Dates, Mates and Babies with the Vallottons
Dates, Mates and Babies with the Vallottons
108. A New Era of Breakthrough: Lauren's Message at the 2025 Bethel Church Prophetic Conference
Episode 108 is a special treat! In this episode, the Vallottons share a powerful message that Lauren preached on February 20, 2025, at the Bethel Church Prophetic Conference. Rooted in her personal journey of motherhood and the shifting landscape of 2025, Lauren believes this moment marks the dawn of a new era—one defined by breakthrough for followers of Christ.
Drawing from the story of the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land, Lauren unpacks how God invites us to trust, take risks, believe, hope, and contend for breakthrough—especially in the areas of our hearts where long-held desires have been waiting to be fulfilled.
She closes with a time of prayer, declaring breakthrough over those present at the conference. As you listen, receive these prayers for yourself—may they bring impartation, inspiration, and deep encouragement.
If you experience breakthrough after listening, the Vallottons would love to hear your testimony! Send them your story as they continue to celebrate and share what God is doing in this incredible community of listeners.
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We're the valetins and we are passionate about people. Every human was created for fulfilling relational connection, but that's not always what comes easiest. We know this because of our wide range of personal experience as well as our years of working with people. So we're going to crack open topics like dating, marriage, family and parenting to encourage, entertain and equip you for a deeply fulfilling life of relational health. Thanks, dad, oh, thanks guys. Thanks, dad. I have a lot of liquids up here today, so we're gonna hope I don't need to like like scoot off stage and go potty, you know, but I got my tea because I do have little kids and they gave me a really nasty cold last week, got a direct sneeze to the face a couple too many times. You know what I mean, but that's okay. That's okay, we're here. I got my tea and my water and this is amazing. I can see all of you guys on Zoom watching joining with us online. Welcome, it's so cool to have you. This is amazing. I love being able to see them. Thank you, ruth, for that. That's so cool. And hi, everybody in the room. It's great to see you. You're looking so good today. We are here bright and early. We have already done so much work together and, honestly, I feel like a lot of you just got what you came for in Rory's prayer time. I feel like a lot of you have really received a huge breakthrough. You didn't know that you were coming here for, so thank you for that, rory.
Speaker 1:The prophetic conference is a favorite of mine. How many of you have been to a prophetic conference here at Bethel before? This is not your first rodeo? Okay, amazing. I love the prophetic conference every year and, honestly, I was thinking about this just when Chris got up to introduce me, I realized. So I've been here in Reading since 2008. In 2009, I came on staff in the creative department and I started dating my husband, and I believe it was at the prophetic conference in 2009 that he introduced me to his parents.
Speaker 1:I remember going into the green room and sitting with Chris and getting a little bit grilled, as you can imagine he would do. He grilled me a little bit. He asked me some intense questions like are you driven? I remember that question Are you driven? I'm like, should I say yes or no? I don't know, but I do love the prophetic conference and even we were sitting with our SLT, our senior leadership team, back in December and we were in some prayer over what is the new year going to be like, and something happened in my spirit.
Speaker 1:I actually got really excited about this event specifically, and I hadn't been in any of the planning meetings. I had not, I didn't know the theme that Ben and the team were feeling for for our time this week, but something was stirring in me and I got really excited and full of anticipation. I actually feel like, um, we're in a moment right now. We're in a moment as a movement, we're in a moment as a church, and so you're in a moment too, because you're here with us and we're so glad that you are here. So I'm full of anticipation, but we're gonna dive in. Okay, we are standing on the edge of something new and you know, when you prepare to speak to a group of people like you, you hope that you hear God right, like you hope that you do. And I will tell you from last night until through the morning, I've just felt so grateful to God that he's leading us somewhere very intentionally. And I know that because I can already see the thread. I can already see the thread and some of what you heard last night, both in the introduction video.
Speaker 1:All the way from introduction video to closing worship, to Chris's preach last night, god is taking us on a journey and I'm excited because what God's going to do today is going to be really special. This is a special moment for us. A divine shift has taken place and I believe that in this new era, we should be expecting great breakthrough, especially in the areas we have carried in our hearts for a lifetime. For some of us, there are long-held dreams, promises and deep desires that have felt delayed, buried or even impossible. But when God ushers in a fresh season, when God ushers in a fresh season, he doesn't just give us new things. He breathes new life into what he planted in us long ago.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 43, 19 says see, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? Today, I want to invite you to perceive it. I want to invite you to awaken your faith to dreams that you once held close and recognize that now is the time to step into this breakthrough. The warfare of the past season is not the way of the new one. This is a time of divine fulfillment. So, as we enter into this prophetic moment together, I want to stir your faith.
Speaker 1:What if the very breakthrough you have been believing for is closer than you thought? What if, in this new era, god is bringing things to pass that he placed in you in seed form from the very beginning? Let's step into that expectancy together. I'm gonna pray for our time. Thank you, holy Spirit, for being with us. Thank you for this divine moment, thank you for this season, thank you for the shift that we are in the midst of. We raise our eyes and our expectations. We raise our eyes and our expectations. We want to see you, god. Thank you, god, for this day, for each person in this room, for each family represented here and online. We bless you for even the gift of being together. What a gift to be together. We ask that you would do great things. Today, we know that you are. Thank you, god, for being with us In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:You know, I feel like you can know a lot about yourself by what you asked for for Christmas when you were little. Like if you're trying to recall what were your earliest dreams, just think about what was on your Christmas wish list, right, am I right? Did you want to be a doctor? Did you want to be a firefighter. What did Jay want to be? I don't know? Oh yeah, go a bow and arrow and guns. Well, he's fulfilling his dreams.
