00:00:00:00 – 00:00:29:26
Unknown
pastor. I’m going to I have to put all my stuff down, you know, so thank you, pastor Pat. Hold on just second. I gotta get myself together. All right. Hi, everybody. Wow. There’s a lot happening. Engagements, youth group T-shirts. It’s so wonderful to be here in Miwok Village, California. One of my favorite places to come.

00:00:29:28 – 00:00:59:11
Unknown
Yes. Some of you don’t know who I am. And I’m Bishop Tony Miller, who used to be here with us. But he decided to go to heaven without any of our permission. So if any of you are new here, that was my husband. And he was a voice to this house for many, many years. And I honor him for that, for the seeds that he sowed into this place.

00:00:59:11 – 00:01:19:08
Unknown
And I’m so thankful that I got to be his wife for almost 44 years, serve in ministry for a very long time. But it’s my honor to be here today. And I just want to say thank you so much to Pastor Jonathan and Shelly for the opportunity to be able to stand on this platform today. I don’t take it lightly.

00:01:19:10 – 00:01:40:25
Unknown
There is a lot of depth within this church and I’m just so thankful. So thank you so very much. I honor you today and of course, my good friends pastor Pat and Celine. Apostle Patent Celine, thank you so much for always pouring into my life and being such dear friends. I’m so thankful and I’m just thankful to be here.

00:01:40:28 – 00:02:00:10
Unknown
You guys don’t know what you have. You maybe you do, but I remember the first time we came here almost 19 years ago and we came in the dark and my husband texts Pastor Celine and he said, she said, do you think there’s animals on the road I need to look out for? And she’s like, well, not really.

00:02:00:13 – 00:02:14:16
Unknown
We had no idea where we were coming. And when we woke up the next morning, we saw the most beautiful landscape that we’ve ever seen in our lives. And I fell in love then. And I fell in love with you.

00:02:14:18 – 00:02:43:15
Unknown
And it’s honor to be here this morning. So I want to just have a conversation with you today. I text Pastor Kelly about today this morning. And I said, you know, I’m not a three pointer. I’m a storyteller, and that’s who I am, and that’s how I flow. And so this morning, I just want to tell you a few stories about myself and about the things I’ve walked through and just maybe about me if you’d ever knew who I was.

00:02:43:15 – 00:03:03:17
Unknown
But I love gardening. I don’t like wearing gloves. I like getting my hands dirt, and I like to feel the dirt. I don’t like to cook. I only use three ingredients or less. And I’ve learned how to make banana bread with three ingredients. Our last in pumpkin bread with now maybe four because I can put, you know, some nuts in there.

00:03:03:17 – 00:03:29:13
Unknown
So we’ll go for. And so my husband would always tease me about our oven being the cleanest oven he’s ever seen. And he can put my Christmas presents in there. Now that was not totally accurate. But now that’s true because I have absolutely no desire to cook. I don’t have any desire to do it now. I have to, but I don’t do it.

00:03:29:13 – 00:03:52:08
Unknown
I love the deli and drive thrus. That’s what I love. Bagged lettuce. You just opened the bag and you just put it in and the dressings already in there with you. All right, so those are the kind of things I have three daughters. My oldest daughter will be here. She’s a voice to this house, Pastor Amanda Conner, and she’ll be here in October.

00:03:52:09 – 00:04:28:25
Unknown
I mean, August speaking. And I’ve watched her grow up. You know, I knew her when. And now she’s 47 years old and has three children, and my middle daughter’s 43, and my youngest daughter is getting ready to be 40 in December. I have eight grandchildren ranging from 25 to 4 months. So we had a surprise grandbaby this year and his name is Hawk Anthony and Hawk is from his grandfather that passed away in 2022.

00:04:28:28 – 00:04:51:13
Unknown
His Anthony is named after my husband, who passed away in 2021. So he’s our baby Hawk Anthony, and I just was with him a few minutes ago, I mean, a few days ago. And he is the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest boy. And so we’re so thankful for that. I’m so thankful for that. And I’m thankful to be here with you this morning.

00:04:51:13 – 00:05:13:16
Unknown
But I’m also thankful that tonight I get to host a widows event here on the church property at the Lodge. I am a widow and it took me many, many years to be able to say that that is not a title that a widow wants to have. Its not something that you woke up one morning and say, you know what?

00:05:13:16 – 00:05:42:10
Unknown
I’m a widow. I am a widow and that is not defined by that. But that is part of my story. And so my story is today about the some of the things that I have walked through to help me become closer to the father. So I just want to share with you a few things today. Can I just throw a few little statistics out first, I love them, I don’t like what they are, but I do love them.

