Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), Heather Dawn- Small
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000242
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00:29 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:30 Welcome again to Issues and Answers. 00:32 As I always do, let us start this program with a scripture. 00:36 I'll be reading from the Amplified Bible today. 00:39 This is Isaiah 60:1, and I'm going to first say it the way 00:44 you're accustomed to hearing it, and that is Arise and shine, 00:48 for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. 00:51 But listen to how the Amplified has translated this. 00:54 Arise from the depression and prostration in which 00:58 circumstances have kept you. 01:00 Rise to a new life. 01:02 Shine, be radiant with the glory of the Lord 01:05 for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord 01:09 has risen upon you. 01:10 Well, today we are so excited to have returning with us 01:14 Heather Dawn Small, who is the Director of the 01:17 Women's Ministries for the General Conference of the 01:20 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 01:22 She is going to share a powerful message about how to 01:26 restore your joy. 01:28 Heather, thank you so much for returning. 01:30 Thank you for having me. 01:32 Well, it's always a pleasure to around you because you are 01:35 a joyful person. 01:36 If someone missed the previous program with you, 01:40 I just would like to set this up. 01:43 Heather was a Pastor's wife, and she had two children, 01:48 a young boy, a 41/2 year old boy, and a 2 year old daughter. 01:52 Her 41/2 year old son was killed in a vicious attack 01:58 by a dog. 01:59 Then later, after that, Heather was in a car accident and wasn't 02:04 able to have children, but adopted a son. 02:06 Now thirteen years; you made a covenant with the Lord, 02:10 you said, last program, and what did you do? 02:14 Well, I chose. 02:17 It came to a certain point where I just chose that I was going to 02:21 stay on God's side; that He and I were in a covenant, 02:23 a contract made, signed by the blood of God. 02:26 I just knew this was something that I had to verbalize, 02:31 to speak out and say, "Lord, I am in this with You 02:35 for life or death. " 02:37 So God started you on this joy walk and He took you through 02:42 an incredibly difficult time. 02:43 Yes. 02:44 But last time you told us that thirteen years later 02:48 was the time that you nearly turned your back on God. 02:51 Yeah. 02:52 You had gotten into a depressive state. 02:54 Tell us why, or how, circumstances got you there, 03:01 and how you had your joy restored. 03:04 Well, you know, I've got to back track back to the time 03:08 when my son died because six months after my son died 03:11 I began to experience periods of swelling in my knees, 03:16 swelling in my hands, my elbows, my shoulders. 03:19 I went to my doctor. 03:20 I mean it was terrible! 03:21 The pain was horrible. 03:23 I went to him and he did a number of tests and said to me 03:27 that I had rheumatoid arthritis. 03:29 It was what they call trauma induced because of 03:33 my sons death. 03:34 Now that was something that I have lived with ever since then. 03:39 But thirteen years later I found myself working at the Union 03:44 Office in the Women's Ministries Department as the Director 03:49 there, but struggling with these various issues of my health. 03:52 Struggling at that time with A type personality; 03:58 got to get everything done. 04:00 I've got to do it myself because if I don't it's not going to 04:02 get done right. 04:03 Just trying to be the perfect person, the perfect me. 04:08 I had always felt that as a leader I had to be strong. 04:12 I had to always show that strong front. 04:14 People don't want to see weak leaders. 04:16 At least that's what I thought. 04:17 I thought that for the women who I had serve, who I had to lead, 04:21 I needed always to be strong. 04:23 So I would not let anything stop me from doing what God 04:26 had called me to. 04:27 I mean I would have an episode with my knee swollen; 04:30 I'd pick up my walking stick and I'd get on the plane because I 04:33 knew I had to go on to preach in some island for some event. 