#122- Forgiveness in the Wreckage- With Guest Leona Morelock

Episode Title: Forgiveness in the Wreckage |  With Guest Leona Morelock

What happens when you are the one who needs forgiveness?

Last week on the podcast we talked about forgiveness- what it is, what it isn’t, and how Jesus calls us to release the debt. But forgiveness becomes much more personal when we’re the ones replaying our worst moments.

In today’s episode, Leslie sits down with author and women’s ministry leader Leona Morelock to talk about belonging, failure, addiction, and the road back to grace.

Leona shares the story behind her memoir, He Met Me in the Wreckage, including her struggle with alcoholism, the shame that followed, and the healing that came through forgiveness, from God, from others, and eventually from herself.

Together, we explore what it looks like to rebuild a life after failure and how God meets us in our most broken places.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your past disqualifies you… this conversation is for you.

In This Episode We Talk About

• Why so many women feel the need to blend in just to belong
• How shame keeps us stuck in our past
• The impact addiction can have on identity and relationships
• Why self-forgiveness is often the hardest step
• How God can use the very thing you once wanted to hide

About Today’s Guest

Leona Morelock is a women’s ministry leader, retreat host, and creator of community resources designed to help women connect, belong, and grow in faith.

Her memoir, He Met Me in the Wreckage, shares her journey through identity struggles, addiction, friendship, and restoration. Through heartfelt storytelling and hospitality-driven ministry, Leona encourages women to live authentically and build meaningful relationships.

She lives in Tennessee with her husband, Chad, and their son, Bronson.

Connect with Leona

Get her book:
He Met Me in the Wreckage: A Story of Faith, Friendship, and Finding Your Place

Website:  https://leonamorelock.com/

Follow Her on IG Here

If this episode encouraged you, be sure to subscribe and share it with a friend who needs the reminder that your worst moment is not the end of your story.

Connect with Leslie:

Follow on IG: @yourjoyfulorderstyle

Website: https://shopjoyfulorder.com/

Email: lmartinez@yourjoyfulorder.com
to schedule- Speaking Events, Interviews or Life Coaching Sessions

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Watch this Episode on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXoAYIM2mfclNtYiaOzIUw

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https://a.co/d/09Djvaw

Transcript

From Forgiving Others To Forgiving Yourself

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of your Joyful Order podcast. Last week on the podcast, we talked about forgiveness, what it is, what it isn't, and what it means to release a debt. But today I want to take that conversation somewhere deeper. What happens when you're the one that needs the forgiveness? When you're replaying your worst moment, when shame just feels louder than grace, when you're wondering if you've disqualified yourself all together. My guest today is Leona Morlack. She is author of He Met Me in the Wreckage, a story of faith, friendship, and finding your place. Leona has spent years creating spaces where women can connect and belong, but her story includes deep personal struggle, identity, addiction, and the long road back to grace. So today we're talking about belonging, failure, restoration, and the kind of forgiveness that rebuilds a life. This week I will bring you joyful stories that will motivate and inspire you, but at the same time, bring order to your everyday life. Let's just say the show will be a mixture of great interesting with a quick motivation from your girl here. Welcome to your Joyful Order Podcast. Leona, welcome to the podcast. I am so honored to have you here. Thank you so, so much. I'm extremely grateful to be here. All right. Now, for those meeting you for the first time, now I gave a nice introduction for you. So instead of just repeating your resume, I want you to tell us this, Leona. I want you to tell us when women hear your story, what do you hope that they will feel and walk away with?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I hope that they feel a warm hug. Um, that is that is my goal in life is to make people feel welcome and not alone. I hope they feel the taste of a chocolate chip cookie and warm hot chocolate, and just that they are surrounded by by love and gratitude when they meet me.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

