[00:00:00]

[00:00:00]

[00:00:05]

[00:00:10] The Missional Life - Dan: All right. Welcome back to missionary podcast today. We're thrilled to have Linda Evans shepherd with us. Linda is a bestselling author and seasoned speaker who has written 38 books on faith, prayer, and resilience, including praying through hard times. Her compassion and insight have reached thousands and through her show, The Prayer Investigator, she's helping people around the world connect with God on a deeper level.

[00:00:36] The Missional Life - Dan: Linda, welcome to the show.

[00:00:38] Linda Evans Shepherd: I am so glad to be here today.

[00:00:41] The Missional Life - Dan: Amen. It's wonderful to have you here. Hey, your book, Praying Through Hard Times, has impacted so many. Could you share what inspired its re release and why this message is so timely today?

[00:00:55] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, actually, I call it my boomerang book because I wrote it 12 years ago and it was in print and, you know, people And so my publisher heard them, they were sending them videos saying we need this book, we can't buy it anywhere and our friends need the book.

[00:01:13] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so they brought it back. And so here we are again. And even though I wrote it 12 years ago, what I learned through that season of my life is still something we all need to know.

[00:01:28] The Missional Life - Dan: When you write books on prayer oftentimes you go through experiences that demand prayer. Can you tell us some of your story that really pushed you into being on your knees and, and praying through the situations that you went through?

[00:01:44] Linda Evans Shepherd: Yes. You know, I was a happy Christian. I love the Lord. I thought life was great.

[00:01:50] Linda Evans Shepherd: And then the unexpected happened. One day when I was a young mom, I was in a horrific car crash. And my then 18 month old baby was thrown into the freeway while still buckled in her car seat. And. When I was able to climb out of that shattered car and find my little girl on the side of the road, I knew that our life had been changed.

[00:02:16] Linda Evans Shepherd: And indeed it had, because the doctors told me that she was a vegetable, that she was in a vegetative state, but they also said that she could live to be 80 years old. And so here I had this beautiful baby who looked exactly the same, beautiful and precious, but she just couldn't wake up. She just couldn't open her eyes.

[00:02:39] Linda Evans Shepherd: And I told the doctors, I said, you know, scientifically speaking, you really don't know if this is a coma or not. Or a vegetative state because it's impossible to tell the difference. And they said, Oh, we didn't know you were in denial. And they sent in the hospital psychologist to talk to me, but I told him, you don't know what my God can do.

[00:03:03] Linda Evans Shepherd: But neither did I, I didn't know how to pray through this. I didn't know if there was this formula where I could just suddenly have this great faith and my daughter would sit up in her bed and say, what took you so long, mom? And instead, what I had to do was just seek the Lord with all my heart. And the other thing I had to do.

[00:03:27] Linda Evans Shepherd: I had to actually talk to him. So now here I am reading the word and I am learning how to really pray. And one of the first things I discovered is prayer is just talking to God, connecting to God. And, and as I begin to do that, you know, it, it seemed like we were able to bring her home and she still didn't wake up.

[00:03:52] Linda Evans Shepherd: It seemed like this was going to go on forever until a year later. When we brought home our newborn son from the hospital and we placed him in Laura's arms, that was the moment she came back. That was the moment she woke up, not from vegetative state, but from coma. And she came back changed, but you know what?

[00:04:18] Linda Evans Shepherd: We just said, so what? The Lord brought her back. She spent an entire year with him and she was able to relate that she had been with Jesus. Yet the Lord sent her back. We knew she was on mission. We just didn't realize yet how special that mission was.

[00:04:41] The Missional Life - Dan: You know, as we were doing research on the story. What struck to me is just how you continue to speak faith.

[00:04:49] The Missional Life - Dan: You continue to be encouraged and, and, you know, stand strong in your, in your, you know, prayer, I'm sure there were days, right? I mean, we talked about nine, you know, nine months to time for your son, but look, what is. When we think about prayer, oftentimes we, you know, we ask God for forgiveness, but I, I'm wondering, did you ever deal with a problem of, of, of not forgiving yourself or, or, and I'm just wondering for the listener that's going through something like that, that has been through a situation, similar situation, how does somebody, Go and not just receive forgiveness from God for a situation, but almost forgiveness when they, they feel like it could have been their fault.

[00:05:27] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, fortunately didn't feel as if the accident were my fault. And because of that, that probably saved me from a lot of that. But I did feel that it was my fault that I couldn't figure out how to reach God. And, and so I think that you have actually struck upon a very important point, and that is when we can't forgive ourselves, no matter what the reason, or, or the cause, or the why, that it is a barrier barrier.

