Hello and welcome back to another episode of
Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na. Hey,
and welcome back, and here's Sparx. Yeah. Hi,
baby. Hi. No. No. Don't look at you. Don't talk.
Baby, talk to you. I'm not looking. I'm looking
at you, though. Yeah. Hey, babe. Hi, babe. Happy
anniversary. Happy anniversary. It's our anniversary.
It's our anniversary. 13 years. 13 years. Yeah.
It feels longer, and yes, the whole... joke of
oh you know it feels longer but yeah it in a
bad way in the best of way yes like um what have
we determined at this point that we were together
16 months before we said i do 14 14 i don't know
yeah longer than a year yeah but shorter than
just a little over a year yeah because what February,
March, April, May, June, July, August. Well,
no, just go February to May. October is when
you proposed to me. So eight months into our
relationship. And then December, January, February,
March, April, May. What is that? That's 14. 14
months. Yeah. Woo -hoo. So it's one of those
where, like, we go, okay, we've been married
13. We've been together moving towards 15 years.
And life just gets better. It does. Do you know
what? I think the sweetest thing that I heard
today was when your dad texted us. Yes. Like,
not that I heard him. Yeah. But just, you know,
keep up the great job is what he texted. And
it was like, I don't know about you, but that
meant a lot to me. And, like, it's weird because
it's, like, lately he's been pulling back the
curtain on some stuff. Yeah. Like, not in a bad
way. No. Like, what was it? We were helping.
Because, okay, so full disclosure for our audience
that does not know this. My parents live 30 minutes
away from us. Yes. Which is a treasure. So we
see them at least once a month. Yes. Well, more
than that, but yes. But, like, all of us. Yes.
Yes. But so, yeah, it was one day you were painting
their bathroom. Yeah. One of their bathrooms.
Yeah. And like all of a sudden my dad's like,
oh, yeah. Well, when we were in England, which
was the late 70s, he's like, mom and I went on
some marriage retreat. I was like, I had no idea.
And what sprung that conversation was we were
kind of, I think we were talking about. Just
one of our dreams of things that we would like
to see in the future. Like the relationship coaching.
And then it's like, Hey dad, this is ultimately
something that we would love. And then like,
we would like to organize some kind of retreat
or something like that. And then like have some
property and all the things I could see your
mind. Like I see it plain as day. I can see your
mom and dad, your sister, even if she wants to
come along, but your mom and dad on the property
and, and being everybody's mom and dad, that
would come onto the property. Like, I don't know
what else. to say it's just like i could see
them being like you know like your dad being
kind of like almost a groundskeeper but not just
like he's like hey guys or the official bird
watcher stuff but just um being surrounded by
and cultivating that kind of thing because they
just celebrated 52 years yes of marriage and
the suck of it is we it was the same day as my
mom's little sister's funeral yeah So that was,
dang, babe, that was last week. Yeah. Right?
Yes. Yep. That was a week ago. My head hurts.
Genuinely, like, yeah, like a week ago. Anyway,
but it was your parents' anniversary. And I was
thinking, like, what a suck of a way to celebrate
your anniversary, right? Like, death is never
a good thing. But like disease or injury or problems,
like I was thinking about us in particular. Yeah.
Okay. Because of what's going on with us right
now. Because what's happening to you, babe? I
am injured. You are injured. Right now. And it
assumably. It is my knee again. Yes. We are hunting
for answers. We are hunting for answers. And
fervently praying. Truly. Truly. We believe like
we know the power and the presence of God. We
know his healing that is absolutely for today.
We also know that if there's other ways of going
about it, then we're okay with that too. Yeah.
But it flared up from this trip. Yes. Being in
the car for 18, 19 hours. Yeah. And it's like
today. It was our anniversary. And it's like
we had these big grandeur plans. But we did,
but we didn't. Because life really just kind
of got smack in the middle of the way. Because
I'm looking at you while we're out of town. And
we're sitting in the middle of a hotel room.
And I'm thinking, I didn't plan anything for
our anniversary. And I'm pretty good about getting
us to go away and things like that. I just looked
at you and I said, you know what? I think God
knew. I mean, even in the midst of the sorrow
and in the midst of the loss, God was so gracious
to help kind of carve us out some time to where
we had. uninterrupted time in the car. Yeah.
