The Hope Hotline - The Month of Gratitude | Part 3

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

The Hope Hotline | S03-E74 | 11-14-2025 Send questions to: [e-mail] MERCH: https://www.foundationmerch.net/ Subscribe to my podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/thehopehotline/ FOLLOW ME:Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/thh Website: https://hopehotline.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.hope.hotline/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088757500434

real talk hello and welcome thank you for today it is Friday I'm very excited. Friday in the house. That's right. I am very excited because I'm excited for tonight. I am, I can't wait to see everybody.

I know. If you don't come, then I hate your guts. Yep. We don't like much. That's all there is to it. Yep. Bye. Are you not coming or something, Vanessa?

Is that what you said, ouch? Huh? Are you not coming tonight? Is that what you said, ouch? No, I said pretty much. Oh, pretty much. I thought you went, ouch. I'm like, okay, what's up over there?

I'll be there. It's going to be fun. It's going to be, I love, I mean, for me, I like getting together with, well, that's not always true. I'm supposed to say, I love getting together with other women.

That's not true, though. I don't always, I don't always like getting, I mean, do you guys always like getting together? I like women. I mean, I like women, but do you always like getting together? together with them? I do it very often actually. Yeah. I'm, are you extroverted or are you introverted?

Like, do you, when you are around a lot of people, do you get, feel energized or do you have to go home and like kind of decompress? No, I'm an extrovert. Yeah. 100%. So I was going to say. My battery usually doesn't run low. Yeah. That's true. But, but, but I mean, I don't want to sound snotty, but it depends on the women. Oh yeah. No, absolutely. True. Very true. I mean, I love the women of our church. Yeah. Same. Yeah. So for me, I'm excited about tonight. Right. But I have to be honest with you.

I've had to go to these different things. Yeah. And I've not been excited. No, yes. I can agree. That's why I was like, I felt compelled to be honest. Yeah. I got always love getting together with, I don't.

I know. I hear you. I rarely have to be in a group that I haven't chosen. Only like traveling. When I travel with Jeff, yeah, totally. But I pretty much am in control of who I, I have around me in my daily life. Yeah, for sure.

That's nice. For sure. That's a very nice thing, girl. It is. It's a beautiful thing. But for the most part, I mean, I really do enjoy it. And I think, like, iron sharpens iron. And I think men do really great together because, obviously, they think alike.

They draw from each other. But women, we're a complex being. Yeah, we are. And so, I don't know. I just think that, like, it's so true. Like, when Tom was saying on Sunday, like, he can talk to me. He and I can be talking, and he doesn't understand a thing I'm saying. I can literally, and for the most part, I mean, there are times when Heather is, like,

I don't understand what you're saying. But for the most part, she and I, like, Tracy and I were just talking about this on Wednesday. but me and Heather can be talking both at the same time and it could be about different stuff and we still know what each other is saying. Norma can do that too. I mean, you were just talking about this and then Jarrah's completely lost.

But other girls in the room, a whole bunch of girls can be in the room and you're all talking and you're talking at once and everybody can hear the conversation and everybody knows what everybody's talking about. But even if Heather misses a word or from the most part, not every time, right? But for the most part, if Heather misses something

or if I miss a detail, literally can understand and pick up. Yeah, that's a hidden talent. Women are like that. Yeah. I mean, if I don't use all pronouns and names with Tom, he doesn't understand it. If I use too many pronouns, he gets lost.

Yeah, that's true. If I don't use any names and only use pronouns, women will still understand what I'm saying. Sometimes I'm like, how do you not understand? We were just talking, we'll just use Jeff as an example. We were just talking about Jeff. So when I am referring to he, I'm referring to Jeff. How are you asking me, who's he?

We're talking about Jeff. I think it's because men are so literal. Everything is black and white for men. Whereas we are multitaskers. we have to we have our hands in everything so we have to like pick up things here and there I don't know it's very very I don't know so for me being around a woman who get me or maybe they don't get me but they sure as heck pretend like they do I'm all in yeah absolutely yeah I love these nights I love the energy that comes from being around like women especially when you want to be

here. Like, you know when people, like, want to actually be somewhere. It really does change the atmosphere versus, like, people just showing up because it's a work event and you have to be there. Totally different. You know? And there's something about, like, women worshiping. Yes. Oh, my gosh, man. For our ladies' conference, it happens for Dare to Be too, but, man, for our Ladies' Conference and when we do the Dare to Bees, and it's just women singing. I love it. I mean, we've got to let Erin sing too but true but I mean he didn't care but for the most part it's all women singing and it is beautiful yeah it really is it is so pretty oh so be here tonight or you want to run that little clip yeah and then I'll why don't you just do your thing and then we'll get into the questions okay

let's start with let's do it let's start here I'm 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. Yes. Bring your friends. Bring your neighbors. Our daughters, 12 and up, right? Yep. Twelve and up. Bring your daughters. No child care. No child care. So leave those babies with dad and then come hang out with us. That's right. All right. If you're on Facebook, make sure you are like commenting and sharing. And then if you would like to hop over to Rumble, we would love to see you over there. We've got Sharon, my squeaky wheel, squeak, squeak,