04:36 It just wasn't going to stop me. 04:38 But I also had a wrong concept in mind that in the Adventist 04:43 church, and in other Christian churches, we seem to 04:45 unconsciously develop. 04:48 It's a concept that says no matter what bad things happen 04:53 in my life, I really shouldn't complain about it. 04:56 I should just pick myself up and move on. 04:59 Something like what Job says, Though He slay me, yet I will 05:02 trust in Him. 05:03 Yes. 05:04 But we take it to the extreme. 05:05 We almost push the pain aside, push the hurt aside, 05:09 and just keep on moving because we feel that's what we're 05:11 supposed to do. 05:13 We don't give ourselves the proper time that we need to 05:17 feel that pain, to experience that hurt, and to go through 05:21 the process of healing as we should. 05:24 So here I was in 1998. 05:26 We had planned a huge Women's Ministries Retreat for my Union. 05:30 We had about a thousand women coming from all the islands 05:33 to Trinidad and Tobago for this retreat. 05:35 It was going to be a five day retreat. 05:37 My secretary and I had worked ourselves to death getting 05:40 prepared for this retreat. 05:41 I mean I had skipped meals. 05:44 I wasn't getting sufficient sleep. 05:46 And the closer it came the more I was concerned over it. 05:48 My devotional life had gone down the tubes. 05:54 I would always say my prayers, but I felt in my mind, 05:59 as so many of us do, because I'm doing the Lord's work, 06:01 He'd understand if I don't have enough time to 06:04 spend in His word. 06:05 So it was a quick prayer, a quick passage, 06:08 and I'm out the door, and sometimes not even that. 06:10 And I'm praying as I'm going, which left me in a vulnerable 06:14 state spiritually. 06:15 So spiritually I wasn't strong. 06:17 Physically I wasn't strong either because I had contributed 06:22 to my own condition by not looking after my health. 06:24 And I want to say to my sisters and my brothers out there 06:27 that this is something that we do to ourselves. 06:32 We blame Satan for a lot of stuff which happens in our 06:35 lives, but sometimes we give him the ammunition he needs 06:39 to then turn around and shoot it at us. 06:41 Sometimes we so over schedule our self, and I remember 06:45 once I was complaining to the Lord, "Lord one person can't 06:49 do all of this. " 06:50 And it was like, "I'm not the one who's setting 06:53 your schedule. " 06:54 We don't know when to say no. 06:55 Right; that's right. 06:56 And so here I was, so we had the retreat. 06:59 The day after the retreat, when it was all over, 07:03 and I was in my bed, the ladies were on their planes 07:05 going back home. 07:06 My father rang, and my husband came and he woke me up, 07:09 and he said, "You need to talk to your father. " 07:11 I said, "Tell him I'll call him later. " 07:12 And he said, "No, You need to talk to him now. " 07:14 Now I had an aunt who lived in Canada, and she was like 07:19 a second mother to me. 07:20 We just had a wonderful relationship. 07:23 It turned out that she died. 07:27 She had been dead for almost two days before they found her 07:30 in her home. 07:31 This came at a point in time where, as I said, where I was 07:36 really worn out now. 07:37 Spiritually I just didn't have it. 07:39 I was just worn. 07:40 And this happened and I had to go and deal with it. 07:44 My father and I went up to Canada. 07:47 We dealt with all the family situations with the death. 07:50 We came back home. 07:51 And, you know, my husband, who is a blessing, he is a gift, 07:56 he is everything that God knew that I would need, 07:59 because he is that quiet voice to me that says, 08:02 "When are you going to rest?" 08:04 He doesn't knock me about it, he just says it 08:07 and then he moves on. 08:08 I said to him, "I'm going to rest soon because I've got to 08:11 go back up to Toronto because the North American Division 08:14 women were having their first big retreat, or conference. 08:19 I had bought my ticket. 08:21 I had planned to be there. 08:22 I had to go, and I went. 08:23 And I have to tell you I can recall nothing that took place 08:27 during those days that I was there because I was 08:29 just so exhausted; mentally, emotionally, physically. 