00:05:42:12 – 00:06:19:02
Unknown
It’s 12 million widows are right now in the United States of America. There’s 12 million of us. That’s not where the words that’s widows. There’s 258 widows worldwide, 2258 million widows worldwide, 2800 a day become a widow, and 50% of them leave their local church after they become a widow.

00:06:19:05 – 00:06:24:21
Unknown
50%. I want to change that.

00:06:24:24 – 00:06:43:17
Unknown
I want to change that. I know why, because I’ve walked this journey in this story. I have listened to widows across America. I have a privilege of having a lot of widows in a in a group that I have. I have the privilege that God has connected me with people that have walked through loss and not just widows.

00:06:43:17 – 00:07:04:05
Unknown
I’ve had the opportunity to walk with a lot of people through loss. I don’t understand, but I understand some of the ways that they think suicide is the second leading cause of death. And young people between the ages of ten and 24.

00:07:04:07 – 00:07:46:05
Unknown
Ten years old and 24. The first leading cause is drugs. Single parent homes. Almost 10 million single parents have children under the age of 18. 15 million children live with a single mom and one out of four children that we see every day live with just one single parent, and we need to understand that there’s pain every day with somebody sitting right next to us.

00:07:46:07 – 00:08:07:22
Unknown
People go through things, and I just want to talk about a few things that I’ve walked through today. It will get better, I promise. Those are just the statistics that we need to be aware of that the reality of what’s out there, that what God has called us to make a difference. God has called us to make the difference.

00:08:07:22 – 00:08:25:21
Unknown
So in my life in 2021, in January 19th, 2021, my life turned upside down. My husband and I had breakfast that morning. We talked about the the future we talked about here.

00:08:25:24 – 00:08:47:00
Unknown
We talked about doing gatherings for pastors, which we had already been doing for 20 years, and how God had opened up the doors from the East Coast to the West Coast and into the Midwest. We talked about how in two years we would begin to transition the gate church.

00:08:47:03 – 00:09:04:15
Unknown
We talked about it the present time. I was at the church for the last five days, and I was making a studio and decorating a five part studios that we could begin to do YouTube videos and all the things that go along with that. So he could begin to put, see, 2020 taught us that we could do more online.

00:09:04:18 – 00:09:27:10
Unknown
We always thought we had to be in church to do everything, but God taught us we could do things online. So he had me making a studio upstairs in the church for him to sit sit around a table. There were four different areas, the five different areas that I was creating the day before. And that morning I had gone to a store and bought for chairs.

00:09:27:10 – 00:09:56:16
Unknown
And he was he had called me. We left that. We had finished breakfast. We went to the house because I had to get the truck. So we switched vehicles. He had a truck and I needed it to pick up the chairs, and I called him because I had 70 music going on in my the truck when I used it the day before, and I called him, I said, so why is there gospel in here?

00:09:56:16 – 00:10:20:20
Unknown
When I had my 70s music on? Now he does have gospel. He had the gathers like we’re going way back. And he started laughing on the phone and he’s like, well, you know, you know, I just wanted to listen to the Gators. I’m like, yeah, I know. So it was just funny. We had a good laugh. And so he texted me and he said, hey, what are you doing?

00:10:20:20 – 00:10:43:20
Unknown
I said, well, I’m not finished upstairs yet. He said, well, I’m headed that way. And the only thing I’ve had today is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Well, I knew that wasn’t true because we had breakfast, but he had made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he was headed to the church. He called me when he got to the church and he said, hey, I’m not feeling good.

00:10:43:22 – 00:11:02:24
Unknown
I ran downstairs and he was halfway up the stairs. He sat in front of me on steps just like this, and I never saw his face again alive. He died and took his last breath right in front of me.

00:11:02:26 – 00:11:18:25
Unknown
My life changed in an instant, and I was thrown into a season that I never expected.

00:11:18:27 – 00:11:59:08
Unknown
And I think sometimes in our lives we’re thrown into seasons. I know we are thrown into seasons that we just don’t expect sometimes. And that day I didn’t expect it. So as I began the journey of the of, I went home and we went to the hospital and all the things that go along with that, you know, and the only thing they gave me was a Ziploc bag filled with a wallet, his watch in his wedding ring, and I set it on my lap and my daughter drove me home.

00:11:59:10 – 00:12:24:21
Unknown
Obviously, I was stunned with what was happening around me, but you don’t have time to stop because everybody and those of you who’ve encounter death, you know, you don’t. You don’t stop, you don’t have time to stop. You have to keep going. And that season is here and you have to keep going. And I’m not trying to be more, but I’m just telling you where I was at the moment and where I was at the moment was not good.

00:12:24:24 – 00:12:49:14
Unknown
I found myself in the bathroom sick of my stomach and couldn’t. I couldn’t understand what was happening and there were people all around, but I just couldn’t figure it out. So as days went by and we finished the funeral and pastor patents were there and we finished everything, and I was trying to get myself together two weeks after he passed away.

