Participants: Brenda Walsh
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR001024
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01:01 Have you ever wondered why it's necessary to pray?
01:05 Have you ever thought, "God knows all of our thoughts, 01:07 so why should I have to pray?" 01:09 Isn't that right? 01:11 Does God know what we're thinking? 01:12 Does He know our thoughts? Yes. 01:14 So then why bother to pray? 01:17 Well, here's the answer. 01:19 Yes, God knows our thoughts 01:22 but He responds to our prayers. Amen? 01:28 God wants us to rely on Him for everything. 01:32 He wants us to completely surrender our hearts 01:35 and life to Him. 01:36 And He wants us to talk to Him like He's our best friend. 01:40 All throughout scripture, 01:42 prayer is the one necessary factor for answered prayer. 01:50 So many people when they pray, they pray hoping, hoping, hoping 01:55 that their prayers will get answered, 01:57 but not with absolute faith that they will. 02:02 But then think about the woman in the Bible 02:04 that touched the hem of Jesus' garment. 02:08 And what did Jesus tell her? 02:11 That her faith had made her whole. 02:15 We need to be able to have the kind of faith in Jesus 02:19 that we know beyond the shadow of a doubt 02:22 that no matter what is going on in our lives, 02:25 Jesus will always answer our prayers. 02:27 Now it doesn't mean He's gonna answer your prayer 02:29 the way you want Him to or in that same--the timeframe 02:34 that you want Him to answer it in. 02:35 But God always answers. 02:38 And He loves us so much. 02:41 He knows the end from the beginning. 02:43 He knows the big plan. 02:44 He knows the big picture. 02:45 He knows what's best for us. 02:47 So why do we all have so much trouble relinquishing control 02:52 and instead of just giving it all to Jesus 02:55 and let Him plan out our life for us 02:57 and have a prayer life with Jesus like you can't imagine? 03:00 Now some people have asked me 03:02 because I talk a lot about passionate prayer. 03:05 What's the difference between prayer and passionate prayer? 03:10 Well, there's a big difference. 03:13 Sometimes people pray when they only want something. 03:20 They don't even think about praying on a daily basis 03:23 but when something goes wrong 03:24 and they see they're in big trouble, 03:26 the first thing they're gonna do is pray 03:27 and ask everybody to pray for them too, right? 03:32 Or they were raised to pray. 03:37 They go to church and they know they're supposed to pray. 03:40 And so they think prayers--once a night 03:42 before they go to bed and they, you know, say a quick prayer. 03:46 And say, you know, Lord, you know, 03:49 and then they kind of recite all the things that they normally, 03:52 you know, pray about almost like they've memorized the script. 03:57 And then there are some people who pray and they will start off 04:03 like they're talking to the Lord and then their mind will wander 04:07 and they'll start, you know, thinking about, you know, 04:09 the dishes in the sink 04:10 or the laundry that needs to get done 04:12 or you know, the situation at work that, you know, 04:15 needs some big business deal coming up 04:17 and before long they realize, "Oh, I was praying." 04:21 Here they are, they're right before 04:22 the throne room of God and they don't even realize that, 04:26 you know, they left the God at the altar. 04:29 But I think that the difference between passionate prayer 04:35 and praying is really communicating with Jesus. 04:40 It's when you really pour your heart and soul out to Him. 04:43 When you tell Him about all the things 04:44 that happened to you throughout the day. 04:46 When you talk to Him about your problem. 04:47 When you praise Him for so much good that's happening. 04:50 Even in the midst of your storm--there's many things 04:53 that you can praise Jesus for, amen? 04:56 You know, in Philippians 1:11, we're told that we're supposed 05:00 to be content in all things. 05:02 No matter if we're having the worst problems at work. 05:06 No matter if we're having the hardest financial, 05:09 you know, time at home. 05:11 We can be content in all things 05:13 because our faith and trust is in Jesus. 05:15 And we know, He will never leave us or forsake us, 05:17 no matter what fire we're going through, 05:18 we're not going through it alone. 05:22 When you're passionately praying to Jesus, 05:25 He is your best friend. 05:28 You can be passionate about soul winning. 05:34 You can be praying for not just your own family, 05:36 not just your own children, not just your own friends. 05:38 But you can be praying for your church friends, 05:41 your church neighbors, your neighbors down the street, 05:45 the person that delivers your mail, 05:46 the person that checks you out at the grocery store each week. 05:50 Pray for the strangers that you meet throughout your day. 05:54 We could be passionate lifting each other up in prayer. 05:57 Because when you are passionate about anything, 06:01 it's something that really you love, right? 06:03 Isn't that right? 06:05 So when you're passionately praying to Jesus, 06:08 you are passionately praying 06:09 because you are so in love with Jesus 06:11 that you can't-- you can't imagine 06:15 not having a daily walk with Him. 06:17 Your time with Jesus is so important 06:19 that your mind isn't gonna wander 06:21 when you, you know, pray. 06:23 He's your best friend. 06:26 I tell people that if your mind 06:28 starts to wander, get on your knees. 06:31 And really, you're rather than just-- 06:33 if you're having trouble with that, get on your knees. 06:37 I talk to Jesus all day long about everything. 06:40 He knows about it anyway, so I just tell Him about it. 06:42 And if I'm frustrated, God knows me. 06:44 He made me. 06:46 He made each one of us with different personalities. 06:48 And if I'm frustrated about something 06:49 and I'm saying, "Lord, what am I gonna do? 06:52 You know I--you know, 06:53 I can't get the wrinkle out of that, you know, 06:55 backdrop and it's just not working and those angles 06:58 and boy that it's ruining that whole shot on there and Lord, 07:01 I don't how to fix it and they don't know 07:03 how to--the crew doesn't know how to fix it. 07:04 Lord, what am I gonna do?" 07:05 And I say, "Would you please take care of this, 07:07 Lord, this is Your program." 07:10 I talk him about it and guess what? 07:12 Our director came in, the next morning he says, 07:15 do you know he said, "I could not rest yesterday." 07:18 He said, "I was thinking about that backdrop," 07:20 he said, "I don't know why." 07:22 He said, "But I went in there," and he said, 07:24 "and I figured it out and guess --look we have no wrinkles." 07:26 I was like, "Thank you, Jesus." 07:30 You see? And then praise Him. 07:31 Remember to thank Him because God always has the plan. 07:36 Do you know when your prayer--when you're praying 07:38 and you have a passionate prayer life with Jesus, 07:40 your days go better. 07:42 You don't have any problems, they're his problems. 07:45 And you just have a trust 07:49 that it's gonna be okay no matter what it is. 07:53 Now I wish like everything I could tell you that 07:56 my life is always like that, 07:59 that I never ever lose faith. 08:03 But the truth is, that's not true. 08:06 Sometimes I stumble and I fall like everybody else 08:09 and then I realize and I'll say, 08:10 "Oh Lord, please forgive me. 08:13 I wasn't trusting in you at all, I was trying to fix it." 08:15 Have you ever done that? 08:16 While you were praying-- then you tell God 08:18 how you want Him to fix your problems? 