Hey Talia. Glad you're in the room and online. Amory is in the house and mom. And she said, Tracy has been since birth and always will be the family social butterfly, which is very true. So I believe that. I don't know. It just, yeah. Knowing your two brothers. Oh my gosh. I know. Because we were talking about how girls can cross talk. But like my family, like if you came in, like Pastor Tong came in, he would be like this, I have to leave. I know I'm checking out. Goodbye. but we make we just make it work i don't it's just how it works and i found another family like that so it's really funny when you can communicate in a way that is very chaotic but it totally makes sense i love it i do too and you never feel like you're being interrupted because the other person gets it like they know what you like oh yeah yeah yeah and you always go back around you circle back around all

the time i mean how can you get lost i don't know i don't understand it i don't either I just enjoy it. I'll have a good conversation like that. I think it's called ADHD. I think so too. I don't know. I don't get it. I love it so much. So there's a bunch of you watching on Rumble. So make sure you comment. You can just literally just say hello. You don't even tell me where you're from. Just say hi. I just want to know you're watching. Say hello. If you don't have an account, it takes like two seconds. Get an account. Put your little email in there and then it's done. You never have to do it ever again. So just say hello. We'd love to hear. from you and of course black robes available and the podcast audio podcast is available later as well um and obviously we are not live on tic talk if you know then you know um we were having we're being suppressed by all by all angles right now constantly suppressed so yeah don't don't even from rumble to facebook yes to youtube yes to tic talk to all the things but do we quit no never we're not quitters on this house.

No. I mean, oh my gosh. It's crazy to me how our first year we go almost to 100 people watching between 70 and 80 people watching on a regular basis. And then

the end of last year they changed the algorithm in Rumble and Facebook was well we got banned on a couple things but a couple we got suspended a couple times but then they started changing the algorithm on YouTube and Facebook, and that dropped us down to the 60s, and then the algorithm changed on Rumble,

and it dropped us down to between 30s, maybe, and then if we do, if we play their game, then it brings us up to over 100. But sometimes it gets old playing the game. It is, it does. It does get old. And at this point, it's like, what else, what else do you do besides play the game? Yeah. You grind. You grind and you do the things. And we just say, all right thanks a lot we wouldn't have the church if we didn't grind exactly i wouldn't have a business yeah yeah so you grind is important very important all right well moving right along yeah as we grind kiss my because my grits exactly oh man okay so send in your photo or send in your not don't send in your photos please do not i don't care about your photos oh my gosh unless you have a question about your

photo and if it's a medical question please do not send that in um yet unless you you just write Natalie on there then I'll know but I think we're going to figure out Natalie's situation because we do have a couple things coming up with Thanksgiving next week and we're off on Friday and my daughter is graduating um cosmetology school done and done I know I'm so proud of her and then Talia is piecing out on us and Sarah's out of town so the whole everybody is just out listen it's and Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving the next week yes so we're we're just hitting the road a little early we are Just Friday early.

Because we'll be shut down that week too. Correct. Yes. Yep. We'll be. We'll be Thanksgiving in it. We'll be very thankful. Oh, by the way.

Yes. If you live in and around the area and you're hosting Thanksgiving, Publix right now has their turkeys on sale, their young turkeys for 49 cents a pound. Oh. Is it frozen? Do you not do frozen? We do fresh. Oh, yeah. It's not.

You're not going to get a fresh for that. Yeah, you're right. Not 49 cents a pound. Can you even tell if it's fresh or frozen? I don't know because I deep fried mine. Mine's about as unhealthy as you possibly can get. So does it really matter if it's frozen? No.

No. No. Absolutely not. Not at all. Yeah, so send in your questions, but it won't be, we probably won't answer. Unless they're really good ones and then get to them on Wednesday next week. But then after that, maybe some Christmas questions. Maybe some family questions about Christmas. maybe.

Okay. Okay. Sounds good to me. Or the following week, or when we get back, we can do Christmas. Right. That's what I mean. Yeah. Oh, I thought you meant for next week.

No, next week is only if you have a really, really great question. But I think we've got some important stuff to talk about before Thanksgiving because we've got to make sure these people are thankful. Truth, girl. We kind of go into Thanksgiving with a grateful heart. And I think they need all the help they can get. I'm just kidding. Love you guys.

All right. questions in. Most likely we won't get to them until after around Christmas time. So if they're Christmas related, even better. And Natalie will be coming in, but probably will be a December day because, yeah, this month is coming to an end because of Thanksgiving. So, but of course, send them in. If even you can send them in now, if you want to, just make sure I know it's for Natalie. And if Hope can't answer it and it's a medical one, she'll know it's for Natalie. Instagram, we are always there hanging out, putting all our stuff. stuff up and then we have our merch. I know Sharon, you're squeaking the wheel over there. I hear

you. Squeaky, squeaky. We'll have a zip up before you know it in Jesus' name because the Lord It'll be in the summer. It'll be in the summer. No, absolutely not. No, I'll make it happen. I'm just going to make a note before I get through this. You know what happens is I get here and I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah. And then we go on to the next thing. So I need to make notes in the moment. So while I'm showing you the next slide. I'm going to make a note. All right. So Hope is killing it. People love and also hate her at the same time. What's new? What's no? Because you can't be everybody's cup of tea. Just like my friend told me one time, a very smart, wise woman that you can't be everybody, can't be pizza to everybody. It can't be pizza. Everyone loves pizza. Not everybody. Even that. Wait, you don't like pizza?

No, I do know people who do not like it. And I, like, couldn't even believe it. Because I didn't, I was like you. I thought everybody liked pizza, but they, there are people who do not. Like, people who are flipping weird who do not like chocolate. Like, how in the world do you not like chocolate? But they don't. They don't like, there are people out there who do not like pizza.

But think about that. Who doesn't like chocolate? Yeah. Hello, weirdies. Weirdos. Like my daughter. She does not really like chocolate. I know.

that's weird i don't even understand uh neither do i that's weird but like a lot of our kids are like oh we're having pizza again and i'm like you spoiled rotten children gosh i would have killed for i know going to macdonald's like pizza i'm like my gosh i know at your faith macdonald's when it was healthy uh back in the day when i was a kid like that was a huge treat we we did not and then we had we can only pick like two things Yeah, I know. Because you're not spoiled rotten and you were thankful for what you had. I was kissing the ground of that McDonald's floor.

