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 Hankins.
Today we have with us Annette Nucles, and she is going to share a little bit of her life
and God's goodness in it, and she's going to start us off with a little prayer.
Father God we come before you.
I believe that you will have full reign in everything said and done, giving you glory
and honor for a testimony of what you can do in people's lives.
And first of all, I give you thanks, God.
You're so awesome.
You're so incredible.
And I thank you for being in this podcast today, Lord God, and we praise you and give
you honor and glory in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So, we were at a lady's luncheon with the greeters one time, and I heard you speaking,
and I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with you at ladies' events, because you're
like me, a social butterfly, and you talk to a little bit of everybody.
But the way I heard you speaking, I'm like, she has got the spirit inside of her, and
the experiences that fill her, I don't know.
But the way you spoke, I just wanted to hear more.
And God's leading me to all the right people to invite on this show.
And I just wanted to invite you and just get to know you more, and I can't wait to hear
what the Holy Spirit is going to have you share with us.
So we're just going to have a conversation and just get to hear from you and just share
what you got.
Well, praise God.
I'm humbled.
How I got saved was just tired of the mundane life I was living.
And it was just one night I was drinking a beer, and I said to God, I said, if you are
real, reveal yourself to me.
And that's exactly what he did.
And so I threw away the beer, and the next day they had kingdom here from South Hills
where they had kids come up and they painted their face.
And I remember coming back from shopping, and I had a slight hangover, and I remember
sticking the key in the door and something said to me.
And I didn't know it was the spirit which is gone.
He said, go up on the hill.
I'm thinking, no, I'm going to go lay down.
And they said it again.
They said, go up on the hill.
So I took my son's hand and walked up on the hill, and this was in Arlington Heights.
And the woman said, hi, how are you doing today?
And I said, I'm fine.
And I said, my name is Annette.
And at that time it was Abbott introduced him to my son, Chris.
So she said, well, let me introduce you to Pastor Rick, and she said, this is Annette
Abbott, and let me introduce you to her.
And he said to me, he said, oh my gosh, she said I worked with the Henry Abbott, which
was my ex-husband's brother from Verizon.
It was Bell Telephone at that time.
And I said, oh my gosh, you're kidding me.
But this is not just a just of it.
He, oh my gosh, our God, orders our steps, and we don't even know that back then.
Pastor Rick back in the 60s, when he was a hippie, had a bandana on.
Picked up my twin and my other sister Thelman.
And he gave us a ride, and he dropped us off and said bye, but he wasn't saved then.
And I said, oh my gosh, he said, I have a picture of all three of you back then.
Are you kidding me?
That had to be God.
Yeah.
And he's six months into being at South Hills, he pulled out that picture, and my face was
right in the middle.
And you could see half of my twin's face, but you couldn't see my other sister.
I said, oh my gosh, I'm telling you.
So anyhow, he says, we have a van that picks up people, and we'll come and get you.
And I said, okay.
So they came up to get me that Sunday.
And I remember going there, sitting there.
I can even remember what I had on.
I had canvas top, white tennis shoes with a pair of light jeans, and a sat silk green
shirt.
And I'm sitting in the pew, nobody in front of me, nobody on the side.
And I'm sitting there, and I thought, oh no, here we go again with this coldness in the
church.
And I got ready to get up and leave.
And as I, oh my God, before I could get up and leave, the Holy Spirit said to me, worship,
praise me.
And in that moment, I lifted my hands and started praising him.
I don't even know what was even, I was saying to him, I was just tears were flooding down
my face, and I'm crying.
Oh my gosh, I had never experienced that in life.
I grew up in a church, but it wasn't like, it was a Methodist church, but we were the
choir, and it was a little different.
It was just odd.
And then my aunt and my cousin's grandmother were sitting in the back of the church, and
they're drinking.
So I said, if God is like this, why not come to church?
So that was my scene in church.
But when I came there, it was a life changing experience.
Oh, it was like water running down, or let's say the oil running down Aaron's beard at
that moment.
And I just remember, oh my gosh, but even when I left there, I thought, man, this is beautiful,
but you still have not been delivered and set free from some of your bondages.
So you think, I was kind of thinking, well, I was doing God a favor by coming to church.
I thought he was up there.
Oh, you get brownies.
I mean, you're ignorant.
You don't know that.
And I thought, well, I'll come whenever I feel, but he's not going to be in your sinful
life.
You can still go drinking.
I'm telling you, I just about got killed from an ex-born friend.
Back then I went to see him and he was mad because I went to see my ex-husband's uncle
and I was talking to him and then I went over to see him.
