business, his family, his workers, his children, his health,
everything falls apart, and he never even found out why.
The book never tells Job about the conversation between God
and Satan, but in chapter forty two. He makes a
powerful statement. He says, I've heard about you with the

(27:43):
hearing of the ear. I've been the Bible, study, been
the church, been the small group, all that been to
Sunday School. But now I have seen you with my
own eyes. So ask God, when your world falls apart,
to make himself visible to you in a new way.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
And he wants to.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
Do it because of what he allowed to disrupt your
ease and your comfortable situation.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Right then, can we can we just go around?

Speaker 7 (28:12):
And I would love to hear And I've never asked
this either in what way specifically and as it relates
to each of you. Has this disruption reset you? Like
what is a what is something that has been reset?
And I'll just say for me, the the purpose behind
what I do has changed drastically.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
It's changed drastically.

Speaker 7 (28:36):
The most important thing to me has always been family,
but now that's on some other level. The most one
of the second things has been ministry, but now it's
it's very purposeful and intentional. And if I'm going to
miss something family wise to do ministry, I won't do
that anymore.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Like that, that is something that reset in me.

Speaker 7 (28:55):
And it's help helped open my eyes to what I
really have and appreciating that and not the rat race
of trying to get more and be more and be
you know, the bigger thing.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
What about what about you?

Speaker 4 (29:10):
I would say, y'all know I love Kanika, yes, which
is my wife. Yes, But you know, she'll tell you.
I don't even I don't know if it's the way
that I've grieved, but she'll tell you. I mean, my
appreciation for her tangibly is skyrocketed because she's living her

(29:35):
mother's life basically, basically. And one of the things that
broke my heart for Daddy is the plans that he
had for him and mommy at seventy. Yeah, is he
talked about having these plans to travel, do you know,
kind of toned down in the ministry and ramp up

(29:55):
with just him and mommy, just kind of riding off
into the sunset type of idea. And when Mommy died
at seventy, that just spoke volumes to me about time
and people and treasures and plans and just life. And
so with my wife and children, I don't really live

(30:18):
on it. I'll do it later. Mentality, I live on it.
I'm gonna do it right now mentality and not take
any of that for granted.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
I would agree.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
I think that's it's along the same lines that Mom
said to us, incessantly said to us, y'all need to
stop and smell the roses.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
That's what she would say.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
That was her sort of encouragement to us and challenge
to us. Mom did that very intentionally. She enjoyed her life.
She would intentionally tack on extra time to ministry trips
for the two of you to enjoy each other.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
Sometimes we didn't know where she was at.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
We didn't know where she was at.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah, Yeah, the Dallas Theological Seminary would take these ministry
cruises and she would just hop on and enjoy seeing
the world and also the footsteps of Paul or whatever.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
And so she did that very intentionally.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
And I remember her saying, you know, if she could
go back and do her life again, she would have
started that mindset sooner that even as you're going throughout
raising kids and working and whatever, she would have stopped
to smell the roses sooner, enjoy your life.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
And so you all did that.

Speaker 8 (31:24):
You know.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
She was always posting pictures, hashtagging it two peas in
a pod, The two of you enjoying your life together.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
And so that's kind of stuck with me.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
What do I need to do even as we are
continuing in ministry and raising our boys and all of that,
But how can we just pause and intentionally just enjoy
the ride?

Speaker 4 (31:43):
And there's nothing non spiritual about exactly people people think
exhaustion is a badge of honor like that especially, but
Ecclesiastes are clear, it's like, enjoy your life. It's all vanity,
you know, It's just like you know. And so that's
a part of the Christian living that we often toss
to the side.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
For Christian living, that's right.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
You can be diligent and faithful and consistent in all
those things and still have rest, have a sense of
sabbath about your life and enjoy the ride.

Speaker 8 (32:15):
I think what I've heard over and over again, and
I said this to her funeral too, is just Mommy
was very good about intentionally seeing people. Because she was
decisively moving slower, she took time to remember things to
talk to people. So I think, in the spirit of

(32:38):
being intentional and slowing down both for my family too,
just making time to make sure that the people around me,
not just that I have time to enjoy my life,
which is a part of that, but also having the
bandwidth working on that, to have the bandwidth to be
present for, you know, the people that God brings a

(33:00):
else my path that I don't expect or I wasn't
planning on that day to make room for that too.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
You know.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Speaking about Mommy always just gets me.

