Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast, where our mission is to encourage as well as highlight
God's goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hengans.
In today's episode, we welcome our first guest. Since this podcast idea is from God,
I want the Holy Spirit to guide all aspects of this podcast. And I think a conversational feel
will work best for our purposes. So what I'm doing is I'm asking my guests to pray that the
Holy Spirit guides them on what to share with us at the time of the recording. Because if I ask
for something specific, I might be missing out on something better or even juicier that I am not
even aware of that they have inside to share. So I'm asking they just pray about it and then
share what they're comfortable with. And then we'll just go with the conversation and how it flows.
So in today's episode, we have Karen Robinson with us. We know her from our church,
and she's going to start us off with some prayer. Father, thank you for this time together.
Thank you for this day. We give you glory, Lord, in this place. Spirit of God surround us
and let each word glorify you in Jesus' name. Amen. So today we have with us Karen Robinson,
and she's going to be leading us in a conversation. Well, we're just going to let the Holy Spirit lead
us because this idea came from him. And he didn't really tell me how to craft, since this is like
no other podcast. We're forging no ways to do things. And so he didn't tell me exactly how
to do our interviews yet with other people. So we're just going to let the Holy Spirit lead
us in the conversation. So tell us about what was on your heart that you thought that people
might benefit from hearing a little message about. Well, today I was thinking about what to start with
because I have a ton of testimonies, and I'm sure others do too. But today I was thinking of how
people are in need and the economy is so bad. And so I was thinking of giving a testimony of
how Chuck and I have been met by the Lord financially. And I did think of another one,
Shelley. Well, the first one, and if I get emotional, just God is just so good. He's been so good to
Chuck and me. And... Chuck is her husband, by the way, for those of you who don't know them yet.
He's cute too. When Jeremy, our oldest son, was three, Hillcrest Christian School opened.
It had just opened. Pastor Owen was the pastor at South Hills Assembly at the time,
and they bought the school. And that year it opened. Our second son, this was 1981. He had just been
born. And we went to the dedication and Pastor Rick gave a word of knowledge about the school and
how pastors are going to come out. Many people of God are going to be coming out of this school.
And I wanted Jeremy to go so bad, but he was only three. And so Chuck and I sat at the kitchen
table, and we said, Father, if it be your will, just show us. Just open the door for Jeremy to go.
Tuesday, this was a Wednesday night or a Thursday night. And it was a Thursday night.
Enrollment was Tuesday. And we were going to go ahead and enroll him unless the Lord intervened.
And so we said that to the Lord. Lord, we're going to go ahead and enroll him.
And if we're not supposed to, just close the door. Friday, we got a notice in the mail.
We had a graduating mortgage back in the day. And we got a notice in the mail that our mortgage
had gone up. They had made a mistake. It had gone up $106 a month. Well, we had $30 to send Jeremy
to preschool, but we didn't know where we were going to get 106. So we came back to the table
and said, well, Lord, we know that it's not time for Jeremy to go to school. And we wondered,
because he was only three. But we need you to give us $106 extra a month, because what are we going to do?
And we actually had our heads in our hands, like, oh, God, we don't have this kind of money.
We don't have this kind of money. And all of a sudden, the Lord just pricked my heart.
And I said, Chuck, we pay our tithes. I actually stood up from the table. I said,
we pay our tithes. And God promises to provide all of our needs. And I said, why don't we kick
the devil in the teeth and give more to missions? Give more to missions, because you can't out give
God. So we started giving amazily five extra dollars to missions and waited on the Lord. We trusted
Him. A month later, my husband got a raise for $125 a month. It wasn't a whole bunch more,
but it exceeded what we needed to pay in our mortgage, the extra. Absolutely.
So that's that testimony. God is faithful. Oh my gosh, yes. And, you know, after all these years of
these things doing, God doing these things for us, we've come to the place to where we just don't
fret. We just, okay, Lord, we're just going to rest in you, rest. And there was a time when Chuck
would come to me and say, Karen, I don't know how our bills are getting paid, because we don't have
the money in the account. He is very, very good about keeping our finances. And he would periodically
come to me and say, I don't know how they're getting paid because the money is not in the account,
but all the bills are getting paid. And so God's faithfulness, you know, now one day,
we were really low in money. And I don't know why that was, but we were really low. And Timmy was
still taking a bottle, one bottle before bed, as he was weaned. And it didn't dawn on me that I
didn't even have milk to give him that night. And all of a sudden, the woman that lived next door,
her name was Thomasina. And she had that elephantitis in her legs. And she lived,
they had, she had moved on top of the hill up on West Liberty Avenue in a high rise.