08:19 Maybe I'm the only one who tried that. 08:20 You know, but it doesn't work. 08:23 You know, we need to pray and we need to listen. 08:27 Not--several years ago-- how many here 08:29 who've ever been to Pathfinder Camporees 08:31 out in Oshkosh, Wisconsin? 08:32 Do you send the pathfinders there? 08:34 Well, did I see you there? 08:35 It's--I take a Kids' Time booth, we set up a 3ABN booth there. 08:40 And greet and meet all the kids 08:42 and we have a wonderful time at Pathfinder Camporee. 08:46 And at this particular Camporee, 08:50 we were set up and we had a really-- 08:51 we took over three booths in that big old hang room 08:54 that they have there. 08:56 And we had Ben Roy doing a Learning Time program 09:01 all throughout the day. 09:02 We had a section set up for Sharing Time with camera 09:05 so that kids that probably would never be have a chance 09:08 to be on the program, could come there and sit there 09:10 and tell me how they shared Jesus 09:12 and I could use that and roll it in on Sharing Time. 09:14 And then we had another big huge booth 09:18 where we sold Kids' Time products. 09:21 We had Kids' Time shirts and books and CDs 09:24 and all these things and everything to help, 09:26 you know, support the program Kids' Time. 09:30 Well, all week long-- and now my brother Jim, 09:35 at that time was the Youth Director 09:37 for the Michigan Conference. 09:39 And so he had taken our camper 09:42 that was owned by Michigan Conference 09:44 and he was staying there. 09:45 And he said, his sisters could stay with him 09:47 which we were really glad because honestly 09:50 I'm not really the camper in the family. 09:51 And so if you watch any of our cooking shows, 09:54 you know, Cinda and Linda kind of tease me 09:55 about being a high maintenance sister. 09:57 And so I do love nature, don't get me wrong 10:00 and I just prefer seeing it from a car window or a video. 10:03 And so I don't really like all the little critters 10:06 and all the little bugs and all those kind of things. 10:09 And so I was thrilled when our brother 10:12 said that we could stay in the camper with him. 10:13 There's a shower and it was gonna be awesome 10:16 and I was like, you know, that was awesome 10:18 and plus you could lock it up at night. 10:19 So all day long they sold products, 10:22 at the end of the day, I would take all the cash 10:25 that we had made for that day and I would take it 10:28 to the trailer and I had a big old suitcase 10:32 and it had two outside pockets, and the first pocket 10:35 was at the very top like this. 10:36 And so I just stuffed the cash in there 10:38 and not knowing what to do with it. 10:40 I had failed to think about cash bag or anything. 10:41 So I just put it in there and we locked our camper. 10:44 So it wasn't a problem and everyday 10:46 at the end of the day I'd come and I'd put more cash in there. 10:50 And probably we were getting around 9000 people 10:53 a day past our booth. 10:54 So if you could imagine that. 10:56 So we were really having a lot of traffic, 10:58 the sales were great. 10:59 We had to even get more products throughout the week, 11:02 so God was really blessing. 11:05 At the end of the Camporee, we would--my sister Linda lives 11:12 near the camp at Wisconsin. 11:14 And so the plan was for me to go to her house, 11:18 spend the night and then I would fly out the next morning 11:20 back to my home in Knoxville, Tennessee. 11:23 So we packed all our stuff up from the camp, 11:26 told our brothers goodbye. 11:28 And I drove about an hour to my sister's house 11:31 and spent the night there. 11:34 And the next morning, I'm start getting ready for the airport. 11:38 And Linda knocked on my door and she said, "Sis." 11:40 She said, "My neighbors are here." 11:43 And she said, "I've been telling them 11:44 how us girls sing and everything. 11:46 They want to know, is there anyway 11:48 we could sing a couple of songs for them?" 11:50 So I said, "Oh sure." 11:51 You know, I'm not quite ready, I mean, 11:53 I'm dressed but nothing is packed in my suitcase yet. 11:58 And so I said, "Sure." 11:59 And so, you know, my plane wasn't leaving till noon. 12:01 And so I went out to the living room and greeted her neighbors. 12:05 And we sat--I sat down on the piano and I played by ear. 12:08 And so my sister and I sang and we played and we sang 12:12 and we played and we talked to them about the Lord 12:15 and gave her some, you know, some of our witnessing stories. 12:17 And then we played and sang some more. 12:19 All of a sudden, Linda's mother-in-law, 12:22 Aggie came running in and she goes, "Brenda." 12:24 She said, "You better get ready to go to the airport." 12:28 And I said, "oh," I said, "we got plenty of time." 12:31 I said, "You know, my flight doesn't leave till noon." 12:34 I said, "And I don't need to be there till 11.00, 12:37 an hour before the flight and it's an hour 12:38 drive to the airport, so we got plenty of time." 12:40 She goes, "Brenda, it is 10 minutes to 10 right now." 12:43 Oh, I said, and I just jumped off the piano. 12:47 And I said, "Sorry, I got to go." 12:49 And I ran into the room and I thought, oh, no, 12:51 I got a--my stuffs lying all over, 12:53 it's not even ready packed. 12:54 And what some of you may not know about me 12:57 is that I'm kind of neat freak. 12:58 I like to pack things right, nice 13:00 and my shoes have nice little, 13:02 you know, holder so that the dirt from your shoe 13:05 doesn't get on your clothes. 13:06 And I've got everything nicely folded and packed just so, 13:09 and everything's got a special spot. 13:11 Oh, Linda ran in there after me and she goes, 13:13 "We got to go, sis, we're gonna be late." 13:15 And she just starts throwing everything in my suitcases. 13:17 Oh, I thought I'd have a heart attack. 13:19 And so when she-- we get it all in there 13:21 and she has to sit on top of it to close it. 13:23 And so I'm zipping it and we dragged that thing 13:26 into the car-- to the trunk of the car. 13:28 And Linda told me I better drive because I drive faster than her. 13:32 And so we just took off down to Madison, Wisconsin Airport. 13:39 And I mean, I was flying low, don't tell anybody. 13:42 And when I got to the airport, 13:45 I gave her a quick kiss, goodbye 13:47 because I mean, it took us an hour. 13:49 And there was some traffic and everything 13:50 and I was worried about missing my flight. 13:52 And so I raced into the airport, quickly checked my bags, 13:56 ran through security. 13:57 And wouldn't know I'd be the one picked 14:01 to get the pat down. 14:02 And I'm in a hurry. 14:04 I got to get to my gate. 14:05 And so finally I'm like, you know, 14:06 so they cleared me through security 14:08 and I go running in there, huffing and puffing. 14:11 I get on the plane and I sit in my seat and oh, I made it. 14:15 Thank you, Lord. Thank you so much. 14:17 And I'm praying the whole time, as I'm driving, 14:18 Lord, please help me not to miss my plane. 14:20 Because you know I've got to leave for 3ABN the next day, 14:22 I've got taping programs, they depending on me and say, 14:25 God knows all that? 14:27 But I tell Him anyway. 14:28 It's on my heart, you know, and I, you know, 14:30 He's my best friend so I talk to Him. 14:33 So I'm on the plane and I meet the lady 14:36 next to me and anytime I fly, I pray and ask God 14:41 to give me a divine appointment. 14:43 See I pray and ask God to sit somebody next to me that really 14:46 needs to know how much Jesus loves them. 14:49 And you know God always does that. 14:51 He is so faithful. 14:53 And so I had the most wonderful divine appointment. 