Oh, my gosh. I was loving every minute of it. I was so happy. Do you remember like the playplaces they had outside? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I had their, I have all of the, they used to give glass glasses. Like I have, I still have.

Really? Oh, yes. Plates. They used to do real plates. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I have something. You can sell them for like a lot of money. Let's go check it out.

Oh, they are worth something. Yeah. I'm sure they are. The nostalgia? Right. People love that stuff. Yeah. But they, when they really gave like good things away with your happy meal.

Right. Exactly. That's a big deal. It was a big deal to go to McDonald's. I was. Do you remember this thing? Oh, yes. Oh, my gosh.

You just unlocked the memory. I remember one that we had like that. It was crazy. That was the way to do it back in the day. Only, if only. Oh, my gosh. Insurance companies didn't become a thing. Oh, my gosh.

It's a big deal. Like, it was so much fun. It really was. You would have your birthday party there. It was a whole thing. It was a whole thing. Those were special times. They were special times.

And so is Hope. When she does her name that tune, we, listen, some people, are loving this game and some people are really frustrated with us because we don't give them the answers but if you just look at the comments they're in the comments I know, golly, get over yourself. I know but we're setting

ourselves up for something extra special in the future. Are you rage-baiting them? Okay, that's what people think that maybe or that's what Hope thinks that we're doing but we're not purposely doing that. We just don't want to always share the answers. Well I'm not the one like I don't have control over that.

She has control over it. I have the answers. So, like, I can't, I can't do it. Like, I, whatever. Maybe we have to try one time giving the answers and then see if everybody's like, why are you giving us the answers? They will. They will. I can promise you.

It's so funny. And everybody who thought for sure, okay, so when we play this game, everybody thinks that they know the answers. And they're like, I can get it in like three notes. So we gave them three seconds, and only one person. Everybody always is like, you, you take too long, right? So I said, okay, so if you get all four of them right, I'll DM you. First of all, barely anybody has named the song and the artist,

but I said, okay, if you can get the names of them right, I will do it. Only one person so far. Right. And I'm like, you guys stink. Surprise, surprise. And they all think they're right. But they can't think they're right because I said if you get it right. So they know that they didn't, obviously.

Right. Because they didn't get it right because you didn't send them a message. Well, I should go back on there and say wrong, wrong to all of them. That's true. Or what you can do is like when they start saying like, I could have named that. You can be like, why do you go to my video that's pinned and try that one? And then we pin that one. And then they have to go play.

And we'll see if they end up commenting because how quickly they might back out of that. little game you know you're like oh if you're so good i got a pinned one that's a good idea i know listen i'm all about rage baiting people yeah but then they have to watch that one

video to know that that's why it's there what is that this is one of your videos i'm going to show people in case they haven't seen them yet okay okay hey hope yes gen x this is the rock version i hate rock I love it But I don't know it Okay

Well Let's try some You know this I know But I think you These ones I think you can get This is a classic So I have hope for you

In song number one Okay We're going right into it Okay Okay Okay I know people are going, I knew that in three notes, or whatever. Great, great for you.

God bless it. I'm not very good-hushing-day. Welcome to the jungle. Isn't that Guns and Roses? Isn't that Axel Rose? Hmm. I don't know. Okay, song number two.

Let's do it. Okay, you got it. You know who that is? Give it a second. Do you know, welcome to the jungle? I don't know. Oh, hope. I don't know what it is.

Okay, who was it? I'm going to tell you the artist. Okay. Talking heads. She never tells. I freaking told you, I don't know them. I really thought this one you would get. I don't know the talking heads.

Trying to set you up for success. Let's see. Well, you're talking heads is not setting me up for success. I don't know them. I really thought that one was like a good one, though. But again, I don't know them either. Song three. I know the same.

Try? Do you know this one? I don't know why it's speaking in Israeli. Oh, now I do. Gosh, great song. ACDC, you shook me all night long. I hope. This one, I'm not sure.

But let's try it anyways. Ready? You can turn it off. Like that, I love them. I mean, he had a wandering eye. Like, you didn't know if he was looking at you or whatever, but that is men at work down under. I think the name is it. That is such a great song.

Great band, too. So that's it. So if you haven't played along with us, hey, it's hope. Go find her. It's fun. It's fun. And then everybody in the comments loves it. And there's a few that don't.

And that's okay. So it is what it is. We'll live. And of course, we're all on TikTok, but even better, Pastor Tom and TLP clips. We're almost at 1,000 with the TLP, moving right along. We're one away. One away. So if you haven't followed him yet, go follow him.

Yeah, they, like, listen, when you find your people, you're their people. And I showed you, like, the TLP clips has been, we've been doing. trying to do those for about a year. And that shows you how fast he just started doing his preaching. But two months ago. Yeah. Yep. And he's already halfway to what that was from a year.

It's so hard. It is. It's all about the algorithm. Oh, he is. It stinks. And it just depends. Like we've had so many changes too with TikTok. But yeah.

So this is our worship team as well. They're killing it though. It's music. Yeah, that is moving and grooving. So we started that after Pastor Tom. So there's less people that are upset about our music. Yeah, music is always easy. Music is easy, especially when you sound great.

So that helps. Yes. And then I think that's it. Yeah, that's it. We've got just some of our these things. And then. Hi, dog. Yeah, coming to you.

Beauty. So November, I purposed for November to not really be about questions, but more so about just like understanding thankfulness. Because I think a lot of times we just walk through life and we're just so like in the doldrums that we forget to be thankful. I was watching today on TikTok today. There was this girl, this woman, who, I mean, I just don't think people think about this. I mean, I do.

