The Hope Hotline - When Faith Defies Fear

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

The Hope Hotline | S04-E01 | 1-14-2026Send questions to: [e-mail]: https://www.foundationmerch.net/Subscribe to my podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/thehopehotline/FOLLOW ME:Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/thhWebsite: https://hopehotline.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.hope.hotline/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088757500434

Real talk. Hello and welcome to the Hope Hotline. Thank you for joining us today. What's up? We're all on right now. I just moved it up, but it switched with it. I thought you did it on purpose. No.

I was going to give me your moment to shine. No, don't give me. I don't need a moment. I'm totally good. I know. I know. Which I would have said to put you guys stuff on. I had a, my weekend was slam pack full.

How about you guys? What day is it? Uh-huh. I don't even know. Uh, yeah. Yes, it's Wednesday. Um, I don't know. What happened today? My phone went out. I'm still on my phone. We have no phones, people. And if you're wondering why you have no phone, if you're a Verizon user, it's because SOS. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're all down. We're all down. Not me. I'm team mobile. I'm ex-finity. Get out of here. Oh my gosh. Well, you can't get rid of, you can't get a hold of any of us. So that pretty much puts you at a stalemate. Right. Because like everybody you know and love is Verizon. Yeah. have that. I.

Yeah, you can't get a hold of the people you love. Yeah, that's all matters. Go with that. That does make sense now. Yeah, that does make sense. That's rough, man. I'm going to tell, I literally went to go and listen to stuff. I wanted, because I usually am working while I'm in my car, so I'm listening to

something or do, and I'm forced to listen to nothing because I don't like Joy FM. Oh, me either. I know. I can't do that on the way here. And I was like, I just literally went, boop. Nope. I don't listen to secular music. So I'm like, all right, it's just me and you, God.

That's what I said. Just me and you. Which is so bad. But when you got stuff you want to get done, it don't work out real well. True. Yeah. Jojo, my son, had his four wisdom teeth removed on Monday. So my, like, I don't even know what day it is.

I know. Did he do good with it? Um, we're still in process. Mm-hmm. Was he in a lot of pain? Because I can tell you this, Norma thought she's going to die. Your wisdom teeth. Did you get all four of them?

Yes. I did too. All of them. Yeah, and hers was no pain medication because her body can't do pain medication. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. Um. Taya was there.

Taya, Taya. I tried to nurse her. But she, But Talia came in and removed me. We would have to like, I would have to like, Norma wouldn't listen unless both of us said it was true. So I had to like be like, no, Norma, like, you do have to eat before you take your medication. Me and Chad Drew B.T right now, best friends. Oh my gosh.

Chad gives me a schedule every day of when to give him his pain meds. Yes. What he's allowed to eat. Love it. Hour by hour. It's fabulous. I love it. Are you kidding me?

Thank God for chat. Oh, and... And... ChatDBT tells me I'm a great mom. There you go. But I'm on top of it. Reaffirms you? That's how they get you.

Flattery. That's how they get you. No, but I feel like I have a new, like a newborn because it's like 20 minutes on with ice, 20 minutes off. Oh, yeah, it is. So I've got, you know, my alarms going off, especially the first 24 hours. like I, I feel like I have a newborn. Yes, constant. Yeah, but we're, I feel like we've, we've turned a corner.

The, the worst is behind us. So, yeah. Yeah. We're, that's a problem. Some people, like, Norma can't do. Norma, uh, Novakane, nothing. They've shot her up. Is it just her body?

It's her body. But Natalie said redheads are the same way. What? I bet you have a fast metabolism. you metabolize it very quickly. So there is redheads in my family. So I don't know if she has got enough Auburn in her. I don't know,

but redheads have the same exact problem. So crazy. Yeah, they can't. So like, even the dentist has shot her up. He's like, I can't give you anymore. Can you feel it? She's like, I feel everything. My gosh.

And he's like, oh, my gosh. Some people just, so literally, when she had her, even when we went back to the dentist, the surgeon was like, oh my gosh, because they had to like getting that, those, sometimes people's wisdom teeth are really tough to get out. Are impacted. Well, Talia's, she still has part, like, tell you, you still have part of one in there, right? I had five wisdom teeth.

Thank you much. Overachiever. Probably needed them. So one of them still up there. Like everybody, it's like a freakish. thing everybody's got you know but she recovered super fast yeah because mine weren't too impacted they had to dig norm is out i mean i was good by like i feel like the third day oh you were great she was doing great she lived at my house yeah it was just like tight jaw like i just felt like

it was really tight that was the only thing i didn't have any pain she did fantastic no she didn't i know i wish that was our now is jojo having lots of pain he's very uncomfortable yeah some people It's like some people it's just, it's so weird how. Yeah. And it's their open. Tommy was great. He recovered fast. I think it's also how much you can open your mouth.

Yeah. And what direction they're coming, like sometimes. Oh, that's true. Come in this way. It all depends on how they're coming in as well. And she said, the dentist said there was a lot of bone that she had to like. That makes sense. They probably had a really like maneuver.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's probably why he isn't a lot of pain. Yeah. Everybody's so different. I know. Like, it's wild. And I have all four of mine and they cause zero issues for me.

