#81. Praying the Word: Our Favorite Memorial Verses We Pray for Our Kids + What Christian Parents Need to Remember | Part 2

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They're the joyful agains our children.

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Shout on the swings, the exhausting

agains of cooking and laundry and

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the difficult agains of discipline.

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So much of what we do

as mothers is on repeat.

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So what if we woke up with clarity,

knowing which agains we were called to.

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And went to bed believing we are

faithful in what matters most.

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We believe God's word is

the key to untangle from the

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confusion and overwhelm we feel.

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Let's look up together to embrace a

motherhood full of freedom and joy.

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This is the Again podcast, and

I'm your host, Stephanie Hickox.

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As always, this is brought to

you by ENTRUSTED Ministries, the

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ministry that brought you the

incredible scripture saturated study

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entrusted with the child's heart.

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Before we get to part two of this

conversation with Betsy and David

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Corning, the founders of the ministry.

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I wanted to let you know a couple updates.

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First, did you know that our

ministry is a nonprofit and it's

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completely donor supported, we

are looking for more donors?

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If you've been blessed by the ministry

or by this podcast, would you consider

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giving even $10 a month to support

us so that we can continue reaching

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families for the glory of God?

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We always have lots of

ideas on our hearts.

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And your gift can help

bring them to families.

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Also, are you thinking about

a way to help your kids grow

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spiritually Over the summer?

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Stay posted because we've got a resource

coming to help you accomplish just that.

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And now it's time for us to get.

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To part two of my conversation with Betsy

and David Corning, we're going to give you

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many more verses that we've prayed over

the years for our children, our family,

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our friends, and at the end, they're

gonna give some overarching biblical

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wisdom that they've learned through

the years that they think is especially

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pivotal for parents to hear today.

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So sit back and soak it in.

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Betsy/David: couple more

things about memorial verses.

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They can be a life verse like the

lamentations first for David, which is

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just a really special verse for him.

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So in my list of memorial verses under

David, of course I have that verse.

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I have other verses that he

wouldn't know about that.

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I pray for him.

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And I have verses for all of my kids,

my grandkids, my friends, my relatives

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even some strangers or people that

I've counseled and they wouldn't even

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know that they have memorial verses.

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I have memorial verses for people that

told me their life verse and that was

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the verse that brought them to faith.

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So I think memorial verses also

show the power of God's word.

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And I love that because

we know that Hebrews 4.

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12 says the word of God

has power, living power.

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It's living and active.

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And there's one particular

one that I'll share.

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His first came from John 14.

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1.

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It says, You believe in

God, believe also in me.

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So he had a quasi general belief

in God, but he didn't believe in

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Jesus until he read that verse.

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You believe in God, believe also in me.

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And that cut him to the quick, and it

became a memorial verse for his life.

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Sort of his salvation verse.

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And I know for me, I have two salvation

verses and I, and one is a Galatians 2 20,

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which I share in my testimony, but also

other verses that I claim for my kids.

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This is one that I pray

for all of my kids.

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It actually comes out of

Isaiah 44, three through seven.

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I will pour out my

spirit on your offspring.

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And my blessing on your descendants and

they will spring up among the grass

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like poplars by streams of water

And this one will say I am the lords

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and that one will call upon the name

of jacob and another We're right on

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his hand belonging to the lord And

we'll name Israel's name with honor.

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Stephanie: This is so fun to

see how much overlap there is

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of different verses.

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Several Uncle David said were sung

for me, and that one, when I had

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my third son, I put their names in

my Bible there because I thought

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that was such a beautiful passage.

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Betsy/David: I put that one down when I

had just one child and then I ended up

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having three so I thought that was apropos

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I have also life verses sometimes we

talk to people and we say what's your

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life verse and I have My board of

directors and I asked them one time what?

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What is their life verse?

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And I just think it's really a sweet

thing to know somebody else's life verse.

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And when I read through the Bible

and I see their name by that life

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verse, of course I remember them.

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And I think of Nancy McDonough

who worked with me for 25 years.

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Her life verse is 2 Timothy 4, 7, and 8.

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I have fought the good fight.

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I have finished the race.

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I have kept the faith.

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Now there is in store for me the crown

of righteousness, which the Lord, the

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righteous judge will award me on that day.

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And not only to me, but also to all

who have longed for his appearing.

