Celebrating Life in Recovery

Healing With Prayer

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Cheri Peters (Host), Gerri Morrison

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Series Code: CLR

Program Code: CLR00064B


00:14 Welcome back!
00:18 Man, even though I want to just get right back into the
00:21 interview, Gerri you were talking you did the suicide
00:23 attempt and you are in the mental health hospital,
00:27 that's where recovery has started for you.
00:29 I want to ask you, there are a few times I covered this
00:34 topic where somebody goes into counseling
00:37 or going to a church setting and
00:40 end up having an affair, but there is
00:41 a friend of mine that has, her parents were the ones who had
00:45 the affair so she, as a kid, got the fallout from all that.
00:48 She will e-mail me when I get home and say nobody talks
00:52 about the kids or the family that is affected.
00:54 So I want to ask you a little bit about the recovery from
00:58 the affair, about the wife of the pastor, and I know that
01:02 it was abuse on your part that in that counseling situation
01:05 you should have been protected but what did
01:08 healing look like for everyone?
01:10 One of the things that made a huge difference to keep me
01:14 from going back to where I was because I couldn't live with
01:17 the guilt and going back to a suicide attempt was making
01:21 amends with my pastor's wife, being able to pray with her
01:24 afterward, after this whole thing blew up.
01:27 And it did blow up, the pastor lost his job and got shipped
01:30 out, I thought about leaving the church at that time,
01:34 and some people did find out and I really should've been
01:39 booted out, I should've been excommunicated at that time.
01:44 The church that we are still in really put their arms
01:48 around my husband and I and supported us and drew us in.
01:52 Some did not know about the affair and that drug abuse and
01:55 the suicide attempt, some new about all of it and supported
01:58 us and loved us through that.
02:00 That was huge for my husband.
02:01 Why was it, because you know to me what is really
02:04 interesting about that is that I think a lot of us are
02:08 ignorant to the role as counselor, a pastor to protect
02:11 you from those kind of things?
02:13 When you step in, you know protect you from sexual
02:18 intimacy's, from getting too close to your counselor,
02:23 getting in situations where that opportunity develops.
02:27 So was it that the church recognized that you were
02:31 vulnerable at that time?
02:33 Well afterward I think so, even though I carried guilt,
02:37 a lot of guilt for it.
02:38 Lot of the people that knew saw it as an injustice, that I
02:44 shouldn't have been
02:45 counseling with a man anyway.
02:46 One on one that shouldn't have happened to start with.
02:49 But it did and I see where that was set up to take place now
02:53 because the intent was there on one side before it happened.
02:56 But our church members did support us and pray with my
03:02 husband and support him.
03:04 And the pastor's wife even came up and said I am so sorry,
03:07 I could see how that could.
03:09 The pastor's wife making amends with her was huge,
03:11 and to be able to pray with her about that,
03:13 being able to apologize to her,
03:15 being able to tell her how sorry that I was and what I had
03:19 done to her family and what my part was in that.
03:23 It was huge for healing, it was making amends,
03:27 and I think it's huge and we know in AA that making amends
03:31 is a huge part of healing.
03:33 where we can make amends.
03:35 Let me just go to the Bible because it is really
03:37 interesting in the Bible says that if you have stolen money,
03:41 or done anything go take care of it, payback and even with
03:44 one tax collector that paid back like three times,
03:48 four times the amount and so it says to make amends
03:51 and take care of that stuff.
03:53 If you have lied to somebody going make that right.
03:55 If you have something against a brother or they against you
03:58 leave everything here for a minute and go
04:01 take care of that and come back.
04:02 So when we talk about a 12 step group making amends,
04:06 it really is a biblical concept.
04:08 If you can, without causing more damage,
04:12 if you can make amends.
04:14 You are saying that during that coming out of the hospital,
04:18 suicide attempt, after all that it was making amends,
04:20 stepping into recovery for the first time
04:22 in a very honest way.
04:24 People were praying with you, for you, covering you and
04:27 all that and so now how did your legs get stronger
04:31 under you in a spiritual sense?