Well, he beat me so bad, it was just horrific.
I had my forehead was out like that.
Both eyes were black.
My earrings were ripped out.
And so I finally got out of there and I went to my mom's and the cops came, they took pictures
and everything.
And you just don't know when you get saved that you need to be delivered.
And it's a process.
It's like an onion, which you peel back, it's layers and you don't get saved instantly.
So with that being said, the next day I stayed at my mom's and a friend of theirs came over
and both of my eyes were black and my forehead was just, I was just disfigured.
And I remember him saying, you're beautiful.
You want to come and see my heart.
He thought, this is it.
I've had enough.
You know, I'm going home.
So I said to the mom, I'm going home.
So I'm sitting on the bus, going home, trying to cover up the scars with a hat that kind
of covered up my face a little bit.
But I knew in that instance, a young kid was sitting like across from me and I'm trying
to hide it.
And I knew it was God.
You know his voice.
He was saying to another person, he said, I would never beat my woman like that.
And tears of emotion.
Just I just sobbed because I knew it was God.
God was, I mean, I would never harm you like that.
So I went home.
I said, that's it.
I gave up the beer and it took a little while, maybe eight months and to be in saved to give
up the cigarettes and everything.
Once I gave it up, that was it and I went after God with everything that was in me and
he changed my life from that life to this life.
And I would never change anything that he has done, even though I'm so grateful that
he loved me that much to pull me out of the muck and the mire.
And even when I got saved, he showed me times when I was with you.
I was with you in that.
I was with you with that.
Oh my gosh, I'm so grateful and so humbled that he loved me that much to want to change
me and I've been saved almost 33 years and it's still a journey.
It's a process.
You still got maybe some roots that need to be brought up that have hurt, rejection, persecution,
whatever.
And you're still growing.
And I thank God for this.
And I'm just grateful.
And I thank you, Shilly and Josh and your little ones for even wanting to know God's
people and what they've been brought through.
That's an honor and a privilege.
And I just want to say thank you and God bless.
Thank you.
I've got other motives as well as reaching out for other people's stories and it's because
I feel a lot of us feel very alone in our sin and a lot of us feel very alone in our journey
and that nobody else knows what exactly we're feeling and what exactly we're going through
or what exactly our burdens are.
And when we reach out like this and we hear your story, we find out how many other people
can relate.
How many other people now all of a sudden don't feel alone.
They don't feel like they are the only person is suffering from whatever affliction that
they have, manmade, circumstance made, whatever it is, self inflicted injuries, alcoholism,
drugs, pornography, whatever it is, but they're not alone.
And I want more people to share that because I think it gives hope an era of our time right
now where hope seems to be on short supply.
And I know that if you have Jesus, that you have joy, that you have hope, that you have
all these, but you still are human.
And so the flesh is weak and so we can lose hope so quickly.
Jesus is speaking to the men in the boat, have you so little faith.
And again, it's not a measure of quantity of faith.
These men were laying on hands and people and watching Jesus who think they knew they
had that faith, but the duration of their faith, right?
It was a little bit of time and so it was so easily forgotten.
So once we get to our fleshy selves and we're away from church or away from the fellowship
and we're alone and isolated, the enemy attacks us, which is another reason why marriage is
such a wonderful institution because we're two or more gathered in my name there I am
with you.
And when you're married, you have two or more always in your name, always your part, you're
like two become one, you're always two people.
There's nothing he can, he tries to separate marriage so bad, look at America.
This is a godless, it used to be a country founded on God, but I could safely say that
we're in a god, a godless country and that we were being punished not by God, but by
our actions, that the consequences of our actions are just running havoc.
Right in another podcast, when I had fasted, she was encouraged to do it, but not when
I was doing it the first time.
So after I'd finished, she wanted to do one.
And when I shared it with her, she was doing something that was like 10 times less than
the time that I did it.
And that's like, that's crazy.
When I went into the kitchen the next morning, it occurred to me, God give me a revelation
that when you're married, fasting, praying, doing things, the other worshiping is 10 times
more powerful, exponentially more powerful than when you're by yourself.
And that's why when the enemy sees like my son, he sees easy pickings because he's by
himself, right?
That's why we're here.
He's not easy pickings.
But when he sees the two of us, he passes.
He's not as quick to go after it.
I was in the military and if I saw a guy by himself, I'd take him out.
But if I saw a squad of guys, 40 of them, I'm not touching that until I can isolate them
and take him out.
And so the enemy's playing it, it's a break his up and I love your story.
I love that you shared it.
I love that you have some things in common with other people.
