0:00

This program is made possible

0:02

by the partners of Joyce

0:04

Meyer Ministries. You know,

0:06

if you have a guilty

0:09

conscience, you keep doing something

0:11

that your conscience condemns, you're

0:13

putting stress on yourself.

0:15

Just get an agreement

0:17

with God because he's not

0:19

going to change his mind. I'm

0:22

Joyce Meyer. I've seen God's power

0:24

transform my own life and he

0:26

will do it for you. Hi

0:30

everyone, Joyce is coming right up,

0:32

but first we want to invite

0:34

you to something brand new and

0:36

very exciting. Battlefield in the Mind

0:38

is Joyce's best-selling book. And for

0:40

the first time ever, she's dedicating

0:42

an entire conference to help you

0:45

think differently and in line with

0:47

God's Word. There are so many

0:49

more insights to overcoming negative thoughts

0:51

and more strategies to learn how

0:53

to win those battles that have

0:55

been raging in your mind. It

0:57

all happens April 24th through the

0:59

26th in Charleston South Carolina.

1:01

Also joining Joyce is John

1:04

Maxwell who has influenced leaders

1:06

and thinkers around the world.

1:08

Pastor Robert Medou of Social

1:11

Dallas Church who is passionate

1:13

about helping people to reach

1:15

God's full potential and worship

1:18

with Brian and Katie. Don't

1:20

wait, go to Joyce meyer.org/battlefield

1:22

live to register today. God's

1:25

answer for stress is rest.

1:27

But it's not just resting

1:30

your body, it's resting your

1:32

soul. And I want to

1:34

encourage you to start paying

1:37

more attention to what's

1:39

going on inside you.

1:41

Because that's where you

1:43

get tired. Do you

1:45

know that a day of

1:47

anger is like 40

1:49

hours of hard labor?

1:52

Unforgiveness will

1:55

just suck all

1:57

the energy right out

2:00

you. Don't be mad. Don't be

2:02

unforgiving. The people that you're mad

2:04

at are out having a good

2:06

time and they couldn't care less

2:09

that you're mad. You're not you're

2:11

not hurting them by being mad

2:13

at them or by not forgiving

2:15

them. It's just a devil's way

2:17

of you continuing to hurt yourself.

2:20

Just forgive them. Let it go.

2:22

When you're worried about something,

2:24

ask yourself. Is this going to

2:26

really matter in five years? You

2:29

know, it's not work that makes

2:31

us tired. It's what's going

2:34

on inside of us while we

2:36

work. And the Bible says we

2:38

live in two places. My feet

2:40

are on this platform,

2:43

but I'm also seated

2:45

in heavenly places with

2:47

Christ Jesus. That the rest

2:49

that God offers us is not

2:51

a rest from work, but it's

2:54

a rest in work. And it's

2:56

all about your soul. You

2:58

know, if you have a guilty

3:00

conscience, you keep doing something that

3:03

your conscience condemns, you're

3:05

putting stress on yourself.

3:07

Just get an agreement with

3:09

God because he's not going to

3:12

change his mind. It will be God's

3:14

way or it will be no way.

3:16

Amen. I mean, you can do it

3:18

your way if you want to, but

3:20

you're not going to like the outcome.

3:23

Our soul is our mind,

3:25

our will, and our emotions.

3:28

And so if you can

3:30

keep your emotions calm and

3:33

your mind positive and

3:35

stay in God's, stay in

3:37

agreement with God's will,

3:39

it won't be your work

3:42

that'll make you tired.

3:44

God didn't tell Martha

3:46

not to work. He told her

3:48

not to worry. And I will

3:51

give you rest. Wow

3:54

take my yoke upon you and learn from me

3:56

because I am gentle and humble and

3:58

hard and you will find rest for

4:00

your souls. Rest. Wow.

4:06

You can come to Him anywhere,

4:09

anytime. My

4:13

yoke is easy and my burden is

4:15

light. Wow. We

4:18

must learn to take His yoke upon

4:20

us and learn the lesson He has for

4:22

us in the current circumstance. What?

