Welcome to the God's goodness podcast where our mission is to encourage and highlight God's
goodness and modern day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelley Hinkins. Today we have
with us a special guest. We have Terry Black with us. We know where from church and the Holy
Spirit said ask her. And so I did what he said to do because I don't know if you're like me,
but if the Holy Spirit tells me to do something, he's like a little kid and he just keeps
suggesting it and suggesting it and suggesting it until I do it. So I invited Terry to be on with us
and today she's going to share some things the Holy Spirit had her letter to share and we'll have
her open us with an opening prayer. Well, good morning or hello everybody. I'm excited to be a
part of this and I want to thank you, Shelley and Josh for inviting me on and you're right about the
Holy Spirit. It is like he is like a little child that when he tells you to do something, if you don't
obey, it just sort of nudges on you and it just sort of gets on you. So thank you for obeying his
leading and I'm excited about sharing with you as well. But let's begin by praying together and
committing this time with the Lord. Heavenly Father, we just come before you and I thank you for this
opportunity that we can share your goodness. Thank you Father for your goodness and thank you Father
for Josh and Shelley and their commitment to share your goodness with those around us. And so Father,
we just dedicate this time to you. Holy Spirit, we thank you for your presence. We thank you that
you will be with our words, Father God, and we just commit this time to you for your glory and
honor. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you. Oh, so where would you like to start? Well, let's start
with, first I was born in Butler County and I just wanted to share a little bit that I was raised
in a Christian home but when I was 14, I made a dedication to accept Jesus in my heart, a real
dedication in my life. And then fast forward, I was baptized at one of those Jesus festivals.
And so I had my upbringing in Pennsylvania and I really wanted to make a dedication to my life,
to Jesus in my life. And one of the things I found though, as a young child, as a young adult,
was that I would ask God, what in the world God do you want me to be in my, you know, how can I
serve you? And I never really got a light bulb moment, you know. I never got like, you're going
to be a missionary or you're going to be a teacher or you're going to start a podcast.
That's right. However, what God gave me was a Bible verse. And I was, when I first got the Bible
verse, I was like, it doesn't make sense to me, Lord. But I felt like you had the Holy Spirit
nudge you like to tell you to do something. And I felt the Holy Spirit say, this is your Bible
verse. And this is how your life is going to revolve throughout your years. And I have to say,
I'm not a young child, as you can tell, or a young adult. As a matter of fact, today,
I celebrate my day of being on Medicare. That tells you how old I am. And so through all that time,
I've been able to see ups and downs in my Christian law. But through it all, I had this Bible
verse. So I'd like to share it if I could. Please, please. Okay. It's found in the book of Deuteronomy
chapter 4 verse 10. And it says, especially the day you stood before the Lord your God at Orap,
when the Lord said to me, assemble the people to me, and I will let them hear my words so that
they may learn to fear me all the days they live in the land and that they may teach their children's
children. Now, you might be going, what in the world does that verse mean to me? Well, the key word
is assemble. Okay. And if you think about it, to assemble means to put together. It says to bring
together. And you know, I thought, wow, God, that's my light bulb. That is the gift and talent that
he gave me was to bring people together, to assemble people together for different events,
for different projects. And so as I reflect on my life in college, I went to Penn State. But one
of my jobs was I had to pull together a big event at Penn State with different volunteer
organizations, you know, and I thought, well, okay, God, there we go. I'm getting to see maybe that's
how I'm going to be, not a certain occupation, but a certain type of gifting, you know. And then
fast forward, I didn't do it for a while. You know, I put it on the back burner, but in the world
and the type of life that I did, like we went lived in Tennessee for a while in Franklin, Tennessee.
And like you, the Holy Spirit nudged me and said to me, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. My
kids were in school and and I was at a period of life where I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
You know, most of us have been there. Thank you. And I was like, God, what are you wanting me to
do? And he brought that verse back to me. And he's like, I want you to start a nonprofit. And I was
like, I have no idea how to do this guy. But then he brought that verse and he said, trust me, and I
will show you how to pull it all together. So I started this organization called Love the Dress,
a prom dress swap and shop. And the idea was, is that if you donated a prom dress, because guess
what girls just wear dresses one time, typically true story. And so thank you. Yeah. And so girls
just wear their dresses one time and they want to get a new one. So my idea was, well, you donate
a dress and you get one in exchange. Or if you don't have one, you can buy one for $25 because
at dress shops, they have excess inventory, you know, they have to get new dresses every year.