04:33 the first thing that I know that was absolutely so different
04:37 this time is I was live in a transparent life.
04:40 I didn't have anything under the rug anymore,
04:43 it was all out in the open and being able to make amends.
04:47 You know you just scared somebody watching?
04:48 You put everything out in the open are you kidding me?
04:52 That is a huge one!
04:54 It's so healing, that is the only way to unload it.
04:56 When I could make amends, and pray with somebody that I hurt,
04:59 and apologize just make the apology, I was able to unload it
05:02 I didn't have to carry that anymore.
05:04 Now everything is in the open, everything that I have done
05:07 and my life becomes transparent.
05:10 Then I asked people to help me be accountable.
05:13 Where am I? What am I doing? What am I spending my money on?
05:16 Do I have time alone, is my car turning it is amazing how my car
05:19 can be going down the street and turn into a liquor store,
05:22 but if I see the pastor's car behind me,
05:23 my car doesn't turn.
05:25 I thought I did it on my own, it doesn't,
05:27 I can actually make it go straight.
05:29 That's funny!
05:30 But I found that out that if my life was transparent,
05:33 and I told people knew what I was doing.
05:35 I would tell somebody I feel like I really need to use,
05:39 being accountable.
05:41 So if you and I were friends, you would trust me with
05:44 some of those secrets about yourself?
05:46 Some of those secrets about yourself and even say,
05:49 Cheri keep me accountable.
05:51 So you would not do that with everybody?
05:52 I mean you wouldn't just choose somebody randomly,
05:54 but you trusted someone.
05:56 I trusted somebody and if I say Cheri, this happened
05:58 and a bill is late, I'm going to have a late payment and
06:01 I am frustrated about this and I really want to go get
06:04 something to drink or go get some cocaine,
06:07 call me an hour and see what I'm doing.
06:10 Either I am going to call you are come over.
06:12 We are going to go out, we're going take a walk,
06:14 we are going to hang out.
06:16 What really is interesting is that you did exactly what
06:19 you are supposed to, be accountable, don't hide anymore,
06:22 and be transparent.
06:24 At least tell one other person, and then you go back because
06:28 people said it is a good 12-step concept.
06:30 That is a Bible concept, the Bible says pray for one another,
06:34 confess to one another so you may be healed.
06:36 So it is a matter of, if you tell me you are struggling
06:40 with the lying or using whatever I am going to pray with
06:44 you then, but when I get home I'm just, God be with Gerri
06:48 today, she is really struggling with this.
06:49 She is really trying to not drink, or not lie, or not go
06:54 there mentally and all that stuff.
06:55 So it's like being able to say open up, I'm going to
06:58 open up with you.
07:00 And being able to pray, it's huge.
07:01 Prayer is huge, the power of prayer is incredible.
07:04 Like I said my mother never quit praying for me.
07:07 Other people started pray for me when they found out
07:10 what a bad situation I actually was in.
07:13 It was worse than some people wanted to even talk about.
07:16 You know the deep dark secrets that, all of us have
07:19 something probably in our closet that we don't want out.
07:23 But when everything came out it was a huge relief.
07:25 Oh the burden that it lifted was unbelievable.
07:28 And being able to pray with people because I could be honest
07:32 with people, there is so much power in prayer.
07:34 Oh Cheri I see people say, I have read all the books and I
07:38 sent them to rehab and I've done this and I've done every
07:41 thing I can too.
07:42 I guess all there is left to do is pray.
07:44 Like it is the most feeble thing we can possibly do.
07:48 It is a last resort, it is the most powerful thing we can
07:51 do and we need to do it first and best and always.
07:54 We can avail ourselves of all the power of heaven,
07:57 by a thought or a word.
07:58 And to be able to pray together, like if I were to ask you
08:02 to pray with me about this, where two or more are gathered
08:05 in My name, I will be in their midst, and we have promises.
08:08 What is interesting to me is people nowadays are starting to
08:11 really look at the fact of the power of prayer,
08:14 and how intense it is, and they will have somebody in recovery,
08:20 after heart surgery and say let's have the staff pray for
08:23 them, whether they believe or not doesn't matter.
