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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Brunch and Bible where we navigate womanhood through the Word. I'm your host, Heaven, and this is more than a podcast, it's a movement. At Brunch and Bible, women gather, grow spiritually, embrace the complexities of life through word driven discussions, and find practical applications for their own journeys. In this episode, we kick off our brand new season as I'm joined by my dear friend as we talk about resilience, what it really means to endure through hard seasons, the role of community, and how God meets us in the middle of it all. This one is raw, honest, and full of encouragement for anyone who's felt stretched, tested, or just plain tired. Let's get into it. Welcome everyone to season four. Wow. We went through season three and I hope that it, it blessed you. I hope you were encouraged. I hope you were able to draw so many different nuggets. But now we are onto the new season four and I'm so excited to get into this new season with you. There's gonna be so many topics that we discuss, some real deal raw stuff, and we're still on becoming the real you in 2025. This episode, we are dealing with hardships, enduring hardships. And I'm just so grateful I have my guest here, Ms. Wanga, who is again, not a stranger to Brunch and Bible. She has blessed us so many times before. Like, I just have my, my set people that have to make an appearance, you know what I mean? Like, I can't go through a season without, you know, some of my girls coming. And so Wonga, we're happy to have you.
- [01:45]
B
I'm happy to be here. Thank you. Heaven.
- [01:46]
A
Wonga is one of my big sisters. We went to school together, went to Purdue University, and she was literally just someone that I held on to by, by, by the, by the curtails of the coattails during my college experience. And I just thank God that even after school our paths have crossed. But now, like in Christ.
- [02:11]
B
Oh, yeah.
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A
You know, it's just, it's so crazy. It's like night and day. But today we're not going to get into the college stuff. Please, not this time. We're going to talk about enduring hardships. And as women, I just think that this topic is so important to us because we go through so many seasons.
- [02:33]
B
Absolutely.
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A
You know, the, the book of Ecclesiastes talks about how there's a season for everything. There's a time to mourn, there's a time for joy, there's a time for all sorts of different things. And so when we enter seasons of hardship, we need a word to hold on to. Right. We need something to encourage us because it's hard.
- [02:54]
B
It gets hard.
- [02:55]
A
Right. And so I just want us to dive right in to the topic of dealing with hardships. As a Christian woman, how to navigate it. I want us to start off with the scripture, Job 13, verse 15. And it says, though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him? Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. But I want us to focus on that key part in the beginning, that though he slay me, that. That. That's just so. That is so gruesome.
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B
Gruesome, gruesome.
- [03:31]
A
Though he slay me, yet I will still trust him. What are your initial thoughts about this topic of enduring hardship as Christian women?
- [03:41]
B
Honestly, I agree with you that we do pass through these seasons. And one thing about it, you're going to go through a season of hardship. Yeah. You know, you might have things that are all dandy and fine, but there's going to come a time where you go through these hardship. But I think for me personally, what I've learned is that we go through these hardships to grow. We go through these hardships to learn something. We go through these hardships to hopefully take lessons with us. And so though it's, you know, like Job was saying, though he slayed me, yet I trust him. It's. It's really difficult. It's really hard. It's really raw. But at the end of the day, there is a gain at the end.
- [04:17]
A
I love how you said that, because sometimes we go through our Christian walk and we think that everything is going to be a bed of roses. And I think we talked about this in our last season a bit. But we really want to know how to navigate those seasons because they're inevitable. And like you said, there is always gain for your pain. Right. And I. I want you to just take us through. Take us through one of the hardest seasons of your life.
- [04:52]
B
Yeah.
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A
Whatever you feel comfortable with sharing with us, you know, as real and raw as you want to get, I think that it'll help anybody. You know, like the hardest season of your life. But how God had you navigate through that season and when, you know, he came through for you, see the other side.
- [05:09]
B
Yeah. So the one season that I think just overtakes the rest of the hard seasons that I've had in this life is last year, 2024, I was actually unemployed for 11 months. And so that in itself is hard. But I think what made it even harder was where I was working before. Okay, so I was working at my home church, actually full time. I was in the creative ministries. Know, I was running this race. And I was like, okay, God, you open this door. You have so much purpose. You know, the pastor is from the lead pastor to the, you know, associate pastor to my direct, you know, creative pastor are pouring into me, you know, prophesying over me like, oh, you're going to do great things. We're so glad to have you here. And then next thing I know, December, we're sorry, we have to lay you off. And at that time, it was like, we cannot offer you any, you know, anything else, but we just have to let you go. And it's not personal. We love you. We don't know what this is going to, where this is going to leave, but we have to lay you off. And so I immediately was angry, of course, and I, you know, started to kind of really dislike this, the environment that I was in, because this is my home church. And this is after, you know, God had led me to sow seeds into this church. God had led me to sacrifice time, effort. You know, God had had me do a lot of things for this particular place. And so to be hurt by it and then to be in a place to be an adult woman and be unemployed, that's tough. It was like, God, do you hate me? Like, don't really be like that. It was like. It was like, God, do you. Do you actually hate me? You know, and so this season that I just passed through, you know, because it started January and it ended November. So we are not. We're not too far removed from it. You know, that was absolutely the hardest season that I've been through. And I'm somebody who. I've lost my father. I lost my father when I was hard. Season. I've been through things, but this particular season, when you think that this is the place that God wants you, when you think that you. When you see so much in the future and then it gets ripped from you, and then you're left in this place of a wilderness, a desperation, desolation, isolation. And you're having to deal with the feelings, you're having to deal with the problems, but you also don't have any money, you don't have any resources. You're kind of in this place where you're like, I'm an adult. I want to go out. I want to have fun with friends. I want to buy clothes. I want to, you know, I want to feed myself. And that absolutely was just very difficult, trying to, you know, figure it out. Because at the same time, I'm applying for jobs, I'm meeting people, I'm networking, I'm asking friends, I'm asking family. Like, people are connecting me. And I'm interviewing. I'm going to second round.