My dance is like, you can keep them. Yeah. Tom. And I'm like, and I will keep them. Yeah, Tom has all his too. Thank you. She's like, oh, you can get, you know, we can take them out. And I'm like, no.

Thank you. I will keep all my wisdoms. I'm so smart. Yeah. But, yeah. So that's my, yeah. So. That's wild.

Well, that's a very busy few days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that's rough. You just get into a zone, right? Even when like you're a new mom, you just kind of get into a zone. You just do what needs to be done.

But I don't really like no sleeping. So that doesn't really work for me real well. True. Me either. I don't like that. That's why I prayed my kids slept almost immediately through the night and they did. And mine did not. Thank you Jesus.

My children did not. And I did pray. I was like, please Lord. Oh my gosh. That's rough. I ain't gonna lie. But you had twins too. And I had a single and she was worse. She didn't, oh.

She was bad. She was a bad girl. That's rough, man. It was rough. It was really rough. And now she's like the easiest kid in her. I know, exactly. So whatever.

Oh my gosh. You win some, you lose some. I like my sleep. I'll take them being bad later. Even though they weren't. But if I had to choose sleep over later on in life, having to deal with a few difficult. I'll deal with the difficulties.

I can pound some sense into them versus. That's true. Because you can't do the sleep. Like, oh my gosh. I've always been a sleeper. I know. Me too. Ain't going to work.

All right. So let's, okay, I'm going to let you do your thing really quick. Then I'm going to do the sponsors. And then let's get into it because I'm excited about the topic today. Okay. Well, let's start with this. I was updating our. Ooh.

Cutesy. I love the color. New colors. We've got a new season. So we've got some new colors and some fun. But yeah, so I have our old TikToks up still. So I'm going to just import those because I was trying to update them real quick. It's just, it's been a little silly this morning. But I'll just remind you guys where you can go.

But we'll update those a little bit. So anyways, if you are on Facebook, what I would love for you to do is to like sharing comments. So we can try to beat that silly algorithm that we are always fighting against. and that'll push us out there to all of your friends and you never know what they'll receive from this. So it's a new year. People are hungry for stuff. And so if you haven't done it, try it, see what happens.

If you're on YouTube, you can do the same thing. You can pretty much like, subscribe, and you can comment on there as well. But we are over in Rumble in the live chat. We've got a bunch of people over here today. Some of them have phones and some of them do not. So this is the time where everybody brags about how awesome their cellular plan is. So, yes, Verizon, you failed us again.

Hurricane failed us and now regular life failing us. So unfortunate. But you know what? I have faith in them. And if you know what, honestly, hope when I was driving here, I was like, do I really care if nobody can get me? I don't care about that part. Oh, okay. What do you care about?

Well, I was trying to get some work done as far as I was trying to listen to a few things in order to have a conversation with some people so that I can say this is what, this is what I think, this is what I hear, this is what, you know, what I want. Yeah, I got that. And I couldn't do that. I get that. Yeah. So I didn't want to talk to people.

So my brain was thinking, though, like if nobody can reach me. I mean, I was just going to work. This is like Amish life, you know. Oh, yeah. Listen, I have no problem talking. to nobody. I'm telling you. It was weird at first, but then I was like, wait, I might be able embrace this for a second.

Silence is a virtue. Silence is a virtue for sure and a good one. Oh, yeah. All right. So yeah, so we're on rumble. So come on over, hang out. If you're watching, you can just drop where you're watching from, your state or country, if you're not from the United States. We'd love to know. And then later on

you can listen to this on the audio podcast. So that's everywhere. Spotify, Apple Play, anywhere that you would watch or listen to a podcast. You can now listen to us. And we love having you guys over there. And it's easy to share too. You can always share it to your friends if you just want to listen. Some of these are probably fine to listen to, but sometimes we do show things on here. So, you know, we always, we're always available on Rumble, YouTube, and Facebook. So next, I don't have the specific slide with the date, because

that one still says December, but she is going to be on here next Friday. So we have kind of confirmed our date with Natalie. So it will be the 23rd on a Friday. So you guys have the rest of this week and next week to send it any questions that you have. I just saw something very interesting. So I sent that to her last night. Really? And yes. I'm like, what? This is insane. And so it has to do with big pharma and food. And it's something I've never heard of before ever. Is it for real? affects, that's what she's going to let us know. Oh, that's why I sent it to her. She's the professional. But it affects every single person. So, stay tuned. Actually, almost life would fix it. So stay tuned. So anyways, if you have anything that you've been seen and you're wondering,

for example, that is that, is this true? Is there truth to it? You know, whatever. It would affect my life. It would affect everything that, you know, how I eat. I mean, when you're a believer, obviously that you don't have to worry about these things. But I mean, we have a lot of people in our life that are not believers and don't have favor on their life. So it is, it's good to know these things. And yeah, so that one's crazy. So she'll be here next Friday and she'll be answering that one and many more. But if you guys send in anything, that would be great. It's the same Ask Hope at Hope hotline.com or here or Facebook or Instagram, wherever you can DM us. That would be great. that's there's no problem there um okay we're on tic talk and we have over a thousand i was just updating

that one we have over a thousand on there and people are loving it no problem with foundation worship however hot mess mr pastor tom libelie you have been under the radar this week and so not not ticot yeah not ticot but um so anyways um but everywhere else and so um oh my gosh they are like They're losing their minds, but it's coming from one person. So we're going to. Yeah, she's nuts. She is something. Yeah.

