Participants: Don Mackintosh (Host), Vicki Griffin
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000204
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00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is 00:05 not intended to take the place of 00:06 personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and ideas expressed are 00:11 those of the speaker. Viewers are 00:13 encouraged to draw their own 00:14 conclusions about the information presented. 00:50 Hello and welcome to Health For A Lifetime. 00:51 I am your host Don Mackintosh, 00:53 we are glad you joined us today. And today 00:55 we have a little more unusual program, but I 00:58 think you will find it very interesting. We are 01:00 delighted to have Vicki Griffin with us from 01:02 the Michigan Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist. 01:04 She is the leader of a team there called 01:07 Lifestyle Matters that produces materials 01:10 for churches and for groups around the 01:15 country that can help them with their 01:16 lifestyle matters, the things that matter 01:19 to them in life. We are glad you are here 01:20 with us today, thank you. Now you didn't 01:22 grow up there at the Michigan Conference of 01:24 Seventh-Day Adventist right, no. You would 01:26 originally there and have you always been 01:29 health conscious. Oh no, absolutely not. No, 01:33 I'm a very unlikely person to be in the 01:35 position that I am today. So you didn't 01:39 wake up one morning say I dream some day 01:41 to be a health director in the Adventist church. 01:43 I care about carrots, no I didn't. No. 01:46 And tell us a little bit about your journey 01:50 or your background actually. Well, I was 01:52 raised in a very violent home. My father 01:55 was in the wine business and was part of a very, 01:58 he had three wine distributorships and so 02:00 I come from a wine making family. And I was 02:04 raised in an Italian household and the 02:06 particular home that I was raised in was 02:07 extremely violent and very tumultuous atmosphere 02:12 and. So, I was a victim of very severe physical 02:16 abuse at a very young age and my father left 02:19 home when I was very young and then I was 02:21 left with the actually the physically violent 02:23 person which was my mother. So, I grew 02:27 up in a very, very scary environment genetically 02:31 there were problems as well born to a very 02:33 depressed mother and so for the genetic and 02:37 environmental factors that would a person at 02:39 risk for at risk behavior while I was a 02:41 prime candidate and I did fall into that 02:43 tragedy. So you developed some kind 02:45 of problems. Oh yes, I started running 02:48 away from home when I was 5-years-old and, 02:51 running away when you are five? Yes I was, and 02:54 I was very interface about it too, I didn't 02:56 sneak out the back window, I would make 02:58 these daring announcements and just 03:00 leave, and, then where did you go? 03:04 I would go across the street until the sun 03:05 went down and I climb trees and sit 03:07 and look at the clouds, but it developed a 03:09 pattern in my thinking of just leaving. And 03:12 so I started running away from home a lot 03:14 as I got older I became more serious. By the 03:17 time I was 11, I started running with a very bad 03:20 crowd and developed a very serious eating 03:23 disorders, well I developed bulimia. As a 03:26 result of running with the crowd or, well you 03:29 have to understand that people have their 03:31 weird reasons for doing things and I just wanted 03:34 control, I wanted to be perfect. And the media 03:38 messages of what constitutes happiness 03:43 had an effect on me and then coming from 03:45 the dysfunctional background that I did 03:47 without much emotional support why I brought 03:50 into that and I was trying to achieve 03:51 something that was unrealistic and 03:53 impossible and started going on in the typical 03:56 pattern of dieting and starving and then 03:58 binge eating and it developed into bulimia, 04:00 and then I started to use drugs to stave 04:04 my appetite and then that lead, one thing 04:07 lead to another until I was just leading a 04:09 very, very terrible life. And I had bulimia for 04:11 20 years, very, very severe bulimia. Well I 04:15 mean this is all great background to help a lot 04:18 of people with the same kind of things may 04:19 be you were in or may be you were in worse 04:22 things that many of the people you helped. 