The Hope Hotline - The Month of Gratitude | Part 1

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

The Hope Hotline | S03-E72 | 11-07-2025

Real talk Hello and welcome, thank you for doing for joining us today. Sorry about missing. We weren't on Wednesday, right? We weren't not. Sorry, it wasn't on Wednesday. Hopefully, hopefully. Good things happened on Wednesday. Maybe Tom will announce it on Sunday.

I don't know. But good stuff. I wasn't here for a good reason. Not that I wouldn't miss the podcast for a bad reason, because I have. But it was good. Life. Life is life. Life is life.

Life is life. Life happens. Life happens. But all good things, people. Like this is, November is like. Hands down, probably one of my favorite months of the year. Oh, I love that. Yes, you know why?

Because it's my birthday. No, but that does help. For most that don't know, Norma and Tracy are born on the same day. We are birthday twins. We will be celebrating those on Wednesday. And we're turning the same age. Somehow, we're both 25. That is true.

I don't know how it happened, but. man 25 is the year almost 26 but 25 was the year I met Tom wow it's a great year oh that's sweet probably the best year of my life oh well because I met him but whatever yeah so man you know you just sit there and go sorry guys the arm of my chair um I'm not tell I'm gonna tell you like in in all my wildest dreams and probably you guys will say the same thing about your husband but I will tell you this in my wildest dreams I did not know that someone like him existed out there and like that if there was like I would get that person yeah that's why he broke up with me three times and I didn't give up you didn't not a quitter people

you're not a quitter not a quitter you are not didn't pursue him but right I just waited silently okay I like that with no crying that's a lie that's a lie I did cry. You cried? Oh my gosh. Like bawling cry or just like, oh, sad. This is like hurts my heart. Like a single shed.

Yeah, I don't think I bawled. I don't think I bawled very much. I was going to say. Like as an adult person past, I did bawling probably until I was like 21, 22. Okay. Okay. You know, because you're stupid. Once your frontal.

lobe closed you were like no more bawling yeah everything shut down well plus i i i left a bad lifestyle true so when you you mean that lifestyle was pretty rough people so there's a lot of bawling going on because of my decisions right yeah that makes sense yeah yeah i was mostly crying because i was such an idiot um like how did i do this to myself but um but truthfully yeah no probably i i don't i can't recall bawling very much Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm not a crier, though, so that doesn't say anything. That doesn't mean those that ball are, you know, weak or something. It's just your nature. Right. Some people's nature is just to cry. Yeah. It's how you relieve stress. That's how they relate. I punch faces to relieve stress. You ball to relieve stress. There's a difference. There's a difference. Both of them. A good cry session in the shower, though?

You're a crier, though. So, hello. Not anymore, though. I'm not quick to cry. Really? Yeah, I haven't, I don't know if I've ever seen you, like, cry, cry. I was then, not so much now. Like when you were younger. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know. You're just young and your emotions are running rampant and you're hormonal. I mean, it's pretty common. I think the older you get, the more, like, solid you become. True. Yeah. That's the goal.

Yeah. I wasn't much of a crier. anyway, but there is a certain period of time where calamity hit me on every side again because of my decisions but like you literally am like you really feel like and I know like that's one of the reasons why

you'll never get me to go back and walk away from God because there were moments of like and then there's moments of like screaming for your life because you know like all hell is breaking loose but yeah i there wasn't enough happy times right to overtake the bad times so yeah yeah no thank you there's nothing in that lifestyle that is appealing to me yeah nothing i'll stay right where i'm at smart yeah there's and i just i totally get why people that live in calamity they're like get me

out of here but then they don't even get saved i don't understand that yeah i don't either You make no sense, people. I know. Keep repeating the same old pattern over and over again. Expecting a different result. It's actually neuroscience, actually. We like neuroscience. Mm-hmm.

I'm a big fan. What do you mean about that? So we have these pathways in our brain. Yes. And so our brain craves comfort. And so that behavior and that, like, way of living equals comfort in our brain somehow. And so it's in order. Clamity?

Yeah. Yeah. Really? Yeah. And so in order to disrupt that, you have to literally do the opposite. And you have to be consistently doing the opposite to create new pathways so that your brain can rewire itself. Interesting. I know. That's interesting.

Yeah. That's why we're supposed to renew our minds every day. Yeah. Because the cycle is vicious and you will stay on that thing. You need to break it. True. Yeah, for those of you who are living anxiety, depression, and, like, renew the mind. Yeah, and although, like, the pathogens are there, correct?

Calamity is hard, but it's familiar. Right. Well, some people live in drama because they grow up in it, and it's all they know. So it feels like comfort. That makes sense to me. Yeah. To a certain extent. Yeah, like people go back to old relationships that were super toxic, you know.

It's just what they know. And I know, like, there's a certain person that I know that I'm very close to. Whenever something good would happen, they would, like, run from it because they were, they knew what happened. The pattern was something good happens and then something bad gets taken away. So why even allow the good to, like, get better? Because eventually it's going to be taken away from you. Yeah, I've known somebody that was like that too.