08:25 They are going to do a study on that.
08:26 So just say the right words and pray for him.
08:29 Over here, I feel bad for the person that doesn't get prayer,
08:33 but over here let's not pray for this guy.
08:35 So this guy gets sick more often and has more complications
08:38 then this guy over here that got prayed for and it didn't
08:42 even matter whether prayed for
08:44 Bible believers are nonbelievers
08:46 It didn't matter if they were the same town or not.
08:48 They said study after study after study is reflecting that.
08:52 I am thinking that we still believe somehow that it is just
08:56 lip service, instead that it is the power of God to save lives
09:00 Or we limit God with our lack of faith, God is not limited at
09:04 all, we limit Him with our lack of faith and don't even pray
09:07 about some things because we don't take we are going to get
09:11 the answers and we think our faith is going to shrink.
09:13 I believe we need to pray for everything.
09:16 The Bible says pray without ceasing, cracks me up.
09:19 Pray without ceasing.
09:20 You know what I do now, which is really amazing,
09:23 I'll say God, before I leave the door,
09:25 I say I know you have some cool things planned today,
09:28 I pray that I don't miss them.
09:31 Show me who is in a box today, show me what You're doing today.
09:35 Little tiny things all day long, so it is like even being able
09:39 to say I'm going to pray into my intimate connection with God.
09:42 I'm going to pray that into my life because
09:44 I know that is God's desire.
09:46 So people started to pray for you, you started actually
09:50 leaning on God for that healing more and more.
09:53 And learning to pray also, when I went to camp meeting and
09:58 heard a lady talk about a prayer and the power of prayer
10:02 and she was 80 years old.
10:03 She was a missionary nurse, working in Africa at 80.
10:06 I thought I'm going to be a nurse, that is what I want to.
10:08 I went to school. You did!
10:10 I enrolled in school that fall and even with a fried brain,
10:13 that I had fried on drugs, God got me through school with a
10:16 4.0 and I became an R.N. and have worked in surgery,
10:22 I work in surgery now and get to pray for my patients in a
10:27 public hospital, I can't bring it up,
10:30 but I do get to pray for people now.
10:33 I know the power of prayer and have seen it in my life,
10:36 but now I get to see it every day.
10:37 God has shown me how powerful prayer is in my own life and
10:43 because of that I have confidence and assurance that
10:46 He can and will and is still a prayer answering God.
10:49 And God is still a God of miracles.
10:50 What really is because I never get from you that recovery
10:54 is a piece of cake, I don't have any problems.
10:57 I don't get that from you but I get that strength that
10:59 you said, I am taking it to God.
11:02 I do ask people to pray for me and I know it is a daily
11:05 connection with God.
11:07 It has to be, it has to be a daily thing.
11:10 You gave me, one time, a prayer button and that cracked
11:16 me up because I started to wear it.
11:18 All it says is May I pray for you?
11:20 And first before tell my story, I want you to say where
11:23 did those come from and why did you make those buttons up?
11:26 Because like I said May I Pray For You? is all it says.
11:30 A very simple concept, it had to be, because I have
11:32 a very simple mind and God knew that, but my brother
11:35 who is also an R.N..
11:36 He and I was talking one day about how do you know who you
11:39 can pray for your patients, we both work in public hospitals.
11:42 How do you know who you can pray for?
11:44 We like to pray for our patients and some patients would
11:47 want to be prayed for but we can't bring it up for
11:50 fear of losing our job.
11:51 I said I would like to just liked to wear a T-shirt that
11:53 says right across the front, I'll pray for you if you want.
11:55 He said why don't you, why don't you?
11:59 He challenged me and I didn't think I could wear the T-shirt
12:03 but I remembered this little pin maker that I used for
12:06 vacation Bible school that makes these little round pins and
12:09 you can put your name on it or anything that you want to.
12:12 A would say May I Pray For You?
12:13 I had a little sticky note, and it is still here my Bible.
12:15 A little sticky note that says May I Pray For You?
