1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,240 Welcome to Real Talk Friday with your hosts Rohan Das and Gus Urban. 2 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,280 In this groundbreaking podcast segment, we delve deep into the lives of individuals whose 3 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,680 journey has been profoundly transformed by their faith. 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:25,280 From the trial of adversity to the triumph of redemption, we explore real stories, real 5 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,240 people, whose encounter with God has reshaped their existence. 6 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:35,120 Join us as we embark on a candid and enlightening journey where authenticity meets spirituality 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,880 every Friday on Real Talk Friday, part of Logan City Christian Church. 8 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,840 Hi everyone, welcome to another season of Real Talk Friday, season 3. 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,400 Today we have a very special guest for you and I'm going to pass it on to Rohan, my 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,480 co-host, to introduce this person. 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:55,680 Hey guys, welcome to our show. 12 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:00,320 Today is an incredible day because we've gone, traveled all the way to the Gold Coast 13 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:01,600 to meet this special guest. 14 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,560 This is our first podcast that we're doing on the road. 15 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:05,560 First on the road. 16 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,280 We were praying about it and we were like, how are we going to do this? 17 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,400 But I think God really provided the equipments, the time and everything. 18 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:18,640 So we're truly grateful and thank you for your support because without you guys, we just 19 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:20,160 wouldn't be able to do it. 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:21,160 No, that's right. 21 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,120 We have the statistics nowadays and we see this podcast reaching to America, Europe, 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,920 so many other countries, Japan actually. 23 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:34,720 And it's just going to places we never thought it would and to a point where YouTube has 24 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:37,520 encouraged us to push up more content. 25 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:43,320 Yeah, well I just was on the phone before to a person saying, oh I just saw your podcast. 26 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,040 I've been watching it and now I'm following it. 27 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,040 I'm like, oh well that's great. 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,720 Oh, we can see God's doing amazing things. 29 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:49,720 It's reaching it. 30 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,800 I think I was talking to the senior pastor, Pastor Rob, your dad, and he was telling us 31 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:59,360 yesterday about this guy who walks up to church and he comes and he says to Pastor Rob, you 32 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,680 know, I watched the podcast yesterday, your interview, and I'm here today and I want to 33 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:04,800 change my life. 34 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:09,640 So look, these are just some of the stories that are out there from this podcast and we 35 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:11,120 truly blessed. 36 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,920 But coming to this show today, we have an amazing pastor. 37 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:21,440 He's the only Japanese pastor on the Gold Coast, Pastor Noriko Reed. 38 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:22,440 Welcome to our show. 39 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:23,440 Thank you for having me. 40 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:25,440 My thanks for being available. 41 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:32,160 Pastor Noriko has been part of significant events in my life, you know, and I truly appreciate 42 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:33,600 that. 43 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:38,880 The most recent event is being part of Hope College, which I just graduated from. 44 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,680 By the time this podcast is out there, I'll probably finish my graduation. 45 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:51,080 So she was my lecturer and when I heard her story towards the end of my studies, I was 46 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:56,920 truly touched because there's a part of her story I can truly relate to. 47 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:01,020 And I felt that, you know, everybody has to hear this story. 48 00:03:01,020 --> 00:03:08,720 And we felt that, yes, God has the power and is able to change a person completely. 49 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,360 And this is going to be one story that is going to be like that. 50 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,720 So not we're going to waste time. 51 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:15,920 No, that's right. 52 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:21,080 But we're going to go straight into asking Noriko some amazing questions. 53 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,640 So welcome to the show again. 54 00:03:23,640 --> 00:03:29,040 And you know, one of the questions I want to ask is the only Japanese pastor on the Gold 55 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:30,040 Coast. 56 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,040 Wow. 57 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:32,040 Wow. 58 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:33,040 How does it feel? 59 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:34,040 I don't know. 60 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,160 I just recently found out about it. 61 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:41,920 There's other pastors who speak Japanese or have a Japanese wife, pastor, call pastor, 62 00:03:41,920 --> 00:03:42,920 perney. 63 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:45,800 I'm the only one that's ordained on the Gold Coast at the moment. 64 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:47,920 So hopefully it will be more coming. 65 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:48,920 Yeah. 66 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:49,920 Yeah. 67 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:50,920 But it's amazing. 68 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,440 So I believe there's lots of Japanese people coming to your church. 69 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,160 No, actually not. 70 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,280 This is an interesting part. 71 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,720 So we're very international church. 72 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,240 So we have all sorts of different people from all around the world. 73 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:06,000 Very small group of Japanese. 74 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Yeah. 75 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Yeah. 76 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,320 Majority is just anywhere really from the world. 77 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:12,520 But that's a beautiful thing. 78 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,560 How Christ can unite all different people in one place. 79 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:22,760 That's quite similar to our church from Europe, Asia, a lot from Africa. 80 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:24,680 As an Australian, I'm sort of the minority. 81 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,920 But that's okay because go beyond where we're from. 82 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:29,960 We're all going to be in heaven one day together. 83 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:30,960 Exactly. 84 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:31,960 Exactly. 85 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:32,960 Yeah. 86 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:33,960 But that's so amazing. 87 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,800 And of course you have a story and you've not been Christian your entire life. 88 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,680 You never grew up in a Christian family. 89 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,680 So there's that journey that we really want to hear. 90 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:50,520 So what we love to do is just ask you initially like when you're growing up, were you Christian? 91 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,560 I'm assuming you're not. 92 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,880 But let's talk through your journey. 93 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:56,920 Let's talk about your childhood. 94 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:58,880 How was it like living in Japan? 95 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,520 Was Christianity a thing there? 96 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:03,520 Because I've never been to Japan. 97 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:04,520 I'm not sure about you. 98 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:05,520 No, I haven't. 99 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:11,080 So culturally, being a Christian, is it frowned upon? 100 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:15,520 Are you persecuted in some ways because you're a Christian? 101 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,800 Well Japan is one of the very few countries in the world still unleashed. 102 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:20,800 Interesting enough. 103 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:26,120 It's very advanced as a country but less than 1% of the population are Christian. 104 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:27,120 Oh wow. 105 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,680 Yeah, so it's very unleashed. 106 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:36,000 There's a very sad history of Christian missionaries coming in through the 14th, 15th century 107 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,560 where the government just shut down the country for over 300 years. 108 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:40,560 Oh really? 109 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,640 Yeah, so no, I didn't actually grow up with any understanding of Bible or Christianity 110 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:50,160 or even, I don't think I even heard a name Jesus really. 111 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:55,960 My grandfather on Dad's side was a Buddhist monk and had a, on temple. 112 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:01,600 So Buddhist was very heavily influencing my family and my mum's side of the grandfather 113 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,600 was elder in the Shinto temple. 114 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:12,960 So as a child I had a very mix of Shintoism and Abortism but there was no really a family, 115 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,920 the religion of the family followed. 116 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,160 It was just like cultural, literal things we do. 117 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:18,160 Oh yeah. 118 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:26,960 So in the early years you go to temple, you visit local temples on some occasions. 119 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:31,080 So that was the only things that I ever really experienced in a religion way. 120 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:32,080 Yeah, yeah. 121 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:38,920 So I didn't grow up knowing anything about Christianity or Jesus or Bible. 122 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:44,400 My mum had a friend who was Catholic and she used to send me a chocolate every Christmas. 123 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,280 That was the only things I probably knew about Christians, like, oh there's a Christian, 124 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:50,840 nice people, they send me chocolate. 