I'm not patting myself on the back, But I come from being a person who not was, didn't feel entitled, but just lived life and walked away from God. Before I walked away from God, I probably wasn't the most thankful person. I just lived life and just was, you know, like probably like most people. But then I walked away from God and then came back. And, man, I became very grateful, very thankful at about 20, years of age and that was a radical change for me and I've never been the same since but um I was

watching this lady on TikTok who um she was going to work the day before and on her way to work she saw this like 10 or 11 year old walking to school in like spaghetti strap um shirt and then like jeans and the little girl was walking like this to school because she was school to the school bus because she was freezing and um so the woman was late and so she couldn't she couldn't go and help the little girl because she was late so late for work and she didn't have a coat so she didn't have anything to help the child with so she said to herself tomorrow I'm going to go, I'm going to go at the same time, and I'm going to find this little girl and see if she's still not wearing a coat.

So what she had is two coats in her closet, both had, still had the tags on them. They were new. And she's like, I'm just going to give, if the little girl doesn't have a coat because her family can't afford one, then I'm giving her one if she wants one of my coats. If she's just doing that because she just doesn't want to wear a coat, but she's like, she's bundled like this. So she obviously, so she finds the little girl, same time, finds the little girl on the way to, to the school bus.

She stops, she's like, tries to make the little girl know. She's not a creeper, you know, stranger, what is it, stranger danger? So the little girl ends up taking the jackets. She tells her no three times, but she ends up taking the jacket. It's super grateful because they can't afford one. Right after the woman says that the little girl took it, she goes, you know what, I'm going to stop right now. She stops and she begins to thank the Lord.

I'm not kidding you. She stopped you. She began to pray and thank the Lord for the opportunity that he gave her to be there to see that little girl without a jacket and that she was able to provide one, that she had the means to provide one and two. The little girl took both of them. Yeah.

Like, who does that? And I'm thinking, this is so crazy because I'm talking about this right now. And most people, they would have, you know, probably looked at the little girl and said, I feel bad for her. Never would have thought about the two jackets they had or the jackets they have in their own home that they should be grateful that they have so they can give to somebody. Never even dawns on them, right? Let alone to take the time, because she made herself late again for work,

take the time to be late for work to help somebody else out. And then on top of that, to even have the thought process to thank the Lord for giving them the opportunity to be a blessing and to bless. Absolutely. I literally was pulling into the, I listened to TikTok on my way here because I don't want to waste my time any other time. I'd so waste to listen to TikTok. But I'm like, I cannot believe that I'm listening to this woman do this, especially since. since we're talking about being thankful. Yeah, that's good.

I mean, I just think we just live life and it's so busy and it's so full that we forget about the truly important things. Right. Yeah, absolutely. 100%. I don't know. It kind of, it's very, very sad to me. Like, I didn't drop, almost drop something yesterday, like and it was something important to me and I oh even I'll even make it smaller last yesterday I was

cleaning my eggs from the that I get from my my chickens and I dropped one and I just knew it was going to crack while I was cleaning it I dropped it and it didn't break it all and I literally started thanking the Lord it's sincerely I was like thank you Lord that that egg and people will think you're nuts for that. But if you're grateful in the little things, the doors that will open for you are amazing because he knows that you'll appreciate. I don't know how to explain it, but go ahead. You guys can say whatever you want to say.

And the crazy thing is there is opportunity all around us. If we just open our eyes and look around and aren't so distracted about our own lives and our own little circle, like if you look around, like you can include. just go to Walmart. Yeah. True. You can find someone. Somebody needs prayer.

And to be able to see a need and meet it immediately, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Love that. Yeah. Absolutely. Jerry used to, when we started our business, he literally did everything, like everything. Like, he answered the phone. He paid the bills.

He did the job. He had to clean up the job. He had to get home. He had to go, the phone rang. He had to go right back out. Like you do every single thing. And I had Allison. She was just a baby.

So, like, try to answer phones or do paper. Like, it just, like, he was more efficient, right? So he, and he already knew what to do and all that kind of stuff. So I wasn't able really help a whole lot, but just encourage him. But he, every day on his call log, he would write at the top, thank you, Jesus, as a reminder that every call that came was from him. Then it starts to get to a place where you're exhausted. And so the phone will ring, and you know what that means. You're leaving again.

And so he would get so frustrated. And then he, like, had to literally stop himself and be like, what am I, I'm frustrated for the exact thing I prayed for, which was for phone calls. And it started to like really hurt his mental state because he was like, oh, the phone's ringing again. And I was like, remember? And so eventually he had to get to a place where every time the phone rang, he had to be like, thank you Jesus for this phone and phone call. And because if the phone doesn't ring, we're not making money. And if we're not making money, then guess what? You're going back to work for somebody else. And so it is true. You have an opportunity in every situation to be

thankful for anything. And if it's not your like natural thing to do, like today, be like, God, make me aware of something to be thankful for. Make me aware of something that I can serve somebody else like today. Like I'm going to be totally blank of myself today. I'm going to go out into public and I'm just going to walk around and you show me the opportunity. And that's like, that's just a way to start training yourself. And then eventually it becomes natural and you do. You almost break an egg and you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't break. Thank God. You know? And like, that's, for me like one egg is and I do I have money to go buy eggs yeah I do but one egg is like a meal yeah it's yeah it's your egg yeah so I don't like I again be a good steward which is what we're

going to talk about but for me like being a good steward I if I broke the egg and I did by accident like who cares I mean it's not that big of a deal but in all actuality if you understand things, then you will be grateful for them. Yeah, yeah, you can go and buy one. But being a good steward is like being grateful that it didn't break because that is a meal. Right. I think we, again, I just think we just are so bottomless with not understanding, I think, first of all, not understanding the value of money, but not understanding the things that are given and done on a daily basis just from the Lord, let alone our friends and family and loved ones that do the small things up to the big things. I mean, yes, if somebody gave you a car,