08:33 I came back home and my husband said, "When are you going 08:36 to get some rest?" 08:37 I said, "Well, I've got to go back to the office and close up 08:40 all the accounts from the retreat because I haven't 08:42 done that as yet. " 08:43 I went back to the office for a few weeks and I did that. 08:48 He said again to me, "When are you going to get some rest?", 08:51 because he was seeing what I didn't want to see. 08:53 He was seeing me falling apart. 08:56 I was seeing it, but I refused to acknowledge it. 08:59 I was just going to keep on going. 09:01 I said to him, "Well, we have year end meetings. 09:05 As soon as the year end meetings are over in November, 09:08 I'm going to take Christmas vacation. " 09:10 I remember one morning I was out at work, we were in the 09:14 worship room. 09:15 All the staff was having worship. 09:16 I was playing for the service. 09:19 After worship was over my secretary came over to me 09:21 and she said, "Are you okay?" 09:22 I said, "No. " 09:23 I said, "I am so exhausted I could hardly make my hands move 09:28 over the keys. 09:29 I am just so tired!" 09:31 She said, "Well, let's get you back to your office. " 09:33 And I remember I stood up to walk back to my office, 09:36 and I hit the ground. 09:37 I passed out. 09:38 Have mercy! 09:39 And the next thing I knew I was in the hospital. 09:41 I remember the doctor. 09:42 I opened my eyes and I remember my secretary was standing there 09:46 next to me. 09:47 She had called for my husband. 09:48 The doctor was over on the right side and he was asking her, 09:51 "Does she take any drugs? 09:52 What drug does she take?" 09:53 Because I could barely make my mouth move. 09:56 I was all slurred of speech. 09:59 I just was so physically tired! 10:02 And it wasn't that I had had any major physical event. 10:06 I hadn't had a stroke. 10:07 It was just sheer exhaustion, and my body just decided 10:12 to shut down, and it did. 10:14 And forced to me I stayed in the hospital for a few days. 10:18 They had a Psychiatrist come and see me who diagnosed me 10:21 as being clinically depressed, (which I know I was, 10:24 because I was going through a terrible period of sadness), 10:27 and put me on medication, and just told me stay home, rest. 10:33 You need to just build your strength back. 10:35 And that was a time when the year end came, 10:40 we were in church New Years Eve, and this lady gave this 10:44 testimony about thanking God for the life of her son who had 10:50 been in this terrible accident, but who God had saved. 10:52 The Devil whispered to me, "How come God saved this woman's son 10:57 when she prayed, but didn't save your son when you 11:00 prayed for him? 11:01 I just fell off the edge into a deep pit because I didn't have 11:07 the spiritual strength to rebuke Satan. 11:10 I didn't have the energy physically. 11:11 I was in a bad place, and I turned my back on God 11:16 for three months. 11:18 I was so angry with Him. 11:19 I refused to talk to Him. 11:21 I wouldn't read my Bible. 11:22 I wouldn't pray. 11:23 I didn't even want to say the word God. 11:25 But yet, in those three months, I was still the pastor's wife. 11:30 I would go to church and I would smile with the members, 11:32 and I would hug them. 11:33 I would play the piano. 11:35 I would preach, and use the word of God, and preach. 11:41 It taught me a valuable lesson of how easy it is 11:45 for us to pretend. 11:46 Because, you see, it's easy to pretend; it's hard to be real. 11:50 That's the difficult part. 11:52 I call it verbal camouflage. 11:54 That's right. 11:56 And that's what many people do when they come to church. 11:58 That's right. 11:59 And so I just went into that mode of pretending that 12:02 everything was fine when it wasn't. 12:04 And what pulled me out of that was God and I 12:08 had a confrontation. 12:09 One Sabbath morning I told my husband, I said, "I'm not going 12:13 to church this morning. 12:14 You take the kids. 12:15 Go to church. 12:16 God and I have got to talk," 12:17 And he left, and I closed up the house. 