Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Host Pastor Lee Day.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
Worth the Rescue
Pastor Lee and Erica sit with Brittany Spivey to trace a winding road from church pews to rebellion, from suicide and addiction to a quiet surrender in a car ride home. The thread through it all is preservation—God’s hand shielding, guiding, and finally planting her in a church family where truth and love take root.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, everybody. I'm Pastor Lee, and I'm Pastor of Christ Family Outreach Church, located in Amelia, Virginia. Today in studio, we've got a couple people, but first I'm going to introduce my wife, Erica. Erica, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00:I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me on again.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. It's an honor. And Erica, today you and I are going to be interviewing someone special in our hearts and in our ministry at CFO Church. She is the leader of our ladies' ministry as well as what we like to call toddler time. Toddler Time is a ministry where the parents and toddlers get together. They have biblical lessons, they have fun together in the class, and as well as exploring outside the classroom, outside the building, uh taking field trips as well. So here at the table, joining Erica and myself is Brittany Spivey. Sister Brittany, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:I am good. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_03:Amen. Brittany, as I mentioned, you you lead the ladies' ministry as well as toddler time. And since you've been coming to CFO Church, your faith in Jesus Christ has just exploded. It's grown tremendously. And we are grateful for that. We're proud of you for that in seeking the Lord. And we give God all the honor, glory, credit, and praise for that. Amen.
SPEAKER_01:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:But the truth is it didn't start out like that, right? Uh so you went through some very difficult times, many of which, like the rest of us, were self-inflicted, right? And so I've asked you to come onto the podcast to share your testimony, not to glorify the sin or the ugliness, but that is a part of it. And we've got to get through that to see the refining piece at the end, to see the redemption hand of the Lord. So we've got to push through the ugly. We're going to go there. But again, it's all to point to Jesus Christ and say, look what God did, right? Those but God moments.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:Those I got picked up by the hand of the Lord and I got. Thank you for it. Yes. Amen. And so we do that because there's people out there that may still be in the gutter. They may still be at the bottom of the barrel, and they need to hear this testimony. But, you know, they they need to understand that they do have a very real hope out there, and his name is Jesus Christ. Just like that hope was real for you. It was real for Erica. It was real for me. So we're going to get right into it. Uh, Brittany, you grew up in a Christian household, and you can remember going to church every Sunday. Talk to the listeners for a moment about how often your family attended church throughout the week. How regular was the attendance with your family?
SPEAKER_01:So my mom would say that I cut my teeth on the pews. We were very much active in church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday afternoon. If they had extra curriculars they were doing, we were there. She was a Sunday school teacher. She did things with youth, young adults. She has been very active in the church.
SPEAKER_03:So if the doors were open, you guys were in the house.
SPEAKER_01:We were there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. We were there. So one would think, man, y'all were in it so much that you guys just had it going on in your house. And that's just not always the case for us, is it?
SPEAKER_01:No, no.
SPEAKER_03:So your your family, you're active in church life. But as your testimony goes, I read it, it's really good. And I appreciate you being willing to share it today. Um when you hit your teenage years, you begin to rebel. Yes. And I'm sure a lot of people listening currently have a teenager or a college-age child rebelling right now at this moment. Or if they don't, they know someone who does. Right. So talk for a moment, your reasons for rebelling. What did the enemy use to get you away from the teaching that you were learning in the church?