[00:06:00] Linda Evans Shepherd: Between us and God and so one of the things that I did do is I searched my heart. I looked for anything that I needed to repent, to let go of, to give to God and including the accident. I gave that to him. I said, you know, maybe I shouldn't have been driving the car that day. Maybe that's where it was a fault.

[00:06:22] Linda Evans Shepherd: But at the same time, I can't control what I don't know. And we have to say, God, I'm going to trust you with this fault that I have. I'm going to give it to you. And I'm going to ask you to forgive it. And now in your strength, Lord, I'm going to forgive myself. And I've had to do that many times in my life, because when we're angry at ourselves, then we cannot forgive.

[00:06:52] Linda Evans Shepherd: experience the complete healing that God has for us. And the other person that a lot of people are angry at is God. And so not that God is a sinner, because he certainly is not, but God allows things into our lives. And for that, There are people who tell me, God, let this happen and I will never speak to him again.

[00:07:17] Linda Evans Shepherd: And we have to say, God, I don't understand why you allowed it, but I forgive you for allowing it. Not that he needs our forgiveness, but we need to let go of it. And that's how we let go. So God, I'm going to just forgive you. I'm going to let go of the grudge that I have had against you because that's what you're doing.

[00:07:38] Linda Evans Shepherd: You're letting go of your God grudge. And I'm going to say, whatever, God. I give you this whole situation, I pray this many times, I give you this whole situation, it belongs to you. And just letting go of control, boy, that's hard. But sometimes that's the point when the Lord will suddenly wake up your baby after a year long coma.

[00:08:05] The Missional Life - Amanda: That's so beautiful. I love what you shared about, , asking God, , through his strength to work through that and to search your heart. It just reminds me so much of David and all the Psalms that he wrote that were, you know, joyful and some were, , filled with his expressions of pain.

[00:08:22] The Missional Life - Amanda: And yet he always came back to, but I trust you, Lord. And, , God called him a man after his own heart. And, you know, David went through so many different situations where, , he had to forgive others. He had to forgive himself. He wrestled with God, but, , at the end of the day, the Bible still records that he was a man after God's own heart.

[00:08:43] The Missional Life - Amanda: And just the importance of searching our hearts to make sure that they, , are not full of what, like what you called the God grudge. You know, I think that's sadly something that can happen easily when people go through difficult situations and, you know, why God, why, you know, we ask those questions and trying to get people get stuck there.

[00:09:04] The Missional Life - Amanda: But, your book and what you've, , been writing about for so many years now, , it helps people to move through that valley of the shadow of death and not camp out there.

[00:09:16] The Missional Life - Dan: You know, personal tragedies can often deepen our faith, our focus. And, and I think when we go through situations, we, if we, if we had the right perspective on it. We can become more relatable. We can be more compassionate guides for other people who are going through situations.

[00:09:32] The Missional Life - Dan: And so as you move forward in your faith, how did you come to see God use your struggles and your needs to draw you closer to him?

[00:09:40] Linda Evans Shepherd: You know, I'm really glad you asked that question because there is absolutely a treasure of what happens to you when you go through a difficulty and then you finally let go.

[00:09:55] Linda Evans Shepherd: And you learn to do what? You learn to trust God. In the no matter what. And in fact, I was just talking to a neighbor the other day. She said, your daughter was in coma for a year. That's so tragic. How did you survive it? And I said, you know what? That was a time when God gave me treasure. He gave me treasure of peace and love.

[00:10:19] Linda Evans Shepherd: I had so much love in my life. He gave me the treasure of joy. He gave me the treasure of learning how to trust him and knowing. That whatever happened, he had it. And that is sometimes what the purpose of a trial is, because I do believe trials have purposes. And even when we can't understand it, we can still glean and learn and grow through it.

[00:10:49] Linda Evans Shepherd: And then that's when the trial doesn't become a trial. The trial part lifts and maybe the, the situation, I mean loving and taking care of a disabled child became my new normal, but there was so much joy in it. And so much love

[00:11:09] The Missional Life - Dan: you can not only speak to trusting God through health situations, but you can also Speak to trusting God in financial situations when you had all those medical bills begin to stack up you Have a story about just trusting God in that situation, don't you?

[00:11:24] Linda Evans Shepherd: All right, we had a situation where we had insurance for my husband's job, but just days before the accident He had asked it to be changed to another insurance.

[00:11:34] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so actually in that very moment No insurance company would claim us. So it was as if we had no insurance. And so I remember standing in Laura's room in the hospital room and I, I put my hands in my blue jean pockets and I pulled out the liners and I said this to the Lord. This is what I've got to pay her bill, which I know is going to be a million dollars.