- [08:12]
A
You're not sitting down on your own, my dear.
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B
I'm going to second round. I'm going to third round. I'm meeting CEO, vice president direct. You know, I'm doing all the things and it'll come to. Sorry, we went with another candidate. Oh, Wong is our favorite. You know, one. One job actually called my references and they're telling them, like, oh, Wong is our favorite candidate right now. Like, we love her, we love her energy. Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. And these are even Christian organizations, actually, mind you. And they're like, we love her, we love her energy. You know, we see so much promise. And then a week later, oh, we decided to go with another candidate. And so I got to this place where I was just like, yeah, it's official, guy. You actually hate me.
- [08:52]
A
Yeah, like, you don't like me.
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B
You actually don't like me. I don't know what I'm doing here. Like, why did you put me on this earth? You know? But it just was such a hard season because I was dealing with the feelings of church hurt.
- [09:05]
A
Yeah. So many different.
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B
So many different things I was dealing with. Okay, how am I going to. My car insurance. You know, I was dealing with, how am I going to put gas in my car? I was dealing with these jobs, don't want me. So it was like an identity crisis.
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A
It was like a lot of different things.
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B
It was just a lot of different things at once. And so that is like, the place that I feel like God really taught me about hardships.
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A
I'm going to pause you right there because I know that was about to break open another. But I. Before we segue off into what you're about to say, I want to highlight something that you. That you said that piqued my interest. And it was that you heard the Lord concerning these places. Right?
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B
Right.
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A
So there comes times in our walk where you will hear the Lord. Like, it's not even a matter of I don't know where I'm supposed to be. It's. I heard the Lord. No Lord, you told me to go to this place. And now the very place that you told me to go to, the door is being closed. You know, what. What do we do? What is the Mindset that we must have when our. Our seasons. Right. Don't match what God has shown us about a place or what he's told us about a place.
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B
Right.
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A
How, how. How can we navigate that? Like, what, what thought process should we have? And then you can segue into what you were going to.
- [10:33]
B
Of course. So I think this season, that's one of the biggest lessons I think, that God taught me in this season is what happens when the promise, or what you perceive as the promise, doesn't look like what's going on right now. And I think the first thing is like, you know, I had to come to a time, and probably. I came to this time, probably, like, October.
- [10:58]
A
Oh, wow. So that was like, the end.
- [11:00]
B
The end. I had to come to a. I had to come to a place in a time, and I had to really ask myself, myself, God, the things that I heard, the things that I saw, the things that people said, is that really what you said about this place? What I interpreted, is that really what you wanted for me in this space? You know, and me and the Lord actually did a deep dive, you know, specifically just on this particular situation. And the Lord showed me, like, purposeful times that he had placed me there to do certain things, you know, and I had now interpreted that, okay, if I do this thing, that means that it's going to lead to this.
- [11:38]
A
So I think you already made your own path.
- [11:41]
B
Yeah, I already added B and C where God only told me a, A. And so I think the biggest thing, when we're in those seasons, we have to go back and ask ourselves, is this really what God promised me? Because sometimes also, this is no shade to anything, but sometimes we'll have parents, preachers, teachers, friends who will speak into us and will say certain things, you know what I'm saying? And we'll take those things and we'll hold on to them as if they're the promises of God. And what we have to be careful with is knowing that people can come alongside us to encourage us, but they don't have the full truth.
- [12:16]
A
Right.
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B
Even if they are the most powerful prophet of God that this side of the world has seen, they do not have the full truth because they are human. Exactly. And so the first step, I think, is going back and really asking and seeing, okay, God, what is it that you actually promised me? And I think one problem, you know, to be very frank, that a lot of us have in this day and age is we don't look into the word of God for his promises. We look to what maybe a pastor said on Sunday as a promise, or we look as to what we thought as a promise. And so the first step is, what does the word of God say for me? So for me, in that season, God said that he's my provider and he's never going to leave me or forsake me. Okay, has he been providing wanga, your car note, your car note is paid, your car insurance is paid, your gas is paid. That seems like provision to me, right? You know, do I still have access to God? Can I still pray to Him? Is this word still available to me? Yes. So he hasn't left me, he hasn't forsaken me. So even though I feel like God, you haven't fulfilled your promises. The truth of the matter is, if I look in the word of God, he actually has. He actually has. You know what I'm saying? And so we get to a place where it now changes our mind that, okay, what I thought wasn't God fulfilling His promises, was indeed him feeling fulfilling his promises that he actually promised me in His Word. And so I can take the words that, you know, these people have given me to say that, you know, you're going to do great things, you're going to do this, you're going to do that. I can take that. But now I need to reevaluate and say, okay, maybe that doesn't apply in this particular season. Right, May, this doesn't apply in this particular place. And then I can move forward. But I have to make sure that the promises of God that I'm, I'm, I'm holding on to are truly the promises of God and not what I seem to have added to his promises.