14:56 I was able to talk with the woman next to me 14:59 and share with her about-- about what I did 15:03 and that led to a whole conversation 15:04 about her Christian life 15:06 and it was a wonderful spiritual conversation. 15:09 And we were still talking when we landed in Cincinnati 15:13 where I was supposed to change planes 15:15 from Cincinnati to Knoxville, 15:17 that Knoxville, Tennessee where I live. 15:19 So while we were just landing, I asked the lady, 15:23 I said, "Would you mind if I had a prayer with you?" 15:25 And I took her hand and we had prayer. 15:27 And I told her that I wanted to be her neighbor in heaven 15:30 if she gave her heart to Jesus. 15:32 And tears were rolling down her cheeks and she said, "Yes." 15:36 She said, "I want to meet you there too." 15:37 She goes, "I just can't believe, 15:39 what are the chances that somebody talks 15:41 so openly about God sitting next to me?" 15:44 And so I told her, I said, 15:46 "Well, it's pretty high because you are prayed for." 15:48 And so I got up, I told her goodbye and I grabbed my roll on 15:53 and my computer bag and I'm headed down 15:56 an aisle through the Cincinnati Airport. 15:59 And I got right in front of an end to end pretzel stand. 16:05 Oh, no. 16:10 Oh, what did I do? 16:11 Oh, Lord, what did I do? What did I do? 16:13 How could I have been so foolish? 16:15 I checked my suitcase with all that money still inside of it, 16:19 with all the haste and the hurry of trying 16:22 to get out of the house on time. 16:23 I had forgotten to take all that money out 16:25 and I was gonna put it in my satchel, 16:28 my bag that I was gonna carry with me on the plane. 16:30 And now instead, it was in my suitcase 16:34 that was at check bay. 16:36 Now I don't know about you, but in the United States 16:39 after 9/11, it changed everything. 16:41 And they check everything and they screen everything. 16:44 And I knew, I said, Lord if someone's gonna 16:46 open that zipper and see all that money, 16:48 if they're gonna take $20, they'll take it all. 16:51 I said, "And they're gonna check my bag." 16:53 I said, "Oh, Lord, this is Your money. 16:57 How could have I lost Your money? 16:58 There's thousands of dollars in there." 17:00 I said, "I quit counting after the first couple of nights." 17:03 Because there was just so much 17:04 and I didn't have time to count it all. 17:05 And so I just had kept stuffing and stuffing, 17:08 in fact, I could hardly get that zipper closed. 17:10 And it was a pretty big pocket. 17:13 I said, "Oh, Lord, I lost Your money! 17:17 Oh, no!" 17:20 I'm gonna have to call Danny. 17:21 I'm gonna have to tell him about it. 17:23 You see, Danny Shelton 17:25 is the founder of Three Angels Broadcasting Network. 17:27 He's also a close friend, childhood friend of mine. 17:30 And I didn't know how to break it to him. 17:36 Lord, I need prayer. 17:38 I need someone to pray with me. 17:39 And so I quick-- I was fumbling, 17:40 where's my purse, where's my purse. 17:42 Oh, here's my purse, here's my phone and my purse. 17:44 And I quickly dial the number 17:45 and I could hardly talk. "Hello?" 17:49 I could hear Danny on the other end of the phone going, 17:52 "Hello, is anybody there?" 17:54 As soon as I heard his voice. 17:55 "Danny..." 18:02 I was a blubbering idiot. 18:04 I mean, I was just sobbing. 18:05 And he goes, "Brenda, what's the matter? 18:07 Are you all right? 18:08 Are you hurt, what's the matter? 18:12 Brenda, would you take a breath? 18:16 Now tell me what's the matter." 18:18 And I said, "Danny, I lost God's money." 18:24 And the whole story just spilled out. 18:27 And as soon as it spilled out, 18:29 do you know what he said to me? 18:31 "Is that all?" 18:35 He said, "Brenda, you said it yourself, 18:37 it's God's money. 18:39 He knows where it's at. 18:41 And if God's got another plan for it, 18:44 it's okay with us. 18:45 We're gonna trust it to Jesus, 18:46 let me pray with you right now." 18:49 So he got--I stood real still and I just bowed my head 18:54 and I stood there and all these people going past me. 18:56 I'm still sitting there in the Auntie Anne's stand. 19:00 And he prayed, and he asked God to first of all, 19:05 calm me down and give me more faith. 19:08 He asked God to protect His money if it was His will. 19:12 Lord, you know where that money is. 19:14 Like Brenda said, it's yours, 19:16 you can do with that what you want. 19:18 Lord, if You've got another plan for that money, it's okay. 19:21 We're trusting that money to You, it's Your money. 19:24 We know You have the power 19:26 to protect it and keep it safe. 19:30 And Lord, if that's not Your plan, 19:33 it's okay." 19:37 When he got through praying, 19:40 I couldn't believe how calm he was. 19:44 And as soon as he was trying to say, he said, 19:46 "Now, Brenda, just relax, God's got this under control." 19:49 I said, "Danny, do you have to be so nice about it?" 19:54 I said, "Can't you just scream at me or tell me 19:56 how foolish I am or fire me or something?" 19:59 And then he really laughed. 20:01 He said, "I can't fire you, you are a volunteer." 20:08 He said, "Now you just trust God 20:10 with that money, it's gonna be okay." 20:12 Well, when we hung up, it still wasn't okay. 20:16 And the minute I started thinking about all that money 20:18 that I had lost, of God's money, 20:21 knowing how much that money could be used for His work. 20:25 All those tears started just happening all over again. 20:28 And a man came by and said, "Ma'am, are you okay?" 20:31 I said, "No, I'm not okay!" 20:35 He said, "Okay." 20:38 I went and found my gate. 20:43 And I said, "I got to--I need prayer." 20:47 Do you know, in the Bible where it says, 20:48 "Where two or more gathered, 20:50 He is there, He is in the midst." 20:52 And so I said, "I've got to-- I need prayer warriors. 20:54 I've got to be--for taking this--I need 20:56 lots of prayer warriors." 20:57 And so instead of having that kind of faith 21:00 that Danny had, I was still panicked. 21:04 And so I mean, I started calling 21:07 every prayer warrior who would pray for me. 21:09 I first called my dad because that activates 21:12 the Micheff family prayer chain. 21:14 And I call daddy and I said and told him 21:16 the whole story and he said, 21:17 "Okay, I'll get the family praying." 21:19 And when I got through talking with daddy, 21:21 I went looked in my phone and I started with the As 21:24 and I started calling every single person 21:27 that I knew would be a prayer warrior to pray for me. 21:30 And when I got down to almost to the Ms, 21:40 I heard an announcement that said, 21:45 "Ladies and gentlemen, we're so sorry 21:47 but there's going to be 4 hour delay 21:49 due to mechanical problems." 21:51 Oh, no. 21:53 Lord, you expect me to sit here and wait another 4 hours? 21:57 Why, that might as well have been 4 million years. 21:59 I was, I said how am I gonna know 4 hours? 22:03 I decided I shouldn't go up and tell anybody about it, 22:05 because for sure it'd be gone then. 22:07 And so I said, "Lord, you know, 22:10 You need to take care of that money, it's Your money." 22:12 And I'm talking to God, like He didn't know about it. 22:15 And so I got down through the, you know, 22:20 down to the Ms and I was almost down to the last M on my card. 22:24 And I'd been calling, calling. 22:26 The only one time I moved that whole time was to sit next 22:29 to a wall where I could plug my cell phone charger in. 22:33 And I was calling every prayer warrior I knew who'd pray. 22:36 And I got down to Ms, the last one and it said Myrtle. 22:40 Now had I been in my right mind, 22:43 I would have never called Myrtle. 22:46 Because you see, Myrtle is my aunt, my mother's sister. 