12:18 Very tiny I wrote it and that is the original May I Pray
12:21 for you? and a pin was born and I've been wearing it about
12:24 a year and a half now.
12:25 Do you have a pin with you? I have one!
12:27 May I Pray For You? and I wear it on my shirt or my scrub top.
12:33 I used to just wear it at the hospital, now I wear it
12:35 everywhere and am praying with the girl in Subway, and the
12:38 girl at McDonald's, and my bank teller, and my husband's
12:41 pharmacist, and the manager of the grocery store,
12:44 and coworkers, and my prayer list has gotten huge.
12:47 Because what is really interesting like you,
12:50 is for one how do you, people need prayer and you realize
12:54 that you've yourself needed prayer?
12:56 Amen I did know how much is needed and I know how much
12:59 power there is in it and I am able to pray for people.
13:03 Now my prayer list is huge, but I thought it was going
13:06 to be a blessing to somebody else,
13:08 but it has been a huge blessing to me.
13:09 I have never spent so much time on my knees.
13:12 I have never spent so much time in the word.
13:14 My prayers are not me focused anymore,
13:16 they are focused on other people.
13:18 It has just transformed my life to pray.
13:22 I wore one to the airport, and I am not even thinking,
13:25 I just had it on my jacket, May I Pray For You?
13:28 I am checking in and it is an early, early flight,
13:31 so I am there at 5:30 in the morning,
13:33 6:00 in the morning and the girl says,
13:36 what's that mean? What's, what mean?
13:40 And I remember just saying to her like come I couldn't
13:43 figure out what she was talking about,
13:45 and she said what does that mean?
13:46 And I looked down at the jacket and I had the May I Pray
13:49 For You? And I thought it was funny because I thought,
13:52 what is confusing about this, do you know I mean?
13:56 It's a really simple statement.
13:58 So I said may I pray for you?
14:00 And she is like, yeah what does that mean?
14:02 Well may I pray for you, and she is like that's weird.
14:08 I remember her being stunned by that, but I couldn't tell
14:14 whether even and I felt like God said let her,
14:17 if she wanted prayer, let her say the next thing.
14:20 It's like people to even really offer prayer sometimes
14:25 is confusing to them.
14:27 It's like being able to bring that back into people's lives.
14:32 Exactly, yesterday on my way out here I had five different
14:37 people ask for prayer between airport and renting a car.
14:41 One of the ladies, where I rented the car said you can pray
14:46 for me, would you pray for me? Would you pray for my son,
14:48 he is dabbling with drugs and I am worried about him?
14:50 My name is such and such and she showed me her name tag,
14:53 would you like me to write it down for you?
14:55 She said I don't think anybody has prayed for me since
14:58 I was a little girl, and she just touched my heart.
15:01 We need more prayer, there is so much power in prayer.
15:04 We need more prayer in the world.
15:06 But so many people that you believe in prayer, believe in
15:10 the power of prayer, like even the medical are finding out
15:13 that people that don't know they are prayed for have better
15:16 outcomes after surgery than people who weren't prayed for
15:19 where neither person knows.
15:21 They are finding out, and even our medical professionals are
15:25 starting to realize the power in prayer.
15:27 More of our physicians are praying now.
15:29 Isn't that amazing, but your heart says somebody prayed for
15:33 me and it made a difference, so I cannot let go of this.
15:36 Absolutely! I know that we have some questions in a café so
15:39 I am going to open up for questions.
15:41 I know that Carolyn you had a question.
15:43 Yeah, I grew up in an Adventist family I was always expected
15:52 to be the good kid, because I am a former pastor's kid.
15:58 Once the pastor's kid, always a pastor's kid,
16:01 but I have been depressed a lot
16:05 because of my life and I have always wanted for a time to
16:10 commit suicide, because I didn't think it was worth living
16:14 But then I started thinking about it, I have a roof over my
16:18 head, I have family that loves me.
16:20 I have a hope I just don't feel like living because of a
16:26 certain situation, but did you even have that?
16:30 Do you have a reason for living?