So and to use the different schools, well, lo and behold, I was like, God, I don't know how to do
this. But you know, I trusted him and I obeyed him. And every step he really guided me. And the first
year we'd started it, we had 70 girls and 200 dresses. Okay. And we had an Arter Church. This
second year, we moved to a community college and we had over 200 girls and 500 dresses. And you know
what? It's been 15 years, we no longer live in Tennessee, but the event is still going on. And
it just shows how God has taken this verse that I've given as a young child and through the different
times in my life that he has been able to show me how it all comes together. Another time,
my husband worked for in touch ministries. It was Dr. Stanley's and he turned 70 years old.
And we wanted to do a gala. And so again, the Lord was like, okay, Terry, I was on a team with another
gal and we put a gala together for Dr. Stanley to honor him, bringing guests in from all around
the country. And so again, he was faithful. He reminded me, assemble Terry, assemble the people
because it takes a plan. It takes some strategy to pull people together. It just doesn't have
hazard. And so it might not be, I wanted to encourage people that you may not have the gift
of teaching or administration, but God gives us all gifts to fit into the body of Christ. And for
me, he gave me that gift of assembling and pulling things together. It's honestly, it's hard for me
to go to an event even today and sit there and go, well, what can I do to help play in this event or
to make it more effective or how to provide it? It's just my nature that God has given. And
I think that God gives us all those gifts. He gives you a gift, Shelley, and he gives you a gift,
you know, Josh, and it's just trying to find what it is. And then in doing that, you see his goodness,
you know, I know that when I do these events, I feel good. I know that I'm walking in what he's
planned for me to do. I started a bus tour company. It's a Christian bus tour company called Real Life
Adventure Tours. And nothing gives me more satisfaction to know that when I plan the event,
from the beginning to the end of the bus trip, and I see people inspired and encouraged and
knowing that they had a good time, because sidebar, I think Christians need to have fun, you know,
and we need to enjoy each other and just enjoy all that God has blessed us with, that I know that
I am walking in his goodness, you know, I'm walking in his plan for me. And so that's how I see my life
first. And I would want to encourage anyone that you know what God does for me, he does for you as
well, you know, it might not be where you get a light bulb moment, but I know if you ask him and
you seek him, he will give you a verse and he will give you a plan about what you are to do and how
you fit together in his body of Christ. So how frustrating was it, instead of him just being
directly like you know other people have had, you know, I feel the same way sometimes, where God
directs people, this is what I want you to do. This way what you do. And when you ask him, he says,
I want you to read this. And that's it, I want you to hold on to that. And I want to be honest,
when you read it, I had no idea how to apply that either. What does it mean? Yeah, like how do I use
that in context? That's right. That's my life. What does that mean? That's right. And so how
frustrating was it to get a message you didn't quite understand instead of the most direct,
this is what I want you to do. Oh, it is frustrating. And it's not even like one time, it's ongoing,
because, you know, in different seasons in your life, you want to know what God wants you to do,
you know, you have these moments like, I mean, when my kids went to school, I was like, God,
what is it what you want me to do? I mean, I'm a stay at home mom. Where's my fulfillment in that?