125 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:51,840 That's pretty much it. 126 00:06:51,840 --> 00:06:59,640 But yeah, so I did grow up in a very dark, probably environment. 127 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,840 So yeah, my family was quite broken, dysfunctional. 128 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:04,840 Oh no. 129 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:09,960 Yeah, so my father was into the gambolines, drinking. 130 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,840 My parents got divorced when I was young. 131 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:17,680 So yeah, from there on I went to live with my grandparents. 132 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,600 I was raised by grandparents for quite a number of years. 133 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,840 My mum went through depressions, quite severe mental health issues back then, untreated 134 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,920 of course in the 80s. 135 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:30,920 Alcoholism, everything. 136 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:38,120 So I saw domestic violence to gambling to alcoholism, mental health, just in-house every 137 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:39,120 day. 138 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,720 That was the environment I grew up. 139 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,640 So it was not a peaceful home, very disturbed. 140 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,840 Yeah, I could imagine. 141 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:52,320 Yeah, unsafe for probably any young child. 142 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,120 So that was just kind of the way that I grew up. 143 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:01,160 I learnt I guess protect myself, like I self protect in many ways. 144 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:06,240 Unfortunately I was exposed to some abuse as well as a young child. 145 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:08,960 So that really did impact me as well. 146 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:14,720 So it wasn't, there were happy moments of course for every child, but I can't say it 147 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,840 was entirely peaceful or happy child food. 148 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,320 Yeah, definitely. 149 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,040 Now that's terrible and I'm sorry to hear that. 150 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:33,200 I know a lot of people go through this lifestyle and I have compassion for them. 151 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,080 A child should not be in this environment. 152 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,840 They deserve a stable environment. 153 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,480 Sometimes it's not their fault. 154 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:43,720 There's nothing you can do. 155 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,760 The devil wants to come and break that family unit. 156 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:48,280 That's what it's all about. 157 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,320 Once he breaks that family unit, then there's downhill from there. 158 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:58,080 Is that sort of a common thing in Japan that you find? 159 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:04,840 Yeah, I think it's actually common in any country these days in modern families. 160 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:05,840 True. 161 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:07,840 You see that in Australia as well. 162 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:14,480 Back in the 80s, when I was growing up, coming from divorced family or single mothers family 163 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:23,040 was, it came with a sense of shame because there was not many family who would go through 164 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,040 divorce. 165 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,680 Even though family was dysfunctional, people often stayed together just for the sake of 166 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:31,520 the family or the children. 167 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:37,880 For my parents that actually go through divorce at the time, it was a pretty big thing. 168 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:44,280 I think I was only three child in my primary school class that was single mothers. 169 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:45,280 Yeah, wow. 170 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,960 That also had a bit of a shame attached to my child. 171 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:54,360 Some of my friends' mom or dad would say they didn't want me to be friends with their 172 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,720 daughters because I was from single mothers family. 173 00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:58,720 No one. 174 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:00,720 That was the cultural setting in the 80s. 175 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:01,720 I don't think it is now. 176 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:02,720 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 177 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,320 Back in the 80s, it was still like that in Japan. 178 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:06,320 Yeah. 179 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,360 So with that real strong culture that's in Japan of a family unit? 180 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:11,360 Yeah, very much. 181 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,880 Wow, that's incredible. 182 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:20,480 Yeah, I can relate to that because I know, I'm sure India's changed by now, but even 183 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,600 before in India, it was the same thing. 184 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,920 No matter what happened in the family, it was frowned upon when they separate. 185 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:27,920 Yeah, definitely. 186 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:34,120 It's like, oh, I remember a lot of people used to tell me, oh, the family separated, 187 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,840 there must be something going on, just don't relate to them like the bad people. 188 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,160 But at the end of the day, you don't realize it's not the child's fault. 189 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:42,160 Yeah. 190 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:51,040 We try to say don't relate to them that kind of creates that negativity in their life. 191 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,760 It's changed now, definitely. 192 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,040 But I could imagine the impact on the child. 193 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,800 It's the child trying to figure out, hey, what's wrong with me? 194 00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,800 What's happening? 195 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:00,800 I don't know. 196 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:01,800 It's not my fault. 197 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:02,800 I don't know. 198 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,400 I want my parents together, but they don't want to be together, why are people looking 199 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:06,400 at me like this? 200 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,120 So that really affects you mentally. 201 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,080 Was there enough support for you at that point in terms of mental health? 202 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:20,360 Well, not in the formal ways, like a medical health point, but my grandparents who took 203 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:27,000 us, my sister and I, into their homes and raised us probably from the age of 8 to 13. 204 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:32,520 They were like my rock because they were just stable, they were consistent, and they were 205 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:33,520 always there for me. 206 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:38,720 So they really become more like our parents because our mum wasn't functioning in her 207 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,920 mental state after divorce. 208 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:42,600 And dad was nowhere to be seen, of course. 209 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,560 He was not in our life at that point. 210 00:11:45,560 --> 00:11:47,880 So that probably was the biggest support for me. 211 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:53,320 But even with that, the sense of rejection, abandonment and shame was pretty strong all 212 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,720 the way through my upbringing. 213 00:11:55,720 --> 00:12:01,160 So I look back and not that I was diagnosed or anything, but I already had some mental 214 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:03,080 health challenge as a child. 215 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,320 It just was never picked up or treated. 216 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:07,600 Because, yeah, a lot of that. 217 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,240 It's only recent times where we're really learning about mental health. 218 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,240 It's an actual thing now. 219 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:18,080 Years ago, it was, well, you just sort of got to figure it out on your own, get through 220 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:19,080 it. 221 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,680 So, yeah, it would have been a really tough time. 222 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:25,600 And you know what I like about even me studying at Hope College? 223 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,840 They have actually a unit. 224 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:32,400 It's called Mental Health in Ministry. 225 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:37,280 They teach you, there's a spiritual aspect to it, but then there's also another aspect 226 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:45,840 that compliments medicine kind of, you know, just to help get that mental health support. 227 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:47,320 Like, it's also important. 228 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:52,120 So I really like that subject and just put it out there. 229 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:56,840 I think that's being more considered within ministry. 230 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:05,200 Because it's important that there's some mental health conditions that can be easily 231 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:09,280 solved and just you need to talk to the person. 232 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:11,440 Pastoral care is one of the biggest things. 233 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,040 Sitting with the person, praying with them, talking to them. 234 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:17,400 And these things, you know, God can deliver that person out of this problem. 235 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:21,680 But there's some things that require more specialist help. 236 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:24,640 And that's the time we exercise fasting. 237 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:30,640 I 100% agree with it because my entire life, it's been a mental health challenge. 238 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,360 In a journey, it has been quite severe. 239 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,960 Even to I got help medically as an adult, but then also understanding the spiritual aspect 240 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:45,080 of it, where the demonic influence was a part of my mental health challenge. 241 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:51,800 And understanding it both, that really did help me to get my freedom in Christ. 242 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:57,480 It's incredible because most times we'll see people will either go medically or they'll 243 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:04,320 go spiritually, but they'll never think or talk about maybe there's both sides to it. 244 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:05,320 Yeah, 100%. 245 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:06,320 Yeah. 246 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:10,720 And so this is actually something you've been through personally and you understand. 