00:12:49:16 – 00:13:04:20
Unknown
Well, two days after he well not passed away, we buried him. I had a phone call from a and I’m just telling you the truth. I had a phone call from a staff member that said we we can’t stay here any longer. We’re planning on leaving.

00:13:04:23 – 00:13:14:13
Unknown
And I there was a lot more to that story. And I was like, really? You’re going to leave me now?

00:13:14:15 – 00:13:33:23
Unknown
And I, I was another sting. It was another loss to me. And in two weeks time, we were I was at my home and it was had snowed and many and the kids were there and some of the grandchildren and pipes began to bust in my house.

00:13:33:25 – 00:13:53:27
Unknown
In 18 months I’ve had 12 pipes bust in my house. I had to move out of my house in one week. The whole house flooded on the downstairs and half of the upstairs. Within three days they had packed up my house and I had to move into. I had a little a little place out back that Tony and I had finished.

00:13:53:27 – 00:14:16:24
Unknown
That was like a little pool house. And I moved into that because we have a pool and I moved into that. Within three days. They came in and packed up my house. There were pods in my driveway. They pulled up all the carpet, all the floor and all of the walls, and it hadn’t even been a month since he passed away.

00:14:16:26 – 00:14:53:27
Unknown
I was sinking farther and farther into the unknown. I didn’t even know who had the insurance on the house, much less call an insurance company, because I didn’t even know how to do that. I was just trying to survive. And now I’m in this little tiny place with the bed, and my stuff is all packed up and I don’t know what is happening around me.

00:14:53:29 – 00:15:21:25
Unknown
And in the meantime, I put this big. And I know you’ve seen on these big their notepads stuck in that in my little room. I was staying in my little cottage, I call it The Cottage, and I began to write verses on there and began to write to myself every day the things I knew. I had to just encourage myself because I was eating lead cuisines and sit in every day, almost by myself and not knowing what to do.

00:15:21:27 – 00:15:47:11
Unknown
Though I was pastoring the church at the time, God had spoke to me and said, I need you to bring the church through morning. I was like, I don’t know how to do that, but I did it and God helped me, and I’m going to get I’m going where I’m going. But the Lord spoke to me and he said, don’t jump out of your story.

00:15:47:13 – 00:16:10:29
Unknown
And I was like, what? I don’t even know what my story is. And you’re telling me not to jump out of it. I don’t know what that is, Lord. And you’re telling me, don’t jump out in my story. And he said, trust in me and I’m going to lead you into right you. But what I don’t want you to do is lean into your own understanding.

00:16:11:01 – 00:16:45:11
Unknown
So I took that and I said, Lord, I refuse to jump out of my story. I trust in you, and I refuse to lean into my own understanding. But day after day, things in the trials begin to happen and pile up, and I found myself slowly sinking into a place of my reclaiming. I. I would climb out of it for a minute and go, I can do this, I, I can do this.

00:16:45:11 – 00:17:12:15
Unknown
And then at night I would find myself there again. But yet the sun came up every morning and the Lord was with me every morning. And as I wrote on my pad of paper, my big thing, I had three of them in that room, and I put them in there. And the Lord brought me to Jeremiah 2911, and I know each one of you know this passage.

00:17:12:15 – 00:17:18:01
Unknown
I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

00:17:18:03 – 00:17:35:17
Unknown
And so I, I was reading it over and over. Plans to prosper you, plans to give you a hope in the future. I didn’t see any prosper. All I saw was no hope, no future, he said. How did you act like I’m being wrong? We’re with you today. Some of you follow me on Facebook. Some of you follow me.

00:17:35:17 – 00:18:06:09
Unknown
In what? In my journey, not everything was pretty. There were days and days and nights that from a Friday to a Sunday, I never talked to a person, not one person. Text me and I would cry out to the Lord. Lord, my whole life has been ministry, but yet not one person can hear the cry of my heart.

00:18:06:11 – 00:18:42:21
Unknown
I, I, I was in such a place and I would climb out and then I would get back in. I had never shared to the depth of my story like I am sharing it with you today, but that is the honest truth. My life was in the Murray Clay. I was strong for an hour and then I wasn’t strong and I was strong for another two hours next day, and then I wasn’t strong for 22.

00:18:42:23 – 00:19:05:15
Unknown
And the Lord brought me to the verse. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. And I said, Lord, I know you have a plan. I know you have plan. And the Lord spoke to me. And he goes, yes, read it again. I said, okay, read it again. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you, prosper you, and give you hope in the future.

00:19:05:18 – 00:19:42:05
Unknown
Okay, read it again. Read it again. And I realized what I was seeing that verse in singular. I know the plan I have for you to declare the Lord. But that’s not what he says. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, because the only thing I could see was my life with my husband. The only thing I could see was the ministry that we had.

