Welcome to the Abundant Life Podcast, bringing you encouragement and challenging believers to spiritual change and growth by applying biblical principles to everyday life.

And now your hosts, Sasso Mendez and Ben Arellano.

Welcome, everybody, to the Abundant Live Podcast.

This is episode number seven zero.

Yeah.

70 episodes in the books.

Wow.

It's a lot.

I'm here with my good friend and faithful servant in the faith, Sasso Mendez.

Hello.

Hello.

What's up, brother?

How you doing?

Good.

How are you?

And today we've got a special guest with us.

Once again, I feel like this is a trend.

We.

We're.

We're interviewing a lot of people, but today we have Christy with a K. Welcome.

With a K. And two eyes.

Special K. Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

What has two eyes and can't see Me?

I actually.

I wear contacts.

Oh, yeah, me too.

I don't wear them, but, yeah, I need them.

This is also, by the way.

Oh, hey.

Hey, Charles.

I thought it was Charles.

Chaso, where are you at?

That's Ben.

Yeah, Ben, bj, Whatever.

Besso.

Oh, man, we get confused.

Often people confuse me for him and we're often referred to as.

Yeah, confuse you, too.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

I know.

Ben's like 5:10.

I'm 5:5.

I'm a couple of melanin shades.

I'm pretty dark.

You know what I mean?

So I got a smile in the.

In the night time.

But, yeah, we typically get confused.

Yeah.

No, I think people are lazy.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I might be able to.

No, I don't see it.

Sorry.

They're like, oh, it's a Mexican.

It's either Ben or sauce.

So 50.

50 chance here.

Or Charles.

And Charles isn't Mexican.

Charles, Mexican.

I think I might be a little bit, like, darker than you.

Like, tan wise.

Wow.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

And I'm.

I'm not.

I'm not Mexican or Hispanic or anything like that.

Yeah.

I need to get outside more.

Yeah.

Rebecca.

No doubt.

Rebecca's like a Florence fluorescent bulb.

You know, I tell her to cover up.

Oh.

Comes in handy to be.

To glow in the dark, though.

Yeah.

I can't sleep at night.

Like, get under the sheets, please.

You get the little.

I can't see.

What do they call them?

The little eye cover.

Whatever.

Yeah.

Razzie sleeps with them.

A sleep mask.

A sleep mask.

Does he really?

He does.

I don't know.

It's kind of weird because he has.

He has, like, blackout.

I know it's dark in there.

It's super dark.

But he still wears them I don't know.

He takes him on vacation.

Like, I think we.

He takes them everywhere he goes.

I know my house.

I want blackout.

Rebecca likes the.

Because the sun comes in, I wake up and I prefer.

Like it to be dark.

Dark.

But she's like, no, I like the light coming in.

Yeah, we black out too.

I. I don't like light.

I can't sleep.

Well, she sleeps on her face and has the pillow over her.

She can't see anything anyway, so I don't know what she means when she says I can't.

I like the light.

Like, I've never met anybody that puts a pillow on top of their head.

You sure she does?

You're not doing that, like, in the middle of the night?

No.

All right.

I. I don't know how you.

How did she breathe?

No, I don't know.

Oh, no.

That's pretty wild.

I mean, like, you know, you have the massage beds and they have a hole in it.

You know, put your face in that.

And that's actually not.

That's pretty comfortable, actually.

I. I didn't mind.

I got a massage recently and it was.

It was pretty nice.

I enjoyed it and I could breathe.

But if you're just.

Yeah, I don't know.

I would.

I'm not claustrophobic, but I would definitely be claustrophobic with a pillow over my head.

I'm not claustrophobic, but I just.

I don't know.

I just feel like you're.

I prefer to put the pillow under my head.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, like 99.9 people in the world.

Right, Right, right, right.

She's the outlier for sure.

So.

So taco talk.

We.

We talk a little bit about food and maybe some things we've consumed this past week.

Sasa, you got any.

Anything good this week?

I did have Matt's twice, because Rebecca's not here, you know, so.

Yeah, Hash browns, omelette, but cheddar cheese.

Yeah, Dude, Bacon chorizo.

Yeah, we had Matt's as well.

I think once is.

No.

Did we do twice?

No, we did once.

We had Cracker Barrel once this week.

Well, we had mats together.

Right.

On Friday.

Right.

Oh, so.

So since last Friday.

Yeah, we pre.

Meal.

Correct, Correct.

Ftl.

You know, we had to get ready.

And then Sunday.

Then Sunday.

Yeah.

And then Saturday I had Cracker Barrel.

That was pretty good too.

I like.

Would you.

And Mama's Pancakes.

Mama's pancakes.

Okay.

Yeah, it's good.

Good.

Crunchy, you know, I like them a little crispy.

You know, you can put nuts in There too.

Did you know that?

I. I think you think?

You told me one time.

I have not done that yet.

But you can get their syrup, which is 100.

Well, it's not 100 maple.

I think it's cane sugar plus maple syrup.

Okay.

But it is real maple syrup.

I'm kind of a syrup snob.

That's why I like mats.

Because it's real syrup?

Yeah, it's from the tree.

Those pancakes at MATS are pretty.

Pretty legit, though.

I shouldn't have had it, but.

Yeah, it was like, I was so full, like.

And I took a nap.

You know, he's supposed to walk after me.

I just took a nap and.

Right to my hips.

It was terrible.

Yeah, we did the same thing.

Well, so.

So what?

Hyperglycemia.

Yeah, that.

That's probably what happened.

Yeah.

Thanks.

So.

So what's your.

What's your poison?

What?

What?

You know, your.

All food.

All food.

Okay.

I like food.

Okay.

Anything particular?

Like a favorite, like if.

Celebration, birthday, anniversary, you know, hey, this.

Is, you know, death row last meal.

That too, man.

It'd probably be steak if it was my last meal.

Steak, potatoes.

I'm not a big sweets person.

Like, not big on cakes and cupcakes and candy and all that.

I would agree with that.

You never have.

But yeah, I'm definitely steak and potatoes or meat and potatoes kind of person.

So where.

Where are you.

Where are you getting steak at?

Like, you know, what restaurants or, you know, is there a special place you go to for.

Oh, okay.

So you cook your.

You make your own steak.

You grill it.

Like, what.

How are we preparing this?

I marinate it.

Okay.

And then I put it in the oven.

Okay.

So like, it's like a cliffhanger.

Okay.

I marinate it.

Do you oven.

So do you sear it?

Do you sear it prior to the oven or do you just straight into the oven?