4:26

I don't want to learn anything from this.

4:28

I just wanted to go away. I

4:31

to You know, sometimes, and

4:34

you may not like

4:36

this, but sometimes you're

4:38

better off to embrace

4:40

the situation

4:43

and say, God, this is the way it is

4:45

right now, so I want to get all I can out

4:47

of this. I

4:50

want to learn something from this. Something

4:52

that I've found out that is

4:54

just about more valuable than anything is

4:56

experience. And

5:00

the only way you get experience is by going

5:02

through things. I

5:04

can truly say at

5:06

this point in my

5:08

life that I trust God. I

5:12

spent a lot of years trying to trust

5:14

God, but every time

5:16

I've had a problem and God's been

5:18

faithful and come through, I've had a

5:20

little more experience with God than it's

5:23

easier for me to trust God

5:25

the next time. You

5:27

cannot grow up to be

5:29

a mature

5:31

Christian or to be

5:33

transformed into the image of

5:35

Christ without having some circumstances

5:38

that you don't like. It

5:43

is not possible. And

5:46

it's going to be

5:48

part of our life

5:50

on and off until

5:53

Jesus comes back to get us. Two

5:56

of our team members were

6:00

put in rooms that

6:02

were right underneath the

6:04

bar in the hotel

6:07

And it sounded like

6:09

they were bowling all

6:11

night Now why would

6:13

a hotel even? sell

6:15

a room That was

6:17

underneath something like that

6:19

so they offered to

6:21

move them at midnight

6:23

That would be a

6:25

lot of fun, wouldn't

6:28

it? Because

6:32

that would stress me out

6:34

This yoke that Jesus talks

6:37

about take my yoke upon

6:39

you you know that's a

6:41

That comes from two oxen

6:43

being yoked together So they're

6:45

pulling the load together and

6:47

it's not just all on

6:49

one of them and that

6:51

Jesus wants us to say

6:53

yoke to him. So he's

6:55

always pulling the load with

6:57

us. We're never pulling that

7:00

load by ourselves And

7:03

see, I'm working up here

7:05

today and I'm going to

7:07

work again in the next

7:09

service, but I'm resting too.

7:11

Because I'm not worried. I'm

7:13

not concerned about what you

7:15

think of me. It's not

7:17

my responsibility. Thank you. But

7:19

it's not my responsibility to

7:21

make you like me. That's

7:23

between you and God. I'm

7:25

free to be me. And,

7:27

you know. Have

7:30

some security and some

7:32

confidence. I'm writing a

7:34

book on rejection, and

7:36

I said, my husband

7:39

is so secure, I

7:41

don't even think he

7:43

would know if anybody

7:46

was rejecting him. And

7:48

even if he did,

7:50

he wouldn't care. You

7:53

know what he'd say?

7:55

Well, that's their problem.

7:57

And it's used metaphorically

8:00

of submission to authority

8:02

it refers to balance

8:04

or to balancing out a

8:06

load now I want to read you

8:08

this from Watchman these book called

8:11

a balanced Christian life if

8:13

you've never read any of his

8:15

stuff it's I don't agree with

8:17

everything he says he talks a

8:20

lot about suffering but I learned a

8:22

lot about it because the Bible

8:24

talks about suffering we don't

8:27

like to hear it but It's

8:30

going to hurt. And you know

8:32

what? What do they tell a

8:34

woman giving birth? Breathe.

8:37

Relax. The more you fight

8:39

it, the worse it hurts. Come

8:41

on. And the more we fight

8:44

the things in our life that

8:46

we don't like, that we cannot

8:49

get rid of, we might as

8:51

well just settle down and

8:53

embrace them. Learn something

8:55

from them until God

8:57

does what only God can

8:59

do. Amen. What God is leading

9:02

us into today is for us

9:04

to be willing to take up

9:06

his yoke in the small things of

9:08

each day as well as in the

9:10

big things of life. Some preachers find

9:13

it hard to labor with their

9:15

fellow workers. Some sisters find

9:17

it arduous to live with

9:20

their in-laws. Some employees find

9:22

it difficult to work with their colleagues

9:24

and some students become wary of their

9:26

relationship with their teachers and other students.