04:23 That's probably true. Okay so what 04:26 turned you around? Well I ran away from 04:29 home for good, when I was 17 and I came back 04:32 home when I found out that my mother had 04:35 cancer. She was dying of cancer and there 04:37 was no one to take care of her. So I came 04:38 back to take care of her and I was a very 04:42 angry person, I had a terrible attitude 04:44 and one day I was taking her to a 04:48 chemotherapy appointment. And on the other side of 04:51 the family they were all landscapers 04:53 who own nurseries and do gardening. And I've 04:56 always had a love for those kinds of things, 04:58 so I loved evil and gardening, okay. And I 05:02 was driving by this complex of buildings 05:04 that said Seventh-Day Adventist on it and I 05:07 I noticed the landscaping, hundreds of varieties 05:10 of trees and flowers that was just beautiful. 05:11 And so I mentioned it to a friend of mine and 05:15 I said you know there is this roofing and 05:18 air-conditioning outfit its called Seventh-Day 05:20 Adventist out there in La Sierra and they must 05:24 have, they must be opened seven days a 05:26 week and they must have something to do 05:27 with adventing, but anyway they have the 05:28 most gorgeous landscaping. Adventing, yeah 05:32 and she started to laugh and she said no, 05:34 she said that's a university and being 05:38 the deliberative person that I was I said wow, 05:41 anybody with landscapes like that can't be 05:43 all bad I think I'll go to school there. And 05:46 so her response to me was well you know 05:49 they may have a problem with someone with 05:52 your lifestyle and your atheistic ideas. So 05:57 if you want to get in there just tell them 05:59 the bodies of temple and they'll let you in 06:00 and that's exactly what I did. And I had 06:04 no clue what I was saying; I didn't know 06:06 what it meant. The president of the school 06:08 that I interviewed with said that he 06:10 wished he had more young people like me 06:11 at that school and I just laughed to myself 06:13 and I thought well these people are really 06:15 adorable, I just, I had no clue what I 06:17 was saying, what I was getting into and so 06:20 that, so that's what you do now talking people 06:22 about their bodies being the temple. That's 06:23 exactly what I do for a living. But you had 06:25 no idea about that back then. I had no clue 06:27 what it meant and I didn't care what it 06:29 been frankly. And so you got in, what did 06:31 you take? I took anything but religion, 06:34 anything that I could take but I eventually 06:38 of course because of the school rules I did 06:41 take the courses and I met my husband there 06:43 who was an absolutely wonderful man. We are in 06:46 team ministry together today and so we. Did he 06:51 realize that you were kind of a problem? 06:53 Well he was a problem too at that time and 06:56 so we were just a double problem and the Lord 06:58 took us out of circulation I guess. But 07:01 after we got married we actually went to a 07:05 meeting and we heard this amazing pastor talking 07:09 about how Jesus died to create a reservoir of 07:13 righteousness and power. And that he could 07:16 put hatred in our hearts from rebellion, he could 07:18 heal our broken hearts. And for the first 07:20 time I was always in school, I loved school, 07:23 I was always collecting degrees, I had 07:25 masters in public administration at that 07:26 time and I was going to get a Ph.D. I wanted 07:29 to get into city management may be into 07:31 politics, I was a flaming women's libber. I told 07:34 my husband when we got married that if he 07:36 through his socks on the floor I would nail 07:39 them to the ground and so. You know, I was a 07:41 very different species of person that I am today. 07:44 But we heard this message and I had 07:47 always thought that I had trauma and 07:49 emotional problems and that is true, I did 07:52 but then I understood that the enemy, the 07:54 devil takes advantage of trauma in people's lives. 07:57 He takes advantage of genetic wickedness', 08:00 he takes advantage of environmental exposure 08:03 that they had, he takes advantage of their own 08:05 thought processes to use them as his own 08:07 agents for self destruction and 08:09 destroying the lives of others. So for the first 08:11 time I understood that and I understood that 08:14 Jesus came to break that cycle of sin and 08:17 impairment from generation to generation 08:20 that I could actually be new, I could think 08:22 in a new way, I could have a new life. That 08:25 education was not able to achieve for me, so I 08:27 saw a spiritual element that was so very 08:30 necessary and at that time I was very 08:34 severely into my disorder. I was about 08:36 ten or fifteen pounds thinner than I am right 08:38 now. Sometimes throwing up to a dozen times a 08:41 day and this has gone on for like 20 years. 