- [14:09]
A
That's an amazing thought process. And you know, even as you're speaking, it's not what, but why do you get what I'm saying? So God placed you in this season or under these circumstances, what is the reason why we have to really sit in the face of God and be like, lord, I know you don't hate me, although it feels like you do, right? What is the reason? Because God is not a God who just does things anyhow, and he doesn't just put his children through things, right? But my, my Bible tells me, right, that in James 1, verse 2 to 4, it says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect worth, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So that means that behind every trial, behind every hardship, there is A specific thing that God is trying to produce in you.
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B
Exactly.
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A
Everything is so that he can produce something in you. We'll get back to that. We'll get back to that because we'll talk about what that pulled out of you. Right. But I also want us to talk about hardship in that. It's not that. I was actually reading Genesis. I was, sorry, preparing for a meeting. And I was reading Genesis 16, I believe. And it's the story of Hagar. And we know the story of Hagar. We know that Hagar was the Egyptian female slave to Abraham and Sarai While they were trying to conceive, instead of believing in the promises of God, they went to ulterior motives to try to fulfill the promise. And so now this young girl being dragged into a situation she had nothing to do with, literally, the Lord really opened my eyes to the perspective of Hagar. Right. Not only is she a slave, she has no say in what is being done with her body.
- [16:08]
B
Exactly.
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A
Or who she is, period. They don't care about that. And so now she has to be forced to sleep with her master to carry a son that she didn't even ask for. Right. So now we see her being afflicted even in her pregnancy. We like, we actually have to look at Hagar for real and see what she went through. And we see that once we see her flee, the angel of the Lord tells her to go back to your servant, your. Your master's house. And she encounters Elroy, Right. And so a second time after Ishmael is now born, we now see that she goes, she. She's forced to flee again because of the hardship. And under this circumstances, the Lord, because it was Sarai that was complaining, saying that this lady thinks she's running stuff around here. She now she's running her mouth to Abraham. And Sarai's like, you need to do something about this girl. Yeah, okay. And now Abraham is conflicted because although that. That's not his promised child, that is still his son.
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B
That's still his child. Yeah.
- [17:15]
A
So now the Lord speaks to Abraham and he says, do as Sarai says. And I'm like, no, Lord, you.
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B
You hate Hagar.
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A
There's no way. Why would you say something like that?
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B
There's no way.
- [17:28]
A
Why would you say something like that? And the Lord then ministered to me that when God puts us through things like that, hardships, it's not so that we can suffer. It's to push us to a place of encounter. It's to push us to a place where we are able to see another dimension of him that we have not seen before. If Hagar did not go through the affliction, she would have never known that there's called a God who sees me, El Roy. She would have never, ever encountered that dimension of God. And so hardships actually push us because sometimes familiarity is the enemy of an encounter.
- [18:09]
B
Honey.
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A
When you're too comfortable.
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B
Yeah.
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A
You. You cannot encounter God or you think you know him. Exactly. It's. You cannot encounter God. So sometimes God introduces discomfort to push us into another season. And so it's. Because now when we look at your life.
- [18:30]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [18:31]
A
You know what I'm saying? As of today, we see what God was trying to do in you. But during those times, you're sitting there like, God, what does this mean?
- [18:41]
B
What is going on?
- [18:42]
A
11 months. No. No employment.
- [18:44]
B
No employment. Not in. No employment. Unemployment benefits either.
- [18:48]
A
And so you're literally. No. You were forced to see him as Jehovah Jireh.
- [18:54]
B
Literally. And you know what the crazy part is? I, for years was going up and down that. Oh, Jehovah Jireh. That's my favorite definition. That's my favorite name of God. Oh, he provides for me.
- [19:06]
A
Until he strips you of everything.
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B
Until he said, let me show you what really means to be your provider. Like, you haven't. You haven't seen nothing, babes. That was literally God sitting on the throne. Like, you haven't seen nothing. But literally, like, I used to tell everybody the. Oh, Jehovah. J. I'm telling you, like, that was like my passwords. Like, I. It was just, you know, and so it's so funny what he did in those 11 months. Really showing me the extent of his hand. Really showing me how he can provide. Like, how is it that I'm unemployed? I ain't got no job. These jobs keep telling me, no, I ain't got no employment benefits. And I'm gallivanting up and down this Indiana like somebody that has job. Like, literally people, I think even you, I saw you one time and you were like, I didn't even know you lost your job. As in, people were like, you didn't even lost your job.
- [19:59]
A
Like, what you were going through at all.