So anyways, but Pastor Tom has both of his pastor preaching TikTok and then his TLP, which is the Tom Leipley podcast. And so he's got his political spin and just stuff that's going on in the world. And you definitely want to follow both of those. You can get like little snippets of like what he talked about the night before and some stuff that's going on that's just very relevant. what's going on around us. And so, yeah, I always appreciate those.

And then on to ours, we have Hope's page. And so she is doing that tune still. And then Vanessa, whenever she pops on and me, whenever we pop on and tell you when she doesn't pop on. Yes. Thank you very much. I know, I know, I know, I know. That's all right. Now, I know.

Okay. So, oh, were these other ones? Not the same. Okay. Yeah. So we're all on TikTok. If you're over there, follow us. I know a lot of you guys are striking TikTok.

But it seems like some people are coming over. So if you are and you see our stuff, especially on the free you page, if you could just do all the things, even if you don't want to repost it, which I don't know why you want it because you love us. So repost it. If not, you just push, like share and copy the post. And that actually really helps us. You don't have to do anything with it.

But it'll show TikTok that people are watching this stuff. So you just putting eyes on it. Exactly. It really is. People don't understand how bad algorithms rule. Exactly. And so, yeah, we want to get this all back to the church. And it just these are our ways of us putting in the work. And so, yeah, we really do appreciate it when you guys do that stuff. So thank you in advance. And I think that's it. I've got to make a slide for Chris Ann Hall. Is there anything specific you want me to say about her? No. Okay. So we'll make a little. You can go on her page or whatever. Yeah, I'll find something for her. Okay. Perfect. And so we do have this one and then we have our regular ones. So just let me know. Let's go to real estate appraisal associates of Southwest Florida, Inc., which is owned by Laura Keller. Since 2005, real estate appraisal associates has delivered some of the most accurate certified home appraisals in Southwest Florida.

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You can reach them or reach Nick at 941-460-3962. 9-41-4-60-3962. Let's do it. Okay, so my topic today, sorry, my nose with stitching, and it still is, my topic for today is faith and obedience. But a lot of times if you say faith and obedience, I was telling the girls what I want to talk about today and to have them chime in.

But Vanessa had some really good things to say, which I'm sure she'll share. But what I think a lot of times when we talk about faith, and I was telling them, I was like we so focused on healing, we so focus on prosperity, things of that nature, you know, believing God's going to come through for us and whatever, like, whatever we're standing in. But a lot of times faith is got to be activated by you for way other circumstances than just the things that I just mentioned. I think we oftentimes don't even recognize the things that we should be standing in faith for because we're so distracted in life that we'd never slow down enough to see an opportunity that God is putting before us and saying, I want you to step out in faith in this. I want you to, this is different. Now what are you going to do with it?

Now how are you going to use this, which you see is different? And even though you don't see the end result or what my purpose and plan is for it, like don't ignore it. Step out in faith and do something that you might not understand, but do something with what you see. You're not going to understand what I'm talking about, but I'm giving you several. I'm going to give you different stories in the Bible

that would show you that what I'm talking about is things that we ourselves have opportunities, that if these people hadn't looked at life and looked at circumstances differently, then our lives would be dramatically different potentially. I mean, God, you know, he'll always, somehow like, for example, if you're dating somebody,

and you feel like God's told you that person's the one for you, but they end up not seeing it the same way. And they're not even listening to the Lord, right? So they go off and they do whatever they want and either start dating somebody else and marry them or they start living a wildlife and they don't ever come back to the Lord. There's just so many circumstances that even though you know something

and you stand in it, It doesn't mean that the other person will. But that doesn't mean that God's like, okay, well, that person didn't do what they were supposed to do. So now you're going to be single all the rest of your life. No, God will still give you something and as good if not better. Well, even if these people hadn't responded, do I think that our life would be so dramatically different that it's worse? No, because God is faithful and he is merciful and he is just. But we need to look at what these stories that I'm going to tell you.

we need to look at them and say, have I ignored opportunities that God has given me that he ended of having to give to somebody else because they were listening and more attentive to him than me? Does that make sense? Thank you. So my question to you is this, to all of us in this room, not just specifically to those who are watching. Because I told the girls, I like, I've read this. I've been reading the Bible. I consistently probably for four to five years read the Bible the same exact way.

Just because there's so much information that as I read it over and over and over again, I was remembering very important things with that specific Bible that I was using. But I have several others. Vanessa was saying when she reads Amplified Classic, like things come off the page for her. Well, I'm doing the New Living Translation, which I've read, but I have not said I'm going to dedicate just to this. And what I'm doing is I'm reading it, but I'm not really looking at the study notes, even though I do every now and then. I cheat. But I'm trying to remember what the verses were and why they were so that I'm retaining information.