22:51 And my aunt Myrtle, although she'd been raised 22:53 the Seventh-day Adventist, had not been in the church 22:56 since she was a child. 22:58 And I have always loved and been close to my aunt Myrtle. 23:04 I have to tell you she was my favorite aunty. 23:06 And I think I was her favorite too. 23:08 And I had a very close relationship with her. 23:12 And so I--not even thinking, I just dialed aunt Myrtle 23:16 and I said, "Aunt Myrtle, Aunt Myrtle, I really need you." 23:19 And she said, "Honey, what's the matter? 23:20 What's the matter, Brenda?" 23:22 I said, "Oh, Aunt Myrtle, I need you so much and I--" 23:24 And so I told her the whole story. 23:26 She goes, "Well, what can I do?" 23:27 I said, "Aunt Myrtle, I need you to pray for me!" 23:30 She goes, "Well, honey, I don't even know how to pray." 23:34 And I said, "Aunt Myrtle, I need you at a time like this, 23:36 I need you, "she goes, "okay, okay, okay. 23:37 Just calm down, calm down." 23:39 She said, "I--I--I--I--I'll pray." 23:45 Well, when we finally boarded that flight, 23:49 my stomach is in knots, I'm not at peace. 23:53 I am so nervous, I'm a nervous wreck, 23:55 and my hands are sweating. 23:57 I land in Knoxville, I can't even hardly 23:59 wait to get off that plane. 24:01 As I walked to the baggage carousel, 24:03 I met my husband there. 24:04 He had been praying for me too, he had that panic call as well. 24:08 And so he hugged me and he says, "Honey, it's gonna be okay." 24:11 And we walked, you know, I'm a priority flier, 24:14 I'm almost a diamond with Delta, I mean, I fly all the time. 24:17 My bags are supposed to be the first ones off the plane, 24:20 they're even labeled that way. 24:21 No, it was the last bag off the plane. 24:24 And I mean, I'm waiting as bag after bag after bag 24:27 is coming around that carousel and finally, there's my bag. 24:31 Tim, my husband Tim picked it up and took it off the carousel. 24:36 And he said, "Do you want to unzip it? 24:38 Or do you want me to?" 24:40 I said, "I guess I'll do it but can we pray one more time?" 24:46 And he said, "Yes." He said, "Let' pray." 24:48 So he put his arm around me and we said a little prayer. 24:52 And then he said, "Honey, you're gonna have to open it." 24:55 I said, "Okay." 24:57 And I bent down and I unzipped that zipper 25:00 and all of a sudden these bills started coming out, 25:02 and I'm grabbing them, going, "Honey, honey, 25:03 quick, quick, quick, close that thing up quick!" 25:07 It was stuffed full. 25:10 All the money was there. 25:14 Well, I guess it's no secret to you, probably you figured out 25:17 who I called first. 25:19 I figured, Danny-- it was already late at night 25:21 and he already had faith anyway. 25:23 So, you know, I wasn't gonna worry about calling him, 25:25 I called my Aunt Myrtle. 25:27 And as soon as I called her, she said, 25:28 "Honey, honey is the money, is the money there? 25:30 She goes, "I've been praying 25:32 every minute since you called me." 25:33 And she said, "I've been down on my knees." 25:34 And she said, "I figured if I was gonna talked 25:36 to the man, I'd better get on my knees 25:37 and my arthritis is killing me." 25:41 I said, "Oh, yes, grandma, yes. I mean, Aunt Myrtle." 25:44 I said, "Yes, Aunt Myrtle, yes. 25:46 I said, "The money is all there." 25:48 And she says, "Well, don't you want to thank Him?" 25:51 I said, "Oh, yes, I do." 25:52 We had a big thank you prayer. 25:55 Now I could tell you 26:02 that there are many reasons 26:06 why that story is so important for me 26:09 to share with you tonight. 26:12 You see, I didn't have the kind of faith I needed, did I? 26:18 I was praying and praying and praying. 26:20 I didn't really have the kind of faith that I absolutely knew 26:23 without shadow of a doubt that whatever happened was okay. 26:27 It was in God's plan and I should just have been 26:31 able to just put it at peace and that'd be it. 26:36 But I did have enough faith to start calling people 26:39 and start asking for prayer and knowing 26:41 that the possibility was there. 26:43 And you know in the Bible where it says, 26:45 if you turn with me, in Matthew 17:20. 26:50 Matthew 17:20, "And Jesus said unto them, 26:56 Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, 27:00 if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, 27:03 ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, 27:08 and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." 27:16 And nothing shall be impossible unto you. 27:19 If I have the faith of even a tiny grain 27:21 of mustard seed, nothing is impossible. 27:24 And yet God honored that tiny 27:28 little grain of faith that I had. 27:30 Isn't God good? 27:32 The other thing is that God saw the big picture. 27:36 You see, my Aunt Myrtle now is one of my biggest 27:38 prayer warriors you could imagine. 27:40 And now if I have anything to pray about, 27:42 I call Aunt Myrtle and I'll say, "Aunt Myrtle, 27:44 I just got a letter from this little, you know boy, 27:47 in Fiji and his mom is really, really sick. 27:50 They told him that she's gonna die. 27:52 And he wrote me this letter and it's breaking my heart. 27:54 He said that if Miss Brenda prays for his Mama, 27:57 he knows that she'll live." 27:59 I said, "Aunt Myrtle." I said, "He doesn't understand." 28:02 I said, "Well, that his mother might take him and 28:07 it doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't love him" 28:10 I said, "Would you pray for him, please?" 28:12 And she said, "Well, let me, let's write that name down, 28:14 now he's that and she goes, where's he from? 28:16 Oh, yeah, I'll for him." 28:17 She'll pray for him and pray for him. 28:19 I'll give her so many things to pray about and the next time 28:22 I talk to her, she'll want to know, 28:23 "Have you heard anything about this little girl that, 28:25 now that little girl with the brain tumor, 28:27 how is that turning out?" 28:28 And I said, well, grandma, I mean, Aunt Myrtle," 28:30 I keep calling her grandma. 28:31 I said, "Oh, Aunt Myrtle." 28:33 I said, "This happened and this happened and this happened." 28:36 And she goes, "Oh, wonderful, wonderful." 28:38 And she's one of my most wonderful prayer warriors. 28:42 Now you got to know, God sees the big picture, 28:45 He sees the plan. 28:46 We have to trust Him. 28:48 We don't know the plan but He does. 28:50 He knows the end from the beginning. 28:52 And it's so important that we place our life completely 28:55 and fully in the Lord's hands. 28:57 Our God is trustworthy. 29:02 I can tell you, sometimes I don't understand 29:08 what God wants or why He does certain things 29:09 but it's not our job to understand, 29:12 it's our job to trust. 29:14 He is the king of the universe, He's our creator. 29:16 He loves us more than anybody else ever could. 29:20 We can trust Him. 29:22 One particular flight I was on, I was really excited because 29:27 I was taking this trip and I had prayed 29:30 and asked for God to seat me next to someone 29:32 I could witness to, like I always do. 29:35 And I was really excited because sometimes 29:39 when you go online and you click on your sit-- 29:41 where you're gonna sit, there's quite a few options 29:45 and you click on it and then that seat's yours, right? 29:48 Well, this particular time, 29:49 and it's happened more than once. 29:51 I've clicked around on there to find a seat 29:53 and even though it says available, it will not take it. 29:57 And this particular flight, only 1 seat 30:01 out of probably 20 open seats, only 1 place would it take it. 30:05 And so I was really excited, I was like, well, you got-- 30:07 so I'm really excited for this trip, 30:10 I'm really excited about that. 30:13 And I was flying on a trip, I believe I was going to Russia. 