And then we had very intentional time at the
hotel. Yes. Which where your mom was still so
funny. Like, couldn't keep my eye on you two.
Mom, we're married. It's fine. And so, but it's
one of those things where, um, I think that that
was one of the main things that we wanted to
talk about today. Yeah. Yeah. Number one. Yes.
Yes. It's an anniversary. Happy anniversary,
baby. Let me tell you something. Yeah. As much
as life has thrown at you and I over the 15 years,
I would not genuinely. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't
want to do this with anybody else. I wouldn't
either. And as hard and as suck as some of this
stuff has really, really been. And as much as
we do share things with you guys, like we try
to do our best to be transparent, but unless
you're right there in that space with us at times,
like you're never going to know the full gravity.
Yeah. But when you have somebody that is literally
your ride or die, somebody that you say literally
for better or for worse, sickness and in health,
all the things, it hits different. Like you get
to walk these hard spaces differently because
it's not a thing of, um, are you going to bail
if it gets bad enough? Are you going to bail
on me? It's like, no, like I'm not going anywhere.
We're going to buckle down. We're going to do
what we need to do and we're going to get, we're
going to make it to the other side. And so it's
like being, I even did a video today, um, on
our, our socials and basically said, you know,
just creating a space that's more intentional.
Cause even though today you came home, you're
in a lot of, you are in a lot of pain. Um, I,
I was going to make us steaks and I ended up
eating sooner or later and messed us up. Sorry.
Um, but I went ahead and made you some scrambled
eggs with some cheese and you were happy. Um,
yes. And then, um, But it's one of those where
it's like today or any day may not look the way
that we think, like we might have painted it
in our brain. Yeah. But I think when we decide
that it's the everyday, the day in, the day out,
I choose you, the pushing through the mundane,
even when it looks, and I'm putting quotations,
boring. Yes. there is a peace and there is a
contentment. There is a security in those spaces.
And so just like one of our little sayings on
our wall, we're together. That's all that matters.
I forget the rest. But that's all that matters.
And I think also because earlier in the year,
a couple months ago, a few months ago, It's like
we had a time, we had a chance to go out of town,
just the two of us. Yeah, it was the weekend
after Valentine's Day. Yeah. Yeah. And the weekend
before my, well, when my stepmom passed away.
Yeah. Yeah. Dang. So, yeah. So, I mean, that
was, you know, so mid -February we got away.
We had an intentional time for that. Yes. But
I think it was also, I think it was funny because
it was like we've been, we were planning that.
Yeah. And then it was like. we know your birthday
is coming up at the end of this month and I know
your brother's getting married in a couple of
weeks. So it's like, we've been focused on like
that. Yeah. That we kind of skimmed past us a
little bit. It's like, it's like in a way it's
like we, it's like even for the past few months,
we haven't really been planning or saying really.
It's like, we know it's there on the calendar,
but it's not like, Oh my gosh, we got to do something.
Yeah. You know, it was never really a, there
was never really like a, a big talk, like an
urgency or anything like, or like a, Oh, we,
we need to, we need to do something about this.
Yeah. So I, I, because again, it's the, the running
joke is may is your months, you know, because,
you know, yes, we got, we got married. It's our
anniversary. There's mother's day. There's your
birthday. Yeah. You know, so it's, it's all the
fun. Every two weeks. Yeah. Yeah. All the funness.
Yes. Um, you know, and that's fine. That's fine.
It's good. It's, um, But it is. I think it is.
It's funny. It's like we had intentional time.
And it was. It does. It feels like God was setting
this up. Yeah. That you don't need to worry about
this one. Yeah. And it's funny because it is.