No, because I probably shouldn't be using my grill cuz last time I left the propane on or the, you know, that big T. Yeah.

So that wasn't great, but.

No, I used the.

Oh, crap.

Like the broiler.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Broiler.

Yep.

That makes it good.

Yep.

Thank.

So what.

What's your cut?

Like what.

What's your favorite cut of meat?

Whatever's on sale.

Like, I mean, the vip, you know, fries price like one day left, it's gonna go bad.

Right.

Starting to look a little green.

Like.

Ah.

Yeah.

I got a lot of mouths to feed, so.

Yeah, pretty much like ribeye, but you know, you have no no limitation here.

What are you.

You're going to steak 44?

Yeah.

What are you ordering?

I can picture in my head.

Can't think of the name of it.

It's the most tender cut of meat.

I've only had it once in my life, though.

The.

Like, filet mignon.

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

With the bacon wrap, you know, really?

Bacon would ruin it.

I like bacon.

Like, crispy by itself, but not on.

Not on your steak.

No.

They typically wrap it right.

I mean, it's.

Because it's a little.

It's a little filet, and they.

They typically.

It's pretty thick, pretty fat.

I don't care for filet mignon.

It's a little too.

There's no fat in it.

It's a little bit lean.

Yeah.

Diane used to love that, and then I got her turned on to ribeye, and ribeye is just.

It's like a pork steak.

I love a pork stick.

Well, it's just.

There's so much fat in it.

It's marbled, and so.

It's just so juicy.

It's so good.

How can you chew that?

Like, it's.

It just slimy.

I'm a texture person.

I can't do that.

It kind of just melts.

Yeah.

Rebecca cannot stand fat.

No.

She gives it to me, and I'm like.

I cut it all off.

Depends how it's prepared, too.

You know what I mean?

Like, it could be chewy fat or it just.

But if you cook it right, like, it just.

I feel like it's a challenge, though.

Like, I'm going to win with the fat.

I just keep chewing and chewing it, chewing it.

Like, we'll see what's up.

Right, Right, right, right, right.

The jaws hurt.

It's still tasty.

But I always say, Texas roadhouse, for the money, you can't beat it.

Yeah, Texas roadhouse is good.

Outback's pretty good.

It's expensive.

I'm not a big Outback person.

Yeah.

I think I want to say I've been there maybe once, but I don't know.

I mean, one time I went to Denny's with Matt, and I asked the guy, like.

Cause I used to back in the day get T bone steak.

So I asked him, how's your T1C?

He goes, all these are premier cuts of meat.

Wow.

He brought me the steak, and there's an old bone.

There was no T bone.

It was, like, in the shape of an O, like this big.

It was the worst piece of meat I've ever had.

Well, you were at Denny's, Right?

Yeah, but you remember like a memory for you, and then you, you get to be an adult or you get older and you're just like, yeah, well, what was I thinking at that time?

Like, this is, you know, this is weird.

Why would I wear like aqua green, you know, whatever shorts, you know, just.

Yeah, it was cool, but I don't know.

Yeah, that was a faux pas.

Well, Matt's the one that want to go to Denny's.

I'll never want to go to Denny's.

Never.

But Rebecca likes this new Denny's over here and said it's good.

She said, what do you guys get?

I don't get anything because I don't go with her.

She goes with her friend.

Oh, I got you.

I go to Matt's.

I mean, what is Matt's, by the way?

I've never heard Breakfast.

Matt.

Matt's Big breakfast.

Yeah, it's.

It's pretty much like all natural, all organic.

Everything's homemade.

Like, it's really good food.

It's not like real butter, real syrup.

Yeah, like stuff cooked in olive oil, like not, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

So bio organic.

Do you mean like it grows in the ground like all.

Yeah, they use local vegetables.

They.

They use local farmers here in, in Arizona.

As far as cage free eggs, which I don't, I don't.

Sorry, I don't care.

You know, whatever.

Right, yeah.

Yeah.

But talking about speaking about eggs, I mean, you kind of got us on the topic now.

So you.

You raise chickens and you, you have.

Have a lot of eggs?

I actually have some of the most spoiled chickens probably in the state of Arizona.

Well, you bring them to ftl, so.

Yeah, that's pretty spoiled.

And I think those are the bantams.

Was it one time that you, you, you bathed your chicken like you took them a bath?

Well, yeah, they have to.

I have.

I have this chicken.

I call her Ms.

Fuzzy Britches because of the type of chicken that she is.

She looks.

She just looks like a puffball.

And she gets really messy when she eats watermelon.

It gets all in her watermelon.

Wow.

I'm telling you, my chickens are spoiled.

Those eggs are going to be bomb.

No wonder you're buying the VIP steak from fries.

You got to feed them chickens.

Seedless.

Please.

Chickens love.

What?

Wow.

Yeah.

What?

They're little cannibals.

Oh.

You know how great a chicken would taste if all they fed was eat?

All they ate was chicken?

Like if a pig just ate pig.

Wow.

Interesting.

Phenomenal.

Never thought about that.

It's like putting bacon on a ham sandwich.

Delicious.

Wow.

Wow.

Cordon bleu.

Interesting.

Wow.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

So one chicken dies.

You can feed them to the rest of the chickens.

Oh, no.

Because I know.

Because once they're.

They die, it's usually they're like old age or.

I'm not sure why they died, so I'm not gonna risk that.

Oh, they have a disease or something, maybe, or.

Yeah.

Something wrong with them.

Well, one time at ftl, we had a lot of kids at.

And so my son.

My wife said, you know, she paid him to come watch the kids.

And she.

He said, I walked in there and there's kids, a baby and chickens.

Like, what just happened right now?

Like, what's going on?

It was a hamster last time.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

Super soft hamster.

Do you wash him as well?

No, he does his own little sand baths.

Telling my animals are really spoiled.

Yeah.

Put them out in the rain.

You know what I mean?

Where they go in the rain, too, but then they get in the mud.

Okay.

They roll around.

Chickens roll around in the dirt.

They give themselves dirt baths.

So you have a pretty big lot, or your neighbors appreciate your chickens?

They do because I share eggs with them.

Okay.

I. Yeah.

So you, You, You.

I kind of bribe them.

So you have.

You must have a rooster, I assume, right?

Unfortunately, we do.

He's a bantam.

His name is Bingo.

And he.

He doesn't know what time of day he's supposed to crow.

And he lives inside because I'm not.

I live in the city limits, so I can't have him outside.

Okay.

He's a nuisance.

Okay.

I love him to death, but he's a nuisance.

2 o' clock in the morning.

He's anytime.