And I'm like, you're deceiving yourself. Right. And you've never stuck to the good long enough to find out that you're deceiving yourself. Right. right i don't know i don't know so they break through and then hang on tight hang on tight yeah create those new pathways i love november okay how else about it i love november for first of all it gets cooler that fresh air and even if you live up north it's the same down here we're we're getting reprieve and relief but we started that in october even september september was beautiful

October was great. November is killing it, although we are going to start freezing to death on Tuesday. A little extreme. Like we could have frost. They are saying, my chickens. That's crazy. I'm worried about my chickens.

That's so crazy. But for me, November is very fresh. It's like about family. It's about friends. And it's all about those fall leaves that I do not get to see, but I get to look at in pictures. I love. You got to see fall leaves, right, Tracy?

I did. I did. They were beautiful. Yeah, I'm jealous because my sister's looking at fall leaves right now. Where is she? She is in the Shenandoah Mountains, I believe. Oh, I went there for my birthday one year. You did?

Yes. Or Tennessee. I can't remember. Okay. One of the two. Yeah. Yeah, but she's seeing some fall leaves. My other sister, I think, just loved the Shanadaa Mountains for, but she lives up there.

I'm all confused. That's okay. So is Vanessa. She's saying happy birthday to everybody instead of happy Friday. Happy birthday. Everybody's birthday. Gosh, this shirt is too short. It's driving me crazy.

Oh, drop top. I know. Golly. I keep getting a cold breeze up my back. Oh, my gosh. It's not comfortable, people. But you know, one of the things that I think I love about November is a great reminder of the things. of the thanksgiving and i think um and i think it's super important and we're going to focus this

month on thankfulness gratitude being grateful because i think a lot of times we focus so much on what we don't have versus what we do have and even in the things that you don't have you do have something you should be grateful for what you do have and and thankful in the things that are to come and I just think that we we totally are very entitled I think is a great word for I think we're very entitled we're very spoiled we're always looking for the next thing and we're never satisfied with where we're at. And that is a dangerous place to live because Paul talked about being content in all our ways, not just being stable in all our ways, being content in every place that we're at. Because he said, in want or in need, or in plenty, excuse me,

he has learned to be content. And that's really where we need to be. And contentment will create and breed thankfulness and gratitude. So that's what we're going to talk about today. But do you want to do our thing before we get started? I do. Hi, do. All righty. If you're on Facebook, say hello.

You could be on Foundation Churches page or on the Hope Hotline. But we'd love to know that you're here watching. Just pop in real comments real quick. And if you want to engage in the conversation, head over to Rumble. Let's see who's on the chat. We got Sharon on there, Anne Marie, Vanessa, wishing everybody. a happy birthday. Hi, Mom.

Glad you're here. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. And everybody else watching, there's a bunch of you. So just drop your name in the comment. Let us know where you're watching from. We're glad you're all here. If you're on YouTube, we're having a weird thing with YouTube right now.

They think that we're a crisis hotline. So it is harder to find us. So YouTube's been very silly, no matter how many times I send them a screenshot. and tell them that we're not a crisis hotline, they apparently still think we are. So, YouTube, if you're listening, we're not. We are a fun Q&A. Let us live. It's always YouTube or Facebook.

I hate them. I know. So we're, just come over to Rumble. That's where we're at. We do have black rope up and running, but nobody's talking over there. So if you want to have the conversation, just stay with us on Rumble. Hey, Supergirl, Florida. Glad you're joining us.

Let us know your name if you want. We'd love to say hello to you. If you have a question, guess what? You can send it in. Ask hope at hope hotline.com. We love to know what's going on in your life. If you're a new believer, and we've already answered the question, I'll still send it over to Hope. She might want to do it again or maybe give some more feedback to it.

Or I'll send you the podcast of that question. I usually can find them pretty easily. So we have had a lot of questions throughout the years. And so I bet we can find something to help you move along past that if you love Natalie we do too and she is here once a month i already have another question for her so yeah um i love all the new stuff that keeps popping out i love getting her perspective because i know she studies it out and she's still very active um in the medical community so there's still a lot of information that she is seeing plus she does her research and she's a believer and loves

the lord and so it's such a great way to be able to connect with her and see what she thinks about the stuff going on. And if you're looking for somebody to trust as a physician, she is your girl. So go check out her website, but also she will be here next month. So send those questions in. We are on Instagram and we are also, I'm going to switch to this one. We are also on TikTok along with Vanessa, me and Talia. And Hope is killing it. Oh, look at that. We have your new one, but we're showing your old one too because I wanted to show how much growth. Just kidding. That's an accident. That was a mistake. So she is at 2,700 followers right now. And just last week, the last time I did a screenshot, you were at 2,500. So she's moving very, very quickly.