It's when you sit back and you look over. When
you're so sold out to that journey with him.
you know, just being able to sit back and just
trust and know, you know, it's, I know, I know
they're, they're super popular. Like when you
go to Hobby Lobby and stuff like that, you know,
the be still and know, be still and know. I mean,
we have one in our house. We do have one in our
house. Yes. Um, you know, but it's so funny because
it's like, I know so many people that like that
phrase that even aren't Christians. Yeah. But
it's, but it's almost like they forget. It's
like they really like that first part and they
forget the rest of it, you know, or even just
the next couple of words of be still and know
that I am God. That I am God. You know, because
again, at the end of the day, we know he's going
to take care of it. Right. You know, it's, you
know, one of my favorite scriptures from right
before Sebastian was born, you know, the Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, you know, it's like God
is God. Yeah. Even if you throw us in that fire.
You're God. God is God. Yeah. Even if he doesn't
save us. Yeah. God is God. Yeah. He's not on
trial. Right. We don't care what you do to us,
what you don't do to us. Yeah. God is God. Nothing
you do, nothing you say can change that fact.
Yeah. And it's like when you go through life
and you commit fully to having a marriage that
is based on that. Come on, babe. you can sit
back and yes, there's, there's a lot of work
to it. There's a lot of effort that needs to
get put into it, you know, because I mean, what
was it? I saw it. I saw something the other day.
It was like, you can't, you can't sit there or
it's, I'm going to, I'm going to totally butcher
this, but it was something like, if you pray
for God to move a mountain in your life, be prepared
to have a shovel next to you. That's it. That's
it. Because again, you can sit there and you
can say, I want this. And God, I'm asking for
this. God, I'm praying for this. God, I want
to push through for this. And it's like, okay,
cool. Where's your part of this? Because even
Moses, no, not Moses. I'm wrong. Not Moses. Abraham.
Okay. Oh, yeah. Getting my founding fathers messed
up. But even Abraham, when it was the whole...
you know i'm making this covenant with you you
know god made a covenant with abraham you know
i will be your god you will be my people type
thing i know that's not exactly what he said
but it was it was that i will be your god and
and you will be blessed through me through your
descendants your descendants will follow me and
and again it was the whole you know god split
the animals in half put abraham on made him unconscious
put him to sleep and literally walked him yeah
through between this row of animals that were
split open you know and because again i love
this story because it's you know it was explained
to me once that that's how they used to make
covenants because it was it was an agreement
between the two people walking between those
animals that said if i break this covenant you
can do to me what has been done to these animals
like i get goosebumps on that one yeah every
time And like somebody, somebody really explained
it to me because it was like somebody, somebody,
I listened to somebody and they were digging
through that and they were like, A, God never
goes back on his word. That's right. He is. He
will not lie. But it was, but it was the fact
that it wasn't so much a covenant of God or Abraham
with God. It was the, it was God that was going
through the animals. Yeah, he was making a covenant
with himself. And he was the one making the covenant
with Abraham. Yeah, if I go back on my word,
then this is what gets to happen to me. Which
is absolutely... Abraham, if I go back on my
word, you can destroy me. Dang. Dang. Yeah. And
I think about how funny, because I literally
just went to Aslan, and the lion, the witch,
and the wardrobe, right? And how he's like...
I will lay my life down. Yeah. I'll lay my life
down in order for the covenant to come to fruition,
for this promise to be made fulfilled. I will
lay down my life so that the innocent can be
spared. That's it, right? Even though the innocent
has betrayed and been a traitor. Yeah. Dang.
Like we completely went on a whole other thing.
But it does go back to marriage. And it's so
funny because it's like we're doing our final
week of this round of marriage supplements with
our marriage group. And I found 35 scriptures
to basically that you could speak and pray over
your spouse. moving things around and I'm making
this list and putting it together. I'm reading
them one by one and parts of them, I'm looking
at them going, well, it doesn't really say about
husband and wife. It doesn't really say about
husband and wife. And, and I, I want to always
constantly go back to the fact that no, no, actually
it's, it has everything to do with relationship,
everything to do with relationship. You know,
here's, here's, you know, Christ died. you know,
for the church. Okay. So the man should be willing
to lay his life down just like Christ did. Right.
The woman should be willing to, to honor and
respect and all the things. And we're even, um,
I say we, I am reading the book, love and respect.
And it's talking about how, even how we're wired.
And it's like in our culture, in the world, it
says, babe, if you do this, Then I'll do that.