00:19:42:07 – 00:20:15:29
Unknown
The only thing I could see was what was before, and I could not see God in the plans. I had to see plural and not singular. That day changed my life. That day I said, God, you do have a plan. God, you do have plans for my life. I will not sink into this miry clay. I will come out by this, and you will put a new song in my heart, and I will be able to climb this mountain.

00:20:16:01 – 00:20:42:15
Unknown
I encourage myself by reading Jeremiah one, for the word of the Lord came to me, saying, before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born, and I set you apart, I appointed you. He called me before I was a pastor. He called me before I was Cathy Millar. He called me before I was Bishop Tony Miller’s wife.

00:20:42:15 – 00:21:12:16
Unknown
He called me when I was in my mother’s room. And I was born Cathy Jane Bombardier. He called me. He knew on January 18th that I was going to be a widow. On January 19th. His plans were right there with me. The whole time he formed me. He was doing something in me and he said, don’t jump out of your story.

00:21:12:19 – 00:21:24:07
Unknown
So I find myself beginning this journey of widowhood and loss, and God spoke to me. It’s going to get lighter, I promise.

00:21:24:09 – 00:21:28:20
Unknown
Alright, I promise.

00:21:28:22 – 00:21:47:21
Unknown
God spoke to me and I love these kind of things. When God speaks. Now mind you, I had to live in that little house for nine months. I moved back in, got everything done and I had more pipes. Bus. I had to take up the floor that I push us put in and repaint and receipt rock, Okay, Lord I’m learning.

00:21:47:24 – 00:22:00:05
Unknown
Okay, so in the process of all of this, the Lord spoke to me and said, I want you to go on a cruise. I said.

00:22:00:08 – 00:22:21:10
Unknown
I’m feeling that God can you could you spoke that about a year ago when I was in that little house, writing on my little notes all over to myself and renewing my mind, and he spoke to me and said, I want you to go to a cruise, and I want you to pick up the pen, and I want you to pick up the paper, and I want you to begin to write.

00:22:21:12 – 00:22:45:26
Unknown
I said, that’s awesome. When got myself a pretty little notepad with all kinds of flowers on it, I got myself a really cute pen and a new a new, you know, whole thing, I was ready. Not only that, God spoke to somebody else. I was really thankful for this too, that they were going to pay for it. Oh.

00:22:45:28 – 00:23:09:12
Unknown
So I was, you know, I was had it all worked out. God spoke to me. Yes, he paid for it. Yes. I got my new journal. Yes, I’m going to write. I just knew that God was getting ready for me to write. I was like, awesome. I had it all planned out. Now, mind you, one of the last vacations my husband and I did was a cruise.

00:23:09:19 – 00:23:37:07
Unknown
Now, I knew I needed to go on this cruise to face that loss. That was one place he was always himself. And so I have lots of great memories and I knew I had to face that, but I had it all planned out. I got on an hour before the ship left. I was probably the last person to get on the cruise, and I get to my room, and there was a lot of emotions going across the gangway.

00:23:37:10 – 00:23:58:13
Unknown
Even though I knew God had spoke, there was quite a few emotions. I get to my room and I’m sitting there and obviously I got on so late. I have no luggage. How many in here? Cruise. They understand the process. Yeah. So I’m sitting there and I’m like, okay, Lord, you spoke to me to be here. I got all my stuff together.

00:23:58:13 – 00:24:23:00
Unknown
And he says to me, yeah, he said, did you interview the captain when you got on here? I was like, no. He said, do you trust him? Yeah. He said, are you on trust Me? I was like, yeah, you know, I will. He said, did you? This is the Lord. I mean, he talked to you like that, but he talks to me like this.

00:24:23:00 – 00:24:51:19
Unknown
He said, did you interview the chefs? I was like, no, he said, but you’re going to eat, right? I was like, yeah. He said, good. So you trust him? I was like, yeah, yeah, I trust him. Okay, good, because I’m getting ready to take you on a journey. I was like, great, Hallelujah. I want to go there. So I, I’m on this thing and I know enough about cruising because we did a lot.

00:24:51:21 – 00:25:15:02
Unknown
I was like, okay, I need my strategy. I got my book, my pen. But it was the first night and the Lord had also spoke to me and said, don’t ever not be dressed with your makeup on and never miss a meal. And I was like, this is very strategic. So I didn’t have my I was already looking cute, but anyway, so I didn’t need to change and I didn’t need my stuff.

00:25:15:02 – 00:25:30:17
Unknown
I had my makeup on it. I always had my lipstick on because that’s important part of who I am. And so if you don’t like him, says, okay, I have to have it no matter when or how. But anyway, so I’m on this cruise ship and I find myself going down to find out where I’m going to eat at.