[00:12:03] Linda Evans Shepherd: I'm going to have to get her out of this place. So Lord, I dedicate and give the bill to you. And then I just didn't worry about it. I mean, what was the point? I didn't have a million dollars. There was no point in worrying about it. And then one day, not long after we got a call and said, don't worry about it.

[00:12:24] Linda Evans Shepherd: It was, it was the company. We figured out a way to take care of this bill for you.

[00:12:30] The Missional Life - Dan: It's amazing. We figured out a way. Hmm. Hmm. I wonder how that happened. That's incredible. You know, as we go through situations. What we focus on really becomes our reality. And so can you speak to how you shifted your focus from the problem, from the financial issues, from the health issues to shifting your focus to God and his provision and his promises to you and your family.

[00:12:55] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, I really wanted Laura to continue to get better. And I did see a lot of that happen in her life. I mean, the doctor said she was blind, but we knew she could see. The doctor said her brain was over 90 percent destroyed, but we knew she could think and understand. And, We just continue to, to thank the Lord and thanking the Lord is a big part of it.

[00:13:23] Linda Evans Shepherd: Thanking the Lord, trusting the Lord. And then one day, six years later, they made me come into the hospital and take another MRI of my daughter's brain. And they popped that film up and they had me look at it. And I stood up, I sat down, I stood up. They said, what's wrong? I said, well, that's not my daughter's film.

[00:13:41] Linda Evans Shepherd: And they said, well, what do you mean? I said, well, this child has an almost intact brain. And they said, well, look, it says Laura Shepherd right there on the corner. Do you see that? And I said, Yes. And they said, well, what we didn't know is that your daughter's brain could regenerate. Well, what she didn't know is God did it.

[00:14:08] Linda Evans Shepherd: And you know, after that, after that day, I'm just like, whatever, God, you've got aspects of this. But even so, I still had to mourn and grieve the losses she did have. But at the same time, I had to learn to say, whatever, Lord.

[00:14:30] The Missional Life - Dan: As you re release this book, Praying Through Hard Times, it's obviously about praying and praying through hard times. Are there different types of prayers that you pray, that you are teaching in that book? And if so, is there a certain one that you find yourself kind of returning to or, or praying more often than others?

[00:14:50] Linda Evans Shepherd: You know, I think one of the most important prayers that I learned to pray during that time because I tried many different things I tried to learn how to have faith that you know, she could stand up and walk and I didn't see the Lord answer that prayer that way I also prayed that he would provide for my family that he would give my family love and I think the Lord was redirecting me to and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in just a moment, but I'm going to talk to some degree on praying for what was really important, because it turned out that having my daughter stand up and walk was not the most important aspect.

[00:15:30] Linda Evans Shepherd: The most important aspect was having my little family, my husband, my son, my daughter, myself. To love the Lord and to trust Him and to experience the love and the joy. And so learning to thank God, learning how to count our blessings. I once talked to a woman. She said, well, she said, I've given up on God.

[00:15:53] Linda Evans Shepherd: I'm, I have, I've turned my back on him. I said, why? She said, my dog died. And I said, well, there you go. And she said, well, what do you mean? I said, well, your faith was only going to be good for about 12 years. Because at some point your dog was going to die and she said, well, I hadn't thought of it that way.

[00:16:12] Linda Evans Shepherd: And I said, well, you threw out God in that prayer. Maybe you want to rethink that. Because I think sometimes we're so bent on controlling God that we forget how to trust him.

[00:16:29] The Missional Life - Dan: Sometimes we have to trust him with different answers. God doesn't really give us the answer that we want. all the time. And sometimes he's has something else for us. And so God answers, prayer in ways we don't even expect now, but later we come to value and see some of the reasons that he answers us in a different way.

[00:16:48] The Missional Life - Dan: And so just was wondering if you could speak to some of those different ways where you've been praying and you've maybe received an answer that you didn't at that moment, really. Quite frankly, but later you look back and said, wow, God, I'm, I'm so thankful that you answered it your way and not my way.

[00:17:10] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, right. I'm, I'm thinking of a day. It was the day after Christmas. It was about five years since the accident, which had actually happened the day after Christmas. And. I decided that the Lord was not going to bring my daughter back the way I had envisioned. And that I needed a day to mourn and to cry.

[00:17:33] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so I did, I began to just sink into this very devastating grief. And in fact, by the end of the day, about four o'clock, I was so far into that grief. I didn't think I was going to be able to get out of that grief. So, so I just had to ask the Lord. What do I do now? I'm stuck here and he said, you know, you can choose to be happy and I'm sharing this because this is a prayer And so I said to the Lord, you know, I choose I choose joy I choose joy in the no matter what And so, little by little, as the day wore on into the darkness of night, I began to feel comforted.