I love it. Now, for the listeners, um, I I I do want you to give this, Leona, because your accent just sounds like a warm chocolate chip cookie. Like I love the southern accents. Like the southern accents, we just know like it's like a big hug. I just love it. Give us a little bit of your background because you shared with me when I was on your podcast a little bit of where you've been. So I want the listeners to kind of see a full circle of where this accent comes from. Totally like our topic right now, but I'm just embracing your accent right now. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Well, I am originally from England. I am British. I was born there, British parents, and I lived there till I was eight, and then um moved to Portugal for six years, lived there for six years, spoke fluent Portuguese. My parents dropped me in the deep end and put me in Portuguese school. I knew no words at all, and so I learned everything from scratch. And then when I was 14, we moved to Lebanon, Tennessee. And so when I talked to my mom, even if it's just on the phone, my British accent comes out. And if I talk to my husband's mom, my country accent gets a little more country.

Writing A Memoir From The Mess

SPEAKER_01 3:43

I love it. And I love the fact uh so when she introduced me on her podcast, she said my name like a true Latina would have with the accents and everything. And I was like, wait a minute, where did this come from? So um we got a British speaking southerner here. All right, that's perfect. Let's just dive right in, Leona, because I want I want to start with your book. Your book just launched on March 3rd. Congratulations. You birthed something that was so huge. Um, and your book, it's called He Met Me in the Wreckage. And it is just, I haven't been able to read it yet. It just came out. Um, I'm excited to add that to my audible list, but it just seems like this honest and brave story. So I want you to take us back as to what was happening in your life that led you to write this story.

Belonging By Blending In

SPEAKER_00 4:33

When I first started writing the story, I first of all, it had always been on my mind to write a memoir, but I didn't have enough history to write a full book. And I was just sitting by myself one day and realized that I do have enough to share. And stories don't have to be picture perfect for you to share them, and that's what makes them good, is when they are ups and downs, full of ups and downs. And so I just had too much time on my hands and wanted to do something that would empower both myself and other women. I didn't want my past to just be a past, I wanted it to be useful. I wanted to give the glory to God for the struggles that I've overcame with him and with his grace that I have gotten through everything and to be able to share the many miracles that have happened in my life.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

That's awesome. Now, one of the things in reading um a little bit about your book, you write about learning to adapt and kind of like to shift to blend in so that you could belong. When did that necessarily begin for you?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

I call myself a chameleon, and I can date it back even to when I was in elementary school and and I went to elementary school in England, and I remember a specific time where I was in a friendship with two best friends, and I was the third wheel. And so I wanted to be like them, I wanted to be liked, I wanted to be um seen and known, but I wanted to have the attention that they had, and so I would make myself a different person to be able to um get along with other people. And I did that all the way through England and through Portugal and then through obviously America and my high school situations. I just became who people wanted me to be versus who I was myself. I liked their favorite colors, I liked their favorite food. I, when I was over 21, started liking their favorite alcohol drink. And it wasn't my favorite, but it was their favorite, and so I wanted to be like them. And so in my head, it became my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Wow. Now, during that time, did you feel that you were like known in those spaces or just accepted? So there's a difference of like, oh, they know who Leona is, or we are accepting her.