00:25:30:23 – 00:25:54:06
Unknown
And I know enough about getting there early, because my husband put that in me that we can get the best seat if we go early. And I had my strategy, I wanted to get there early so that I could sit by the window. So if nobody talked to me, I’d have something to look at, right? Because I’m by myself and I’m looking cute, but I’m still apprehensive about what this is all about.

00:25:54:07 – 00:26:14:25
Unknown
And can I do this alone? I get down there in the lady said, oh, you’re just a bit early. I said, well, I can’t he she said, oh no, no, no. She said, you’re going to have to go sit over there in that bar. I was like, okay, well, I like virgin strawberry daiquiris, right? So I’m not a drinker, but I love a virgin strawberry daiquiri.

00:26:14:25 – 00:26:30:13
Unknown
So I got myself a virgin Strawberry Dockery. And I’m just sitting there and the guy this guy comes up to me goes, hey, welcome to the single mingles.

00:26:30:15 – 00:26:53:04
Unknown
I said, what? He said, come on over. He said, we’re right over here. All the single mingles are here and come on over. I’m like, no, I’m good. No, I’m good. I but I had my daiquiri right. So I looked singly mingling, I guess. And I’m just sitting there and he goes, no, no, no, you were single. Mingle.

00:26:53:04 – 00:27:07:18
Unknown
And I’m like, no, you know, because I wasn’t calling my widow then. I mean, I’m, I’m just like, looking cute and just want I just don’t know what’s happening all of a sudden. I’m in this party.

00:27:07:20 – 00:27:47:13
Unknown
When single mingles. So this girl comes over and her name is Talia, which is one of my granddaughter’s names. And she goes, cheers. She obviously doesn’t have a virgin anything. And she sits down and she begins to to talk to me. Right. And she’s talking and pouring out her. I don’t know, I’m saying to the Lord, I didn’t, I didn’t I didn’t come for this, does it does it, does it say on my forehead, talk to me, I can help you?

00:27:47:15 – 00:28:07:06
Unknown
Is there like something there? And she’s continually to talk to me about her. She broke up with her boyfriend. I mean, it was it was like dramatic. And I’m barely listening because I’m like, I’m arguing with God in my head going, I didn’t come onto this. You told me to get a book. You told me to get the pen.

00:28:07:08 – 00:28:30:05
Unknown
You told me I was going to write. You told me. And here I am in the middle of a counseling session in a single mingle. So I just sat there and was kind because that’s who I am. All of a sudden, Jeff comes over with Daisy, shoes on and Daisy’s on his pockets and he’s got this thing on and I’m like, hey!

00:28:30:06 – 00:29:01:19
Unknown
And he goes, cheers! With his drink. He sits down. I said, hi, Jeff, where are you from? And he goes, New York. I’m like, great. He sits down. Now we’re all in this conversation and I’m sitting there arguing with the Lord. This is not on my forehead. God, I did not come on this cruise for this to happen.

00:29:01:22 – 00:29:33:19
Unknown
I came here to be with you. You told me we were going to write. So anyway, long story short, I was in the party and I wasn’t single mingling because these two characters had me pouring out their heart. And I have to be honest, I wasn’t really listening because I was too busy worrying about the plant. I got back to my room.

00:29:33:22 – 00:29:42:10
Unknown
Y actually went Nate by myself. And I got back to the room and the Lord said, are you ready to listen now?

00:29:42:12 – 00:30:11:27
Unknown
Because I’ve called you to be a light in darkness. I’ve called you to tell your story. I’ve called you to do this. And you were so busy about the plan that you could not see or hear what was happening in front of you.

00:30:11:29 – 00:30:44:05
Unknown
And I said, Lord, I get it, I get it. I began to say on that cruise, and I did begin to write, and I began to see God and hear him in a totally different way. I would say today, how many of us, we get so much in the plan that we forget to hear and be in his presence in the now.

00:30:44:08 – 00:31:08:08
Unknown
Now, do I believe God set me up in that single mingle? There’s no doubt, there’s no doubt. But he taught me the biggest lesson of my life, and that was to be learned, to be present in his presence and learn to be present in someone’s life.

00:31:08:11 – 00:31:16:28
Unknown
Because I was too busy arguing with God, I really couldn’t hear their pain.

00:31:17:01 – 00:31:39:17
Unknown
And that’s when I began to see things differently. Father, I thank you for your word today. I think what you. Oh, God, what you’re doing in this house and in this place. And we love you. In Jesus name. Amen. Now I gotta hurry like fast. I want you to turn with me to Jeremiah 38.

00:31:39:19 – 00:31:57:02
Unknown
I’m going to read this real quick, and then we’re going to talk about a few little things, and we’re going to go. Verse seven says, but now pastor Pat was helping me before we left the house, how to say this name, because obviously I was saying it wrong.