It's like memorization, kind of. You know what I'm saying? So what she was saying is because I was like, man, I'm doing it different. and next, and I'm going to change it up the next time I read it, but like, and she was like, the Amphal Flight Classic is the same way things just fly off the page for her. And this is, for me, something that like, I don't know, October and November flew off the page for me. And since it was holidays and everything, I was like, I won't address this topic, but I will be coming back to it. I was reading in Hebrews, I'm going to read it. Well, let me just ask you this question first,

because it'll kind of make sense why it doesn't matter. Okay. Question. I'm thinking way too much in here and saying this and like this things needs to slow down. Okay. The question is, is what do you do when God entrust you with something before you fully understand it? What do you do? And there are so many stories in the Bible which we're going to address that that that's,

that's what happened to people. Okay, the question would be is, if I ask you this question, I would also say is, do you protect it? Okay. When he entrust you with something before you fully understand it, do you protect it? Which is hopefully what you do, because the alternative is not the right answer. Or postpone being obedient until it makes sense, which is what I think most of us do. including me i wait because i'm sometimes i'm so nervous that i'm missing it

that i'll wait to see the next step of what i think i saw is the next step that makes sense so i'm like oh okay that that makes sense to me like okay so you put one step there and then you put the next step there lord okay so now i that's confirmation for me and god's saying i don't want you to have confirmation. I just want you to have faith. That the first thing I showed you, even if it doesn't make sense, you just do it. Yeah. Because you trust my voice. Or you trust when I'm showing you. See, I think a lot of times we don't protect it. We stand still until we see it. Yeah. Which is very dangerous. I mean, it's very dangerous to be impulsive. But I, and a lot of times impulsive people it's spiritually speaking impulsive people not like people who like i like i love people who

are very spontaneous i'm not a spontaneous person but man i love being around i will say certain spontaneous people because i think spontaneity adds spice to life now if you're spontaneous and reckless i'm probably not going to be around you because that means like you're probably not good with money you're like not probably very mature in some of your spontaneity like there's there's things that aren't good you can be spontaneous and very stable though does that make sense i literally embody that that is true okay Vanessa you you do embody being very spontaneous and you do add a lot of spice to life and lots of laughs oh man I've I've had lots of last at your expense.

Thank God. I love it. I love it too. But I will say you are not reckless. No. Calculated risks. Yes. But then there are people who just are not.

And you need to fix that. So I'm not encouraging. So when I say I love spontaneous people and being spontaneous, it is great it is. But not when you're reckless. So you got to, like there's a balance to everything. If you love being spontaneous, make sure that it's done a biblical spontaneity, like very stable. Because we're to be stable in all our ways, not reckless in our lifestyle. You don't look good when you're reckless, okay?

When I was reading Hebrews, which I already mentioned, I was reading Hebrews, it was talking about, it was talking about, Moses, and I was talking about Moses's parents, and something just flew off the page for me when I was reading this. I was like, man, I've listened to this scriptures a hundred times. I've watched or I've read these scriptures. I don't even know how many times, because I don't even know how many times I've read the Bible. Like, it's an, I mean, like, especially the New Testament. I don't even know how many times I've read the New Testament or just going back to one particular book over and over and over again. I don't read other books, okay? Not that reading other books is wrong. I'm just saying I don't, I literally don't have enough time. So the time that I do have is spent on that. But when I read this, like literally flew off the page and kind of convicted me, to be perfectly honest with you. It kind of convicted me and made me stop for a moment and go, is that me?

Would that have been me? What I've been so, I keep, the word distracted keeps coming to my mind. but if you can think of a better one that's like not the same word, help me. But what I've been so distracted with life and getting to the next thing, like the next thing that was on my plate, that I've been slow enough and cognitive enough in my walk with God that I would have seen the same thing. Because it says it was by faith, if you've read Hebrews 11,

it talks about it was by faith that these things happen. It talks about Abraham. am it just goes all the way back to the Old Testament by faith these people these great Bible characters did these things and it goes to um it was by faith that Moses's parents hid him for three months when he was born now you wonder why did he do that I never wondered why did they do that I mean I just assumed they did it because they loved him right I mean they were not willing to give up their son so they were willing to give a risk their life but that's not why they did it. They didn't do it because they just couldn't bear giving up their child. Like,

that's what I've always believed until I read the scripture. And then I was like, what the what? And it says, they saw that God had given them an unusual child. Can you look that up in the, I should look this up, but the Amphilite Classic. Tell me what that does, what that says. Literally, as you were saying that, I was, I was. Because I've looked this up, but I can. I, couldn't remember what it said because when I first read this verse, I believe I went back to my Amplify class and I was like, what did that unusual mean? What is it saying? What, what verse was that? 23. Prompted by faith, Moses after his birth was kept concealed for three months by his parents because they saw

how comely the child was and they were not overrod and terrified. by the king's decree. Look up the word comely. And it's like an old English, but it's not English, but it's like an all-English standard word, if I remember right. 23. Oh, 11.