[00:18:26] Linda Evans Shepherd: And by the next day, my joy started to return. And I think the point I'm trying to make is, sometimes the most important prayer is to choose joy, to choose trust, to choose joy. And to choose a thankful heart, a grateful heart, because when we can do that, then we can see the miracle of the present, which turns out to be a present.

[00:18:58] Linda Evans Shepherd: And we can, we can have the peace that passes understanding. Even when we don't understand what the future may hold.

[00:19:08] The Missional Life - Amanda: , and just sharing how you chose joy, , and just praying with the Lord and how he said, you know, you can choose. I just want to highlight some things that stood out to me when I was just looking at your story, , preparing for this interview and just how Your daughter brought so much joy, not just to your family, but to other people, you know, the therapist, the, the workers that helped her.

[00:19:34] The Missional Life - Amanda: And I believe if I remember correctly , there's a website. That was started from your daughter. Is that correct? And so many people were impacted by that. And I correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was 300, 000 people. Had an encounter with the Lord or came to know more about Jesus love through this website.

[00:19:57] The Missional Life - Amanda: Can you share more about just your daughter's life and legacy that she, left?

[00:20:03] Linda Evans Shepherd: One of the things that we created during that time period was a website. It still exists. It's called God test. com and it's a, it. It's a, a website that leads you to the truth of who Jesus Christ is just by asking you questions and giving you multiple choices and letting you read the word of God.

[00:20:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so when I realized, and Laura was very and she was, she and I would pray for it and talk about it and we would get so excited. And we mainly got a lot, a lot of the people that came into that room were suicidal people, and we would pray for them and talk about them. And so one day when I realized how many people had come to Christ on that website, I told her, I said, what people don't know about you, Laura, is that you're one of the top female evangelists in the world.

[00:20:59] Linda Evans Shepherd: Here she was so disabled. I mean, she couldn't really say a lot of words. She could say things like love and mom, she could understand and she had a series of tongue signals. She was paralyzed from the neck down. She was on life support. I mean, that's a lot of stuff. She was in a wheelchair, but yet She was one of the most powerful female evangelist in the world.

[00:21:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: And that's our God. He used that little girl. And one of the things that he did a lot is when people would come into our home, they would say, what is that? And I would say, what is what? And they say, I don't know. It's kind of like this. There's like this river of peace flowing in your house. What is that?

[00:21:44] Linda Evans Shepherd: And I would say, Oh, that's just my daughter, Laura. She was in heaven for a year and she just does that. They would be like, what? But yeah, so she, And I think God just impacted the people who cared for her there. People would say to me, how do you have a team of people to help you care for your daughter and they all get along beautifully?

[00:22:06] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, it was the love and it was the piece that we all felt and experience. And so she touched so many people. she did go to school. She went to elementary school and she brought that love and that joy with her to school. And some of the, the students that had been in her class in first and second grade came to her goodbye.

[00:22:31] Linda Evans Shepherd: Ceremony when she did pass the second time back to heaven, and they told me how much she had meant to them. And one of the ones I talked to said, what you don't know is I'm a nurse today because of Laura.

[00:22:46] The Missional Life - Amanda: Wow. That's so beautiful. You know, something. That really struck me too, as I was reading, , about your story was that just how her purpose, , to be loved and to give love, , and I just thought that was such a beautiful example of how, that is our purpose, that is each of our ultimate purpose in Christ.

[00:23:09] The Missional Life - Amanda: You know, there's nothing we can do for God to make him love us. like his love doesn't change. And that, that was our primary purpose, , in God creating people was. To love and to receive love back. And I just wanted to highlight , just how beautiful that is thank you so much for sharing , about your daughter and just how just a beautiful life that, that she got to lead while she was here on earth and.

[00:23:35] The Missional Life - Amanda: Thank you.

[00:23:37] The Missional Life - Dan: I think that's just so impacting too, because we look at situations with such a limited view, don't we? And we can look and say, that person, they were, you know, Laura was stuck in a chair and she couldn't talk very well.

[00:23:54] The Missional Life - Dan: And yet, we look at the lasting legacy of it. lives change and salvations that came from that. And we see how God used it. It didn't cause it. He didn't cause that situation, but he used it. And you surrendered it. You put it on that altar and you said, God, you have this. And I imagine that she said that in her own way.

[00:24:21] The Missional Life - Dan: And she probably had a different perspective than most of us, because like you said, she spent a year with Jesus. And so she understood. Life at a whole other level than, than we do. And she saw that ability to leave a lasting legacy on this earth. And I think that's really important because I think there's a lot of listeners that sometimes feel like they're just having a small impact, that they're, they're not doing something that they really have.

