Have you ever felt that, despite your best efforts, there's a missing piece in your faith journey? Amber Suggs joins us to share the transformative power of aligning with Christ, illustrating that true faith often begins with embracing who we are, rather than fixating on our deeds. In a heartfelt discussion, we uncover the nuances of personal transformation through faith, as Amber’s story unfolds to reveal how tackling the underlying issues behind our sins can lead to remarkable life changes.
Book Recommendation: The Tamar Stories Sisterhood
Plan of Salvation:
A Call to Salvation
Social Media/Follow Us:
Website:https://www.calledbygodpodcast.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/cbg.podcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalledbyGodPod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@calledbygodpodcast
Have you ever felt that, despite your best efforts, there's a missing piece in your faith journey? Amber Suggs joins us to share the transformative power of aligning with Christ, illustrating that true faith often begins with embracing who we are, rather than fixating on our deeds. In a heartfelt discussion, we uncover the nuances of personal transformation through faith, as Amber’s story unfolds to reveal how tackling the underlying issues behind our sins can lead to remarkable life changes.
Book Recommendation: The Tamar Stories Sisterhood
Plan of Salvation:
A Call to Salvation
Social Media/Follow Us:
Website:https://www.calledbygodpodcast.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/cbg.podcast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalledbyGodPod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@calledbygodpodcast
The Holy Scriptures and the teachings of Christ is not coming down to what you do. It's coming down to who you be. So if you're saying you want to have an alignment with Christ, it's who do you need to be. Your behavior will take care of itself. I always say this sin is the symptom of something deeper. If we can help people explore what the deeper is, all the external stuff, the demonstration, behavior stuff, will take care of itself.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Call by God podcast with Adne Gode and myself, nixon Sylvain. This show is about dialogues of biblical characters and testimonies of Christians who submitted to the will of God. Each week, we bring on one guest so that they can share their story of how they were called by God. I hope this show inspires you. Enjoy. Welcome to the Call by God podcast, a podcast where we share personal stories of faith and discuss the Bible teachings on salvation. I'm your host, brother Nick, and I'm here with Sister Gauden, and we are honored to share these powerful stories with you.
Speaker 3:Today we have a special guest, amber Suggs, who will be sharing her testimony of how she came to know Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Amber will share her struggles before finding salvation. In addition, she will expound on how her decision to follow Christ and how that decision has had a positive impact on her faith, on her faith journey and on her life.
Speaker 2:Sister Suggs testimony will remind us that, no matter our past, god's love and grace are available to all who seek Him. It will also serve as a reminder that salvation is not just about getting into heaven y'all, but it's also about the transformation that occurs in our hearts and lives when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So join us as we listen to Sister Suggs' powerful, god-given testimony. Sister Suggs, how are you doing on this? Blessed?
Speaker 1:day, good morning, good morning. How are everyone this morning?
Speaker 3:How are you doing sis?
Speaker 1:I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. How is everyone?
Speaker 3:You want me to go first, brother Nick or you?
Speaker 2:want to go first. Go ahead, Sister Addy.
Speaker 3:Look, this week the Nehemiah Next Level Summit took place. Let me tell you I already said next year I'm making sure I'll be in the house and this will be one of those things I put in my budget to attend. The speakers were amazing the fellowship, the comodery people that I've seen on video. I'm actually able to put my arms around them and hug them. You don't realize how big the family of God is until you go to something like this and you get to meet those that you've seen on video. You get to meet them in person. It was just so beautiful. How are you two doing?
Speaker 2:Well, you're a Radiax, amber. So for me, well, addy, it looks like you're on a spiritual high. So, sister Amber, we got to catch up. We got to catch up with Sister Addy, because whenever you go to events like that, it does something to your soul, right, it feeds your soul. So you're overflowing in the spirit, addy.
