WEBVTT 00:00:03.666 --> 00:00:07.793 Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. 00:00:07.793 --> 00:00:14.512 Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. 00:00:14.512 --> 00:00:21.545 We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. 00:00:21.545 --> 00:00:23.800 Welcome to hope. 00:00:55.737 --> 00:00:57.537 Welcome to the Meet Hope Podcast. 00:00:57.537 --> 00:01:02.171 My name is Heather Mandela and today I have my friend Rachel Abad with me. 00:01:02.171 --> 00:01:08.786 So I am excited to hear a little bit more about Rachel and her story and share that with all of you. 00:01:08.786 --> 00:01:11.492 So, Rachel, tell me a little bit about yourself. 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:14.424 Hi Heather, Thank you so much for having me today. 00:01:14.424 --> 00:01:17.250 I am a nurse practitioner. 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:19.801 I have five children. 00:01:19.801 --> 00:01:26.231 We have a little bit of an age gap, so my oldest is 24 and my youngest is five. 00:01:26.231 --> 00:01:28.581 So life is very interesting. 00:01:28.581 --> 00:01:37.722 I am obviously I'm a working mom, I am married and I have been coming to Hope for about 10 years just under 10 years. 00:01:38.102 --> 00:01:38.623 Excellent. 00:01:38.623 --> 00:01:40.605 So five kids. 00:01:40.605 --> 00:01:42.587 So now you're. 00:01:42.587 --> 00:01:47.093 You had the first four and then a gap, and then Ezra. 00:01:47.093 --> 00:01:48.936 Yes, correct, okay. 00:01:48.936 --> 00:01:54.468 So tell me what is the most challenging thing about having an age gap? 00:01:55.248 --> 00:02:04.713 I think it's so silly to say this, but you almost forget the little nuances that happen throughout each developmental stage. 00:02:04.713 --> 00:02:10.588 So when I was getting ready to have Ezra, I thought this is going to be such a breeze. 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:12.121 It's going to be a walk in the park. 00:02:12.320 --> 00:02:30.471 I've done this four times, Not taking into account that I was 14 years older, well-established in a career that Ezra just didn't really like to sleep for the first three to four years of his life, so all of that was new and you're kind of learning it all over again. 00:02:30.471 --> 00:02:35.126 And then you feel kind of silly because you're like I have four other children, like how could I feel? 00:02:35.126 --> 00:02:38.590 And then things just change because with time, like we know more. 00:02:39.681 --> 00:02:45.086 So what you can do, what you're supposed to feed them, what you're supposed to feed them yeah, all of that stuff is different. 00:02:45.086 --> 00:02:47.830 Yes, so it definitely makes it interesting. 00:02:47.830 --> 00:02:49.893 And you're dealing with preschool and college at the same time. 00:02:49.893 --> 00:02:53.260 Yes, and that has its own challenges it does. 00:02:53.381 --> 00:03:04.349 And that's the other interesting thing, I guess, as moms, who adult children is, they still need you in various ways, so it's not as easy as they just move on. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:07.188 Yes, yes, they really. 00:03:07.188 --> 00:03:08.385 It doesn't ever stop, and we do. 00:03:08.385 --> 00:03:09.592 We always need our moms, right? 00:03:09.592 --> 00:03:10.355 That's right. 00:03:10.355 --> 00:03:15.258 We always need our moms and some of those young college students just need us more than others. 00:03:15.258 --> 00:03:16.822 That's a little love, a little love. 00:03:16.822 --> 00:03:17.584 They just need a little love. 00:03:17.584 --> 00:03:18.185 It's a good thing. 00:03:18.185 --> 00:03:20.229 Well, thank you. 00:03:20.229 --> 00:03:24.097 So now tell me a little bit about your faith. 00:03:24.097 --> 00:03:31.872 Walk right, so we're talking about my story, so I want to unpack a little bit for people listening what your faith story looks like. 00:03:32.661 --> 00:03:38.092 So I was raised in a Christian household and I met Jesus at a very young age. 00:03:38.092 --> 00:03:43.024 I think I was 10 and I loved going to church. 00:03:43.024 --> 00:03:44.425 I loved Jesus. 00:03:44.425 --> 00:03:47.169 I don't think I. 00:03:47.169 --> 00:03:54.685 I went through a tumultuous time in my teens, but I don't feel like I ever abandoned the faith. 