16:32 I have gotten myself into a place, it breaks my heart to
16:36 hear you say that because you do have a perfect life,
16:39 it looks like the perfect life growing up and still
16:41 something is definitely missing.
16:43 Something was missing.
16:44 Coming from a different place, I had gotten myself into a
16:48 place where guilt over the things I have done was so bad,
16:52 which is probably different than depression that you had
16:56 even though you have the roof over your head,
16:58 like you said it, and seemed to have everything.
17:00 A depression like that God can make different through prayer.
17:05 God can make a purpose in your life through prayer.
17:08 But it is different, I think you have experienced going that
17:13 route isn't the same to me as what I did by bringing things
17:18 on myself that made me want to check out.
17:20 You didn't bring things on yourself.
17:22 What is interesting with Caroline, what you were talking
17:25 about, is because you and I sat together and prayed the
17:29 other day through a lot of this kind of stuff.
17:31 The assumption is that you brought nothing on yourself,
17:35 right? That is the assumption.
17:37 What is interesting to me is a lot of times we bring in
17:44 little things over the years and we try to
17:47 handle them ourselves.
17:49 Like I fell like I had a callous over my heart towards God
17:53 because I had grown up with Him, I always knew He was there.
17:57 He was just like sitting there right next to me and you can
18:01 feel Him at first and then you get used to it.
18:05 I started not having my morning devotions,
18:09 just because it was more convenient to sleep in.
18:11 I started not praying to God about every little detail
18:14 because He is there and He knows what I am thinking.
18:17 I stopped trying to communicate with Him and that is when
18:22 I felt completely empty.
18:25 Just recently I started to give my heart back to Him.
18:29 I just felt so happy and so full of life, even recently
18:34 I've lost one of my very best friends, one through death,
18:39 and one through my mistakes.
18:42 I felt like I should be really depressed,
18:49 but somehow underneath all the stuff
18:53 I just felt relieved in a way.
18:57 Just to have God in there, it is just amazing how
19:04 after feeling so down, like you don't want to live.
19:08 I think the key is what you just said is that you came
19:12 back to God and in AA and NA there is a little saying,
19:17 fake it until you make it.
19:18 Fake it till you make it!
19:19 When I was out of touch with
19:21 God and I knew I had walked
19:22 away, multiple times I had come to God and gone away.
19:25 I decided to fake it until I make it and I started force
19:28 feeding myself on the word of God.
19:30 I am going to pray even though I don't feel like it.
19:32 I'm going to read the word and if I think I need to spend
19:35 two hours in front of TV, then I need to give equal time to
19:37 my Bible and that is the only way I'm going to do it is
19:39 fake it till I make it.
19:40 I did just like what you said you did I came back to God
19:43 and started spending that time with God again and it makes
19:46 all the difference in the world because you can
19:49 fake it till you make it, I think sometimes.
19:50 It's interesting to me is what Caroline was saying,
19:56 is that I have had this relationship and started to back
20:01 away and do other things and lose touch with this
20:05 relationship that I had with God.
20:07 It is almost like you were saying, with your drug addiction
20:10 it was a slow journey to were all of a sudden you were
20:16 standing there going how did this happen?
20:19 I am here, by myself, alone and depressed and
20:21 just want to take myself out.
20:22 So whether it is done with drugs, or is done without drugs,
20:27 is we can all end up in a place where we have nothing left,
20:31 no real connections with anybody and we just want
20:33 to take ourselves out.
20:35 With Caroline we are going to go on to another question,
20:39 but with Caroline as your friend I loved hanging out and
20:43 just allowing you to spend time and talk about that and
20:48 reconnect with not only God, but with the people around you.
20:51 Which is amazing.
20:52 I know that Roma you had a question.
20:55 Right I was thinking about, it just triggered in me
20:58 when you were saying, fake it till you make it.
21:02 I recently read a book about blessings.
21:04 In scripture God does talk to us about blessing people.
21:09 There is someone in my life who has authority over me,
21:14 in my work setting, this person and I are not very close.
21:20 I like how very nicely you said that.
21:23 So when something happened and I said,
21:25 alright you need to pray for her.