you would absolutely be grateful. Okay, I've been given a car. Well, Tom has. but I've been given a car and it's like insanely like it blows your mind it's insane that somebody would consider doing something so sweet and kind for you like because people don't have to do that. But, I mean, I've gotten birthday presents that were homemade from people. So, or Christmas, please don't do that. But I've been giving Christmas presents that were homemade from people. And they were just the amount of time and effort that somebody put in to do something like that for you. Like, it's small to great. I mean, there's, I just think we're just so we just don't understand things anymore and we're always we're always ready for the next

thing that it's it's it's not good so I'm going to talk about this the stewardship um is a huge thing and as far as um with being thankful for and stewardship just doesn't come with um stewardship isn't just your income your pay stewardship is what is given and what what you have a lot of times people don't value what they've been what they own like um they let their kids uh draw on their walls with no punishment or without any consideration that that's that like your house is worth a lot of money right and it's probably the biggest investment you will ever have you might be a good steward of that you might want to be because it's an investment but a lot of times people treat their homes they're filthy they're dirty um they don't take good care of them

um they don't teach their children to take good care of them uh take care of it they they buy their kids toys and they destroy them as soon as they get them um because they're you're not training your child up to be grateful and to be thankful and to take care of what's been given to them because their thought process is mom and dad will just buy me a new one yeah that's dangerous thought process it's a dangerous thought process um and i see it we see it all the time like if even your cars do you treat your car nicely like my son is learning the value of a vehicle because he is a sticky icky mess not anymore he is like transforming himself in the last year and I think it's the frontal lobe that's fully developed but it happens it'll do it and it does help that tell you helps him clean it

but but even still the other day I saw him and I'm like what are you doing he's like I'm cleaning my car I'm like yes what the heck you know so um knowing the value of things yeah is super important I mean for me i i always say you don't get something until you appreciate what you have yeah i'm not getting you another until you appreciate what you have and um i mean i've literally had my house i we used to have people come to our house every week and Vanessa i think remembers that time but every week we'd have people come back to our house and hang out and stuff like that their kids literally would go in and destroy my kids rooms they would ride all over everything they would break things wouldn't tell anybody that it

was broken and then walk out and leave it a mess for my kids and myself to clean up like how do you do that because you're not grateful you're not a thankful person you're an entitled person you think only within the realm in which the bubble you live in it's very dangerous i mean Vanessa probably knows because Vanessa has her house opened to lots and lots of people. Yeah. It's dangerous. It is. And you wonder how do these people live?

What kind of squalor do they live in? Yeah. Or how much money do they spend replacing things for their kids or themselves because they don't value what they have? Thankfully, I keep all the kids outside. Oh, my gosh. Has that always been the case? When we meet.

Yeah, I think we've always from the beginning, yeah. Like run off that energy. So thankfully, I haven't seen any, like, destruction. But, you know, you're absolutely right. And when we think that when we get to a place where when we understand that everything that we have belongs to God, we just manage it, it helps you to, like, take care of things differently. Like, that car, the Lord gave us me, belongs to the Lord. So if Jesus came and sat in my vehicle, would he like what he saw? Yikes.

Yep. Today, yes, because it is cleaned. I cleaned it out. Good girl. Last week, not so much. You know what, though? I will tell you this. It's so funny because people do look at how you take care of things as far as it precedes your reputation.

Okay. What do you mean by that is, I remember going to see Pastor Rodney. He invited us to go somewhere, and he walked us out to our car. And the first thing he did is look inside our car to see how well taking care of it was. It's like my biggest nightmare. And he liked what he saw because Tom and I both keep our vehicles clean. He who is faithful with little will be faithful with much. Yeah.

Like understand that. and I knew like when he was looking because how he looked was an inspection right I knew I'm like he's inspecting he's looking at if we if we how we take care of things yeah it matters because he's investing in us how much am I going to invest in people who don't invest in the things that they own and take good care of them it matters people it really does yeah and you should care about what your home looks like not for pride but because of being a steward and there is a difference you should care about those things because it is who you are people don't think that it is though yeah and i have walked into filthy i have walked into homes i'll use this one one home they couldn't pay their electric bill the wife did not work and the house was so filthy but yet the air condition was set at like 65 degrees not lying 65 degrees and they couldn't pay the bill and the house was filthy and she was more than capable of being able to either work to help pay the electric bill or clean the house that's how people

live though don't let that be you god will not entrust you with much and they still live in that same way yeah it's not good john 611 says then jesus took the loaves gave thanks to God and distributed them to the people and afterward he did the same with the fish and they all ate as much as they wanted so a lot of people don't understand this they think that how so before jesus broke the bread he gave thanks he thanked he thanked the lord for the bread so i think that's one of the reasons why people bless their food right because jesus prayed before the Passover meal and things like that. And that's pretty much the only prayer that they pray for the rest of the time.

I don't, you know, what I don't think people realized is that the food multiplied in the disciples' hands, not them keep coming back to Jesus and getting more food. The food multiplied in their hands. So if you gave thanks, how much would multiply in your hands for being thankful and then being a good steward of what you have? What would that look like?