SPEAKER_01:So I could remember again, we were in church all the time. But the enemy just kept telling me and kept pushing, and you don't want to do that. Here, let's do something else that's fun. Here, try this in the world. Do this, do that, all of the things in the world. And I gave into the temptation. And so that's what I really gave into ultimately at the end of it. But I started hanging out with the wrong people, and it started with my crowd. And I know that you always say your circle, your circle matters, and it's absolutely true.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. The room matters, and so does your circle, right? Absolutely. So you you started hanging out with the wrong crowds and in the eighth grade. So this happened young for you. Yes. In in the eighth grade, you rated the medicine cabinet at home because you thought the world was better off without Britney. And so praise God, the suicide attempt failed. Amen. Praise a lot of people. Amen. And we give God the glory for that. And and and today, this is something that I've been talking about with a few guys that that I do a small group with. Um we see more and more suicides in in our society today. It's it's it's just it's mind-blowing how it's just coming up left and right. Someone told me the other day that that they that they have heard of, I think it was five or six all in the month of September. Just just in the month of September. So I just I look at that and I'm like, man, there is a very real enemy that is looking to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus tells us that in scripture. But but praise God, your attempt fails. And so right off the bat, we see the hand of God is even sparing you right there. Take a moment and share with someone out there right now, Brittany, who needs to hear if they are contemplating suicide, why they shouldn't. Because looking back, you have the benefit to be able to look back and see how God had a plan for your life the entire time. So if you could encourage someone not to do it, uh what would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I would definitely tell them that look, no matter where you think you are right now, the Lord does have a plan for you. And it may not look like what you think it's gonna look like in the end, but keep pushing. You are loved and you are very much wanted, and you are here for a purpose and a plan. And the enemy cannot have you or destroy you. So stand firm and just know that God loves you and he sent his son to die on a cross for you. Amen. And that means that you were worth it. You were worth being loved. So he has something so great in store for you. If you can just lay it down at his feet and just let him take it and let him take off the anxiety or the depression or whatever mental bondage that you might be in, he can absolutely take it, change it, and turn every single situation situation around for his glory.
SPEAKER_03:Amen. He can he can turn it around for his good, for his glory. Yeah, you are worth it. It was a good word. You are worth it.
SPEAKER_00:I love that, Brittany. And some of the people that are listening right now might be thinking, well, you had a mom that was praying for you. You had a mom that was interceding for you, but I don't have anyone that's interceding for me. And I just feel alone. And I just want to give you the scripture, Romans 8, 34. It says, Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, and who indeed is interceding for us. Listeners, you do have someone interceding for you, and his name is Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And even if you don't have a parent that's interceding, or a spouse that's interceding, or a child that's interceding for you, you do have someone that loves you, and his name is Jesus Christ, and he wants to be your Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_03:Come on, that's so good. Jesus is interceding for us. That's so good. And and and Erica, you're so right to the listener out there that just feels like they don't have anybody. Oh, you do. He's the king of kings and lord of lords.
SPEAKER_01:He's the best one to have.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. Wouldn't want nobody else by my side right there. Brittany, at the age of 14, you begin to sneak out of the house, being picked up. Now, this this this kind of like this this is kind of what I thought about my walk when I was younger. Uh and Erica, I know yours too. You hung out with people that were older with you than you were, and and as did I. But at the age of 14, Brittany, you begin to sneak out of the house being picked up by people who were 18 and 19 years old. So that's that's significant, right? Because now we're dealing with a teenager hanging out with young adults, right? Legal adults. And in your testimony, you state that this is about when the drug and alcohol abuse began. So walk us through that stage of your life and how the enemy was working.
SPEAKER_01:So I began to sneak out of the house.
SPEAKER_03:Bad girl.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And um, I would actually take a milk jug like that my mom had outside for decoration. And when I jumped out of the window, I would put it underneath my window so I would be able to climb back up into the window to get in, so I didn't have to go through the front door.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And um I would get picked up with obviously people who had already graduated and could drive and take me all of the places. So we would begin to go to these parties where really I had no business being at.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I will say that at 14, I didn't look 14. Um, I could very much easily pass for 18 or 19. Half the time, nobody knew how old I was, you know, other than maybe one or two that would actually drive to come pick me up. Everyone else would just assume, oh, she's around the same age, not knowing that no, I'm just barely 14.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because most 18 and 19-year-olds don't have to sneak out of windows.