[00:24:44] The Missional Life - Dan: In their hearts, taking care of your kids and doing those things that are just those small things are really, truly big things in God's sights. And those are things that we will receive eternal treasures and rewards for when we are faithful and doing those small things in our lives.

[00:25:00] The Missional Life - Dan: And so What a transition. You, in your book, you talk about these wow moments in prayer, and just wondered if you could tell us what some of those wow moments look like for you. You've written 38 books on topics about prayer. You clearly know about prayer. And I'm just wondering, tell us some of those wow moments.

[00:25:20] The Missional Life - Dan: You've spent a lot of time in prayer when God truly wowed you in those moments of prayer.

[00:25:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, you know, I think Prayer is a conversation. And so when we learn to pray and we forget about, Hey, here's my list of things I want, I want this, I want that, I want the other thing, and we say, I'm here in your presence.

[00:25:43] Linda Evans Shepherd: It's really learning to live in the presence of God, because guess what? His presence is already there. The problem is we're not aware of it, and so it is a discipline to say. I am in the presence of God in this moment. And in every moment, so then learning to be in his presence, learning to say more to the Holy Spirit, allowing him to just penetrate, to flow in you.

[00:26:15] Linda Evans Shepherd: And I, and here's what I think the most important thing is allowing the love of God to flow into you so that you can blow into other people. And then allowing yourself to just quietly listen. So probably my most important prayer of all times, and it's one I still pray. And that's when I'm just in his stillness and I'll say, Lord, is there anything you want to say to me?

[00:26:47] Linda Evans Shepherd: And he always says the same thing. And it took me a long time to really own it. He always said, I love you.

[00:26:58] Linda Evans Shepherd: And then to just sit there in the love of God. In his presence, knowing you're not perfect, sure you're not, no, none of us are perfect. And it's not about that. Jesus took the penalty for our sin when he died on the cross and then when we said yes to that gift that he gave us and when we turned from our sin.

[00:27:23] Linda Evans Shepherd: So we don't have to worry about that. I mean, we confess our sin and we make it right with him. And so as a gift to him, but our experience of his love is not based on how perfect we are. It's based on the fact that he is love. So as you begin to just live in his love and live in his presence, you will be so profoundly changed.

[00:27:54] Linda Evans Shepherd: And then you can begin to talk to him and learn how to hear his voice. And so when he says, go right. Our turn left. You do what it is he tells you to do. And there are still times, of course, that you can't hear well, or you don't understand the latest crises. And we just all had one earlier today down in camera.

[00:28:21] Linda Evans Shepherd: Would it work? But you know what? We just give that to the Lord and he gave us another solution and we were able to come together and in the scheme of things, it was only just a little blip and a lot of the things that we so worry about and that we're so troubled about are just little blips that the Lord is waiting for us to give to him.

[00:28:47] Linda Evans Shepherd: But back to the most important prayer. There is another prayer that. We must talk about, and it's a reason why many people cannot experience his presence, and many people cannot hear his voice, and that is bitterness and anger. When I speak, I have a talk that I do. And at one point in the talk, I say, okay, everybody, I put a body bag under your chair and I want you to pull it out.

[00:29:16] Linda Evans Shepherd: And they're like, what? And so they look under the chair and there's nothing there, but I'm like, oh, here it is. And I pretend I have a body bag and I make everybody hold up their body bag. But I say this, do not put any real people in this body bag. This is an illustration. So we're going to go through this together.

[00:29:34] Linda Evans Shepherd: So I'm like, okay, this is an ever expanding body bag. What I want you to do is to a zip it. And then I want you to start packing the people that hurt you, all the people, those family members, the people at school, at church, at work, in the neighborhood. And you know, and I, I teased them and I'd say, some of you, your body bag may be going all the way through the ceiling.

[00:29:59] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so here's what we're going to do. We're going to try to hold it up. And then I make everybody pretend like they're holding all these people up. And then I'm like, okay, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to lay these people at the foot of the cross, and we're going to pray this prayer. And so they all pretend to lay the people down.

[00:30:19] Linda Evans Shepherd: And then I say, Hey God, and I make them repeat it. Hey God, do you see all these people? They are now your problem. Not mine because I give them to you and I forgive them through your power and in that moment The entire room changes all these people who they suddenly A glow and a lightness. And I tease them and I say, Oh my goodness, some of you just lost 20 pounds.