How does that fit in with with this, you know, so for me, I was involved in mops, or we homeschooled
somewhat. So I got involved in that. So those little moments, the assembling or putting things
together, but it didn't go without frustration. It just, you know, and like, as my kids got older,
and then they were gone, it was like, okay, Lord, I would love to have a moment where you do a light
bulb, you know, and there were times in which one time in particular, I felt God told me to do
something, you know, how I just really felt the Holy Spirit. And I was like, okay, God, I am going
all out. I really feel that this is something that you want me to do. And so I went, I went to another
state, and I went and I worked in this particular position, and it didn't work out. I thought I
failed, you know, I thought, God, I thought I heard from you. I thought, Lord, you wanted me to do
this and it didn't work out. And the Lord reminded me that I was looking at things too narrow-minded,
you know, I was just looking at the circumstance, I was looking at it from the perspective of,
yeah, it didn't work out, but my purpose is bigger than that, you know, and I don't always see the
bigger purpose, but then that's where I have to trust it. He loves me, and then he's a good God,
and that he can deal with my frustration, you know, I mean, I can just say this, I blew it,
I think, and he's, and he was like, you didn't blow it, it all is going to come together,
but you're just focusing on the failure, but not on me, you know, not on trusting that somehow it
didn't turn out the way you wanted. But I know what is best for you, and you have to trust me in
me in figuring this out, you know, so that was the time of real frustration and thinking,
I, and I come back and I'm like, okay, God, I'm not sure I never, for me, when people said they
had a specific door, I never had one door, I had many doors, and I just would say, okay, Lord,
I'm going to go through this door and trust you that if it's not the right door, that you're going
to shut it for me, you know, and so that's sort of how my life went, I never went one way, and the
time I did go one way, it didn't work out the way I thought it would, but God had better plans than
that, but I hope I answered your question. Absolutely. Okay. And I think it's neat to
piece it together and try to discern what God's thought process was, right, so it seems to me,
like, some people don't get the divine purpose light bulb moment, like, oh, yeah, this is clearly
what I need to do, like they're looking at the thing in their hand, they look over there, and they
just put it together, right? I think the reason why some of us don't have that is because God trusts
us to keep faith when we don't have all the answers, right, and it shows as a testimony to other people
that this person has faith without anything to hold on to, right? And I think that gives some
people hope, and I'm hoping it reaches somebody today that sometimes God is working through you,
and it's a struggle, like you are on the struggle bus, and it doesn't seem like you have an answer,
it doesn't seem like you have a purpose, it doesn't seem like you have a direction,
but you do, and God has already seen to it, long before He created you, He's seen to it, and
you trust that you're going to have faith in Him and walk the path without knowing.
Right, absolutely. Without, the only thing you know is that He loves you, and then He's been
faithful, you know, and so I rely on the past of His faithfulness to keep me
faith-filled for today. Does that make sense? And I think that's why you don't get the light bulbs.
Probably so. Because He knows you're going to do it anyway. Well, I, you know...
It doesn't need to do that. We've been in ministry for 30 some years, and so we've had many opportunities,
and we've seen different good things and not so good things in ministry, and above all,
I really feel one of the things Dr. Stanley, his one of his sayings, he would say, is,
obey God and leave all the consequences to Him, and that really resonates, you know, because as
going back to what you shared at the very beginning, you know, that the Holy Spirit nudges you, so you
have to obey Him, and then you just got to trust that you obeyed, and then God's got to,
God has to follow through in the consequences, and it's, you may not like the consequences,
you may not want, know what they are, but you know that there are, there's good consequences,
because He loves us, you know, and that sometimes I think, especially as you're getting older in
life, I'm older than y'all, right, and there's probably... I don't know, I might be the healers
with this table. No, no, no, I told you I start Medicare today, and I just think sometimes when
we get to retirement age, or when you get older, you wonder about your purpose in life, you wonder,
God, you know, where is your goodness, where is, what is going on for me, and we forget that God
is no respecter of age, no respecter of person, and so what He shares when you're a young girl
still applies to when I'm an older girl, or old woman, and I think that we need to remember that
He loves us, His plan is always for us, for our good, you know, even when we're 80, I mean,
heavens, Moses started His big plan of Exodus when He was 80, you know, and so God is, He is working
through our different seasons of life, definitely, you know, so that is something that encourages me,
and I hope that encourages anybody out there who's wondering, God has a plan, God has a purpose,
He does, and it might not be like a lightbulb moment, but you can trust in the open door,
and as you walk through an open door, He will either open, keep opening it, or He'll shut it,
and then you'll go to a different door, or maybe there'll be a window that you'll go through,
but He is always faithful to take a step-by-step moment with you, definitely step-by-step, so
that's what's exciting for me. And you mentioned Moses, I'm going to bring you up too,
eight years old, he's full-on Exodus at this point, he has had a lightbulb moment with God,
but he's had it beyond the lightbulb, but he was the lightbulb, his face was shining bright from
just the glory of God, right, and he's still messed up. Yes, you're right. And so you don't
rely on God directly saying something to you, and your life is turned around, that's not how He
operates, right, He still gives us that free will, He still lets us be who He created us to be,
but we still have every opportunity to tell Him, no, what I'm going to do it my way,
I urge you not to, I urge you to do it His way, He really has a good plan for us,
plans for us to prosper and not to destroy us, right, He is good, but if you have not had that
lightbulb moment, it's okay, and if you are struggling through your purpose, that's okay too,
you can't mess it up. You can mess up, and God won't let you mess up His purpose for you, He will
not let you deviate from His path, because He already knows it, when He laid it out. Well,
if you're committed to serving Him, He's got your back, even if we do mess up, like, I've done,
He is always very faithful to love me back, and He heals, and He's faithful, I mean, I've seen this
faithfulness in healings, and I've seen this faithfulness in providing for us financially,
and just in miracles of restoration and reconciliation, I've seen that, and it just
requires us to be obedient, and that's hard to do, and we mess up. Man, His love is never ending,
and never feeling, isn't it? It really is, it's just, He's a great God, and there's no other place
I'd rather be than here in His presence. And so, do you still work with the church? I know that you
guys are very close to South Hills Assembly. Oh, well. Do you still do things with assembling and
helping people in South Hills Assembly? Is that what you're even at in the South Hills Church?