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And I always think of Nancy

whenever I read that passage.

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And another one that I love from

another member, Bob Gunter in Psalm.

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1438, just a very faithful

servant of the Lord on our board.

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It says, let me hear in the morning of

your steadfast love for in you, I trust.

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Make me know the way I should go for you.

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I lift up my soul.

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And in another version, he says, let the

morning bring my word to your unfailing

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love for I have put my trust in you.

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Show me the way I should go for to you.

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I trust my life.

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And,

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you see the power of the

Bible in other people's lives.

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For centuries people have been

reading the Bible and it has all this

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power, but now we're just making.

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personal notations of seeing God's

faithfulness to our friends and family.

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Stephanie: Mm,

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Betsy/David: I got life first, but

I think I've already shared it.

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It would probably be for me that

Lamentations But I have a friend

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that I think, this guy and, um,

this is a verse of scripture.

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I've prayed with him hundreds of times.

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I've known him for 40 some years.

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And every time he prays before he

asks God or says anything he's, he

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quotes this verse and it's just,

it's a precious verse of scripture.

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It's Deuteronomy 4 39 and I

can just hear him saying it.

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Know therefore today and take it to

your heart that the Lord, he is God in

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heaven and above and on the earth below.

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There is no other.

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Every time he prays, I don't care

whether it's just over a quick prayer

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for before we eat or whether we're in a

group people sitting around at a table

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praying and calling out to the Lord.

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And I'm sure he does it during

his quiet time and so forth.

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But that's a verse that would

be for this particular guy.

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His name is Bob Schroeder, by the way.

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Stephanie: The nearness of the Lord and

the way that he speaks to us through his

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word is just so evident as we share these.

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And I keep thinking about how the

Lord, how his word is such a perfect

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length that you can study it for

your whole lifetime and you will be

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unveiling treasures all along the way.

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And yet.

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There are these threads of his

character that you can know so well as

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you study it and we rejoice in that,

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Betsy/David: So it's a good practice

to start thinking of, what verses

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are particularly impressed upon your

mind or have made a difference in

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your life of God's faithfulness.

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Sometimes it's a something difficult

that you've gone through and you

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can mark that in your Bible or in

your get the word out theme pages.

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David started this all out with We are

to remember and these are good things to

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remember That all the remember verses are

probably god pointing out memorial verses

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to us He knows that we are forgetful

people So let's remember faithfulness.

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Stephanie: I'm just going to tack on

a couple of my kids life verses, and

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when I was pregnant with each of them,

I prayed very hard that the Lord would

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give me verses to pray over them.

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And, as they grow and they want to pick

different life verses for their life,

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certainly they're entitled to that.

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But these are just some verses

that the Lord really spoke to my

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heart as I was praying for them.

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And it's been so neat to see their

character develop and perhaps why the

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Lord had called me to a particular verse.

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For my oldest, it's from Ephesians 3,

For this reason I bow my knees before the

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Father, from whom every family in heaven

and earth is named, that according to the

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riches of His glory, He may grant you to

be strengthened with power through His

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Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ

may dwell in your hearts through faith.

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You being rooted and grounded in love

may have strength to comprehend with

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all the saints, what is the breadth

and length and height in depth,

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and to know the love of Christ that

surpasses knowledge that you may be

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filled with all the fullness of God.

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And I laugh a little bit because

my son, was holding his head

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up at 20 minutes and he is just

so physically strong and even as.

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It's a couple months old.

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We could just see that so much.

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But I love that the Lord guided me to pray

that he would be strengthened in his inner

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being by knowing the love of the Lord

and that would be what he is strong in.

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For my second.

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I was led to Psalm 91, and the

whole chapter is just such a

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beautiful picture of the Lord's

faithfulness and protection over us.

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I especially love the closing verses.

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Because he holds fast to me

in love, I will deliver him.

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I will protect him

because he knows my name.

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When he calls to me, I will answer him.

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I will be with him in trouble.

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I will rescue him and honor him.

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With long life, I will satisfy

him and show him my salvation.

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So that is our prayer that Ryder

would run to him, that he would live

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under the shadow of the Lord's wings.

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All the rest of my children

have some testimony of a broken

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bone or these urgent situations.

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Ryder just seems to be the guy who.

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Everyone else in the house is

really sick and it doesn't hit him.