Speaker 1:Um, you can tell a lot about yourself by your Christmas list as a kid, and I'll tell you what. Um, I don't remember a year and I have a good memory. I remember way back. I don't remember a year that I didn't ask for a new baby doll for Christmas. And you know, the older I got, the more real I needed that baby doll to be. So I remember sometime mid-90s, right, baby, alive, anybody. It ate real food and it pooped and you had to change its diaper and it got really moldy inside, right, yeah, I wanted the realest doll that I could find and I would just put that on a real baby on my Christmas wishlist, a real baby. And then I hit the jackpot because when I was 10, my parents, my parents, had another baby. So my, my youngest brother is 10 years younger than me and I distinctly remember following my mom through the grocery store with Connor on my hip and I remember thinking to myself as a 10 year old they probably all think he's mine, I'll just trail far enough behind my mom that, like me and him. It's me and him.
Speaker 1:Honestly, the the only dream I can really remember having from from that early, early age in my life was to be a mother. My longest, lifelong dream was to be a mother. I have become a mother now three times, as Chris mentioned. And I say become because becoming a mother is not just having a baby or being a mom. You actually become something brand new every time. There is new weight to carry and gain, there are new measures of grace to step into, there are new levels of responsibility to pick up.
Speaker 1:But becoming a mother each time has been an encounter for me with heaven, and that is the nature of breakthrough. That is the nature of breakthrough. It is not just about receiving the thing that we ask for. James 1.17 says that every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of heavenly lights. No encounter with the Father leaves us unchanged. Every time we receive a breakthrough from God, we are encountering heaven and we are changed. That is the point. In this new era that we're entering, I believe it's becoming increasingly important that we align ourselves with the word of God over our lives and that we expect the impossible, that we start to expect that breakthrough happens. What happens in us when we encounter God in breakthrough moments is that we become more acquainted with his nature. Encounter God in breakthrough moments is that we become more acquainted with his nature. When we're acquainted with his nature, we gaze on him, we behold him, we worship him and we become more like him. That's the journey that we're on. So I believe it's in our best interest that we take our dreams very seriously, because he does. He does so.
Speaker 1:The first time I became a mother, it was. It was a beautiful day. It was rainy but glorious, and I was surrounded by family and friends. My favorite music was playing, there were candles lit. I was not in a hospital room. It was my wedding day, june 4th 2011. I stood there and I said I do to this guy in the front row and, as I did, I became a step-mom to his three kids, who I did not birth but who somehow, I had carried in my heart since my earliest memories.
Speaker 1:And in that moment I stepped into a bit of irony. I'll tell you, marrying a guy that has been divorced and had three children couldn't have been further from the plan. Let me tell you, if I were to have gotten a superlative in high school, it would have been least likely to do something weird, like the girl that does not color outside the lines, the girl that likes the rules, the girl that likes the normal. And so here I was, on my wedding day, saying yes to this very unconventional invitation to marry this man and his children. And people ask me, like, what was that like for you? That was the favorite question in those days. Some of my friends are here in the second row. I got that question all the time. What was that like for you deciding at 25 to marry a guy that had three children? And it's been now nearly 14 years, so it's like slightly more common in the church, but honestly, at that point we didn't really know anybody that was doing that. So the question was valid and I will tell you this I was a little bit like Buddy the Elf and I will explain that.
Speaker 1:I took my job very seriously. I knew the assignment right Code of Elves. I had read Danny Silk's books. I met business about it Like I was going to do a great job. I was also extremely naive and I had rose colored glasses on about everything. Okay, there was a song that was really popular then and it was like it was a Dave Matthews song you and me together we can do anything, baby. Yeah, I had a lot of vision, a lot of daydreams about how we were going to raise these kids and teach them to fly. And you know it was going to be like this beautiful fairy tale journey and you know it was a really pretty wedding day. It was beautiful, very fairy tale-like.
Speaker 1:And then we went on this epic honeymoon and we went for two weeks to Hawaii and we had a really great time. And then, at the very end, we got into the most epic argument over a timeshare pitch. Has anybody ever been in a timeshare pitch? There is nothing that will test your marriage quite like a timeshare pitch on your honeymoon. Yeah, the guy was honestly antagonizing my husband. I got to give it to him. But the way that Jason responded as he was backed into a corner, being told that he had to buy this timeshare or he didn't love his family, I was so embarrassed I didn't know what to do and, honest to God, that was like the day the bubble burst. You know, from that point we got home from the honeymoon.
Speaker 1:We I remember distinctly the kids running in this house we rented a new house and everybody had new space. So I remember the kids blowing past us, running in, and they were really excited. They were excited to see us, they were excited to see their new bedrooms and I was like, hi, dad, hi mom. They ran off to their bedrooms and I was like do they have their toothbrushes? Like who are? Are we prepared Right? Do we wear shoes on the carpet? What are we doing?
Speaker 1:All of a sudden, I became aware of like all the things that I didn't know, that I hadn't completely prepared for. But now we were just this family, like one big happy family, me and Jay and three kids and I. I remember being like, okay, okay, okay, here we go, okay, okay, okay, here we go. And I'll tell you what on a good day I was frazzled, right On a good day. I was frazzled Just the weight of like logistics of feeding three small children and making sure they had their soccer gear for practice, and like we lived across town so we had to like wake up at 6.30 in the morning and sometimes we didn't get home till 7.30, at 30 at night. If you have grade school age kids, you're in that season right now and you know like you don't come home until it's bedtime and so I, on a good day, I was frazzled.
Speaker 1:On other days, I will be honest with you, I was crushed. Crushed by the weight of responsibility that I felt, the weight of feeding these three little mouths that were looking at me. They were 12, nine and six, and those are, those are active ages, you know, like they can make their own cereal and they can wipe their own bums, but they definitely need a lot. And I remember, just at times, feeling the weight of these kids are looking at me, wondering does she have what it takes? And I'm like I don't know. Bro, let's find out, like I don't know. I hope so. We're going to see, we are going to see the way of responsibility, the lack of control that I felt, co-parenting, working full-time, shouldering the burden honestly, whether it was mine to shoulder or not, shouldering the burden of a broken family that was trying to rebuild, and the pain that's wrapped up in that. That was too much. It was too much at times. And there I was, in the midst of a very unconventional yet blatant answer to my lifelong prayer to become a mom, and I looked ahead to forever and I was deeply afraid, deeply afraid, I think about the Israelites in Numbers 13 and 14.