Well, I still have my bus tour company. We just go on bus trips, Christian bus trips,
where we plan to inspire and encourage fellow believers to be together and have fun. We are
having a discipleship program called Finishing Strong, that we want to disciple people. It's one
thing to have salvation experienced, to accept Jesus as your Savior. But then there's the next step,
is understanding and growing in your salvation, and that is something that we're also have been
involved in. I mean, the Lord's been gracious. I met Dawn. We both were students at Regent University,
and we both worked at CBN for a number of years, and then he worked at INSP, Inspiration Network,
for that. And then we moved to Intouch Ministries, and we've had different opportunities to work with
a lot of great ministries. And Cornerstone Television, we worked there for a number of years. And so,
now the Lord has provided an opportunity for us to work together and work on our own ministries
together. So, we're grateful for that too. That's neat. I'm glad that you're grateful. Yes, very
grateful. That's neat. I love hearing that you're still serving the purpose. You're still serving
the Bible verse that he is giving you. Yes, I think, yeah, maybe that should go on my tombstone.
What do you think? It's just an odd one. Nobody ever gets it, except unless you understand that,
wait, assemble. I was like, wait a minute, that takes some time and effort. People might usually
think, oh, are you a teacher? And I'm like, well... I'm an assembler. Yeah, I'm an assembler. That is
a weird thing. But see, God uses all kinds of things. He uses all kinds of signs. And he used
you because he knew you'd get it. If he'd have given me that word, I'd have said, I know.
Well, you got another one? Yeah, I know. Isn't that true? I mean, it's really... It's just how
God knows each of us so individually and how he can uniquely use our gifts and talents that nobody
else... It's like, you can't do what I can do and vice versa, right? Oh yeah, not even close.
I'm not an assembler. Not even close. But you're great as a podcast host. Both of you are. Thank you.
I'm more of a show monkey. That's really what it is. I just bang the symbols together and
serve my wife and the Lord. Oh, I don't know about that. Well, so, you know, I used to joke with her
about how I hate doing this. Right. It was God told her to do it. I'm just here because she's
my wife. And she's like, no, I don't like you to do that. I said, all right, so I stopped. I
just internalized it. But I just told myself, one day I had a revelation. I was going to the
kitchen and God's like, you realize that when you're married, two people are one, right? I was like,
so as soon as I acknowledged that thought, then it occurred to me that he asked her, but he asked
us both. Right. That's right. That's right. He just talked to the one that was going to listen
about it and get it done. That's a good point. That's a good point. That's how it was with
Cornerstone. And that really changed my heart around on it. That's great. I am. This is what
God called me to do. I'm just, you just couldn't ask me directly because I'm an idiot, but he knows
that she would listen. See, I'm like, this is a great idea. That's what we're going to do.
I know that's similar when Don was on TV, he would say, you need to come on. And I would be like,
oh no, I can't do what I never did it. And like you, you know, you fight, but then I did end up
saying, okay, I'll do it. And I enjoyed it. It was really a lot of fun. So it is, I like the,
how you mentioned that to become one and we work together on that. Definitely.
Yeah. It was a revelation I discovered a long time ago after I did a 40 day fast.
Okay. And then she got prompted after I did it to do a fast. She said, will you fast with me?
And I'm like, I don't know. You wouldn't fast with me. And, and so I said, yes. And I said,
how long? And she said, I don't know. And so the next morning I asked her, have you ever thought
about it yet? She said four days. And I was like, four, that's nothing. I did 40. What's four? And
then I walked in the kitchen. The kitchen is literally where God gives me most of his messages.
Okay. In the kitchen. And that's when he told me the first time that two flesh becomes one.