9:28

These are yokes to bear. You are

9:30

of course tired of them. You wish

9:33

you could leave them or they would leave

9:35

you. You feel cast down and you

9:37

have no peace. Please understand, however, that

9:39

this is a yoke which God

9:41

has given you. This is the

9:43

yoke that he wants you to

9:45

bear. This is the portion God

9:47

has appointed to you. He wants

9:49

you to submit to such a

9:51

circumstance because it is the best

9:53

for you right now. Hmm. How can

9:56

you learn to love everybody

9:58

if everybody has to

10:00

be just the way you

10:02

want them to be. I

10:05

got a tattoo when

10:07

I was 80. The

10:09

oldest person they ever

10:11

tattoo. I had love

10:14

put on my foot so

10:16

I remember to walk

10:19

in love. Okay now

10:21

listen to this. Pay

10:23

attention to this.

10:26

Sometimes God puts

10:28

a careful person

10:30

and a careless

10:33

person together. Or

10:35

a strong person

10:37

and a weak person.

10:40

He may put a

10:42

healthy person with

10:44

a sick person. Or

10:46

a quick-tempered

10:49

person and

10:51

a slow-tempered

10:53

person. or

10:55

a tidy person with

10:58

a sloppy person. Or a

11:00

spender with a savor. And

11:02

he does it on purpose

11:05

because the intent

11:07

is that we balance

11:09

one another out. See,

11:11

I mean, I'm running 90

11:14

miles an hour, got a

11:16

new idea every five minutes,

11:18

and Dave is like, well,

11:21

we'll see. I

11:24

mean it used to drive me

11:26

nuts. We'll see. I don't want to

11:28

see. I want to do it. And

11:30

I want to do it now.

11:32

And he said, you're always nine

11:34

miles ahead of God. I said,

11:36

yeah, and you're 100 miles behind

11:38

it. And so, but the two

11:40

of us kind of balanced each

11:42

other out, you know. I put

11:44

a little fire under him and

11:46

he put my fire out a

11:48

little bit. And

11:52

those of you that are just

11:54

really fed up with the person

11:56

you're married to, remember why you

11:59

married them. Don't just look at

12:01

all the stuff you don't like,

12:03

sit down and make a list

12:05

of what you don't like and

12:07

what you do like. I actually

12:10

did that one day, and there

12:12

was maybe two things that didn't

12:14

like about Dave that drove me

12:16

nuts, but there was 50 things

12:18

that I just adored about him.

12:20

See? You're never gonna find a

12:22

perfect relationship because you're in it.

12:29

Amen? Oh rest. Hebrews 410

12:31

and 11. For he who

12:34

has once entered God's rest.

12:36

Can anybody feel how good

12:39

that is? For he who

12:41

has once entered God's rest

12:44

has ceased from the weariness

12:46

and the pain of human

12:49

labors. just as God rested

12:51

from those labors peculiarly his

12:53

own. Let us therefore be

12:56

zealous and exert ourselves and

12:58

strive diligently to enter the

13:01

rest of God, to know

13:03

and experience it for ourselves,

13:06

that no one may fall

13:08

by the same kind of

13:11

unbelief and disobedience into which

13:13

they fell in the wilderness.

13:15

Now as I said, this

13:18

rest that he's talking about

13:20

is a spiritual rest. It's

13:23

not laying down and taking

13:25

a nap. It's not, although

13:28

that's good sometimes too, but

13:30

pay attention to what's going

13:33

on inside you. When you

13:35

start feeling stressed out, pay

13:37

attention to what's going on

13:40

inside you. What are your

13:42

thoughts? What's your attitude? Are

13:45

you mad at somebody? Are

13:49

you frustrated with somebody just because

13:51

they are the way they are

13:54

and you don't want them to

13:56

be that way? How many of

13:58

you in relationship? Somebody

14:01

spouse, kids, friends, that

14:03

you just really would

14:06

like to change them.