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B
I didn't lose any weight. I think I even gained weight. I didn't lose any weight. I didn't go without. I had clothes on my body. I had warm house to sleep in. Cool house during the summer months to sleep in. Like, I had food to eat. You know, I could go places with my friends. I could do things. And you know, obviously, it wasn't like I was just up and down doing things carelessly, but I. I, like, there's just so much. And for me, I'm a skincare babe. I'm a licensed esthetician. So even me, I'll go to Target. Not Walmart or Target.
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A
Target.
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B
And I'll pick up my skincare stuff and I'll just like, well, God, we're gonna make it work. I get to the. The checkout, bing. The car goes through. It's only you.
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A
Yeah. Not knowing.
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B
Not knowing somebody was like, oh, I just remembered some time ago, you paid this, this, and that for me. Here's the balance that I owe you. Like, that's literally how it would happen. Or somebody be like, hey, I feel like eating pizza. You want to come eat pizza with me? Why me? Go eat your pizza in peace. But they will come and get me, like, oh, I'll pick you up and everything. I'll open my door. Somebody has sent me Chick Fil A. Chick Fil A is on my door. So it's not even that I was eating, like, porridge or eating rice. Well, I was eating well, I was enjoying well. And I'm like, to this day, I'm still just so shocked that God, like, your hand really knows no bounds.
- [21:25]
A
Wow.
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B
Then on top of that, in that 11 months, I met my now husband.
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A
Guys, don't tell me that God don't exist. Don't tell me that he don't care about his children.
- [21:38]
B
Seriously. And I just. It really shocks me because I'm like, one. I'm somebody who. I am a recovering perfectionist. Let me say. I never thought that this season in which I would meet my husband, my husband actually would see me and be like, wow, I. Like, this woman would be a season where I'm, like, mentally unstable. One day I'm depressed. One day I'm. Oh, God is my strength. You know, no job. I'm even looking at my gas monitoring. Okay, I can go this place. I can't go this place. I can, you know, And I actually met my husband. My husband looked upon me and said, something is on this girl that I don't. That I just can't shake. Literally, like, get married, have a wedding while unemployed.
- [22:28]
A
Guys, I hope you're listening.
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B
I hope you're listening. Like, and it wasn't like, you know, Bella, Nigel or anything, but it was literally the most perfect ceremony that we needed for us, like, have a wedding while unemployed, like, and become married. And this is something that I have been praying for. Praying for praying for. And my husband himself had been praying for, praying for, praying for, only for the God to. For God to just do it just like that.
- [22:52]
A
Just like that.
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B
So he really showed me, like, girl, it don't matter what situation you're in, what season you're in, when I'm ready to just show you my hand, I'll show you my hand.
- [23:02]
A
Anyhow, what's the biggest testimony or the biggest way supernaturally the Lord provided for you in this season? I'm saying this because I feel as though somebody's watching and this will be something that they hold on to, to believe God for themselves.
- [23:18]
B
Biggest testimony. I mean, I want to say my husband truthfully, but I think it's that partnership in marriage. You know, I'm somebody who. I've kind of been hyper independent. And so through the 11 months, the Lord kind of showed me like a new level of. Of dependency. Like, it's okay to depend on me.
- [23:50]
A
Ah. So, okay, no problem.
- [23:53]
B
It's okay to depend on me. It's okay to be in a place of desperation. It's okay to ask for help. It's okay to not have it all together. And I think meeting my husband and my husband not necessarily being phased by the joblessness or being phased by any of this stuff. And actually my husband is like a thousand and ten times more resilient than I am. Like, hardships, my dear. That guy will go to bed, wake up the next day, it's like nothing happened. And so just like the Lord partnering with me, with somebody who I couldn't have even picked myself, I think that. So it's like it's him, but it's just like seeing the Lord's hand in him and in our partnership is really the biggest testimony. And just learning, I guess, even learning new dimensions of God through my husband.
- [24:44]
A
Yeah.
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B
And learning a new identity of myself in God through my husband, I think would be the biggest testimony.
- [24:50]
A
Yeah. As you're speaking, I actually feel the presence of.
- [24:52]
B
Of God. I really do.
- [24:56]
A
Yo, I'm trying to collect my thoughts because one thing that you said is that you're a recovering Ms. Independent. And so could it be that God took you through the 11 months not to inflict pain upon you, but so that he can actually prepare you quickly for wifehood? Because you can't do Ms. Independent. I'm going around, I'm doing whatever I want in your husband's home. Right. So maybe, I don't know, he was trying to teach you.
- [25:30]
B
It could very well be sis.
- [25:31]
A
It could very well be that, that's, that's insane. Eleven months, you have no job, so you're forced to depend on God. You're not getting any checks from anywhere. So literally, God is providing your daily bread. Like when you say daily bread. Yeah, that's what that is.