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And it's been interesting to see how

his peaceful personality and his tender,

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teachable spirit is playing out with that.

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For my third son, as I looked back, I

thought, why would I pick those verses

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for him, but I picked in Isaiah 43, But

now, thus says the Lord, He who created

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you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel,

Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I

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have called you by name, you are mine.

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When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you, and through the

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rivers, they will not overwhelm you.

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When you walk through fire, you

shall not be burned, and the

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flame shall not consume you.

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And there are verses, as it goes on in

the chapter, that I love for him too,

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but Everett's story has been one of And

he's been hospitalized and several times

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and had an auto immune disorder that

caused him to have infusions for years.

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And I saw the Lord's faithfulness to him.

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And I saw how the Lord taught

him to draw near in those times.

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So for a moment I thought, why

would I pick verses that are clearly

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indicating trial in your life?

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But I see how, really,

the Lord was faithful.

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giving me a picture of his nearness

and who he would be forever.

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Betsy/David: Mm-hmm

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Stephanie: And lastly, I'll

just share about my daughter.

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So I was pregnant with my fourth and I

had wanted to have many more children.

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And I think my husband was very much ready

to say, okay, we are, we have three boys.

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That's great.

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Now we've got our girl, we are done.

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And the Lord just gave

me a pregnancy that.

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would bring me to agreement on that point

because it was pretty rough and Adeline

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was transverse in my womb, so she was

breached, and it was just miserable.

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And I remember praying to the

Lord, don't you understand I

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don't have time for a C section?

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Like my husband has MS, he's

very tired, and I'm running

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after these busy little boys.

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I can't have a c section and so we prayed

and then I went for that ultrasound to

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see if she had turned or if I needed to

schedule a c section and she had turned

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and I hadn't even felt it but I came

out of the doctor's office and I didn't

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even know I had these verses memorized,

but I heard, My soul magnifies the Lord,

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and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

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For he who is mighty has done great

things for me, and holy is his name.

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You might recognize that

these are verses Mary said.

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When Elizabeth recognized that she was

carrying the Messiah and so obviously very

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different circumstance, but the Lord just

put those verses on my heart and my prayer

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for Adeline is that she would just worship

her Savior wholeheartedly, that that would

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be known of her, that she gives glory

to the Lord Jesus Christ with her life.

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And she is such a joyful little

girl and she loves to worship.

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It's so neat how the Lord guides

us in our prayers, and obviously

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has continued to put many verses

on my heart for my children.

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But those are some that I have really

clung to through parenting so far.

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Betsy/David: Yeah.

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They seem very fitting.

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Stephanie: Yes.

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Betsy/David: We have three of our own

children and then I have 10 grandchildren.

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And I really think it's wonderful

how you and Betsy have got individual

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verses for each child, but I only

have one, one for all of them.

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it's a verse that I've prayed.

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I don't know, thousands of times.

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If you add them all up, I don't know

how many times I prayed this for my

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kids and my grandkids, but it's Luke

2 52, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature

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and in favor with God and with men,

and my prayer is just simply that

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Lord help them grow to be just like

Jesus Christ in every possible way.

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And that just is, it's a, it's a

general all encompassing thing, but

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I'm just praying that these kids would

grow up in wisdom and in stature.

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I want them to be healthy and strong, but

I want them to grow in Christ likeness.

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And at the end of the day, that's

what we started out talking about.

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Our lives are all about Christ

and our kids, we want them to be.

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Jesus Christ.

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In my Bible, I have a couple of

places where I put everybody's name.

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The Isaiah 44, three through five, I

started out with just Emily, and then

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I added Luke and then I added Lee.

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Then I added Adam, Alyssa, Chelsea,

Anna, David, John, Hudson, Haley,

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David, Lauren, David, Quinn, and Claire.

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And there's probably three places

in my Bible where I have the whole

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list that I just keep adding because

they are memorial verses to our whole

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heritage, to our whole family line,

and they're just super, super special.

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But yeah, that is So true.

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That as a person is added in your

family, you keep add them in.

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Stephanie: And Fetsy, you're reminding

me of the first lesson of Entrusted, when

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you explained the bands of what the Lord

calls us to, in eachin each section of our

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lives, these 20 year bands you call them.

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And our faithfulness And our call

to really brew strong prayer warriors

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in that last band of our lives.