[00:30:56] Linda Evans Shepherd: And what happened to your wrinkles? And this is a key because Jesus says that he will not forgive us if we don't forgive others. How much more has he forgiven us? This is a, a barrier that we can't get rid of in our life. It's not always easy. And I always say, it's not about saying, Oh, it doesn't really matter if they did that mean horrible, terrible thing to me.

[00:31:30] Linda Evans Shepherd: It doesn't really matter. It does matter. But what matters even more is that you let go. Even if they don't deserve it. And that doesn't mean, of course, that if you were trying to tame, tame a pet rattlesnake, that you would go to pet it because you forgave him from the last time he bit you. No, you know, you, you probably shouldn't stick your hand in that cage.

[00:31:57] Linda Evans Shepherd: So you know, you have to be prudent, but at the same time, you live your life in love and forgiveness and you will change the world and you'll do it one person at a time. So many people who report having had a near death experience and come back to life. When you ask them, what did God say to you? When he said for you to go back and they say, he told me to go back and love and that it would change the world.

[00:32:32] Linda Evans Shepherd: I think that's what he told my daughter.

[00:32:35] The Missional Life - Dan: I want to circle back to something you said that the prayer is conversation. And I, and I think we know that, but we don't always know that. Right. And I think

[00:32:50] The Missional Life - Dan: we can pray, but we really need to hear what God has to say to us in those situations. We can give those things, but oftentimes we need a word from the Lord in those situations as well. And so, can you tell our listeners, can you share with us, what are some of those steps that you walk through? To discern the voice of the Lord in your own life and the situations that you've gone through and continue to go through.

[00:33:20] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, not everybody can hear the Lord the same way. For example, I'm married to a left brain engineer. And if I say to him, Oh, the Lord just talked to me. He's like, huh? I've never heard the Lord say anything like that because he's not wired for that. And that's okay, he loves the Lord, he's a dear Christian guy, and it's okay.

[00:33:42] Linda Evans Shepherd: But I am wired for that. And so that is one way I can hear from the Lord. But here's a way everyone can hear from the Lord, and that is pick up your Bible and read some of it. Because the Bible is alive with the Spirit of God. And as you read it. He will begin to have a conversation with you, answer a question that you had, and there you find it right in the word, the answer that you were looking for.

[00:34:15] Linda Evans Shepherd: And so it's also developing that For your life, where you do spend time talking to him. And if you don't know what to pray, pick up the word, find a scripture you love and pray it back to him as a prayer. And then wait on him and listen. And sometimes the answer may come not in words, but in just a feeling of peace, or it may pop up in an opportunity that wasn't there before.

[00:34:45] Linda Evans Shepherd: And you know that that indeed is what God wants you to do. Or maybe it will come up in a person you need to forgive or a person you need to call and talk to. Or maybe something will happen after a prayer, a question that you had, and somebody will call you and say, you know, I feel like the Lord just wanted me to call you and tell you X, Y, Z.

[00:35:10] Linda Evans Shepherd: And that's exactly the answer to your prayer. God can communicate with us in so many ways. I mean, if you don't believe me, just go into nature and just look at the beauty, knowing that the nature is alive in the power of God and nature itself. worships the Lord. When the planets spin, they are singing unto the Lord.

[00:35:35] Linda Evans Shepherd: The trees are clapping their hands. Nature is alive. The birds are singing because God put life into them. You need to change your perspective and allow more beauty. God's beauty into your world and then you will see it's not so hard to hear from the Lord

[00:35:57] The Missional Life - Dan: Well said and I think one of the things that stood out to me and that was knowing who you are And how god speaks to you because you said you're god speaks to your husband in a little bit different way Than he speaks to you and I think that's really important because sometimes we can Begin to question ourselves.

[00:36:13] The Missional Life - Dan: Did god really say that to me and we can second guess ourselves And lose some of that confidence. And I think it's really important to, to be able to stand firm on those, those situations and say, Hey, this is what I feel like I hear the Lord, Lord saying. And that's. That's that's critical because especially in a day where I think there's so much doubt and so much questioning of, you know, especially spiritual things in today's day and age.

[00:36:40] The Missional Life - Dan: I'm curious, 38 books. Wow, that keeps you quite busy. But in addition to that, you found some time to have another initiative called the Arise, Arise Esther. Can you speak and share us with us about Arise Esther? Esther, movement.

[00:36:59] Linda Evans Shepherd: Yes. One of the things that I do is that I minister to Christian women who are authors and speakers.

[00:37:05] Linda Evans Shepherd: And there are a thousand of us. And what I do is simply just love on them and get them to encourage and love one another. That's really what I do. And so as we develop this very strong woman fellowship, where we. We're not catty. We don't gossip. We don't do these other things that people sometimes say women's groups are known for.