- [25:47]
B
Absolutely. And so, like, it's funny that you say that because I think one of the first dates my husband and I went on, I. We were leaving the restaurant and I went ahead of him and I touched the door and he literally like shoved me out of the way. He was like, why do you think you're a man? I said, oh, gosh. And you already know me. I'm Liberian firecracker. Very used to doing things my way. Everything wanted to rise up in me. And then, you know, I just said, you know what? It wasn't even me. It was the Holy Spirit said, my dear, simmer down, calm down. And when you speak about, like, God actually preparing me, he totally in a hundred percent was preparing me. Because I think about even our dynamic now. There's no way that I can come and do Big Madame in front of my husband. There's no way. There's no way that I can even obtain favor in his house by doing Big Madame. Like. And so absolutely, God was doing rapid fire preparation. Like, girl, come on, let's hurry up. And I would have never even seen it that way. But as I'm just kind of like reflecting and looking back and forth, I'm like, wow, God, like, everything that happened was truly for a reason. And I think even just like being in the space that I was, I couldn't say that, oh, like, my husband liked me because of this. My husband liked me because of that. Like, there's no deception that, girl, you didn't have nothing. He liked you because of you. It had to be because of you. So even like, as somebody who maybe suffers with like, like self esteem, self confidence, sometimes I think that that even was God's hand in. You need to know that this man likes you for, for you.
- [27:33]
A
In the, in the worst season of.
- [27:34]
B
Your life when you're going crazy.
- [27:36]
A
Yeah. When you don't feel like, oh, I don't have, you know, there, there's this thing where they say, you know, when your husband is coming, you need to be working out three times. You need to make sure you get your teeth clean and white, which you should do if you, if you can. But I think he was so intentional in knowing who you are and knowing the personal struggles that you have that, no, I'm going to have your husband meet you where you, you literally don't have anything.
- [28:01]
B
Teeth whitening wear. If you don't have $0.99 toothpaste to brush your teeth. Which one is getting whitened? Which gym membership can you do if you can't just do one loop around your house? Like literally that was it. And it's, it's interesting also because my husband met me in my sister's house. Not in my own house where I'm doing Ms. Independent. No, he met me in my sister's house.
- [28:26]
A
Your most vulnerable state where he had.
- [28:28]
B
To see where I was being like another level of crushing, another level of pruning. You know what I'm saying? And even him, he was shocked to learn when I was job. I think we had been like getting to know each other for maybe like 2ish months, 2, 3 months before he found out that I was jobless.
- [28:44]
A
Wow.
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B
And it wasn't even like, it just never came up because he just assumed I had a job. You know what I'm saying? And the crazy thing about that is, is this is kind of going off on a tangent, but the Lord actually had me stay in my church, you know, and serve in my church for free. 99. And so like when my husband saw me, he just assumed that hey, she's working here. Because who else would be in the church Monday through Thursday or Sunday through Thursday and emailing people and calling people and getting things together. So he just assumed. But little did he know I did not have a job.
- [29:20]
A
That's so crazy. To God be the glory though, I think that again, he's an intentional God. I think that's something that we need to get from this episode is that he is so intentional about you. And when he allows these things, again, it's not to wary you or it's not to make you feel like the whole world is against you or working against you, but that he's actually, he's the master planner.
- [29:46]
B
Absolutely.
- [29:46]
A
He has the full picture in mind. You just, just follow the journey. That's it. That's all he's.
- [29:53]
B
He's follow his coattails exactly.
- [29:55]
A
And he'll take you through. And now in this season, you can look back and say, yeah, ah, this is what you were trying to do, God. And so many times we get so stuck in the circumstances that we aren't able to see, you know, what God is trying to do. And so I actually want to talk about that. What were some negative coping mechanisms that God had to literally strip from you during this season of unemployment?
- [30:23]
B
So I think the biggest thing is like I love a good pity party. I like to put on sad music and just wail and soak and just soak and just be like I'm sad. I hate this. This sucks. Life is terrible. Like that's just my biggest thing. And so, so among other little habits. But I think one was like the hyper independence and trying to figure it out myself. But the biggest thing that I think he removed from me is that self pity. Because one thing he showed me was that as I kind of sit and wallow, I'm now making it my identity. And now I'm becoming that like pitiful girl. I'm becoming that pitiful woman. I'm becoming that pitiful person. And it's even and it causes me to like, you know, I guess one kind of push people away also push opportunities away also just like it just really self sabotage. It just really alters your reality when you sit there and you throw a pity party. And I think that God meets us in our feelings. He wants us to lament, he wants us to feel those things, he wants us to cry. But when we sit and make it our identity, we're playing music, we're calling ourselves sad. We're, we're feeding that energy, we're feeding that, you know, let's talk about it. We're speed, we're feeding that spirit.
- [31:38]
A
Exactly. It's what it is.
- [31:41]
B
It's going to come and sit on you, you know, and when that thing sits on you, it's harder to remove.
- [31:46]
A
Right?
- [31:47]
B
You know. And so I think that was the biggest thing that God took for me. Cuz I can even remember like from the beginning. January, I would have so many days of sadness, so many days of crying, so many days of lament. And then coming towards the end it's like, okay, I get a rejection letter. I feel sad. I might even cry, I might even really feel bad about it and disappointed. But I'm able to be like, you know what God, you're on the throne, what can we do? Let's move. You know. And so that was like the biggest thing I think he removed from me for sure.