The First Wreck And Losing Self

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Definitely. I never ever have felt known. I've always just felt accepted and appeased, and that people just accept me into their circle because I am transforming myself to become who they want to be. I always felt that if I was my true self, I wouldn't be long and they wouldn't let me in their circle. And I I say that I've never felt known, but I do now uh in the past. Um I would say, give me a year and a half that I felt known from of my my 47 years of life, but I have I've always felt that I was in the wrong place and that people didn't really know me. And if they really, really knew me, they would not like me. But they know the version of me that is the chameleon that can change and shift depending on who they want me to be and who they need.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah. So trying to be a chameleon to blend in with everybody else, right? So belonging meant a lot to you back then, clearly. Oh yeah. As as it does, any teenage girl wants to belong, wants to be known, accepted, like all of that, you know? And through that though, at some point, striving to belong, that turned into something heavier for you. So can you take us into that season of when it just started to feel like I I can't continue to be the chameleon anymore?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, I had a car wreck when I was 16. And hence the title of my book came at me in the wreckage. That was the first wreck of my life that was a pivotal turning point for me. My my following of Jesus never changed. I always remembered who he was and who I was in him, but what would change would be my persona. And I I think into adulthood by liking other people's colors and favorite meals and favorite drinks, I started to lose myself. And I really couldn't tell you what my favorite thing was because it was what belonged to somebody else. And I struggled wanting to be like other people so much that I went too far. I drank way too much because I wanted to be known and I wanted to be seen. I didn't want to be the life of the party or the um person that was abusing alcohol, but that's what I turned out to be. I turned out to be just a um wreck in myself. And through that, my husband walked through me and saw me being um just down on myself and and detrimental to my health. I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional. Um and I I'm sorry, I can't even remember what what the question was that you asked me.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

You're answering it. You you've been answering it. Where it turned at some point, striving to belong, how it turned into something heavier.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

So I think trying to fit into circles became too much for me, and I tried to become too much, and I overdrank to an extreme that made me more of a laughing stock than somebody that belonged. And that was the the turning point, I think, that I definitely misused my ability to blend in. And we talked about accents and how I can quickly pick up an accent. I can quickly pick up who I'm talking to and who I need to talk to and who I need to be with, but that also loses myself. And so by doing so much and um struggling with alcohol, I think it finally hit me that I was doing it detrimentally to my health.

Alcohol, Identity, And Hitting Walls

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah. Wow. Thank you for being so vulnerable. I know that it it's hard, it's hard to share. Like it's one thing to write the words out, and it's another to like share with a person or, you know, with hundreds of listeners here. Thank you for being um transparent, but I I just want to go a little bit back here because I I'm curious myself. I haven't been able to read your book yet. Um, you mentioned you were in this car accident when you were 16 years old, and this wasn't just like a little fender bender car accident, right? Can you just go a little bit more into depth about the car accident and you know, kind of how life um shifted afterwards for you?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Definitely. I was 16. I was uh just fresh into driving. Driving a red Geo Metro was my favorite color, just a small little car that my parents had bought for me, and bam, had a car wreck. And I was in a coma for 10 days. I woke up out of the coma and did not remember anything. I did not know how to write, did not know how to eat food, did not know how to swallow, did not had to learn, relearn everything as if I was a baby. And I think I stated this earlier. The one thing that never left me was that I was a child of God. That always stayed with me. But that wreck did impact my life and and my family's life so, so much because I was in the hospital for three months. And then when I came out of the hospital and went back home, I was still in and out of rehab for the next two months. And so I was in my junior year of high school. All my teachers graciously passed me um that semester and went back to school my senior year, and everything had changed. As you know, when you're a teenager, you have best friends and you make new best friends the next day, or you break up with somebody. And so I wasn't involved in in school and with my friends for almost a year, and so so much had changed, and their lives obviously had gone on, but my life had stopped. And so I also had a traumatic brain injury with my car wreck, and that impacted more than I thought, and a lot more than my parents even thought. It changed my behavior, it changed who who I was, who I thought I was, but it made me so much more vulnerable to other people taking advantage of me, and that's exactly what happened. I wanted to get back in and jump right back in and have my friend group, but I chose the wrong friend group, and by choosing the wrong friend group, my life just kind of took a totally different um turn direction than it would have. And that is one major chapter in my book, what happened with friendships when I went back my senior year after my traumatic pain injury.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Wow. So when did you realize that something had to change? Like with the alcohol abuse, with the people that you were hanging around, what was that pivotal point in that season that you said I need to make a change?