SPEAKER_00:No. Yeah. So during this time, as you're doing this, do you feel like there was maybe like a spirit of rebellion that was coming and oppressing you? Because, you know, in 1 Samuel 15, 23, it talks about rebellion and rebellion being as a sin of divination. And I feel like that wants to come after our our young people, but even us as adults, right? That spirit of rebellion. But it says it's the it's equal as divination, as magic.
SPEAKER_03:I mean witchcraft. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I will say, you know, I really wanted to rebel against my parents because we were held to a higher standard being a Christian home. My parents did not let us do all of the things that even our friends were doing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so it really became a voice of the enemy. If they won't let you do it, just do it. Yeah. And so that's where it really began to take a root was they don't want me to have fun, or I can't do this that my friends are doing. So I'm just gonna do it on my own. Yeah. And I'm just gonna do it in the middle of the night while they're sleeping and nobody's gonna know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because in the eyes of a young person and even in adults, we could look at it and say, well, it's not that bad, right? It it's not that bad. But isn't that the disguise that the enemy operates under?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Because sometimes I wouldn't be picked up and I would actually walk down the street. Now, I grew up in the Newport News, like the Tidewater area. So we didn't live in the country. This was the city.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm here I am 14 at 12, 1 o'clock in the morning, walking down a main highway. I mean, I've had people stop and say, Hey, do you need a ride? No, I'm good. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03:By God's grace that you're still here.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:So your actions have consequences, right? They do. And and the police begin having to show up at your home. And I'm sure being a family that goes to church regular, that's not really what mom wants to see uh come to the door, but but that's what's happening. The police are showing up at your home. How is the family handling this at that time? Because I know in your testimony it says that the family had made a huge decis decision in order to save their daughter. So what happens next? How's the family coping with the police showing up and you're just coming off the rails?
SPEAKER_01:So one night I ended up getting picked up by the military police actually, because I was found on the Langley Air Force base and we were not military.
SPEAKER_02:Uh oh.
SPEAKER_01:So I got picked up, one for being out past curfew because they are on the military base. They have curfews where, you know, if you're under 18, you have to be inside at a certain time. And because we were not military, they brought me home in the middle of the night and I had to wake my mom up and ask for my social security number because I had to, and I didn't know it. I mean, I'm 14. Yeah. So we had to go to court. And at that point is when I kind of had like a come to myself realization. Like, and I was really honest. And I said, if we do not move, I will continue to hang out with the people I'm hanging out. I will continue down this path. And will it go into further legal troubles or, you know, or worse, you know, will I be on the side of the road in a ditch somewhere one night? You know? And so it was really a family decision to say, you know what, if she has enough sense to say, either we move and get her out of this, or she knows that she doesn't have the self-control to say no and walk away from those friends. So thankfully, um, and again, it's all part of God's plan. The family was on board. My mom ended up getting a tremendous um raise and a new job. And we moved out to the country. And that definitely was a switch. But of course, you know, when you're wanting to find trouble, you'll find it no matter where you go.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Absolutely. So you you start off and you guys move and you do embrace the fresh start with the move, right? But eventually, as you just kind of alluded to, you're gonna fall victim to the temptation for hanging around the wrong people again. Uh, but this time you actually get involved, not just with the parties and and and things like that, but you actually get involved with some same-sex relationships, right? And and Satan was really trying to keep you away from the plan that God had for your life. But but here's something I read in your testimony that just really just jumped off the page at me. And you said this, and I quote, Being raised in church, I knew just enough of the word to make me completely dangerous. I thought I had it figured out. And isn't that the life of unfortunately so many people who play the game of church, whether it be kids, teenagers, young adults, or grown adults. So, what did you mean by that? Share with the listeners what your plan was.