30:18 And I was really, I knew it was gonna be a long trip 30:21 and I thought, "Wow, this is really awesome." 30:24 But guess what, I got on the plane 30:28 and the man next to me was by the window. 30:32 The seat next to us between us was empty. 30:34 And this man as soon as we--he didn't want to talk, 30:37 and as soon as we got off the ground, 30:40 he turned to me and he said, "Can you tell them don't bother 30:46 with the meals when they come by?" 30:47 He said, "I took me one of those sleeping pills and Ambiens." 30:50 And he said, "I'm gonna go sleep this one off 30:51 and wake up when I'm there." 30:53 And he put those little, you know, 30:54 mask over his face and boom, he was snoring like a, you know, 30:57 like a sawing logs in just a few minutes. 31:00 And he slept. 31:02 And he slept. 31:03 And he slept. 31:05 I said, "Lord, how am I gonna witness 31:06 to this man if he is asleep?" 31:11 I coughed a little bit, that didn't work. 31:16 I tried banging my seat, you know, 31:18 my tray table little bit, make clunking around 31:20 a little bit, that didn't work. 31:22 I said, "Lord, this is a long flight 31:24 and this man is gonna now sleep the whole night. 31:26 He is out." 31:29 Well, after a couple of hours I said, 31:30 "Lord, I know what You're doing." 31:31 And I said I just really-- I just thought 31:33 there was you had a plan and it wasn't long before 31:36 most of the plane was sound asleep too. 31:40 You know those red eyes are horrible. 31:43 So I thought well, I was wide awake. 31:46 So I thought I'll go in the back and go get some drink of water. 31:48 And I went back to drink the water. 31:50 And there's all the flight attendants were back in the back 31:54 because most of them were sleeping 31:56 and it was between service times. 31:58 And they were all just chit chatting and you know 32:01 reading magazines and talking about things. 32:03 And as soon as I went back and said, 32:05 "Would you mind..." a lady turn around. 32:06 I said, "Would you mind if I had a drink of water, please?" 32:08 And she goes, "Sure, be happy to-- 32:10 Hey, wait a minute." 32:12 She said, "You that lady on the television show." 32:17 She said. "Are you on that flight?" 32:19 And she goes, "Where was it?" 32:21 She goes "You are on my Africa flight." 32:23 And few months ago. 32:25 And I said, "Well, yes." She said, "Remember?" 32:28 She said, "You told me all about your show." 32:31 And she said, "I even looked up your church." 32:33 Next thing, you know, she is telling all those 32:35 other flight attendants all about who I am and what I do. 32:38 Do you know for almost that whole trip 32:42 I had a chance to witness to everybody there? 32:44 We had a Bible study like you can't believe. 32:46 They asked questions and I said, "Well just a minute. 32:50 Let me go get my Bible." 32:51 Because one lady said, "I want to know 32:53 what happens to you when you die." 32:55 Because her church, she don't think you go to heaven. 32:58 And I said, "Well, you know what, 32:59 it's not important what I think. 33:01 Let's see what the bible says. 33:02 What does God think?" 33:04 And I said, "Let me go get my Bible." 33:05 See, when I go travel, I make sure 33:07 I've got all witnessing material right there handy. 33:10 So I went running back and I got my Bible. 33:12 Now some of you may not have the same problem 33:16 but I'm not a person that remembers 33:19 and can memorize a lot of text. 33:21 It just is not my gift. 33:23 My sister Linda can do it, my brothers can do it, 33:26 my dad can do it. 33:27 But I have to keep my Bible so marked up 33:30 and where I can find things 33:32 because it's not gonna be on the tip of my tongue, 33:34 even though I read it over and over again, 33:35 it's not my gift. 33:37 So I have a Bible study guide, 33:39 it's not any thicker than a bulletin. 33:41 I can give a bible study on any topic 33:44 and it will just--you go down to whatever it is 33:46 and we just start looking up Bible text. 33:48 It's really awesome. 33:49 And so I got my Bible, 33:51 I was back there and I was looking up 33:52 and we got to the part about death. 33:53 And I started going down one right after another. 33:55 I didn't even get half way down my list. 33:57 And she goes, the lady says, "Stop, I get it." 34:01 She said, "My mom is not in heaven 34:02 looking out for me, is she?" 34:04 And I said, "No, she's not." 34:06 And then somebody else would ask me question 34:08 and I'd say, "Well, let's see what the Bible says." 34:10 And so I would go to the-- my trusty little, 34:14 you know, pamphlet, Bible study guide. 34:15 And I would, you know, look up that text 34:19 and we'd start again. 34:21 Text after text after text. 34:23 And by the way if anybody is interested 34:24 in the Bible study guides, 34:26 I didn't write them but someone from 3ABN, 34:29 one of our editors wrote them. 34:31 And I made a link on my website 34:34 to make it easier for you guys to find them 34:35 and find it there. 34:37 So if you go to www.brendawalsh.com, 34:38 just www.brendawalsh.com, 34:40 you can click on Bible study guides 34:42 and you'll see how to get some if you want some. 34:44 But it's a tremendous blessing to me 34:47 because I, in a moment's notice can give a Bible study 34:50 about any subject. 34:52 And so I'm back there 34:53 that whole time giving a Bible study 34:56 to all those ladies, seven flight attendants. 34:59 And when we were through, 35:02 we had a prayer circle back there. 35:04 One lady says, "You know, you won't gonna believe this." 35:07 She said, "But, you know my husband just left me 35:09 before I got on this flight." 35:10 And somebody else said that you know her boy 35:13 had just gotten arrested that last week for drugs. 35:16 And there was--every one of them had some crisis in their life. 35:20 And God orchestrated that whole event 35:24 for them all to be gathered in the back 35:26 and for-- to use me to minister to all of them at the same time, 35:28 is that not amazing? 35:30 Isn't that awesome how God-- 35:32 and by the way the man that slept, 35:34 he did not wake up till we landed. 35:38 That was not God's plan. 35:40 You see, we don't know better than God, He knows. 35:43 And so--it's so important that we're not trying to tell 35:45 God how to do his job. 35:47 It's our job to trust him. 35:48 And so when that man went to sleep, 35:50 instead of me getting frustrated 35:51 and going wait a minute, wait a minute 35:52 I have a witnessing job to do here. 35:55 It's God's job. 35:56 Isn't that awesome how He works? 35:59 I can't even, you know, caution you enough 36:03 about making sure that you are really 36:06 tuned in to the Holy Spirit. 36:08 That you are so prayed up because you cannot share 36:11 what you do not have, you can't. 36:13 You have to be so filled up with the Holy Spirit. 36:15 You have to be walking so close to Jesus. 36:17 You have to be able to know His voice. 36:21 You see, I have people ask me all the time, 36:24 "Well, how do you know God's voice? 36:27 You always act like you know when God's taking to you. 36:29 I don't know when God's talking to me, 36:30 how do you know?" 36:33 And this is my answer, 36:35 if a stranger calls you up on the phone 36:40 and says "Hello, so and so." 36:42 Your first words out of your mouth is, 36:44 "Excuse me, may I ask who's calling please?" Right? 36:47 You're not gonna know who it is. 36:48 Now let's say that same person even calls you once a month 36:52 or once a couple of months. 36:55 You're still gonna say, 36:56 "May I ask who's calling, please?" 