Right. In the word of God, where God says his
absolutes and he knows who he is and he knows
what he has created, right? He says, when you
do this, this is what will happen. And it's like,
this is a command, honor. This is a command,
love. It doesn't mean if your wife is being lovable
or if your husband is doing something that's
respect. full. It's you have made a covenant.
You are willing to say, I am going to lay my
life down. I'm going to do what I'm going to
be intentional. I'm going to be willing to do
the things that I need to do. You and I. Came
home, was it yesterday? You listened to the radio
and I listened to the radio at two different
things, but they had the repeat. Oh, yeah. No,
I think it was at the same time. It was just
we were in two different cars. Yeah, but it was
like the first Corinthians 13. And it's like,
love is patient, love is kind. And it says, now
I challenge you. Yeah. Put your name in there.
Every time it says love. Every time it says love.
Put your name in there. Are you that? To your
spouse? Yeah. Are you that to your children?
Yep. Are you that to your coworkers? Are you
that to the nosy neighbor that wants to be shady?
Are you doing your best to create peace in everything
that you do? Or are you in a constant state of,
like, we could be really mad right now. We are
mad. that this is happening to you again. But
we could sit here and say, oh, because I've been
asked several times, what are you guys doing
today? I mean, well, let's see. This is what
we're doing. We're actually going to go later
tonight to finish our workshop with some of our
marrieds groups. You guys are doing this on your
anniversary? Yeah. Because the last time that
we tried to do this is when we were traveling
back from Kentucky. Yep. And we had nothing in
our tank. Yes. And so we wanted to be able to
have the opportunity to have more into our tank.
Do we have more in our tank? No. Probably not.
Not as much. Yeah. Because this has been a hard
week. Yes. And total side note. Yeah. There is
a promise of sugared confectionery goodness.
There is. Is, yes, there is. But is there enough
foundation inside of us that we can share even
when there's not enough in our tank? Yes. And
the answer is yes. Yes. Like there's days where
I think so many times people want this picture
perfect marriage and they want these picture
perfect moments. And I think too many times we
do a misjustice for each other and others. When
we don't share the heart, when we don't look
at people and say, let me tell you what's going
on right now, but let me tell you that it's going
to get better. Yeah. Or I think sometimes it's
not so much that they want to see the picture
perfect, but they want to see the devastation
and turmoil that you have walked through and
struggled through. In order to get where you
are, you know, it's like, it's like there, there
really wasn't any of that in our marriage. I
mean, we had stuff in our past that we got to
work through and, and some of that was working
through individually with God. Some of it was
working through it as a couple, as a married
couple, as a family, you know, but it was, you
know, again. you know the the people that are
like well if you don't fight then you're not
talking or you know let me you know explain to
me how how bad your marriage was at the beginning
so that we can we can talk about how good it
is now it's like yeah there's not that you know
it wasn't picture perfect but it wasn't a horror
show yeah and it's i i think one of those things
that you know i know we're going to talk about
it again later with with our group but it's a
lot of it comes down to what is your effort level?
What energy are you putting into this? One of
the things I said, when there is conflict, where
are your weapons pointed? When there's a conflict
in your marriage, are you drawing swords and
pointing spears at each other? Or are you saying,
okay, stuff's going down. Yeah. Let's unite and
fight this thing. Yeah. Even if it is a disagreement
amongst us, we still get a chance to say, okay,
my problem isn't with you. Your problem isn't
with me. Our problem is with this issue that
came up. Right. And we need to tackle it. We
need to take it on. We need to conquer it. We
need to figure it out. We need to come to a compromise,
whatever. Yeah. Again. you know kind of using
you know my aunt's funeral yeah which you know
again it's it was like she passed on i think
she passed on a wednesday and then the following
monday was the funeral so all of a sudden it's
like okay what are we gonna do is it gonna be
the two of us is it gonna be the two of us and
sebastian what do we do with sparks right you
know If we can't do this, do I go by myself?
And so it's like, you know, all of that thrown
in there. Yeah. And it's like, what do we do?
What do we struggle? You know, here's the latest
struggle on a hot plate. Bam. Yeah. Welcome to
dinner. You know, and it's like, you know, what
do we do? And it's like, okay, well, here's our
options. Here's what we can do. And, you know.