Speaker 2:But for me, I'm just blessed. I know Sister Amber said good morning y'all. So y'all, we're recording the morning. So I'm just so thankful to God that he blessed us to see another day. As a medical professional, as myself, I know sometimes people don't wake up. So I'm just so thankful to even open my eyes. I can move my limbs, I can talk and I got all my faculties together. So I'm just so thankful. And, most importantly, I'm just so thankful for Amber, for our guests. You know, amber, you don't know this, but Addy do. When the guests come on, I get super excited, so I get extremely excited. Sometimes I forget to press the record button. I just be all over the place. So excuse me, excuse me, so that's how I'm doing on this morning. But, amber, we are so excited to have you on this podcast, I can't stress it.
Speaker 3:Brother Nick, I got a flashback. This is how we used to do it back in the day, early in the morning. Early in the morning.
Speaker 2:Hey. So let me why. You just said that. So let me just say this out loud If y'all look, sisters, brothers in Christ, y'all heard what Addy just said. Y'all please pray for my schedule, pray for my work schedule. I'm a medical professional. The hospital do not close, so pray that God give me something steady Whereas I'm not working overnight, I'm not working these crazy hours. Definitely pray for me in that regard. So, therefore, so we could begin and we could start recording in the morning again.
Speaker 2:So, but yeah, that flashback, right, but sister sucks, I know this is about sister sucks right now. Sister sucks, you know, whenever a guest come on our podcast, you know I know it's not on me that I get excited, addy too, but it's always a we, it's always a blessing because we get to sit back and we get to hear how others came to the knowledge of the truth. But before we get into your story, you know, we know I know you a little bit, but you my sister in Christ, I know you asked my sister in Christ, but Addy knows about you because you are. You guys have worked together on a project. So can you tell our listeners just 20, 30 seconds, a little bit about yourself before we dive into your episode.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you so much for the opportunity. My name is Amber sucks and I'm from Paducah, kentucky, and I am the baby. It's actually two of us and we're actually about 10 years apart. So absolutely working with Addy and being a sister author on the book, joyfully courageous, and that was the beginning of our relationship and we are prayer for that. God has some things in the work for our relationship, in our hearts, because I believe we we walk the same path, going in the same direction.
Speaker 2:So hey, man, I love it. I love it, hey, so, yeah, so she's a co author. Please y'all go get the book. Okay, it's called joyfully courageous 17 stories of awakening to joy, courage and grace, and it's Amazon. I think I believe it's Amazon number one seller, so it is still popping on Amazon. Please go get the book. Again, we're going to leave a link in the show notes. It's called joyfully courageous 17 stories of awakening to joy, courageous and grace. So I'm just so excited to have a co author on and that's about to share her dynamic story of how she came to the knowledge of truth. But, speaking before you even became a Christian, we're going to rewind. I used to say let's go back, let's go back to the future. I always think about that movie because I was on my 80s baby. In a nutshell, would you be willing to provide a glimpse into your upbringing and background? We want to know all your, your upbringing before you obey the gospel.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, so good question. I was raised, uh course, in Panukka, kentucky, with my mom and my dad. Um, again, my brother was, is a lot older, so he was out kind of doing his thing. So I always say I'm not the only child, but I was raised the only child and, um, my mom raised us when I say us, that also includes my niece and nephew in, uh, the church, and it was she was military, she's a veteran, so it was very much it's gonna be some structures, gonna be some clarity.
Speaker 1:My father did not attend church and so but with my mom she always had a saying I'd rather be an hour early than five minutes late. So when it came to going to church, there was, that was the priority. So in my sports she was not very taken to it If it was on a Wednesday or Wednesday night Bible studies. She was also a teacher at the church and she was very much adamant about that, that she got a key to the church. So she would open up the church right on Wednesday or Sunday and she was the type that you know she would pick you up for church but, understand, don't be late, because she will leave you right. And so because I remember one time she said well, you just ain't gonna be ready when the Lord come back. You got to be on time, right. And so one thing about her was she remembered everybody's birthday. So even if you didn't attend the church but your address was valid in the directory, she was gonna send you a birthday card and the children they always got a birthday card with money in it. So it was very much put in priority on that aspect of life and spirituality.