SPEAKER_01:Sure. Um so I knew enough to know better. I knew the the path and the way that I was walking down was not what God had for my life. I knew that everything that I was doing on the side, I knew to keep it hush-hush because my parents would not embrace that. They would not accept that. They would not, it it goes against the word of God. So I knew that I would have to keep that to myself. But then I would also lie to myself and make myself feel better because, you know, when you know better, the can um the shame, it comes up. And I would say, I will live for myself now. And if I make it to the rapture, oh, well, then I'll just accept Christ in the seven years on earth after everybody's gone.
SPEAKER_03:And that was your game plan right there.
SPEAKER_01:As sad as it is, yes, that was my plan. Yeah. That was, yeah, not a good one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. No, I and and I I appreciate you being honest because the truth is there's some people out there that may have that same game plan right now. You know, they just put it off till later and later and later. And, you know, well, if Jesus shows up, then I'll then I'll I'll use that time to get myself right and just you know, hope that I that I make it through to the end. And and and there's a lot of people that are just trying to not carry any oil in their lamps right now, uh, but we know what happens to those types of people. They're gonna get they're gonna get left behind. And and and that piece is something that we do not want to be part of.
SPEAKER_01:No. And you know, knowing better, why would I, now that I know what I know and knowing God's love for me, why would I ever want to settle for that last little bit of just being saved at the tail end when he has so much for me here on earth, so much.
SPEAKER_00:I do want to encourage those moms out there and those dads, though, um, with the the scripture of Proverbs 22, 6. And we all know this, right?
SPEAKER_03:It's a good one.
SPEAKER_00:But it's train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Yes. And so during those stages of rebellion, Brittany, could you completely enjoy that sin? Because it seems like in the back of your head you knew really what you wanted. And even if that meant, okay, I'm gonna make a decision at the last minute, even if it's like, okay, during the seven-year tribulation or whatever, there was almost like you couldn't enjoy sin completely because you knew what the truth was. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:And not only did you know in the back of your mind and in your heart that the sin was wrong, you had a mama that was praying for you. Yeah, I'm sure, you know, because I know your mama. So I'm I'm sure she was praying.
SPEAKER_01:You know she was.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. And that and that's something that I've told our older son before. Like, man, you can never outrun my prayer.
SPEAKER_01:And you know, thank God she was praying. Thank God she was, because you know, like you said, I couldn't all the way enjoy this end because I knew what I was doing was wrong. But that's why we just keep running back to it because it is fleeting, you know. We can't find full um satisfaction in it, regardless.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it quickly leaves you. So you got to go get it again and get that quick temporary high. And that's the problem with it. That type of pleasure is extremely temporary. Yes. So it keeps luring you back into it to get it for that for that moment because it is momentary pleasure. You end up moving out of your home as soon as you could, right? And there's probably a lot of people listening that live that life. Yeah. But as soon as you can, you you bolt, you're out of there. And the problem with that is that you're not looking to better yourself. You're embracing the party lifestyle. You're you're hitting up the clubs, you're doing the whole nightlife scene. You even get a job as a bartender. I never knew that about you until I read your testimony. So through all of this, the enemy has tried to end your life three different times. Once at the medicine cabinet, we talked about that. Share the other two times with the listeners.