247 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,040 That's very incredible. 248 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,120 The ministry for that today would be huge. 249 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:15,120 It will be with me. 250 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,480 I think especially after the pandemic and everything. 251 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:18,480 Oh yeah, 100%. 252 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:19,480 Yeah. 253 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:26,440 But I think it is a reality also we need to be recognizing in the church as well. 254 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:29,000 People are struggling. 255 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,280 In life is a tough. 256 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:36,880 Many situations do happen, abuse happen, there's a trauma also being unhealed. 257 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,560 And we need to look holistically in not just overspiritualizing, but also not ignoring 258 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:47,720 a spiritual influence, that demonic attachment that could have been influencing over the 259 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:48,720 challenges. 260 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,760 So mine was actually a bit of both. 261 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:51,760 Yeah. 262 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:55,320 Yeah, I had a chemical imbalance as an adult after having two children. 263 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:56,320 So the hormone imbalance. 264 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:57,320 Oh, okay, yes. 265 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:59,200 That's where my challenges started. 266 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:05,240 But then I opened myself to more of the spiritual dark stuff where I believe that's where demonic 267 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,120 attachment came and made things worse for me. 268 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,280 So I understand both sides of that journey. 269 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:12,280 Yeah. 270 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:16,560 It's good you said that because we'll come to that story later on in the segment. 271 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,720 But your journey as a child wasn't that great. 272 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:26,800 But coming to the part you actually came to Australia because I believe everything started 273 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,000 the minute you came to Australia, the whole, you know, your testimony. 274 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,800 And so let's talk about that journey of you coming to Australia. 275 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:35,800 How was that like? 276 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,000 Yeah, so I met my husband in Japan. 277 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,000 Oh, okay. 278 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,000 So I was 19. 279 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,560 He came as exchange staff to Japan. 280 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,680 So, and I was assigned to look after him at work. 281 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,640 I supervise him, really. 282 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,520 So that's how actually we got connected in and we start dating. 283 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:58,960 So we got engaged, decided to move to Australia because he's wanting a contract with a job 284 00:15:58,960 --> 00:15:59,960 finished. 285 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:02,160 Yes, I was 20 when I moved here. 286 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,360 My first overseas trip ever. 287 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:05,360 Wow. 288 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:11,200 Got my first passport and moved to Australia when the Gorkos was not so popular. 289 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:12,200 Yeah. 290 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:13,200 32 years ago. 291 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:14,200 Oh, wow. 292 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:15,200 Yeah. 293 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:20,880 The first probably challenge I faced was the social isolation. 294 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:21,880 Yeah. 295 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,040 I did not speak English very well. 296 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,480 I did not have a family, no friends. 297 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,200 And back then there was no smartphone, no Google Translate. 298 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:31,800 There was not even the internet. 299 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:32,800 Wow. 300 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:33,800 Nothing. 301 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:38,240 So only ways of communicating with my family back home was writing later to each other 302 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,240 and sending, printed out the photos, you know, from K-Mart. 303 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:42,240 Yes, yes. 304 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:43,240 You know, you go in and K-Mart and you print a photo. 305 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:44,240 Yeah, I know. 306 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:45,240 Send it in envelope. 307 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:46,240 Remember those days? 308 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:47,240 Yes. 309 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:48,240 He doesn't. 310 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:49,240 But you don't. 311 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:50,240 You're too young, of course. 312 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:51,240 Yeah. 313 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:57,360 So looking back, I think it was social isolation was probably the major challenge that I faced 314 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:58,440 when I moved to Australia. 315 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:04,760 So I was not a Christian back then, but I pretty much went into depression straight away. 316 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:05,760 Yeah. 317 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:07,720 I couldn't sleep at night. 318 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,920 I was constantly crying. 319 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:10,920 Yeah. 320 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,720 Homesick, depressed. 321 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,960 Not having a community around you. 322 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:19,360 Just a normal thing. 323 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:20,760 Just let's go out for coffee. 324 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:21,760 Yeah. 325 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:22,760 Let's chat on the phone. 326 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,920 I was totally cut off from all of that, apart from my husband and his family. 327 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:31,560 So that was first probably 10 years in Australia for me was quite difficult. 328 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:32,560 Yeah. 329 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:33,560 Yeah. 330 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:41,000 And do you think that being added on top of your past as a child growing up was like 331 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:45,880 where some people might think maybe that wasn't that bad or I've been through it, but if 332 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,600 you've gone through childhood trauma and abandonment and then all of a sudden you're in a country 333 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,040 and you don't know anyone, yeah, it just... 334 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:55,040 Yeah, 100%. 335 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:56,720 A lot of weight on your shoulders. 336 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:57,720 Yeah. 337 00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:58,720 It's like a pressure cooker, you know? 338 00:17:58,720 --> 00:17:59,720 Yeah, that's exactly what happened. 339 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:00,720 Yeah, that's exactly what happened. 340 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,720 And the whistle's just waiting to fall. 341 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:04,720 Yeah. 342 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:07,200 But back then I did not understand any of that. 343 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:08,200 I was just surviving. 344 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:09,200 No, totally. 345 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:10,200 I was surviving. 346 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:11,200 I didn't know the Lord. 347 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:12,200 Yeah. 348 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,640 I was just surviving from day to day, really. 349 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,800 And my husband was surviving from day to day with me being in that state. 350 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:18,800 Oh, yeah. 351 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:24,200 So, and then trying to raise a young family, it was tough. 352 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:25,400 It was really tough. 353 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:33,040 So, yeah, definitely my childhood trauma that hasn't been healed got triggered in a circumstance, 354 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:34,920 and especially when we started our own family. 355 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:35,920 Yeah. 356 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,400 You know, suddenly I got really responsible for this life that I don't even know how to 357 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,120 take care of. 358 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:45,320 So, yeah, it really did... 359 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,360 It really pushed me to the edge. 360 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:48,360 Yeah. 361 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:54,760 But interestingly enough, that's how the God actually led me to Him when I just hit 362 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:55,760 the lock bottom. 363 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:56,760 Yeah. 364 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:58,560 You know, just I didn't know what to do with it myself anymore. 365 00:18:58,560 --> 00:18:59,560 I was suicidal. 366 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,360 I was heavily medicated. 367 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:06,240 Maxed out on antidepressant 300 ml a day. 368 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:07,240 Wow. 369 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:09,240 I know what you're saying. 370 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,240 Dr. Rohan. 371 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:12,240 Yeah. 372 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:14,880 Really, I couldn't function at all. 373 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:16,200 I'll be waking up in the morning. 374 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,920 My husband actually had to physically dress me. 375 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:19,920 Wow. 376 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,480 And then, you know, put me in a living room, wherever he'll go to work, come back, and 377 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:25,880 I'll be still sitting on the same spot. 378 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:26,880 Oh, my goodness. 379 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,320 You know, so I was like, I could not function at all. 380 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,320 Yeah. 381 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:32,320 Yeah. 382 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:33,320 I lost my weight. 383 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,640 My weight dropped to like 42K in those times. 384 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:37,640 Oh, wow. 385 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:38,640 Yeah. 386 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:39,640 Couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. 