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We are on day five of our ADHD

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friendly advent study, so let's

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dive in.

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But first, if you are new here,
my name is Rachel.

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I'm an ADHD and a Jesus lover

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and I help other women with

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chaotic brains seek, find and

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live the abundant life that

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Jesus offers.

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This is a free advent study I'm
doing.

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There is a workbook that also is
free.

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You can download that at the
link in my bio.

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And again while I am doing this
for free, if you would like to

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support the study and support me
by buying me a coffee, you can

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do that in my bio as well.

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Okay, let's get into it for the
day.

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Oh, and last thing, if you are
just finding me right now, you

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are not behind.

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No one is ever behind here.

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This is intentionally designed
to be low effort, high impact

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for my fellow ADHD girlies or
girlies with chaotic brains.

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So for those of you who are just

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joining us, we are doing a song

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every single week leading up to

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Christmas.

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So this week's song is oh come
oh Come Emmanuel.

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If you haven't listened to it in
a while, go listen to it.

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Skillet just released a
fantastic version, and then we

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have a scripture passage for
today, as well as a journaling

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prompt for today, and all of
this is in the workbook.

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Very nicely laid out.

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There is a suggested schedule
for how to complete the study.

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If you know a little more
structure is your jam that is in

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there, or you can just complete
it however your heart desires.

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So I will stop saying, let's get

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into it, let's actually get into

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it.

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And if you hear wild squawking,

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one of my chickens is laying an

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egg right now, so please ignore

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that.

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So we are reading Luke one
twenty six through thirty eight

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today in the sixth month.

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Oh, I'm in the ESV, by the way.

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In the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God to a

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city of Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man

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whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David.

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And the virgin's name was Mary.

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And he came to her and said,
greetings, O favored one, the

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Lord is with you.

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But she was greatly troubled at

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the saying, and tried to discern

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what sort of greeting this might

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be.

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And the angel said to her, do
not be afraid, Mary, for you

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have found favor with God.

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And behold, you will conceive in
your womb, and bear a son, and

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you shall call his name Jesus.

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And he will be great, and will

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be called the son of the Most

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High.

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And the Lord your God will give

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to him the throne of his father

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David, and he will reign over

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the house of Jacob forever, and

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of his kingdom there will be no

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end.

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And Mary said to the angel, how

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will this be, since I am a

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virgin?

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And the angel answered her, The
Holy Spirit will come upon you,

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and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you.

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Therefore the child to be born

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will be called holy, the Son of

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God.

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And behold, your relative
Elizabeth, in her old age also

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has conceived a son.

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And this is an.

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And this is the sixth month with
her who was called barren.

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For nothing will be impossible
with God.

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And Mary said, behold, I am the
servant of the Lord.

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Let it be to me according to
your word.

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And the angel departed from her.

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Now, before we get into the
journaling prompt for the day, I

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want to talk a little bit
because this response that Mary

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has seems very, very similar to
the one that Zechariah gives

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just a few verses before
Zechariah is told, hey, your

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wife is going to have a baby,
and he's like, ah, how is that

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going to happen?

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My wife and I are old.

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And he then is rendered unable

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to speak until the child is

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born.

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Meanwhile we say, Mary, Here we
see Mary saying, how will this

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be since I am a virgin?

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They seem like very, very
similar responses.

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So it kind of seems like God is

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giving an inconsistent response

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when given the same prompt,

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essentially.

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But there's a really important

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distinction here that I want to

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look at.

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So looking at the verse,
Zachariah says in verse

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eighteen, we're still in chapter
one, verse eighteen.

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And Zechariah said to the angel,
how shall I know this?

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For I am an old man, and my wife
is advanced in years.

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Zechariah, there's kind of an
arguing back.

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And we know this by looking at
the word here for.

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No, he says, how shall I know
this?

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And the word here is ginosko,
which means to know for sure.

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So he basically is going, okay,

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and how am I supposed to trust

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you?

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Whereas when we look at what
Mary says, she says, and the

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angel said to Mary.

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And Mary said to the angel, how

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will this be, since I am a

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virgin?

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And what we see from how Mary
phrases her question.

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I'm going to post a screenshot
of the words up here, because

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there's several and I won't.