Speaker 1:But even though church was a high priority, I was still, you know, involved in sports, involved in school and things like that. It wasn't a I don't think it was a strict upbringing, but it was a very, it was structured and so with that, you know, then my nieces came along and then I was that example for them, as my mother made sure. So again, both of my parents were very involved in my life and things, and so I was safe, overwhelmed. It was more peaceful. It was a peaceful childhood, no major drama or anything like that. So, but definitely, christ was definitely a priority.
Speaker 2:Amen. So you mentioned your father, your dad, he wasn't being on going to worship, right?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And this is important at least for fathers that's listened to this episode by your father not going to worship with the family. Because I know the family dynamic you got a husband, you got wife and you got children. How did that impact you or affect you by not seeing your your dad go to worship as collectively as a family? The reason why I brought that up? Because there was this one time, right my son, he went to worship with my, with my wife, because we have we have two locations at our worship. So sometimes I go to the early service because of my work schedule.
Speaker 2:And one time my son, he made a comment to my wife. He was like mom, you know, dad is he's not going to worship with us. So my wife had to explain to him, like you know, daddy, he had to work. But this is not an every Sunday thing by me not going to worship with my family. But I want to know for you as a child, how did it impact you, you know for for you to see your daddy stay home and then, while mom and dad I mean not you, you know you and your mom going to worship and he just staying home, because I know sometimes it could play in a child's heart like man, like is this stuff important? One person said you know, it seems so zealous about the Lord and the other person be like huh huh, it's whatever y'all go, go and share that with our audience.
Speaker 1:I did not come to a point to where I wondered or often questioned. It was simply is for me. So I didn't go up and questioning dad well, how come you don't go with us and will you go with us? I never raised those questions and it was just, I guess, became understood. So I never felt like if I saw someone else's parents at church and wonder why which both of my parents would come. I didn't have those questions, it was just understood. My mom, you know, we went to church and it was just kind of understood. So I didn't really have questions. I didn't really feel negative impact as a child. I didn't really feel the fission, I didn't feel those types of things. It was just, you know, an understanding.
Speaker 3:Okay, so here's question number two how long did it take you to say yes to the gospel of Christ?
Speaker 1:Okay. So I would say I was in. I was 11 when I got baptized again, raised in church, going to the church functions, as with the youth, that things like that. So I remember specifically it was our family reunion Sunday and we were visiting a church in the area where the family reunion was and I told my mother that morning I wanted to be baptized, and that's kind of, and it was like, okay, okay, we'll do it. She was really big on do you have an understanding of what you're doing? And so I think that's why she didn't really feel any questions with it is that you know you're old enough to know you're old enough to make your decision. So I remember at 11 you know, okay, I want to do it. But at that age I think still it was okay, if the Lord come back, you know I'm good now you know. So it was definitely that. So it was at age at 11 when I chose to be baptized.
Speaker 3:When did you come to know and understand Jesus is your Lord and Savior? Because the thing a lot of people see Jesus as Savior but they don't see him as Lord. So when did you, after your your walk with the Lord in the baptism and growing up, when did you understand that he is both Lord and Savior?
Speaker 1:I would say, that being to really open up, probably right before the pandemic. So you're talking about going out to college and things and then coming back home and then going out to graduate school and that, and there's something to be said about having that being ingrained in me during that time. But to come to an understanding that took place right around the pandemic time, because that was during the time when everything crumbled as you knew it. So now the blocks had to come back together, so it all crumbled. What do you make of that? And one thing I would say is that all of even growing up, being affiliated, growing up in things of that nature, all of those seeds served a purpose, but it began to bloom right before the pandemic, right around the pandemic, right. And so when that took place because it was like everything that made sense, everything that we construct as being safe to make sense and this is the choice that I'm making it all shatters. And now what you really see that you don't have the control that you think you have. You really see that putting elements of the word together in there. So, right before the pandemic hit, I started taking classes at Hardin University in the biblical studies with it and I chose to take that because growing up in church I was the type of person that I'm an analytical person and I like learning and I needed structure. So in doing that and starting to take the classes I took a hermeneutics class and then elements of the New Testament, things of that nature I really began to really dig into the work. And when digging to the work with a facilitator, I began to see how layered the Holy Scriptures are and how much it is wrapped up in so much. And I was like really, you know, looking at the epistles, really this grace thing even though you heard it growing up in church and the repetition.