387 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,520 Even with sleeping pills, I couldn't sleep. 388 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:47,240 Anxiety, depression, panic disorder, all of the heat, all at once. 389 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:48,240 Wow. 390 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:49,920 And our children were very young at the time. 391 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:51,520 So it really was a survival. 392 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:52,520 Yeah, yeah. 393 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:53,520 Yeah. 394 00:19:53,520 --> 00:20:00,360 Do your children remember that or were they sort of protected by innocence a bit during 395 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:01,360 that stage? 396 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:07,960 Like, they maybe sort of knew something wasn't right, but because when I was a kid, there 397 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:09,480 was a few things in my family. 398 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:14,880 I didn't, oh, six years old when we first started going to church. 399 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:19,680 But when you grow up and find out later about what mum and dad went through, you go, oh, 400 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:21,880 wow, I didn't realize it was like that. 401 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:25,120 Do you know if your children were sort of like that or? 402 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:31,160 Yeah, I think our children actually told us they remember us told and been told to them. 403 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,960 So our children would be very young, maybe five, seven, around that age. 404 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:36,960 Okay, yeah. 405 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:37,960 Yeah. 406 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,160 And then when I was in the well, they actually remember dad cooking for them. 407 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,400 And funny enough, they hate that meal. 408 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:45,400 Oh, really? 409 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,800 Like that dish because I think their memory is associated to mum not being well to the 410 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:50,800 dish. 411 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:51,800 So which is like a... 412 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:52,800 So more than taste buds. 413 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:53,800 Yes. 414 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:54,800 Wow. 415 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:56,480 So the smell of the sauce from the jar. 416 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:57,480 Yeah. 417 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,520 So my husband used to use this jar to cook chicken. 418 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,640 Like a canton chicken sort of thing. 419 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:03,640 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 420 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,000 And they actually remember and they will not touch it. 421 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,000 That's incredible. 422 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,280 Yeah, because they remember that's all that dad could cook because mum wasn't well. 423 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:12,280 Yeah. 424 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,200 So they might not understand all the details, but they remember that memory of that food. 425 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:18,200 There's that trigger. 426 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,200 Yeah, it's a trigger. 427 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:21,200 Definitely. 428 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:26,840 But yeah, I did actually ask my oldest son who's 29, almost 29 now. 429 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,840 He said he only remember us told and been told to him. 430 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:30,840 Yeah, okay. 431 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,360 But they do remember something was happening. 432 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:34,360 Yeah. 433 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:37,000 And it really impacted them as a child. 434 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,120 So our younger son who's actually a high school teacher teaching psychology. 435 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:42,120 Oh, wow. 436 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:47,200 Yeah, he had to go through processing himself before he could teach. 437 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,360 So they did identify their own trauma as an adult. 438 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,840 And they took a step for the healing for themselves. 439 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:54,840 Okay. 440 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:55,840 Yeah, so that's... 441 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,480 I'm really grateful to go for that. 442 00:21:58,480 --> 00:21:59,480 Absolutely. 443 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:02,840 Because when I came to know the law, the one thing I was really concerned with was how 444 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,760 much of damage have I done to my children in those early years? 445 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:07,760 Yeah. 446 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,560 Yeah, so in a way, I think God did protect them, shelter them. 447 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,520 But they do remember a few story that was quite significant. 448 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:19,600 Like one night, I just had a just emotional meltdown. 449 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:24,520 I just could not function and I wanted to hurt myself. 450 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,520 So I was taking a knife. 451 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,480 I think I do remember having a knife in my hand. 452 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:35,920 My husband was trying to stop me from cutting myself or hurting myself and I accidentally 453 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,880 stabbed him on the hand. 454 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:39,440 And then that was a trigger to me. 455 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,520 I actually called the police myself and asked the police to come over to arrest me. 456 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:44,520 Wow. 457 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,080 And then my children actually do remember being questioned by police officers in the house. 458 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:52,000 So the police came, they saw it was domestic violence happening. 459 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,920 Police went to ask our children what happened. 460 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,040 And our children said, no, it's not that, it's mummy. 461 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,640 Because sometimes the wife might try and defend the husband. 462 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:03,640 Exactly. 463 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:04,640 Yeah, so. 464 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,280 Yeah, and then my husband had to explain to the police officers that I'm heavily medicated 465 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:12,280 as a, you know, mental health challenges and this and that. 466 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:13,760 But they do remember that part. 467 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:14,760 Yeah. 468 00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:15,760 Yeah. 469 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,040 So just, probably just the snapshots of here and there. 470 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,080 But maybe not all the details of what was actually happening. 471 00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:22,080 Yeah, yeah. 472 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,080 Yeah. 473 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,480 No, that's very unfortunate. 474 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:32,400 But so this is why we're doing this testimony is because we can see where you were at, you 475 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,280 know, the lowest of the lowest. 476 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,240 Yeah, it's just incredible. 477 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,480 But now we see you right here, Pastor Norrigal of Hope Church. 478 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:41,480 Yeah. 479 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:48,200 Now we want to know how God changed you from being that person to where you are right now. 480 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,840 That's what we really want to know that, that change and what God did in your life. 481 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:54,320 You know, that's a true testimony. 482 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:55,800 This is why we do the show. 483 00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,800 It's because we want to tell people that there are gods in all of this, that God is going 484 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:06,840 to be there in the toughest situation to take you out and he will put you at a better place. 485 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:08,760 That's exactly why we do the testimony. 486 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:13,600 So we want to really hear that story of how God brought you out of all of these things. 487 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,240 Yeah, it's just all good to God, isn't it? 488 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:17,240 Absolutely. 489 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,240 It's not something that we can manufacture. 490 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:20,240 No. 491 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:24,160 And I even look back and go, how did God do that? 492 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,720 So as I explained, I was in a really bad mental state. 493 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,160 I do believe it was quite demonic at the time. 494 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:35,000 Not that I realized, but I look back and then definitely it was some demonic attachment 495 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,520 to it. 496 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:42,760 So I had a lot of anchor issues from my childhood abuse that hasn't been healed or resolved. 497 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,760 And that was all coming out in my state. 498 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,760 I was working in the film industry back then. 499 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:56,200 One morning I wake up just in such emotional mess and pain. 500 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,160 I was just, I was tormented really. 501 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:00,880 I was so tormented. 502 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,600 I remember getting up three in the morning, walking to my kitchen, I just fell on the 503 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,760 floor, started sobbing. 504 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,320 Because I just wanted this pain to stop. 505 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:12,240 And I verbalized it. 506 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,840 And I look back and I go, I don't even know why I verbalized it. 507 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:19,560 But that morning I actually said, can somebody stop this? 508 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,360 And then I was working on a film set that morning. 509 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:27,040 I went to the film set and I saw a friend whom I had been seeing for a long time on 510 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,040 the same film set. 511 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,120 It used to be in the same acting class. 512 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:32,120 There was two friends. 513 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:35,000 One, they were both Christians, which I didn't know. 514 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:40,360 So apparently a girl who was on the film set with me was praying over me without me knowing. 