We're moving and shaken. Moving and shaken. And Pastor Tom as well, his TLP clips are almost at 1,000. And he has almost 500 followers on TikTok. It took me forever to get to 500 on TikTok. It's taken him not even two months. I know. And he's gotten a 20, $2,300, or $2,300, I wish, $2,300 view on that one about, is it $23,000 or $23,000? Thank you. 23,000 and 500 views on that one. And it was about forgiveness in your marriage. And a lot of people had a lot to say about that one. So it was good. Yeah, they like, how do you forgive somebody if they don't want forgiveness or do you stay in a marriage? There was a lot of questions on that one. Interesting. But yeah, that was, that was good. And then obviously the TLP, there's a lot going on in the world right now. So Pastor Tom has a lot to say about it. So that's a great place to get, like, bite sizes if you want bite sizes. But, of course, he is live Monday through Friday.

So check him out there. And then our good old foundation church worship is just moving and grooving. Music's always easy. Yeah. So we got 616. And if you are on TikTok, find us over there. Follow us, like, repost, comment, share, do all the stuff on there, too, for us. Because that always helps.

And we love getting our information out there for everybody. And then, of course, last is our merch. We've got to get something new this year. So we're going to... Miss Sharon. Yeah, I know. She just asked. I said, the teal color was kind of hard with our logo.

So maybe gray with our logo. We do have a gray TLP, and we have a gray foundation church. So do we want a gray. Okay, pink, it might look weird with the logo. Just some of it might disappear. We could do a white logo and do a pink zip up. But it's just the logo that makes it a little. little challenging. I think that's why we stuck with gray with the other ones. But I don't know. So

I think the teal color was the issue. But I know she just asked again. She's going to squeaky wheel. I saw her last night. She's like, what's up? Because it's that weather. It's sweatal weather. I know. It's perfect time now. Now we're here. We're not dripping sweat anymore. But yeah, I'll reach out to Heather and see what our options are with the logo because that makes it a little tough but uh sharon you better be rocking your ub u shirt and your hat and your mug and your spoon if you're not buying the other merch i'm gonna come get you so anyways but yeah but that is um yeah that's where we're at with all that good stuff so hope i'm coming back to you we do have a couple of our things but um yeah so we are we're ready oh wait i do have our dare to be let's do it okay

i apologize i wasn't in the mood to make this promo Oh, okay. Starting over. Restart. There you go. Oh, here we go. Join us November 14th at 7 p.m. for a night designed just for you. A night filled with healing, hope, and a powerful encounter with God. Experience heartfelt worship, uplifting Bible teaching, and a community of women who believe in what God can do. Doors open at 6.30 p.m. Come early and grab a seat. Bring a friend, come expectant, and get ready to dare to be all that God created you to be. Okay. Outside of the commercial part, the voiceover, no one would come.

Oh, my gosh. It's like, it's very jazzy. I'm like, I don't know what if I, I just was like, I think we were, I was ready to go. You were ready to go. It's a little, you were. A little grouchy maybe. I don't know if I was grouchy. I was just more like, let's just do this. Yeah, right. There's no happiness in that voice. Yeah. I'll call you out next time for it. I was actually, I was listening for mistakes because you, that one you did make a few mistakes and you kind of started over again. So we made some clips in there. But you, you mustered through us. I was like, we got through it. But next time I'll be like,

you don't sound happy. I'll call you out. And you can decide. bouncy voice. No, I wasn't. Because I wasn't. But, because I was like, I'm sorry. We're going to do another one. I think that's a really busy day. It was. It's been really, like, there's been so much going on around here. It's been, um, some days I'm just like, I'm done. Yep. I'm done. Yep. I'm tired, grandpa.

Yeah, exactly. So I read this. Now, girls, you're going to give your two cents, even though you really didn't know what the topic was because I just told you before we went in the room. Ready in season and out of season. right but you guys are always ready to go so i read this really good statement about being grateful and i was like i love that so i'm going to use it so that's what i did it says uh what the statement was is gratitude is not a reaction to good circumstances but a weapon that realigns your spirit with heaven perfect check i'm going to write that down for myself, like, besides in my computer.

Yeah. Like, that is so true, though. It is. Am I read it again? Please. Gratitude is not a reaction to good circumstances, but a weapon that realigns your spirit with heaven. You know what reminds me of, that song that Norma sings, this is how I fight my battles. Yeah.

Because that song talks about fighting your battles with being thankful and with gratitude. right and like it's so true if you're expectant for a positive results if you're expectant of a positive result then you can be thankful for it in advance right it's like one of the ways to pray especially if you're believing for something financial or healing or whatever the case may be or an answer to prayer that involves maybe somebody else one of the the things it says is one of the steps of prayer is you know you obviously come and you make sure that you're clean before the Lord meaning that there's no sin in your life so you go before him with a pure heart then you can begin to uh I I try not ask too much when I'm praying I actually

try and shower the Lord with praise which is the next step so you come to him with repentant heart, then you come with praise, then you can come in Thanksgiving, well, it's really praise, and then you come with your requests, and then you end with Thanksgiving, because when you end with Thanksgiving, you're thanking him for the very thing that you were asking him to do. Does that make sense, ladies? Yeah, absolutely. So that's kind of like a formula with prayer, and that's what I try and do with, but most of my praying I don't even do with English.