Speaker 1:The Israelites had been delivered right out of Egypt, out of slavery. They'd been led through the Red Seas that were parted for them, they had been provided for, they were following God, they were in the middle of miraculous moments all day long. And then they got to the edge of the promised land and Moses sent the spies in with Joshua and Caleb, to kind of assess threats. Right, and I can relate to that. I'm an Enneagram six. Threat assessing is my game. I'm like what's coming, I'm gonna make a plan for you before you get here and I'm gonna kill you when you get here, because I've already thought about it. So Moses sent the spies into the land and they come back with a report and most of the spies are like well, milk and honey, yes, but there are giants, there are fortified cities in there, I don't know. And the Israelites were terrified. They heard the report and they were terrified. They said if we had only died in egypt or in this wilderness, why is the lord bringing us into this land only to let us fall by the sword? They were exasperated without actually even entering the promised land, just based on the report of what was ahead, they were terrified, and when the promised land threatened to look different than they had expected, the israel Israelites were afraid and they shrunk back and ultimately they began to go in their own way.
Speaker 1:If we hold on too tight to the way we think the promises over our lives should come to pass, unwilling to color outside the lines a little bit or follow God into the unknown, we risk going around that mountain so many more times than we need to. So many more times God's like over here, keep walking. I know it looks really sketchy, just trust me. Like, go this way. And this is so relatable for me. I know this is relatable for you too. We pray for open doors and then it ends up being harder than we expected. Like, how many times does that happen? Right? The new job is overwhelming. Our marriage isn't effortless. The dream that we've been waiting for comes with a weight that we weren't actually mentally prepared to carry right. Has anybody ever been in that position? So do we retreat to familiarity or do we press in? That's the question. This is really funny story.
Speaker 1:My mom called me when I was engaged to Jason, and my mom and I were best friends. She was an amazing woman and she was really excited for me to have found the love of my life. We were engaged and I remember her calling me one day and, honestly, you know, when you're 24 and you tell your parents, I I forgot to say this I grew up in South Carolina, so I'm like 3000 miles away from home. When you call your mom from 3000 miles away and tell her hi, I'm 24. I, uh, I'm going to marry a guy that's been divorced and he has three children. Like, if you have a good connection with your parents, they might be like, okay, tell me more, but if you don't or they have like any sense in their brain, they're going to question everything about you. They're going to be like what are you thinking? My mom and dad were actually amazing and we got engaged and they celebrated us and they were so excited for us.
Speaker 1:But, like any loving parent would do, my mom was absolutely terrified at times for me and one day she called me and she was like honey, I've been thinking about it. I think you should just move in with Jason and the kids and give it a test go. You know, I was like mom for starters no, we don't believe in that. But secondly, well, you think I can't do this. And, honestly, my mom didn't have any huge red flags. She wasn't like don't marry Jason, he's horrible. It was like any good parent. She was so scared of me doing such a hard thing. She was so scared of me doing such a hard thing. I get it. Caleb and Joshua were like guys, we can do this. Right, we can do this, come on, come on.
Speaker 1:But in Numbers 13, 31 through 33, the others said we cannot attack those people. They are stronger than us. They spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had explored and they said the land devours those living in it. All the people were there, of great size. We saw Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them for sure. Basically, they were saying no, we cannot, we cannot do it, we cannot do it.
Speaker 1:And the Israelites started looking at their own strength, assessing their own ability and discounting themselves because of their inadequacies. Did they have inadequacies, of course, but they started assessing their ability to inhabit the promised land based on their own inadequacy. Breakthrough requires incredible measures of trust, and the Israelites had to learn that the promise wasn't just about entering the land. It was about trusting God who led them there, and the same is true for us. The opportunities that God presents do not come very often in neatly wrapped packages. Have you noticed that? I have noticed that Sometimes they require us to step forward with faith, and even when we don't have all the details, we have to choose trust. The Israelites had learned that the promised land was not just about provision. It was about trust, and the same is true for us.
Speaker 1:So you know, in my early years of marriage with Jay and family life with our three big kids, I prayed the Lord's prayer. God in heaven, help us, give us today my daily bread. We all know we are not surviving on my cooking. God, help me, help me step into this thing that you've called me to, this thing that you put inside of me so long ago. We are not going to make it without your help. And I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1:It was the grace of God on my life that he first invited me, through this open door of opportunity to say yes to a dream coming to pass in a way that I had not expected. It was a grace of God on my life that he invited me to color way outside the lines before. We did it my way, because what I learned was that the hardest part of those early years had nothing to do with our kids. They were amazing. The hardest part of those early years of marriage was me. It was me. It was me confronting my lack of control. It was me confronting my lack of control. It was me confronting my inadequacy. It was me confronting the fact that I wanted to be perfect at what I was doing, and perfection is not possible as a human. The hardest part of stepping into my dream fulfilled season was myself, and so it was the grace of God that he led me on a trust journey and didn't do things the way that I'd always thought they would be done. Can anybody relate? Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:When we say yes to a calling or an opportunity that stretches us, that looks different from our expectations, we open ourselves up to a faith-filled adventure, life with God. That should do something in you the idea that our life with God could be an adventure. We were built for that. Human beings were physically designed for taking ground, for moving forward, for actually going on adventures with God. We were given incredible brains to problem solve with the help of the Holy Spirit, like we were built for a wild adventure. So many of us, though, do not step through open doors of opportunity because it looks so scary. It looks so scary and it is, without his help. Right it is. I believe that this season, many of us will receive our greatest breakthroughs as we choose to walk through open doors of opportunity, and on the other side of the threshold, things look mysterious and risky, but there's opportunities to turn back. If we don't, we will get to enjoy the promised land with the next generation, and that is exciting. That is exciting. That is exciting.