Speaker 7 (33:08):
I just I feel her all the time, just the
just the love of our mother. And I remember, I
think it was me and Priscilla were standing over her bed.
We were all in and out of the house so
much in those period, but in the last few months
we were just all there, and our mother's concern was
for you. Like our mother's concern was what about the

(33:31):
people who are praying? Like when she felt like her
health was going a different direction, she was like, but
all these people are praying, what about the people who
are about their faith? What about their faith? What about
their faith? What are they going to? Like, she was
concerned about you, and as I said.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Tears about that, worried that the Body of Christ would
would stumble in their faith, potentially if the Lord didn't
answer prays away.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Because so many people were praying that way.

Speaker 7 (33:57):
And as I sit here, I'm very like, this is
a message from our mom for you of what it
looks like to hold onto faith. It wasn't when she
when when I just think about her saying, what about
those people? Well, Mom, we are here to talk to
those people, the people you were so worried about, the
people you wanted to make sure we're okay. We're here

(34:20):
to share what it looks like to hold onto faith.
And it hurts and it doesn't feel good, but there
is something to be said about hurting but knowing that
you're anchored at the same time, and that is what
it is. And I know that Krystal mentioned that everybody
may not have a family like this, but you you
get to start. You get to start that story you have.

(34:42):
You have a choice to start that story. You have
a choice to have chosen family around you, which sometimes
in some cases it's like this is my family. But
I just I love that we are sitting here and
I just see her tears and what about them? And
we are getting to address those people's on behalf of
our mom who wants you to hold on the faith
when life is breaking your heart.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
And in just a few minutes we're gonna close.

Speaker 7 (35:09):
We're so grateful that we got to spend this time,
and Daddy you kind of already did it, but just
I want you one more.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Time because you have so much to say.

Speaker 7 (35:17):
This is one of the the He is a well
of knowledge, like a deep I've never even seen the
bottom of that well. I don't know where it is,
you know, But can you look into that camera and
just give, just give the viewers just one more What
does it look like? What do they need to do

(35:37):
for a heart that's breaking. I know that there's somebody,
there's a bunch of people on the other side of
this screen with tears running down their face. Please look
at them and talk to them about what else they
could do to hold onto faith in this moment.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
Well, one of the things your mom said as she
was getting sick and sicker, she said, don't let my
illness deter you from God's word and proclaiming it. What
she was telling me was hold on to God's word

(36:14):
and his truth in spite of the circumstances that you
see us going through. So I just want to challenge
everybody who's struggling, who's hurting, who's going through difficult times.
You tether yourself to God's word. You memorize it, you

(36:35):
quote it, you think about it, You have people telling
it to you. His promises, his encouragement. You read that
Upper Room Discourse where He's encouraging his disciples on his
way to the cross.

Speaker 5 (36:48):
Because he kept giving them hope. The Holy Spirit.

Speaker 6 (36:51):
If you've accepted Christ into your life, the Holy Spirit
is there, and he's called the comforter. He's the paraclet.
He is the one who helps you you to make
it through during tough times. So allow the Holy Spirit
by requesting it now, you don't have to go through
all commotions. You say, Lord, God, Holy Spirit, because he's

(37:11):
the one that Jesus left here to represent him inside
your heart. Holy Spirit, comfort me because you are the
comforter er, encourage me by the word. The Word is
the truth. The Holy Spirit is the experience of the truth.
So he takes the truth of God and makes it
light up in your soul. So ask him to light
your soul up, to dry your eyes, to comfort your heart,

(37:35):
to settle your fears. And he will do it because
you've come to the Lord through his method, based on
his word to get it done. That may not mean
your circumstance will change today or tomorrow, but it means
that you will change in your circumstance. And when you change,
you're managing what used to be managing you.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
At TVN, our mission one is to use every available
means to reach as many individuals and families as possible
with the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 8 (38:07):
Thank you for helping make the Gospel of Grace go
around the world.

Speaker 6 (38:14):
Without you, we couldn't do it.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
God bless you.