08:44 20 years, yes I was 30-years-old. So the 08:47 very first step in coming back from this was 08:49 recognizing that there may be hope in Christ. 08:52 Yes, I had no clue that there was a, that the 08:56 Christ actually came and that I had a rebellion 09:00 problem, I didn't see that, I only saw myself 09:03 as a victim. Now I saw myself what I really 09:06 was, I saw myself as being very manipulative, 09:08 very controlling, very selfish, very 09:10 pre-occupied with myself and it's true that 09:13 it was a result of, a lot of it was a result of 09:15 what it happened. But now I saw a way of 09:19 escape, now I saw that I could be a different 09:21 person but I saw that the requirement was 09:25 to give full control to God. And that is the 09:27 very thing that I did and so at the time when I 09:31 came to Christ I was in the very worst shape 09:33 that I never been in, physically speaking, 09:35 oh absolutely. And mentally in every way, 09:37 would you be dead now if that hadn't happen, 09:39 oh no question, no question whatsoever that 09:42 would be the case. And so I prayed a very 09:46 kind of angry little prayer, I got on my 09:49 knees and I said God I am just so tired of 09:51 being taken to the cleaners by the devil. 09:52 I saw that what my parents have done, they 09:56 did ignorantly they didn't know, I saw that 09:58 genetics in environment are not a fair playing 10:00 ground in this world, but the God is just. 10:03 So now I saw a new dimension to just the 10:06 flat reality of what I had been exposed to 10:08 as a child in growing up. And now I saw 10:11 this amazing potential if I would give 10:13 control to God that he could not only 10:15 deliver me from this horrible compulsion that 10:17 I lived with and people that have addictions 10:19 and bad habits they become suicidal, they 10:21 really do want to quit but they don't know how, 10:23 they lost control over motivated behavior. 10:26 And that's the way you were, absolutely. 10:27 There was, everyday I did not want to be 10:30 what I was, but every day I was. And it was 10:32 getting worse. And so the Lord stopped that, 10:35 but then I understood immediately that not 10:38 only did I need his power but I also needed 10:42 a program in my life and that also had a 10:44 biblical foundation. But the prayer that I 10:46 prayed was that I was angry at being taken 10:51 to the cleaners by the devil for all these 10:53 years and then I just wanted to spend the 10:55 rest of my life paying the devil back for what 10:57 he did to me. So it wasn't even a love 10:59 prayer, I didn't love God that much but I 11:01 knew who to hate now, it was a grudge prayer, 11:03 it was a grudge prayer. Did your family know 11:05 that you had gone to the landscaping school 11:09 of Adventist or air conditioning place 11:12 whatever you thought it was? Well, my mother 11:14 had died, she died; she was dead by that time 11:18 and were you in touch with your father at all? 11:19 He didn't know where I was nor did he care, 11:23 it actually took me several years to track 11:25 him down and find him and write him a letter, 11:28 I invited him to my, when I graduated from 11:31 the university I invited him to the graduation 11:33 he did not attend, I invited him to my 11:36 wedding he did not attend. And so you know 11:39 I was very disappointed about that, but 11:41 eventually understanding what the power of God 11:44 can do, I was able to find where he was and 11:48 established a nice relationship and 11:51 experienced forgiveness and so that was a 11:54 good thing in my life. Okay, so now you know, 11:57 after all this background you kind of are 12:01 in an interesting position, yes I am. 12:03 You moved from going to college and telling 12:06 them your bodies of temple just to get in, 12:08 to actually working in that line of work. Yes 12:10 now I am paid to terrorize people all over the 12:13 place with good health lectures and health 12:16 dictums and lifestyle changes. My interest 12:19 in the work that I do is to see compliance 12:25 that lasts beyond 18 months into eternity. 