The Coma, Brain Injury, And Aftermath

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I came to I think three different pivotal points. One was when I decided that I was gonna stop drinking. Actually, my husband decided it for me, and I kind of agreed and went along with the fact, and my best so-called best friend disappeared, and my phone group disappeared because all we ever did involved drinking, and so there wasn't anything to do now that I wasn't drinking, there wasn't any anything that I had to offer them. I always had to give something to every relationship I've been in, and I feel that what I gave was somebody that was a laughing stock and was able to be made fun of, but now that I quit drinking, I didn't have any friends anymore. And so I realized that I needed to find better friends that were more deep and not just surface level with alcohol and um drugs and different things like that. So I quit drinking for around a year and then convinced my husband to let me start again. I started drinking again for another six, seven years, and I tried everything to be able to keep drinking. I tried to limit myself to two drinks, I tried to limit myself to beer only. I tried to limit myself to wine only. I tried to limit myself to only drink when my husband was with me, but I could never stick to any of those. I I always went out and did some drank when I was not supposed to in in my head.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

And take your time, Leona. No, you take your time.

Wrong Friends, New Direction

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I d I'm not eloquent with words. I can write words. I can, and you can use any of this that comes out. I can make words make sense when I write them down in a sentence because I have time to think about them. But the words that come out of my mouth, I feel that I either make words up or I stumble around words, and I pray to God that he will give me the words and the wisdom to speak. And that is what Jesus promised us is that his Holy Spirit would remind us of the fact that Jesus is our Lord and we are his child, and that the Holy Spirit would give us words to speak. And so I always hope that he speaks through me. The last time that I agreed with my husband, I would only drink when he was present, and I failed on that expectation. He had gone out of town with work, and I was by myself with my son and my we were Sam, my mother-in-law's at the time, and I had drank, and Chad had called me, and he can tell, he can always tell if I've had one or five drinks. And so the first words out of his mouth was, how could you? And that just made me stop and realize and think to myself, yes, how how could I? Because I wanted to drink so bad. I wanted to be a normal person. And I feel like a normal person can do normal things, can go to a wine and cheese party and have two glasses and not end up having five glasses and then want more on the way home. And when they get home, so I think that was the the time that it stuck and has stuck. I will be sober for two years on April the first. Congratulations. It was. Thank you. And it no April Fool's joke, but it was April the First. And um he has been so supportive with my journey through that. But everybody gets to a rock bottom. My rock bottom wasn't as bad as some of the times that I've had. I have had a DY. I have spent time in jail. I have lost a job through drinking. You would think those would be rock bottoms for somebody, but my rock bottom was just drinking at home by myself without my husband. And I realized, no, Leona, you can't do this. You can't keep doing this to yourself, but more importantly, to other people. I have a husband and a an amazing son that both rely on me to be the person that God made me to be and not the version that alcohol brought out.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Hmm. Yeah. Thank you, Leona. That I mean we shared it's you know, kind of your first time sharing. About um your book and the words. Like, yes, it is easier sometimes for us to type the words out because we can go back and edit, right? But what comes out of your mouth? And I've been there with you. I I fought for like almost two years when God put it in my heart to do this podcast. And it was like, nope, it's one thing. I'm very eloquent when I write stuff out. I can do a blog, I can, you know, write all this inspiring stuff out there. But when it comes to my mouth, I put my foot in my mouth a lot of times too. And things don't sound so eloquently when it they're um a lot of times not thought out, right? But I think that vulnerability in that is just makes you more relatable. And your story of how you share it, I think people are able to come kind of full circle and say, okay, I've read her book and now I get to listen to her story here. And I can see how everything just intersects and that God is still good. And that's what at the end of it, even though you know you had a wreckage and you've you fought to um always fit in and you fought to be in these spaces and places, we're still just human, you know? And and that is what I I hope that people can see is like we're gonna put our foot in our mouth, things aren't always gonna sound right, and especially when we're processing things, you know, emotions come out and it's hard sometimes to express what we are saying. Um, but you've been doing so beautifully. I just want you to know that.