I can tell you what it looks like for me and it's so funny because there are times in life where I'll go and I'll be like, okay Lord, I don't know how you're going to do this. We talked about this last month before we did thankfulness. there are times in life where the needs are met but the wants are like they're going to have to wait we want that but we'll wait on that because we have needs that have to be taken care of

but you know I never worry I never fret I never stay up at night I don't work myself up I don't pace I know that I pay my tithe and because I'm a tither that need will be met And then you go, then he get you out of that place and then you're into the want. But it's in the need where you're not buying the want that your faith increases and you see the hand of God move. And then you see the multiplication happen because the whole entire time, I spend my time in prayer and in Thanksgiving because I know the need is met. What are we doing in those seasons people? what are we doing um and this could be your finances this could be your health this could be um your your your kids education because a lot of times people are their kids are struggling and

they're they're not doing well what are you what are you doing in those moments and i don't know um but in this case things multiply in your your hands based on the Thanksgiving that you you provide. Do you want to say something? No. That's good that like flip the script. So if you're not seeing multiplication come in your hand, are you being thankful? It's like kind of a good way to like take inventory of your life. Like if you're not seeing a lot of things progress in your life, like check your level of thankfulness. Yeah. Are you a thankful person? Are you taking care of the things that you have in your hand? Is there anywhere? Like it's so good to self reflect. I know you do that all the time. And so if you're looking at like start with your marriage, what does that look like? Start

as a parent. What does that look like into homeschool or school? Like I think that's such a great thing to kind of like, if you're not seeing good fruit, go back to the beginning. Oh yeah. And how thankful are you in those things? You know, the thing is, is for me, like even if you look at marriage and stuff like that, like if you focused on the things that you were thankful for about your spouse, like you can never focus on the negatives yeah you would have very little time to focus on the negatives you fell in love with this person for some reason yeah true yeah go back to those and then build on that yeah Jeff says it all the time whenever I'm annoying him which happens you know it does happen it happens for everybody he'll start he'll start listing all the things

he's thankful for about me and all the things that he's grateful for about me and then all of a sudden I'm not as annoying anymore well that's the same thing with Tom that's what Tom says when he wants to get irritated yeah about something yeah he'll automatically go to all the things that I do right yeah or that I've forgiven him for and he's like well I got a lot more than I got a lot more to be forgiven. So you know what? I'm wiping the slate clean. Yeah, that's good.

It's way better to live like that. Yeah. Way better to live like that. There's harmony. There's happiness. Right. There's joy. There's contentment.

And there's peace. Oh my gosh. Heck yeah. Yeah. So much peace when you live in the realm of being thankful. Yes. Versus always looking at what you don't have. Yeah.

Like that hand will always be. be empty. Yep. And being critical. Like it's just, it goes hand in hand. It's very hard to be thankful and being critical at the same time. It's impossible. Yeah, which is part of my next thingy, because that's one of the things. It's so true, though. That's one of the things I was going to bring up. If you're a critical, you can't be thankful. I don't know how it exists. It's literally impossible. Yeah, because they don't go hand in hand. A critical spirit is never a thankful heart it's never they don't they don't they don't coexist it's so true colostians 315 through 17 says and let the peace that comes from christ rule in your hearts

for as members of one body you are called to live in peace and always be thankful which is exactly what you were saying Tracy you said you'll live in peace thankfulness creates that peacefulness. Right. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Well, look, if Jeff's example, like, if he's frustrated with Vanessa for whatever reason and he starts thinking of all the things he's thankful for and it flips in his mind, well, clearly he can't be critical because he was. He was being critical of something she did. He didn't like it for whatever reason, right or wrong. He was being critical of her. Yeah. And all of a sudden he goes to thankfulness and then all of a sudden disappears. It's poof. It's gone. Gone. Which is huge. If you've never done that before. Yeah. Today is like a super. It's like a super

Oh, I just heard a good TikTok about that. Really? Yes. It's like a superpower. Yes. How like God literally gave like back in like, well, in any time in the Bible there is like all these superpowers. You think of like Samson. Like he like he, that was a superpower.

Yeah. What he did is a superpower. And then it talked about like even like transportation or translation, trans. Oh. Portation. Transportation. Trans. Yeah.

No, not transportation. Trans when you get translated. Translated. Translated. So she was giving different examples in the Bible of like teleporting of like superpowers. Yeah, that happened. Teleporting happened in the Bible. Oh yeah.

He was here and then he wasn't. Jesus. And then there was Joseph. Not Joseph. No, it wasn't Joseph. Was it Elijah? No. It was Philip.

Philip. It was Philip. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So she was just saying like these are superpowers. And then having the Holy Spirit like being able to communicate. It was Elijah who ran really fast. And then that was that.

And then he beat the chariot. he was flash but like how did he do that yeah super superpower thankfulness is a superpower it is it is it is because it defeats it punches the enemy in the face yeah and then who wants to live in a critical home like who wants to live in that right listen it's rough i've lived in a critical home right and it's rough right it's not right it's not and so you're like having to like like step on eggshells and it's like even if you breathe the wrong way it's like yeah a fight well in our house if you eat the wrong way. That's true.

Or throw up too loud. Or sneeze too loud. Or chew gum too loud. Oh man. That's just a tism. Oh, Jared's like, Pastor Tom would have to like unfriend me on all accounts. I know so many people that are like that. Jare sneeze is so loud.

I sneeze so loud. And he's like, I can't help it. I'm so loud. Yeah, you chew gum so loud. That's a problem. I sneeze very loud. In fact, he threatened that he had. had known he would never have married.

I had known. Like, get over it. Oh, my gosh. That's so funny. It's ridiculous. Get over it. Ridiculous. But yeah,

you live in a critical home and then you live in a home with like total peace or you live by yourself and it's peaceful because you're with yourself. And like you want to want to go back to that critical.

So if you don't like it, then guess what happens when you're being critical? Nobody else likes it. No. No. It's simple. It's very not cool.

It's not. It's rough. It is rough. I don't, listen, my friend group is not, they're not critical people. They're just not. And we're problem solvers and we deal with hard things and we own businesses and we own, like run churches, but we're not critical by nature. We just, or by default, I should say. Like our default's not to be critical. It's to be like, okay, this is a problem. How do we overcome it? Which is, which is like, that is a superpower to be a problem solver. People. Holy mackerel. It is a super. It is. Oh my gosh.

