Welcome to
Celebrating Life In Recovery.
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Have you ever been slammed
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with something and say I can't
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possibly deal with that.
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If that has happened to you
you need to stay with us today
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because we are going
to cover some of that.
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It's good, come in and join us.
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Welcome back, we talk
about when something hits you
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and it is really intense, what
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does recovery look like then?
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Because I went around with my
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recover and I spent years,
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I meant years, think I would
get it sooner but I am pretty
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slow, so I spent years coming
off of drugs, quitting smoking,
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Quitting smoking was
funny because I didn't want to.
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I loved to smoke.
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Do you know what I mean?
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Some people it bugged them and
I think they felt bad about it.
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They would realize their lungs,
I just felt great about it.
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I loved it, I loved the
way it felt, the way it looked.
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I loved all that kind of
stuff so it was hard for me.
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I had to learn to be honest.
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I had to learn to tell the
time of day, what day it was.
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I was homeless for 10 years so
when somebody said I will meet
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you Wednesday at 10, I
would remember Friday at 9.
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You know what I mean,
because I don't even know.
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But I worked on all those things
and through the years I got
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better, and better, and
better as far as some things.
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God worked on lying and
manipulating and how not to,
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you know how to be
more respectful of people.
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How to be less self centered.
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All those things
that come up with addicts.
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I felt like this is so cool.
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Every time I turned around
it felt like God kissed me on
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the face with
this recovery stuff.
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It was like, let Me show
you this now and it was just an
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awesome thing for Him to show
me different things I had to do.
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Different trust issues, when He
said Cheri, you don't know how
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to trust anybody.
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I'm thinking, I mean
I was raised by addicts.
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Hard core addicts.
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At 3 years old I remember
running around the house just
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getting someone to get out
of their stupor enough so they
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could say, do you need anything?
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Are you hungry? Do
you know what I mean?
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So God said, I want
you to learn how to trust.
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That was a hard one because
I thought, you know, trust?
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Why would I trust them?
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You know what I mean? I
thought that about everyone.
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I would look for you not to be
trustworthy so I didn't have to
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deal with that issue.
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God finally said, we are going
to deal with this issue? Right?
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So that came along and it
was fun, as fun as working
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on issues can be, but for
me it's fun because when God
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unloads you with something,
all of a sudden you unburdened
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with something, it is like
you can step more and more into
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recovery and it is just a
joy at times to figure out who
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you are without all this junk.
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Figure out who God
is? How you fit in?
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Well one day, and this caught
me off guard, I mean it just
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hit me, one day I am going
from, I am going into surgery.
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So I am having surgery done.
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I go to the doctor and he is
going to do standard blood work
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to check on the
surgery, and all that stuff.
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Then he called me back in and
said, Cheri, and I always get my
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surgery with who ever the
best doctor is on the planet.
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You know what I mean? I
just don't go to my state
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because I am an addict that way.
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So if I find a doctor in
Philadelphia and I'm living in
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Idaho, I call them say,
can I have you for my doctor?
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So I am going to
fly to Philadelphia.
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So I have got to get the
blood work done in Idaho.
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So my doctor does the
blood work and calls me back
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in and says, I don't
think this is going to be
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a good time for your surgery.
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I said, no, no, it is a perfect
time, I have a week I am not
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doing any gigs and
I just have this time.
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I have to go and get
it done and fly back.
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I mean this is a perfect
time I've figured it out.
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He says, no, you have cancer.
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I'm like, oh shut
up. There is no way.
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I'm thinking there is no way
because there is just no way.
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Cancer, what are
you talking about?
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And when something hits you,
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you think what
do you mean by that?
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So I am like, What
do you mean by that?
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You are not going to
tell my other doctor, are you?
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He is like, what
do you mean by that?
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Of course I am going
to tell your other doctor.
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Don't you tell him before
the surgery, because I am very
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manipulative and thinking if
he thinks I have cancer, he may
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not do the surgery, so
you are not calling him.
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So now I am trying to play this
doctor not even thinking of the
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cancer and he is,
Cheri, don't blow this off.
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I'm not going to blow it off,
just let me have the surgery
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then I will come back and deal
with the whole cancer thing.
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So I said, what
kind of cancer is it?
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He said leukemia.
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I'm like, Oh man!
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So I walk out and he sets me
up with a Oncologist and I don't
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know about you but when
you hear it, you think Okay!
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And then you think, you are
going to set me up with what?
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An Oncologist?
Then it hits you more.
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Then I tell my
husband who adores me.
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Hon, I have cancer.
Then he tears up and I am
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stop because I don't
even want to deal with this.
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So I go see the Oncologist,
I get the surgery first and
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come back and see the Oncologist
and they do more blood work.
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Everything is
getting more intense.
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My husbands father is dying
at the time so I have to fly
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back home, so I am
sitting at the house by myself
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thinking what does this mean
exactly? What does this mean?
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Cancer, the doctor says,
the first thing this means is
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bone marrow biopsy.
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Has anybody had one of
those? I'm telling you they
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don't even tell you.
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I went in innocent and thinking,
she said this is only going to
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be intense for about 10 seconds.
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I said, well 10 seconds, Okay.
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So I laid there, and they are
going to put a needle in your
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back side, they are going
to break your hip, take a piece
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of bone out of there and
then they are going to go into
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where the bone marrow is
and pull some stuff out, right?