[00:37:32] Linda Evans Shepherd: Instead, we have all of this love in our group. And one day we said, we need to share this with the church. And so we decided that we would create a website. We had a, our first conference and several times a year, we have an Arise Esther evening and we have a Facebook page and we, we just do all these different things.

[00:37:55] Linda Evans Shepherd: But because I have a thousand friends, it's easy to find speakers and people who lead the small groups. And so we do that too. In fact, in one of our small group times, one time. We had a woman who was leading the small group and these were strangers coming together from around the world and she was talking and in the small group was a heartbroken, abused wife and she shared what she was going through.

[00:38:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: And one thing led to another and guess what? They lived around the corner from each other. And they were able, my friend, this mature, dear Christian woman author was able to meet her for coffee and be her friend. And so we see little miracles like that. And that just keeps us going because God is using it.

[00:38:50] The Missional Life - Dan: With all these commitments of writing books and, Arise Esther, how do you balance everything? That's a big topic today. How do I have a work, life, ministry, all these things balanced? You know, we're spinning all these things. How do you do that and still keep that intimacy with, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit, having your ear tuned to Him, to hear His voice?

[00:39:15] The Missional Life - Dan: Still small voice.

[00:39:17] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, you have to read the word you have to talk to him I love to talk to him when I wake up the Lord often has me praying for the surrounding areas where I live and Just knowing that he has called me to to pray I mean some mornings that might be delivery drivers or it might be children getting ready for school and so I I start the day just talking to the Lord, praying, welcoming him into my day.

[00:39:42] Linda Evans Shepherd: Hey, you are welcome to come into my day. Please do. And please guide me, please lead me and show me and just move your Holy Spirit today and let me operate in your love. And then another thing that I do, I have people who have old systems with all of these lists and things. I just say, Lord, what do you want me to do today?

[00:40:02] Linda Evans Shepherd: I take a note card and I write it down. And then during the day, I look at my note card and go, Oh, I feel that I have an anointing, meaning time. And there's something there that the Lord will help me. And I invite the Lord into the task and we get it done. And. It's just, it's just my way of life and it, it works beautifully.

[00:40:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: So I don't worry about my to do list. I'm like, you know, there are times when you feel a little bit more pressure than others, of course, but I'm living my life unto the Lord. And if he's in my day, and if he's in the things that he's called me to do in that day, then those things will happen.

[00:40:46] The Missional Life - Amanda: I would truly say that that's probably one of the best answers I've ever heard and has the possibility of substituting many self help books that are up there on time management.

[00:40:59] The Missional Life - Amanda: But I just, I love that how, , as you were sharing that, it just made me, you know, Think about the scripture, , delight yourself in the Lord and he will direct your paths. , it's not just our life long path, but our path being made up of each day after day after day, and truly surrendering your day to him.

[00:41:16] The Missional Life - Amanda: And I just love that beautiful example of you just saying, Lord, what is important to you today? And how you use the term, , Oh, I'm anointed for this. Meaning that you have that God's given you that bandwidth and that grace. For whatever meeting or task or anything that he, you know, wants you to focus on for that day and.

[00:41:38] The Missional Life - Amanda: That's just so beautiful. It makes me think of, , Jesus saying, do not worry about tomorrow or tomorrow , has its own things and, you know, just focusing on that day by day by day with the father. That is such a beautiful answer.

[00:41:51] The Missional Life - Dan: I think it's really cool too, to be. the giver in that situation, but also the recipient.

[00:41:56] The Missional Life - Dan: And I just have a small story. I was working on a project and I needed to get insight on something. And I was sitting at a coffee shop, flip my laptop and I was kind of, I need some insight on this. And at the same time, one of our pastors she was in our office. And she's like, I. I kind of want an ice cream and and she's like, I shouldn't have ice cream.

[00:42:15] The Missional Life - Dan: But the Lord said, go get an ice cream. And she said, well, Lord, I don't even have anybody to meet there. He's like, well, I have somebody for you. And and she said, okay. And as she was walking out the door, he said, grab your glasses. And she said, what? I never bring these. Just grab your glasses.

[00:42:32] The Missional Life - Dan: So she grabbed her glasses and she walks into the ice cream store and she grabs it and she turns around she sees me and she comes over and says hi and and I said you know I'm trying to hear the lord on something I'm just getting inside she said huh so she sat down I said could you look at this and and I spun my computer she's like huh I don't know I can't really see the screen but oh I have my glasses with me and she puts on her glasses and In the situation, she was that giver.