Please. I know. Like if the, you know how you make your boss love you or people around you like admire and be grateful that they have you is when you see a problem. Yep. Come with a solution. I don't know. Yeah.

That's a thought. That is what I say all the time. Yeah. I'm like, I don't want to hear a problem. Yeah. You want to. Do what you just said. Yep.

I say that while you say it to my girls all the time because they would fight because they were little and there's three girls, I was like, that's the problem. What's the solution? Every time. So that's what I do in my business now. I'm like, okay, so that's the problem. So sometimes like my girls will come to me in the office and like, listen, I try to think of a solution and I could not think of one, but this is the problem. And I'm like, that's fine because not every time they're going to know the, but they tried, you know. Right.

That's all I eat. Well, a lot of times, well, not a lot of times. Sometimes people don't know what you know. So they can't solve it. Exactly. But sometimes monumental effort on your part to try and solve a problem and then tell your boss, okay, this is what happened, but this is how I figured out how to solve it. And it took a lot of digging, it took a lot of effort just so you know.

It didn't just pop in my head. I had to work really hard. There's nothing wrong with making sure that your supervisor understands the length that you were willing to go to help them. and solving an issue and not bringing them the problem and having them resolve it. I'm just saying like people are so me, me, me, me, me.

Like, there's a lot of things in life when you get outside of yourself. If you get outside of yourself, success is coming your way. Oh, yes. Yes. It really is. It is.

Yep. But a lot of times that's not what it's about. Jeff tells our kids a lot. Like, imagine if you knew what the solution was what would that look like and it's like that Jedi like mind trick yeah like like use like dig deep yeah yeah yeah yeah and don't just say I don't know I don't know well yeah yeah you don't know but like think for a second like use that bring that you have in there yeah if you like I've always worked for myself I've always been pretty much a private contractor

so there was nobody to go to but myself okay but when I did Work for, huh? And now we have chat, GBC, to bounce off. Now we work for chat. That's a good place to be, though, because if you have nobody to go to, you got to figure it out. You got to figure it out. Literally, it's like sink or swim. Sink or swim.

Yeah, which will cost you money. Very much. So imagine if it costs you money, you'll figure it out. True. But because a lot of times it's like people who like rent a house. It's not my house, so I don't care. You rent furniture or you rent somebody else's furniture, like rent a whatever is that, the rent a center or something like that.

I knew somebody who owned or didn't own was a manager of rent a center. I don't understand how that works. I'm not quite sure myself, but you lease the furniture and then after a period of time you can either buy it or whatever because you don't have the money to go out and usually you don't have a good credit or something. I think that's the reason why you have to do it. but the way people treat people's belongings that don't belong to them, they're like, it's not mine.

So if something spills on it or whatever, it's not mine. But if it was yours, think about this. You have to act. Like, that's how you increase. You increase by taking ownership, by behaving, like, it does affect you. Look beyond your. and watch doors open for you

because that's the next thing. The next topic is thankfulness opens the door for promotion. It does. True. It does. 100%. And if your boss knows

that you are grateful and are appreciative for the job that you have, imagine that. Yeah. Longevity. Imagine that. Longgevity.

because usually thankful people have longevity. Yeah. Yeah, because they don't think that, oh, well, I could do it better if I was in charge. It's always like this yucky attitude, and they never last. They never, ever last. No, and you think you would do it better, but that's because you have minimal knowledge of what it takes. What actually is going on behind the scenes. Right, yeah.

And if you did, you'd be doing it. go go start a business have at it have at it but even still like there were times there has been times uh even with the church when different things have happened and people have come to us and they like i want can you explain this situation because it won't even be something that we really don't do this anymore to be perfectly honest with you so we stopped doing this probably 10 years ago But we would have people who thought they knew what was going on and they thought that they knew how to resolve the problem or deal with the issue or that we did it wrong. We handled the whole entire situation wrong. And then when they found out all of the details on it, because we normally never share anything, they found out all the details on it.

They were like, well, that's way different than what I thought it was like. uh-huh that's right because your perspective is only one side right if any side you're an outsider looking in on a situation where sometimes it's two parties sometimes it's not two parties sometimes it's a business situation that you're having to make and deal with um and you only know the one half of the business decision and why it had to be made yeah so you don't know but you sure have a big opinion on it yeah and you have a really bad attitude about it but it's amazing or you have a critical heart or a critical mind about it and it's so I can't not tell you how many times I heard that is not what I thought it was and I thought

you guys were wrong and you guys were doing that not correctly so that's good for me to know I'm like you should not even need to know yeah I know I know because like especially since some of them were business owners I'm like you should not need to know you of all people should know that not everything looks like what your perspective is on it. There's usually multiple things that you're not aware of. Right. Yeah.

And people don't need to be because sometimes it involves other people and it's gossipy or it makes you critical of those other people. Right. Like protecting other people's integrity and character is vitally important. Yeah. Vitally important.

And today's world, it's not. We step over people to get to places, let alone guarding and protecting people's character and integrity. It's true. Yeah, it's true. It's very dangerous. In a business, like, I know what happens even when my dad and stuff is like the workers see all this money coming in, but they have no idea how it takes to run a business. No idea. And so there's this level of like, why I should be getting more.

But if they knew what was going on behind the scenes during a slow season or during, you know, just a time, time where there's transitioning and stuff like if they knew what they we know they would be on our side but then how much information do you give somebody that doesn't need to know this stuff exactly what you're saying right so they just have to trust you and if they can't then they got to go and that's the biggest thing if you're choosing to be under leadership you do have to have a level of trust and number one you trust god that he'll highlight things that need to be highlighted when they need to be highlighted but like if you're choosing to sit under leadership trust them yeah trust them unless they've given you any reason not to, you should.