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And I'm so thankful to have you,

your faithful prayers, praying

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for us and for all of your crew.

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Betsy/David: That's so interesting because

When you get so much older and you lose

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strength and but you're growing inwardly

spiritually because the Bible says that

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even though the outer man is decaying

inwardly, we're being renewed day by day.

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And so you are growing in wisdom, in

perspective, in eternal knowledge,

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in eternal desire and in all of

these things for your family.

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I think the Lord just sits us down in a

rocking chair and has us pray Or lay down

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and be still and it's really a special

time to contemplate life And how short

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it is and how fragile it is and that can

be a great Contribution to our legacy.

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i'm not quite there yet, but I

definitely feel the aging process

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coming in there coming into play

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Stephanie: No, you're living all the

bands, lots of life and lots to give

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and creativity and joy and, but I know

that you spend so much time faithfully

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Betsy/David: it's definitely

different than it used to be.

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Stephanie: Yeah.

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Betsy/David: David?

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Oh, yes.

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Stephanie: my grandpa was such a

godly man and towards the end of his

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life, he was in a wheelchair and his

eyesight began failing and his hearing.

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Was failing too, but

he said, you know what?

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I have so much time to pray.

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Betsy/David: That's so sweet.

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Stephanie: He was just such

a godly kind, kind man.

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As he passed, I thought, oh Lord I'm

so glad that he's with you, but who's

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going to pray for us like he did?

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And You just realize what a treasure,

if you have a blessing of having

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believers that pray for you, what a gift.

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Betsy/David: It is such a gift.

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Yeah, I think the Lord plans it

that way and we fight against it.

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But we don't want to fight against

the plans of the Lord for our

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lives, even though we're getting

weaker on the outside, we're

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getting stronger on the inside.

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Amen.

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Stephanie: Amen.

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Since I have both of you here and

you have such a wealth of biblical

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parenting wisdom, would you take

a minute and give some overarching

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wisdom that you've learned over

the years that you think would be

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really beneficial for parents today?

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Betsy/David: An important thing I'd like

to share about parenting is to be gentle

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with your kids and not harsh because

you want to keep that close connection.

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And there's times of being

firm but not harsh not unkind.

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Yeah.

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I, if there's anyone that's violated

that over the years, that's I tend

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to sometimes get a little bit too

intense with my kids when they don't

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do what I want them to do or have an

attitude that I don't want them to have.

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But the, at the end of the day

it's just a parent can't have the

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perspective that my, my son or my

daughter is my friend, is my buddy.

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I'm not your buddy.

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I'm not your friend.

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I'm your dad.

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: 00:19:06

And I'm going to try to relate to you

in a Christlike way, trying to give

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you instruction and guidance rather

than, letting you think that I have to

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: 00:19:18

just do things because we're buddies.

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Another thing, Steph, I would just say in

parenting is there's no other person in

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their lives that has a greater opportunity

to influence them than their mom and dad.

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You can have great school teachers,

you can have great youth group leaders,

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you can have all these different people

in their lives, and that's wonderful,

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and I trust and pray that they have

those kind of people in their lives.

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But there's no one that can take

the place of a parent as long as

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that parent is alive and healthy and

well and able to do what they ought

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to be doing with their children.

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And I think that really translates into

spending time in the word with your

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children, not just talking about it or

giving, getting them to places where

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: 00:20:13

they can hear it, but sitting down with

them one on one eyeball to eyeball.

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: 00:20:19

going through passages of scripture

and asking them, what does this mean?

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: 00:20:24

How does this apply to our lives?

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: 00:20:27

Why should we be concerned about this?

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: 00:20:30

How does this affect the

way I go about living?

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: 00:20:34

Questions like that just diving

deep down into their lives.

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: 00:20:38

They don't.

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: 00:20:40

And I think that we need to start that

process with them early because it has a

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: 00:20:46

tremendous effect on their lives later on.

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: 00:20:50

They don't forget it.

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: 00:20:51

And so I think a lot of times

parents sadly don't use and take

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: 00:20:56

that opportunity that they have.

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: 00:20:58

To really begin to work

with their children.

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: 00:21:01

Yeah, we're living in a society where

people are distracted just on the

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: 00:21:06

daily things where they're not really

in the moment with their kids for,

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: 00:21:11

discipline or daily routine or chores

or dinners or, so let alone spiritual

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: 00:21:18

development, which is so critical

in a child's young life, especially.