- [32:18]
A
And I think to anybody who's watching this and they feel like they're in the season and they can't pull themselves out of that funk. The Bible actually commands us in it's first Thessalonians 5 verses 16 to 18 and it says rejoice always, pray without seizing in everything. Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So if you're ever asking yourself, what is the will of God for me? In any season of your life, it's to rejoice.
- [32:45]
B
Rejoice.
- [32:46]
A
Being actually. And it's not. It's not actually supposed to be like an oxymoron thing where it's like, oh, yeah, if I. If I. If I'm joyful, it'll trigger my next season. No, it's actually being thankful and grateful that you have a God who watches over you, that sees you, that knows you, that's actually walking with you. I think it says in Isaiah 42, or they're about that, when you go through the waters, I will be with you. You know, when you're going through, I. I am with you. I am Emmanuel God with you. I'm not. You're not here, and I'm not over there watching you go through what you're going through.
- [33:23]
B
Sitting just above, just right.
- [33:25]
A
Just watching. Right. But he's right there in the middle. And we talked about this in the last season. He's the God of the middle. He's alpha and he's omega, but he's also the God of in between, in the middle. And so I want us to talk about the role of your community Right. In this season, how important it is for the people who are around you when you're going through seasons of hardship.
- [33:49]
B
Yeah.
- [33:49]
A
What was that like, having the support?
- [33:51]
B
So it's extremely important. I. I would be nothing without the community that God gave me and the people that God put around me. You know, what's interesting about this particular season is he used the community that hurt me to heal me. And I. I fought God so much. When he was like, I want you to continue to serve this pastor, I said, why? No, I'm not doing it. That's crazy. You know, but obedience is better than sacrifice. So I took myself, I put my tilt in between my legs and I went there. And little did I know, like, he was going to use that same community to really just build me up.
- [34:31]
A
Yeah.
- [34:31]
B
You know, from like, monetary support.
- [34:34]
A
Wow.
- [34:34]
B
To just like, emotional support, to just provide, just being there, like, as an. An outlet, just bringing fun, bringing joy, bringing peace, just all those different things. He really used that same community to. To really heal me. And I feel like if you're in hardship, one thing the enemy will do is try to isolate you, of course. Because he can better attack you.
- [34:58]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [34:58]
B
He can better send his minions and his, you know, whoever to come and deal with you. But when you have community, you have people reminding you of the goodness of God reminding you of God's true character. And so God placed people around me that, you know, know him, love him, and can speak to his character. And not just speak to his character, but also exemplify his character. You know, we think about, you know, when, when you're reading first Thessalonians about having rejoicing and, and. And being able to be thankful. You know, like those types of emotions, the fruits of the spirits are contagious. If you're around somebody that's constantly joyful, it's hard to be in sorrow. If you're around somebody that's constantly thankful, it's hard to feel like you don't have anything going for you. You know what I'm saying? And so my community was very important.
- [35:48]
A
Yes.
- [35:48]
B
And during that time, there are some friends, you know, who now have been like, oh, you know, I feel like we didn't talk a lot in 2024. I feel like we didn't see each other in 2024. And unfortunately, but fortunately, we couldn't be around each other because I like pity parties and you like pity parties, too. What will we do if we get together and I'm telling you about my problems, we'll have pity parties. I love you. But in this season, it's just very important. Like, when you're in hardships, it's very important to be mindful of who you have around you because the energy is very contagious. People's spirits are ready to jump on you.
- [36:22]
A
Oh, yeah. They're ready to transference quick.
- [36:24]
B
You know what I'm saying? Quick. And so if you're around somebody that carries the fruit of the spirit, you're going to also feel the fruit of the spirit. If you're around somebody that carries darkness, you're unfortunately going to feel darkness. And so community is just so important when you're going through hardship.
- [36:37]
A
Absolutely. Beautiful. I want us to talk about one last thing before we. I feel like we wrap up. This is a very interesting question. Okay, so you were going through the season of hardship. At what point did you differentiate between, okay, this is God, or this is actually demonic oppression? Like, how can a woman know the difference? Right. And maybe it could have been a little bit of both. I don't know. Right. You'll tell us in a second. But I think that sometimes it's a little bit of a tug of war kind of between resting in God and just trusting the process and what he's doing. Versus, okay, I'm actually being attacked. My finances actually being attacked. My health is actually Being attacked. I need to stand up and enforce, you know, my freedom in Christ. So at what point, like, what was what and at what point did you realize which one was right?
- [37:37]
B
So I definitely think that this is something that I still struggle with, being fully transparent. I think it's something that I'm still learning. I think God is still taking me through this journey of kind of knowing what is what. But I think during last year, during that season, one thing that I learned is that, hey, you better enforce your authority no matter what.
- [37:57]
A
Okay?
- [37:58]
B
That's whether you. Whether you know what it's coming from or not. Get up and go ahead and start rebuking Satan. Yeah, just start rebuking Satan. Don't even, don't even worry about it. You're not going to offend God by repeating rebuking Satan.
- [38:09]
A
Okay, that's good.
- [38:10]
B
You know what I'm saying?
- [38:11]
A
Yeah.
- [38:11]
B
So if you get up and you say, I have headache, rebuke Satan. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, and so I think one thing that I learned is like, take that authority. You don't want to dance with Satan ever.