2 o' clock in the afternoon.

2 o' clock in the morning.

Peter betrayed the Lord again.

You know what I mean?

Yes.

He's going off.

Yeah, his.

His.

His internal clock's pretty messed up.

I wonder.

I wonder what happened.

It is.

And you gotta take him to the Rolex shop, bro, and get that thing.

I know you gotta get reorganized.

But he's only about this big.

And this is about as big as he's ever gonna get.

Okay.

And he thinks he is about this big.

Oh, yeah.

I think that's kind of the, you know, whole rooster thing, right?

I mean.

Yeah.

Yeah.

El.

I think I'm like 5, 10, 2.

But reality not.

But he's too young still.

So he doesn't make the eggs fertilized.

So that's good.

So, okay, so we have chickens and we have hamsters.

So what else do we have?

Rats.

Okay, so you raise rats or just like you have pet rats?

Well, my kids already live in the hood.

Like, I have cockroaches and I got rats.

So we name that jump the fence and steal stuff.

Ratatouille.

Ratatouille.

And Maryvale, we had rooferettes.

Not us, but the neighbors.

And they used to run around.

You could see them running on the back fences.

Is that what a roof?

That's what.

They're huge.

They look like cats.

So the other day, citrus trees, bro.

I'm sitting in the backyard and I'm on the phone and I look up and right across the fence, I see something running.

It was kind of.

It was kind of dark though, and I saw something right, and run across.

I wonder if it was a roof rat.

Could have been.

We've had squirrels before.

We have rabbits in the backyard.

They just come.

There's a bunch of rabbits in our neighborhood.

They love citrus trees.

I love them.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

So those.

Those are wild though.

Those aren't like you bought.

No, no.

So what happened was.

Okay, the second time.

I think I've said that already.

Good stories.

So we had snakes.

At one point we had ball pythons.

Two of them.

Okay.

And they eat rats, right?

Live rats.

And when they were eating the.

About the medium sized one, they got that big and they decided they were gonna stop eating.

One of them got sick.

The other one, I don't know, she just didn't want to eat.

And we had gotten annoyingly got a male and a female rat.

And when the snakes didn't eat them, they were together in the box.

And then we had baby ratlets.

I called them ratlets.

Wow.

Yeah.

And so that's what started our.

My kids breeding of the rats.

Very white.

And bam.

There you go.

Strangers.

Yeah, my first.

I know that's very white.

Sorry.

Do not disturb.

So, okay, so.

So that's where I learned about Dumbo rats versus, like regular rats.

Wow.

What's a Dumbo rat?

They look like Dumbo.

You know Dumbo, the old movie?

Floppy ears, big ears.

They're bigger in size and they have big ears, but they're a lot sweeter than the regular rats.

They don't bite.

So that's what you started producing, was the dumbo rats?

Yeah, and we got rid of the snakes because I don't like snakes and I don't like feeding.

You kept it, but you kept the rats?

Yeah.

Now we have, like, a whole plantation of rats.

I don't know what you call them.

There's a ton of them.

They live in different cages.

We just had a litter that was born.

They all died.

So I felt really bad for them.

Yeah.

So I actually bought her three baby rats that she.

She took in as her own, like, adopt.

So it is like ratatouille?

Yeah, pretty much.

Pretty much.

Except they don't run around the house.

So you don't sell the rats?

I do.

Okay, so you sell them to, like, David.

Yeah.

Actually, he has bought a lot of our rats.

Resurrection reptiles.

Wow.

Okay.

Giving you a shot out here.

Oh, wow.

He didn't pay for a spot, though.

No, no spot.

Not kennel air.

It's all good.

It's all.

No, no, no.

Yeah.

Okay.

So you kind of supply him and you're closer than where he usually goes.

Every once in a while.

Okay.

I have too many, like, 20s and 30s of rats, and I'm like, hey, David.

One is too many for me, myself, personally.

That's what my mom thinks, but.

Okay.

So we have ball pipe.

So no more ball pythons?

Nope, got rid of those.

I bartered them, actually, for chickens.

Okay.

That's how I got chickens to begin with.

I bartered.

What is a snake worth?

How many chickens is that?

I ended up getting five chickens and a giant Flemish rabbit for two ball pythons.

So we will do Bitcoin.

We do pythons for chickens.

I like it.

Okay, so we got a.

Now we got a rabbit.

Okay, so what else do we have?

I have a dragon, and he has wings, so therefore I call him a dragon.

He has a leash.

He's a bearded dragon, but he has a leash.

And that has wings on it.

Okay.

Yeah.

He.

He's awesome.

I thought that was funny when we went to Mexico and there were guys walking around with the bearded dragons.

And, like, people would walk up and they would pay for a picture with the.

So do you do that?

Do you take, like, photo booth with the bearded dragon?

No.

You gotta.

There's a business opportunity.

Just saying.

Yeah.

Tempe Town Lake.

And, hey, I could just open up a petting zoo.

Just walk around with them.

Yeah, exactly.

Have a petting zoo in my backyard.

True.

And I do have a corner lot, so it has a bigger backyard.

Okay.

The house is very pretty small, but the backyard's a lot bigger.

So do you have any, Like.

I have dogs.

Oh, okay.

I was gonna say, do you have any normal animals?

Like.

Like a dog?

Okay.

Three dogs.

Three dogs.

Okay.

No cats?

No.

They would Be dead by now.

What about just one animal at a time?

Like.

Well, we got one at a time.

I know, but you have three dogs.

Yeah, well, we had one first Lily, and then Lily needed a friend, so then we got Max, and then Lily died, so then Max needed a friend because he was sad.

And then we got Rosie, and then there was my friend posted on Facebook about this litter of dogs that was going to be euthanized by the owner, taken out and shot, basically.

And I saw how cute they were, and I was like, I'll take one.

I wasn't allowed to have a lot of pets as a.

As a child, and rightly so.

My.

My brother and my dad were highly allergic, and I kept bringing home strays because I wanted to save them.

So as an adult, I said I was going to get a lot of animals.

That is a lot of animals.

It's a lot.

You know, I think I would.

If I was raising animals, I think I would want to raise, like, a cow, because, you know, you could get some beef out of that, you know, make some tacos or, you know, steak, brisket.

I mean, I love brisket.

Technically, I could eat the chickens, but they all have names, so I think there's a rule against that.

You can't eat something, but they're still.

Producing eggs, so they still have value.

Yeah, they're an asset.

They're an asset.

They're not alive.

That's why they do eggs, because they're like, don't kill me.

I'm still doing it.

Wow.