Speaker 1:And the thing about me is that after I left home from college, my membership with congregations was multiple. So in different locations that I moved, I might have had a location with one particular group of sites. And then one thing my mother always said is to be able to worship God and spirit and the truth. If you're somewhere where you feel you can't worship and spirit and the truth, then you need to find somewhere. And so I would. You know, oftentimes I would find a congregation going there and even having that consistent pouring in it is worth something right, it's worth something, even though it was stacking tools for me and now in hindsight it could have been, I could have been an autopilot or that, but I'd rather have a toolbox that's deep that I can pull from that, not have anything Right.
Speaker 1:So, going through that and finally getting to that point that, okay, I really want to become connected with the word and opening that up, and going through the biblical studies program it's actually for distant learning, so it's actually online and going through that program to really support and really challenge my relationship with understanding who Jesus and the spiritual principles of Christ are Right.
Speaker 1:So that would mean somebody else. It might be a routine thing of just reading, praying and things of that nature, but for me, I wanted the structure, I wanted the challenge, I wanted the analytical context that encouraged it, so that after like, okay, okay, I know what this is, I know what this is being connected to, and not just simply being an autopilot and just taking in the word as it has been given over the years. Right. So that I would definitely say in terms of beginning to understand Lord and Savior was right when the pandemic happened and how much it collided together. And that's what I needed, being the type of person that I am Right, that's what I needed. So I would definitely say during that time is when it began to awaken for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that. Wow. Also, on top of what you said, sister, sucks. Like when I try to convey and share my faith with people that are lost. You know, oftentimes some of the questions that they may, or even statements that they may say is, like I'm not, I got to wait till I get 100% to give my life to the Lord. You know, I oftentimes even say this on this show. So, even for the unbeliever, so they could understand, like, as a Christian, we're not going to be perfect. We're going to have our highs and we're going to have our lows. And, like for you, you got baptized at the age of 11. Yeah, 11. Yeah, you, you, you understand things of the Lord. Is somebody teach you the gospel? So you've been a saint for a long time and I'm sure you had some highs and some low moments even along the way and, like you just alluded to, in terms of how you knew that Jesus Christ was your Lord back in the pandemic. But also something else happened during the pandemic, because I got a chance to read your excerpt in the book and I just want you to kind of like, give our audience a snack, right, don't give them the full course meal, because I want them to go ahead and purchase the book on Amazon.
Speaker 2:But you mentioned in the book now first of all, you. You was going through a pandemic prune right and you mentioned that you was feeling anxiety, uncertainty, distress and worried. Now, a person that's unsafe. They may be saying like wait a minute, wait a minute. You got the Lord, you got all of this gospel stuff inside you, the Holy Spirit. How in the world you're going through anxiety, uncertainty and distress and all this stuff going on? Could you walk us through that process and kind of like? So walk us through what you was going through back in 2020 and how you got delivered and how you see things now spiritually?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. Can I? Can I go back for a second when you said you get the question that people say I got to get myself together before I?
Speaker 2:go to Christ yeah.
Speaker 1:And for anyone that may feel that or raise that question, I want you to consider that you're saying that I got to do these certain things and be in alignment with these certain things in order to come to Christ. But what I want to present to you is that the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of Christ is not coming down to what you do. It's coming down to who you be. So if you're saying you want to have an alignment with Christ, it's who do you need to be. Your behavior will take care of itself. I always say this sin is the symptom of something deeper. If we can help people explore what the deeper is, all the external stuff, the demonstration, behavior stuff, will take care of itself. Okay, so, in terms of wanting to elevate what you do to get to a point that you feel you can connect with God, learn the elements of what the fruit of the Spirit is and take the approach to who you need to be to do those things. Because if you change that part, or if you're willing to change that part, because it still comes down to your choice and your decision, right, and God gives us that choice, whether we want to do that and come in alignment with Him or not, and so not to put pressure on yourself because that's what you're doing. You're saying I need to get myself together. That's a certain kind of pressure that you're trying to give yourself out, as opposed to just taking some time and just reading what is and how that can guide you, guide your mindset to where you can elevate to an alignment with God, right? So I just wanted to just kind of just touch on that aspect but go into your question in terms of 2022 and the anxiety and things like that.