SPEAKER_01:So I had actually taken just a part-time second job at a gas station. And I went through my week of training, and it was my second day working by myself, and I was on the night shift, and I was actually there alone. So when they scheduled you, because it was so small, they only scheduled the one person, and that happened to be me. Well, that night I ended up getting robbed at gunpoint. And so he comes in and he has a bandana on his face and he points the gun at me and he says, Give me all the money. So I just start emptying. You want the money? I'm gonna give you the money. I mean, hey, I don't want it. Yeah. And a bunch of it fell on the floor. And I had to bend down and grab it. And in that moment, I thought to myself, this is it. I like this is how I die. I'm dying right. He's gonna shoot me. He's gonna think that I'm pushing some kind of button.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I just knew that I was gonna die right then and there at the age of 23. Luckily, and by the hand of God, yeah. Um, he doesn't shoot me or anything like that. Um he leaves, he gets the money, and he turns and he says, Don't call the cops. And he runs out of the store. So of course, pretty pleased. You're right. The first thing I do is call the cops. But this shook me up really, really, really bad. Yeah. And this was actually a hand of God moment because if that had never happened, I don't know if I've ever would have started thinking more long term about what I wanted to do with my career or like, hey, you can't be a 50-year-old bartender your whole life. You know, you can't work at the gas station your whole life. And then so that's when I dove into um like college, like getting getting back into school and trying to figure out what I was gonna do with myself. So again, God had his hand on me and preserved me in that moment, the where no harm came, but it definitely shook me up enough to wake me up in that moment.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Fast forward many years later, you're 31 years old, still battling anxiety, depression. In your testimony, you say that the anxiety and the depression was consuming your life. Um, at this time, you're married, you've got three children, and a lot is happening. But God puts someone in your path on social media whom you have never met before, you've never seen in person, face to face, you don't know this individual. And eventually, this is gonna change your life forever. This is why you're sitting here at the table. Absolutely. If if you don't see this person on social media, do we even know each other? Are you at CFO church? I mean, we just don't know how God would have worked all this out, but we do know how he worked it out here, praise God. Yes. Uh so walk us through that. How did this happen? And what was this woman doing so different on social media that other people weren't doing and that you weren't used to seeing as much?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So at that time, um, I had always struggled with anxiety and depression kind of my whole life. Um, and it was just really hitting very hard at that time. Also, that's around the time COVID was still floating around. So life was still just kind of abnormal. Postpartum depression was starting to creep in, just all of the life triggers and and stressors, really. And so I had a moment where I actually had a cancer scare. And I said, I'm 31. Like I have three kids. I can't have cancer. And I started to pray. And I would actually walk up and down in our bedroom, and I would just, Lord, this can't be right. You know, this just can't be happening. This can't be, I'm 31. And I start going on social media, and with all of just the heaviness and just depression and just all of the things, I start to see a light on my feed. And it was just all of these scriptures and just, you know, inspirational posts linked back to what God has done. And I reached out to this individual and I said, Look, I don't know you. And I am really getting to ready to just dump everything on you. Like I'm going through a hard time. I see your posts, and I'm just gonna unload. And I really didn't know what to expect as a response back because again, I didn't know her. And she just met me with just so much of the love of God. And she also met me with an invitation to come to church. And without hesitation, I said, Yeah, I want to come because you know, I had already started getting back into praying and I have all of these things going on. I said, No, I want to come. Just let me know when. And so I met her there Sunday at church, me and um my youngest. She was still a baby, she wasn't even walking yet. We walked through the door, she pulled me, she said, Hey, nice to meet you. We hugged and uh she prayed for me that Sunday at the altar. And I never stopped coming after that. I actually dove into Wednesday nights and it was actually coming home from a Wednesday night service. This was before they were on Thursdays. And I was just praying in the car. It was just me. None of the kids were with me. And I was praying and really just pouring it out because, you know, at that time, up until that point, I kept praying, but I wasn't hearing anything. And and I said, God, you know, I I need you. Like I can't do any of this without you. I'm tired of running. I'm tired of living, like I'm living, I'm tired of the anxiety, I'm tired of the depression, like I'm just I'm tired of it all. And I asked him to come into my life right there in the car on the way home. And I took a deep breath and I can still remember it. And I heard him say, This is just the beginning. Wow. And when I exhaled everything, the whole weight just completely went away with it. And I was like, Well, it just happened because something happened. There was definitely a change, and you know, and I clicked in the car on the way home, just me and him talking it out, driving down the road. And the next day I called my mom and I said, or I sent her a text and I said, you know, I think something changed, and I'm pretty sure that I just got saved.