I do it in my prayer language, because the Holy Spirit speaks far better for me than I do myself. But I do make sure that I praise him before I even start talking to him. I always praise and like let him know how much I love him. I can't, I can't like not do that. I mean, I just, it's like when I see Tom, one of the first things I always want to do is show him or tell him how much I love. of him and then have a conversation with him well i do the same exact thing with with the lord i mean i don't know yeah are you guys any different than that no but i think it's it's biblical like his word says enter his gates with thanksgiving and praise like we should yeah and enter in his presence

with with thanksgiving like and didn't his jesus's prayer start with thanksgiving our father who art in heaven hallow be thy name thy kingdom come they will be done with praise like just honor like honoring him hollow it be thy name that's true yeah that's very true and I think the formula comes from the lord's prayer actually now that you bring that up the formula of how to pray like with you know like bullet points is taken from the Lord's prayer so yeah good point Philippians 4, 6 through 7, and I'm going to do the new living translation, says, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. And then it says, tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Okay. So you're going to tell him what you need, but then you're going to thank him for all he has done. And has he done all of it? Yeah. If you're like, there's something about claiming something. It's like when we got this building before. we got this building, Tom and I would drive by this building because we had to pass through here so often. We'd drive by, if I was by myself or if we were together, we would drive by and

we say we claim that building in the name of Jesus. And we thank you that it is ours. So did we have it? Was it done? No. But in our heart and mind, it was. We believed that the building that church was supposed to be in was this building. And so we just prophetically claimed it. And then we thanked him. So that's where I think that comes from. But also, should you be thanking for the things he's also done? Already done?

Yeah, 100%. And I think what happens is once it's a done deal, then we move on to the next thing and we forget to even be grateful. Right. Which is not good. Because we do that in life with a lot of things. Like, we, you know, if we really, you know, everybody has aspires to get something, whether, let's say, like women, okay.

So like when you get married and you got married and you're both very young. So all you could afford was really like a small engagement ring and band, right? So you're always, a woman will always be like at this, me included, I was always like at this time. like my 25th year anniversary, I want a new wedding band set. Well, the thing is, is once you get that wedding band set, a lot of times you're like, oh, the expectation was far better than receiving it. So you're like, oh, okay, now what's next? Yeah.

And that's where we always live is what's next. Instead of being like grateful that we have it for, there should be a period of time where there shouldn't be what's next. it should be a period of time where you're just grateful for what you have. But that's not how we tend to live, especially in the United States. Other countries, maybe. But definitely here, we're always looking for the next thing. First Thessalonians 518 says,

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ. Be thankful in all circumstances. So should you be thankful in the bad ones? Yep. Yeah. You should. will say, why should you be thankful in the bad ones? And I would say to, and I would say that to Vanessa and Tracy, why would you be thankful

in the bad ones? Are you asking? Mm-hmm. Okay. Why would you be thankful in the bad ones? Well, there has been situations. I have two reasons. Number one is the Bible says that because it'll mature you and it'll show your true colors.

Are you really, truly trusting God in every situation? But number two. Good point. Number two is that sometimes you think that this is the best case for you. Like this is the best case scenario, but you don't even know what's better. So sometimes when it seems like a trial and it's really hard and it goes away and then you open yourself up to something else, it's a million times better. And if you're like, if I only knew, I wouldn't even have been that upset.

Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Okay. Vanessa, do you want to add anything to that? Ditto to that. It's something we talk about a lot. Yeah, we do.

And I have just trained my brain to always expect the best case scenario. So when something happens if I'm faced with whatever it is, like I have trained my mind to go, okay, here's an opportunity to see God move. And I'm always expecting the best. Which is faith. Yeah. And God is faithful. Always. It's so true. The thing is, is like, if you, in the bad circumstances, I believe, more so than in the good, because how hard is it in the good circumstances? Not hard at all. But in the bad circumstances that you're walking through, if you're grateful or thankful through those things, your mind shifts. There's a mind shift and or a mindset shift.

that it when you go from being grateful and thankful from negative to those things it's a positive shift in your and your mentality of what your expectations are so for me I wrote some I gave some examples here's some things that I would tell you that I see with people a lot but I'm going to just give you an example of some things like people want brand new cars right they have an older car that's not the greatest they don't take care of the older car and they think that somehow some way when they get the new car they won't be dirty and disgusting anymore that's not true take care of what he who is faithful with little be faithful with much so take care of the car that you don't think is so great prove yourself so you can so when you do get the new car you will take care of it but that's not

what i'm talking about most people are always pining for the new vehicle or the new this or that right but what i would say to you an example of the car is minds a mindset shift would be is what if you didn't have the car because i've lived without a car and guess how i my mode of transportation bus subway okay those aren't always convenient

okay I was grateful for the bus and the subway because I would have had to walk but it would have been

far better to have a vehicle because a vehicle I don't have to wait on a schedule I make my schedule and I come and go as I please

and so if you really thought about okay I don't have the car that I want but I'm not riding the bus I'm not riding a bike I'm not in the rain