He was 11. But it might tell us because it's Greek. I think Greek, I mean, excuse me, because it's Old Testament, I think that's Hebrew, not Greek. I might be able to look that up too. Sorry, people, but one second, because it matters.

So it's that word he was born because he was no ordinary child, which is a Greek word. I'm wrong, not Hebrew. This is not used in the NIA. Not ordinary, beautiful, pleasing, not ordinary, no ordinary is what it's saying. So they knew he was different than everybody else. He was not an ordinary child is basically what it's saying. and comely mismean, just mean beautiful or something like that.

Yeah. Then it goes on to say they saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command. So because they, it wasn't because they were so, they would have been so distraught to give him to, you know, to have him be killed. It wasn't because of that. It was because they recognized something in him that was very different.

and I sit there and go, okay, how would they have known that unless they have a relationship with the Lord where they talk to God, they pray to God, and they spend time with them, or it was the Holy Spirit. Because it doesn't say an angel, which other stories do say that I'm going to talk about, an angel specifically came and told them. They didn't have that. They're like you and me. Like an angel did not come and tell them anything about anything. They rely completely on the Holy Spirit or they were locked with God.

But I would have to say, to be quite honest with you, I don't think I slow down enough to, in some cases, I don't think I slow down enough that that would have been the case for me, that I would have been like, is there something different about this kid? I would have probably kept him because I'm like, you're not taking my baby. I'll die first. which is what I thought first. I mean, do you understand what I'm saying with that?

Yeah. Totally. So for me, like, in order to make those decisions, like they saw something different, then they have to have faith. They have to activate their faith over fear to be able to do what they feel like they're supposed to do and break the law

because that was a king's addict addict addict. Edict? I don't know. It's what the king had put into rule that anybody who was a certain age was going from, I think it was one year for that. Because Jesus was two years when they said that every child in Bethlehem two years are younger. So I think this was one year was going to have to be killed. I mean, do we slow down enough to see stuff like that? I just don't know.

Like I think of my own, you know, life. And it's like, am I setting aside every single day? Am I setting aside time? I do pray. I read my Bible. But am I setting aside time to just listen. Just be still. To be quiet.

Yeah. To listen for what the spirit is trying to show me. You know, all the time I pray, Lord, give me eyes to see, ears to hear. But am I giving him room? to show me. Am I being still enough to hear, to see? And that should happen every day. We should set a time every single day to just listen.

And be still and know that He is God. Because being still and knowing that He's God also allows the door to be open for you to hear Him and knowing that it is Him. Yeah. But it's like when you walk in faith, like when you're truly walking in faith, what I really believe, and I can say this from a much smaller scale than this, but when you're walking in faith, you'll recognize this, right?

You'll recognize things. And then it's your job to respond to those things. Quickly. Or not. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's faith over fear. Like when God gives you a word for somebody, you recognize it and then you respond to it.

But it's like that's so easy for a lot of us now. Like we hear the voice of the Lord so we know to do it. But it's way different when something like this, when God tells you something like this and it's like, well, I mean they literally didn't know that he would deliver. When they saved him, they didn't know why. Like, they didn't know. Like, Mary knew I'm going to have a child because the angel told her, I'm going to have this child and this is what the angel told me is going to happen. And then she said, then it says she saw all these things.

People told her all these things and she hid them in her heart. And she literally like wrote them down. Right. They didn't have that. They didn't know that he was going to deliver the Israelites. Right. Yeah. And they still did it.

Yeah. It's wild to me. Like to have that level and that measure of faith, I want that. Yes. I mean, let this spur you on. Like, after I was looking at all these different stories that are so similar, I'm like, Lord, I want my faith like this. Slow me down. Like, I want faith like this.

That when it doesn't make sense, I still do it, which I have done it. Like just starting this churches, I could give you one example after another. But there I'm sure been moments in my life that they have passed me by because I was distracted. Right. And not so much distracted. I think you're just productive. Like you're doing things. Like you're not just sitting down like scrolling on your phone.

You know what I mean? Like you're just so productive. But even that is so. because the Lord was very well he he told very clear with Martha yeah yes he told Martha who's very clear about this be like her sister Mary she's sitting at my feet because Martha was just busy doing all the things yep all good things too all good things yeah but not the best things yeah but she was but just not the best things so you know what that means I'm not clean my house anymore.

Hey, outsource. That Norma goes, that's okay, I'll do it. I'll clean my house anymore. There you go. Outsource. Norma. Oh, man. That's it.

I don't know. Like, if you, I really believe, like, if you wait for things to be so clear, right. You're going to miss out. Right. Yeah. Yeah. it's not my default to wait.

I'm not a waiter. Yeah, but do you feel like you move so fast sometimes that you miss things that might be opportunities of faith that? Yeah, no, I have because God, but God always, I don't know, he's just such a good dad. He makes it right. He does every time. Like we miss, I know we were supposed to start the restoration business before. Yeah.