36:58 But when your best friend calls you 37:02 and somebody you talked to everyday, 37:03 the minute you hear the voice are you gonna say, 37:05 May I ask who's calling? No. 37:08 You're gonna say, "Oh, hi, Marge. 37:09 Hi, Bob, how you're doing?" 37:11 You know, you're gonna know their voice. 37:13 The more time you spend with Jesus 37:17 the more you will know His voice. 37:19 Several years ago, 37:21 I started praying and asking God to make me 37:23 instant to His will. 37:25 You see, I don't want to second guess 37:28 what the Holy Spirit is asking me to do. 37:31 I want to be instant to God's will. 37:33 It's something I add to my prayer life every single day. 37:37 I don't want to miss one divine appointment. 37:41 I don't want to miss one opportunity 37:43 of not obeying God's voice. 37:47 One time I was in an airport. 37:52 I have a lot of airport stories 'cause I'm always there. 37:54 And so I was headed to my gate 37:58 and running through the airport in my four inch high hills, 38:01 yep, I can run in these things. 38:02 And so I was running, I was dragging my roll on. 38:06 And all of a sudden, I see coming towards me 38:09 a nice looking man, a gentleman in a business suit and tie 38:14 and he's pulling a roll on as well. 38:17 And he's coming towards me this way 38:18 and I'm going this way and I made eye contact with him 38:22 and just gave him a great big smile and kept on going. 38:24 Sometimes just a smile at somebody shares Jesus. 38:28 Did you know that? Just a smile. 38:30 Nobody wants to smile anymore, you know. 38:33 You know, my daddy always says, 38:34 "If you love Jesus, notify your face." Right? 38:39 And so, you know, we need to smile 38:41 and let people know that we are happy Christians. 38:44 Who would ever want to join us 38:45 and be a Christian if we're all just sad all the time 38:48 and no energy and just going. 38:51 Hello! We've got the blessed the truth. 38:53 We know Jesus as our savior. 38:55 We have so much to praise Him for, let's be happy! 38:58 So I gave him a great big smile and I'm still heading. 39:00 And all of a sudden, instantly, I heard 39:03 the Holy Spirit say to me, 39:05 "Brenda, give that man a bookmark." 39:07 Now had I not been praying 39:09 and asking God to make me instant to His will, 39:13 I probably would have said, 39:15 "Lord, you didn't really mean that, did you? 39:17 I mean, if I go running after him right now 39:19 he's gonna think I'm a crazy woman. 39:21 I got a plane to catch. 39:22 I know, you don't want me to miss my flight." 39:25 But see you can rationalize yourself 39:27 right out of what God wants you to do. 39:29 You see how important it is to be in tune 39:31 to what He wants you to do? 39:33 So instantly, as soon as I heard that 39:36 I stopped what I was doing, I reached down in my bag, 39:38 I grabbed my bookmarks. 39:39 And my bookmarks are also on my website, 39:42 you can see how to make them. 39:45 Just go to bookmarks on my website. 39:48 It has a picture on it, has a Bible verse. 39:50 And it's my foot in the door to talk about Jesus. 39:52 I keep those bookmarks with me everywhere. 39:53 Pass them out everywhere 39:55 because anytime I give a bookmark, 39:56 it tells you that I care about you. 39:59 It tells you that I am a Christian 40:00 because look at that Bible verse. 40:02 Isn't that awesome? 40:03 And so anyway I took this-- 40:05 I just grabbed the first one out of there, 40:07 didn't read it, didn't know what it said, 40:08 didn't know, I mean, what it looks like, 40:10 I just grabbed it. 40:11 And I turn around and start running after him 40:13 and I said, "Excuse me sir, sir, sir." 40:14 And the man stopped and he turned, he goes, 40:16 "Are you talking to me?" 40:17 And I run up to him and I said, "Yes, sir." 40:19 I said, "You know, I am so sorry. 40:20 I have no idea why but God just impressed me 40:24 that I'm supposed to give you this." 40:26 And I handed him the bookmark. 40:28 And he looked at that bookmark and he read it. 40:35 You have no idea. 40:39 You, you, you have no idea. 40:42 Thank you, thank you. 40:45 Thank you. And he just took off running. 40:48 Now, I don't know and probably won't know 40:50 until Jesus comes what that was all about. 40:53 But what I do know is that God used me 40:56 to deliver a message to that man. 40:59 What if I hadn't been instant to His will? 41:02 You see what I'm saying? How critically important it is? 41:06 Another time that I was flying on a plane, 41:09 I'm sitting next to a woman, I was on the aisle 41:14 and this woman came in and stood in front of me 41:16 and she looked like she'd been crying. 41:19 And so I got out to let her in and she sat there 41:21 and she buckled her seatbelt 41:22 and she wasn't making eye contact, 41:25 she just kept looking out the window. 41:27 And every body language she was giving me 41:31 was don't talk to me. 41:34 And I started pray for her, after all that seat-- 41:36 the lady who sat in that seat was prayed for, 41:38 she was a divine appointment, I just knew it. 41:41 And so I'm thinking, "Okay, she's obviously upset, 41:44 God you have something planned here, 41:46 what do you want me to say to her?" 41:47 See, I don't know what to tell people, 41:48 God does though. 41:50 He's gonna give you everything you need to witness for Him, 41:53 all you have to do is be willing, 41:56 obedient and joyful about whatever He wants you to do. 41:58 You don't have to worry about what you're gonna say, 41:59 God will give it to you. 42:01 And so I looked over her and I started to say something 42:04 and immediately, I heard the Holy Spirit say, 42:07 "Brenda, don't say a word." 42:12 But Lord, how am I gonna witness to her? 42:13 See I talk to Jesus' like that. 42:15 I said, you don't really want me not to talk to her, do you? 42:17 It looks like she's upset about something. 42:19 We get off in the air and we're no sooner, 42:23 you know 5 minutes in the air and she starts sobbing. 42:27 She's still facing the window and she's just sobbing, 42:29 her shoulders are sobbing. 42:31 And I started to go over and I heard Holy Spirit said, 42:33 "Brenda, stay in your seat, shut your mouth. 42:38 Don't say a word." 42:41 But Lord, look at her, she's crying. 42:43 She obviously needs someone to care about her. 42:46 Can't I at least show her that I care about her 42:49 and that I love her and that I-- 42:51 you know, help her, and comfort her? "No. 42:55 I'll tell you what to do. 42:56 I'm telling you wait on me. 42:59 Don't say a word." 43:02 Well, now I'm getting more and more frustrated 43:04 that she--that lady cried all the way 43:07 there till my next flight. 43:11 And I was--several times I start to say something, 43:14 I just, she was breaking my heart. 43:17 And I feel the Holy Spirit pull me back to my chair 43:19 and say, "Brenda, don't say a word." 43:24 Lord, how am I gonna witness to this woman, 43:26 if you're not gonna let me talk to her? 43:30 But I want to be obedient to God's will. 43:33 I don't know the situation but God does. 43:36 We just landed. 43:38 Now we're taxing to the gate. 43:40 And the Holy Spirit says to me, 43:42 "Brenda, give her your business card." 43:46 So I reached down to my business card 43:48 and I said, "Excuse me ma'am, I couldn't help but notice 43:51 that you were very upset." 