you know like literally you have something that a lot of people don't and be grateful that you have that mode of transportation it may not be ideal for you but at least you have it and that's a mindset shift being grateful for the very thing that you have

a lot of people are not grateful they get in the car and they're like oh I hate this car you might not have I mean you don't have to have it you're blessed to have it a lot of times people complain because they can't go into a store and buy whatever they want okay god said he'll meet all your needs right not all your wants and a lot of times he will give us our wants but i would sit there and say to you is are your bills paid can you buy groceries do you have groceries in the in the pantry because really at the end of

the day, so what? You can't go to any store you want at any time you want and buy whatever you want. Like everybody that I know in life, including myself, does not on a constant basis or consistent basis are able to just go into the store whenever they want to and buy whatever they want to all the time. No. If you're a good steward of your money, there are times in situations where, like, thank God I had the money to replace the water heater, which meant that I guess what? I don't get a new outfit. I don't get new shoes. But I got what I needed, which was a water heater. There was a time one year, it was like, I think it was 2023. Virtually everything in our house went. From our air condition to our water heater, to our water system. And this is all after Ian, where we needed a new

roof. Everything went. Like the pool pump, I think, went. Like everything went. And it was a miracle. We had a financial blessing come in, and it was a miracle. We didn't know that all that stuff is going to break. I didn't go shopping. I went and bought things that my house needed because it was 20 plus years old and things started like normal wear and tear. So I had the money to not go and buy a whole bunch of new clothes or a new car or whatever. Instead, the money went to replacing things around the house that were not cheap. Okay. So guess what? I'm grateful that a need was met. not everybody it's being a good steward of your money and not just I mean am I wrong ladies like you don't always get to in life nobody that I know of right does all of that right there's

times where you can go shopping and you can get whatever you want and then there's times there's like not today I'm going to be wise with my funds yeah 100% so mindset it's like looking at things and going thank the Lord God you never fail me and I have the fun I have the money that is needed to take care of what I need to take care of and if you do that enough times then it becomes your default it's like okay and you there isn't stress attached to it or worry attached to it just it literally becomes your default that thought process that way of thinking because going back to neuroscience, anxiousness releases stress hormones. That goes down a different pathway.

And thankfulness actually releases dopamine and serotonin, which is a completely different pathway. That's why the two can't ever coexist. Interesting. So if you choose thankfulness, you're choosing a pathway that actually releases dopamine so you're releasing a ton of like feel good hormones, so you feel more joyful. You feel more, like, peaceful and calm by just being thankful. Interesting.

And then it has, it can't cross the pathway to anxiety because they, the pathways literally don't, like, connect at all. So you can't be anxious and thankful at the same time, ever. And that's what it says about the mind. Is that what they have? it's been proven scientifically yeah that you cannot be anxious and thankful at the same time it's completely it's two completely different it's like two magnetic opposites where you put two positives together and they yeah literally won't go together and the hormone that's released for one decreases that that like it increases what cortisol yeah so it does the opposite so being

anxious rises cortisol but being thankful lowers cortisol and releases dopamine. Yeah. So it's actually like hormonal. It's wild. It's wild. It's so cool. It's super cool.

It's so hard. Like God did on purpose. Literally. Like he created our bodies or something. Literally. Imagine that. Imagine that. Imagine that.

That's amazing. I know. I didn't know that those two didn't go together. Yeah. I know. Yeah. That's crazy. And so now that I'm like teaching apologetics to our homeschool kids.

Yeah. We don't need to. be afraid of science. We don't need to be afraid to touch that subject because science actually proves that there is a God. Yes, and I love apologetics. If you don't know anything about it, you need to know about it because you'll then be able to, like, if you know apologetics, then it will, once you learn that part of things, you'll, no one will ever be able to convince you that God's not real. super important it will ground you so deep and to the truth that if you went to a college

you would hear you would know the lie immediately because that's what they try and do they try in college they try and renew your mind yeah true twist the truth very true but apologetics um makes gives you a firm foundation and you can't like they can't disprove what the word and the proof of the word that you learn. I love it. A lot of people don't even know it or have ever spent any time in it. And so you really need to. It solidifies what you believe.

Yes. It really does because it's like it's everywhere. Everything points to God, creation, science, math, all of it points to God. It's so cool. But that's one of the reasons people like Darwin and there's differing opinions on this, but there's been a lot of scientists, scientists have tried to disprove the word or disprove things that the Bible scientifically says. And they can't.

They can't do it. So they end up getting saved. Right. Because theirs is a theory. The Bible is a fact. With evidence. Yeah. Fact is evidence.

Theories are you're trying to prove it theoretically that what you believe is true. a fact is a proven truth and that's what they find out with the Bible I mean plenty of people have tried to like say otherwise but they can't like every turn they take there is another fact to prove that it is truth and a lot of times too I will say like what you were saying Tracy is a lot of times people

I think it was you Tracy like people believe or pray or they want something and for me I sit there and go a lot of times you should be grateful and thankful for unanswered prayers yeah yeah for sure yeah which goes along with what you were saying yeah because a lot of times your prayer isn't God's will for you and that doesn't come with healing it doesn't come with provision those things what I'm saying is there's a lot of times people pray for a new job. They pray for maybe not a new job, but the same career in a different place.