I'm still giving you golden eggs.

And I think you said, I have a mouse, too.

Oh, a mouse.

Long story.

She's a singular mouse.

She was nursing some baby mice that we got, because instead of giving us baby rats for the mommy rat, they gave us baby mice.

And so then we needed a mom to feed the mice, and then the mice died, except for her.

So now we have a pet mouse.

What do you feed that?

They have mouse food.

Really?

I know.

Like what?

So does the mouse, like, kind of hang out with the hamster?

Do they chill like.

No.

The rats?

Do they.

Can they all intermingle, or do they.

You got.

No.

Okay.

You separate them.

They're separated.

Would they eat each other?

The rats will eat the mice and probably the hamster.

Wow.

The rats will eat the hamster.

Yes.

Sounds pretty big.

Wow.

All right.

They're.

Most of them are dumbos, so they're huge.

Wow.

Okay, that happens.

It starts working.

I was like, prison segregation.

There's races, rats, the mice, the hamsters.

Hamsters like to be alone.

Join us Friday night at ftl.

We will have rats this Friday.

Yeah.

No, I told the kids, look at that.

There's a kitchen and there's.

They can't bring the rats.

They've tried.

And I was like, no, nope.

I would like.

I'd love to see Denise jump up a little bit.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

You'd be like, ratatouille back there cooking, bro.

He's making some.

What is that?

What's the dish that he made, man?

I can't remember what it's called.

It's called ratatouille.

Oh, it's ratatouille.

That's right.

That's the dish.

That's right.

Hence the name, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Good times.

Yeah.

All right.

You want to get into content?

Yeah, let's.

Already not listening.

Yeah, we probably lost people.

That's okay, though.

That's okay.

Before you get into the content, let's just.

I want to let everybody know we are at AbundantLife FM.

You can find us there and you can view our show notes, you can see our previous episodes, and among other things, we have food recommendations there.

Although I have not updated those in a while.

I think I need to get down there and update.

There might even be some that aren't even open anymore, I don't know.

And maybe some we need to add.

Maybe some we need to remove Graziano's.

Yeah, I know.

I miss Graziano's.

Like, Like, I was pretty sad the other day.

I was driving by because I was at Freddy's house and, I mean, I was just sad.

I saw, like, it's a pizzeria now, but.

Love you, Keith.

I don't know.

Dude added me on LinkedIn, man.

I'm funny.

It was like a nostalgic place for us.

Did you ever go to Graziano?

Nope.

If you did, you would know that was good.

We're on social media.

You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and we are.

Oh, and YouTube.

And so if this episode is a.

Has been a blessing to you or is.

Is going to be a blessing, hopefully it's going to be a blessing to you.

Would you just go ahead and hit that, like, button and subscribe so that you.

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And I think that's it.

So with that, Sasa, I think you have our key verse.

So we do.

This is the old King James English, so forgive me if you don't roll with the King James.

But the verse tonight Christie picked is I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Found in Philippians 4:13.

So Christy will let you have the floor.

And why does this verse.

How.

Why is this verse so impactful to you or meaningful to you?

Because that is basically this story of my life about how God has given me strength and how he has rescued me from so many different times in my life where I shouldn't even be here today.

But the biggest one was when I was in my addiction and he.

He pulled me out of addiction.

But I guess I can go back to the beginning.

Okay.

Because back in the beginning.

So I was born in the mid-80s, we'll call it like it.

Biological mom was 16.

Biological dad was in his early 20s.

And it was a really bad situation.

I was not being taken care of and I was passed around from family member to family member.

There was abuse from my maternal grandfather, and by the age of two, I was put up for adoption, which was a blessing.

But, you know, I. I don't know how much you guys know about bonding.

When you're a child or an infant, one of the biggest periods of time where you need to bond with your parents is between like six months and two years old.

And I didn't have that.

Excuse me.

And I didn't realize how important that was until obviously later on in life.

But my parents were amazing that adopted me.

Okay, obviously.

And was raised in a.

In a Christian home.

I was raised with an older brother who was also adopted.

And, you know, it was church every Sunday, not optional.

We'd go to Awanas.

I was in Pioneer Girls too, you know, on Wednesdays.

Chums and chum.

Chums and guards or.

Yes, yes, yes, I forgot about that one.

We did that one, too.

Nope.

Sparky, That's.

I mean, you know, Sparky.

Then you become a chum and you become a guard, and then you go into.

I Forgot all those names.

Sometimes I can roll a dust.

But no, I love Rolodexes.

They don't ever.

You don't ever lose power on those.

It's a roller decks.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

I'm kidding.

I was born in 70s, late 70s, late, very late 70s, mid to late, late.

But you know, I.

Growing up, I never really felt like I fit in, like I belonged.

I always had that piece of me that felt like it was missing and it wasn't.

It wasn't Christ, because I accepted Christ into my life at five day club when I was four years old.

And did you, did you know at an early age that you were adopted?

Yes.

Okay.

My parents always told me, so I always knew.

Okay.

And I think I.

And, and this is not.

I think it was right that they told me 100.

I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Okay.

But the, the information that I wanted, they wanted me to wait till I was an adult to get, and I wanted it now because, you know, that's how I roll.

Right.

But we'll get to that one later on.

But I went to, like, mission strips when I was in middle school.

I was the epitome of a nerd.

I had braces, glasses, net gear, had like one really good friend, which is good because I just needed that one really good friend.

And, you know, I got made fun of for that.

I got made fun of for being adopted.

And by the time I got into high school, we started going to missions trips in Mexico instead of, you know, downtown Modesto, taking graffiti off the walls.

But I always.

I always felt like I belonged when I was doing those missions trips.

I always felt like I fit in.

I didn't feel like there was anything missing, you know, in school where they make you write, like, stories.

All of my stories actually have all of my stories that I wrote because my mom saved them.

They are all about someone or something that didn't feel like they fit in, didn't feel like they belonged.

And then by the end of the story, they had their happy ending.

And it was.

It was interesting to go back and read those.

And even though I had a really close relationship with my.

As close of a relationship with my parents as I could have, but I didn't have that, that initial bonding with them.

So it was a little more strange than I feel like it would have been if I was born from them.

I don't know if that makes sense.

And I started working in high school, like two jobs while going to school and I was in, you know, track and cross country and I always wanted to be out of the house.

I wanted to be independent by myself.

I didn't feel like I fit in, but yet I wanted to be alone.

Yeah, just didn't make sense.

And then I had a pretty traumatic thing happen to me when I was 17.

So growing up in a Christian home, there's like three things, three major rules.