I hope that people can learn from your experience that they can at the very least not feel alone
and that you've encouraged somebody by just experiencing something and then experiencing
God and then experiencing God a little bit more and understanding that when we experience
God that that's not the end of it, right?
And that we're going to have a low moment.
We're going to have a dark period.
We're going to have something that we don't desire and that we're going to experience
God.
And the older we get, the more mature we get, the easier it is to recognize God in our
life.
And that's not always the case.
Sometimes you're young and you get it.
Kudos to you.
That was not me.
So I'm still learning things from God and most of my best lessons are from God and I'm
very grateful for you.
I love watching you worship.
I love watching you up there.
I love watching your hands come up.
I love seeing a joy in your face.
Oh my goodness.
It is.
And again, that's not me either.
I don't hoot and holler at sporting events.
I don't hoot and holler anywhere.
I'm only here because she's here and so it's not how God made me.
But I love watching other people do it.
I love watching the joy in their face.
I just absolutely love it.
You're an absolute treat.
You guys are wonderful people.
I really appreciate you.
Thank you.
This reminded me of Ephesians 2, 10.
For we are God's masterpiece.
He has created us a new and Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us
long ago.
Really for anyone who's just new to, it's not an overnight thing.
It's a total, it's a process.
Like an onion peeling back the layers.
And God's just so gentle with us and just takes us and guides us gently with the right
people, the right circumstances.
And He wants us to build relationships with others.
He doesn't want us to go through life alone.
And I've found that the more relationships, the good ones, you've got to be with the right
people.
But the better your relationships, the better your opportunities actually.
And you know, a more fulfilled life.
And for anyone who thinks it's like an overnight thing, it's not because we are all sinners.
And we have a lot of work to do on all of us.
And it's definitely not an overnight thing.
And it's very encouraging, you know, that there's more people that are willing to be
authentic and share their testimonies with us.
And I love it that we can come together and learn lessons that He wants us to learn.
I do have a question for you, Annette.
When you were at your lowest, I'm going to assume your lowest was after being beaten,
that you were still drinking.
And how far away did you feel from God at that point in your life?
I always knew He was there.
But when you drink, the enemy is able to come in and tell you, oh, look what you've done.
He doesn't love you.
And I remember going through that stage at that point, drinking and laying down and Him
saying, He don't love, look what you did.
And crying so hard that my eyes were closed shut because I was sobbing because I believed
and lied that the enemy was telling me, but once I turned it over and He delivered me,
I didn't go back.
Let me share this.
I did go to my mom's one weekend and I figured, well, I could have one beer.
You know, so I go into the refrigerator and I pop, oh God, it's so good.
And I popped the beer and my mom said, I had another room.
I thought you wasn't drinking.
I put the beer back in the refrigerator.
I thought it was a door.
I knew it was God.
That was my way out and I never went back.
And that's what people struggle with today.
They keep going back and more you go back, the worse it gets.
Because you got to remember, when you invite the enemy and the demons come and you got
70 times 70, they're just coming in.
So you can't go back.
And that's why each day you have to ask God, please check me.
Not so much individuals, check your heart, check your walk.
And when you're walking with Him, He's not going to leave you.
The Bible says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
So He's always there.
But sometimes we don't always feel His presence, but He's always there.
When you cry out, say, God, I need you, you may not feel Him, but He's there.
I'm so thankful.
That's all I can say.
I'm grateful.
A good reference I use for that is He's actually closer to you in those moments that you don't
see or feel Him.
And a good way to think of it is, you know, put your nose against the door and what can
you tell me is in front of you?
I can't tell.
It's just blurry.
I can't see anything.
My side is limited.
There's nothing.
I feel trapped.
But if you take four steps back, you will recognize that it's a door.
You'll see the handle, you'll see the hinges, you'll see the frame.
You'll recognize the grain of the wood, the paint.
And that's the way that God is, is that when we're under weakest, He doesn't leave us
at our weakest.
He doesn't stand farther away to see how far the leash is.
He's the closest to us in a posture of hugging, you could say.
Like right there, that we're face is barium and we can't see Him because we're too close.
And if we realize that that's where He is, that posture of a loneliness of ours will
shift dramatically.
And I think that is something that more people should lean into.
And hopefully they know about it now.
I just want to say I thank God for the body of Christ because the Bible says iron softens
iron.
And going to prayer each morning has helped me leaps and bounds to know that God's people
really do love you.
They do care they're going to come alongside you when you're struggling, you're having
battles.
They're there for you.