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:57.490 Like I always felt like I always identified as a Christian. 00:03:57.490 --> 00:03:59.747 I knew I loved God and I wanted to serve God. 00:03:59.747 --> 00:04:05.879 I just didn't know what that looked like because of how everything kind of unfolded in my life. 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:08.945 So I got pregnant at 16. 00:04:08.945 --> 00:04:26.896 Obviously that did not go over well in my household so I had a lot of guilt with putting my family through that because it was a lot for them to have to go to church and then have this happen Like sure. 00:04:27.339 --> 00:04:31.387 Like they were struggling with the implications of it as well. 00:04:31.387 --> 00:04:32.288 Yes, yes. 00:04:33.029 --> 00:04:48.461 So, um, after high school, I got married right out of out of high school, trying to do the right thing and it was just not to an ideal person and it took me a really long time to like realize that, um, and then come to grips with. 00:04:48.461 --> 00:05:17.711 You know, I'm in a bad situation now and this will never get better, and I have tried and I have prayed about this and I was not in a very supportive church community, so I just kind of floundered, um, and then I did just stop going to church, because when you are 24 with four kids and nobody else in the church, like they don't have a nursery, so whenever you show up you are the nursery that it just becomes like, well, why even show up? 00:05:17.711 --> 00:05:19.502 There's no TV to watch the message. 00:05:19.562 --> 00:05:22.026 I'm just back here with everybody's kids. 00:05:22.026 --> 00:05:32.386 So then I feel like I got trapped in feeling so guilty and so ashamed of myself that I just stopped going to church. 00:05:32.386 --> 00:05:43.846 I am very thankful for just Christians that I know, that never gave up on me and like long-term friends I've had. 00:05:43.846 --> 00:06:02.879 But it finally came to a moment like, thankfully, I was able to pursue an education better myself that's not a good word, I, because not everybody has that opportunity to do that but I'm very thankful that I was able to go to school despite the challenges. 00:06:03.019 --> 00:06:08.964 Challenging circumstances yeah, school, despite the challenges and that broad circumstances. 00:06:08.964 --> 00:06:10.752 Yeah, um, and I was actually with a bunch of co-workers and we were working. 00:06:10.752 --> 00:06:14.463 As we started working together, I would tell them about my life, and they're like rachel, you're not normal. 00:06:14.463 --> 00:06:15.305 Like this is not normal. 00:06:15.305 --> 00:06:21.163 It was very scary for me, though, because I never wanted to be like. 00:06:21.163 --> 00:06:21.682 I never wanted to be like. 00:06:21.682 --> 00:06:22.745 I never wanted to be divorced. 00:06:22.745 --> 00:06:29.637 I thought like marriage was for life, and that's just what I needed to do, but it just didn't work. 00:06:29.716 --> 00:06:33.507 It was clearly not a healthy environment for you, correct it was. 00:06:33.507 --> 00:06:57.072 I'm glad that you had people who were giving you permission to acknowledge the dysfunction and giving you permission to acknowledge the fact that this was not the way it was supposed to function, right Like this is not the way a marriage is supposed to operate, that there was way too much hurt and pain going on here, and yeah, and so you were able to come to that really hard decision. 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:07.855 Yes, and I did, and I again I'm very like during that time I still wasn't really in the church because I was so embarrassed. 00:07:07.855 --> 00:07:10.127 It was like a very personally embarrassing thing. 00:07:10.127 --> 00:07:16.086 And then again, like I think back to my parents, they had to like live through that and I know that they didn't mean it, but that's kind of how it's like. 00:07:16.086 --> 00:07:24.552 Well, first this happened and now this is happening, so I was able to move on. 00:07:24.552 --> 00:07:28.382 I found a great, great partner Within a couple years. 00:07:28.382 --> 00:07:39.971 I relocated to Voorhees and, as my life was starting to get settled and I was starting to start anew, I started attending a church that was local-ish but not in Voorhees. 