12:20 I went into my bedroom, and I laid on the carpet 12:23 on my stomach, and I just bawled my eyes out. 12:26 I said, "Lord, what is going on here? 12:30 I didn't ask for this job. 12:32 You called me to serve You. 12:34 Here I am serving you. 12:35 I've got my arthritis I'm dealing with. 12:36 I've got depression I'm dealing with. 12:38 I've got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I'm dealing with. 12:40 What is it? 12:41 I need You to heal me. 12:43 You said You will enable me. 12:44 So get rid of all of this stuff so that I can be the strong 12:48 leader, the strong woman of God that You want me to be. " 12:52 And as I laid there I said, "I'm not getting up from here 12:54 until You answer me. " 12:55 Praise God. 12:56 And the Holy Spirit began to speak to me and said, 12:58 "How can you help these women if you don't understand 13:03 their pain?" 13:04 Well, you know, that was not the answer I wanted to hear. 13:07 I remember I jumped up off the floor, and I looked up at my 13:10 ceiling as though God was right there and I said, "Listen, Lord, 13:13 I'll read someone else's book. 13:15 I can listen to somebody else's story on tape. 13:18 I do not need to go through this. " 13:20 And God said to me, "Yes you do. " 13:22 And I realized at that point, I had asked God for healing 13:26 many times, and He told me at that point, "Do not ask Me 13:30 again until I am ready to heal you. " 13:34 I had been anointed previously that God would heal my body. 13:38 He told me that day, "Do not ask again. " 13:40 I said, "Okay, Lord, I won't. " 13:42 So this was like when Paul in II Corinthians 12, I believe, 13:47 when he was praying about the thorn in his flesh, and he asked 13:50 three times and the Lord just told him, No, because He left 13:55 that thorn in his flesh so that he would totally 13:58 depend upon God. 13:59 Yes, so that God would be magnified. 14:01 That it really would not be about me and what I could do. 14:04 It would be about what God is doing through me. 14:07 Amen! 14:08 And so, even today, I still have my chronic fatigue. 14:10 I still suffer with my arthritis, and I still take 14:13 medication for my depression. 14:14 But God gives me the strength that need. 14:17 It's all Him. 14:18 Everything that I do; it's God. 14:21 I cannot take the credit for anything. 14:23 That way He gets the praise, the honor, and the glory. 14:26 II Corinthians 12 it is because that's where He says in verse 9, 14:31 where Jesus said to him, "My grace is sufficient for my power 14:35 is made perfect in your weakness. 14:36 That's right, and that's what God wants to teach us. 14:38 So basically you're saying it is though if we want to restore our 14:43 joy; the Lord must have taken you through something to help 14:48 you get back into a healthier lifestyle, because our lifestyle 14:52 effects our attitude and our mind, doesn't it? 14:54 Definitely, and I want to share a few slides with you because 14:56 I really believe that a healthy body makes for a healthy mind. 15:01 Even though I might not be as physically healthy as I want 15:05 to be, there are things that I can do, and should do. 15:08 There are four things here. 15:09 One is diet, and then there is rest, exercise, and consistency. 15:15 And for women, especially, we have a hard time with number 15:18 four which is consistency. 15:20 We know we've got to exercise. 15:21 We know we've got to have a good diet. 15:23 We know we've got to have sufficient rest. 15:25 We get going, and then things come in the way, and it falls 15:29 off by the side. 15:30 Then we start back over again. 15:32 So consistency is something that I pray for, that God helps 15:36 us to stick with what He has told us we need to do. 15:40 We need to keep these things in balance. 15:42 Heather Dawn, let me ask you a question. 15:44 Don't you feel, or do you feel, I should say, that the reason 15:47 women have such trouble with consistency is that I'll tell 15:51 myself, Yes, my body is the temple of God, so I need to do 15:54 these right things, yet I don't say, No, to somebody, 15:58 and I find myself crowding out anything good that I'd planned 16:01 for self ends up being on the bottom of the totem pole, 16:05 and I don't get around to it a lot. 16:06 It's hard for me to assert myself in that area and say, 16:11 Okay, I've got to carve out this time, and protect this time, 16:14 to make sure I'm healthy. 16:15 It's a struggle with me. 16:17 It's a struggle, but I'll tell you something that God told me 16:20 a long time ago, and that was after Him in my life, 16:24 I am the next important person. 