SPEAKER_03:That's like the second testimony I've heard in a few months where someone truly got saved in the vehicle riding down the road, just crying out to God. Yeah. For the listener that's thinking, oh, well, you know, that's because, you know, your your life was more put together than mine was. They've they've got to understand some things throughout this, and you you getting ready to come up to church for the first time in a long time. Um, you know, you're you're battling some postpartum depression. Your your daughter Bailey was born, you become a stay-at-home mom. Uh, your testimony says that you're drowning in self self-medicating marijuana drug use, and uh you've got bills piling up, finances uh are not being met, things are things are just piling up one on top of the other of another. And and as you alluded to earlier, just to kind of top it all off, there's this breast cancer scare, right? Yeah. So at that moment, you had you had just mentioned that you were you were kind of just pacing the bedroom floor praying, and really in your testimony, you say it like this that you swallowed your pride and you began to pray. There's a point in your testimony that says this I turned back to the way I was raised. And I think that that is so important for people to hear because as parents, it's so important that we raise our children in church so that we give them something to turn back to. God forbid that they stray away, right? Erica, you you've already mentioned the verse, you've referenced Proverbs 22, 6. Yeah. I'm gonna read it again. Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. I love that. Even when, even when he is old, he will not depart from it. So just kind of walk us through. You you you mentioned Brittany that you call your mom. Like I I can't even imagine like what she is feeling like on the other end of that phone. I mean, without getting too personal, can you just kind of describe what that was like coming from her?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And at first, you know, I don't know if she could fully say, like, oh yeah, she is saved. You know, I think for a moment she was like, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. And then what church are you going to?
SPEAKER_01:Right. But I pulled up in our driveway and I had Christian music on, and I heard her say, she didn't say it directly to me, but she just said it out loud. She said, She has Christian music on. And, you know, I think that that moment it really sank in that no, my daughter accepted and and asked the Lord to come into her life. And man, I just jumped headfirst into church and she was so excited. She would call my aunts and, you know, oh, she's going up there to the church tonight. You know, yeah, she's really diving on it. And you could really feel how proud she was in that moment that I decided enough's enough. That's enough is enough.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. And when you were coming to church, it wasn't a religious thing, like, oh, I need to come X amount of times because I was so bad and now I want to be so good. It was because you loved Christ so much. It was it it reminds me of the scripture of um, we were talking actually about this scripture Sunday, me and you, about the one who owes the bigger debt, who would love Christ more, the one who owes the bigger debt. The and so that kind of reminds me a little bit of of your testimony.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. I I know that you started attending church that last Sunday in January of 2022. Yes, right, cold winter month. And here you find yourself riding home one night and just truly have this wake-up experience with Jesus. Talk about how God has used CFO church to change your life and why it's important for people to attend a good Bible teaching, God-honoring, God-fearing church. Because maybe there's some people out there right now that they believe in God, but they don't understand the importance, they don't believe the purpose of attending a good church.
SPEAKER_01:I would tell them to get into a good growing Bible teaching church, one, because you you need the community.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Especially a baby Christian, just someone coming in and just getting saved, you know, the enemy, he's gonna, he's gonna want you back and he's gonna throw things and temptations at your way. And you need somebody in a good friend circle to be able to pick up the phone and say, hey, I'm really struggling with this. You know, can you just pray for me or encourage me? And you really need the family. You you truly do. And then to go and to know that you're getting the truth being taught.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That is the game changer. It's the truth, the word of God that is being taught, because it gives you something one tangibly to hold on to when you go home and you read your Bible. But then you start seeing, okay, my mom used to say this to me. And then it starts just starts connecting, you know, all of the dots just start connecting and the authority and the promises that we can stand on. Even now for my own kids, you know, I pray for them just like my mom prayed for me. I'm bringing them up in church just like she did me. So good. And I don't know what path they will end up taking, but I know one thing. Will know who to call when they need to call on and Brittany.