00:07:39.971 --> 00:07:51.206 So I noticed hope driving around Voorhees one day and I saw the sign that said visitors expected, and I really loved that sign. 00:07:51.206 --> 00:07:55.980 So I'm like I feel like this is worth checking out, like it's in my town. 00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:57.523 This would be so great. 00:07:57.523 --> 00:08:01.947 So Easter Sunday 2015 was the first Sunday I attended. 00:08:02.569 --> 00:08:03.290 That's awesome. 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:05.673 So we're coming up on your nine year anniversary. 00:08:05.673 --> 00:08:08.637 Yes, that's exciting, it is, um. 00:08:08.637 --> 00:08:21.170 I want to pause for a second, though, and I want to go back, uh, because I think that your experience, while we say it's not common and you know what I mean Like your, your experience wasn't a healthy experience. 00:08:21.170 --> 00:08:35.788 I want to talk a little bit about, um, that shame and isolation that kept you from wanting to go to church, because I think that's something that people can relate to. 00:08:37.172 --> 00:08:37.393 Yes. 00:08:37.393 --> 00:08:46.562 So I just felt like almost it's hard to explain, but it's just that's not how I foresaw my life In my mind. 00:08:46.562 --> 00:08:51.775 I was like I love God, I never lost that. 00:08:51.775 --> 00:08:53.500 So it was like 110%. 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:54.666 Like my life was in the church. 00:08:54.666 --> 00:08:56.294 I went to public school I never cared. 00:08:56.294 --> 00:08:58.363 Like I started a fellowship of Christian athletes. 00:08:58.363 --> 00:09:05.467 Like never was I embarrassed about being a Christian, um, but I went from having my life in the church to having no life anywhere. 00:09:05.467 --> 00:09:09.865 So, um and I, and I don't think like there was any. 00:09:09.865 --> 00:09:12.782 I don't think my parents meant to of course not. 00:09:12.802 --> 00:09:14.525 There was no maliciousness, right, it was. 00:09:14.525 --> 00:09:17.432 Everybody was doing the best they could. 00:09:17.432 --> 00:09:18.241 But then. 00:09:18.261 --> 00:09:19.644 But that's not like. 00:09:19.644 --> 00:09:32.551 I just like got the feeling I'm like I you know what, if I having the choice to be out in public or be in my room, I'll just be in my room by myself, like because it's just safer there, like I don't have people looking at me and no judgment, like. 00:09:32.551 --> 00:09:36.520 And I think that just became an acquired behavior with time. 00:09:36.860 --> 00:10:00.409 Yeah, and that that in so many ways breaks my heart because you were hurting and isolated and vulnerable and at a time where the church needed to be the church for you and for whatever reason, it wasn't, and that can be really hard. 00:10:00.409 --> 00:10:12.232 So, hey, kudos to you for pushing through that and not letting that keep you there stuck right, because I think it's really easy for us to get stuck in that. 00:10:13.034 --> 00:10:16.769 Yeah, it is, and I'm thankful that I was able to move beyond that. 00:10:16.769 --> 00:10:25.914 And it took years but I was able, thankfully, by the grace of God, able to push through it. 00:10:25.914 --> 00:10:27.988 And that's where I feel like I never abandoned the faith. 00:10:27.988 --> 00:10:29.525 I feel like the faith abandoned me. 00:10:29.525 --> 00:10:36.144 But looking back I know that is absolutely not true and I can see how God moved in my life through unconventional ways. 00:10:36.144 --> 00:10:41.880 He said I maybe didn't expect, but I mean I can't like. 00:10:41.880 --> 00:10:55.672 There's no way I can explain to you how I've been able to just get through some of the times other than God was literally leading sometimes dragging me, maybe with the shepherd's staff, but he had his hand on my life, the entire, the entire way. 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.246 I love it, I love that, I love that and I love to think. 00:10:59.246 --> 00:11:02.072 Now, I know you are a knitting fanatic. 00:11:02.072 --> 00:11:05.629 Yes, right, you love your fiber, as you like to say, and I love that. 00:11:05.629 --> 00:11:09.326 I I have to wonder. 