14:08

Well see, we have

14:10

to learn to love

14:12

people the way they

14:14

are, not the way

14:17

we want them to

14:19

be. God takes us

14:21

the way we are,

14:23

and then because he

14:25

loves and accepts us

14:27

freely unconditionally, that makes

14:30

us want... to do

14:32

better for him. Well,

14:34

when we start trying

14:36

to make people change,

14:38

they become resistant to

14:41

that and will act

14:43

even worse. For years,

14:45

I tried to change,

14:47

Dave. Didn't work. He's

14:49

still the same. Except

14:51

now he can't hear,

14:54

so that's... The most

14:56

frequent word in our

14:58

house is, huh? Huh?

15:01

He has two sets of

15:04

hearing aids and he won't

15:06

wear them. One, he says

15:08

they itch his ears. But,

15:11

Dave doesn't have a hearing

15:13

problem, I mumble. You know,

15:16

I knew that I married

15:18

Mr. Wright, I just did

15:20

not know his first name

15:23

was always. I

15:28

don't know what it is with

15:31

men, but they have a very

15:33

hard time saying I'm wrong. I

15:35

mumble. It's not that he's hard

15:37

to hear him, I mumble. Do

15:39

I sound to you like I

15:42

mumble? No. Or he says you

15:44

talk too soft. No, one thing

15:46

I don't do is talk soft.

15:56

It's a rest and

15:58

work. Not. from work.

16:00

If your emotions, your

16:02

heart or your will is

16:05

sent against a thing that

16:07

you're doing, there will be no

16:09

rest. So like I said, if

16:11

you are going to a job

16:13

every day that you hate, you're

16:16

going to be so tired when

16:18

you come home that night. And

16:20

it won't because of the

16:22

work. It'll be because of the

16:25

attitude. Is anybody

16:27

learning anything today? What

16:33

would happen if just some of

16:35

these things that keep you stressed out

16:37

all the time, if you would just

16:39

say, you know what, I'm just going

16:42

to embrace that, if God wants to

16:44

change it, he'll change it, and I'm

16:46

just, I'm going to be happy with

16:48

what God's given me. I tell you,

16:51

the stress would leave. And the last

16:53

thing I want to say, but the

16:55

last thing I have time to say

16:57

is, we have to stop hurrying. Hurry

17:01

hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry that will

17:03

stress me out and Probably

17:05

will stress you out also. Amen

17:07

We take on way too many things

17:10

We take on commitments without

17:12

even thinking about all the

17:14

commitments we already have We

17:16

take on commitments without thinking

17:18

through what it's really going

17:20

to take and then we

17:22

hate it So we end

17:24

up doing these things that

17:26

we hate to do, that

17:28

we should have said no

17:30

to, but we didn't because

17:32

we wanted to keep somebody

17:34

else happy, and now they're

17:37

happy, and we're unhappy. Amen?

17:39

So, Father, I pray in Jesus'

17:41

name, for every person here

17:43

today that needs to make

17:46

some changes in their life, so

17:48

they can rest and not

17:50

stress. Help them

17:52

make the decisions they need to

17:55

make and stop just wanting

17:57

every problem to go away.

18:00

I pray for their

18:02

joy, for their peace,

18:04

and for their spiritual

18:08

growth. In Jesus'

18:11

name, Amen. candid

18:26

conversation choice. Let's talk about

18:28

how easy it is to work so

18:30

hard and especially in ministry

18:33

because you really believe in

18:35

what you're doing. Well I

18:38

think God tells us pretty plainly

18:40

in the Bible that we need

18:42

at least one day out of

18:44

seven to rest. And although we

18:46

don't live under the law, that's

18:49

wisdom for your health. And so

18:51

I think of two words balance

18:53

and variety. I think When we

18:56

talk about burnout, we always

18:58

talk about it from the

19:00

standpoint of working too hard. But

19:02

I'll give you another example that

19:04

I think is interesting.