515 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:45,120 She told me later after I gave her after Jesus, she was praying over me that I will come to 516 00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:46,680 know the Lord. 517 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,880 And the other friend who was a male friend, he actually looked a bit like Jesus. 518 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:56,760 Now I remember actually making comments to him on the film set, you look like a Jesus. 519 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:01,040 So anyway, so I got just an amazing thing on that day. 520 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,280 Someone stole my mobile phone and wallet on the film set. 521 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,120 So I was stuck on the film set. 522 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:08,920 Another friend that looked like a Jesus. 523 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:17,040 He came along to help me and then helped me sorting forms and reporting it and took me 524 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,840 out for a meal because my husband wasn't home. 525 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,560 And he was at that dinner table. 526 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,360 He started actually talking to me about his mom. 527 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:32,520 And it was a really interesting conversation because it came out of nowhere. 528 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,520 But he said to me, my mom had a mental health issue. 529 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:41,640 She had a depression and she killed herself when my brother and I were young. 530 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:46,800 And he said, I don't want your children to grow up without mom like we did. 531 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,680 And he did not know anything about my life. 532 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,000 So he knew nothing what was going on. 533 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,000 Nothing. 534 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:58,040 And he also didn't know the four months before that day, I was actually at the hospital emergency 535 00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:59,680 after my suicide. 536 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,160 I pulled the guss into the car trying to kill myself. 537 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,760 Nothing he knew about it, but he actually started talking about his mom and their story. 538 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,440 And I said to him, why are you telling me this story? 539 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:16,320 And that's when he said, oh, you might think I'm strange, but I'm Christian. 540 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,360 And God is telling me to tell you this story right now. 541 00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:21,360 Yeah, wow. 542 00:27:21,360 --> 00:27:24,160 Because as an actress, you can cover up. 543 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,840 You can hide everything on the set. 544 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,160 But then you can't hide from the Holy Spirit. 545 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,840 So he had a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit. 546 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:39,400 I was also in a proper relationship outside of my marriage at the time. 547 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,640 And he actually named the person that I was involved with. 548 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,000 So God gave me a word of knowledge from heaven. 549 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:47,120 Yeah, you could not deny. 550 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:48,680 I could not deny. 551 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,760 And I was like, OK, so what is this? 552 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:59,040 So and this guy actually said to me, I know you can't help yourself, but I know that somebody 553 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:00,520 can help you. 554 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:02,800 So I'm thinking they got, OK, which doctor? 555 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:03,800 Which psychologist? 556 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:04,800 Which psychiatrist? 557 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,640 Tell me, because I tried them all. 558 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:08,640 I was seeing a psychiatrist. 559 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:09,640 I was seeing a psychologist. 560 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:11,440 I was seeing a GP. 561 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:13,400 I was heavily medicated. 562 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:19,520 They were talking my dup in my brain to possibly putting me in a mental institution in Brisbane. 563 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:25,120 It was that when God sent this guy to tell his testimony of his mom. 564 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:30,240 And when he told me that his mom died when he was nine and his brother was seven. 565 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:36,280 And my children, the two boys, we have two sons, they were nine and seven at that time. 566 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:41,000 And so I was like, OK, who is this person that's going to help me? 567 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,960 So he took me outside of the restaurant, pointed to the sky. 568 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:45,960 And I just looked up. 569 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:46,960 There was nothing there. 570 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,600 I was in the sky full of stars. 571 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,640 But my man, I looked up and saw the stars. 572 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,240 The stars start moving towards me. 573 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:56,440 I actually felt it. 574 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,160 I saw it moving towards me. 575 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,640 And I just kneeled on the ground, start weeping. 576 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:04,640 Wow. 577 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:11,240 And you know the scripture talks about his creation, the girl of my God. 578 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:12,240 Exactly that was that moment. 579 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,280 I just realized there was something out there that began in my soul. 580 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:17,560 And I didn't know what hit me. 581 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:25,200 I was on the footpath by the beach weeping and weeping and weeping. 582 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,680 And probably about 10, 15 minutes I was just sobbing and crying so that he did not lay 583 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:31,640 hands on me or prayed or anything. 584 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:32,640 Nothing. 585 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:34,280 He did not say, well, Jesus, nothing. 586 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,280 I just start weeping. 587 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:41,080 And after 10, 15 minutes I looked at him and said, I need to become a Christian. 588 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:42,880 I have no idea why. 589 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,120 And he even asked me. 590 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,320 My friend said, why do you need to become a Christian? 591 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,120 And I said, I don't know why. 592 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:55,040 But if I don't become a Christian tonight, I don't think I'll be alive tomorrow. 593 00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:00,160 So that's how God just encountered me in supernaturally. 594 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:05,600 So we went back to my house to tell my husband what just happened. 595 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,720 My friend, the young, model looking nice looking boy. 596 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:10,800 So he knocks on the door. 597 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:12,000 My husband answers the door. 598 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:13,360 We're standing there. 599 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,920 And my friend said, we got something to tell you. 600 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:17,920 That looks wrong. 601 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,440 I know it did look wrong. 602 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:20,680 And I had a bad history. 603 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,720 But I said to my husband, OK, what's going on here? 604 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,800 And my friend said, Noriko wants to become a Christian. 605 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,240 So my husband was back in the church with our children at that time. 606 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:33,240 So he was saved? 607 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,160 Yeah, he was saved as a teenager. 608 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:37,720 But he met me and he has a meaning in the church. 609 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,480 But it was all of the mess that started happening in our life. 610 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,640 He was going back to church with children at that point. 611 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,680 So anyway, so my friend told my husband, she wants to become a Christian. 612 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,920 And my husband said, no, you're mocking me. 613 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:51,920 Oh, really? 614 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:52,920 He didn't believe it? 615 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,440 No, he said, you're not that kind of woman. 616 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:56,440 Really? 617 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,240 That's how bad I was. 618 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,920 That's sort of like when Peter and John are arrested and they're praying for him to be 619 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,600 released and they come and they knock on the door. 620 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:07,560 And they don't believe they're there. 621 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:08,560 No. 622 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:12,560 Yeah, so anyway, he was really skeptical. 623 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,360 But he did let us in. 624 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,800 And my friend said, no, she's really wanted to become a Christian. 625 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,520 And I said, yes, I do. 626 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,000 I had no idea actually what it meant. 627 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:22,200 But I said, no, I do. 628 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,600 I need to become a Christian tonight or I won't be alive tomorrow. 629 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:27,280 So then my husband said, are you going to church? 630 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:28,280 And I said, yes. 631 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,000 Are you going to read the Bible? 632 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:31,000 Yes. 633 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Yeah, wow. 634 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,480 So my husband and a friend let me to the Lord in our living room. 635 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:41,280 And in the moment I prayed a sin as a prayer with them, I actually felt something come out 636 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:42,280 of me. 637 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:43,280 Wow. 638 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,800 And it was like a big air just coming out of me. 639 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:48,800 Wow. 640 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:49,800 Yeah. 641 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,240 And just in that moment my head start spinning. 642 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:57,120 And so I look back and I know there was demonic attachment or actually even possession. 