00:11:09.326 --> 00:11:12.581 You just said that shepherd's crook and I think of that, like right, like. 00:11:12.581 --> 00:11:26.772 So here you are, this lamb that you know the 99, so to speak, and it wasn't that you turned away from God, but through circumstances, you found yourself isolated, um, feeling like you weren't welcomed, and um, and yet Jesus pursued you. 00:11:26.772 --> 00:11:27.763 Yes, right. 00:11:27.884 --> 00:11:30.356 He went after you and, and now you knit for Lambswool. 00:11:30.356 --> 00:11:31.019 No, I'm just kidding, that's right. 00:11:31.379 --> 00:11:32.183 But yeah, no, it is. 00:11:32.183 --> 00:11:35.808 That's an awesome picture of that. 00:11:35.808 --> 00:11:42.193 So you started attending Hope because you saw the sign visitors expected. 00:11:42.193 --> 00:11:44.586 And why did you stay? 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:52.845 From the start I will say this the church I was going to was very big and it was very easy for me to get lost. 00:11:53.005 --> 00:11:59.974 And I actually didn't mind getting lost, I was okay with that I was okay with running in on a Sunday, sitting through service and running out. 00:11:59.974 --> 00:12:23.549 But when I stepped through the doors of hope, I have this experience in this community of people who genuinely are happy to see me, and it's not just the hello and then that's it, but I have people who are just interacting with me on a much warmer level, very welcoming, very kind and just inviting. 00:12:23.549 --> 00:12:29.225 You can't walk into this building on a Sunday and not feel like you belong here, no matter what. 00:12:29.586 --> 00:12:38.792 And it's so funny because, well, it's not really funny, but like I have all these preconceived notions and these ideas and like just afraid. 00:12:38.792 --> 00:12:50.432 And every interaction I've had with people here is just very kind and loving and they accept you for who you are, but they love you too much to let you say the same. 00:12:52.181 --> 00:13:12.893 That might be something you hear from the platform a fair amount, right, that God loves you exactly as you are, but he loves you too much to let you stay in it, right, and that's, and that's the thing, and one of the things I love about your story is that, um, it encapsulates so much of what we all experience, right? 00:13:12.893 --> 00:13:22.965 Life is messy and we think life is supposed to look one way and we think that we're normal, and then we realize there is no such thing as normal. 00:13:22.965 --> 00:13:24.710 It's a lie. 00:13:26.561 --> 00:13:47.674 So that's what coming to the church and listening to Pastor Jeff and Pastor Rick and you and everybody collectively Everything that was being discussed I thought was very relevant to real life issues Like how do you live in this world and be an effective Christian, live your faith out more than just showing up on a Sunday. 00:13:47.674 --> 00:13:51.149 But what does that look like in real life? 00:13:51.149 --> 00:13:59.964 And I think I got a lot from that, because it's so easy to listen to a message where you're here, idealize concepts, but how do I live that in real life? 00:13:59.964 --> 00:14:00.325 Like how? 00:14:00.365 --> 00:14:01.027 do I live that? 00:14:01.048 --> 00:14:02.780 when I go to work and everybody's miserable. 00:14:02.780 --> 00:14:12.261 Or if I have a child going through like an existential crisis like how do I help them through that from a Christian perspective? 00:14:12.542 --> 00:14:20.432 Yeah, Well, and I love that and I know you recently started a new job and it was one where you were struggling with you know what. 00:14:20.432 --> 00:14:38.573 Your place was right, so it was a little bit different than the nursing care you'd provided before and, um, and you were feeling maybe a little overwhelmed, a little you're not sure your place, but I love that as we talked about it, you were able to see where God was going to use you. 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:47.602 Yes, so and not to I mean not to idealize it, but you try to do what you can in the moment and for the people that you're there. 