We see it all the time that people pray for certain things. They'll pray for a husband. And the first shiny little thing that comes along, they believe that that's the answer to that prayer. It's not. discernment and finding out is this God's true will for you and then when you find out it's not then you're all bummed and upset and it's like unanswer prayers are not always the worst thing on the face of the earth they're actually sometimes a really good thing because your carnal nature

was wanting something that God's saying that's not good for you you should be thankful that you have it's like a good parent who helps make your decisions for you and says you're not doing that even though like me wanting to go and lay out in the middle of the road when I was like I don't know five and I did and my dad marched out there that's not a good idea you know no it's not a good idea but in your mind you want to do something that is as dangerous as what I just said yeah and because it's not literally laying in the road you're like oh it's okay no you don't understand you marry the wrong person it's like laying in the middle of the road you're going to like live a horrible life and it can be devastating so unanswered prayers sometimes

most of the time you should be grateful you should be thankful because that in answer prayer probably saved you from a you know horrible horrible decision or life yep another one I think is like little things right i think i thought about this is you know how um when you get like with this happened to us on um last week when we went last thursday when we went to um to get that dog for norma and we got scammed and stuff like that we went to o'cala when we came back like we passed this we didn't know what it was but we saw like back traffic backed up really bad we were sitting in traffic for an extra two plus hours. And I was so frustrated.

I was so like, oh, my gosh. Then we found out that a young man who was, I think it was 19 years old, was on a motorcycle and he wasn't paying attention. And he went into a dump truck, got stuck under the truck. And, you know, you sit there and go, okay, how many times have you been stuck in traffic or, you know, been delayed, not because you weren't on time for something, but you get a delay, you're being responsible, now you're late

for something and you're frustrated or whatever, and then later on down the road, you see an accident. And if you would have been there right at the right time, you would have been in that accident. And instead of getting frustrated and mad and angry, and I think this is something you'd say, Tracy all the time, but I always forget it until, you know, I experienced that that accident where I was heartbroken over that young man for a couple hours after we found out why we were stuck in that traffic. Like, sitting in traffic in comparison to what that family was experiencing that afternoon, getting a phone call or a visit from the police. Like, I'll sit in traffic

all day long. I was very grateful that I was sitting in traffic. Right. And not, not that other family. And you say it all the time, though. I've heard you say, not all the time. I've heard you say instead of being upset about something, you look at it and go, I'm glad that that happened because you don't know down the road. Correct. Go ahead and tell people that because I think it's so good.

I kind of started because I was a junior in high school when 9-11 happened. And so one of our secretary, her son was in the buildings. And so he passed away, obviously. But there are stories that came out after that of, like, moms that were supposed to go into work that day, but their kid was sick, so they stayed home. And it's like, like, I know that this is where it gets like, well, why did that happen to them and not them? But it doesn't matter. The fact is, is like that person's life was spared because one thing happened. Their kid was sick.

She probably didn't want her kid to be sick that day. But then now, hindsight, thank God, because she wasn't in the buildings. But one thing I was going to tell you, and it relates to this, is that one of the things that God has been showing me, because, because I've sown and given my tithe and all the stuff. And I talk to God about it often. And I remind him of his verse in Malachi 310 through 11. It says, bring all the tithes into this doorhouse so that there will be enough room in my temple. If you do, says, the Lord of Heaven's armies, I will open up the windows of heaven for you.

I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in. Try it. Put me to the test. So I remind him of that. And then he reminds me of the other part of the verse, where in King James it says, I will rebuke the devour for your sake, and he shall not destroy the fruits of the ground. And it goes on. So one of the things he's showing me lately is how much he rebukes the devour out of my life.

And so I have so many stories, one being on Halloween. So I had the girls with me, and we were trick-or-treating, and we had all the doors off of the Jeep. And every time, and we were on back roads. It's like everybody's going like 15 miles an hour. There's no cars out. There's nobody. So they're just jumping out, go in and we're like, look for cars. But like, they're just jumping out going.

I mean, there's nobody anywhere. It's like as everybody goes to this one neighborhood in my thing, and there's cars everywhere down there, everybody goes in. We're just driving around. We have all the doors off. The girls are jumping in and out, Tudy and Charlotte, and we're at one house. And Allison, instead of going out her door, for whatever reason, decides to go out with Charlotte.

Well, at that same moment, a car comes flying past us. If Allison would have got out that door, I don't know what would have happened. And I took my breath away. I was like, where the heck did that car come from? And Jared's like, they must have been like on my butt or something because we were going like 15 miles an hour with our with our flashers on just because it was starting to get dark. We were right at the end. Well, I heard that night on next door that there was a man driving around and he was 66.