12:26 We see very poor outcomes with lifestyle 12:28 change not much better than drug therapies 12:32 and my goal is to understand better the 12:36 process of change. The strength is in the 12:38 journey in the process, people are always 12:40 looking at a finish line they are excited about 12:42 starting, they are excited about finishing. 12:44 But we get into a muddle in the middle, 12:47 when it's not so interesting and so. 12:49 So the process of change, change is not 12:51 instantaneous, there was a process. What was 12:53 the process of change for you in terms 12:55 of bulimia? Well actually the Lord 12:58 delivered me from the bulimia right away. 13:00 I went from throwing up a dozen times a day 13:02 to freedom, I mean it was just gone, and 13:06 that was an amazing thing. Now that does 13:08 not mean that I haven't had struggles, 13:10 it doesn't mean I haven't had poor 13:11 judgment and made mistakes, it doesn't 13:12 mean that. But in terms of the compulsion, 13:16 the desire, the preoccupation with food, 13:19 it was just gone. The Lord took it 13:21 miraculously and that was a wonderful 13:23 thing. In terms of restructuring my life 13:26 to protect myself from those inclinations and 13:28 tendencies that is a life long work. But it's a 13:31 wonderful work and you know we live in a 13:33 society done of a fast makeovers, everybody 13:36 wants a McMeal and a McMansion. We also 13:39 want McBrains, McCharacters and 13:42 McHealth. And there are some processes 13:44 that the Lord does not give us right away, 13:47 I mean he gives us a process rather than 13:50 a miracle because in the actual process of 13:55 deciding the process of choosing, the process of 13:58 trying new behaviors that's where strength 14:00 is gained, that's where change really takes 14:02 place. That's where you get the long term goals. 14:04 Sounded like you really changed a lot from 14:07 when your husband first met you till now and, 14:10 yes he is the boss now and that's a good thing. 14:12 Did he change as well? Oh yes, he was, 14:15 he was just a bad boy too. And so we 14:20 gave our hearts to God together in the same 14:22 evening and our home changed, the things 14:25 that we paid attention too changed, what we 14:27 watched and read, how we dressed changed, 14:30 one thing about people with eating disorders, 14:32 they are just, the wear their cloths too tighten 14:34 and they obsess about how fat they feel and 14:36 all of that changed. And I understood that 14:38 true attractiveness is different and it's an 14:43 internal quality that's different than natural 14:45 beauty. True attractiveness grows 14:47 overtime there is a difference between 14:49 sensuality and femininity; these are 14:51 all things that every girl should be taught 14:53 that we need to understand. The 14:55 mannequins that lays the molls now, those 14:58 mannequins are pre-prepubescent 15:00 12-year-old bodies, they are unattainable 15:02 to a normal woman, to a normal developing 15:04 female and it creates these horrible 15:07 obsessions with thinness and with body and 15:11 with body type and body acceptance. Then for 15:13 the men you've got men that are being 15:16 trained to focus only on sensuality and so 15:20 you are creating this rift in the sexes of 15:22 inability to form true attachments and lasting 15:25 intimacy. We are talking with Vicki Griffin, 15:28 we are talking about her journey to victory 15:31 from all kinds of problems and it's a 15:35 hopeful story when we come back we are gonna 15:36 hear more and I think you are gonna find some 15:38 things that will help you in whatever 15:39 your journey is, join us when we come back. 15:44 Are you confused about the endless stream 15:46 of new and often contradictory health 15:48 information? With companies trying to 15:50 sell new drugs and special interest groups 15:53 paying for studies has been the fact, 15:55 where can you find a common sense 15:57 approach to health. One way is to ask for 16:00 your free copy of Dr. Arnott's 24 realistic 16:03 ways to improve your health. Dr. Timothy 16:05 Arnott in the Lifestyle Center of America 16:07 produced this helpful booklet of 24 short 16:09 practical health tips based on scientific 16:12 research and the Bible that will help you live 16:15 longer, happier, and healthier. For example, 16:18 did you know that women who drink more 16:19 water lower the risk of heart attack or the 16:22 seven to eight hours of sleep a night can 16:24 minimize your risk of ever developing diabetes? 