One is you don't have sex before marriage.

The second one is you don't get divorced.

And the third one is you don't do drugs.

Those are like the three main, main ones.

And I had planned on, you know, being, saving myself till marriage.

We had that true love weights thing.

I had a, a ring.

And that was taken from me, that, that choice was taken from me.

And the guilt and shame that I carried from that was unreal.

And I didn't tell anybody because I didn't want them to think differently of me.

And it ended up where I fell in love with the guy and I didn't want to ruin his life by saying anything because I knew if I said something, my parents would have filed charges.

He was in his early 20s and I was 17.

And so I did my best to run.

I became an EMT at 18, started working EMS.

We had a really bad call where two of the firefighters in our town were killed or one was killed, the other one was severely injured.

And I held a lot of guilt from that too.

So I'm 17, 18 years old, holding on to all of his guilt and shame and not wanting to talk about it and thinking that people aren't going to understand.

So I ended up joining the military to get out of our town.

I joined the Navy first.

And that didn't work out.

So I got sent back home and.

And it wasn't because I couldn't hack it.

It was long story.

But I ended up joining the army afterwards after working at the fire department.

But I had such a low self esteem of my.

I had such a low self esteem, I hated myself.

I had such guilt and shame that I became this person that I didn't even recognize in the sense of any guy that showed me attention.

I was all for it.

And most of the time it was really bad attention.

It was negative and it was, I was being used because I was so naive still that I didn't understand.

And I was running from God too at this time because I figured he would be ashamed of me too because, you know, I, I, you know, wasn't married when, when I had sex for the first Time, and I wouldn't call it that, but I met.

Well, when I got to my duty station when I was in the army, they send you through reception and there is this person who's a sergeant first class that you're supposed to talk with and he's supposed to show you around and he's supposed to be somebody that you can trust, right?

Yeah, he wasn't.

And I wasn't going to let somebody get away with it a second time.

So I, I said something that time.

And it turned out that women from past the statute of limitations were coming forward.

After I came forward on that.

One problem was had to go through a court martial.

And that was worse than the incident itself, having to testify against him.

But there was five of us, and that was kind of like the downward spiral of my military career.

I ended up getting pregnant and I married the guy as my first ex husband and he got deployed.

I was taking care of our daughter and we grew apart.

Things happened.

I moved us out here to Arizona because we were both in.

Stationed in upstate New York and we had a son and I had back problems from being in the military.

Oh, let me go back to being in the military.

That's where I started my alcohol addiction big time.

Because I was trying to cover up my, my guilt and my shame.

And so I didn't drink to have fun.

I drank to blackout.

I drank to not remember, because if I didn't remember, then it didn't happen.

And I couldn't feel guilt and shame for something that I couldn't remember.

So I quit drinking, obviously, with the kids, and moved out here.

And I had a doctor that was prescribing me Percocetin, like candy.

That was back in the day when they were doing that.

And that's when I discovered that that medication made me feel nothing too.

And I didn't have a hangover.

I didn't get the physical addictions.

I mean, I liked it and I wanted it and I took it too much.

But when I stopped, I didn't have the withdrawal.

And I would start and stop that because the doctor quit the practice anyway.

I ended up getting divorced.

So now I've kind of broken two of the rules already.

And my mom actually took his side because he had told her some untruths about the divorce.

And I finally came clean with her about that.

And so I felt like I had somebody on my side.

But in the marriage, I felt like I belonged.

I felt like I had purpose.

But my.

My relationship with God wasn't strong.

I started Drinking again.

After that divorce, it was really tough trying to get on my feet and take care of the kids by myself and basically starting over from scratch.

And I ended up having another kid in between because I'm still looking for love in all the wrong places.

And let's see, it was actually before.

Before I had her, I was drugged and raped.

And then I met her dad and had a third kid.

And during the time I was pregnant with her, I met my second ex husband.

I went from bad to worse in my marriages because I was not.

My relationship with God was not there at all at this point.

And I was still doing the.

Any guy that gave me showed me attention, here I am.

Okay, you showed me attention.

That makes me like me.

And I was still very immature, I guess, when it came to two men.

And I was going to hold on to this marriage because I didn't want it to fail.

But he introduced me to the world of hard drugs.

I started a meth addiction, I started a heroin addiction, fentanyl, anything I could get my hands on.

Because I discovered that I didn't feel and I didn't care that I didn't feel.

And I didn't have those feelings of guilt and shame and hating myself.

At first that came, but the relationship was abusive mentally, emotionally, physically.

It's the first time in my life I've had a gun put in my face, finger on the trigger.

And it's funny, my life didn't flash before my eyes.

My kids lives did.

And I was pregnant at the time.

And he said, I hope you miscarry, it's the neighbor's baby.

And I ended up miscarrying and a lot of other really not great things happen.

And I ended up taking him back because that cycle of abuse, you know, you get the honeymoon phase and then they tell you everything's gonna be different.

And they seem like it's gonna be different.

And it's never different.

And it took me two kids later.

Well, I was on my second pregnancy.

So when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, I finally had the courage to leave.

He was already on his next relationship, or he at least was thinking about it.

And then I was on my own again.

And once again I've had another failed marriage.

Now I have a drug addiction that's on and off.

And I spent all of 2018 destroying my life.

I had gone to nursing school, I'd graduated nursing school.

I had five kids at this point.

And I was throwing my life away.

My dad was dying and my mom and my dad moved out here.

And I found out that what my dad had wasn't what he was diagnosed with.

He ended up having autoimmune encephalitis instead of early onset dementia, which is curable if you catch it in time.

And I couldn't handle my own life, much less watching my dad die.

And I was a terrible daughter at the time.

I was not helpful to my mother.

I was not taking care of myself, not taking care of my kids.

And I couldn't handle watching my dad go.

And by the end of 2018, all my kids were removed from my custody.

And rightly so.

Rightly so.

But that was what started me on the path to my rock bottom.

Because that wasn't quite my rock bottom, but it was my, hey, pay attention.

Things are getting bad.

And I tried at that point, when my kids were removed, I tried really hard, really hard to quit.

I'd go.

I was suicidal.

I would go into.

To detox.

And I detox for a couple weeks, get out, and start right back on it.

Because I couldn't see my life being sober.

I could not picture what sobriety was anymore.

And I couldn't.

My.

My brain, Satan, was telling me, you can't live without this, and you can't live with it, but you can't live without it.

And I finally, you know, fell flat on my face.

I was like, God, you gotta take this from me somehow.

This is not what you want for my life.

Like, nobody.

Nobody's life should be like that, you know?