43:54 And I said, "If you ever want someone 43:57 to pray with you, call me. 44:01 My cell phone is on this business card. 44:04 I'll be happy to pray with you any time." 44:06 And she looked at me and she said, "Thank you." 44:09 And that was it. 44:11 Now I'm talking to the Lord. 44:12 I'm walking to my next gate. 44:14 I'm saying, "Lord, now that was 44:15 the strangest witnessing experience I ever had. 44:16 Lord, you never let me say a word. 44:19 Why? Lord, why?" 44:21 And I said, "You know, I do trust you Lord, 44:23 I know, you know the end from the beginning 44:24 and help me just to trust you more. 44:25 Build my faith more. 44:27 Lord, give me more faith for You. 44:29 Help me to know that You're in charge 44:30 and You know the bigger plan." 44:34 And so couple of weeks went by 44:38 and this was just a few months ago. 44:41 I got an email. 44:44 And this--a few months ago was when I got the email. 44:48 But several weeks and several months went by 44:52 since I heard from her. 44:53 And I got an email, I almost forgot about her 44:55 and except when she got to the part 44:57 where she said-- 'cause she said, 44:58 "I met on a--you don't know me but I met you on an airplane." 45:01 Well, that could be anybody. 45:02 So I didn't know but then she said, 45:05 "I'm sure you remember me 45:06 because I cried the entire flight. 45:09 And she said I want to tell you thank you 45:11 for not talking to me." 45:13 She said, "I was experiencing something so tragic 45:17 that I could not bear to share it with anyone 45:21 and something so personal." 45:23 And she said, "And then I happened 45:24 to see your Bible in your bag 45:26 and I'm thinking, 'Oh, great, 45:27 I'm sitting next to some God woman 45:28 that's gonna talk to me the whole time.'" 45:32 And she said, "Several times I got the feeling 45:34 you were kind of gonna come talk to me 45:36 and then I see you go back. 45:40 I was so impressed." 45:42 She said that, most people see a woman cry 45:45 and they would have felt like they had 45:47 to get their nose in my business. 45:48 And she said, "That impressed me so much 45:51 that I went to your website." 45:53 She said, "I actually ordered your books." 45:57 And she said, "I want you to know," 45:59 she said, "I've given my heart to Jesus. 46:01 And I've trusted my problem to Him. 46:04 And I don't think anyone has ever witnessed to me 46:07 in such a tremendous way. 46:09 I just want to thank you." 46:11 And she said, "And by the way, 46:12 you know, what you always tell people 46:13 about wanting to be a neighbor with them in heaven." 46:15 I said, "Yes." 46:16 I mean, looking, I'm nodding my head like yes, 46:18 like I know why I say that. 46:20 And she said, in the email, 46:22 "I want to be your neighbor in heaven." 46:25 Thank you, Jesus, I had to get down on my knees 46:28 and say, "Lord, please forgive me. 46:30 Lord, please forgive me for not trusting. 46:32 Lord, I'm glad that I did trust you. 46:35 I'm glad, Lord, that I obeyed You. 46:40 Lord help me to even trust You more 46:43 that I won't be questioning, that I won't be saying, 46:46 you know, that talking to you like 46:48 You don't know what You're talking about. 46:50 Lord, You have the better the plan. 46:53 You have the bigger picture." 46:56 And well, it's our job to trust Him. 46:59 You know, God has a plan for each one of our lives. 47:02 But we're never gonna know what that is 47:04 if we're not praying 47:06 and we don't have our prayer relationship with Him. 47:08 If we're not willing to give up control, 47:10 then we aren't gonna know what that plan for our life is. 47:14 It's critically important that we have 47:19 a passionate prayer life with Jesus, 47:21 so that we can have a daily walk with Him. 47:23 So that we can know what He has in mind for us, 47:26 that we know His plan for us. 47:28 I had one conference worker 47:33 that had left the church for a while. 47:37 Then he came back and he actually came to hear me 47:39 speak in one of the churches I was speaking in. 47:43 And at the end of the service, 47:45 he asked if he could have a few minutes with me. 47:47 And he shared a little bit about his story 47:50 and that how he had found his way back to God. 47:52 And he probably wouldn't be able to work 47:54 in that capacity ever again. 47:56 But he wanted to do something to serve Jesus. 47:59 And he said, "I've been wracking my brain 48:01 and wracking my brain." 48:03 And he said, "I have nights." 48:04 He said, "I stay up all night praying." 48:06 And he said, "I'm trying to figure it out." 48:09 He said, "I don't know what God wants me to do." 48:11 He said, "I really don't know how to figure it out." 48:13 And I said, "That's your problem." 48:15 And he said, "What's my problem?" 48:17 I said, "You're trying to figure it out." 48:19 I said, "That's God's job. 48:20 He doesn't need You to figure it out. 48:22 He knows exactly His plan for you. 48:24 He's waiting for you to surrender control. 48:27 He's waiting for you to say, 48:28 'okay I surrender my heart and life to You. 48:31 And go ahead use me however You want to use me, 48:34 it's okay, I'm Yours. 48:37 Lord, I'm totally and completely Yours.'" 48:41 I said, "And when you reach a point 48:44 when God knows your heart and you are completely His, 48:47 He's gonna open the doors for you and lead you right 48:50 where you want-- He wants you to go." 48:52 You don't have to figure out anything, 48:54 isn't that the most awesome part about serving Jesus? 48:57 We try to make it so difficult. 48:59 We're like, well, I should do this 49:01 or what shall I do or what should-- 49:02 what you should you do is get on your knees. 49:05 Ask God to forgive you for your sins. 49:07 Ask Him to give you more faith and trust in Him. 49:11 And ask Him to make you more obedient to His will. 49:14 Ask Him say, "Lord take over control. 49:17 I'm so busy doing it my way, Lord. 49:20 I want to do it your way." 49:22 And then, you can go forward. 49:24 And I'm witnessing in a mighty way 49:26 such as you have never seen. 49:28 You see, just yesterday 49:31 when I was flying from the Gold Coast 49:34 here to Sydney, Australia, 49:37 I was delayed over an hour on my flight 49:41 because that was pouring down rain 49:43 and there's thunder and it was, you know, just storming outside. 49:48 And so we--there was a long line at the gate 49:51 and I was-- there was a woman 49:53 and her grandson that was of ahead of me. 49:57 And then I was behind them and everybody else was behind them. 49:59 Well, they came on, I said, you know what, 50:02 there's a delay in the weather-- 50:03 our plane from Sydney hasn't even arrived yet, 50:05 it's gonna be at least an-hour-and-half 50:07 before we can get this flight off the ground. 50:09 All the groans and the moans you can imagine. 50:13 And so everybody, kind of the line just dissipated 50:16 and the lady with her grandson said, 50:17 "Well, I might as well go get him something to eat." 50:20 And so I was the only one there left 50:22 and I thought, "Well, I don't really have any place to go." 50:25 And so I might as well just sit there." 50:27 So I--there was a little ledge by the-- 50:28 about right by the gate. 50:30 So I just pulled my laptop out and I started working on-- 50:34 I write a daily devotion on Facebook every day. 50:36 I've been writing a devotion every day now for 3 years. 50:40 And so I thought, "Well, I'll write my devotion 50:41 and so I just put it up there and I'm, you know, 50:43 writing and working, the time passed. 50:46 And pretty soon, they didn't tell me anything, 50:47 there was no announcement or if plane was gonna land 50:50 but all of a sudden I figured there must be some way 50:52 they knew something, because all the lines 50:53 start to filling up again. 50:55 I just wasn't clued in. 50:56 And so I looked back and I could see 50:59 now there's activity taking place and all the big long line. 51:02 And I turned around and looked at the back of the line to see, 51:05 you know, how long it was 51:07 and if that flight was gonna be full, 51:09 you know, for no particular reason. 