00:31:57:04 – 00:32:17:21
Unknown
So he got on and taught me how to say it. So I’m still not say it. Right? Right. It’s called. But he begged me. LEC there we go. Was I good? Yes. An official in the royal palace heard what they had done to Jeremiah and put him in the cistern while the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate.

00:32:17:21 – 00:32:37:19
Unknown
That’s where they make decisions at e well, bed. Melek, I’m going to keep my little note here. So I say it right. Went out to the palace and said to him, he petitioned the king, my lord, the king. These men have acted wickedly in all they have done to the Jeremiah the prophet. Now, now, Jeremiah has been preaching.

00:32:37:19 – 00:33:04:14
Unknown
He’s been and he’s been a prophet to this nation for years. And the King had thrown him into other miry clay. He’d throw him into a cistern. And this is this eunuch. This is this man who was a servant in the house, and he was petitioning the king to get Jeremiah out. They have thrown him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, where there was no longer any bread in the city.

00:33:04:17 – 00:33:32:09
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Verse ten. Then the king commanded, oh, boy, let me get my thing. That person the night to take 30 men from here with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies. So I got to look at it again. Pastor Pat ibid. Melek. Y’all know you can’t say it either. That’s all right. So even Melek took the men with him and went to the room.

00:33:32:09 – 00:34:05:02
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I want you to listen to this. Under the treasury in the palace. He took some of the old rags and worn out clothes from there, let them down with the ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ibid Melek said to Jeremiah, put those old rags and worn out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes. And Jeremiah did so, and they pulled him with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern.

00:34:05:04 – 00:34:22:25
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Now Jeremiah obviously was in this place because of the gospel or gospel, but what he was preaching across the land he was in there, he was put in there into this muddy pit. And I don’t know about you today, but I shared with you my muddy pit.

00:34:22:28 – 00:34:46:10
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I would believe there’s probably people in here today that probably have not similar circumstances, but maybe circumstances that you didn’t know you were going into a season. But in this pit there was Jeremiah. I can only imagine what he was saying to God. He was saying, wait a minute, God, you said you have a plan over my life.

00:34:46:12 – 00:35:12:03
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Wait a minute, God, you said this. But sometimes God’s promises over our life doesn’t seem to match our present circumstances. Sometimes we’re put into things that we never thought we’d have to go through. But let me tell you something in this passage God is always working somewhere in some way. Jeremiah could not see the workings, but God could.

00:35:12:03 – 00:35:36:28
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Jeremiah was thinking that God was moving in this servant to be able to get him out. While we might be wondering what God is in God is doing, he’s always working in your story. When I was in probably the darkest pit of my life, I didn’t realize all the things that were really going on above me that God was working in my behalf.

00:35:36:28 – 00:36:14:22
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And in this story it says he took 30 men, 30 men, the 30 men in the number 30 in the gospel says represents dedication, spiritual maturity, readiness, major task and a calling to a leadership role. So here we have Melek. We’ll just call him Melek. Let’s just do that. We have because I keep getting Melek now in this place that God had called him, that the king said, yeah, go get Jeremiah out.

00:36:14:23 – 00:36:30:25
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They were in the palace. Remember what we said under the treasury and the rags there was royalty and rags all in the same place.

00:36:30:27 – 00:37:11:24
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There was royalty and rags, and he had 30 men with him. The palace had wealth and the kingdom, and discarded items that seemingly had no purpose. But this man, this servant, he took those rags, and he said to his servants, get the rags. It doesn’t say this does, is my paraphrase. Get the regs, let’s tie them together, because I believe those rags represented each and every one of us.

00:37:11:26 – 00:37:39:03
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The things that we’ve walked through, the stains in our life that God has redeemed, our stories, the things that have been. We were so broken. But yet those rags and those discarded items that the enemy would put as no purpose at all. God was redeeming them all. If they would have thrown one of those coins from the treasury to help Jeremiah out, it would have sunk to the ground.

00:37:39:05 – 00:38:07:14
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If they were to try to throw some silver that was in there, it would have what sunk to the ground. But God. But but the king said, go to the treasury. And there were rags there. And Melek decided with his 30 men, we’re going to tie these rags together, because the Scripture says that they had to get Jeremiah out with Thrax.

00:38:07:16 – 00:38:35:19
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They had to get Jeremiah. Jeremiah was already in there, and he was already no food, no water, no anything. Mud, they say, was probably to his waist, deep cut, bruised. And you had a man that had a courage enough to go to a king and say, we need to get Jeremiah out. And the only thing he had was the dirty rags.