Speaker 1:The second time I became a mother was a really different story. We had wanted to have more children, jay and I, and our dream, of course, was to raise our kids all together, the big kids, and then we would add some babies to the bunch, and it was going to be like, you know, brady Bunch of Swords, I don't know, just like another little fairy tale story, and we tried for like four years to get pregnant, and it was one of those journeys where you're like, okay, so there was a surgery involved, and then there was complications, and then there was, you know, failed fertility interventions. It was one disappointment after the other, and they tell you that trying is the fun part. It's only fun for like a little bit and then when you try and fail and try and fail, it actually becomes like not the fun part, right, and then you have a whole nother set of things to work out in your marriage. It's a tough four years. It was really really hard, and many of you have been in this exact spot, whether literally in a fertility situation or any other hope deferred. Anybody ever been in a hope deferred situation? We all have. We all have.
Speaker 1:Well, one day I was at work here at Bethel Church and I realized and we're just gonna listen, I'm a mom, we're just gonna talk about all the things. I was late. Y'all know what I mean. I was late and I called Jay and he was like huh, I'm like drive home now. So I remember going home, we took that pregnancy test and I remember just sitting there with my eyes closed like I don't even know if I should hope that this is positive and it was. It was positive. We had one of those moments where we were like God did it, this wild breakthrough moment where we thought four years of answered prayers like, yes, god, yes, we knew that you could do it. We knew that you could do it.
Speaker 1:And I'll never forget driving to my first doctor's appointment and get a drive downtown and we're you know what's it going to be like. And, oh my gosh, we're so excited. And we get into the doctor's office and I'm on the exam table and my doctor is a friend of mine, so she's pumped with us Like she's been on the whole journey and she gets on there and she runs a little thing over your belly and I'm looking at her face, cause I can't see the screen and she's studying hard, right, she's looking hard. And I'm like, yeah, what do you see? She looks harder and harder. And she said oh, I'm so sorry, I can't find a heartbeat. And I looked at Jason and I looked back at her and I said no, no, no, no, no, no, no. She looked and looked and she could not find that heartbeat and she left and gave us some space and I remember sitting on that table, wailing Thank you, man, y'all, I've had a cold, let's hope it doesn't get too snotty up here Wailing on the table.
Speaker 1:I didn't know how I was even going to walk out of that room with that kind of news and I would like to tell you that in my deep faith, I knew that we were going to get a healing or a miracle, or that we could pray and that in two weeks time we'd come back and there would be a heart. But like I didn't have the faith for that, somehow my heart had already moved into grief. And although I let our community contend for us, something in my spirit knew this one's over. And so many of you have been in that spot. You have wanted something, you have desired something. God has put a dream inside of your heart and you have pressed in and you have done all the right things and you have hoped against hope. And then you feel like your moment is about to come, and then it doesn't. And then you're confronted with another challenge. Do I dare hope again? Challenge Do I dare hope again? Do I dare, or am I going to be made a fool? Do I trust God or do I have to self-protect? Now, we've all been in those moments.
Speaker 1:I remember the taunting wrestle of faith for the next few months and it was up and down and all around, and at one point I just thought I don't think we're supposed to have more kids. We've got our three kids and we're so happy and we've developed such a beautiful family culture and, honestly, at that point in time we had gotten over some of the biggest hurdles and it was a great season. And I just thought maybe this is it for us and that's okay. I just need to like, let this go. And then one night I had a dream. Anybody have prophetic dreams. One night I had a dream and in the dream I can see that my belly was huge, like nine months pregnant, and I looked down in my belly and I saw a little boy and he was spinning inside, spinning, spinning, spinning, and it was like he was in the world. And I saw a little boy and he was spinning inside, spinning, spinning, spinning, and it was like he was in the world and the world was the baby. And you know what I mean. Dreams are a little bizarre and I never birthed the baby and I knew that in the dream this was the baby that we had lost. And the next night I had another dream and in the dream I gave birth to a little girl and that moment changed everything for me. That moment changed everything for me. See, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life and abundant life. That first pregnancy ended in miscarriage and loss, and it became evidence to me evidence to me that I would have a baby and that I would have to stand vigilant over that promise until I saw it come to pass.
Speaker 1:I'm reminded of the story of Joseph in Genesis 37. It's chapters 37 through 50. It's an amazing story. Some of you are probably very familiar with the story of Joseph, but it's a powerful testament to God's faithfulness. Amidst long suffering, joseph was given a prophetic promise over his life from God.
Speaker 1:As a very young boy and like a probably obnoxious little brother does right, he's like throwing it up in his big brother's face all the time, and they get really frustrated with him and they're like no way, you are not going to lord this over us. Long story short, he is betrayed by his brothers. He is eventually sold into slavery. Later he is wrongfully imprisoned. I mean, it's a lifetime of unjust, wrongful treatment. All the while Joseph is carrying this promise over his life, trial after trial after trial, his situations look dire. Like year after year after year, it actually only gets worse. Interestingly, though, as his years passed, all the trials were refining him. As his years passed, all the trials were refining him. He gained favor. Everywhere he went. He did an amazing job. Everywhere he went, he had a gift on his life that was growing and growing and growing. Amidst all the trial, amidst all the waiting, amidst all the long-suffering, every trial was preparing him for the immense responsibility of saving a nation.
Speaker 1:Later on, and after all his suffering, many years later, after the tables had turned, joseph tells his brothers in Genesis, chapter 50, he says this you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done to save the lives of many. So don't be afraid, I'll provide for you and your children. He said to his brothers Come to me. When they came near, he said I am your brother, joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves for selling me, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. He had one of those hindsight is 2020 moments. Right, he's looking and he's going. Oh God, you were up to something so much bigger than I could have imagined.