51:10 And I see that lady who had a grandson. 51:14 And as soon as she caught eye contact with me, 51:17 she started moving away up 51:18 until the, you know, front of the line. 51:20 Now all these people going, what she doing, cutting line. 51:23 And I guess you call it queuing up or whatever. 51:26 And so I'm learning all these Aussie terms. 51:28 And so she got-- she pushed her way to the top 51:32 and I could tell-- till the front by me. 51:33 And I could tell you, there's some people 51:35 that looked kind of irritated. 51:36 So I just said, "Oh, I'm so glad you finally made it, you know." 51:41 So that cut down all the anger of all those other people, 51:43 they just thought that she was with me. 51:45 And so the lady and I started talking 51:46 and she said "thank you for that," 51:48 and she said, "by the way," she said... 51:52 I said, "What you do?" I asked her. 51:55 See, I loved asking people what they do 51:57 because it is my foot in the door to talk about Jesus. 51:59 If I ask someone what they do, 52:01 guess what they feel obligated to ask me back? 52:04 They ask me what I do. And woo-hoo! 52:05 I get to tell him all about working for Jesus. 52:09 And so I asked her what kind of work she did. 52:11 And she said, "I'm a writer, I write romance novels. 52:15 And she said published about 8 books." 52:17 And I said, "Really? 52:18 I said we have something in common." 52:20 I said, "I'm an author too." "You are?" 52:22 she said, "what kind of books you write?" 52:24 I said, "Well, I'll show you." 52:25 And so I picked out that one. 52:26 I'd about big flyer that had list of all 52:28 my books and stuff in it. 52:30 And I pulled it out of my purse and I handed to her 52:32 and I said, "I'm a Christian author." 52:35 And she looked at it. 52:36 And she said, "Well, what you're doing here?" 52:38 And I said, "Well, I'm headed to Sydney." 52:40 And I said, "I'm gonna be speaking down there." 52:44 I said, "Why don't you come and hear me speak?" 52:46 And she said, "Well." 52:48 She said, "Where are you speaking at?" 52:49 And I said, "Waitara." 52:51 I actually pronounced it wrong and she corrected me. 52:53 And so I won't tell you what I said, 52:55 I really didn't do a good job. 52:57 And so she corrected me and she said, "Really?" 53:00 She said, "You know, I used to go to that church." 53:04 I said, "Really?" And she said, "Yes. 53:06 I used to go to that church." 53:08 And she said, "I actually graduated 53:10 from the nursing school at the sanitarium, 53:13 years and years ago. 53:15 And I was engaged to a Seventh-day Adventist man, 53:18 a young man." 53:19 And I said, "Well, what happened?" 53:21 And she said, "Well, he was tragically killed." 53:23 And she said, "She died." 53:25 And she said, "After he died," 53:27 she said, "you know, we were gonna be married," 53:30 she said, "after he died, 53:31 his mother who went to that church, 53:33 every time she would see me would burst out into tears. 53:35 So it became so uncomfortable," 53:37 and she said, "and I was trying to move on with my life 53:39 and it was hard for both of us. 53:40 So I started, you know, just I thought, 53:44 well, I'll stay away for a little while." 53:46 And she said, "I suppose I just drifted away." 53:50 And I said, "Well, what is your name?" 53:52 And she said, "My name is Margaret." 53:54 I said, "Margaret, I'm gonna tell you something right now. 53:56 I don't believe in coincidences, 53:59 I believe in divine appointments." 54:01 I said, "I believe that God wants you at that church." 54:05 And she goes, "Well, you know, I don't drive anymore." 54:07 She said, "But I know there is a train station by that church." 54:11 I said, "Yes, there is." 54:12 And I said, "Well, why don't you come tomorrow night 54:14 to hear me speak?" 54:15 She said, "Well, can't on Friday night." 54:16 She said--I said, "Well, how about on Sabbath? 54:19 I'll be speaking at 11 and at 3 O'clock." 54:21 And she goes, "Oh, I'll make those." 54:23 She said, "I can do that." 54:26 And I said, "And bring your grandson." 54:28 And she said, "You know, I will. 54:29 I mean, I really will." Do you know? 54:32 I was so excited. I was praising Jesus. 54:35 And I've been praying 54:36 and pleading that nothing prevents her 54:39 from coming to the meetings. 54:41 Do you know, God knows end from the beginning. 54:44 He knows when to have a rainstorm 54:46 come to delay a plane. 54:48 He knows when you know where money is kept and protected. 54:53 He knows everything about us. 54:57 He is the safest place to go. 55:00 Because nobody in the world is gonna love you more. 55:04 When you are praying for your lost children 55:06 that are no longer in the church 55:07 and you're praying and you're pleading 55:09 and pleading and pleading and pleading, 55:11 trust your children to Jesus. 55:14 You can't have joy in your heart and be out serving Jesus 55:17 if you're just on your knees in angst 55:20 and worry every single moment about your lost children. 55:23 You need to trust your children. 55:25 Yes, keep praying for them. 55:26 God wants us to keep lifting them up in prayer. 55:29 But He also wants us to trust Him. 55:32 Claim His promise. 55:33 Those Bible promises are there for us to pray, 55:36 claim and believe. 55:37 And yet few of us pray, claiming Bible promises. 55:40 That's a powerful way to pray. 55:43 Our God is faithful. 55:46 Our God is powerful. 55:48 Our God loves us so much 55:51 that He can't imagine heaven without us. 55:54 Did you know that? 55:55 He can't imagine heaven without us. 55:56 And that includes our children. 55:59 That includes our kids that have wandered away 56:03 from the church that we've spent so many hours and hours 56:06 teaching them to love and to lean on Jesus. 56:09 God hasn't forgotten them. 56:11 He loves your children more than you do. 56:14 He wants them in heaven more than you do. 56:16 We can trust our children to Jesus. 56:19 There's no better place to trust Him too. 56:23 We can trust our lives to Jesus. 56:25 He wants us to surrender our hearts and our lives to Him. 56:30 And I can tell you there's no better place to be 56:33 than in the arms of Jesus. 56:35 I love Jesus so much. 56:37 He's done so much for me. 56:39 He's my personal friend. 56:41 He's my best friend. 56:43 And I tell Him anything and everything, 56:45 all the things from the little things to the big things. 56:48 From losing my keys to, 56:50 you know, the big plans for the future, 56:53 I--and everything in between. 56:55 I trust my children to Him. 56:57 I trust Kids' Time program to Him. 57:00 I trust my life to Him. 57:02 And He's asking you to do the same. 57:03 He wants you to know how much He loves you, 57:06 that He died to save you. 57:08 And that He's coming again soon. 57:10 You know, Jesus really truly is coming soon. 57:14 We don't have much longer on this earth 57:17 to just be going through the motions of being Christians. 57:20 We don't have time to just be going through 57:22 the motions and of serving Him. 57:28 We don't have time to just pray. 57:33 We need to passionately pray. 57:35 We need to pray with our heart and our soul believing 57:39 and trusting and have faith 57:41 that our God is the God of the universe 57:44 and He will answer our every prayer. 57:46 He will answer based on what is best for us. 57:50 I can tell you this from experience 57:52 because I've witnessed answers to prayer all my life. 57:56 I know beyond the shadow of a doubt 57:59 that the privilege of prayer is always ours 58:03 but the power of prayer is always God's. |
Revised 2014-12-17