- [38:22]
A
No.
- [38:22]
B
You don't even want to have time to figure out, is this Satan or not? Rebuke him. God is not offended at you rebuking Satan. And so I think, like one is, go ahead and take your authority. Rebuke the devil, Rebuke his ways, Rebuke his. His minions, rebuke his partners. You know what I'm saying? Start there.
- [38:42]
A
Yeah.
- [38:42]
B
You know, and then I think it's in. This is why it's important for us to know the character of God.
- [38:47]
A
Yes.
- [38:47]
B
Because you will know that God does not want to see you in a place of. Yeah, there might be hardship and there might be tears. There might be, you know, desolation. But God doesn't want you, want you to be hopeless.
- [39:01]
A
Right.
- [39:01]
B
You know, Jesus Christ is our living hope. So if Jesus Christ is our living hope, God says we should carry the fruit of the spirit. Anything that looks contrary to that, I guess you can go. Go ahead and already assume it's Satan and just take your authority and start rebuking him. I think that, you know, last year I definitely went up and down trying to figure out, okay, is this Satan? Is this. You know, is this, Is this, is this, is this, is this. But I think you have to, one, really train yourself to know the character of God. But I think you also have to train yourself to. To. To look at the situation and try to see if there's beauty in the.
- [39:36]
A
Situation what you're going through. Yeah.
- [39:37]
B
You know, because one thing I knew for me is that when I first lost the job, I said, this ain't nothing but the devil. I said the devil is a liar.
- [39:47]
A
The devil is at work.
- [39:47]
B
I said the devil is at work here. I'm getting my job back.
- [39:51]
A
In Jesus name.
- [39:52]
B
In Jesus name, you know. But as I had conversations with the leadership at the church and they begin to, you know, let me know some things that truthfully they didn't have to let me know, but they started to talk to me and started to let me know. Though I was angry, I was upset, I began to see that, okay, there was a purpose, there's something, there's something here in this. It may not make me feel good, which God is not here to make us feel good, unfortunately. It may not make me feel good, but I can see that there's something going on here that's bigger than me.
- [40:23]
A
Right.
- [40:23]
B
And so I stopped saying, I stopped blaming Satan for me losing my job, you know, and then when I stopped there, I had to. Now look at, okay, what are, what, what's going on here? I don't have a job. I'm still not getting a job, but I'm being provided for.
- [40:40]
A
Yeah.
- [40:41]
B
Would Satan provide for me if he was taking away my job?
- [40:45]
A
He would strip you dry and leave you hanging. Right.
- [40:47]
B
Cuz he don't want to see anything good happen to me. And so I think, you know, you just have to know the character of God and you have to know the character of Satan.
- [40:55]
A
Yes.
- [40:55]
B
And so then you have to take those things and measure them against your current situation. Right. And we have to understand, Satan is not our friend. He does not want to see anything good happening to us at all. So if there's even small, little, tiny piece of goodness, hang on to that and know that God is with you.
- [41:13]
A
Yes. That's amazing. That's amazing. And another thing I just want to quickly touch on before we wrap up is that let's not extend our season of hardship because we're not learning.
- [41:26]
B
Hello.
- [41:27]
A
What we're supposed to learn.
- [41:29]
B
Hello.
- [41:29]
A
In those seasons. I remember a little bit ago the Lord had told me through somebody that the Lord's about to take, take you through a season of testing and you actually get to determine when this ends. If you learn what you need to learn, the season will not be long. However, if you choose to be hard headed and stubborn and not submit to the ways of God, you will be in that season for a long time, my dear. And I think I kind of took the word a bit lightly. I was like, okay, you know, I'm pretty obedient. I'm a pretty good Christian. Whatever. Yeah, right. You know, I will go through this one. Through Bada bing. Bada bing.
- [42:15]
B
Yeah.
- [42:15]
A
And then I start to realize that, okay, I'm in this season of testing, and if I don't get myself together, I did. I'm not gonna see the light of day. Because one thing with God is that he will produce that thing in you. He will like whether you like it or not. The patience, the faith, the end, whatever he needs to produce in you for destiny's sake. He had Moses in the backside of the wilderness. For how long?
- [42:44]
B
For how long?
- [42:46]
A
Okay, so let's not prolong the season of hardship, because we. Now that we know that there's purpose behind our pain, we know that, you know God is an intentional God and that you're not just going through the season because. Just because right now that you know that, submit and say, okay, God, not what, but why? Why? What is it that you're trying to do and for what purpose? Okay, Lord, you've said it. And so let's go. I know you're with me. I don't know how long we're going to do this, whether it's two months or it's two years or it's 20 years. Sometimes it's long. And I just. I just want us to encourage the women. Absolutely. I'll have you pray to end. But I want you, you know, even in your season of hardship. The Bible says. I believe it's in Psalms 1:21, if I'm not mistaken. It says, I will lift up mine eyes to the heels from whence cometh my help. Note that it says, I will lift up my eyes. So that means that you need to take your eyes off of your current situation. Your eyes are too fixed on what is going on around you. You're like Peter walking on water, looking at the waves and looking at.
- [44:06]
B
And.