16:26 Now you see, I didn't have it like that. 16:28 After God, God was always first. 16:31 Then came my husband and my children, and my family, 16:34 and my friends, and the women I minister to. 16:37 I was always last. 16:38 I mean I wouldn't even want to pray for myself because I felt 16:43 that was selfish. 16:44 I mean, you know, here I am saying, Lord please bless me 16:46 with this, and give me that. 16:47 That's selfish. 16:48 You've got to pray for other people. 16:49 Until God showed me, Uh huh. 16:51 Unless you are healthy, your family isn't going 16:54 to be healthy, because when I'm not feeling well, 16:57 everything in the house is effected by it. 17:00 It's like E. G. White says. 17:03 She says the wife is the sunshine of the home. 17:05 And that's true because when we're fine, everybody else is. 17:09 But if I am not looking after myself, then I can't look after 17:14 anybody else. 17:15 So my list right now is God first, Heather Dawn second. 17:19 And so when you're saying that, you know, because when you 17:22 first said that, I thought, alright give me some scriptural 17:24 basis for that. 17:25 Well, what you're saying is not a selfishness, it's taking care 17:31 of that temple. 17:33 That's right, it's taking care of God's temple so that I can 17:35 then look after what God has called me to do. 17:39 If I am not looking after me, and I'm doing everything for 17:42 everyone else, and I'm excusing it in my mind, which is what 17:45 we do, because it's okay; I'm doing these things 17:48 for other people. 17:49 This is not for me, it's for other people. 17:51 But then in the process I get sick and I'm not able to do what 17:55 God has called me to do. 17:57 I fall short. 17:58 God wants me to serve Him for twenty years, 18:00 and I serve Him for two, and I fall short. 18:02 That was not God's plan for me. 18:04 That was Satan's plan. 18:05 I think the Lord sent you here today! 18:08 I hate to admit some of these things that are going on 18:10 in my life. 18:11 But it is a daily struggle for me, because I hear what you're 18:14 saying, because there is that part of us that wants to serve 18:17 and that wants to help others. 18:19 Saying no is hard, but we've got to do it. 18:23 And I always feel so selfish if I do put myself up there, 18:27 so I'm glad that you're saying these things. 18:29 And I'm sure that there's a lot of us out there who need 18:31 to hear that. 18:32 Now there's something else that you say that I really like. 18:34 You say you've got to dress right. 18:36 Yeah, you've got to dress right. 18:37 Let's talk about that. 18:38 Okay, that's the other slide. 18:39 Dress right because I think a lot of us, as Christians, 18:43 and especially in the first world. 18:46 In the first world areas of the world, we don't like to 18:50 talk about Satan. 18:51 We don't want to talk about the Devil and demons, you know. 18:54 Let's just keep that quiet. 18:55 Let's talk about faith, and love, and joy, and all those 18:57 wonderful things. 18:58 But every day that we get up we are fighting a spiritual battle. 19:02 Amen! 19:03 And the Bible tells us we need to dress right. 19:05 Ephesians 6:10 onward, tells us what we need to do. 19:09 It tells us that we need to put on the belt of truth. 19:13 We need to have the breast plate of righteousness, 19:17 the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, 19:19 and the helmet of salvation. 19:21 Which means, and Paul says to us, If you do this, you will be 19:26 able to stand; not fall, not stumble, not fall apart, 19:31 but be able to stand. 19:32 Which means that every day I need to dress for battle. 19:36 I tell my sisters if the day is cold would you go outside 19:42 in your summer clothes? 19:43 If the sun is shining bright, would you put on a 19:47 warm winter coat? 19:48 You dress right for what you're going to meet externally. 19:51 Yet as Christians we leave home stark naked every day, 19:55 without the armor of God on us to protect us from the enemy's 20:01 angry onslaughts on our lives. 20:04 If we are going to be standing strong, we're going to have to 20:08 every day intentionally put on the armor of God, 20:12 piece by piece, in our lives. 20:14 Put it on so that we can be dressed for battle. 