God told us. And it wasn't like start restoration business. He kept showing us. things and I'm like well okay but like how tomorrow yeah like well how like how do like I need to know how to do like who who who's going to do rest like so it was like logistics I like didn't understand and so it wasn't like I was like no no no not yet it was more like okay but like how and then we just didn't pursue it and and keep asking and so it fell to the back burner and adalas had a message about when she was told to write that book and she didn't and she put on the back burner and then she kept

doing and she's like God give me something like give me something that like I can have ownership over he's like I did I already gave it to you you didn't do it and she's like oh okay he's like go go back to where I first thing more until you do what I told you the first time but her thing was the same as ours and it was like well who's going to who's going to draw the photos and like God you're going to show me these things and of course got put on the back burner and she forgot And so it immediately got dropped in my spirit. He's like, same with you. Like, you already know what to do.

And so we just did it. Like, we just put our information out there and everything. And then God literally showed us step by step how to do it. And so, yeah, I'm sure I've missed things along the way. I think mine's more like, sometimes I'm like, okay, but how? And then I forget. Yeah. You know, and then it gets put on the back burner.

And this is such a timely word. Such a timely word because yesterday, and you know what I'm talking about? The Lord gave me an idea. Yeah. It's like I have a choice now. I can either pursue and take the first step or I can put it in the back burner. Yeah. And I feel like it's one of those things where I need to pay attention to this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When God highlights things multiple times. Like it's just like with your kids when you're like, hey, just a reminder. Like if you don't clean your room by the end of the day, you're going to lose your iPad. Like that's just how it is. You've had multiple days. And it's like it's like a good parent. That's what they do. They constantly remind you. And then at some point, they're like, okay. now there's a consequence. And so, but he's a good dad. And he'll come back around.

And he's like, he knows your heart. He knows the posture of your heart, Vanessa. Always. And so if you're not just being like a, you know, prideful person or filled with doubt, like, he knows. And you know what else he knows? He knows that you don't know how to do it. True. So if he's going to give you the thing, he's also going to give you that first step and bring people

that might know how to do the thing. I know, and he's done it so many times. And here's what I would say too. It's like a lot of times people, what happens is personally speaking, which it pays off that I don't quit. But a lot of times that people start things and because they started something with a step of faith and it doesn't go exactly like what they think in the beginning or it's not as big as they thought it would be in the beginning or it's more arduous than they thought it would be.

A lot of times people tend to go, I must have missed it. Yeah. But really, like you're not to despise small beginnings. Like if it's in those small beginnings, that's where faith grows even more. Like you have to like learn to overcome. You have to learn to grind so that when you're seeing the. results of what you were believing for, that's where you knew that, like, God really came through over and over and over. I mean, I just know of what I speak because I've had to do it so many

times. And there have been times that I was like, did I miss it? Right. Which didn't miss it. I mean, they could have thought they missed it because they had to give this child away three months later and him grow up in Pharaoh's home. Like, did we miss this here? The very person that said all the babies would be killed. Right. Right. Right. Is now got my child. Like what's going to happen to my kid? Yeah. Like you can't look at the circumstances. You just have to walk it out in faith.

And just know that you know that you know. If you've heard it, then it shall come to pass. But a lot of times we forget this. That's step one right there. Step one is like did God, what did God tell you? If God told you something, then you just stand on it. Like you just stand. If he didn't tell you anything, then you need that's step one. Go back and ask God, yes or no.

Yeah, do you, do you want me to do this or not? And then he'll give you an answer. He always gives you an answer. So then once, but then once you get it, don't, don't be wishy-washy, right? Don't waver between them. Stand on it. Get your, get your Bible verse and then stand on it. Because the enemy wants to come to kill, steal, and destroy. Well, if he can make you quit, right, then he's won. Right. Because literally, if he can get you to quit and doubt, then whatever God's got going and his purpose and plan was for whatever he's told you to do will never come to pass. Amen. So.

That's true. I mean, I would fight just because of that. I know. Same. Like, pull it out of my hands at this point, you know? Like, I dare you. I would fight just because of that. Like, I'm not letting Satan win.

I know. I am not. And, like, reflect. Like, if you're doing everything in your power to keep the doors open or to whatever it is, whatever your thing is, and you're doing everything in your power to do it. And nobody's quitting. The resources keep coming. Like, if the door is still open, then the door is still open. It's very easy. If you're praying, like, God, just close the door. It's very easy for him to close a door if you're willing, like, if you really say that. So if the door's not closed, it's not closed. And then he's not done. And he's not done. The man who builds the house labors in vain. Okay, lots of men build houses and lots of men are successful. True. Okay. But that doesn't mean they're going to reap the reward that God had for them because they built the house.

Right. But when you really rest in, like, Lord, you told me to do this and you know what? This is hard as hard can get. But I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. and when you're ready for it to be done, then it'll be done. If you still want me to keep it open or you still want me to do it, then I will do it. And when you have that mental philosophy and spiritual mindset, then no matter what happens, you're golden, you're good because it wasn't yours to begin with.

People have asked Tom and I different stuff throughout the 20, going on 21 years of doing the church. And Tom and I both have always said, it's not our church. it's not our problem it's gods if god wants the doors to be open he'll keep the doors open if he wants them closed he'll close him it's not up to us if he tells us to move and he puts somebody else in the pulpit then glory be to god like i mean it doesn't matter because it's not ours anyway and if you free yourself from that then man you can live a happily ever after because you know that it's not on you. There's no worst case scenario.