00:14:47.602 --> 00:14:50.530 So am I going to solve everybody's problems at my job? 00:14:50.530 --> 00:15:07.639 No, but maybe I can leave them with a smile on their face, or maybe I can just do something really little that in the moment seems very insignificant, but I mean, maybe they're just thirsty and want something to drink, or maybe they need to relay a message to like one of the other staff members. 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:14.832 So just something really quick, just taking the time or sometimes just sitting there and letting somebody say what they want to say. 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.648 Yeah, letting them actually finish their sentence. 00:15:17.849 --> 00:15:18.049 Yes. 00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:22.211 Or putting a hearing aid battery in so that they can hear. 00:15:22.820 --> 00:15:25.649 Even though you were not an expert in that, and it's not one that you've ever seen. 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:28.325 Yes, so, but that again it's. 00:15:28.325 --> 00:15:30.870 It's that tangible, hands-on. 00:15:30.870 --> 00:15:37.610 How do I become the hands and feet of Jesus where I am every day, in the real life, here and now? 00:15:37.610 --> 00:15:44.394 Um, and that's a beautiful thing, um, so so I know that you take that into your work with you every day. 00:15:44.394 --> 00:15:50.753 Tell me a little bit about the ways that you have grown your faith personally while you've been here. 00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:55.650 So I started coming here, loved coming here. 00:15:55.650 --> 00:16:00.792 I got involved in a group called Painting with Praise because it was very safe. 00:16:00.792 --> 00:16:02.807 It was I'm like I can do this. 00:16:02.807 --> 00:16:04.504 Low commitment, low fear factor? 00:16:04.565 --> 00:16:11.966 I don't need to know anything Exactly, I can just show up and paint and I don't even have to be good at painting, I can just show up and paint and I don't even have to be good at painting, I can just show up. 00:16:11.966 --> 00:16:39.988 So I met friends that way, or I met a couple of really great people, and then I just continued to pursue small groups and, granted, I just with my work schedule and kids and not that I have been the most compliant with attendance, but I've gotten better and I just every small group if the messages with the messages being as relevant as they are, the small groups are even more challenging and give me more to think about and give me more of a direction to study. 00:16:39.988 --> 00:16:50.230 So, and what I have noticed is that the more that I do small groups, the more faces I know and names I recognize. 00:16:50.230 --> 00:16:53.591 So when I show up to other things, or if I do show up on a Sunday, I know people. 00:16:53.591 --> 00:16:54.754 Now it's less scary. 00:16:54.835 --> 00:16:56.445 Yes, it's less scary. 00:16:56.445 --> 00:16:57.447 Yes, you will. 00:16:57.447 --> 00:16:59.847 Rachel is someone you might find online. 00:16:59.847 --> 00:17:05.185 She is one of our online hosts, so we are super grateful for that and all the time that she gives there. 00:17:05.185 --> 00:17:19.829 So if you are an online watcher or listener participant, you are going to meet her there, and she also runs one of our well, sometimes multiple small groups, but right now is running our knitting group. 00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:21.173 So tell us a little bit about why that's important to you. 00:17:22.280 --> 00:17:22.741 Of course. 00:17:22.741 --> 00:17:26.369 First of all, I'm very passionate about fiber of all kinds. 00:17:26.390 --> 00:17:30.387 So, and I know that's funny, I just I was. 00:17:30.387 --> 00:17:43.163 I think I was born an old soul, but, um, I learned how to knit as a child, stepped away from it and then I came back to it as an adult and I just never stopped and for me it's a great way to settle my mind at night and I never. 00:17:43.163 --> 00:17:51.035 Um, you know, you knit like baby blankets or gifts for people here and there, um, but you never really think about the impact it could have on someone. 