00:38:35:21 – 00:39:05:28
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Our stories, my story, your story, your scars, my scars, your healing, my healing. The rags are stories. Not pretending that we’ve never been broken, but allowing God to redeem us in our story. See, I believe that this is our stories for his glory. It’s our stories. When God spoke to me and said, I want you to be a light and darkness, what do you think that was for?

00:39:05:28 – 00:39:30:09
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For his glory. Not for my glory, but for his glory. Every day I when I get up, I say, Lord, who do you want me to touch today I was on the plane yesterday and I was way behind and God spoke to me and said, go talk to the flight attendant. And I went and I talked to the flight attendant and I knew I had an open door.

00:39:30:11 – 00:39:41:04
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My story for his glory, my story for his glory. Those rags I, I.

00:39:41:06 – 00:39:51:07
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Brought something with me a little bit. Pastor Pat helped me today and he got me some rope.

00:39:51:09 – 00:40:02:02
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And see the Scripture says that he they had to throw rope down there. I do this right. He’s teaching me out of the house how to do this.

00:40:02:04 – 00:40:34:08
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Now we’re going to pretend that this rope is really soft rope. But during that time, that rope was so horrible that it was literally could cut Jeremiah’s arms. It could cut and blemish him even more than the pain he was in. But Melek and his 30 men through not he threw the rope. That was very good.

00:40:34:10 – 00:41:16:14
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I’m really proud of myself. He threw the rope and then he said to Jeremiah, I’m going to. I want you, Jeremiah. I want you to take. These rags, these old stained rags. Your story, my story, the redemption story of who God made us to be. Jeremiah. Jeremiah, wrap that rope around you. We don’t want you cut anymore than the already you’ve been cut.

00:41:16:16 – 00:41:28:23
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We don’t want you in the pain anymore than already have you been been pain. So I’m coming down. You might have to help me back up. But I’m coming down.

00:41:28:26 – 00:41:37:00
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See, when I was in my pit and my my reclaim.

00:41:37:03 – 00:41:42:20
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There were people in my life.

00:41:42:23 – 00:41:47:11
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And they’re right here.

00:41:47:13 – 00:41:55:25
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And they threw me the wreck.

00:41:55:27 – 00:41:58:21
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Don’t let it go.

00:41:58:24 – 00:42:10:03
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They threw me the wreck. And the more I sunk, the more they pulled.

00:42:10:05 – 00:42:21:22
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Because they weren’t afraid of my pain. They weren’t afraid of my story.

00:42:21:24 – 00:42:27:24
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Pastor Pat, he wasn’t afraid.

00:42:27:26 – 00:42:52:12
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Of my story. In my pain and who I used to be. They saw me for who I am now. And the God called me and Pastor Shelly and Jonathan. They held on to the rag because they said, you’ve been bruised.

00:42:52:15 – 00:43:01:29
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Too much. We want you to put this rag under your heart.

00:43:02:01 – 00:43:33:23
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And it’s going to not have you suffer. They weren’t afraid of pain. God has called each one of us. We all represent a story in this rag, every one of us. This is our stories. We’ve some of us. Maybe some of you might be in the Jeremiah right now where you’re in the thick of it and you don’t know how you’re going to get out.

00:43:33:23 – 00:43:47:19
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But some of you might be the me that God has healed and you see redeemed in your story. My question is to you this morning, what are you doing with your story?

00:43:47:21 – 00:44:08:15
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What are you doing with your testimony? What are you doing with what God has given you? Because there’s somebody just like me that looks like they have it all together. That looks like on a Facebook and Instagram that everything’s pretty because she wears her lipstick.

00:44:08:17 – 00:44:58:05
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But she slowly was sinking into the mirror, clay quickly and fast. But there was a group of people that tied themselves together and threw that rag, not only to me, but to Jeremiah and to you. Please sit under your armpits, Jeremiah, and we’re going to pull you out. You had a man. You had a servant man that not only had enough courage to do what he was supposed to do, to go before the king for somebody, but you also had a man that understood what God gave him.

00:44:58:07 – 00:45:19:20
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He saw the rags, and he used them. All of us connected together in this body can pull somebody from their pain. Because your story, it matters.

00:45:19:22 – 00:45:43:10
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God is always moving in our midst. When I was here, I’m going to end it with this. I skipped over a whole lot of stuff. But when I was here at me walk, six months after my husband passed away, and a few a week before that, I had driven to Branson to do a.

00:45:43:12 – 00:46:11:20
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For 20 years we did pastors and leaders. Leaders called the gathering. We were doing that because we understood the power of relationships before a lot of people did, and we loved every person that was there. When I did this, after my husband died, I had no idea if anybody would show up, but they did. I was leaving that gathering and did two of them with a group of people.

00:46:11:22 – 00:46:36:15
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I can’t do it alone. But I was there and I was so thankful for what God had done at that time. I was carrying my husband’s phone as well with me, not because I needed it, but because he had so much on it that I had to learn in. My things would come through and I didn’t know. And I got into the car and I had driven to this place by myself for five hours, which was new and different for me.