16:27 Find out how to lower your blood pressure and 16:29 much more if you are looking for help, now we 16:32 hire these booklets for you. Just log on to 16:34 3abn.org and click on free offers or call us 16:38 during regular business hours, 16:39 you will be glad you did. 16:43 Welcome back we are talking with Vicki 16:45 Griffin, she is the director of Lifestyle 16:47 Matters. You can access her material 16:50 and all of the resources she has developed 16:53 along with her team at lifestylematters.com. 16:57 Vicki we are glad that you are with us 16:59 here and its kind of sharing your own 17:01 personal testimony which, man just to 17:03 summarize you started out kind of in a bad 17:06 situation, born into a family that probably 17:09 was quite well to do, I mean they are a 17:12 winery family but they had some real problems, 17:15 your mother was violent, your father 17:16 abandoned the family. Did you have any 17:19 brothers or sisters? Yes I had a sister, 17:21 8-years-older than myself. And is she 17:23 still living? She is living, yes. And are 17:25 you in touch with her ever? I am in touch with 17:27 her, and she is wonderful. And are you 17:29 ever in touch with your father? He passed away 17:32 also years ago. Okay so, my mother died when 17:34 I was 19, he died a few years later. Okay, 17:36 but you are in touch with your sister and 17:38 touch with any of the other relatives, no, 17:41 not really, no. Okay, and that's a little different 17:43 I mean your life today is a little different 17:45 than the life of a typical winery family; 17:47 yes it is, very definitely different. And yeah, 17:53 so you were talking about how you'd struggle 17:55 with bulimia, you were talking about a 20 year 17:58 struggle there how you gave your heart to the 18:00 Lord, you met your husband, you ended up 18:03 in a Seventh-Day Adventist school 18:05 institution kind of in a unique way and then 18:09 you've been on this journey. And I am sure 18:11 that there are others that are watching that, 18:13 you know they are on their life journey but 18:14 they've got through struggles and you 18:16 interface with them, what kind of advice 18:19 do you give them in this; you know quick 18:21 fix culture we live in? Well that's exactly 18:25 part of the problem because we all want a 18:27 fast makeover; we wanted to be pain free, 18:30 that's what the message of the media. 18:32 The message of the media is that no one 18:34 should have to experience any kind of 18:36 pain at any time and the cure for any kind 18:38 of pain is a product, but only if you get it 18:40 now and so we are raising a generation 18:43 of impulsive kids that are addicted and 18:48 they don't know how to solve problems or 18:49 meet challenges or persevere and those 18:51 are the very skills and tools that we need 18:53 to make it through life without developing a 18:56 very serious problems and so first of all 18:58 we need to understand the fact that pain 19:02 is a part of life. We are going to have to 19:03 learn to deal with painful situations, 19:06 painful people, challenging obstacles 19:10 in a new and different way. We cannot 19:12 escape the fact that there is pain in 19:13 this life. And this is certainly true in your 19:15 life you had to deal with the pain of an 19:17 abusive mother and losing a mother, losing 19:19 a father all those different kind of 19:20 things, right. And you know because of 19:22 your life experience how has this played into 19:26 your ministry, how do you help others with 19:28 your testimony. Well the materials that we 19:30 develop at Lifestyle Matters have 19:32 specifically to do with the effect of 19:35 nutrition lifestyle and other factors on 19:38 the brain, on mood, on depression, on 19:40 learning and memory. Now we've come out 19:42 with our book living free on addictions 19:44 it's called living free finding freedom from 19:46 habits that hurt. And it helps people to 19:49 leave the mentality of fix me now, I want it 19:53 right away and I want it pain free to 19:55 entering into a process where they 19:59 will be rebuilt over time and that 20:01 doesn't mean that it will be failure-free 20:03 but it means that every mistake can be 20:06 turned into a victory. We can gain strength 20:08 and gather resources as I said before 20:12 in a different conversation that we 20:14 had the addict knows how to do their addiction 20:16 and they know how to stop it often they 20:18 are very arbitrative skills to deal with 20:20 anything in between and so the program that 20:23 God has given us is not just about physical 20:25 healing it's about restoring wholeness 20:27 to the life and that means that we are 20:29 not going to be removed from challenges, it 20:31 means that we are going to develop the skills 20:33 to meet those challenges. So it's a 20:35 whole new attitude, the attitude is look 20:37 I've got to look at this long term and I've 20:39 got a friend to hold my hand, exactly. Lord is 20:41 gonna be with me but we have to change. 