And she was walking down our hill. I was outside talking to a neighbor and holding Timmy on my lap.
And I saw her walking down the hill. And when she got close, she was so huffy and puffy and
all worn out. And I said, Thomasina, it's good to see you. And she said, I've been trying to call you
and call you and call you. She said, you don't answer your phone. I said, I've been out here talking,
you know, I haven't been in the house before cell phones. Chuck was at a men's meeting that night.
She said, I wanted to give you this because your husband was always doing things for me.
And she gave us money. We lived on that money. I think it was $25 she gave us. We bought groceries
and ate the rest of that week. And I didn't even know, you know how the Bible says, be as a child?
I didn't even know we weren't going to have money, or we didn't have milk for Tim. But we did. We lived
off of that for a week. And so that's that testimony. And then there's another one about God's goodness
in giving, providing our needs. We had no food in the house. And we had condiments. Of course,
we always have condiments. But we didn't, I didn't know what I was going to make for dinner.
And I said to my husband, I'm going to put my jacket on and go up to the 7-Eleven and wait,
because I know the Lord's going to provide. Somebody's going to come up and give me money,
or something's going to happen. And I just had this. I was starting to put my jacket on when
there was a ring at the doorbell. And I went to answer the door, and there were two bags. Oh,
before that, I told Chuck, I'm hungry for a bologna sandwich. And there was a ring at the doorbell,
two bags sitting on the porch. Guess it was sticking out of the top of the bag.
I'm going to go ahead and say bologna sandwich. There was bologna and bread in there.
And I didn't have to walk up to the 7-Eleven. I would have never put my hand out asking for
food, but I knew the Lord was going to do something. And I had to be out there.
Yeah, you had to take that step. Yeah. Yeah. So, angels brought us food. So,
it's important, you know, be still and know that his Lord doesn't mean do nothing.
It's just be still for a moment and realize who he is. And then he often calls us to do what he
needs us to do. And sometimes that is do nothing, but not always.
When we had 27 months and one week of no discernible income, my verse of that season was be still and
know Psalms 4610. And I still have that shirt that says that because it was just, it was a long season.
It felt very, very long. When you're in it, it's like, oh, when is this going to end?
But then when the provision comes, I should have written a book with all the different
ways that God provided because he was so creative. Like how this person would give us money.
We tied on everything though. Like if someone gave us 20 bucks, we tied 10%.
And people thought we were crazy for giving away that little bit. But like you said,
you can't out give God. And that's like one of the things you can test him in is the provision.
And when I got inspired by Bob and Linda Lodick for their financial classes, their story on Focus
on the Family talked about the more they gave, it like expedited them paying off their mortgage in
nine months instead of three to five years. They started giving more and then they paid it off and
they never expected it. But the way God works, everything together. And just, it's like at one
of those cross-stitch, the counter cross-stitch where it'll look all nice on top. But then
underneath, you're like, wow, that's a big mess. So like we're right now, we're in the big mess,
but God sees the big picture of what he's making. Making us beautiful.
We are masterpieces in the making. I feel like I'm loving my 40s. I mean, I'm like a fine line,
you know, just getting better with age. The more that God works on me and refines me and builds,
you know, these lessons for me to learn. And I've learned to try not to have to go through the lesson
again. I try to grab that lesson so we don't have to do another season of new income. Because that
wouldn't, well, it's just an adventure. But I've experienced that adventure. So like a new one.
I love that. It is an adventure. We are on an adventure with God. It's exciting because he's
always going to come through. Yeah. And there's always some, he's so creative in how he provides.
Like bologna sandwiches, who would have fun? But that meant so much to you. And he brought it to
you. And he's like, yeah, I heard you. I got you girl. And he wanted you to know. He heard you.
Our granddaughter, our daughter just told us that they moved, just moved to London and it was 90
degrees when they were moving into their apartment. And they were looking at lows for a fan and they
could not find a fan anywhere, anywhere. Anna, seven years old, prayed and asked the Lord to help
them find a fan. And Emily said, well, let's go back. So they went back and Emily said, Mom,
I don't know where this fifth fan wasn't there. But I have an oscillating fan I found for Anna
because she prayed. God is so good to us. And that, I was so thankful to the Lord for that
because he's showing our granddaughter how faithful he is at a young age. And I'm excited about that.
Yeah. That couldn't last her her whole lifetime. Like when I was, when I went to church, there was
a sermon with the little kids got to go. And they said, if you ask for a bag of candy at the end,
you'll receive it. So it was asking you shall receive. And that's been like my Bible verse of
my lifetime because, you know, if you don't ask, nothing changes. So why not, why not ask?