643 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:58,120 Yes. 644 00:31:58,120 --> 00:31:59,360 And that all came out with that. 645 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:00,360 Wow. 646 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:03,000 And my husband handed me his Bible that night. 647 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,000 Yeah. 648 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:05,000 I said, are you going to read this? 649 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,080 I've never read English books until that night. 650 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:08,240 Oh, wow. 651 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:09,240 I opened it. 652 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:10,240 I couldn't stop reading it. 653 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:11,240 Really? 654 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:12,240 All night. 655 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:13,520 I was just staying up reading. 656 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,520 All night, crying. 657 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,720 Every page I flipped, the Holy Spirit just started talking to me. 658 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,920 And I'm sobbing and I'm crying. 659 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,760 And then just got to start doing a renewing of mind, bit by bit. 660 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:26,760 Wow. 661 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,040 So just before that happened, I was actually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. 662 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:32,040 Okay. 663 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,320 So psychiatrists told me that I would never be cured. 664 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:41,760 I just had to be medicated, learn to cope with my condition for the rest of my life. 665 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,240 So we were actually in a state of hopelessness really. 666 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,440 My husband was like, okay, do I need to have this for the rest of our life? 667 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:50,440 Yeah. 668 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:51,440 What's going to look like for our children? 669 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,440 His mom not functioning. 670 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,640 But more and more I received a Christ that God just started doing a renewing of my mind, 671 00:32:58,640 --> 00:33:02,760 giving me new identity as a daughter of the King. 672 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:08,000 Start doing some healing works of my traumas, abuse, just a bit by bit, layers by layers. 673 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,000 Yeah. 674 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:10,000 Yeah. 675 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:11,000 Yeah. 676 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:12,720 And then really start taking a place. 677 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:13,720 Yeah. 678 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:21,280 But I remember actually praying and I just really said to the Lord, I don't want to go 679 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:22,800 back where I came from. 680 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:25,560 I don't ever want to cross that line ever again. 681 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:31,960 So that was my benchmark to never go back to where I was in my mind or in my behavior. 682 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:36,840 And I made a commitment to the Lord for, I guess, start cleansing and purifying my life 683 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:37,840 as well. 684 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:38,840 Yeah. 685 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,360 So that was my seven years healing journey followed after that. 686 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:44,560 So it was not just overnight. 687 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:45,560 Everything was sorted. 688 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:46,560 Yeah. 689 00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:47,560 Yeah. 690 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,840 It was abandonment issues, rejection issues, impact of abuse. 691 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:58,480 All of that need to be healed over the seven years going through both Christian Psychologist 692 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,680 counseling but also prayer ministry receiving that. 693 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:02,680 Yep. 694 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,760 A bit of deliverance, of course, comes with it. 695 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:05,760 Yeah, yeah, for sure. 696 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:12,160 It was a bit of a journey and it was like you make advance maybe three steps, one step 697 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:13,160 back. 698 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,160 Yeah. 699 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:15,160 Yeah. 700 00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:16,160 Yeah. 701 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:20,640 And time to time you just feel like you haven't progressed in any way and the devil come and 702 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,720 try to tell you nothing has changed. 703 00:34:22,720 --> 00:34:23,720 You're still insane. 704 00:34:23,720 --> 00:34:24,720 Yeah. 705 00:34:24,720 --> 00:34:25,720 You're still mentally unwell. 706 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:26,720 Yeah. 707 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:29,360 And so it was like a mind game that's happening. 708 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:30,360 Yeah. 709 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:31,360 Yeah. 710 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:32,360 But it was just a bit. 711 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:33,360 I guess one of the things, sorry. 712 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:34,360 Yeah. 713 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:41,400 And when we, or Christians typically hear an amazing testimony like this and the transforming 714 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:49,760 power of God like on a night like the night you got saved and that we tend to think that 715 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,480 well it's just all smooth sailing from here. 716 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:54,080 That's never the case. 717 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:55,080 No. 718 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,080 Really. 719 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,320 That's when we start growing roots and start addressing real issues and it's like there's 720 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,360 a work that starts beginning then. 721 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,400 And like what you said, like three steps forward and then one step back. 722 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:11,280 And the moment we take that step back and we feel like we've failed, Satan's there to 723 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:16,080 just jump on and ride us and try and bring us back to where we were. 724 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,240 But I think from what I heard that the key was you made that decision. 725 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,040 I'm never going back to where I was. 726 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:27,200 And I think if anything speaks volumes, it's that. 727 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:33,320 Sort of like with Daniel, it says that he decided in his heart that he wasn't going 728 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:38,760 to defile himself and it was that decision then that led him to be the man of God at 729 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:39,760 that time. 730 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,240 And I guess the same thing for yourself is that that decision, you're never going to 731 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,960 go back to where you were. 732 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,360 Trial and tribulation never kept you down. 733 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:55,200 That may have knocked you over, but by the grace of God always able to get back up and 734 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:56,680 continue in His grace. 735 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:57,680 Definitely. 736 00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:58,680 So that's just incredible. 737 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:04,960 Yeah, and really understanding it's not by trying harder that we get renewed or transformed. 738 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,240 It's by the power of the gospel. 739 00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:10,880 It's by the power of the gospel and His truth. 740 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:16,800 We started exposing the lies of the enemy that has been, I guess, keeping us in the 741 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:17,800 enemy's camp. 742 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:18,800 Yeah. 743 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:25,000 So it's one by one identifying all those false belief that was in me and God just highlighting 744 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:31,240 and illuminating to me and learning to apply the Word of God over my life, not just as 745 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:33,400 a knowledge, but living a theology. 746 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:34,400 We say we can think. 747 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:35,400 A revelation. 748 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:36,400 Yes. 749 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,280 So I think that was my process and it still is a process. 750 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:40,280 Yeah. 751 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:47,720 You know, even recently I was actually doing a ministry into the trauma healing areas and 752 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,520 that actually triggered me something that I didn't even know that I haven't processed 753 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:52,520 yet. 754 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:53,520 Really? 755 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,360 I did receive a ministry just recently myself because I identified it. 756 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,200 As soon as I identified it, I said, I can't leave it there. 757 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:05,880 I need to actually deal with it now so that we don't give the enemy a foothold. 758 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:11,560 So I do believe in sometimes we as a Christian can have so much knowledge of the Word, but 759 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,080 not living the Word. 760 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:15,080 Very true. 761 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,080 That's a very very true. 762 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,080 Right? 763 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:19,080 And it's such a big gap, such a big gap. 764 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:24,840 We can talk about Jesus not knowing Jesus intimately. 765 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:32,280 We can be in a church every week and not encountering His presence and it's so easy to do. 766 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,520 So that's just been my journey and my passion really. 767 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:40,800 Like just, I love studying of the theology and the Bibles and all that, but if you can't 768 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,720 leave out the theology, really it's just information. 769 00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:44,720 Exactly right. 770 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:50,320 And that's where you can, the difference between someone that ministers information and another 771 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:52,600 one that ministers life. 772 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:59,400 Like I got no doubt that this testimony is going to impact so many people in such a positive 773 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:04,680 way just because of the relationship you have with Christ. 