And it's, you know, but it's one person. But because of it, a marriage is exponentially more
powerful than being single. Okay. Yeah. Because you are, you know, a certain group of people.
And so that's why the enemy wants to separate it so bad. And that's why it was four days to show me
that four times 10, you know, exponentially, literally exponentially more powerful when you
are together. So it's like a 40 man element with us to like, like military, but if the enemy can
break as a part, he's only got an after one injured person. And it's a lot easier for him to tear
down a single person. That's why he hates marriages because we're way more powerful together than we
are apart. That's great. That's great. A team effort. We need to make sure we keep that. The
hate married people, you are a platoon size element to the enemy. Just you two. That's great. Yes.
That's why Job's wife couldn't be touched because they were one. Oh, if you think that that way,
you're like, Oh, right. You can do whatever you want. You can't hurt Job. Well, his wife wasn't
harmed. No, she wasn't. That's true. That's very insightful. I think that is yes. It does.
Isn't it? Need help? God uses marriages, how he uses you individually for his goodness,
you know, and for his plan and all comes together. And I don't want to make sure I mention how we
don't just buy small beginnings either. You know, like, I wanted to mention to that, it might just
for folks that are listening, you might be gone. I'm not sure, you know, I'm just starting out
whatever in married couple or as an individual listening to God and trying to obey him. It might
just be making a phone call to somebody like God told you to do this or going up to somebody. I mean,
because I realized that, you know, when God tells you to do something good and you wonder if it's
really God, well, you got to trust that it's God because Satan really wouldn't want you to bless
somebody, you know. And so I think that you'll want to make sure that you just encourage if someone,
if God gives you that Holy Spirit tells you to do something, please do it, you know. And I think
as you start continuing listening to those little steps, what he's faithful, he rewards those with
small and then you get more and more responsibilities and he continues, it's like training a baby,
you know, as they grow and they grow, they get more independence or they get more understanding
and knowledge and wisdom of what God has called you to do as a married couple, as, as an individual
person, you know, we start and then we continue to grow and grow as we learn to listen to the
Holy Spirit and guide by what he tells you to do because he has something, he always has
something good in store for us every day. Absolutely. But usually revelation only comes
after you take one step at a time and then he'll give you a little bit more. It's like experience,
you get it right after you really needed it. That's good. That's good. So I guess it's all
has to do with we have to take the first step, you know, and that's just that's sometimes scary,
you know, and it might be the time you don't know what you're doing, right? Absolutely. And
it happened to me. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew that God had told me to do something.
And so I just had to trust I had to obey and blown the hold, he would open the doors and
from either doing love the dress or when I worked at CBN, we've worked, there was a conference
department and I was responsible for pulling together conferences from pulling together
speakers and doing all that kind of elements, you know, he was always faithful, even when you
don't feel like you are adequate, he provides the way and he provides the connections. It might
sound so basic, but it really is true that if you take that step of obedience, he always meets you,
he's faithful in it. So good. And things will just fall into line and into place and they'll
come easy because if you have to work at it, like one thing I had to learn with this podcast was if
I thought I was going to invite somebody and they were going to be on, I learned not to work so hard
to schedule somebody. If it was meant to be, they'll reply to me and they'll schedule when it was
meant to be scheduled. And it was just releasing that, you know, just sometimes you got to let it go
and whatever happens happens and then you're like, oh, that's why it happened that way.
Like with our one guest, Ian Reath, he has an episode, Choose Whom You Will Serve and I thought
he was going to be our first guest because it was a conversation with him that led me to this idea
the next day of why don't you know the podcast. And God was like, nope, he's going to be, you know,
later on in the podcast. And when his episode released, it was in December and it was so neat
because we had recorded another episode and these two episodes were talking about heaven.
And then Pastor Pete was starting a series in December, Heaven is Here. And then the podcast
had two episodes dealing with heaven. And so it just I was like, that's why Ian wasn't the first
guest. Right. So it's all for a reason. That's right. And it's, but it requires a step. Yeah,
just let go and let go. Yes. And we say that a lot, but it's really true guys. I think following
God is a lot like being a fat guy in a gym. Really? Well, let me get to the point. And so
do tell both of them come from a place where you need to make a change, right? You need a lifestyle
change. One of it. You're not living healthy. If you don't have God, you're not living healthy.