21:27 So what I did, alright God, I know I am supposed to pray
21:32 for her, she is my enemy, if I could use that word
21:35 for this situation.
21:37 She is my enemy but You know that I don't really mean this
21:40 right now, so I faked it, but I was honest with Him because
21:44 He knew anyway what I was thinking.
21:46 Sure enough, I do not know if there was a change in her,
21:50 but there was a change in me.
21:51 I am no longer hard on this person and she doesn't make
21:56 me as upset as she used to.
21:58 I have to think that was an answer from God and
22:00 He changed my heart.
22:02 He may have changed hers too, I don't know,
22:04 but He changed me.
22:05 He definitely changed you, which is amazing.
22:08 I think that is one of the promises and prayer to is
22:11 that prayer is a dialogue with God.
22:14 I am stopping for a moment and saying God and going back
22:19 and forth with whatever, whether I am asking for forgiveness,
22:22 or somebody at work to be blessed, to get over depression,
22:25 or drug addiction, or suicide or any of that stuff.
22:29 I am actually taking this to God and being changed in this
22:33 relationship, and prayer sometime gets this whole magical
22:37 thing but it is just a dialogue with God.
22:40 Because God is God, the Creator of heaven and earth,
22:44 He has got angels He can send down, He's got the Holy Spirit
22:47 He can send down, He can put His creativity hand on something
22:51 and we are here saying go for it.
22:53 Please bless us, put Your hand on us and those things.
22:58 We become changed in that.
23:01 He does, and it doesn't matter where we come from,
23:03 I found this out later on,
23:05 it doesn't matter where we come from.
23:06 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, God said to me My grace is enough.
23:11 It is sufficient, it is enough for you.
23:12 "My strength is made perfect in weakness," and I have seen
23:16 that in my life and then He said, "most gladly I will glory
23:19 in My infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. "
23:22 I would not have experienced the power of God,
23:25 the power of Christ, if it wasn't for my weaknesses.
23:28 So explain to somebody that doesn't even know,
23:30 has not been in the Bible, has not been in church,
23:32 what does infirmities mean?
23:34 Oh, weaknesses, drug addiction, lying, sexual sins,
23:40 all of that, anything that takes us away from what we
23:45 perceive as acceptable.
23:47 That is different for everybody, depending on where we
23:50 grew up, alcohol wasn't bad in home I grew up in.
23:53 Alcohol was normal in our family, but we all have things
23:56 and with my husband his biggest thing was meat.
23:59 To him that was a heinous crime.
24:01 We all have things that keep us from feeling like we are
24:07 whole I believe, or feeling like we are normal,
24:10 or like we are doing the right thing where
24:12 we could live in our own skin.
24:13 Things that we become uncomfortable with doing,
24:16 that we feel like we shouldn't do.
24:17 God says in our relationship that once graced has
24:21 covered you, you will actually say those things push me
24:25 closer to God, push me in a relationship, push me to prayer.
24:28 When Roma was talking about having a conflict with her
24:32 coworker, she knows I do not want to walk around angry all
24:36 the time so it pushes me to God, saying God please.
24:39 First of all please change her, and then pretty soon
24:42 it's bless her and change me.
24:44 That's where His power can work in our weaknesses.
24:47 Whether it is with me being a drug addict, or any other
24:51 person with anger, we all have something that would be
24:54 that word infirmities, I would like to see it in another
24:58 translation, but glory, most gladly glory in my infirmities.
25:02 King James is kind of hard sometimes, but it is okay that
25:06 I have weaknesses because that is where God's power can shine
25:09 in my life, because I have been through these things,
25:11 and because I've been through them I can relate to somebody
25:14 who has been through drug addiction, or somebody who is
25:17 struggling now, I can pray for somebody knowing that there
25:19 is another side, there is a way out.
25:22 Can't you even see them now, it is almost like see somebody
25:25 it needs prayer and you say, you want to say even without
25:27 the button, can I pray for you?
25:30 Because I know what God can do because He did it for me.