19:07

Dave's job when he was in the

19:09

army was to play basketball

19:11

to entertain the troops. They

19:13

had baseball teams and basketball

19:16

teams that would go around and

19:18

entertain the troops. And so

19:20

he was good at basketball,

19:23

he was tall, he was tall. They

19:25

had a coach one time that

19:27

had them practice four hours every

19:29

day. They would scrimmage, which means run

19:31

up and down the court, up and

19:33

up and down the court. And he

19:35

said he would eat unbelievable

19:38

amounts of food, and he

19:40

still lost 25 pounds during that

19:42

period of time. And he actually

19:44

got burnt out on a sport that

19:47

he loved. Right. And got to the

19:49

point where he just didn't even want

19:51

to do it anymore, because...

19:53

the guy was over doing it.

19:55

So it, you can burn out

19:58

even on something that... you

20:00

enjoy if you overdo it

20:02

and do it too much.

20:04

So we can burn out

20:07

on anything and that's why,

20:09

if you think about it,

20:11

why did God put so

20:13

many different varieties of fruits

20:15

and vegetables on the earth?

20:17

I mean, why not just

20:20

grow carrots and apples and

20:22

nothing else? Because we actually

20:24

need variety. And that's so

20:26

if you work too much.

20:28

In ministry, I think we

20:31

think sometimes because we're working

20:33

for the Lord that we're

20:35

exempt from all those other

20:37

rules. Oh, I, you know,

20:39

I can do this. God'll

20:42

cover me. Well, I mean,

20:44

I got really sick from

20:46

working too hard and it

20:48

took me a long time

20:50

to come back from it

20:52

and I don't know that

20:55

I will ever come back

20:57

100% because I just... really

21:00

wore my adrenals out just working

21:03

working working working working and I

21:05

had done it for so many

21:07

years and then you have to

21:10

take time to be and I

21:12

think especially in a Western culture

21:14

we everything is about work you

21:17

know not how are you but

21:19

what do you do that's true

21:21

yeah it's and you so many

21:24

people you say how you been

21:26

busy Yeah, we say, how are

21:28

you doing? Right. And in Australia,

21:31

they say, how are you going?

21:33

Yeah. And I just find that

21:36

so interesting. It's just different perspectives

21:38

of what we think is important

21:40

and becomes who we are. Yeah,

21:43

when you meet new people, it

21:45

doesn't take very long before you

21:47

want to find out what they

21:50

do. Right. And so are we

21:52

really interested in them as a

21:54

human being? Are we

21:57

just trying to find out what

21:59

they do so we can see

22:01

if... if we're going to be

22:03

impressed enough with them to press

22:05

on the relationship. And it's, you

22:07

know, I'm a worker anyway, and

22:09

I'm motivated by accomplishment. That's part

22:12

of my temperament that God has

22:14

given me. And it's a good

22:16

thing because you don't build something

22:18

like what we have here if

22:20

you're not a hard worker. But

22:22

there were things that I could

22:24

have and should have said no

22:27

to. that would have given me

22:29

the breaks that I needed to

22:31

not get to the point where

22:33

it affected my health in a

22:35

very major way. Why look at

22:37

the longevity of your ministry and

22:40

how much more God has in

22:42

store. Right. So a lot of

22:44

that does have to come from

22:46

learning and adjusting along the way

22:48

I assume. You know we don't

22:50

we don't like to tell people

22:52

no because... Number one, you don't

22:55

want to hurt their feelings, but

22:57

I think even more than that,

22:59

I think we really don't want

23:01

people to be mad at us.