The kids stayed home. They watched each other.
The house didn't burn down. They watched sparks.
You know, everything was good. Everything was
happy. Yeah. You know, everything worked out.
Got my sister involved because she stayed, you
know, home. She didn't go to the funeral because
she couldn't get off work. Right. And, you know,
the two of us went. And it was a real quick,
you know, we left Sunday after church. Had the
funeral Monday. Tuesday came back. You know,
so, and we get to do that sort of similar again
in a couple of weeks. In a couple of weeks for
my brothers. Yeah. We're driving down to Texas.
On a Friday, have the wedding on a Saturday.
Watching a wedding on a Saturday and driving
back on Sunday. Yep. It'll work out better for
my knee this time. It will. Yes. It will. We
will have a bigger car at this point. Yes. Yeah.
But yeah, so it's just, it is, it's. It's looking
at those situations. It's looking at those when
the difficulties pop up, when the opportunities
pop up. Yeah. And just taking a pause, knowing
that this doesn't need a knee -jerk reaction.
Correct. This isn't something that has to get
decided right in the split -second moment. Right.
And what are we going to do about this? Yeah.
How do we want to go forward? God, how do you
want us to go forward? Right. You know, and that's
what we get to do. Yeah. No, I agree. Yeah. I
agree. My brain started moving towards the 14
other things. No, I saw. You saw. I saw. Yeah,
you saw where I was going. I was like, I'm going
to pause so you can bring back to, come back
to the conversation. Come back to the conversation.
I'm sorry. Come on back. I'm sorry. Join us.
Yes. Water's nice. It is. It is. Yeah. I think.
See, I'm looking at like my sticky notes that
are in front of me that live in front of me all
the time. Yeah. And I'm looking at the words
in very big letter, false expectations. Yeah.
And so if we would just take the blinders off,
take off the preconceived ideas of what we think
things should be looking like, how things should
even go, even with you, like you. You made that
very bold statement to me. You looked at me and
you said, you know, like this happened to me.
Yeah. Like, what did we decide? Two months into
our marriage? Yeah. If that. You got pretty sick.
Basically a month. Yeah. A little over a month
after. You got pretty sick. Yeah. And you had
it somewhere in your head. The enemy had worn
you down is what had happened. Yeah. I will say
you are not anywhere close to as strong. as far
as who you are as you are now, right? Like you
have grown so exponentially. I mean, because
back then, I mean, I was still... We would consider
you a baby Christian. Maybe a year and a half
into being Christian. Yeah. And so you thought,
this is my life. This is how this is going down.
This is what we're doing. And here I'm crawling
over on top of your body and I'm saying, we need
to get up. You got to get up because I could
see where the enemy was trying to take you. And
you are dealing with this again. And this is
probably the most severe pain I think I've seen
you in on this round. And your fight is different.
It's a fight now as opposed to... An acceptance.
An acceptance. Does it hurt? Do you, do you break
down? Yes. But I think in the hurting and the
breaking down, there's nothing wrong with that.
I think that that's what people have to remember.
It's there's like, if you're arguing with your
spouse, we're having, we keep having fights.
Okay, cool. You're still communicating. Right.
You're still in it. Yeah. You're still in it.
The minute that you stop fighting for things
and just let things happen. Yeah. You're going
to see some, pretty devastating blows probably
yeah but the fact is that you walked in today
and you were like i am pissed off yeah like you
used very colorful words which i was very excited
about but it's like babe, is it okay for me to
be this angry? And I'm like, absolutely, because
what it does is it fuels your fight. And the
fact that you know that this is literally an
attack and a ploy of the enemy, whatever it looks
like. But the fact is you're not fighting by
yourself. We are walking this together. And it
is, it's taking off the false expectations, but
remembering the promises of God. Remember your
covenant. Remember who you are. When things come,
when sickness comes, when something happens with
the kids, when something happens with your job,
when something happens with your sex life, when
stuff starts happening mentally, physically,
emotionally, spiritually, all the things. When
they come, not if they come, but when they come,
you stand back to back with each other. You create
a unmovable, unshakable. of I'm not budging.