20:17 And then once we're fully dressed in that manner, 20:19 on the way out we've got to remember to pick up that 20:22 sword of the spirit. 20:23 Sword of the spirit, that's right. 20:24 We've got to have God's word, and we've got to have it inside. 20:28 Not just in our hands walking around with. 20:31 It's got to be in my mind. 20:33 It's got to be in my heart, so that I can speak 20:35 the word of God at a time when I need to. 20:39 Amen. 20:40 That is something that the sword of the spirit, when we think 20:43 about that, that's our offensive weapon. 20:45 It's when we have those Bible promises in us that we can 20:50 meet the day. 20:52 Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus Christ upholds and maintains 20:58 all things, all things, by His mighty word of power. 21:03 It's that word that we have in our hearts, and in our minds, 21:07 that we can speak back when the devil tries to come at us 21:10 with doubt or discouragement, or trying to defeat us. 21:15 We can say uh uh, it is written. 21:18 It is, and it's one of the areas that I am most concerned about 21:21 for my sisters because, as I travel around the world, 21:24 one of the things that I find is that most, well not most, 21:27 many of my sisters are what I call Biblically illiterate. 21:31 Yes. 21:32 We don't know the word of God. 21:33 We depend on what our husband says, the pastor says, 21:35 the elder says. 21:36 Somebody has to explain everything to us. 21:38 I really believe that God expects us to know His Word. 21:41 He wants us to study His Word, to read His Word, to understand 21:45 His Word, to memorize His Word, so that we don't have to depend 21:48 on someone else. 21:50 We don't have to be like the disciples when the Greeks came 21:53 and said, "We would see Jesus. " 21:54 I mean Paul and Phillip had to say, "Okay, Let me take you 22:00 We should be able to say, "Oh, let me take you to Jesus, 22:03 because I know Him," rather than having to take them 22:06 to someone else. 22:07 Amen! 22:08 So, now, when you fully dress we also, if we're going to 22:14 stand firm, we've got to have a plan for our lives, don't we? 22:18 Yes, we do. 22:19 This is what I call my battle plan, my spiritual plan, 22:22 because I've got to be physically dressed, 22:24 but I've got to also have a spiritual plan. 22:26 How am I going to look after the spiritual side of me? 22:29 On this slide you will see a few things pop up. 22:32 Number one my devotional life. 22:34 And I say you've got to be consistent here. 22:36 That is also, for us, a struggle. 22:38 Just doing that on a daily basis; every day giving God 22:42 His time. 22:43 Next thing is prayer time; be real. 22:46 Be real. 22:47 I grew up hearing people pray these beautiful, wonderful, 22:51 awesome, awe-inspiring, just motivating prayers. 22:54 I thought that was how I had to pray until God said to me, 22:58 "Just talk to Me. " 23:00 Be real. 23:01 If I'm angry with Him, I tell Him. 23:03 If I'm happy with Him, I tell Him. 23:05 I just tell God how I feel and what's going on inside me. 23:09 It's something like one of these pipes which you see 23:15 water flowing through. 23:17 There is a pipeline between us and God, and it gets blocked 23:21 with stuff; when we are disappointed; 23:23 when we are discouraged; when things haven't turned out 23:25 the way we want them to; when we're angry with God, 23:27 but we don't want to say it. 23:29 It blocks that pipeline, and God is unable to send 23:32 His Holy Spirit to minister to our heart because there's 23:35 all this stuff inside there. 23:36 But if we are real in our prayer it gets out. 23:40 The pipeline is clear, and then God's Spirit can come down 23:44 and minister to us because we've gotten rid of all of the stuff 23:47 that was in the way. 23:48 You know, this thought just occurred to me as you were 23:50 speaking; Jesus was so real in His prayers, and on the cross 23:55 when He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You 23:58 forsaken Me?" 23:59 That's right. 24:00 He was, it was almost, it sounds like, discouragement, 24:03 defeat; the disappointment He felt in the Father. 24:06 He knew better, I'm sure. 24:08 Oh, Yes. 24:09 Yet He was so real in His prayers. 24:11 That's right! 24:12 God wants us to be. 24:13 He doesn't want us to be pretenders. 