Quitting, Relapsing, And Choosing Sobriety

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Oh, thank you. And you know what, Leslie, Moses himself said in the Bible, I am not eloquent, Lord, and asked why he was being sent. And that is something that that I always say, and my mentor told me that that that that was Moses that said that he wasn't eloquent. And so if this is one of my crosses to bear, then I will bear it. And I think the the more relatable I can be, the easier it is for people to not feel alone.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yes, yes, and to also know and see that God can use everybody. Exactly. Like God can speak in and through everybody. And you you are being eloquent, by the way. I I was so captivated by everything you're saying, but I know that the emotions like cause us to sometimes, you know, they overcome us. And um sometimes it's hard to get past that. But it just I can see how once you started talking about the story of um your husband and and the struggles there and how you felt like you kept disappointing him, that's where you got really emotional. And I I totally, you know, can understand why. And I can see that how much you love you know your family and that you felt you kept disappointing them. So did you ever get to a place where you had to feel that you like were struggling to forgive yourself for what you were putting your family through?

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Definitely. I still struggle to forgive myself, and I have to go back to the Lord's prayer where it says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And so I think that was one of the pivotal um prayers that Chad, my husband, held on to, is that he was able to forgive me because he knew how much Christ had already forgave him. And so I I feel like I gained Chad's forgiveness way easier than I gained my own forgiveness. I think freedom from addiction is isolating and very um lonely at times. And I think that's where Satan strives, is in the shadows and when you keep things in the shadows. And when the more I talk about it with yourself and other people, the more I can see how I would tell other people to take it easy on themselves and give themselves grace, and you have changed now and you're a better person. But saying those words to myself doesn't sound the same. And so I keep having to think about what would I tell my best friend, what would I want my best friend to hear out of my mouth. And most times it's not the words that I say to myself, we're our own worst critics. And I I think that knowing that we are being forgiven by God should be the ultimate sacrifice that we need to to know that we are forgiven and that we can forgive ourselves. But it's hard, it's hard, Leslie, to um really forgive ourselves. And forgiveness does not mean that we've forgotten the past. And I don't think that we have to forget everything that happened because there are consequences that that came with with different things. Like, for example, like losing my job. There's consequences that came with that, and so that is a good lesson to learn, but it is history and it's in the past. And so forgiving myself for small things like that has been helpful to forgive myself for bigger things about letting my husband down and letting my son down. Thankfully, my son is is 13, and I have talked to him about alcohol, and I've told him that I used to have a problem, and I've asked him if he ever remembers anything from my drinking days, and he says no, he remembers that I drank, but doesn't remember any of the bad parts, and so I'm extremely, extremely grateful that he does not because it could have been a lot worse, and I know other situations are, and so I'm able to forgive myself the more I rely on Jesus and the more I realize that his blood washed me clean.

Self-Forgiveness Versus God’s Grace

SPEAKER_01 28:33

That's so good, and I think it's definitely more challenging a lot of times for us to believe that okay, God forgave me, people forgave me. Why can't I forgive myself? Yeah. We carry that shame also. Yeah, you know, yeah, the shame that you carry, and you keep repeating it in your head over and over again. Um, and it is hard to give ourselves grace. It is, you know, we we are very hard on ourselves and uh we speak negatively to ourselves often, and I'm not worthy, and God can't use me. And look at what I've done. I have this past. How is God gonna use me for that? And you know, when we look at the Bible, like you gave Moses for an example, you know, he stuttered a lot, but look how God used him. And then when you were sharing, I was even thinking about um Peter and how Peter denied Jesus several times, but Jesus still forgave him for that. And he and Peter was a close friend. And then you look at the story of Judas, even too, where Judas sold Jesus out for two shekels. And then later he felt the guilt of that so much and so shameful that he wounded up taking his own life. So there's so many different instances, but uh uh God just continues to forgive. Like he he forgave Peter because he denied him, right? He forgave Judas for selling him out, but that guilt that those people carry, it you know, you can either get past it, like Peter uh eventually kind of got past it, right? Judas didn't get past it. Moses pushed through, and we know what Moses was able to do. And there's just that pivotal moment where we have to say, okay, uh God has forgiven me and move forward with that. And what was that pivotal moment for you, Leona? Was it a moment or just really saying, I've accepted God's forgiveness and I need to move forward?