And I'm so humbled and honored by Pastor Pete and Elaine and Pastor Luke and Brea, all
the body and all of them that come to prayer that we all just come together.
I never experienced that in the former churches.
I didn't know that.
I gave people love, but it never came back.
And it was hard.
But when I came here and I thank God for the greeting, oh my gosh, when I first came here,
that love like, oh my God, I never felt that.
I never experienced.
And then love, I mean, by the time I got into the sanctuary, feeling his presence so strong,
I was so grateful for that.
I didn't know what that was, but I said, oh my gosh, I want that.
And I had that from the body of Christ in the doorway.
So I was so grateful and I'm so, oh my gosh, I'm so excited.
That's amazing.
You know, the Bible talks about people that would come together, break bed, pray together,
and be of one mind, not as in like, I believe that yellow is the best color, red is the
best color.
So it's one mind with Christ, one mind in the body, one mind to help others that you
get some people out there think, I don't need to go to church because it's not in the Bible.
Yes and no, right?
It's not in the Bible as church, because we are the body of Christ.
We are the church.
And therefore going to church, quite literally being fellowshipping.
Yeah.
Right?
So if I'm going to church, what I'm doing is I'm going to fellow believers.
I'm going to the body believes the Bob and I'm fellowshipping.
And I just love that you are sharing that experience with fellowshipping because I think
it is so important for us to stand together.
You know, if I told you the story about how when you're a wife and a husband, you're like
a platoon of people, what do you think happens when you have a hundred people and 30 married
couples in that hundred people?
Like this becomes quite the war machine for God against the spiritual powers of the enemy.
Right?
It's not against people.
It's not against holidays.
It's not against anything but the enemy.
And we stand together, arms locked, and just like a battlefield medic, if somebody goes
down or right there, right there with them and we have them up because we want full fighting
strength against him.
And I think it's just wonderful that you shared the fellowship aspect of it.
Yeah.
The enemy wants us isolated for sure.
And when you come to different church events, not just Sunday, like Sunday, you get in,
you worship, you listen to the sermon, but you don't get to really know people because
everybody wants lunch.
They're angry or they want to watch a football game or whatever.
But like those extra nights that are available, go out and get to know the people with those
activities because they're meant to build those relationships.
And then we're stronger in our faith and then we grow as individuals and then we can be
a blessing to others and God can use us to be blessings.
So people are missing out when they don't show up.
So I know I've been blessed.
I tried to come to everything I could.
I would sign up for things.
I didn't even know what we were going to do.
I'd be like, I'll be there and then I'll figure it out when I get there.
Thank you for that.
Yeah.
Sometimes he gets invited too.
So team Hankins.
So, man, like there's so many lessons and just by a few minutes of talking and that's
good.
Do you have anything else you want?
These don't have to be long.
And this won't be the only time I have you on because I'll ask you to come on again
and we'll have always been led you to more stuff.
So we can do whatever we want.
We can do like short podcast, long podcast.
So if that's all.
Yeah, Joseph's long.
Joseph's like an hour.
That was my limit.
And it's not that I don't love Joe.
I love Joe.
I know.
But like other people's attention stands.
I also sort of have projects.
My wife has projects and I get impressed into the labor of said projects.
Like if I need something planted, I need to have you plant this.
I need to rephrase it.
I don't have time for my own hobbies.
You got to do hers.
Yeah.
That's teamwork.
Yes.
And teamwork makes the dream work.
That's right.
Apparently God loves that ability because you know, when I did children's ministry here,
Kayla prayed about it and my name came up in her prayers.
She had no idea that I'd done a children's ministry in the last two churches I was at.
I was thinking I'm just going to sit here and enjoy the show.
Right.
And that did not happen.
She's like, Hey, how about children's ministry?
My head is going absolutely not.
It's not going to happen, but I will go to prayer about it.
And I prayed about it and I thought, I don't like that.
So I walked away from that prayer and then I came back the next time.
The same answers like, come on, really?
Like you're not going to let this go.
And so I was like, all right, Kayla, I'll do it.
I don't want to, but I'll do it.
Well, if this podcast or any of the podcasts have been a blessing to you or, you know,
someone came up in your mind, just share this with them.
Pass it along and hopefully it can be a blessing to them.
And if you'd like to come alongside us with our little ministry here, we have a fundraising
campaign in the Give, Send, Go account.
Look up God's goodness podcast and you can make a donation to help us pay for the audio
editing because I tried to learn that and that did not bring me joy.
So we outsource that to a gentleman in Ukraine.
So if you could come alongside us with that, that would be a blessing as well.
So thank you and we'll talk to you next time.