And I was lying about my drug use.

So I was misdiagnosed as bipolar.

One of those things that you're not supposed to be diagnosed with any new mental health illnesses unless you're like a year clean.

But I lied to them and was lying to everybody and telling them I didn't have a drug addiction.

So my dad passed away three days before my birthday in 2019.

I was high at his funeral, falling asleep in the front row with my mom and I. I got the opportunity to hold my dad's hand when he passed away.

But then the guilt and shame came from not being there for him, from not for not being there for my mom, for not being a better daughter, a better person, better mom.

And in this May 14, 2019, I said, all right, God, I'm done.

I can't do this anymore.

But I overdosed myself on the way to the hospital, and I was Narcan, and they saved my life.

Unfortunately, I was awake for it, but, you know, I kind of.

That helped me remember where I didn't want to be.

And I spent the next several days puking every 15 minutes like clockwork.

I was in an adult diaper and I wanted to remember every minute of it because I didn't want to do it again.

Because I knew that when I didn't remember, I would go back to it.

And I went to rehab at the VA.

I did a 90 day program in 30 days.

When I said, when I want to do something, I don't do it halfway, especially when I've asked God to help me do it, It's I'm all in.

And the one thing that I asked God when I was in rehab, sorry, I asked if he got me through it.

I asked him to, to let me share my testimony, to help other people that are in the same situation as me.

Because at this point, in rehab, I'm facing losing my kids permanently.

I am facing homelessness because I don't have an income.

I spent took a year off of work so that I wouldn't get in trouble that didn't work.

And I knew that when I got out of rehab, which once I did, I had a huge pile of shenanigans that I needed to get out of or work my way out of.

And by shenanigans I mean consequences for my sin.

Because yes, God loves me and yes, he is so merciful and faithful, but I also have consequences because he is a good father and he disciplines those he loves.

And so I had to deal with those consequences.

And there was a lot of them.

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And at one point, let's see, 2020, I was facing severance.

My my first ex husband was filing for severance of my rights.

Okay, I might cry during this time and it's not crying because I'm sad, but crying because God is so good and faithful.

So February 10th of 2020, which is actually my birthday, I tried to kill myself because I didn't think I could do it anymore.

And I took 90, lithium, 60, suboxone, and all the propranolol I had in my house.

And I drank alcohol with it because I wanted it to work.

And I said goodbye to my brother who lives in New York.

And he saved my life because he called my mom and told her that she needed to either come over to my house or call 911 or whatever.

And that saved my life.

I woke up in the ICU four days later and I almost died.

I had to have multiple rounds of dialysis.

My lithium level was over 6.

I had been saving up the meds because the VA kept sending them to me and I wasn't bipolar and they'd send me three months worth of lithium.

So as soon as I got that, that's when I took it all.

And I had a guy from the VA come.

This guy didn't know me from Adam.

And he's like, you know what?

What is wrong with you?

I said, what do you mean, what's wrong with me?

He's like, you only get one shot at this life.

What are you doing?

You still have your kids.

You keep pulling stunts like this, you're not going to have them.

And it was at that point that I realized, oh, yeah, I'm still messing up.

It may not be the same mess ups I'm still messing up.

And my ex would tell me, people don't get off those drugs, yeah, you're doing okay right now, but you're never gonna get off of it.

Multiple times he told me that family court said that I could work my relationship back with my kids.

My son, my oldest son.

He agreed to do therapy with me.

My oldest daughter did not want to.

She wanted nothing to do with me at the time.

And she actually wrote a letter to the judge that I read.

And it was heartbreaking, but it was honest and I appreciated that.

And I had.

I wasn't mad at her at all.

It opened my eyes to how, like, I had made her feel.

And I kept doing the next right thing, trying to asking God to guide my steps.

And I was still holding on to smoking at this point too.

But I told God I could do one thing at a time because I was so overwhelmed.

Told my mom that too.

She's been harp.

She was harping on me for a long time about smoking.

But I was at therapy with my son and it was the week of the severance.

And the therapist was like, okay, so I'll see you on Thursday.

I said, no, that's the.

That's the day of the Severance.

She goes, okay, I'll see you Thursday.

I said, no, I have court.

He dropped the severance the week of it, because I was doing the right thing and I was doing the therapy that I needed to do.

And I was, you know, God was.

God was doing.

It wasn't me.

Tell you what, if it was me, I'd be back using again.

But my daughter wanted nothing to do with it.

She wanted to be adopted by her stepmom.

And God was there.

And God held me when I made the decision, after lots of therapy and prayer, to voluntarily sign my rights away, because that was what she needed.

So for the first time in my life, I made a truly selfless decision for somebody else.

And it was the hardest decision I ever had to make.

But God held me when I was sobbing when I was signing those papers, thinking I was never gonna have a relationship with her again.

God has mended the relationship with all my children.

Amen.

And she approached me, and we have a great relationship.

In fact, I've been able to help her through a situation that she went through that was much like mine.

But I wouldn't have been able to do that had I not followed what God wanted me to and give her that freedom that.

That.

That she needed from.

From feeling like she would have to live with me if her dad died.

And I went through three years of the program with the Board of nursing.

I was drug testing.

It felt like I was drug testing every other day, but I kept doing it.

In fact, I was testing more frequently than I had to because I wanted to prove that I was doing the right thing and I wasn't going to use again.

And God has just really blessed my life, and he's always been there, and he.

I have had major, like, we'll see.

One, two, three, three or four major surgeries in the last two years.

And I made sure that I was at my mom's house and she had my meds.

And I said, okay, you need to hide them from me.

Make sure I can't find them.

Not because I thought I was going to start taking them too much, but because I didn't want to tempt myself.

And I just kept feeling like God was like, you still have stuff you need to give me.

God has freed me from sexual immorality.

He has freed me from smoking.

He freed me from smoking cold turkey.

Because I was like, I tried for the better part of 10 years to quit, and I finally just fell on my face and said, God, I need you to take this from me, because I can't do it.

And then I found two cigarettes in my backpack.

I said, oh, no.

And I smashed them up and I threw them away.

And I. I am more happy today.

And I feel like I belong.

I don't have that.

That feeling of like, I'm missing out on something or I'm missing a part of me, and I don't need to date.

I've been in the Word so much more.

And I started doing service work and getting out of myself and.

And helping other people and sharing the gospel with other people, sharing my testimony with other people.

And it.

And it's been amazing just to see how God works and.

And how, looking back, how many times he truly saved my life.

Wow.

Oh.

Going back to when I was 18 or the.

The adoption paperwork.