20:44 Now you grew up in this, your family of origin 20:47 was somewhat complicated, but have 20:51 you raised a family of your own now? Oh yes, 20:53 we've two beautiful children. Our daughter 20:56 is married to a pastor and she is a nurse 21:00 and they are expecting their second child 21:02 and our son is a pilot and he is instrumental, 21:05 where he has his Airframe & Power 21:06 plant and he is getting ready to go into 21:08 nursing school. Now you were violent with them, 21:10 did you beat them up, knock them down? No, 21:11 I was never able to kill them, no I just kidding. 21:14 No they are wonderful young people, they are 21:17 wonderful and so what the reason I asked 21:19 that was because you grow up in a home 21:21 where your mother was quite violent. The kids 21:23 never ran away, no oh no we were just, 21:26 the guy is not training to get pilot 21:28 so he can fly off into New Islander. No 21:30 here's the wonderful thing, the Bible says 21:32 that the sins of the fathers are visited 21:35 to the third and fourth generation of them 21:37 that hate me, okay now that is not a curse. 21:39 That is just a statement of fact that we pass 21:41 on tendencies, we pass on habits and we 21:44 enculturate our children into a certain lifestyle 21:46 under certain way of thinking. And the Lord 21:48 is telling us this when he states this in the 21:51 commandment, but it also says in Deuteronomy 21:55 that he came to show mercy to a thousand 21:57 generations so he came to break the 22:00 cycle of sin. Then that doesn't mean that 22:02 my thinking has been perfect, it doesn't mean 22:04 that my parenting skills have been perfect. 22:05 But it does mean that we broke out of that 22:08 syndrome, we broke out of that mold and 22:11 we had a completely different experience 22:13 with our family. And your sister; 22:14 my sister is a beautiful woman who also manage 22:16 to break out of that mold. So that's great, 22:18 it's a wonderful story of victory means 22:20 just because you are in a situation that 22:22 people are watching today just because they 22:23 are addicted are on substances where this 22:26 or that. There is no need to have to 22:28 stay there God can help you break free. 22:30 My precious sister has been stabbed and 22:34 beaten with chords and rejected and 22:36 treated in the most horrific ways and yet 22:39 her life is a testimony as to what, having a 22:43 new mind from Christ can do. Now your 22:46 husband of course he and you are happily 22:49 marriage, he is amazing, you are involved in 22:51 team ministry, you seem to be more in love 22:53 than when I met you ten years ago. He is 22:55 amazing and one of the amazing things that 22:58 God gives us to do, one thing that my 23:01 father did say that was a good thing that 23:02 I remember from years ago he said 23:04 always surround yourself with people 23:05 that are smarter than you and always be 23:07 reading a book that's too hard for you and 23:09 I really did log on to that peace of advice 23:12 and so my husband who has these, some 23:15 amazing skills that I lack, I will ask him in a 23:18 situation like how do you think about this, 23:20 what is your thinking? Because my thinking 23:23 isn't right about this, my thinking doesn't work. 23:25 So how do you think about it, what's your 23:28 reasoning and I will try and adopt a new 23:30 thinking, I will try it on. And the 23:33 definition of insanity is doing the same thing 23:36 over and over expecting different results. Well if 23:38 the way that your thinking isn't working 23:40 try something different and as you respond 23:44 and as you experience new types of thought 23:46 patterns it actually has a molding effect 23:48 on the brain and so those spots and those 23:50 patterns actually become yours and you do 23:52 become new it's the promise of God. Now 23:55 lot of these things that you have been 23:56 through that kind of guided the things that 23:58 you are materials as you and your team, 23:59 where developing at lifestyle matters, 24:01 right. And you know I mentioned in the first 24:03 segment, I am mentioning again here 24:05 lifestylematters.com has a lot of resources for 24:09 those dealing with stress, food, addictions other 24:14 types of addictions, what else is there? 