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I'm like, well okay, it sounds
intense, I've had a spinal tap.
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So maybe it is
something like that.
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But it is nothing like that.
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As soon as I laid down the
doctor comes in and they have
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all the equipment and
unfolded it, it is all sterile.
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They bring these two big
nurses, and I said I wonder
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what they are doing here?
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They are there to hold you down.
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Because it is intense.
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As soon as they break into that
part of your body, your body
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it is just like a
car that just got hit.
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The air bags go off,
and all the alarms so off,
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your body does that.
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So you go into this seizure
thing and they hold you down.
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They take the bone marrow
out and then she called me later
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with the results.
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I went in, Okay you have cancer.
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So it keeps going.
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I had to really look at, there
is things that hit us in life
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that we get hit with it
and it is recovery issues.
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I have to stop smoking, or
I have to stop doing drugs.
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Or I have a sexual
addiction and I really have
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to look at this addiction.
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Or I have anger issues
and I really have to look
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at this anger stuff.
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Or I'm a workaholic, or I have
to spend more time with my kids.
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But what happens when
it is a physical thing?
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Poof, and I can't do anything.
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Do you know what I mean?
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It was a weird thing for
me because I thought this is a
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physical thing, God
wait a minute, can I go to
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a 12 step program?
Can I step in and do this?
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It was really interesting
because I hear God say,
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Will you trust Me with this?
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I'm like, Oh Hon, I don't know!
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I don't know,
what does this mean?
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So remember I
went to surgery right?
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I've got stitches and I've
got surgery, but remember how
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long did I say I had off?
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A week, right? So now
I have stitches, I have
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surgery, I have two
youth events and a camp meeting
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that I have to go to.
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My first youth event was
in Wyoming, it was incredible.
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We had an incredible time.
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I had pastor friends that found
out about the cancer because I
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called crying, I have cancer!
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They flew in and
did an anointing.
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The anointing was so amazing.
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I have got to tell you, I don't
know if anybody has anointing
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for healing, but they
just come in a pray for you.
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Pray for healing, and so my
friend come in, whom I love.
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Not from my state but we work
together a lot and he came in.
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But he came in with a
strip club owner that met Christ
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and is selling his
strip club, is turning one of
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them into a church.
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I love God, I
think God is hysterical.
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They came in because they wanted
to face to face I met some of
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the family but not everybody.
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So they flew in, the wife
was a stripper and she flew in.
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And Stacy and Erin
are an incredible couple.
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So everybody flew in and they
are going to do this anointing.
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I said Stacy, because
you know she is a stripper,
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and ex-stripper would you
come in to do the anointing
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with the pastor?
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Ohhh! Am I allowed to do that?
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You know my background.
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I said yes, do you
believe in Christ? Yes!
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Do you think the
Holy Spirit has a watch?
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That you haven't
believed long enough?
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I think you believe in Christ,
you know my background better
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than anybody in this room
and I am asking you to join
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me in the anointing.
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So she started
crying, but she came in.
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So as she came in then her
husband Erin came in, it was
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amazing to me. Then the
pastor and a few other people
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came in and we did the anointing
and Stacy, he brings anointing
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oil out and Stacy
says, can I put that on you?
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She is crying
and I said yes, yes!
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The pastor says yeah I
think it would be okay.
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Biblical I don't
know, you know what I mean?
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But he wasn't even looking at
that it was just a God moment.
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So she looks at him, and
she is so innocent, she says,
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What do I do with it?
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He said just put it on
her head, she's like Okay,
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and the entire
bottle went on my head.
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It is just like I felt oil on
me and I thought how incredibly
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cool was that?
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I left that gig and I went to
the next one and the next one.
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So we had the
anointing, the next gig was a
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camp meeting but for teens.
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So in the camp meeting for teens
I'm there for two days and we
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are having a great
time, a great time.
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Other than I have
stitches, you know what I mean?
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I just found out I have cancer
and I don't know how to process
00:11:06.64\00:11:09.66
that yet and all of a sudden I
look up and there is this little
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girl, and she is around the
group but never with the group.
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I thought, she isn't with
the group, and I started looking
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at her and she has
that Michelin tire guy look.
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Like somebody gave
her too many steroids.
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So I looked at her and her
hair is falling out and there
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is patches of it gone.
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I thought, Oh I bet she has
cancer, so I went up and sat
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down and said, can
you tell me your story?
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She said what makes
you think I have a story?
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I said, everybody has a story.
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She said, I have
cancer. I said, shut up.
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You have cancer?
because I have cancer.
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So we can be
cancer buddies, right?
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She started laughing so hard
and we became cancer buddies.
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We hung out together and I
watched God healing both of us.
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I thought, God,
You can even use this.
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How incredible are you that
even the things that scare us,
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God says, don't be scared.
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I am still God and I am
still in control and I will take
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even this and bless you
beyond what you can imagine.
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So I really got a sense of
what it says in the Bible when
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it says don't walk away
from your tribulations too soon.
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Don't walk away from your stuff
too soon because I will use
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everything and will
you get hit with stuff?
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Yeah, we live here
but I'll use everything.
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Come back because I will
tell you what happened with
00:12:38.85\00:12:41.36
the cancer stuff but I also want
to have you meet some friends
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of mine that got hit
with something I thought would
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take them out, and it has not,
it actually has blessed them.
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and the people around them.
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So stay with us we
will be right back!
00:12:52.49\00:12:54.19