He hit a car and then he hit three kids. And one of the girls was 16 and she had to get life lighted at that night. And it was at that neighborhood where all those people were. And so God just reminded me like, I'm rebuking the devour for you. And there was, I have so many stories lately. But it is that. Like, thank God. Allison decided to get out the other side. But like, you know, but God reminds me, like,

your family's protected. Like, you are doing the things. You are my child. I have a level of protection over you. And it makes me very, very thankful. So even though I haven't seen the fullness of what I know I will see, he reminded me of his other part of the verse that he has been very faithful in. Amen. That's so true. Yeah. It's so true. And the things that you can't see. Yeah. Or even, like I literally saw that. You would have never even known. The cost, even like, obviously sparing like whatever could have happened, but like the cost associated like with like a lifelight and like all like that that's rebuking the devour. Of course like life is the most. And the girl is fine. She did get a laceration on her head. She broke her leg, broke her arm. So she was pretty beat up. But the mom said she's going to be totally fine. Totally going to be able to recover and everything. But like still like to end your night that way. Like, like, no. And this man. Annie's off like he took off they had to go find him at his house so maybe that's where he was flying from i don't know whatever yeah i don't even know maybe it's not the same guy might not been the same guy but like it was in the same neighborhood the same area and um it's you know things happen and so

not to my family yeah because god reminds me that he will rebuke the devour so true it's so true so if you're not tithing this is a tithing message for you please start you can't afford not to you can't i make sure that your heart is right Amen. Because new covenant giving is the condition of your heart. It is. It really is. You're supposed to be a joyful giver.

Yes. Not a resentful giver. Right. It's a big difference. So check your heart. Check your heart. All the time. And also, like, you get to keep 90% of it.

I know. I know. So if you can't afford not to. Like 90% is wild. Yeah, 90. Yeah, it's wild. That's a great return on investment. me a good enough excuse to so that you can't give me a good enough excuse why you're not tithing

there really isn't yeah because it's i'll never not tie yeah it's 10% like that's what maybe not have starbucks or make more money or make more money make more money i'm always about make more money oh me too you know what's the side hustle let's do let's figure out a side hustle right and then give all that money but that means your tithing is more right but they will have a have more money But they will have an excuse then. I know, I know. No, they'll always have an excuse. But I'm just saying, like, if you don't have enough money,

because you can't pay your bills, make more money. Or be a good steward of what you have. And then of course be a good steward. Right. I mean, you'll have enough money if you're a good steward of what you have. It's true. Or just get revelation of like, God gave his best to us, which was his son. There you go.

His one and only son. Like, we should reflect our father. We should give our best. All the time. From a grateful heart. I agree. So true. So true.

Everything should be done in excellence and, I don't know, and appreciation. I know. Yep. So I saw this thing. It said, what if gratitude is spiritual warfare? Isn't that interesting? Mm-hmm. I was like, which is, this is how I fight my battle song, because it is.

A lot of times I've never looked at gratitude as spiritual warfare. warfare. I didn't either until you just said that. But it makes sense that it is. It is because I have, I think I have scriptures that, no, I don't have scriptures. Then it said, so what if gratitude is spiritual warfare? And then it went on to say that it's a language of faith. Gratitude is a language of faith. Yeah. 100%. Yep. Because it says, God, you're still good even when I don't see it yet. Which is spiritual warfare, guys. Yeah.

Because you're telling all of the voices in your head that are spirits of confusion, spirit of fear, all of those things that you're going to walk in faith and you're going to be grateful in spite of everything that they have coming at you and are telling you that it's truth. That's spiritual warfare. and it said gratitude equals trust true very true because it eliminates complaining complaining which attracts chaos and gratitude attracts peace yeah absolutely yeah it's prophetic it said it declares that god is faithful even before you see his hand move because you're walking

in like if your mouth is speaking it that's you're prophetically claiming or proclaiming what you believe even though you don't see it and you're thanking him for the very thing that you are walking in faith to see yeah i i would challenge everybody um i'm going to do sponsors after this but i would challenge everybody one year i i did it was hard like this was hard what I did one year in November it was in October I decided every day starting November 1st I was going to post on social media this is when I liked it which is a long time ago on Facebook because I don't even think Instagram was around I was going to post every single day what I was thankful for which made me accountable to do it because I said I'm going to

to do because I put it on Facebook every day starting November 1st I'm going to write something that I'm grateful for do you know how hard that was was it really yeah I found out I'm not a very grateful person oh my gosh in that moment I found out that I wasn't a very grateful person wow I had to dig deep wow okay 30 oh wait you think about it like even if I started 27 days like you I'm grateful for my husband I'm grateful for my kids I'm grateful for my house I'm I'm grateful for my client. I'm grateful that I have food to eat. Start after that.

Start really trying to think, what are you grateful for? And it really made me look at my life and realize, I am not a grateful person until I had to dig deep and I went, holy moly. Like, I should be grateful for a lot of things because a lot of great things happened to me. And I don't count them as something to be grateful for. I count them with entitlement or expectation. Yeah. That's dangerous. That's very, very dangerous to have that thought process.