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: 00:21:24

When we're so distracted by other

things or concerns or things outside

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: 00:21:29

the home, then, even foundational

things are falling apart.

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: 00:21:34

So I would say, what's the response then?

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: 00:21:37

A lack of tenderness, a lack of

sensitivity, a lack of really engaging

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: 00:21:43

with your child and connecting, even,

in the simplest things of life, bedtimes

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: 00:21:49

and Story times, you just don't want to

let all those things fall by the wayside.

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: 00:21:55

And of course, paramount to

that would be spiritual truth.

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: 00:21:59

And you can add, as it says in

Deuteronomy 6, 6 and 7, these are

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things you should be teaching them

in every little moment of life.

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: 00:22:07

Are you washing the dishes?

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: 00:22:08

Are you laying down?

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: 00:22:09

Are you driving in the car when you

see somebody else an ambulance go by?

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: 00:22:15

We always say somebody is having trouble.

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: 00:22:17

Let's pray for them.

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: 00:22:18

Somebody's having a hard day and

you know just bring spiritual

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: 00:22:24

things into all parts of life and

Be attentive I'd say is a huge thing

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: 00:22:32

Stephanie: And I know when you were

parenting that the Lord called you to

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: 00:22:35

some radical measures sometimes to live

counter culturally and to make sure that

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: 00:22:41

Christ was a priority in your home I

think sometimes we feel that the culture

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: 00:22:45

has dictated so many of our choices,

but we need to look and say, Lord, how

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: 00:22:50

would you have me redeem this time?

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: 00:22:52

What would you have me say no to,

to clear the busyness so I'm really

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: 00:22:57

present and available for them, many

people say the days are long, but the

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: 00:23:01

years are short, but really it goes

by fast and we don't want them to

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: 00:23:07

look back and remember our harshness,

our impatience, our distraction.

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: 00:23:13

We want them to remember that mom

and dad were right there with me.

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: 00:23:17

Betsy/David: yeah, that's so true and the

counter cultural thing is huge because

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: 00:23:22

everything is changing so quickly and

What was used to be common sense was

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: 00:23:28

basically biblical common sense and

people believed in the Judeo Christian

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: 00:23:34

ethic in other words right and wrong

lying stealing Cheating, you know hurting

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: 00:23:40

other people was wrong and that's all

being turned on its head where you can

368

: 00:23:46

if you're a victim If you feel you've

been victimized, then now all of those

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: 00:23:51

things can be justified and rationalized.

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: 00:23:53

And it's okay to take bags of groceries

out of the grocery store because you need

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: 00:24:00

it and somebody else has more than you.

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: 00:24:02

And all of these things are.

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: 00:24:05

Challenging the very authority of God

and his word and less and less people

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: 00:24:11

are living under the authority of God.

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: 00:24:13

But what makes me just blows my mind

is that people are really believing

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: 00:24:19

counter, you know, right and wrong,

which is just against a person's

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: 00:24:24

given conscience by the Lord.

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: 00:24:27

So that's going to be when you

say standing strong as a Christian

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: 00:24:31

family, that's going to be more

and more the challenge, but the

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: 00:24:35

Bible never tells us to look down.

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: 00:24:38

It always says, look up.

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: 00:24:40

We're always to be looking up.

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: 00:24:42

The Lord is coming back

and he's coming from above.

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: 00:24:46

We don't get downcast.

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: 00:24:47

We are always looking up.

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: 00:24:49

We're excited about

what the Lord is doing.

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: 00:24:52

He knows what he's doing.

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: 00:24:53

And We should be excited about

his return and looking up.

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: 00:24:57

Stephanie: Amen.

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: 00:24:58

Before you go, I want to pray this

benediction over you from Second

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: 00:25:03

Thessalonians one 11 through 12.

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: 00:25:06

We're rooting for you to this end.

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: 00:25:10

We always pray for you that our God

may make you worthy of his calling and

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: 00:25:15

may fulfill every resolve for good.

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: 00:25:17

And every work of faith by his power

so that the name of our Lord Jesus

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: 00:25:22

may be glorified in you and you

and Him according to the grace of

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: 00:25:27

our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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: 00:25:30

Amen.

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: 00:25:32

Until we meet again.