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I don't want to take too much
time going through them, but

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essentially what we gather from
the words, the original words

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that build up how Mary phrased
her question is, how is this

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going to happen?

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It's not asking to be convinced.

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It's asking about the mechanics,
which, when you think about it,

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makes perfect sense because she
is think about it.

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She is a young girl who has who

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is a virgin being told, hey,

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you're going to have a baby in

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you.

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And as far as she knows, there
is one way for that to happen.

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So she very much has a spirit of

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like, all right, give me the

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details.

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Whereas Zachariah is going, oh
yeah, prove it.

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So that kind of section has

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always bugged me because I'm

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like, they basically did the

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same thing, like Cain and Abel,

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right?

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They both brought offerings to
the Lord, but they got very,

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very, very different results.

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It comes down to the heart and
we can tell a little bit more

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about where their hearts were at
and the questions they were

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actually answering by going back
to the original text.

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But let's go ahead and proceed
with today's journaling prompt.

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Again, all of this is in the
workbook that you can get for

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free at the link in my bio.

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Otherwise I will read out the
prompt to you.

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You can pause it, go answer it,

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and then we'll keep talking

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about it.

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So today we are on Scripture
journaling prompt number four.

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Has God ever asked something of

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you that you felt completely

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unprepared for?

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How did his plan for your good

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become clear as that situation

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played out?

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Or if you're still in that
season, how do you see his

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goodness even in the darkness?

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So before we talk about it,
pause this video, go do some

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journaling on this prompt, and
then come back to me for me.

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A couple years ago, I and I've

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talked quite a bit about this,

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but I became a single mom quite

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literally.

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Overnight.

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I went from planning for my

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second baby to being served

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divorce papers, no longer living

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in the home that I absolutely

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loved, having to figure out how

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to provide for myself and this

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little baby that I had while

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learning how to be a mom for the

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first time.

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And at first blush, I look back

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and I'm like, wow, I was

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completely unprepared for that

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situation.

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But when I look closer and what
I want to encourage you to do,

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if you haven't done the prompt,
please go do it, because I'm

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going somewhere with this.

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But what I want to encourage you
to do is look back and see how

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God actually had been preparing
you for that situation.

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So in my case, I have always

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really struggled with female

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friendships.

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I was primarily just friends
with guys growing up.

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I always had a really awkward
dynamic with other women, with

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other girls when I was growing
up, and I very much did the

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whole like, oh, guys are just
like way easier.

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There's so much less drama when

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really it's that I did not

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understand how female

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friendships worked.

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And once I started to really

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take my faith seriously

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throughout that process, a

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friend of mine invited me to a

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Bible study that she had been

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part of.

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And literally the moment I
walked through the door that

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first night, I got the sense
that something was different.

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I felt welcome, I felt
connected, and that group over

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time became my circle, my tribe.

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They were my people, and that

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those relationships I cultivated

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and cultivated, for I believe I

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was in that group for about

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three years before I got

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divorced.

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And hold on.

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Between building that group of

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women around me and digging into

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my faith and deepening my faith

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and relying more and more on

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God, the best way I can describe

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it is so, you know, when they're

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working on historical buildings

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and they have to build up these

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supports and scaffolds to make

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sure that the structure is

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supported while they do work on

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it.

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The best way I can describe what
happened is God built up these

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supports in my life so that when
my entire life imploded and

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everything I knew crumbled, I
was still left standing.

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God did such a gentle, beautiful

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job of building a support,

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building a community around me

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so that when everything I had

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ever known pretty much

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disintegrated into thin air when

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the future I had honestly really

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pridefully thought I had secured

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for myself.

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When that was completely gone
and my life had really no

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forward trajectory at that
point, it was all uncertain.

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God helped me pick up the
pieces.

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I was not completely broken.

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It was incredibly difficult.

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Yeah, but I had the community.

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I had the supports.

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I had the resources to be able

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to move forward instead of being

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completely crushed.

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And so journaling about that got
me thinking that I wonder what

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Mary had had to overcome.

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I wonder what refinement had
happened in her life.

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I wonder what fears and beliefs
and thoughts she had about

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herself and about her life that
God had to systematically break

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down in her in order for this to
be her reaction.

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In order for this to be bringing

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Jesus into the world, to be

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something that she was equipped

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to do.