Right. Because sometimes they're listening to the Holy Spirit. For example, when we first got that one, our first place we ever moved out of the school into was like it was a gym. It was, we converted this gym, workout gym, into a church. Literally, the payment on that monthly was $10,228 and I think $0.54. No way. It was. That's crazy. With 40 people, $10,228.54. I'm almost positive it's 54 cents or 34 cents or something like that. But it was $10,228. At the time, the market was insane. You couldn't get anything that had enough parking because you can't have a certain number of people without a certain number of parking spaces. It's very difficult to find a place for a church. And the school we were in, they didn't have the air condition.

on this I mean it was it was just becoming almost impossible to stay there but they didn't really want us there yeah the county wants you there so they can have the money right but the school doesn't make really any money off of it they do but it's minimal okay like so it's not really that great for them so we moved out because we felt like the holy spirit was saying this is a step of faith you are to go and you're to do it so we did and it was a huge step of faith and for 40 people to pay that kind of bill, you would be sitting there going, how in the world? Because we were saying how in the world, but we were like, okay, we're going to be obedient. This does not look good.

But Lord, you've opened the door and we're going to walk through it. And it wasn't just opening the door because not every door that's open means you should walk through it. No, this door was open with the Lord saying, I've opened the door. Now you're walking through it. And we never missed. We never missed a payment. Good for it. We were in there for a year and a half. The market took a change. And in the year we paid that. And then we went to the place was sold. The new seller or the new owner of it, we went to them and said, we're going to move. We're going to find somewhere else cheaper because the market's changed and there's things out there. And he was like, no, I'm going to drop your rent. he dropped our rent and we went month to month and then we found something else and in that

first year did I cry yes I did cry because I was like oh my gosh Lord I know you told us to to do this I cried probably two or three times I know you told us to move in here but this makes no sense whatsoever every month the money was there every month money was there I know and it makes no sense so to people who knew what that rent was people were like that was not a smart move okay but that's not their business that's god's business and god was teaching tom and i so that when we moved into this building true right like us and this mortgage we're like that's nothing that's a piece of cake like we look at like things and now we're like because we have gone through in the 21 years we've looked we've gone through so many faith walks

and trusted and did not do what the world does or did not do the church like a business because most churches are run like a business and we have never run this church like a business we have run it through the holy spirit and a lot of times not a lot of times sometimes things don't make sense but they don't need to make sense to the human mind they need to make sense only in the spiritual realm so that's when you walk in peace that's when you walk in integrity and that's when God shows up. Yep. And being thankful, even sometimes when it doesn't make sense.

That's huge. Huge. I will say this. I'm going to finish the scripture and then we're going to do our stuff. He says, let the message about Christ and all its richness fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. That is a very important sentence. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives, not your wisdom.

His wisdom. Amen. Sing psalms and hymns in spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it with a representative of the Lord Jesus

giving thanks through him to God, the Father. So whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord. How many of us represent ourselves, not represent Christ?

True. That's easy. That is scary. Yep. But we are, representatives of him. And in everything that we say and do, it should be a representative of the Lord and it should be in giving thanks. And when you do, you'll walk in peace. And I love this. I found this. It says gratitude transforms not enough into more than enough. And it is true. I believe that

with all in my heart. So if you're not grateful, you'll lose. You'll lose and risk. being thankful. Psalm 104 says, enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise, give thanks to him, and praise his name. And that was written by a man who is running for his life. Running for his life. So if the Lord has done one thing for you, which he has, it's salvation he has given everything up for you he gave up his life and then god gave up his son and then the holy spirit gave up heaven to dwell with us okay you have more than one thing but if that's the only thing that you have today to be grateful for then that's more than enough so walk in thankfulness and gratefulness yeah because nothing else will do it just won't it just won't

Thanksgiving is great. I'm all for being grateful that a group of individuals wanted spiritual freedom and we're willing to risk their lives to move to another country so that they could have spiritual freedom. Okay, that I am forever grateful for. But that's one month out of the year. Okay, we have, being. thankful is so much more than that and oftentimes we talk about being thankful only in

November at Thanksgiving again I'm doing it right now but there's a bigger purpose and there's a bigger thing in December people are going to be happy because the air is there's a spirit of Christmas and the air there's this okay what are you going to do in January and February and the holidays are over right you got to be grateful you got to be thankful because life is coming back. Holidays are going to be over. You're going to have to lose weight from all of the holiday weight. But you've got to be thankful and everything.

And it's a perspective and it's a decision. And what are you going to do with it? So before I do my last thing, what do you guys want to add? No, decision. Exactly. It's a decision. It's a decision today. Today you start.

Don't wait until tomorrow. Today find something to be thankful for. and find some way to look for somebody else that you can serve. It's just taking the attention off yourself and just remaining thankful. And if you're mad at somebody, start thinking of all the things you're thankful for about them. And I challenge you to end each day and list all the things that you're thankful for. And possibly when you open your eyes, you know, do it again. Just live a lifestyle of thankfulness and just set the tone for the day.

set the tone for the week and watch things unfold, watch doors open because that is just the kingdom of God. Yeah, because he will. He will, you know, if you're looking for it, you will find it. Yes. You will find more than enough reasons for Thanksgiving. When you're thankful, the posture of your heart is very posthory. I'm gagging.

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Enjoy a night with your babies. Yeah, you can't identify as a woman, sorry. Or you can and be the mother instead of the father for the night. Well, if you don't have children and you just want to show up. Yeah, you can't, you can't do that. That's not going to happen. I'm not going to let you in the door. You have to wait until Sunday.

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