[00:42:58] The Missional Life - Dan: She, the Lord told her to do something. And in this situation, I was the recipient. And so it's so amazing to see how God connects those different situations where I'm praying for insight and wisdom. And here's this person that just wants to be obedient. Lord, where are you telling me to go? What are you telling me to do?

[00:43:15] The Missional Life - Dan: And when God brings those together, it's just so amazing to see those situations. And you can just sit there and say, Lord, you are involved with the smallest details of our lives. If we're just patient enough and humble enough to ask God. for his help. So that's, that's so encouraging. So I want to be honoring of your time.

[00:43:37] The Missional Life - Dan: 38 books, it's incredible. This new one, praying through hard times, it's being re released. That's a lot of wisdom. That's a lot of insight. That's a lot of downloads from the Lord. What are some of the top things that you've learned about faith and prayer in your own life that you just, you go back to and, and just keep on building your life upon throughout this writing journey?

[00:44:00] The Missional Life - Dan: What are those things that you've returned to over and over and over again?

[00:44:04] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, faith is not a system, it's a relationship. And so just being in the present, in the present, and learning to live in the presence of God. That is really the key. And that includes reading the word that includes praying. It includes praying for other people.

[00:44:33] Linda Evans Shepherd: It includes letting other people interrupt you from your holy missions. And I like to, when, when the kids were little, I called it living in interrupt mode because one of my most important jobs besides writing books was being their mom. And being a wife and loving my family. And so, when you begin to feel agitated afraid, You need just to take a deep breath and get back into the presence of God and that just means realize that he's with you and that you can trust him in the moment in the situation and listen for his voice.

[00:45:16] Linda Evans Shepherd: Allow the pray more Holy Spirit. I love to pray that I need more of you Holy Spirit right now. Letting the Holy Spirit touch your heart and then flowing in the presence really the Holy Spirit is the presence of God. flowing in the presence of God and going about your day, and that will make the difference.

[00:45:36] Linda Evans Shepherd: You don't have to strive. You don't have to try to get right. You just have to be.

[00:45:45] The Missional Life - Dan: Just have to be. Well said. Well said. To bring this to a close, what would you say to the, the person who just feels like they're dry, , they can't hear the Lord, they're just, ready to give up, ready to just call it quits on everything. What is the process of letting it go and choosing joy ?

[00:46:10] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, it is about choosing joy. It is about choosing to be present in the presence of God. But it's also about letting go. What are you holding on to? Are you holding on to control?

[00:46:25] Linda Evans Shepherd: over a situation that you are demanding a particular answer to? What if you just let go of that? Are you holding on to perfection? You're trying to be perfect at all times for every person and you're trying to please God so hard. What if you just let go of that? What if instead you just said, I'm going to live a life of love.

[00:46:49] Linda Evans Shepherd: I'm going to love the people in my life. I'm going to love my family. I'm going to love the people at church. I'm going to love the people God puts in my path. And when I meet someone, I'm going to see them because I may have a message for them. They may have a message for me, and maybe they just need a little bit of love because I see it as being a conduit of the love of God.

[00:47:18] Linda Evans Shepherd: flowing in me and through me. And when you begin to see yourself embodying the love of God, not that you are God or you are God's love, he's in you and his love is flowing through you. Then things are going to start to get a little bit easier. And you're going to have to forgive yourself for not being perfect.

[00:47:42] Linda Evans Shepherd: Forgive God. Your God grudge for not letting things be the way you thought they should be and demanded that they should be. And just give up on that and pray this prayer, God, I choose you. I choose to trust you. I choose to thank you. And I choose to love you. And to let you love through me

[00:48:07] The Missional Life - Dan: so well said how can our listeners connect with you? Where can they purchase your books and your materials?

[00:48:15] Linda Evans Shepherd: Well, they can go to got to pray and that's g o t t o Pray. com And I just put up a new link on my page. I'm working on a brand new project You're going to be one of the first people i'm going to tell about it It is an animation project that I am working with to to try to get that out there for kids to watch.

[00:48:37] Linda Evans Shepherd: And it's called the Happy Purple Puppy. And they can, they can click on the Happy Purple Puppy just in time for the holidays. You can download a free coloring book for the little kiddos in your life. And I would love it if you would take that gift. And And spend it for free on your kids. So

[00:48:59] The Missional Life - Dan: listeners will have those links in the show notes.

[00:49:02] The Missional Life - Dan: Linda, what an honor to spend some time with you today. We speak blessing over all your books and everything you're putting your hand to, and we just look forward to following your journey and just the impact that God continues to have in and through your life.

[00:49:13] Linda Evans Shepherd: Amen. Thank you, Dan. And Amanda, it's been a joy to be with you today.