18:00

know some of the questions, especially years

18:02

ago, that I've had. And she

18:05

gave me a book and said, read this and

18:07

then we'll talk about it. And

18:09

it's just a real little book. It's called The

18:12

Prisoner in the Third Cell by

18:15

Gene Edwards. And

18:17

it's such an interesting little book because it

18:25

talks about John the Baptist. Again,

18:28

John the Baptist is

18:31

another person who was serving God. Man,

18:33

he lived all out for God and

18:35

he ends up beheaded. It does not

18:37

go well for John the Baptist on

18:39

this earth. So when John

18:42

the Baptist is in prison, he sends

18:44

his disciples to Jesus. And

18:46

this book is more a story about it

18:49

based on what really happened, but it just

18:51

gives you some really interesting things to think

18:53

about without giving you the answers. There

18:56

again is that not having the answers. But

18:59

John sent his disciples to Jesus

19:01

and said, John

19:03

has two questions for you. Are

19:05

you the Messiah or should we look

19:07

for someone else? And

19:10

so Jesus

19:12

answers them and He said, you

19:15

know, tell him that people

19:18

are being healed, they're being set free

19:20

from demons, the blind are seeing, the

19:22

deaf are hearing. And

19:24

blessed is he who was not offended

19:26

by me. And

19:30

you read that and you think, where did

19:32

that come from? What does that mean? And

19:35

wow, reading this story in

19:37

this book and it just

19:41

opened my eyes so much because when

19:43

John the Baptist asked his disciples what

19:45

Jesus said, they said that the

19:49

blind are being healed and that people

19:51

are being set free. And John said,

19:54

all of them? And they

19:56

said, no, not all of

19:58

them, many of them. because

24:00

when you do, when you talk about your disappointment and

24:02

how hard it is, then you can also talk about

24:04

how good he is and how does he show up

24:06

in those really hard moments. He doesn't just

24:08

leave you there. Man, I have had

24:10

so many times in my life though, when I've, I

24:13

cannot say God is good today. Like,

24:17

I don't understand it, I don't feel it.

24:19

I cannot say that God is good

24:21

right now. And the

24:25

more experience I have with God, you

24:28

know, I can now say God is

24:31

good. I don't understand, but

24:33

he is always good because

24:36

he created an eternity and a

24:38

good plan for us. And it's

24:41

so hard to look at someone you

24:43

love who's suffering, a family who's going

24:45

through something, this tragic, you can't just

24:47

say, God's good, it's gonna all be

24:50

okay. It does not work that way.

24:52

So, you know, you gotta let the Holy Spirit do

24:55

their Holy Spirit thing. The

24:57

Holy Spirit is the only one that can

24:59

help. He's the one with comfort in these

25:01

areas. But we can pray and we

25:03

can love and we can choose to not

25:06

be offended by God's ways. And that

25:08

has been a hard road for me, a hard road

25:10

for me. But I'm

25:13

so grateful that

25:15

I have gotten as far as

25:17

I have in it. I appreciate that you share

25:19

too. I appreciate that you share your journey through

25:21

that process because it's helpful

25:23

to know one that it's okay

25:25

to have that process. I think

25:27

that's really important and brings

25:30

freedom to people to know that that's okay. And

25:33

to see how far you've come and that you're

25:35

not perfect yet, yet, it's

25:37

coming. Is it? I

25:40

don't know. But that you

25:42

have seen progress, I think is really

25:44

encouraging. Well, I think one thing that's

25:46

really important as we close for everybody

25:48

to hear is that you can

25:52

be a really mature Christian. You

25:56

can be a strong Christian who spends

25:58

time in God's word and his word.

26:00

known Him for years, and

26:03

still you can suffer with these

26:05

questions and ask God

26:08

and not understand and be

26:11

a little bit angry and

26:13

be disappointed that that doesn't

26:15

mean that you've fallen off

26:17

the Christian cliff and it's all over

26:20

for you because God's still right there

26:22

wrapping His arms around you and saying

26:24

to you, I love you, and my

26:27

heart is breaking with yours and

26:29

I am collecting your tears because

26:31

I love you that much. There's

26:34

not a moment that you suffer that God

26:36

isn't right there with you, just loving

26:40

on you. And if

26:43

you choose not to be offended by a

26:45

God that you don't understand, it

26:49

will all pay

26:52

off in the end. And I can't

26:54

say it will make everything better today, but

26:57

while I'm grateful for a God who has

26:59

made a way for us to

27:01

make it through these hard times with His help. Yeah.

27:04

There's so much peace. Yeah. Yeah.

27:07

Well, all right. I'm not going

27:09

to go out and kiss you. That

27:11

was a lot to talk about. Well,

27:14

we do. We love you all.

27:16

We appreciate you all letting us

27:18

share some of these things with

27:20

you that are hard and for

27:23

sharing it with us as well. And

27:26

just know that God

27:28

is there. He loves you and He

27:30

will never, ever leave you or

27:32

forsake you. And I'm sorry about the hard things that you're

27:35

going through because I know that they're real and

27:37

God is too. We

27:39

will see you next time. Be right here

27:41

with us next week when we'll talk

27:44

out some other things. Maybe

27:46

it'll be a little bit happier next time. I don't know. I'm

27:49

crayless. I don't know. I'll think about it. We'll

27:51

just wait and see what happens. Bye-bye.

27:55

Bye-bye. you