SPEAKER_00:I just remember you coming and still coming into church. You've got three children under the age of five, six, your oldest just turned six. And it's not easy. It's not easy coming in on Sundays. You try to get there on Thursdays when they don't have different events. And it's not easy coming in with three children and going up to the altar to pray or to pray with other people or to get there and greet. But you do it because you love the Lord and you're like, this is a decision I'm making, and the Lord has radically changed me and I'm serving him. And even though it's not easy, even though it's not comfortable, I'm getting the kids up. We're going to church. Yeah. And he's worthy to be praised. We're going to be there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yes. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:You know, one thing that I always come back to is that night on the road when I did got, you know, I got saved, everything, how everything just went away. The weight just completely melted away. And I remind myself of that so much because why would I ever want to go back to that? You know, God has so many good things. And even if he doesn't do anything else for me, I mean, he has had his hand on me my whole entire life. Even if he doesn't do anything else, he's so worthy. He's so worthy of me to continue to praise and to continue to thank him and just be obedient and do what he has for me.
SPEAKER_00:But I wanted to share this with the listeners for the moms or the dads that are out there that have a Britney that hasn't turned yet back to Christ, right? Um and we had talked about on our last podcast just proclaiming the word and the importance of proclaiming his word, because his word is truth, right? And so I just wanted to share the scripture with the parents to proclaim this over their child while while maybe they're running and that they will come back to the Lord. If you raised your child up in the way that he should go or she should go, they will not depart from it. And you claim that. But it's in Jeremiah, and it's Jeremiah 24, verse 4, and it's talking about Israel being sent captive in captivity to Babylon. And in their captivity, the Lord just wanted them to turn their hearts back to him, right? But they had to go to captivity because they weren't living for her for him. So it says here, then the word of the Lord came to me. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says Like these good figs, and those good figs represent Israel. I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down, I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord. They will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. And that was you, Brittany, right? Yes. Even though you went through all of those things, getting hit by a truck, being robbed by, you know, when you were in the gas station, all of these things, the Lord had his hand of protection over you, and that he brought you back to him. When he brought you back to him, you return to him with your entire heart. Yes. And so that is my prayer for anyone who had maybe has a prodigal right now that you have raised in the word and to love the Lord, that you would just declare that verse over them, that they would return to the Lord with their entire heart.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:And just to kind of piggyback off of that, we were talking the other day, and something that the Lord just completely laid on my heart, it's actually in Joshua, and it's verse 17, and it says, For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And, you know, I've been praying over this podcast and of course my just my testimony in general. And that is what he did. He preserved me. He had his hand over top of me and he preserved me. And so just to piggyback off of that for the encouragement, just know that, you know, as you're praying for your son or your daughter, your spouse or family members or friends, whoever, the Lord will preserve them.
SPEAKER_03:Amen. Yeah. Amen. For such a time as this. Yes. When he is ready. Yes. He is ready. Well, Britney, we thank you for coming on. We thank you for being real and being willing to share the work that God has done, but also, you know, God is still working and He's not finished yet. No. He's not finished. So we we are excited. So let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for our sister. She is dear to us, and we are grateful that you are using her uh here within our ministry at CFO Church. Father, I pray that what she has shared today has touched the lives of many. And we trust, Father, that that those who have received it will share the link and they will pass it on and be an encouragement. Lord, we lift up those that may be struggling with suicidal thoughts. Father, that in the name of the blood of Jesus, Father, I just I pray that they would receive peace and comfort from you, that they would receive a touch of love from you at this very moment, that your Holy Spirit would minister to them. And in the name of the blood of Jesus, we just rebuke any and all enemies that would be there to try to cause them to believe in any lies whatsoever. But Father, we just pray that your will be done. In the name of the blood of Jesus Christ, we ask all these things, and everybody said, Amen. Amen. Amen and amen. Amen. Until next time on Beyond Sunday, God bless you. Stay in His word and make sure to go to a good Bible teaching, God honoring, God fearing church.