774 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,320 It brings life to wherever we go. 775 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:13,000 It's nothing special about us, but the beauty that He brings inside of us. 776 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,000 It's just incredible. 777 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,880 And no one, no one is too far gone for Jesus. 778 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:23,920 He ministered to the prostitute, tax collectors. 779 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:30,760 He went to them, ate with them, sat with them, spoken with women at the well. 780 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,480 That's Jesus that we have. 781 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:37,560 Sometimes we feel like we need to be perfect or we need to be a better before we can come 782 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:38,760 to God. 783 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,640 But I think God wants us to bring us as we are, broken as we are. 784 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,680 And I just love that about His love that I never experienced that in my upbringing from 785 00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:47,680 my dad. 786 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:55,040 You know, so coming into the God's family and experiencing that love of Jesus through, 787 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:59,040 not just in my life that we go about with one another, the fellowship. 788 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:02,120 That just really helped me in my healing journey. 789 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,800 So I'm really passionate about people being in a fellowship in person. 790 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,760 I know online is great and then it's very convenient. 791 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:16,480 But if you're not in a fellowship, you're not going to grow in your personality or in 792 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:17,480 the character of the Christ. 793 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:25,040 If you don't have somebody to love, you're not going to learn how to love like Jesus. 794 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:30,000 So it's just had a lot of layers in my journey. 795 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,840 One of actually quite demonic things actually happened. 796 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,720 Shortly after I got saved, I had a dream. 797 00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:37,720 I dream a lot. 798 00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:38,720 Okay. 799 00:39:38,720 --> 00:39:42,760 But I had a dream and in my dream, I saw the big white dragon appear to me. 800 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:43,760 Wow. 801 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:44,760 Wow. 802 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,000 And the dragon actually spoke to me. 803 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:51,320 I was standing in front of the dragon and the dragon said to me, you belong to me. 804 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:52,640 Oh, wow. 805 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:54,360 And I said, no, I belong to Jesus. 806 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:55,360 Yeah. 807 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:59,000 Be gone in the name of Jesus and the dragon disappeared and I woke up from the dream. 808 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,000 Really? 809 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,320 So I thought, okay, what was that? 810 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:02,320 Yeah. 811 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:07,320 It's like, oh, my mom in Japan, I said, mom, I saw this white big dragon in my dream. 812 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,120 I don't know where it came from. 813 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,880 And then she told me the story. 814 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,400 I was dedicated to the Shinto temple as a newborn baby. 815 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:15,400 Really? 816 00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,160 And the Shinto temple's gods is a white dragon. 817 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:19,160 No way. 818 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:20,160 Wow. 819 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:21,160 Yeah. 820 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,040 So, you know, sometimes we just see as a literal cultural practice. 821 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:26,040 Yes. 822 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:27,040 Yeah. 823 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:28,040 Yeah. 824 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,520 Especially coming from something like Japan, we have many of those things. 825 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:33,520 Dedicating baby at the temple is actually a normal thing. 826 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:34,520 Oh, wow. 827 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,160 We don't think it's special implication today. 828 00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:37,160 Yeah. 829 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,640 But only when I came to know the one true God, of course, the demonic things manifested 830 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,440 in my life trying to get me back there. 831 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:51,080 So I had to actually, I went back to Japan that year and I had my mom's past is going 832 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:55,760 through prayer ministry to deliver me from that, to just renounce it. 833 00:40:55,760 --> 00:41:00,960 All the ties with the temples to anything that even without me knowing there was in 834 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:03,640 agreements, I had to go and cut everything off. 835 00:41:03,640 --> 00:41:04,640 Wow. 836 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,080 It really affected me so much to the point it was appearing in my dream. 837 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:09,080 Wow. 838 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:10,080 That's incredible. 839 00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:11,080 Yeah. 840 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:13,360 So I'm very passionate when I see the international people coming to our church. 841 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:18,200 It's called like, okay, we all need to actually look into the enemy is starting a bloodline 842 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:19,200 as well. 843 00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:20,200 Yeah. 844 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:21,200 What is that in there? 845 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:24,080 You can't explain, but you just know something's not right. 846 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:25,080 Yeah. 847 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,120 So that's been also part of my journey quite heavily. 848 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,120 Yeah. 849 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:30,120 Yeah. 850 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:36,480 So that's really how with all this negative upbringing, it's through the grace and power 851 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:42,160 of God, it's equipped you to not only see yourself delivered, but then just help so 852 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:43,160 many people. 853 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:44,160 Yeah. 854 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,080 I mean, let's look at the name of this church, Hope Church. 855 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:48,080 I don't think there's a better name to be honest. 856 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:49,080 You know what I mean? 857 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:50,080 Yeah. 858 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,840 Like if anything speaks hope, it's your testimony in Christ. 859 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:54,800 So yeah, that's just incredible. 860 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:55,800 Yeah. 861 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,840 I just, I feel very encouraged from hearing your testimony because you know, there's, 862 00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:07,960 I can say that I really, really understand the situation you've gone through because 863 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:14,440 there's some parts of your testimony I've had in my life and I had to deal with and 864 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:18,720 I can understand that it's not easy. 865 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:24,160 And I mean, I look at Justin, who's also the senior pastor for Hope Church, who's your 866 00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:29,040 husband and what he had to endure was truly remarkable. 867 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:30,040 Yeah. 868 00:42:30,040 --> 00:42:37,800 And you know, what I see is that forgiveness, that grace, that, you know, I'm trying to 869 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:45,640 think from his, you know, being him and thinking, if I was him, would I be able to do that? 870 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:46,640 Yeah. 871 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:48,240 Well, the grace on his life as well. 872 00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:49,240 Yeah. 873 00:42:49,240 --> 00:42:55,080 And I think definitely in love of Jesus, in his cup was overflowing to my life because 874 00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:58,960 he also decided to go back to the Lord in his relationship with him. 875 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:04,520 So when everything just went really bad, his go-to was God and God has spoken to him 876 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:05,520 in that moment. 877 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:10,520 He actually told me, we had termites in our house in a wall. 878 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:11,520 Okay. 879 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:12,520 Yeah. 880 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:16,040 And then he discovered he could hear it and he pushed the wall and the wall just crumbled 881 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,040 really. 882 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:22,560 And at that point, Holy Spirit spoke to me to say, this is how you build your life. 883 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:23,760 Wow. 884 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:27,520 And he said he just fell on the floor, start weeping. 885 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:31,840 And God spoke to me from this day and always, you will build your life on the rock. 886 00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:32,840 Oh, wow. 887 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:34,960 That's when he went back to church with the children. 888 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:35,960 Yes. 889 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:36,960 He started praying. 890 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:39,000 He was reading a Bible, gay. 891 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:44,840 So he had his journey of returning to the Lord through the mess. 892 00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:48,960 And I just look back and it's just such an amazing God we serve. 893 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:53,200 There's nothing he wastes that we go through, even the hardest thing we go through in our 894 00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:54,200 life. 895 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:55,200 He's still used for his glory. 896 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:56,200 Yeah. 897 00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:57,920 He's still used for his purpose. 898 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,440 So when we were asked to take over this church as a senior pastor, so we were associate 899 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,480 pastor for like over 10 years. 900 00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:07,320 And then our founding pastors asked us to take over church. 901 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:12,600 We looked at the date of the church being founded so over 30 years ago. 902 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,480 It was a very week that Justin, I came back from Japan. 903 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:16,480 The church opened. 