But God knows what we need before we ask. And that's encouraging. Yeah. He just likes us to open
up with that intimacy with him. That's right. He knows what our hardship is. The reason why he likes
for us to tell him what that hardship is, is because it says, God, I trust you with my hurt. I trust
you with my despair. I trust you with my fear. I trust you with every facet of what's bothering me.
And I'm going to let you in, even though you already know every single thing you could possibly
know about me, you knew about it as soon as you created me. This shows him that you want this
intimate relationship with him. And that is a very good start, intimacy with God.
I do have a Bible verse. I pulled up Matthew 25 through 30 because I think it really speaks to
provision for Christians. And I'm reading out of the New King James Version. So don't criticize me.
I really like it. And I don't think anyone is better than another, you know, read the Bible
version that best suits your aptitude and your ability to receive it. Therefore, I say to you,
do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body,
what you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly
father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one qubit
to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
Oh, you of little faith. And I think it's important also to note that it doesn't mean
necessarily that you have no faith or small faith, but in short distance faith. You've covered that
before, but duration as in little, not as in the kind of faith it takes to come to Jesus and to
know Jesus, but sometimes we forget in our worry. Good word. That's what is always good, isn't it?
Yes, not mine. I can't think better for that. Listen how on time he is. We recorded the first
few episodes. There was the where the podcast came from, then a little bit about Josh, a little bit
about me. We had the lane of hands episode. And then we met the first financial goal.
And we were able to purchase the first three microphones of our own, which is really cool.
And then they were able to come just in time for our first interview. So how cool is that?
Wonderful. Always on time. And just how good of him to think of us and lay it on someone's heart
like, yeah, they heard the mission. I shared the mission with them and all the things that I saw
coming from this. Because besides just the podcast and showing encouragement to others and modern
day miracles, we have the ability to just show signs and wonders. And with the vision, there's
also an Etsy shop I see where we can have merch. And I have that set up. I just have to finish
setting up all the background stuff, like printify and all that stuff. It's a lot to learn.
Like you don't know what you don't know until you look it up. And then you're like, oh, I need to
learn about SVG files and mockups and all this stuff. But I'm learning it. And it's baby steps
to lead to big things and the compound effect. One day at a time and the Holy Spirit will help you.
Yeah. And he's guiding me to the right people I need to copy off of. You got it. Mary Kay always
said you got to copy the right cat. It's okay to be a copycat. Just make sure you copy the right one.
And then besides the Etsy shop, then there's also one day we're going to have our last credit card
paid off. And then we're going to have a camper one day and that's going to be paid off. And then
we're going to travel the United States. And we're going to do the podcast from wherever we want to.
And then we're going to meet people all over the United States. And we're going to share those
stories too. And then it'll just grow from there. And then we'll have a great community.
And it's starting now. So if you see us on the social medias, make sure you comment, share.
And if you comment, then you can prove that you are one of our first followers. It's pretty exciting.
And if we're going to be one of the top podcasts in the world, get on board now.
And I for one can't wait to hear more testimonies from you. I know you've got a bunch.
I do. I really do. And some of them are scary, especially, but I wasn't scared. It could be
scary to people, but the Spirit of God moved on me and there is no fear. And so, you know.
Yeah. We got to rebuke that. And which Timothy is it? First Timothy, God did not give us a Spirit of
fear. Our love and a sunlight. Yeah, that's good. We should put that up. God always provides our
needs. Always. We should never be afraid. We can rest in the Lord because His word is true.
You can hear other encouragement from people, but they're not the word of God. They might encourage
you. But the main thing we want to stand on is God's word because He never fails and will never
fail. And He hasn't failed us yet. Right. Of all the things God knows how to do, I don't think He
knows how to fail. He doesn't. No. We're on the winning side. Second Timothy 1-7. God did not
give us a Spirit of fear, but a Spirit of power, love, and self-control. Well, that's one of the
versions. Yeah. Anyway, we just have so much to talk about. And it's hard to talk about so much
in one episode when we can bounce from one thing to another to another. But we're going to try to
keep it focused a little bit at this current time and not go down too many rabbit trails.
So they'll wrap up this episode. But I do want to say one thing else. That we have a,
it wouldn't be an episode if I didn't mention the Give, Send, Go account we have. So if you're
able to give to our ministry, there's Give, Send, Go. And then our campaign is called God's Goodness
Podcast. And in it, you can just donate and it'll go towards perhaps a fourth microphone. So then
we can have Chuck on with us next time. And he can help share those testimonies with us. And it'll
be great. So if you can do that, that would be wonderful. And thanks for listening and we'll
talk to you next time.