If you're, if you're overly overweight, you're not living healthy. And so you didn't get fat over
night. It took a culmination years. You didn't learn to be a disobedient rebel against God
overnight either. Yeah, it took years to develop who you are in the society. And so it's not going
to be fixed overnight. So just like the gym, you got to start slow. Yes. Just like your relationship
with God, you got to start slow. You got to start speaking to me. You have to start making an effort
to say that I want to communicate with you and stick to it. 20 years into it, just like you're
20 years through the gym, you're going to have lots of changes. Yes, you're going to feel good.
It's going to be a lot harder for you to slip off because of those changes. It's going to be a lot
harder for you to say, you know what, I think I will have that ice cream or I will have that.
You know, go on it today. Today is a good day for me to go for a run. I'll feel like, I don't want
that. Right. Because I know what I want. That's right. And it's the same thing of following Jesus.
Like, do you want that? Like, I could have that, but it might slow my walk with him a little. Right.
And that walk is coupled with prayer and like Yal said, fasting and the word and being in
fellowship with other people and just all of that together where we're focused on serving him.
You know, that's where we want to be sold out for him and to believe that God, you've got our
purpose and even if I'm not sure always what it is, I'm just going to believe you to be faithful,
as always in that too. He'll show us and continue every day. I'll take that step.
And if you think you're going to mess up God's plans, you're not that powerful.
He's got it covered. Yes. He's calculated it. That's right. He does. He does have it covered,
isn't it? Sometimes I wonder who our battle is. I mean, it is. Are we thinking that we're bigger
than God is, you know, and we're not. You're right, Charlie. We are not bigger than God.
It's just easier for us to understand who God is when we put him in parameters that we can
understand and define. And our parameters are going to have weaknesses because we're people.
And so therefore God has weaknesses when we develop him into this box. That's why God sent
Jesus, right? If he sent himself, he would all just be burned with this holiness. He can't even
be within it. So he sends a human being as God in the flesh so that we had something we could
actually understand. And so he is, thank God, very gracious to meet us at our level instead of
demanding that we rise to his level. How much harder do you think that would be? Right, absolutely.
I mean, I was even thinking, you know, when Jesus rose up from the grave, you know, and the women
came to the grave, I had this aha moment that Jesus, you know, he didn't need to be present.
You know, he showed up for Mary, you know. I was like, Jesus is so powerful and so big,
but he loves us so much that he desired that Mary and those women, they saw Jesus in person,
they touched him and I thought, Lord, you really love us so much that you know, in the midst of our
weaknesses, in the midst of our feeble bodies, that we need your presence, we need your touch,
and you're powerful and you're all knowing and you're all present. But you know, like you were
saying, Josh, that Jesus came as a man and he came to us and he desires us and he knows our
humanity and how we are so short of understanding and comprehending of his love, but his love is
so much greater that he comes to us and we just need to be willing to come to him all the time.
Oh yeah, I think of Jesus walking the Emmaus road, you know, on the day of his return and
those knuckleheads walking with him had no clue. That's right. And he was so gracious to them and
literally just told them who he was from the very beginning till that moment and they still couldn't
catch on, but they liked him so they invited him in and then they figured it out. Yeah,
they were like, weren't our hearts warmed with his words? So it's just, you know, when you're in
his presence, your life has changed, you know, that just happens, you know. So it's a very sort of
going back from guess what, God still has that plane for you, but his presence is powerful.
Yes, absolutely. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think it's important that like you, not everybody has
those light bulb moments. Yeah. And sometimes it takes a little discernment and sometimes it takes
a lot of prayer and just back and forth speaking with God about what it is. But I promise that if
you keep asking and you keep knocking, he will open the door for you. He does. He will let you
know. And if you don't get it, like if you didn't get it, he sent another message. Right. That he
knew that you would get because he knows what you'll get. That's, and he, and we also, not to forget
that he gives us gifts and talents, you know. So I mean, it's just part of who you are. I mean,
like my being is like, I like to organize things. So it just makes sense that I like to plan stuff.
And you all like to speak and you like to plan these, you know, God gives you those talents.
I like to talk. You like to talk. I mean, so God wouldn't give somebody who did not like to talk
the gift of being a podcaster, you know. That just doesn't help God works. And so I think along
with not the light bulb moments, but understanding how God makes us all unique that all fits together.