A lot of people that I know that have done this, they said it was hard for them too. Now I'd probably be very easy for me. I think it was in my 30s when I did that, in like late 30s. Now for me, I'd be able to. Yeah. But then,

mm-mm. that's pathetic though so i challenge you yeah not you and tracy not venice and tracy i challenge people listening every day until thanksgiving yeah which you you know you don't have that many days left because it is the eighth yeah challenge you it's like going to be it's going to be 19 days isn't it 19 days i think it's the 7th today it's going to be 18 days yeah 18 days you have 18 things things to be grateful for and I challenge you don't do the ones that are obvious do the ones that cause you to think because you will be shocked and amazed at there are I'm not talking about just little things I'm talking about there's big things if you think back on the things that God has

rescued you from the things that God has healed you of I mean you're going to have to dig and you your faith you'll want to journal it I'm not kidding I'm not kidding you you're going to want to journal it because you'll never like when i have things that i'm walking through in faith a lot of times i'll start reviewing the things that god has yeah that's good help me through or delivered me from yeah or answered the prayer of and then i'm like well of course he's going to do this right why wouldn't he right but if you're not thankful then you won't have those things and I'm just telling you, you start listening to things you're thankful for,

then you're going to start realizing the faith walks that you've gone through and how he has come through every single time. And then you'll draw on those things in moments where like, oh my gosh, this is a big in. And then you're going to go back to your journal and you're going to go, that's not that big. That's actually pretty easy. Because if he did that then, he'll do that this time.

And I'm telling you right now, there are things that the world would say just this building alone just this building alone but there are there are so many things like even in the past the different things that for this church not even my personal life that the lord has come through every single time on this church yeah like it could only be his hand right that made it happen and there were times that Tom and I wanted different places and we believed that we would get them no we never really claimed them but we were believing because we just want and it never came to pass and we'd be like we got to a point where like something better's coming yeah that's that and i have literally said to him since we've

moved in here several times thank god he never answered our prayer yeah because we had no idea this was coming but thank god we didn't get what we wanted we got what he said we deserved And if he gives you something, you deserve it. Or he wouldn't have given it to you. It's good. Yeah. A lot of people want to be that humble, I don't deserve it. Bull, loony.

If he gave it to you, you deserve it. Amen. He wouldn't have given it to you then. It's true. So what are going to do, sponsors? Do you want to add anything? I actually have a journal. And on the very front, it says that verse, goodness and mercy, follow me all the

days of my life. And I jot down, like, even the smallest things, like, I got a parking spot, you know, that I, that I wanted. And if you know, Vanessa and her parking situation, you understand. That is. You absolutely understand there. And you know what? What I've noticed that now I look for these things. Right. And they're all around me. All the time. And so when you live a life of gratefulness and when you live a life of thankfulness, yes do it for the next 18 days but maybe have a lifestyle of this it will it it has literally rewired my brain to expect the best always always always yeah I get made fun of I was just telling somebody this this week I think it was Creighton Creight and I were going somewhere and I get

made fun of because I'm always like if something happens like oh oh that's and I'll like be so excited about and I'll tell Tom and he's like that's it and I'm like what do you mean that's it Like, that's great, but I'm like you. Yeah. I don't, I don't like, I think even in the littlest of things, I don't let that go because I appreciate because it didn't have to happen that way. I feel like it's the little things that I noticed, but nobody else noticed. I feel more intimate with the Lord in those little. Yeah, I love when he comes through in a big way, but it's the little ones where I'm just like,

Oh, it's like, I don't know, I just feel like super incident with the Lord. You know why? Because it's in the small details of your life that he even cares about. Yeah. And most people think it's the big things and they never expect in the small things. But God is even into the littlest details of our lives. And when you see that he cares that much for something that's so small but so significant to you, then that makes you just fall in love with him even more.

At least it does for me. I'm like, man, you care about even the thing that somebody would say is so insignificant. But to you, it's just as important as the big thing. Because he's so great, man. When I turned 40, I love sunflowers, sunflowers is very special between me and the Lord. And for my 40th birthday, he showered me in sunflowers. Isn't that awesome? It was. It felt like, oh, like a gift from heaven.

Yeah. I see you, Vanessa. Literally. Yeah. I have felt like that. I have literally felt like the Lord was like, I see you. Yep. Right now, there's nobody else. It's just you.

And that's powerful. Like that is a powerful thing that you feel like a lot of times people don't even have that with their spouse, right? Mm-hmm. But you can have that with God. where it's like even in the smallest of things he sees you and he's going to make sure that you know you have value and I think that's so important and I'd rather have that from him than that from Tom personally and I do get that from Tom but even if I didn't have it from Tom I'd rather have it from God than a tangible being all day long it's so much more powerful and so much more special I mean the God of this universe.

Stop to show you a sunflower. Just you. Just you. Out of the 8 billion people on this planet. You're that important. Special. It's amazing. Anything else?

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them a happy birthday. And we will be celebrating it on Wednesday because we will be back on Wednesday. We will see you. Sunday. Join us live on our live stream if you don't live in the area. And that is that. Have a great weekend. Bye.