It's not yours. It's not your problem. And some of the best, some of the people that I lean to the most and listen to the most, which are the oldies but the goodies, I don't listen to a lot of newbies. I don't.

It's not because I don't like them. I do. I like them a lot. But the people who really speak to me are the old timers. I grew up listening to them and they are not soft and swirly, and I don't like any of that stuff.

Or even if they're not soft and swirly, the old timers just speak to me, right? But one of the things that I love with them is that they will clearly say, I don't care. God would do me a favor if he told me I didn't have to do this anymore. That's from business people to people, pastors. Like, don't do me any favors by telling me that my time is up.

And you're giving it away to somebody else. That's the X factor right there. Yeah. Be okay with that. Foundation Church has grown and has prospered and has taken ground. It's because of that right there. Because it's you've submitted the church to the Lord. Yeah.

And it's the churches that we see where the pastors and the staff where they're just trying to micromanage everything that they, they stifle that what the Lord wants to do there because they're just their hands are too much in it. It's a business for them first of all not a spiritual thing I think but also I think a lot of it too

has to do with pride 100% and they feel like that's literally the root of it it is if they don't have the title or if something were to happen and it looks like egg is on their face what will people think? It's why they have pastor appreciation days. Yes that's true

Like, who cares? Yeah. Who cares? I mean, we should appreciate our pastors for sure. No, yeah, I know. But I'm just saying about, okay, say you do walk away or say the place does close up. Like, who cares? God's timing is done.

Unless it was, unless you screwed up. Right. Then that's on you. But I'm just saying if, if you've done all that he's told you to do and he says, you know what, this chapter is over with, but like be okay with this chapter being over with because I'm taking you to a new thing. You can't worry about what other people think. You can't, like, that's pride and that is more dangerous than being moved on to the next chapter. Like, that holds you back from everything that God has in store for you. So be very, very careful with that,

but like you really, you have to like take steps, take steps. of faith and no matter what the situation looks like, you got to know that you know that you know that until you tells you differently, you keep walking in that path. Amen. And you keep doing it. And the next, do you guys want to add anything to that? Because I'm going to go to the next story. Let's go for it.

The next story is one of my favorites. I absolutely love the story. You know, God did so many great things with women who were barren. True. And I absolutely love like this next story. And I've told it, I don't even know how many times because I just, the faith obedience of Hannah with Samuel. Okay, I cannot bear the thought of, first of all, never having a child. Okay, that would be very difficult for me.

And there's lots of women who do walk in that. And they walk in it with grace. And I know that they've had to overcome and God has had to supply the needs of, helping them with that pain. Do I think that that's really what was really their destiny? No, but sometimes we just don't have the faith to know. And though, you know, when we're younger to where we are now, like that didn't have to be our destiny.

But even in that, God is, like you were saying, he's merciful, he's faithful. He'll get you through all of that stuff. So if you never had a child and you've had to deal with the pain, I mean, it opens up opportunities to be a mother to other people who've never had a good mom. True. Because there's plenty out there. But I love the story of like Hannah because I think of me with Tommy. And like he was my first child and I sit there and go, what like if I was Hannah and I was barren.

And then I made a promise to the Lord. Lord, if you give me a child, I'll dedicate that child back to you. Like, would I be obedient in that? like she made a faith promise and now that promise has to be fulfilled like I can't imagine giving up my my my boy I love that kid yeah I can't imagine like Jojo I mean like people always think like when you have a boy and a girl you have all girls so people it's kind of different for you when you have a boy and a girl, they're so different from each other.

Even when you have girls, they're all very different. But boys are way different than girls. True. Yes, yes, yes. Very different. They just are. Yep. Like, you'd have to pry Norma from my cold dead hands.

Like, you probably feel about Emma. Literally. Like, Norma is my, like, Norma is, like, my go-to best buddy. Built-in. Best friend right there. And my little mini me. I mean, Heather's a little bit more of me. But like Tommy holds a whole other thing that Norma can never fulfill.

But loving them the same all the while loving them very differently. Yeah. So weird. Because you do that with your daughters. Oh, yeah. But one's a boy, one's a girl. It's so different. It is different.

I can imagine. And even just like taking care of Jojo this this week, like he's turned into my little boy again. Right? He needs me. But normally he doesn't. I'm soaking it all in. I didn't leave his side.

After Abide, we just sat on the couch together. I just made sure that, you know, he was comfortable. And I just, he, he like literally turned back into my little boy, my little buddy. And so, yeah, when I think of Hannah and that whole situation, like that, oh. Yeah. I can only imagine what was going on in her. mind knowing that she had already promised what she did like oh I had to live with regret I mean did she go be like okay now that I am pregnant I really don't I mean that little boy she nursed him

until probably three years of age I would have nursed him until he was like 12 oh I exactly until I like was until it was too weird well well yeah well you did it past you went till it's too weird anyway I did whatever I am capable of it yeah that's true but like when you're nursing your child and they're looking up at you with those sweet baby eyes and like i don't know i know it says in first samuel one 27 it says ask the lord to give me this boy and he has granted my request he was literally promised back to the lord before she ever held him. Like, oh my gosh.