Speaker 1:James 1, verse 2 through 4, says consider it pure joy. Brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, in our trials, you test our faith. Testing our faith produces perseverance, and when perseverance runs its course, we lack nothing. Consider it pure joy. Our season of waiting was really long and it was really painful. Your season of waiting has probably been long and painful If your season of waiting has been short. If your season of waiting has been short, likely it has been painful. Waiting is hard. Waiting is hard In our story.
Speaker 1:A couple of years after our miscarriage, ivf became a really beautiful provision for us. It became a provision that absolutely bridged the I'll save you the science lesson, but it bridged the biological gap that we were facing. And I conceived, I carried a baby full term and on March 6, 2020, I pushed real hard. I tore my body and I gave birth to our first little girl body. And I gave birth to our first little girl. Yeah, edith Annalise was born on March 6, 2020. And for like 48 hours we were in heaven until those happy hormones wore off.
Speaker 1:I will never forget our second night home with her second night home. We're awake in the night. She's screaming, my body is screaming, my hormones are screaming. Jason's trying to like calm me down. It's not working. I just remember crying and yelling at him. I'm sorry. I think I've ruined our life.
Speaker 1:Three days in to my breakthrough moment I'm like ah, how do we send her back? I don't know what I was asking for. This is terrible, I know. I know I thought I had earned a season of peace. Have you ever been there before You're like I've earned some peace? We've already. Surely we've already done the hard thing. I can't do another hard thing. God. I thought I'd earned a season of peace and there I was with a baby that only slept in 30 minute increments. You know, those first few months were incredibly hard honestly harder than I want to admit.
Speaker 1:And then, all of a sudden, I needed to tap into that reserve well, of resilience that I had built over the last seven years, because two weeks after I brought my baby home from the hospital, the entire world shut down because of COVID. Listen, moms, no meal train, no visitors. It was a dark time. It was a dark time I'd been living for that meal train. You know, our freshmen in high school at the time came home to be homeschooled. What by me, I have a newborn Like what are you talking about? I can't homeschool you.
Speaker 1:Our work world listen, our work world went into upheaval. My maternity leave was COVID. While in COVID I previously I had been the executive pastor to our senior pastor in the church world. I'd done that for like eight years, so I'd helped lead our church teams for a long time Our work world absolutely disintegrated. The team that I had been leading fell apart completely. People moved to far ends of the earth and I remember coming back from maternity leave thinking like what mess is there left to clean up? Like I cannot do this.
Speaker 1:And then, nine months after my baby was born, my mom, who was my best friend, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was a really rough time. It was a really rough time. Y'all, the promised land is full of giants. Those spies were right. They were right. Life is so hard, am I right? It's so tough. I remember talking to God so honestly in our season of infertility saying like God, please, I cannot do another hard thing. I've got this beautiful baby, please just let me enjoy her.
Speaker 1:And the hard things just didn't stop coming. You get this, you get married, but the past wounds surface in unexpected ways. You get that promotion, but things fall apart at home. You get pregnant, but there's complications and fear. Or you achieve financial success, but stress and pressure rise and you experience breakthrough, but you realize the battle is not over.
Speaker 1:The battle is not over when Joseph's lifelong promise was fulfilled, after years of trial, right Years and years of trial was fulfilled after years of trial, right Years and years of trial. This is what it says in Genesis 41. Pharaoh said to Joseph I hereby put you in charge of my palace and all my people to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and he put it on Joseph's finger, and he dressed him in robes of fine linen and put that gold chain on his neck. Right, joseph's dreams are coming true. And then he said make way. And then he put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt, which, by the way, meant that Joseph was in charge of making a plan to help a entire nation survive impending famine. And I am thinking that felt like a lot. I'm thinking that felt like a whole lot of work.
Speaker 1:Breakthrough is not an arrival into peace and ease, and the promised land is not a destination. It is a holy habitation of the spirit of God present in our everyday life. Psalm 37, verse says take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. John 15 says if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done, but the promised land is him with us. It still requires incredible faith, perseverance and abiding in God's presence. If we are too enamored with attaining the promise, we'll miss the fact that we have to inhabit the land for another generation altogether In the best way. It's not about you and it's not about me. I'm going to speed up a tiny bit. Oh, I wiped my nose, sorry. Good thing I'm wearing a wipeable dress, you know, that's good.
Speaker 1:The third time I became a mother, I had wanted another baby. I had this, you know. I'm like oh, edie should grow up with a little one in the house, like she can't grow up on her own. And Jason's like no, she's going to be fine, she's going to be fine, we are not having another baby. And I was like that's cute, we'll talk about it tomorrow. And I just kept bringing it up, you know. And then one night we had this kind of knock down, drag out conversation and I was like I'm serious, like IVF is not just like a casual walk in the park. You gotta be kind of intentional about it. And so we got a plan for this and I'm telling you, I really think this is the Lord, like I feel like there's another baby, and he was really sweet about it. But his answer was really firm and he said no. And I said why? And he's like do you want me to tell you? I'm like, yes, I do. I need you to tell me. Like, if you're serious about this, I need to have a good reason. He said, okay, I love you, you're amazing, you're a great mom.
Speaker 1:This season has been a lot. And you under pressure these were not his words, okay, these were not his words. You under pressure is not cute right now. He's like you stressed out. You caring for your terminally ill mom, you having a one and a half year old and three older children. You in the midst of all of this work, upheaval and uncertainty about the future. You're stressed out and you're stressing me out and I'm actually, because I love you, not willing to say yes to more pressure, like I'm not signing up for more pressure because I love you, and I had to sit there with this reality. I think my greatest dream is not going to come to pass because of me. Again, here I am in my inadequacy, in my fear, in my grasping for control. I am my hindrance, yet again, to the greatest stream of my heart coming to pass. And I said I hear you, you are not wrong, sir, it's not cute up in here right now, but I'm telling you, I think there's another baby and I'm going to go on a trip and when I get back we're going to talk about this again, right, babe? So I had this trip planned. I was going to go visit my best friend and my mom and I took our daughter Edie. She was one and a half at the time, a little over one, and we're in South Carolina for like three, two weeks, probably two weeks.