Speaker 1:My anxiety was if it had been injected with steroids, okay, when that happened. So what happened in the pandemic? I brought it in, I brought it in with me. It wasn't something that produced itself. So all of the anxiety, all of the fosinness being fosin if you ever heard the term flight, flight or fosin being fosin all of the numbness, all of the depression and all of that, that all came in with me. What happened was I could no longer suppress it or deny it when the pandemic happened, because now you're sent to safety's question, you're a sense of control, this question, the things that you try to operate, and logic doesn't give way to any type of respite or anything like that. So now we're sitting here Not knowing is this thing going to last, because it's nothing that we've ever really seen before to this magnitude. We've seen some things in time, like 2009 with H1N1 and all of those things, but even then it only really lasts for nine months and I researched that and scientists say that it just kind of disappeared into the state. They don't even know how or why or what. And that remind me of David, right when they had the plague, and God stopped the plague in having that with David.
Speaker 1:So going through that and you're sitting here like trying to make sense of it, having all this anxiety, and then what happens is oftentimes when you're in a chronic state mentally, like that, it manifests itself physically, so having digestive issues and things like that. They just started to one after the other and I'm doing that time I wasn't eating, so anxiety hit for me. I didn't eat consistently and with that, so fire to that I've always was seeking, because I carried those things. I was always seeking a way out. I just knew I never gave up hope that there was ever a way of living life peacefully. I go in church by. However, I'm still carrying all the unprocessed stuff in life that you know you go up in, when you engage people at school in different life experiences. So I'm carrying all the unprocessed stuff and I never gave up the hope that you could live life in peace, and so therapy was not a stranger to me at that point. I would say at that point I had probably seen about 10 therapists over the course of my life at that point. So, okay, I'm still struggling with process in life. I'm still struggling with, you know, managing what's going on inside of me and you know, still attending church online and things of that nature when we had that.
Speaker 1:And then finally, after reading on Facebook, a local practitioner has something called QNRT. It is a method quantum neurology reset therapy. So in that method, he goes in and reset your brain. It addresses the trauma, it addresses the emotion in a reset your brain. And so what really sent me to him was like I'm trying to get some relief from the digestive issues, because my digestive issues gotten so bad that in 2015, my doctor ordered a colonoscopy. And so at that time, you didn't get colonoscopy until you were age 50. And now they dropped it to 45. And there I was wasn't even near any of that and I got to have a colonoscopy and so that's, that is the.
Speaker 1:That at one point was the extent of the anxiety and all the other stuff accumulating and life situations that was going on in that time. Because the other recalibrated part was my father passed in 06. But I was definitely something that because I'm, I look like him, everything, I'm totally his child, and so to recalibrate all of those things and so going back to the, to the practitioner and trying to find somebody and trying different things to novel path doctors, trying different methods in, in, in the local, in in my town, wasn't cutting the mustard until I went to that practitioner and when we did the reset of the brain and then my digestive issues, that was connected to my mind because the stomach or digestive system is known as the second brain. Okay, and so going through that process with with the practitioner and going through the sessions with the practitioner and we're addressing things, that was so deep that I was saying the most impactful thing is as we are able to address the things and now it becomes alleviated and happens with it being alleviated, and how it impacts how I engage the word how I engage my relationship with Christ was that now I have a more balanced sense of safety. I have a more balanced sense of myself, and it plays a role, because the essence of our relationships with God goes back to who we are Right, and I'll give an example.