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So a thought that I had here was
he is faithful to prepare and

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equip us if we allow ourselves
to be prepared and equipped.

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I don't ever want to have to
wonder how would this situation

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be different if I had listened.

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And so, moving forward in my
life, I forever want to be on

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the path that God has for me.

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Not because it's the easiest

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path, not because it's the most

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prosperous path.

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Not because it's the most fun
path.

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Because let's be real, following
Jesus is hard, and a lot of

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times it doesn't feel like it
makes sense right now.

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But I forever will strive to be
on the path he has for me

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because I don't know what's
coming ahead, and I don't ever

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want to miss his preparation
because of my own selfishness or

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my own pride, I absolutely have.

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I spent so much of my life just

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feeling like I had all of the

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answers.

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I grew up in the church.

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I grew up going to Christian
school.

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I very much felt like I had it
figured out, well, you marry a

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nice Christian boy after you go
to a nice Christian college and

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then you have a nice Christian
life with some nice Christian

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kids going to your nice
Christian church, maybe even

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your nice Christian Wednesday
night Bible study.

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That's what I thought following
Jesus boiled down to.

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And boy was I wrong.

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I wasted the vast majority of my
life feeling that way.

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And so I am so dedicated to.

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And this is an ongoing process.

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I am by no means saying, hey,
I've got it figured out.

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Follow me because I know what
I'm doing, I don't.

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I absolutely don't, but I have
lived the difference.

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And so I want to encourage you

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to join me in having a renewed

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focus on seeking Christ, seeking

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his path, seeking his direction

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not because of how it's going to

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affect our lives now, but

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because we do not see the path

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ahead.

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We do not know how he is

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planning to equip us and prepare

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us now for things that are

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ahead.

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And that can be really scary
stuff like, you know, getting

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divorced from your high school
sweetheart when you're a brand

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new mom and suddenly don't have
your own place to live, or that

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can be really beautiful.

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God had the most incredible
marriage for me, and it's

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because I was doing the work,
working on myself, going to

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therapy, growing in my faith,
working on my community,

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building into my life that when
the incredible man I get to call

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my husband came along.

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He had been doing all of those
things as well.

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And when God brought us

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together, we were ready for each

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other.

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And things are difficult.

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Absolutely.

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Life is not perfect or easy by
any stretch of the imagination.

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But the marriage that we get to
share, and the camaraderie that

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we have and the genuine
partnership that we have and the

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love that we have is so
incredibly worth it.

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So God is preparing and
equipping us, yes, for scary

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things that are going to be
really difficult to get through

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on our own.

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So we better prepare for them
with him, but also so that we're

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ready to enjoy the fullness and
the blessing that he has for us.

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So little bonus prompt for you
today.

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This is actually not in the
workbook.

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Maybe I'll go add it to the
workbook, but I want to

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encourage you today, sit down
with your journal and ask God to

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show you where in your life are
you deviating from his plan?

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Not for your own prosperity, not
so that your own life is easier,

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but so that you don't miss out
on what he has for you.

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Ask him.

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He will show you.

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James is very clear that when we
seek him with a whole heart, we

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will find him, and that he gives
wisdom to those who ask.

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So I want to encourage you take
some time today and seek his

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face on where you need to fine
tune and find his path.

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Okay, that is all I have for
you.

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These episodes are available as

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podcast episodes on my podcast,

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00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:41,799
Speaker:
The True Grit Podcast with

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00:12:41,799 --> 00:12:42,559
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Rachel Grit.

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The link to that is in my bio.

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Make sure you go get the
workbook that's in my bio.

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00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:48,840
Speaker:
If you would like to support me
and buy me a coffee that is also

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00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:49,759
Speaker:
in my bio.

354
00:12:49,759 --> 00:12:52,639
Speaker:
Please share this video, share
it with a friend, share it on

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00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:54,559
Speaker:
your social media, whatever the
case may be.

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00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:56,879
Speaker:
It really helps not just me

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00:12:56,879 --> 00:12:58,879
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build my platform, but also

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00:12:58,879 --> 00:13:00,679
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reach more people and be able to

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have a bigger impact for people

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Speaker:
as well.

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So I will see you tomorrow.

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Bye.