And then watch God come into the smack in the
middle of it and fortify and reassure and then
watch him get the glory in the midst of it. Oh
yeah, definitely. Because it is and that's what
it is. It was spoken over us, taught to us and
we have it framed on a wall. or on top of a cabinet
somewhere. I mean, I say somewhere. It's in our
dining room. I know it is. I was looking at it
the other day. Papa Charlie. Yeah. And it was
that triple braided cord that it's not just you
and your spouse, but it's also Jesus that's in
there. It's also the Holy Spirit that's in there.
It's God that's in your marriage. And so again,
it's that. that reminder of no matter how tightly
you're bound yeah part of that tightness part
of that binding is god you know and so it's like
it it has to be there and so it is it's it's
like if you're not using that if you're not bound
that tight if you're not bound that close you
know again that you know the whole you know a
two -strand cord is easily broken yeah you know
And it's just, it is, it's just that reminder
that everything we do has to involve God. Yeah.
You know, everything we, every decision we do
has to be run through the, you know, the Holy
Spirit. Yeah. And it's not like, like we're kids
running off to mom and dad, like, is this okay?
Are we allowed to do this? Right. But it is,
it's that, it's that, you know, seeking that
wisdom, seeking that counsel, seeking that. that
strength to make the decision or, you know, to,
to go through with it because it is everything,
you know, I think, you know, small things, big
things that we've done in our marriage, just,
you know, God, is this what you want us to do?
You know, even when we got this house, you know,
you didn't, you for the longest time did not
want to look. Yeah. In this town. Yeah. And you're
like, nope, I've read too many stories. I used
to work in the news station. Nope, we're not
living in that area of the town. Yep. Nope, not
going to do it. And God said. You need to expand
your borders. Yep. Yep. And as soon as you said,
okay, fine. This was the first one that came
up. Yeah. Yep. And it's everything that we asked
for. 48 hours. 48, 72 hours, we were under contract.
Yeah. Yeah. And it was almost more than we thought.
we could get, man, I'm still floored of the goodness
of God in that space. And, and, and that's not
to say, look at us now, but at the same time
it is no, like, look, look, look what happens
when you surrender. Have we been perfect? Look,
have we been perfect in it? Like I even told
you like last night, Gabriel and I are talking
and, and I said, Gabriel, the only thing I can
tell you is that dad and I are always going to
do our absolute best. Are we going to be perfect
in it? Absolutely not. Because we are human and
we're frail and we're foolish and we're faulted.
But know that in that moment, hopefully 99 .9
% of the time, we are always going to try to
do our best to go, okay, God, what do you want
to do? And because it's like. I don't want to
do this without Him. I know what my life looks
like without God in it, or at least without God
being the center of it. And He's not an accessory
in my life. He is the main source. He's not an
accessory in yours. He's the main source. He's
the main source of our family, and our family
knows that. And so... It teaches our children
to lean on the Holy Spirit. It teaches our children
to, when it's their turn, to have spouses. And
then eventually, if God wants, willing to have
children. Like, they will get to learn, okay,
this is what mom and dad did. Like, this is what
they did. Okay, they constantly just... kept
pointing me right back to the throne. I don't
know. Have you prayed about it? I don't know.
Have you asked God about it? I don't know. Fill
in the blank. Right. Like mom and dad always
talked about stuff. Like always. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, and that has been said to us, but then
also in the same breath, it's also been, no,
I've seen where you've been. Right. Like she
said that to me last night and so didn't want
to say it, but. I just listened and I said, I
appreciate that. But we know that that was in
those moments where I was right. We know that
in those moments I was listening to God. Yeah.
There's just no other way. And so, or there's
just a peace. So going back to the peace, going
back to the expectation, going back to the trust,
going back to the knowing, going back to the
surrender. There's days I just keep going, I
feel like we repeat ourselves so much, but it's
not. It's a reminder. Like, babe, you and I are
tired. We're tired. Yeah. We're tired. Yeah.
We're tired of being tired. And we're tired of
being tired. But we're not stopping. No. We're
not giving up. We're pausing here and there.