00:46:36:16 – 00:46:59:00
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Six months after he died and I got in the car after leaving a lunch that day with all those pastors and leaders, and on my way home at of Branson, the car no, mind you, already driven it five hours there and I was there for like ten days connected to my husband’s phone.

00:46:59:03 – 00:47:10:17
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And the song came on. There. You are so beautiful to me.

00:47:10:19 – 00:47:49:12
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You are so beautiful to me. Can’t you see you’re everything I hoped for and everything I need? I burst into tears and cried most of the way home because I knew God had given me that moment. That was our favorite song, and so many times he had on his playlist because he would reach over and grab my hand and say, you are so beautiful to me.

00:47:49:14 – 00:48:13:14
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One week later, I was here in Me Walk village up at the lodge, and we were doing the exact same gathering with a different group of people. God moved as he always does because he’s a faithful God. And we finished everything. And I got up and Pastor and Pastor Pat were there, and I had only told one person about that situation in Branson.

00:48:13:16 – 00:48:33:15
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That was Amanda, and she was sitting on the front row, and I was so thankful for that time. And I was just like, it was a reassurance that God was with me and all the things. It was six months, just apparently six months after he died. Well, well, about six months. So I’m here and I get up to tell the people, the pastors, thank you for coming.

00:48:33:23 – 00:48:57:15
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Thank you for coming. Thank you for coming. And out of the blue. We prayed. We were done. There was a pastor’s wife that stood up and she goes, I have to say something. And she said, no, actually, I have to sing something.

00:48:57:17 – 00:49:04:10
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And I don’t sing. And she couldn’t.

00:49:04:12 – 00:49:08:09
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But this is what she sang.

00:49:08:12 – 00:49:15:28
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You are so beautiful to me.

00:49:16:01 – 00:50:02:13
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You are so beautiful to me. Can’t you see you’re everything I hoped for. And everything I need. You are so beautiful to me. That time I knew God was with me. No one in that room knew of the moment I had in the car coming from Branson, Missouri. But Amanda. And you think God’s not in the details of your life?

00:50:02:17 – 00:50:36:01
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And you think he didn’t put those rags right there for me? Me luck, me luck to be able to get. And you think your story doesn’t matter. God is always working in your behalf, and he’s always working and moving and detailing every little thing that you are going through. And I just wanted to end today by saying, you are so beautiful.

00:50:36:03 – 00:50:49:26
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To me. God is saying that over you today. If you could get the keyboard to come.

00:50:49:28 – 00:51:17:06
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I know this was probably not a message for everybody in here, but if you feel like you could like identify with Jeremiah today, you felt abandoned. Stuck, maybe in the mud, disappointed. Or maybe you do feel like bed Melech.

00:51:17:08 – 00:51:29:16
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All God’s asking you to do is to become the rope. A handful of rags and compassionate.

00:51:29:18 – 00:51:33:22
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In someone’s pain.

00:51:33:24 – 00:52:06:27
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Every one of us have gone through something today. So wherever you are and you find yourself in this story, it’s not over. God is still in your story and he wants you to share yours. You are a light and darkness for his glory, and it’s your story for his glory.

00:52:06:29 – 00:52:13:00
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It’s your story for his glory.

00:52:13:03 – 00:52:20:12
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So, father, we thank you today.

00:52:20:15 – 00:52:47:10
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Oh God. We give you praise and we give you honor, and we love you, Lord. And you’re always in our story. You’re always in the details, and you’re always working things out for our good. And we love you, Lord. And we give you praise this morning.

00:52:47:13 – 00:52:54:11
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For everything you’ve done and everything you are.

00:52:54:14 – 00:53:09:18
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Your our King and our Lord. And we love you, Jesus. Thank you, Pastor Jonathan and Shelly. Thank you, Pastor Celine and Pat.

00:53:09:20 – 00:53:28:06
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Thank you. Be what?

00:53:28:09 – 00:53:54:25
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Pastor Kathy for your vulnerability and your love. We love you. We honor you today. Amen and amen. Church. I know God is speaking to so many of us, right? He’s speaking exactly where we are. And he has a plan and he has plans for us. Amen. So, Lord, we thank you for today. We thank you for your word.

00:53:54:25 – 00:54:25:23
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We thank you for your presence. Lord. We pray that as we leave this space that you would go with us, that your presence would be with us in our homes and our jobs, and every place that we walk that we would bring the light of you wherever we go to bring you glory. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. We’d like to invite you over across the way to our fellowship hall, as it’s our custom as our house that we do.

00:54:25:25 – 00:54:30:09
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We eat lunch together and we have people that have prepared food if you’re visiting. So please.