I just don't know. Like, how do you keep that promise? But she did it in faith and she actually did it. Right. Woe to you if you make a promise to the Lord and you don't keep that promise. Like, I would never, like, you better be careful what you. Be slow to speak. Count the cost before.

True. Yeah. Like if you, and I've known people who've promised the Lord that have had had a difficult time getting pregnant, they promised the Lord different things that if they got pregnant, they would do, and it wasn't giving their child back to him. But, and they didn't do it, I thought to myself, I'd be scared. True. I'd be scared.

But you think about that. She in faith makes a promise to the Lord, has the child, it doesn't say she had other children after she gave him away. It says that she had, or before she gave him away, it says she had children after him, though. But we don't know if she had children, if she got pregnant, like a year or two after she, nobody knows. Like you would say, well, it's probably easier to give up a child

when you know you have another one coming. But nobody knows that that was the case. So think about this. What if she, didn't give Samuel up and she kept him and she didn't give him to Eli because Eli had problems all his own

with his own kids and then Eli himself had his own problems and Samuel did mighty mighty things Samuel was the first I mean he was a mighty prophet he was the first prophet to crown the king

to anoint the king I should say the first king and then he anointed the second king Like God used Samuel in mighty, mighty ways. What if through her faith, like she wasn't obedient? I know. So a lot of us, I go to this. I go, in your faithfulness, are you obedient?

Because a lot of times people are not. They'll walk things out. And they wonder why they're walking in faith and it's not playing out for them. Are you being obedient in your faith walk? If you're not, like, it's, might not pan out for you, let alone, you're just making it way harder to get to the end results. And if you make a promise, you better stick to that promise. That is dangerous.

I'd be scared. Me too. Me too. I mean, I'd be scared. Yeah. But I don't think people are because it's like I've said before. we raise our children so they're not afraid of us we're always negotiating with our children we're laughing at our children's misbehavior we're letting them throw tantrums and we're like well they just

need to like express themselves we're training our children up so poorly and so wrongly that when we the tangible disciplinarian jesus god who is intangible tells them to not do something, they don't even respect what we're telling them not to do. And they don't listen to us. How are they when they are no longer under your thumb or your reign or your influence, however you want to describe it, whatever, in your home, how are they going to respect, honor, and obey the intangible? Because they've never done it for the tangible. True. They won't. Train up a child on the way that it should go. If you train them, not. not to listen to you, not to obey you.

They will not do it with God. They are not. Do not fool yourself. Do not fool yourself, fill yourself, because you will be sorely mistaken and upset. It just doesn't happen by osmosis. Right. I agree.

Right. I don't know. I would even go so far as to, like, if they don't witness you also being faithful and obedient and taking those steps of faith, like. Yeah. communicate with you like talk to your kids especially if they're older and like teenagers like you know the lord is the lord has shown me this and i you know and just like talk to them show the

like model the behavior you want to see in them you know i i'm fasting right now and i didn't tell emma that you know she needs to fast nothing but she's observed me doing it and she's like i'm i'm fasting lunch today. You know? That's very good. Just by observing what I do on a daily basis. Yep. Yep.

It's so like. And I don't bring that up to like two more. No, no, no. Well, okay, I know the heart behind a witch, but you need to toot it because a lot of people need to hear that. Need to hear that. Yeah. If you want your children to do spiritual things, you need to be. be doing the spiritual things. In front of them. Yeah. It's like if you want your children to know

not to be afraid to speak in tongues, you might want to speak in tongues in front of them. Yeah. So that they are not like thinking it's some weird, uncontrollable, like freakish thing. If you want your child to be filled with the Holy Spirit, they need to see that you're filled with the Holy Spirit. That will help them not to be intimidated or afraid of it. They'll actually desire it. They'll want it. They'll chase after it. Yeah. Literally.

It's super important that we exude and exemplify all that God has and wants for each and every single one of us. And I mean, we are the teachers and the preachers for our kids. Yeah. We on Friday will continue this. Oh, is it 4 o'clock already? Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes, it is.

That flew. It flew by. It flew by. But we'll continue on with this because I got several more that are just like really, like, really good examples to how to be a faith walker in the midst of not seeing what you're believing for, but knowing that God's called you to do it. And then, like, just like Moses' parents didn't see that he, like, delivered the Israelites. That would have been proof in the pudding that they did what was right. They never saw that. But it didn't.

It was irrelevant because they still did it. It's just like Abraham was promised that he be the father of many nations. He died before he saw that he was the father of many nations. But that's irrelevant. because the faith walk was to be obedient and what God had called them to do. And that's really us. You may never see the end result of your faith being played out

in what you've decided to walk it out in. But you've got to know and you're knower that even if I don't see it, it still shall come to pass. And that's where the obedience comes in. And that's profound. So we'll go back to this on Friday when I see you. can't wait bye

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