904 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:17,480 No way. 905 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:18,480 Yeah. 906 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:19,480 So that to us was a confirmation. 907 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:20,480 Yeah. 908 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:24,520 Even though I didn't know the Lord and my husband was not walking with the Lord closely 909 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:25,520 at the time. 910 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:26,520 Yeah. 911 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,760 God ordered us so what was come in 27 years later. 912 00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:30,760 Yeah. 913 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,160 The God knew that we will take over church. 914 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:34,160 Yeah. 915 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:38,320 You know, so I just look back and go, what an incredible God we serve. 916 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:39,320 Yeah. 917 00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:40,320 Absolutely. 918 00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:41,320 Yes. 919 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:42,320 Wow, that's incredible. 920 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:43,320 Yeah. 921 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:50,000 And just, you know, your story just never fails to make me so happy and gives me so much hope, 922 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:51,000 honestly. 923 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:52,000 Yes. 924 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:57,720 It's just, there's so many aspects from your story that I can personally learn from, you 925 00:44:57,720 --> 00:45:02,920 know, the forgiveness aspect, you know, the grace and so many things I learned from. 926 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:09,800 And I'm sure when our viewers are watching this, they, you know, we can never understand 927 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:14,040 the entire situation, what you exactly went through, what your family went through, you 928 00:45:14,040 --> 00:45:18,960 know, just because this goes on for like an hour, the podcast, and we're saying a story. 929 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:22,720 But this, we have to understand this happened within a certain amount of time and there 930 00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:25,560 was so much ups and downs. 931 00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:31,840 And we just, we cannot imagine that, you know, how God can change one person. 932 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:35,640 Like for me, it's just, I'm like, wow, the story is amazing. 933 00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:38,600 Like how, you know, this is a true testament of how God can change. 934 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:42,720 And as I said, when starting of the podcast, from where you were, your bottom low to where 935 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:47,480 you are right now as a, you know, pastoring this church, it's incredible. 936 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:53,160 And I thank you for, you know, being so candid and being so open about your story because, 937 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:59,160 you know, a lot of people don't want to go into specifics of the story because, you know, 938 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,640 you being a senior pastor, you'll be like, I don't want people to think this way about 939 00:46:02,640 --> 00:46:03,640 me. 940 00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:09,560 But what you've done is actually been so open about your story and you've let, you know, 941 00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:12,760 people actually live through what you've lived through. 942 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:17,360 And this shows the love Christ has for us. 943 00:46:17,360 --> 00:46:22,720 And I'm truly so grateful for you to be in the show, to, you know, share with us this 944 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:23,720 thing. 945 00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:24,720 Definitely. 946 00:46:24,720 --> 00:46:28,120 Unfortunately, we don't have much time. 947 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:30,640 But thank you again, Noriko, for being here. 948 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:31,640 Thank you for having me. 949 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:32,640 Thank you so much. 950 00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:37,560 And what we like to do towards the end of the show, we give you some time to look into 951 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:45,200 the camera, or you can also tell us, but preferably the camera, send a message out to the people, 952 00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:49,200 what do you feel God's placed in your heart to tell them. 953 00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:55,600 And we like to also have you pray for our show and what we do after you, you know, share 954 00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:59,520 a bit of your message with our viewers so you can go ahead and do that now. 955 00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:00,520 Sure. 956 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:01,520 Sure. 957 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:05,640 Yeah, I want to show you the Jermai 2911, which is actually what our church is funded 958 00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:06,640 on. 959 00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:07,640 I love that scripture. 960 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:12,880 So the Jermai 2911, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans not to harm 961 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:17,280 you, but to prosper you and to give you hope in the future. 962 00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:23,280 And that promise spoken through Prophet Jeremiah was giving to God's people when they were 963 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:24,280 in exile. 964 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:25,800 They were not in a good place. 965 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:27,720 They were actually in the enemy's camp. 966 00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:32,440 And as far as history concerned, at that point, nobody has returned from exile. 967 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:36,960 So when God gave the promise of the future plan of hope, he was actually speaking, he's 968 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:39,640 about to do something impossible. 969 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,480 So that's always to me the encouragement. 970 00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:46,720 And we speak that over our church and anybody comes through our church as well. 971 00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:51,800 Regardless of where you are right now, whether you're in an enemy's camp or in a hard place, 972 00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,560 God still has a plan for your life. 973 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:58,400 God still has a plan for your life and his plan is a good plan. 974 00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:02,120 His plan is future and hope through Jesus Christ. 975 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:08,200 So I just want to encourage anybody watching this, might be going through a difficult time, 976 00:48:08,200 --> 00:48:13,320 hang in there, don't give up because God is in control and he hasn't forgotten about 977 00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:18,120 any of us and he's at work where we can't see and we can't feel it. 978 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:20,560 He's making a way behind the scenes. 979 00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:21,560 So yeah. 980 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:25,120 I mean, that's incredible, absolutely incredible. 981 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:26,840 We thoroughly love this podcast. 982 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:35,160 This is why we do what we do to hear stories like this every day and testimonies that God 983 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:41,120 uses a lot of people to bring out his love and then we truly enjoy it. 984 00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:42,400 So thank you Noriko again. 985 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:43,400 Thank you. 986 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:47,760 We'd like you to pray for us and we can end our show then. 987 00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:48,760 Yeah. 988 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:49,760 Okay, let's pray. 989 00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:50,760 Thank you, Lord. 990 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:51,760 Thank you. 991 00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:52,760 We just want to say we just thank you. 992 00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:56,480 We firstly and mostly thank you for your love for us, Lord. 993 00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:58,320 God is saying to you that you love us so much. 994 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:02,040 You sent your one and only son to us. 995 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:07,440 And God, we are so grateful for the forgiveness we receive, Lord, through Jesus Christ. 996 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:12,920 We are so grateful, Lord, that even when we go through a difficult time, you are still 997 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:13,920 in control. 998 00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:16,000 You are still in charge, Lord. 999 00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:19,200 So God, I just thank you for this podcast, your Lord. 1000 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:25,600 Thank you that this is not just a good idea, but I believe this is a God idea, Lord. 1001 00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:31,800 So God, you may use this show to spread the power of the gospel. 1002 00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:36,000 And even as the people are listening to this, pray, Lord, I just pray that you will just 1003 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:41,920 turn the lights on in the darkness, Lord, to just agree and show yourself and reveal 1004 00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:45,720 yourself to the people who are listening to this, Lord. 1005 00:49:45,720 --> 00:49:51,520 And we just thank you that may your name be glorified and lifted high through this show 1006 00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:52,520 in Jesus' name. 1007 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:53,520 Amen. 1008 00:49:53,520 --> 00:49:54,520 Amen. 1009 00:49:54,520 --> 00:49:57,520 Thank you again, Narkah, for being in our show. 1010 00:49:57,520 --> 00:49:58,520 Thank you for having me. 1011 00:49:58,520 --> 00:50:00,120 No, that's all good. 1012 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:04,720 And thank you everyone for joining us on another episode of Real Talk Friday. 1013 00:50:04,720 --> 00:50:11,120 And I'm sure we have great testimonies coming your way, and we're going to try our best 1014 00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:16,600 to bring you an amazing testimony every Friday. 1015 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:26,520 Thank you again, and can't wait to see you guys on our next episode of Real Talk Friday. 1016 00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:31,080 As we conclude our episode of Real Talk Friday, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all 1017 00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:34,560 our listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey. 1018 00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:36,480 But our journey doesn't end here. 1019 00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:42,360 Join us every Friday as we continue to uncover the real stories of real people, where authenticity 1020 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:45,960 intersects with spirituality in profound ways. 1021 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:50,480 Together we'll navigate the complexities of life, finding inspiration and hope in the 1022 00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:54,840 remarkable narrative shared within the walls of Logan City Christian Church. 1023 00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:58,720 Thank you for tuning in, and until next time, may your faith journey be filled with grace, 1024 00:50:58,720 --> 00:51:01,680 understanding, and the unbeboring presence of God. 1025 00:51:01,680 --> 00:51:14,880 Stay tuned for more Real Talk every Friday on Real Talk Friday.