- [44:06]
A
And panicking and sinking, when all he. All he wanted Peter to do was to look to him.
- [44:14]
B
Yeah.
- [44:15]
A
To look to him. And so know where your help comes from. Know the. The reason behind your hardship. And like. Like Wonga said, take your authority in Christ. One thing, one thing about it is that it's your identity. Always.
- [44:30]
B
Yeah.
- [44:30]
A
It's not something that you pick up and you put down.
- [44:33]
B
Yeah.
- [44:33]
A
Right. And so you're always a son. If you're always a son, that means you always have the authority of Christ. And so with all these keys I want us to be encouraged that. I know this is cliche, but trouble doesn't last always. Right. And understand what God is trying to produce in. In you to be a bonafide, authentic woman of God. Do you have anything for the people before you close us out in prayer?
- [45:00]
B
Yeah. So this verse, Psalms 71, 20, 21, you know, one thing about it is that when you go through hardship after experiencing that, you can have some trauma, you can have some. Some things that are in your mind that the. The devil will try to capitalize on. And this verse right here helps me through. Through, I think on like the latter end. Just kind of know that the Lord is renewing me.
- [45:24]
A
Yeah.
- [45:25]
B
I mean, it says, you have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. And I think that one thing that I just want, you know, the women to know is that God, you is your comforter and he's going to lift you up. Like you were saying, if it's two months, 20 years, whatever it is, God is going to lift you up. Jesus Christ finished the work on the cross thousands of years ago, and that is our hope.
- [45:57]
A
Yeah.
- [45:57]
B
So there's nothing. As long as you don't allow it, there is nothing that is going to keep you down for too long.
- [46:04]
A
Right.
- [46:05]
B
So that's just one thing that I want to encourage people on, but I'm ready to pray with.
- [46:10]
A
Yeah, why don't you. Why don't you pray us out and speak to the person on the other side of the screen and encourage them as you feel led.
- [46:18]
B
All right, no problem. Dear Heavenly Father, we. We thank you that you are a faithful God. Yes, God, we thank you that your character is not changed by our hearts. Your character is not changed by our circumstances, our situations. Oh God. Lord, we just give you all the honor and glory because you are great and mighty, oh God. You are alpha and omega, and you are the God of everything in between. So for the woman that is in the in between, oh God, we just speak to her spirit. Oh, Heavenly Father, we speak encouragement over her. We speak hope over her. We speak life over her. In the name of Jesus, Lord, we pray that you will surround her with a community that exemplifies your heart for her. We pray that you will surround her with a community that will lift her up in the fruits of the spirit. Oh, Heavenly Father, we pray, oh God, that you would show her, oh God, that you are good, that you are mighty, that you are all powerful. Oh heavenly Father, Lord, we pray that you will remind her of the authority that she carries as your daughter. Oh heavenly Father, Lord, we pray that you would open her mouth so that she can speak to the enemy and she can cause the enemy to flee. In the name of Jesus, we pray, oh God, that whatever shroud of darkness that exists on her shoulders will be removed right now in Jesus Christ's name. Lord, we pray, oh heavenly Father, that she would see the light of day again. Yes, oh heavenly Father, Lord, we pray that she would hold on to the hope that is Jesus Christ on the finished work of the cross. Oh heavenly Father, it is finished and it is done. Her salvation, her life, her hope has been sealed thousands of years ago and there is nothing and no one that can take it from her as so long as she keeps her eyes fixed on you. So we pray that her eyes will be fixed on you and that she will look towards you always. In the name of Jesus Lord, we know that we do not know the times and the seasons of when they will end or what will happen, oh God. But we pray that she will remain encouraged through it all. Oh heavenly Father. Lord, we pray that you would continue to speak to her, that you continue to remind her of who you are. We pray that she would have the courage to open her word to learn who you are, to learn your heart for her. To learn about your son Jesus. To learn about the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings us peace and comfort in this area age. Oh God. Lord, we thank you for her life. We thank you for the goodness that is to come. And we thank you for the goodness that's being produced even now. Oh God. That though she does not see it, there is goodness that is being produced even now. Oh heavenly Father, Lord, we seal everything that you are doing in the blood of Jesus. We seal this prayer in this time of. Of togetherness in the blood of Jesus. We pray, Lord God, that women would be positively impacted, Lord God, that women would understand that their hardships are not to be forsaken or not to be thr thrown away. Oh God. But they would embrace the lesson. They would embrace the time of hardship and know that you are God and you are God alone. They would know that you love them so deeply and so immensely and that there is nothing that can come against that love. Oh God, we thank you God. We thank you Abba. We thank you that you are good. We thank you that you love us. And it's in your mighty name that we pray today.
- [49:20]
A
Amen. Thank you so much for blessing us. This story, I know, is going to impact so many women that are dealing with various things, not only just employment, but any, any season of hardship. Whether it's you're dealing with your health, whether you're dealing with family issues or whatever, relationship issues, whatever have you. I pray that this episode has blessed you. And if it has, hey, I want you to, like, share, comment, subscribe even to brunch and Bible so that you can get more uplifting content to be a better you, to become a better you. And with that being said, we'll see you on the next episode. Bye.