23:03

Yeah, that's very true. And I

23:05

think a lot of times we

23:07

say yes, because we think if

23:10

we say no, they're going to

23:12

get angry, and we want everybody

23:14

to like us. And if you

23:16

really have to, if you're going

23:18

to follow the Holy Spirit, then

23:20

you have to be willing to

23:23

say no, when you know that

23:25

no. is the wise thing

23:27

to do. Anybody, if you want to

23:29

do what God wants you to do,

23:31

I mean, even if you want to

23:33

be a great mom, you know, you

23:35

can't maybe run around with everybody all

23:37

the time that wants you to run

23:39

around with them. It's not just about

23:41

being in ministry, but we all have

23:43

to know how to say no as

23:45

well as how to say yes. Yeah,

23:47

exactly what you said, balance. And as

23:49

when I was a young mom and

23:51

and now that our family dynamics have

23:53

changed, you know, you have to refigure

23:55

that balance all along the way. Yeah,

23:57

and I think I think that we

23:59

just we really have to, people that

24:01

are strong, and I'm strong,

24:04

you're strong, most type

24:06

A personalities are strong,

24:08

they are strong people, they

24:10

don't give up easy and they

24:12

can do a lot, but I think

24:15

a lot of times we don't

24:17

want to look weak. That's

24:19

really, that's very true, yeah.

24:21

And so we'll take on

24:23

things that... down deep inside we

24:25

know we shouldn't just because we

24:28

don't want anybody to think that

24:30

we can't do it. Yeah. It's

24:32

okay to rest. You're not weak if

24:34

you're tired. Yeah. You're not weak

24:36

if you rest and you're not.

24:38

There's not something wrong with you

24:40

if you just can't say yes

24:42

to everything everybody wants you to

24:44

do. And I think one of the

24:46

things we have to realize is when people

24:49

ask you to do something. They

24:51

want to hear yes. They don't want

24:53

to hear no. And so you will have

24:55

to take a chance on people being

24:58

unhappy with you if you're

25:00

going to take care of yourself

25:02

Then you're going to either

25:04

be happy with you or you're

25:06

going to keep everybody else happy

25:08

with you and end up being

25:11

unhappy with you a little bit

25:13

of encouragement for people. It's okay

25:15

to slow down. It's okay to

25:17

ask God to let you rest

25:20

It's okay to say no. Thank

25:22

you, yes, absolutely. And it's okay

25:24

not to always have to feel

25:27

like you're strong. None of

25:29

us get through life without

25:31

facing challenges. Problems are

25:34

unavoidable. But where should we

25:36

look for answers? How do

25:38

we navigate the difficulties life

25:40

throws in our path? It

25:42

took me many years of

25:45

my life, trying many different

25:47

things. I had a dysfunctional

25:49

life due to abuse I

25:52

experienced, but it didn't define me.

25:54

God has healed me. He's healed my

25:56

pain through the power of his word.

25:58

It is my answer. Let me teach

26:01

you what I discovered, encourage you

26:03

how to look into God's Word

26:05

to discover solutions to your problems,

26:07

to help point the way for

26:09

you and to encourage you to

26:11

never give up. I've written a

26:13

book called Overcoming Every Problem. In

26:15

fact, in my book, I give

26:17

you 40 strategies from God's Word to

26:20

help strengthen you and empower

26:22

you to walk through life

26:24

difficulties. Joyce's book Overcoming Every

26:26

Problem will help you find

26:28

real answers from God's Word

26:30

today. It's available to you

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right now for any amount.

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Call us today at 1,800,

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331,8,000. Or visit us online

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at joycemyre.org to get your

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copy and start your path

26:43

to overcoming every problem.

26:45

Jesus didn't die so we

26:47

could just continue to be

26:50

miserable believers. He died for

26:52

us so we can have

26:54

a vibrant. powerful, spirit-filled, on

26:57

fire, victorious, overcoming

26:59

life. Overcoming every

27:01

problem. This helpful

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tool in your pursuit of

27:06

a determined attitude is available

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to you for a gift

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of any amount. Call us

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at 1,800, 331, 8,000. Or

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visit us online at Joyce

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meyer.org to get your copy

27:20

and learn what God's word

27:22

is to you. If you'll be determined

27:24

to never give up, you are going

27:26

to be amazed at what God will do.

27:28

I want you to get these resources in

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will also allow us to continue to

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one eight hundred three three one

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eight thousand or visit us online

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at Joyce meyer.org We

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hope you enjoyed today's program. We

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are so We are so

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grateful to our Joyce partners who

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make make this all all we

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