25:33 I know that He can, I have seen Him do it in my life,
25:37 and I and seeing Him doing it in other people's lives now.
25:41 He is allowing me to pray for other people,
25:43 and it can be different.
25:44 There is another side, there is life after drug addiction.
25:46 You and I both know that. Right!
25:48 Even though mine was socially acceptable with high dollar
25:51 clientele, whether it is somebody on the street, whether
25:54 it is like you said sexual addiction, gambling, pornography
25:58 what ever it might be that we struggle with, we all know
26:02 somebody that is struggling.
26:03 We are all praying for somebody that is struggling.
26:06 You just cannot ever quit praying, you cannot quit praying
26:09 ever for the person.
26:10 Maybe it is your spouse, maybe it is your sibling, may be
26:14 it is you that is struggling, God knows.
26:18 But God can do miracles.
26:20 When you say maybe it is you, there is a part of me that says
26:24 don't be afraid to say to somebody, will you remember me
26:27 in prayer? Absolutely!
26:28 That is a huge thing because we don't even want to admit
26:31 that we have issues, like I do not want to tell somebody
26:35 that I am feeling so desperate today, would you pray for me?
26:39 But admit that, because we don't have, Solomon said,
26:43 everything that you have experienced someone else has
26:46 experienced, there is nothing new under the sun.
26:48 So be transparent, open up to each other, edify, affirm,
26:52 lift each other up and be supportive of each other.
26:55 The way we do that usually is through prayer.
26:58 It's huge! Absolutely it is!
27:01 We can, not only pray for each other, the Bible does tell
27:05 us to lift each other up, but been accountable, and being
27:08 transparent, being honest like you just said, be honest
27:12 about I'm feeling down today, I'm struggling today with
27:16 something, and we do have our struggles.
27:18 I had this Ebenezer box, this little wooden box and I
27:21 glued a rock on top as the Ebenezer stone.
27:24 I put 1 Samuel 12 on it and glued it on top.
27:27 It says here is where the Lord helped us.
27:30 I write down these things that I know God did in my life.
27:33 Big things, my Ebenezer's, not like I lost my watch and
27:35 found it five minutes later, but the big things where I
27:38 know God was there ahead of me and I know He did these
27:40 things and I write them on a slip of paper and put them
27:42 in that box and when I get in those dark times where I'm
27:45 struggling, I do feel like I am not getting through to God.
27:48 I can open that box and have a whole pile of evidence that
27:50 He always gets me through.
27:52 He has gotten me through everything I have ever faced.
27:54 He already knows the outcome and His plans in His hands.
27:57 He has already worked it out ahead of time and I can look
28:00 back at all the evidence and it gives me so much hope,
28:02 and so much encouragement.
28:04 Even though I feel like I can not get through today,
28:07 that is not the truth, the truth is that He will get me
28:11 through today.
28:12 And He always has before every time.
28:14 That is amazing.
28:16 I have to keep those things before me because I still do
28:18 have dark days, I still have days that I struggle with
28:22 things that I do not want to have in my life again.
28:25 Places that I do not want to go back to Egypt,
28:27 God brought me out of the land of Egypt, out of the
28:30 house of bondage, I have been wandering in the wilderness for
28:32 a long time, but now I am on my way to the promised land.
28:35 I know where I am going, but I still have to look sometimes
28:37 when I am headed back to Egypt to get that box out and see
28:40 these are my Ebenezer's, my Ebenezer steppingstones.
28:45 These are my promises, this is where my journey is taking me.
28:47 Yes and this is what God has done for me.
28:51 I want to thank you for joining us.
28:53 I want to thank you for being on the program Gerri
28:56 and I want to say that I will remember you in prayer.
28:59 Thank you and I will pray for your Ministry too.
29:02 What you do for the people and the lives you touch
29:05 and the lives of the people that God still plans to put
29:07 in your path and be touched by you.
29:09 God can start working on their hearts today.
29:11 Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me.
29:13 We are going to go ahead and take a break.
29:15 I want you to stay with us because we want to summarize
29:21 this whole thing.
29:22 We will be right back!


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Revised 2014-12-17