Speaker 1:I was away and I remember we were FaceTiming one night and just catching up as spouses do, and you know casually mentioned that I was just really ready for that time of the month to come and go because I was feeling so weird and he goes, babe, what if you're pregnant? And I laughed a little bit, like our friend Sarah in the Old Testament. I laughed and I was like that's ridiculous, medically impossible, sir. And then I did not sleep that night at all and I woke very early in the morning and I scrambled over to Walgreens as fast as my little legs could carry me and I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. It was positive.
Speaker 1:Now, here's the thing Right, like 1% chance, 1% chance medically, these moments in our lives we realize we are a drop in the ocean and God is so very big. He is so very big. He is so very big. He's more invested in the dream of my heart coming to pass than I am and obviously he loves me a lot more than Jason. That's what we know for sure.
Speaker 1:Certain breakthrough moments are sudden and miraculous. They are unforeseen, they shake us to the core, they blow our minds right. Sometimes we get settled into this little rhythm of life and we think we know what's happening next, because I'm almost 40. And I think I know because I've been around this block before and I know we're going to do this and we're going to plan this. And then God's like boom, how about we do this now? I remember my reaction. Of course I was full of joy. I mean, we died laughing on the phone Like we laughed so hard. We were like this is wild. I can't believe he trumped you. That is awesome. And then, honest to God, here I am in the middle of a breakthrough moment and I'm starting to do the math and I'm like, hang on, edie's going to be like just two. I've heard two is really hard.
Speaker 1:My mom's like a year and a half into her terminal diagnosis and I got terrified of having another baby without my mom's help. I was looking at our son who was in the middle of a high school career that was like totally derailed by COVID. We're trying to help him to the finish line. I'm like, oh, all of a sudden I felt scared about the timeline. I like my timeline a little bit more. Maybe Jason says jokes on you.
Speaker 1:Whatever, here's the deal, ben Armstrong, god's nature is one of sudden breakthrough. The Bible describes it as a raging flood. The Lord did it. David exclaimed he burst through my enemies like a raging flood. So he named the place Balparazim, which means the Lord who bursts through, in 2 Samuel In Northern California. We understand this and if you were here when Ben opened the service, you know that this month in particular, we had a wild storm and crazy things happen In Northern California. We go through these wild times of like severe drought and then we pray and then the rain comes and then we have a flood. It's like never the middle ground. It's never the middle, it's just intense. Like this is an intense place, and this is exactly how breakthrough comes. It changes landscapes. It can feel chaotic and even dangerous. A lot of what man builds gets disrupted, but when the floodwaters recede, the land itself is richer. So National Geographic says that seasonal floods actually fertilize the soil Like nutrients that our ground needs. We don't get what we need unless the floodwaters come and spread the nutrients out and we actually learn that floods don't destroy. They actually prepare land for abundance.
Speaker 1:God did not just give me a baby, and when that flood came it reshaped everything. And this timeline was a profound provision in my life. For the sake of time, I'm not going to tell you all the reasons why, but that Liam Jeffrey was born right when he was meant. So many good things for our family. God's timeline is so divinely perfect, it's so beautiful, it's such a provision for us. So what do we do when we see the God of breakthrough coming? It reminds me of Paul on the road to Damascus right. He gets absolutely knocked off his path. He is persecuting Christians and he gets knocked off his path, his entire identity is shifted. Honestly, it feels like an amazing encounter story where, like yes, but think about the adjustments he had to make. Like his entire life was about persecution and he had to change in a moment. Like all of his followers were probably confused. He was probably wondering what in the world is happening? Right, that's not like a lighthearted change. That's a raging flood breakthrough.
Speaker 1:Sarah's unexpected miracle We've talked about that. She laughed. She laughed at the promise given to her. And then boom, all of a sudden, despite her 90 years, she was given this promise that she had given up on long ago. What about Mary? Ah, mary, the mother of God. She is not asked if she's up for the job. She is told right, you are pregnant. You will give birth to Jesus Christ, the savior of the universe. You are chosen for this. And how did she respond? I mean honestly, when you consider the wild context that she was in, imagine her thoughts up at night. Imagine what she was considering as she beheld what was happening to her. Right, sometimes breakthrough can feel jarring and it happens to us without our permission, and what we might. Look at Mary's story and be like wow, what a blessing. The blessed mother of God. I promise you, there was a few nights in there where she was like I do not know about this Right. So I'm going to ask again how do we respond when God surprises us? With fear and control, or with laughter and surrender? And what's at stake? Because as I look through scripture, I see that the courses of history are written by people's responses to and, suddenly, moments. God is still the God of breakthrough and I do not think he is done surprising us. I think this season in particular, we should expect the raging flood of God to come and break through in certain areas.
Speaker 1:When I was a little girl, I was sure my life was going to be amazing. I told you this I had, like the white picket fence picked out. I was going to marry the guy in khakis, I was going to have the perfect little family and the perfect little job and I was going to wear heels to work. It was going to be so cute and so fun and so easy. And along the way, my life took some really wild and unexpected turns and there was a moment, like six, seven years ago, where I wondered like have I been tricked? This is wild, have I been tricked? I started to wonder if I'd taken a wrong turn. I actually believed for a little bit that my story was going to end in tragedy. Like my big kids were nearly grown, I was grieving that they were already like leaving. It felt like we had just begun and now they were gone. We were never going to have little ones in our house again. That baby alive doll was about to be the closest thing I got to changing a diaper right. I was afraid that I had chosen a route that had landed me in impossibility. I was afraid that my choices put me in a spot where I was under this massive limitation.
Speaker 1:I thought my story was a tragedy, but he was writing a story of triumph and he shattered my timelines. He flipped my expectations upside down. He gave me more than I ever dared to ask for. Honestly, like Joseph, I'm able to say you are able to say you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done saving the lives of many. I am so, so, so, infinitely grateful for the years between raising our big kids and having our babies. Would I have written the story like that? Heck, no, I am so grateful that God's story is the story that we're living in.