Speaker 1:We have the 10 commandments that say thou should not lie. But if you're in the business of lying to yourself, every day, lying to yourself could look like I'm going to do this and I don't do this, or I'm not going to do this and I do this Right. So if you're in the business of betraying yourself, if you're in the business of lying to yourself, then how is that congruent and believing? God is going to carry out all that he has written, had written for us in the world, right? So if you are in the business of not keeping integrity to yourself, it's going to be a challenge to embrace the things that God says he is, because God is good, right, god is everything that he wants he's going to carry out. And so then that impacts the food and the spirit, because if you're lying to yourself, first of all you're not kind to yourself. And if you're not kind to yourself, how can you authentically demonstrate kindness to other people? You might know what to do, right, but it's about who we be.
Speaker 1:So when we can have a balanced alignment in our lives in dealing with the things that we have whatever type of depression, trauma, mental blockage and things like that it's worth the work because then you can carry out everything as a spiritual practice, because it's congruent, it's authentic, it's real and I always say, you can be the teacher you didn't have in your life, right? So getting to that point, going through that anxiety how did we get through that point is definitely staying put to doing the work that I need to carry out. And the thing about it is and I know this may overlap to the question, but I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there is that God gave me a way out. I carried all of the burning and brokenness, but God gave me a way out when I started that work with the Q&R team. But everything God does, he's given a way out. Right, moses was the way out for the children of Israel. Joseph was the way out. Right, david was the way out. Okay, god gave a way out and then Jesus was ultimately the way out. So that's one thing about how God operates. He's given a way out to Hebrew boys, no matter what you do to us, even if God don't say it was right, he still had a way out.
Speaker 1:So, if anything, the alignment with the spiritual teachings of Christ, the Holy Scriptures. It can open the door to the way out, the way out towards elevation, towards alignment, towards completeness. So it's absolutely worth doing the journey, doing your work, because I think what happens with humans is because we are so accustomed in operating and trauma, so accustomed to just being I call it subconscious thinking so accustomed to it. So then, once the trauma lifts, or your brain is rewired because that's the thing what the Holy Scriptures is going to do what's going to rewire you, if you're honest with yourself, right, it's going to rewire you, and when you get to that point of being rewired, it gives you a way out. And so the challenge then becomes well, how do I live life opposite of trauma? How do I live life given of what was natural? How do I live life not running after the dopamine hit? How do I live life not indulging in numbing activities, whether it's some people use numbing activities as drinking, lying, sexual means to get the next dopamine hit, because it's a numbing activity, right? And so how do you live life when you're no longer participating in that, and that's the beautiful part. It's a struggle. I'm here to tell you because, even going through the healing process, there are still times that I have to mentally, emotionally, be in the moment and say that's the old way of doing things right, you got to communicate with your coworkers and you can handle the big things and not to put judgment on yourself. So it's still work because it calls us to participate.
Speaker 1:The whole Christian walk is about participation right, riding out and making disciples, participation, self-control, consciously participating right. And a lot of times people just want to say, well, this is how I am, and that becomes a justification to be subconscious and not make the choice and participate. I don't have to be accountable, I don't have to be responsible. But what they don't see is you're abandoning yourself. That's self-abandonment right, and God is not a self-abandoning God. The Holy Scriptures is not about self-abandoning yourself, taking yourself out of the equation. He calls us to be a part of it. He calls us the doing part will be the external demonstration of what's on the inside. So, going back to the question and how I manage, all of the anxiety is that I stayed the course, never gave up hope. God gave me a way out for what I needed in my journey to heal, and that it then created the context for me to recalibrate, which I'm absolutely loving. How to recalibrate with God, how to recalibrate with the Scriptures, with that.
Speaker 3:That's powerful.
Speaker 2:This concludes Part One, a Sister Sugs Episode. Stay tuned for Part Two. Be blessed. That's it for now, but before we go, please continue to listen, subscribe, share our podcast. Also, if you want to support our show, please scroll down to the bottom of the show notes and click on the link that says Buy Me a Coffee. We were greatly appreciated. Thank you for listening and remember God is Good all the time, and all the time God is Good, and also Jesus Christ loves you. Thank you.