I was allowed to get it when I was 18, but I snuck through my dad's drawer when I was doing chores one day, and my parents warned me that I probably wouldn't.

Probably wouldn't be a good thing if I found my.

My adopted family.

I am the oldest of five girls on both sides, and I have a relationship with one.

And the other ones, they just fell away.

So your mom.

Did you ever contact your biological mom or.

Yeah, and they did the.

I met my biological father and a biological half sister, and that was.

After that, they fell off everything.

They don't talk to me.

We were friends on Facebook for a while, and I was like, yeah, not worth it.

I am still friends with two half sisters and my biological mother on Facebook, but biological mom doesn't talk to me.

She is homeless, though, in.

In Texas.

So that's.

It would have been.

Had I not been adopted out, I probably would not have survived past 18.

Wow.

So they're living a lifestyle, like, pretty much how you were living at one point.

Yep.

Okay.

But she's in a tent on the street.

Wow.

And the only reason I wasn't homeless was because my parents helped me out.

Wow.

And I just feel like the.

The people we interview, how God throws out lifelines, even in our greatest trials and adversity and even when you're just two years old, to have you adopted, knowing that he had plans for your life.

And we don't always go the straight way.

Right.

To the path he has for us.

Yeah.

But I think that's the beauty of Christianity, of being born again, is that God, just the moment that he got off the cross and he was resurrected, he not got off the cross, but he was buried, raised again.

That he sought out Peter, the very man that betrayed him.

Right.

He Didn't.

There was no grudges.

There was no.

He welcomed him back.

And that's one of the greatest stories ever told as a prodigal son, because that's what we are.

We're.

The moment we leave, we feel like, well, God's left me, or God doesn't want a relationship with me.

And he's like, I've never left.

I've been here the whole time waiting for you to come back.

And I'll treat you just.

There's consequences.

Right?

Because that's what we look at love like.

Love is, you know, I love you, but sometimes love is a spanking.

Right.

Sometimes love is, you know, don't do that again.

Like, just like he would break the lamb's leg so they didn't.

And he would put them on their shoulders so they would grow close, and then the lamb would heal and then they would, you know, there was a growth process of, you know, being broken, to be, you know, made whole again in him.

So.

Wow.

That's pretty powerful.

Yeah.

You know, I think of adoption and we've had an episode about adoption, and it was a brother from church that was adopted.

But I think of, you know, I mean, obviously, I don't know what it's like to be adopted.

I was, you know, I'm.

I'm biological.

My sister says I am, but I don't think that's true.

But I just.

I think of the fact that we are adopted into God's family, like, but it's by choice.

And.

Which makes it almost all the more special because they made the choice.

God made the choice.

Jesus made the choice to adopt me into his family.

Your parents made that choice to adopt you.

And I think that's just.

There's something special about that adoption, you know, when we can call God Abba Father.

And it's just.

It's.

It's an amazing thought when you think of it, because, I mean, I think of the things I've done in my life and a lot of things I'm not proud of and sin I've engaged in and.

But he still loves me.

And that's just.

It's mind blowing because we.

We're conditional people.

I mean, that's just how we are.

We're.

We're conditional.

But he's unconditional.

He has this love that's perfect.

And I don't.

I don't quite understand, but it's amazing.

You know, when kids, Kids used to make fun of me for being adopted, my comeback was, you know, your parents got stuck with You.

My parents picked me.

Exactly right.

Exactly 100.

And I think that, you know, Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

He picked me knowing that I was going to do all of these things.

And he still said, I love you and I choose you.

And I chose him and adopted twice.

So when.

So I know you said you.

You were brought up in church and basically the doors were open.

You were there, but do you remember a time when you, you know, you.

You put your trust in the Lord?

I mean, the.

You know, the.

The moment of salvation.

Do you remember?

First time, four years old, we were in our old house in Modesto.

Okay.

I'm not going to say the address, but I still remember the address.

I was sitting behind this old, like, 80s.

I was actually on my knees, like, bent forward, like, like with my hands and face on the ground.

And that was the first time I was born.

I distinctly remember that.

I don't have any memories other than that, like, at that young of an age.

And then multiple times in middle school, I re.

Asked Jesus into my heart just in case it didn't stick the first time.

Right, right.

Or second time.

Yes, Right, right, right.

I can kind of relate to that.

I mean, I was five years old.

And so you.

When you get into sin and stuff, when you get into high school and you doubt.

Yeah.

And I don't.

We were in this crazy windy road going up to camp, and we took the wrong road, and it was one lane each way, and there's crosses littering this highway.

I mean, it was sketch to be to.

To say the least.

And I was just praying because I was driving and all the kids were like, we're going to die.

You know, teenagers have no tact whatsoever.

And I'm like, you keep talking, you know that's going to come sooner than later.

And I just feel like it's so weird when, you know, when I got back, I was so thankful that God got us through that.

And I feel like at that time he gave me clarity to say, yeah, you were saved when you were five years old.

And just that conviction that comes when you do wrong.

And sometimes you go through periods where you're sinning and you feel nothing.

And then there's other times when you're like, wow, like, I've gone really far further than I ever thought I ever would.

Like, I can't believe I'm in this.

And he brings the thought to your mind, like, hey, what are you doing?

Like, you're still my child and, you know, come back.

So just powerful testimony.

I've never heard it before.

And I know you started coming to Freedom that last at the times when we didn't have it.

And we have it 52 times a year.

And the first time you came, there was a women's conference.

And I know I took you over there and you saw all these women.

And you're, like, way too intimidating.

Yeah.

All these smiling women who, like, had their arms open wanting to hug.

That was scary.

That's right.

My.

My wife's similar.

She's like.

She's a bunch of women.

She's like, I'm good.

I'm not a hugger, you know?

No, no, my b.

Knows.

I'm working on it.

I'm a hugger.

That's just.

That's just me.

But, you know, so is Tony.

He hugs everybody at Freedom to last, pretty much.

Oh, yeah, not me.

No shame.

I have the rusty and scary face, so, like, I think I scare away people from.

From hugging me.

Except Rebecca.

She don't care.

No, she hugs everybody.

Like she has a.

A compassionate heart.

Yeah.

Like, she truly, while she loved me, so just loves people.

She says you have mean face.

Yeah, she says I have a mean face, which is a nice way to say you're ugly.

She's like, you just have a mean face.

Your face is mean.

I'm like, you know, just like, you go to the park to pass all tracks and, like, we don't want no trouble.

I'm like, I don't want trouble either.

I'm just trying to bite you to freedom.

I just want to give you a water, bro.