Speaker 1:Here's the truth. If we surrender how our dreams come to pass, god will do it in a way that's extravagant. He will weave a story that is exhilarating. It includes tragedy, yes, moments of heartbreak, yes, but moments of unbelievable joy. And, yes, there are giants in the land. And, yes, it will be hard. And, no, we don't ever graduate out of encountering extreme opposition and hardship. We do not. Walking through one really hard thing does not exempt us from more hard, but the journey of inhabiting the promised land is about learning to trust the Father and glorify the Son. I'm reading this because I love to write, and I wrote this as I was praying for you guys and thinking about you in this room today.
Speaker 1:To surrender a dream, a promise, a vision is not to give up on it. A vision is not to give up on it. Surrender doesn't mean I magically don't care anymore. To surrender is an offensive move. It means that his nature becomes my focus. His nature becomes the testimony, never changing. And the testimony is spoken again and again and again. And no longer am I in fear of striving, but I have surrendered to his nature, vigilant and aligned with the truth, so that when promises do come to pass. He is glorified. We will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you because he loves you and because it is about something much bigger than you.
Speaker 1:Anything about Hannah? Are you guys familiar with the story of Hannah? She longed for a child. She wept and wept and longed for a child. She was taunted because of her inability to conceive. When God answered that prayer and Hannah was given Samuel, what did she do? She gave Samuel back. She gave him back in surrender. She kept her side of the bargain.
Speaker 1:In 1 Samuel, chapter 2, it says each year his mother made him a little robe. Speaking of Hannah, hannah made Samuel a little robe and took it to him. When she went up with her husband to offer their annual sacrifice, eli would bless Elkanah and his wife Hannah, saying may the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of this one that she prayed for and gave to the Lord. They would go home and the Lord was gracious to Hannah. She gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of God. What did God do? He multiplied it. He gave Hannah more than she could have ever imagined in her time of need.
Speaker 1:And Hannah's story teaches us something really critical the breakthrough is not the end, it is the beginning. The breakthrough that you were after will be the beginning of your beginning. The breakthrough that you were after will be the beginning of your story. The breakthrough that you were after is not an arrival. It is not a destination. It is the beginning of something great that God is doing in your life and in your lineage.
Speaker 1:I believe with all of my heart, all of my heart that we are stepping into a shifting season where breakthrough is about to come. In 2025,. We are at the edge of a promised land. The years of wandering and waiting and wondering if breakthrough will ever come is giving way to a season of wild, undeniable, supernatural breakthrough. In this season, where God will show himself strong on behalf of his people, he will reign favor and provision and healing and restoration, and where we will see his hand move in these ways, it will leave us undone and in awe, because it's time and it's actually about legacy.
Speaker 1:The next generations of dreams fulfilled rely on you taking yours very seriously. In our family, we are welcoming our first grandbaby at the end of I know Harvest time, end of the summer, our oldest son, elijah, and his beautiful wife Allie, are going to have a baby, and I'm in awe. Again I'm in awe. I want to step into the promised land season with the next generation, and so I want to pray over the dreams that are in your heart, over the things that you have been carrying, some of you, for a lifetime. The time is now. The time is now. I'm praying over you to him who is able to do immeasurably more than you could ever ask or imagine, according to the power at work within us. To him be the glory for all generations, forever and ever. Amen. And I want to ask. I want to ask, you know, as I was sharing my story, and the beauty of the beauty of a testimony is that it carries the spirit of prophecy. It carries in its DNA the power to be done again and again and again and again. So by hearing the testimony of God over anybody's life, you get to receive the exact components needed in order to see the same thing happen in your life.
Speaker 1:The breakthrough that we speak about is a breakthrough that you can actually grab a hold of and attain and there are some of you in the room and some of you online who, when I spoke about open doors of opportunity, I saw you standing in front of a door, in front of a threshold on one side, and if you feel this like burning in your spirit, there are some of you that know you've been given an invitation. It looks unconventional, it's not what you would have imagined, but you see the invitation. You're scared to step over the threshold and I want you to raise your hand if you know that's you in your life right now. Now, listen, not everybody should go out and marry somebody that's been married before and has three kids. Listen, use your wisdom. Use your wisdom.
Speaker 1:I'm saying, like you know that this is God. You know God is opening a door of opportunity. How many of you know there's opportunities all over the map? That doesn't mean we should walk through those doors, right? If you know you're sitting in here and you know God has extended an invitation to me to walk through something that I could not have pictured before. I feel it's him, I feel it in my bones, but I'm scared to step over the threshold. I want you to stand up. We're gonna pray for you. Listen, the fulfillment of God's dreams over our life is always better than we imagine. If you know God is inviting you over that threshold, it's going to be better than you could have believed.
Speaker 1:So if you're around one of these people, I want you to put a hand on a shoulder. If you get a word for them, you can absolutely give them a prophetic word. Get a word for them, you can absolutely give them a prophetic word. But I'm going to pray over us, holy Spirit. I pray that you would give us the guts to apprehend the promise. Let us take advantage of this moment that we are in God and we choose to trust. Even now, we choose to trust you. We acknowledge there are giants in the land. We acknowledge no, it's not going to be a cakewalk, but God, you are with us. You are with us. You are with us. Who could be against us if you are with us, god? So we say yes to taking that step right now.
Speaker 1:I want you to actually take a step. If you feel like you have the grace to step over that threshold right now, I want you to take a step forward. You could take a step into an aisle. You could do a little hip hop up and down, like I'm watching this friend of mine in this fourth row doing you could jump up Something. Take a step forward. I believe that today you are receiving a grace for something that you didn't have yesterday. Today you are receiving a grace for something that you didn't have yesterday and you are going to see wild provision come to you as you step into this mysterious new land.