24:16 Well we have materials on nutrition's link 24:20 with mood, memory, learning and behavior. 24:22 We have DVDs, amazing DVDs that have 24:26 been developed and teaching materials if 24:28 you want to hold seminars in your own 24:30 church or neighborhood or community center. 24:32 So these are, all these things are really 24:33 helping people that were experiencing some 24:37 of the very things you are experiencing, 24:39 absolutely. Now do you have a landscaping class 24:41 so you can draw people in like you? That's 24:44 what I do in my spare time, is that right? But 24:46 I have to say people that have struggled with 24:49 obesity, diabetes some of these lifestyle 24:51 problems for many years have never addressed 24:53 in their own minds and in their own thinking. 24:55 Their own addictiveness with certain problems, 24:59 they have never addressed the cravings 25:01 that have developed and how to break those 25:03 syndromes and how to manage stress and 25:05 how to manage stress and some of these other 25:06 elements that drive those eating behaviors that 25:09 cause those lifestyle problems and so we are 25:11 seeing longer term results and that is my 25:13 passion and that's my goal. Now, you know 25:15 one of the texts in the Bible that I like is 25:17 that we can comfort others with the comfort 25:21 that God is comforted us with, that's right. 25:24 In other words the situation we've gone 25:26 through, and what is your favorite text, 25:29 what are some of your favorite guiding things? 25:31 You said that this is a process of change and so 25:34 you are still on that process, what is the 25:36 especially relevant for you right now. There are 25:40 so many scriptures, one of my favorites and 25:42 I'm not, I'm paraphrasing it but it says though 25:45 you have lying among the pots you know 25:47 you've been broken piece of pot shot of, 25:49 piece of pottery that's just clay and totally 25:52 worthless. That yeah you will have the wings, 25:55 wings of a dove gilded with silver and gold 25:58 and so God will make his children who have 26:01 had the worst problems, spectacle to God and 26:04 to angels and to men. This is all about 26:06 showcasing what he can do; it's all about 26:09 what he has built into the human brain 26:12 for recovery and for renewal and are very 26:15 physiology and genetics. Witness to the 26:19 amazing ability for lives to be reclaimed 26:22 and that's a good message that's good 26:24 news. So this is kind a like the mission here 26:27 at 3ABN, which is healing and mending 26:30 broken people. You are one of those 26:31 that's been healed and mended and we are 26:34 glad that you are doing what you are doing, 26:36 thank you for the work there at Michigan 26:38 Conference and the Lifestyle Matters team. 26:41 And I know you have many ongoing projects 26:44 and it's kind of almost overwhelming now 26:46 you have so much interest that's developing 26:48 and we are just happy to see that and 26:52 your children are launched to their 26:54 ministry, they are happy, they want to 26:56 come home have some good Italian cooking 26:59 from you from time to time. Oh absolutely, 27:01 my daughter is coming next week to stay 27:03 for a week. Our son actually is still at 27:04 home as he enters into his nursing program, 27:07 he has been away but now he is back because 27:09 this is a good school near home. I think he 27:12 is there for the cooking program, well he might 27:14 tell you differently because I am traveling 27:15 an awful lot, he teases me but when I can 27:18 I sure to love to cook well for my family. 27:20 We've been talking to Vicki Griffin and 27:22 this has been heartwarming story 27:25 that just shows us that God is powerful 27:28 he can lead, he can guide even 27:30 sometimes or often times when we are 27:32 not even seeking him. And if you are 27:34 watching today and you've been searching 27:37 for something that you can really hang 27:39 your head on and give you focus and direction, 27:42 it's really a relationship with him. 27:44 We are thankful for Vicki, we are glad that 27:47 you've been here with us today, we ask the 27:48 Lord will bless your ministry. We are glad 27:50 that you've been with us today; we hope that 27:52 that as a result of watching this program 27:55 and the others here on 3ABN, you'll have 27:57 health that lasts not just 27:58 for now but for a lifetime. |
Revised 2014-12-17