I want to give you water in the track.

That's it.

Well, thank you for sharing and being vulnerable.

And I think there's, you know, there's a brother that came to Freedom the last.

A year ago that is battling addiction, and, you know, it was alcohol, and now it's, you know, turned into a meth addiction.

And that's kind of what he says.

Like, I. I know I need to stop, and I. I'm ready to come on Friday, and then I give in, and then I don't feel like I'm, you know, right to come and.

Well, that's the thing, right?

I mean, you.

You.

You don't, you know, you don't clean yourself up before you jump in the shower.

I mean, you just.

You come as you are.

I mean, you have to, because there's.

There's no other way.

You're not going to clean yourself up.

You can't clean yourself up.

You need God's help.

It's impossible.

It's impossible to clean yourself up.

We can't.

Yeah.

And his strength is made perfect in our weakness.

And those are the times where when I came naked and dirty and gross before God and just fell on my face and begged him to free these, these addictions from me.

That was when he.

He wore his work was.

I can't think the words.

But that's when he really, really helped me out.

Well, it's, it's that humility.

Right?

You come, you're humbled, right.

You come in humility.

And I think that's plays off that.

Verse to the humble.

That.

And I can do all things to Christ because he's talking about, you know, having, being, being humble.

He knows how to be, you know, abundant and not, you know, and, and, and, but it's that humility and, and that's how you have strength.

Because you, you come to the Lord humbly and he gives you that strength.

It's not done in your own power.

And that verse is misconstrued wildly through.

Like Tim Tebow, you know, through sports.

It's written through a 60 yard spiral.

Yeah, yeah, that's.

I'll never do that.

I won't even try.

No, no.

But he, he gives you, he you gives, gives you strength abundantly.

Not physically, but spiritually.

When I think of that verse, I think he gives us things abundantly to do.

Right.

Yeah, right.

That he gives us the strength to do what he's called us to do.

That even though we live in this world where there's temptation everywhere.

Yeah.

It's not beyond his help, his divine help to help us like we learned in freedom the last couple weeks ago.

Divine help to help us.

Like, I'll give you whatever you need to.

Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

You know, we're.

Send it abound.

Grace did much more abound.

I'm giving you that grace that exceeds the sin level.

Just put your feet down and trust in me.

And I think so many times we flail and I'll tell you this story because I like to tell stories, but we were at Golfland back in the day and you know, I wasn't a great swimmer, but I could swim.

And we came down the slides and my buddy was drowning and I was like, he was really like, he was going under and I just got so mad at him.

I'm like, stand up, stand up.

And so he stood up and he's like coughing everywhere.

And I didn't realize it was, it was, it wasn't that Deep.

I'm like, you're an idiot.

So I could have died.

I said, well, then stand up.

Like, what's wrong with you?

And many times that's where, you know, like this picture we have here, that God's reaching out to us and we're trying to do it on our own and we're just failing.

And he just says, just come unto me, right, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, you know, take my yoke upon you.

Just powerful verses.

And I'm just so grateful that he is a loving God and that he's restored you.

I love.

I love what you said about do the next right thing.

I love that because it's.

It's a.

It's that life of obedience and it's, you know, it's one step at a time.

And got the word says, you know, God blesses you with new mercies every morning.

And he.

He has that a grace that's abounding, but it's that next step, that next right step.

What do you.

What's next, the next right step?

Because it can be overwhelming sometimes, you know, trying to have it all together.

And, you know, I know when I went to.

When I first started going to.

To the church, you know, and.

And you know, I looked at all these people and, you know, they're dressed really nice, they have really nice smiles, you know, just a bunch of pretty people.

And I'm thinking to myself, man, I'm the only sinner in this room.

Like.

And I'm not kidding.

That's literally what I was thinking.

You know, I was like, man, I'm just like, dirty center.

And look at all these nice people.

And you soon find out that, you know, they're just as dirty as you are, but, yeah, dirtier.

Thank God.

Yeah.

So.

But it's just that those new mercies every day that God meets you with, and it's.

It's amazing how he does that.

He meets.

He meets you, you right where you are.

You just have to come humbly to him.

You just surrender to him.

And that's all it is.

And the Lord looks at the heart.

Thank God.

Amen.

Right?

Yep.

Well, it's also says people judge our outside.

Yeah.

Sorry about that.

Yeah.

Sorry about the face.

That's what you gave me.

I'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

So don't.

Don't blame me.

Praise the Lord.

I had nothing to do with this.

Amen.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So any partying?

Go ahead, Ben.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

No, yeah.

Any parting wisdom if there's somebody out there, some.

If you could talk to yourself, you know, looking back and say, give yourself some wisdom.

When you were, you know, 18, 17, what would be like, what would you say?

What would you.

What would you tell yourself?

God works all things together for the good of those who.

Who love him and are called according to his purpose and to Not.

To not give up, because God doesn't give up on you and that you are worth it.

You are unique, and you do only get one shot at this life.

And God's gonna be there for you no matter what.

You just turn to him and you follow after him and you can get through it.

It's gonna be hard.

Yep.

It's gonna be very hard at times.

Yeah.

And that's okay.

He promises that we're gonna have tribulation.

Yeah.

But he also promises that if he's gonna give us a way of escape, like when we are tempted.

Right.

Amen.

Amen.

For a short moment, right?

Yeah.

100.

This, too shall pass.

Yeah.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm already gonna be 50.

I'm not quite there yet.

I'm.

I'm trailing.

It's mid-70s over here.

Yeah, mid-70s over here.

Sorry.

All right.

Well, we really appreciate you coming on the show, Christy, and.

And sharing that.

That was.

That was pretty heavy.

But, you know, I really think that God's going to use this to.

Amen.

To reach somebody that's maybe having some similar experiences that you are ready to give up and to give hope, because that's really what it comes down to.

I had a. I've talked about this on the show before.

I had a business partner fell into alcoholism, and without going into the whole story, he ended up committing suicide because he lost that hope.

And it's just.

It's.

It's so sad.

But I hope that this.

This podcast episode will.

Will help somebody that's out there or if you're listening and, you know, somebody that's, you know, dealing with some of these types of issues and.

And, you know, just feeling hopeless, like, share this.

Share this message with them.

That's kind of the whole.

Whole reason we're doing this podcast.

It's the purpose of it.

We're definitely not in it for the money because, you know, we're definitely not Joe Rogan.

But.

But please share it out there.

And.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me, and thank you, everybody.

Please subscribe and we'll see you in the next episode.

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Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to the Abundant Life Podcast.

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May God bless you.