Why? You're laughing. I'm laughing because I
don't remember when this was written because,
again, you're talking about the sticky note in
front of you. I have tons. You do. Tens of sticky
notes on my desk in front of me and just quotes
and random things. And I don't know how it got
here, why it got here. I mean, I know why. Yeah.
I know. Yeah. But it's funny you're talking about
that because it's Isaiah 40, 30 and 31. Even
youths grow tired and weary. Hmm. and young men
stumble and fall. But they who wait on Adonai
will renew their strength. They will soar up
with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow
weary. They will walk and not be faint. So yeah,
like apparently I wrote this verse down, who
knows when, and this sticky note ended up here.
I don't remember this sticky note being here
before today. I don't think I've ever seen it.
And I sit there often too. You do? Wow. Yeah.
So there's the sweet reminder. We're going to
wait on him. Yeah. We're going to wait on him.
We're going to trust him. And waiting isn't...
Passive. No. No, it's not. It's an act of waiting.
Yes. It's not just sitting in your lounge chair
and saying, okay. If he tells you to kick up
your leg because it hurts and you need to rest,
that's one thing. But, yeah, it is. It's like
waiting, like a waiter waits on people. They're
serving. They're doing. They're being obedient
in the moment. They're doing what they have been
asked to do. And during that time. And if it
happens to be, hey, I kind of have to hide away
right now and just be still, then do it. If it
is go and befriend the neighbor that you don't
want to befriend because they act nasty to you,
then you need to go do it. If it's your spouse
who right now you just don't like or you're not
attracted to or you're having a hard time even
wanting to be intimate with them, you need to
do it. You need to be intentional. With your
time, you need to be intentional with the gifts
of God that he's given you. Because if you are,
if we, as the people of God are not intentional
in these small moments, then when the big things
do come, we're going to be able to get snuffed
out fairly quickly. It's true. And then that's
when we start seeing families falling apart.
Yeah, it is. And so. We get to wait. Yes. We
get to find some answers. Yeah. And we get to
see the goodness of God. And we get to see you
get better. Yes. And be better than what you
were before. Yes. Aggressive waiting. Ooh. Yeah.
Ooh, I like that. I am writing that down in our
notes. Aggressive. Yeah. Because it was. I was
like, because when you were like, you know, we're
going to wait and we're going to find out what's
going on with my health. And it's like, you know,
but we're not going to sit there and say, oh,
well, they're going to, you know, they're going
to do it on their timeline. It's like, no, we're
going to knock on doors. We're going to like
track people down. We're going to kick chairs.
We're going to, we'll be patient. We'll be respectful,
but we're not going to wait around on your timeline.
Right. We'll wait on his timeline. Yes. Yes.
No. Yeah. No, I like that. Yeah. Aggressive waiting.
Yeah. Aggressively loving your spouse. Yes. Aggressively
being part of your children's lives. Yes. Aggressively
searching out God's heart and finding out what
his purpose is. Aggressively speaking into your
friends' lives. Building them up. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Because the enemy is not playing. Yeah. You don't
think he's not being aggressive? Yeah. Game on.
Because I think almost it's one of those things
where it's like, because we've had conversations
before where it's like, you know, hey, I really
want to say this to a friend, but I don't know
if they'll take it. Right. I don't know if they're
in that space where they could receive this word.
Right. It's like, what if this time that you
say it is when it hits? Yeah. You know? I'd rather,
and I said this to our girl last night, I said
I would rather be faulted on saying too much
than not saying anything at all. Yeah. I would
rather be faulted on, well, that was just a little
extra there, Mom. Yeah. You know what? I told
you the truth. Yeah. And I am accountable. Yeah.
I'm not just accountable for what I say, but
I will also, I believe with everything in me,
I will be accountable for the things that I did
not say. Yeah, that's true. And I would much
rather err on the fact that you know that I love
you intensely as opposed to silence. Yeah. Or
maybe not at all. Yeah. So, this is good. Yes.
Yeah. Happy anniversary, babe. Happy anniversary,
babe. Happy anniversary. I am happy. I am too.
You bring peace. And we should wrap this up so
you don't cry too much. It's too late. Yeah,
I know. It's too late. Yeah. All right, guys.
Have the best week. Enjoy the journey.