SPEAKER_00 30:36

I think it was over time. I don't think there was a pivotal time that I can go back to and remember. It wasn't an instant healing, it was a decision that I had to remake every single day. Just like the decision that I had to remake to not drink, I had to remake the decision to forgive myself, just how God had already forgiven me. And forgiveness doesn't say that what I did was okay. It said it wasn't gonna define our future. My past wasn't gonna define how I live from now on. And I think just your the answer to your question is that it's a daily, ongoing battle. Forgiveness and forgiving yourself is is something that I don't think I will ever fully grasp because I I've hurt a lot of people, a lot of close people. And I was just talking with a friend earlier how crazy it is how we talk to people that we love, but we would never talk to our coworkers or our friends like that. But we lash out and we take out our anger, I guess, on the people that love us the most because we know that they'll get over it and that they will be okay at the end of the day. And so forgiving myself for for things like that is a daily, a daily process.

Honest Prayer, Shame, And Scripture

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yes. I yeah, that's and you know, it's funny because uh the other day I was talking to a friend um and we were we were talking about prayers, and she's going through a struggle right now, and she was saying how she just um kind of lashed out to God and just like, God, I'm tired of this. And uh she really just expressed her frustration and anger, you know, and we we were kind of in like a group setting. And I think some of the people are like, What? You and I'm like, Yeah, I talk to God. God loves me when you have a relationship with God. Um, I I will lash out to God sometimes, you know, just like I would lash out to my husband or I would lash out to my son or I might lash out to my mother or something, you know, and lash out as in like venting. Like just I'm I'm not always we're talking about words and fumbling our words and being eloquent, right? God knows who I who we are, right? And I'm not gonna like say these eloquent prayers that aren't who like what I'm trying to express, you know? And I will say things sometimes that I think if I were to say that prayer it out loud, people would be like, You talk to God to that like that. I'm like, yes, because I'm real with you. Yeah, right? Exactly. We just have to be real sometimes. And God sees and knows all, and God knows our heart, you know. I I will say things and especially just like the state of our world right now of what's taking place. I'm just like, God, what is going on? And you know, I express my heartfelt um, you know, prayers to him and frustration and anger and all of that. And it comes though in me having a relationship with God where I know that I'm gonna dump everything to God like that. He's gonna piece it together and he's still gonna love me. He's still gonna say, Leslie, I still forgive you. I still know your heart. I know your heart. And I know your heart isn't to be angry with me. I know your heart is that because you're so passionate about people and you know, you really want, you don't understand why these things are happening, you know? And that just goes for us. Like when we do these things and we come to God, we feel that we need to have a facade with him. And it's it's not about that. God knows and sees it all, and he still forgives us, even in our mess, you know. So, did you, Leona, ever feel that your story disqualified you?

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Oh, yeah. I felt that I was too far gone to bring back and to work with um to help other people. But my past is what helps other people get through. And I I thought that my past was that it it cut me out and that I was I was um not able to be used by God. But now I found my gifting and I found that God doesn't make bad things happen, but he uses them for good. And so I think that I'm realizing again day by day that my past can be used, and my future can be different than my past. And alcohol and lies and deceitfulness and rocky friendships took away so many years out of my life, and God will restore those years, like he restored the years for Joel that the locusts had eaten. And that is something that I stand firmly on and believe with my whole heart that he is going to restore and he has restored my marriage and my family, and he can restore anything in anybody's life, no matter how bad they are, how bad they get, how bad they think they are, God can always restore you.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Amen. Yes. Now, coming like full circle now, Leona, you've um, you know, shared a lot about just where God has brought you and your past with your accident, alcoholism, restoring your marriage and trust in in in um with your family. Um, and now like full circle, you create spaces for women to belong. So, how does your past shape the way that you lead now in these spaces?