24:15 No, He doesn't, He doesn't. 24:16 He wants us to talk to Him as we honestly feel from our heart, 24:20 and He hears us. 24:21 You don't like it when your children come to you, I'm sure, 24:23 if they're pretending you see right through it, 24:25 and you think, "How can we have an honest conversation?" 24:29 You want to say to them, you know, "Talk to me. 24:31 Just tell me what's going on inside. " 24:34 But you see, they put that little mask over, 24:36 and it's bottled up. 24:37 So you've got to find a way to get around that, and God does 24:41 the same thing for us. 24:42 And then Bible study; that's a third point. 24:45 Be diligent. 24:46 I believe that God wants us to study His word, 24:49 not just in our devotional time, that time when we read God's 24:53 word, but to have a time whether it's an hour a day, 24:56 or half an hour a day, when we actually get into God's word 24:58 and study it. 25:00 Then there is meditation. 25:02 Now for someone like me that's very difficult because I am 25:06 always on the move. 25:07 I move too quickly. 25:09 I know my husband, many times even my kids say, 25:12 "Mom, slow down; you're making us dizzy," because I do 25:15 tend to move very quickly. 25:16 I've developed a little mantra for myself: slow down. 25:23 Slow down. 25:24 You've got to slow down. 25:25 And there's a little song I sing: "Slow down, 25:28 you're going too fast! 25:29 You've got to make the moment last. " 25:30 You know? 25:31 You've got to slow down! 25:32 It's an old song. 25:33 But I actually have to keep telling myself that. 25:35 So giving God time where we are just being still with Him. 25:41 And, you know, my quiet place to be still with God when life 25:45 is getting too much, and I'm just going to go crazy, 25:48 and the kids, and the husband, and the work, 25:51 and everything else. 25:52 I go into my bathroom. 25:53 I close the door. 25:54 I have a little mat and a little cushion in there, 25:57 and I sit there with my Bible and I say, "Breathe, 26:01 just breathe. " 26:03 And I know my husband knows once that door is closed nobody 26:07 comes in there. 26:08 I remember one day my son came running into the room, 26:11 when he was younger, calling my name, "Mommy, Mommy, 26:13 Mommy", and my husband grabbed him. 26:14 I heard him grab him, and he said, "If you want to live, 26:17 you will not disturb your mother right now. " 26:20 Because he knew I was at my wits end. 26:22 But God needs us to spend that time, because if we don't 26:26 then we will always be at our wits end; 26:28 ready to just go crazy because of everything 26:31 which is taking place. 26:32 And finally, I'm sorry. 26:34 Let me add one thing to that because when I learned to be 26:36 still before the Lord was when He was teaching me to pray 26:39 an hour a day. 26:40 The very first time, I'll share that with you later, 26:44 but I actually spent two hours in prayer. 26:47 It went so rapidly because of what He was teaching me. 26:50 I thought I was through praying when all of a sudden the Lord 26:53 said, "Be still and know I am God. " Psalm 46:10 26:56 Just be still in front of Him to receive from Him. 27:00 That's right. 27:01 And finally there's intercession, 27:02 and that's important. 27:03 Who's praying for you? 27:04 Do you have friends who you can call and say, 27:07 "Pray for me, please? 27:08 I need your help. " 27:09 If not, you need to have someone who's praying for you, 27:13 and you pray for others also. 27:14 Amen. 27:15 Wonderful points! 27:16 And these are all ways that you can help to restore your joy 27:20 as you learn. 27:21 That's right. 27:22 It's all about learning to depend on God again, isn't it? 27:24 Definitely! 27:25 Well, I'm so glad the walk the Lord has taken you through. 27:28 Thank you so much for joining us. 27:30 We want you to come back and do a few more programs. 27:32 I will. 27:33 Thank you so much. 27:34 And for those of you at home, remember these things. 27:37 It's important. 27:38 A healthy body means a healthy mind. 27:40 You need to put on the full armor of God. 27:43 Then you need to have a plan. 27:45 So I hope that you will take these lessons to heart. 27:48 Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 27:50 the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 27:54 be with you today and always. |
Revised 2014-12-17