00:17:51.035 --> 00:18:11.792 And then I was talking to Dottie Hahn and she had been running the knitting ministry here at Hope for years and she said that there's a need for prayer shawls, baptism blankets, lap blankets for men who are in wheelchairs, that she was in desperate need. 00:18:11.792 --> 00:18:24.175 So I never really thought that I could use the knitting to impact people in that way and it's been a great experience. 00:18:24.175 --> 00:18:30.750 I would say it's a great avenue to use my passion to hopefully make somebody's day better. 00:18:31.112 --> 00:18:31.772 Absolutely. 00:18:31.772 --> 00:18:40.531 Yes, I know we do that here so frequently, whether it is the parents receiving it for a child or someone who is ill or struggling receiving it. 00:18:40.531 --> 00:18:45.190 The difference that it makes just knowing that there are people out there who were praying for them and thinking about them. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:51.544 And that's really cool too is that it's a very casual and relaxed group and we will take all skill levels. 00:18:51.544 --> 00:19:00.441 But just to have that intentionality of this is going to go to somebody and who, is this person that's going to be on the other end of this, and what might they be going through. 00:19:00.501 --> 00:19:05.719 And to really just pray, think like, let this be a blessing to whoever gets it. 00:19:05.719 --> 00:19:07.542 It could be as small, as it just made their day better. 00:19:07.542 --> 00:19:08.585 It could be as big. 00:19:08.585 --> 00:19:13.884 As you know, every time they're getting a chemo treatment, they're using the blanket and they're wrapping it for warmth and comfort. 00:19:13.884 --> 00:19:16.691 But it's our way of just sending hugs to people. 00:19:17.080 --> 00:19:17.602 I love that. 00:19:17.602 --> 00:19:18.564 I love that so much. 00:19:18.564 --> 00:19:30.015 And not only does it bless the people who are receiving, but the people who are there and I can attest my blankets will probably never be received and I can attest my blankets will probably never be received. 00:19:30.096 --> 00:19:30.998 I am not particularly good at this. 00:19:30.998 --> 00:19:32.039 I think you should give yourself more credit. 00:19:33.181 --> 00:19:36.049 But I love the community that occurs. 00:19:36.049 --> 00:19:41.432 You know, I love being with these people as they come together and we just have fun. 00:19:41.432 --> 00:19:52.122 There's just something so much fun about just sitting relaxing and just Absolutely, and I know Dottie was so excited to have people under 50 who are interested in this hobby. 00:19:52.122 --> 00:19:55.412 So, yes, so this is, and it's more than a hobby, it really is a full-on ministry. 00:19:56.080 --> 00:19:57.825 We do exist we are there we exist. 00:19:57.865 --> 00:19:58.527 We are there. 00:19:58.527 --> 00:20:07.166 We are, yes, fiber, pro-fiber, and it's a great thing. 00:20:07.166 --> 00:20:18.622 So, before we go on to our next portion, I do want to ask you so if there are people out there who are struggling with fear, who are struggling with that, I'm not good enough. 00:20:18.622 --> 00:20:21.411 Or I've been wounded, I've been hurt. 00:20:21.411 --> 00:20:22.925 The church did not show up for me. 00:20:22.925 --> 00:20:25.508 Um, what would you want to say to them? 00:20:26.661 --> 00:20:29.631 I would say you are, you are at a safe place. 00:20:29.631 --> 00:20:36.586 People here care so, and it can be hard to hear this, but don't let. 00:20:36.586 --> 00:20:42.626 Don't limit yourself by not being open-minded to the messages, to becoming involved. 00:20:42.626 --> 00:20:49.284 You, this community here is an amazing group of people who are actual, genuine people. 00:20:49.284 --> 00:20:54.086 Like you're going to see people how we're messy, how they treat you. 00:20:54.086 --> 00:20:58.640 Like how you're being treated is not a show, it's not trying to impress anybody. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:05.189 These are people who just genuinely care and want to foster and and have a sense of community with each other. 00:21:05.189 --> 00:21:07.184 So awesome. 00:21:07.265 --> 00:21:08.648 Welcome. 00:21:08.648 --> 00:21:09.820 I love that, thank you. 00:21:09.820 --> 00:21:11.085 Okay. 00:21:11.085 --> 00:21:13.391 So we what we like to do. 00:21:13.391 --> 00:21:17.631 Um, you know, you've shared with us some really great stuff and some personal stuff. 