Not Disqualified: Purpose From Pain

SPEAKER_00 37:02

I think that I used to be the wallflower that stood back and watched the party going on. And now I have more empathy for other people and I can easily see the person that is standing in the middle of the circle but is not feeling like she's in the circle. So yeah, I can look for those people that are feeling left out and feel marginalized and bring them in. I love having coffee dates with friends and inviting the person that never talks in the Sunday school class or the person who never raises her hand. She's the one that needs the most love and the most bringing out of her shell.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Oh wow, thank you. That's amazing. Now, I want us to just kind of close here. You've we've kind of come full circle in your story here, but there's a woman listening right now who maybe feels disqualified like you did. Maybe she's replaying her worst moment. Maybe she's struggling with alcoholism right now. Maybe her marriage is falling apart. Maybe she's, you know, um recently got arrested for a DUI or um just is not feeling eloquent enough that the shame has just gone to her. And I want you to speak to that woman right now. What would you say to her?

Creating Spaces Where Women Belong

SPEAKER_00 38:40

I would say that you belong, you belong here. And if you do not feel seen and known, you are seen and known by him. And he knows all of us, and he can use your past. He can take that alcoholism or any other form of addiction that you have and turn it into something good. He will always give a way out and a way to deliver us from evil. I just going back to our Lord's prayer, and the words in the prayer say that he will deliver us from evil and not lead us into temptation. And if we rely on that, then we definitely can overcome. Our past does not define us, and we are able to grow and to be friends. And I would challenge you to be the friend that you want. If you want a good friend, you have to start to be a good friend. And so make the first move, make the call, make the text, send a text, invite somebody for coffee, be that first person. And there are friends out there for you. There are people out there that are similar to you and that need a friend. You just have to find them. And I think that God places them in our lives. We just can sometimes overlook, but God opens doors for us that if we go ahead and just walk through, that we will see the end result being happy and joy and peace. And I feel like I'm saying the fruits of the spirit, but it is um, which are all good though, all good.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

And you know, I really actually I want you to end with this, Leona. So um, before we hit record, we were kind of chatting here, and you have mentioned, you said, you know, I asked you how are how are things going, if I can pray for you. And before I prayed for you, you said, I feel like things are almost too good to be true right now, kind of along that, and that it um you were feeling like there was something around the corner, but there was something, and and it kind of tied back to the whole locust thing. Can do you remember what it was that I asked you? I'm like, you have to repeat that.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

That there isn't something always around the corner waiting for the shoe to drop, that God is gonna restore the years for you, and he is gonna restore what the locusts hate.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Yes, so good. So, Leona, just thank you for your honesty. Thank you for your courage and your transparency, and just for reminding us that um a wreckage is not the end of your story, that there is so much ahead. But uh before before we wrap up, I I can't forget, I want you to tell our listeners where they can find you and where they can get your book, also.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Amazon is the main place that I tell people to get their book. It's also on baronsoble.com. It's called He Met Me in the Wreckage. My Instagram handle is just my name. My website is my name also, Leona Moorlock. So you can find anything pretty much by typing in my name.

A Word To The Woman In Shame

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Awesome. And friends, I will link everything in the show notes so you can get Leona's book and you can connect with her on her website. She offers re uh retreats, right? For women also. Yes. She offers a retreat, so you guys can check that all out on her website. And again, Leona, thank you so much. I know that so many women are going to be impacted by your message today. So thank you uh just for your time and your testimony and being fully transparent. Um, it's just I'm so grateful that you said yes and you were uh trusting with me to be kind of the first to share your story of your book and stuff. So thank you for that. Now, friends, until next time, just remember to keep chasing joy. See you.