I think it's important to have that Bible verse to hold on to that to ground you throughout the
years too. Right. So if you have that Bible verse that just keeps popping up and popping up here and
there, that might be your Bible verse. You might want to hold on to that, even though it doesn't
make any sense to most people. It doesn't. I know. It's not funny. It does make sense. And it's just
funny how whatever for so many years I come back to it, you know, when I'm wondering, okay, God,
what is it that you want me to do next? It just, it gives me comfort. So it causes me to look for
opportunities that I can see God at work. I didn't know you had done all of this stuff. That's amazing.
Oh, it's been fun. Well, as I said, many years, I'm in the mature area of life now.
See, I think that in your 40s, you're just getting started because you've learned to not care about
what people think. You just care a lot less about that. So you have all these experiences under your
belt and your 40s. And then you're like, oh, anyway, I just think a lot of people accomplish more
after their 40s. So if you don't have anything going on in your 20s or 30s, you're just getting
warmed up. That's right. It's just an uphill, right? Yeah. So when you're in your 60s, wait,
here we go. And the 70s. So I think that the best is yet to come. Right? It doesn't mean God won't
use you when you're 13 either. No, you're right. So if you're a poor shepherd boy or just a village
girl and you visit it by angels, it doesn't mean God cannot use you when you're younger.
That's right. God has, you know, he says before we were in our mother's womb, he planned our days,
all of our days were written for us. That's in Psalm 139. And so God has our days recorded. He has
our days planned. And so it's, you know, when you're 13 or nine or 70 years old, there is a plan for
you. And there is a purpose for each of us, regardless of our age, regardless of the season
in life that we're in, whether you're from diapers or retirement, whatever way, whatever you go,
diapers with children and retirement guide. Diapers and both ends. There is. I was going to say that.
And I thought, Oh, is that proper to say? I don't know. I'm working in a mess. It's proper.
How do you keep it real here? Good. You know, I understand if that's you and you have a loss
of dignity, don't be because they're doing the alternative is a lot less dignity. So,
knowing that I know of whatever judge you. I know, we'll judge you and I know a lot of
her horrible people, not just Christians, because of what I do. And even they wouldn't judge you.
Wow. So, we went everywhere on this podcast. We sure did. Yeah, we did. This was fun. Thank you
for coming on with us. Well, thank you for inviting me and thank you for allowing me to share some of
my story with you. I really appreciate it and hope that it encourages someone along the way that
they will know that God has a plan, God has a purpose and He is a good God that always has
our best in mind for us. And it may not look obvious. No, obviously. It may not be an obvious
plan, but God has one for you. Yeah, yeah, seeking it out. Do you have anything else you wanted to
insert? Well, I'm excited that I entering a season about being a grand mom. I want grand
mom about that. Yeah, I'm an officially Gigi. I've been, that's my name I've been called. So, we have
a two-year-old grandson and then we have one coming in July. How fun. Another grand baby. So,
I'm excited about that. And then we have a granddaughter that's nine. So, this is a new face
for me. So, I'm enjoying it very much now. Good. Very good. I'm so glad I got to know you better.
Thank you. And I look forward to hanging out with you maybe at the ladies event next week.
This will be your least a few weeks from now, but thank you for sharing. I appreciate you having
this opportunity. Thank you very much. So, if you would like to help us with our audio expenses,
we have a fundraising campaign with GiveStanGo.com and you look up God's goodness podcast and you
can give there. And there's other ways to give if you feel more comfortable with other ways.
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Facebook, but all the other social media platforms, it'll be in a video in the comments. So, you'll
find out and then if you need help, just comment and I'll help you out. I don't know if I should
say this, but one of the things I was able to start was called the Woman of Valor for Cornerstone
Television when you were there. And I just was hoping that women that are listening that they
will, I don't know, my heart is for women and just to know how precious they are in the sight of God
and that they're to be uplifted and loved and that God thinks that they're special. And I just
wanted to let them know we had a television program dedicated to special women of valor
at the time we were there. And we honored women who exemplified the character of Ruth, you know,
Ruth who demonstrated loyalty and she demonstrated her care and her character and how she cared for
those around her. And so, I just, I don't know whether I should share that, but I just wanted
to give an add a boy or add a girl out to a lot of the women out there. Awesome. Thank you. Also,
another way you can help us is rating the podcast in Spotify or iTunes. And that way, the algorithm
will know that people are liking it and then it'll push it out to more people and then more people
can be encouraged. And with that, we'll talk to you next time.