00:21:17.631 --> 00:21:22.471 We want to learn some fun stuff about you too, so this next segment is rapid fire. 00:21:22.471 --> 00:21:32.261 I'm just going to ask you some quick questions, um, that will help us get to know you a little bit better, okay, so pizza topping what's your favorite? 00:21:32.261 --> 00:21:33.104 Pizza topping? 00:21:33.104 --> 00:21:34.847 Extra cheese Fantastic. 00:21:34.847 --> 00:21:38.284 No, no meat, no, nothing, just cheese, Just extra cheese Excellent. 00:21:38.284 --> 00:21:41.873 Um, are you a morning person or an evening person? 00:21:41.873 --> 00:21:44.064 I'm a morning person, me too. 00:21:44.064 --> 00:21:45.346 How about your spouse? 00:21:46.288 --> 00:21:47.070 Morning person. 00:21:47.151 --> 00:21:48.192 Oh, is he Okay yeah. 00:21:48.299 --> 00:21:54.847 We're both up at like 4 45 in the morning, ready to go okay, see, we kind of just grunt at each other in the mornings. 00:21:55.269 --> 00:21:57.132 Well, he's probably he shoots up. 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:01.971 I'm more of the grunty person but I've learned to become a morning person and it really had. 00:22:01.971 --> 00:22:03.023 Just for anybody listening. 00:22:03.023 --> 00:22:04.088 It really does change your life. 00:22:04.108 --> 00:22:05.698 You get a lot done you do get a lot done. 00:22:05.738 --> 00:22:09.185 I do love my mornings I get so much done o'clock at story. 00:22:09.405 --> 00:22:10.868 I'm asleep on the couch by nine. 00:22:10.868 --> 00:22:13.834 Yeah, okay, your coffee order Black. 00:22:13.834 --> 00:22:15.852 That's because you're a morning person, exactly. 00:22:15.912 --> 00:22:16.476 Us morning people. 00:22:16.476 --> 00:22:18.040 We just want black coffee, Just like I need to get the job done. 00:22:18.181 --> 00:22:21.163 Get me the caffeine yes, good Favorite. 00:22:21.163 --> 00:22:21.923 Show that you. 00:22:22.123 --> 00:22:28.326 And I know I was late to get on that bus, but I'm there. 00:22:28.326 --> 00:22:29.008 I love it. 00:22:29.508 --> 00:22:29.948 Love Ted. 00:22:29.948 --> 00:22:30.608 I'm right there with you. 00:22:30.608 --> 00:22:31.910 Ted Lasso is fantastic. 00:22:31.910 --> 00:22:33.730 We know your hobby. 00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:35.892 Do you have hobbies besides knitting? 00:22:36.231 --> 00:22:40.996 I love to travel, which is another great reason to attend Hope online. 00:22:41.135 --> 00:22:46.121 Yes, because you can take Hope with you wherever you go, you can take it wherever you go, you can watch it on demand. 00:22:46.121 --> 00:22:52.453 So if you know, so, if you're not, if you're like at Reykjavik, like, you were and your time zone doesn't line up when you're in Iceland. 00:22:52.453 --> 00:22:55.086 You can watch it whenever it works. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:23:03.905 But that's also really awesome that you can like you can bring your community like you feel, like it was so nice to be in another country and be like, oh, these are my people, like I'm going to church. 00:23:04.086 --> 00:23:04.689 That is beautiful. 00:23:04.689 --> 00:23:07.167 I love that. 00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:10.742 And your favorite local place to eat. 00:23:10.762 --> 00:23:16.534 I'm going to say Norma's, ah, norma's, very good, I'm going to go to some more Excellent, excellent, okay. 00:23:16.534 --> 00:23:36.250 Well, thank you so much, rachel, for sharing with us a little glimpse into what your life has looked like walking with Jesus, and I appreciate your honesty and your candor because, right, we are, it's messy, we're all messy, and but it's so much better to be messy together, absolutely, yeah. 00:23:36.250 --> 00:23:49.973 So if you are out there and you are looking for that next step, we want to encourage you to check out meethopeorg, find ways to get connected and we hope, um, you will find that community that allows you to grow as well. 00:23:49.973 --> 00:23:51.786 Until then, have a great week. 00:23:55.863 --> 00:24:00.470 Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. 00:24:00.470 --> 00:24:04.888 If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. 00:24:04.888 --> 00:24:10.849 You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.