Speaker 1:For those of you watching online, I want you to give me a wave if you feel like that's you. I see the Hollingers standing together. I see Ada in Carlsbad. Yes, we are's you? I see the Hollingers standing together. I see Ada in Carlsbad. Yes, we are with you. Amazing, take a step right where you are. We are praying for you and we are declaring over you grace and provision for this next step. Okay, stay standing or sit if you want to.
Speaker 1:I wanna pray for people in this room who have been carrying dreams for a lifetime. You feel like it's God, but there's been moments where you have decided I don't know that I hear correctly, like it's been so long. I don't actually know that I hear the voice of God. I'm not sure that I trust this was you. Some of you have been prayed for countless times, countless times for breakthrough in this area, and it's actually painful to stand and believe and hope. If that's you, I want you to give me a wave. I want you to close your eyes right now and, as you do, I believe that the Holy Spirit, the great counselor, the comforter, he's going to call to mind what he has been building in you all this time.
Speaker 1:He is weaponizing your story. He is taking the journey of long suffering, he is taking the trial, he is taking the disappointment, he is taking the failure and he is weaponizing your story. And our weapons are not against flesh and blood, they are against principalities and powers. He is weaponizing your story to tear down strongholds. Some of you are going to receive a breakthrough today. Ruth is preaching tonight. Some of you are going to get healed in a moment's time, something that you have gone after for years and years. Some of you are getting healed right now and if that's you, you can stand up and yell at us. We'll celebrate with you.
Speaker 1:He's weaponizing your story to tear down strongholds. Even that breakthrough, the one that feels the most personal, the one that you've gone after for your entire life, the one that feels like if it's not, if it doesn't come out of you, it's going to die inside of you, even that one. It's about more than you. It's about more than you. It's about tearing down strongholds. So we are partnering with you right now and I'm going to pray for you. If that's you again, I want you to wave your hand.
Speaker 1:Everybody around them, take a look and see who it is. You can ask them what they're pressing in for, but as you do and as you guys pray, I'm going to pray over you as well, jesus. We recognize, we recognize the promise. We recognize the promise, god, and we believe for incredible supernatural breakthrough over these folks today, today, today, god, would this be a season of shift In 2025, would these folks right here today receive the breakthrough that they have been pressing in for for years and years and years?
Speaker 1:If there's anybody in this room specifically that has been waiting for a breakthrough in fertility, you've not been able to have children and you want to have children would you raise your hand, god? I pray for these ones here, that you would touch these ones right here. Touch these ones right here. Hold on just a sec. I just want to ask the Holy Spirit, because these are tender times Like these are tender places. These are tender places.
Speaker 1:Here's what I know is that there is no trial, no season of waiting, no journey that you could go on in pursuit of the promise of God over your life and ultimately land in disappointment. God will do it. God will do it, and so I pray for profound breakthrough over the ones with their hands risen right now. Profound breakthrough, god. We invite the and suddenly moments, we invite the raging flood, the God of breakthrough to come and crash into these lives today. Crash into these lives for the remainder of this event. God, we thank you that there are testimonies of breakthrough that these ones are gonna take back to their churches, their cities, their communities. That will unleash ripple effect, breakthrough across their communities. That it will be like the testimony spirit of prophecy that just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. We stand with you and we believe for you. We know that he can do it and that he wants to do it.
Speaker 1:I'm going to close like this Would everybody just stand? You guys, you're doing great, you've been here a long time. I want you to put your hands out and close your eyes, and what I believe is about to happen is that the Holy Spirit is going to come and rest on you and one of like three things is going to happen You're either going to feel commissioned by God to step across that threshold that we just prayed for. You're gonna feel God do something, even in your physical body, that helps you confirm that he is doing a work, a powerful work, that this is a shifting moment. Or you're gonna to feel this incredible offensive move to surrender the thing. And I'm going to just ask right now, holy Spirit, that you would give us the grace to repent for idolizing the thing. God. We repent for idolizing the thing. Repent for idolizing the thing. Our surrender, god, is in absolute offense. Our surrender to you today, jesus, is a statement of faith saying God, what you put in me from the foundations of the world it was like this is what I see.
Speaker 1:I see that God put something inside of each of us before the foundations of the world. He knew what we were going to do and accomplish on the planet. We're born and there's this tiny seed inside of us, this teeny, tiny seed, and as we grow like we're a baby, it's in there. We grow up, we get a little bit older and it starts to sprout and we start to recognize it. Maybe we ask for something on our Christmas wishlist. Or maybe, as we get older, we realize it's a passion and we see this little thing growing and we like it and we notice it and we grab a hold of it and it becomes part of us and it grows and it grows and it grows and then, when we get a little bit older, we think that it's ours, we think that it belongs to us, like it's so a part of us that we think it's ours and, just because of lack of perspective, we don't realize no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:That was God's idea. He put it in there so long ago. It was in there before you were even on planet earth, and so, because of that, we can surrender it to him. We can surrender it to him. So, god, we surrender to you the dream and promise over our life. It is an offensive move, it is a statement of faith. We declare your nature, god, is one of breakthrough and we ask that you would bring it to pass. This conference would be a shifting point for us as a movement in the body of Christ, that this conference would be a shifting point.
Speaker 1:2025, a season of breakthrough in absolute surrender to the dreams that you are dreaming God, absolute surrender to the breakthrough that you are breathing on and blowing through this place. We believe you for that, we trust you with that God, and we glorify you in the midst and we say, yes, would we be a generation that goes with the next one into the promised land In Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen, thank you. Thank you so much. I really want to encourage you, like I this is just me momming you for a second Do not let go of what he's put on your heart today. This is very important. This is very important, and what he's going to do is just beginning. I believe that tonight you are going to get absolutely wrecked by Ruth and some of you are going to receive the breakthrough that you're going to walk around all day today contemplating with God what does it mean to surrender this? And you're going to get what you came for tonight. So, thank you so much. Bless you guys. Enjoy your lunch. Bye.