GraceFilled Community

From Bankruptcy to Blessing: One Family's Journey of Faith

• Nicole Cater • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Lindy shares her family's remarkable journey from financial hardship to abundance, revealing how God's faithfulness transformed their lives through seasons of bankruptcy, food bank visits, and entrepreneurial challenges.

• Fellow homeschool mom of three who has been educating her children at home for 10 years
• Her husband Gavin declared bankruptcy before they met, teaching him valuable lessons about pride and God's provision
• Started a business on a card table in their living room when Gavin lost his job
• Used food banks and extreme budgeting during lean times while raising their family
• God strategically positioned Gavin's career to gain unique PEIMS experience that became the foundation for their successful educational consulting business
• Now own two homes including a property in Arkansas that has become their peaceful retreat
• Views their business as "marketplace ministry" where they represent Christ's compassion while serving schools
• Prophetic words spoken over them 17 years ago have come to fruition in unexpected ways
• Encourages listeners to trust God's timeline for prophetic promises, recognizing development happens between receiving a word and its fulfillment
• Emphasizes being with God rather than just doing things for Him

🔗 Connect with Lindy Dickson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dicksontreeacademy/
Mail: lindy@dicksontree.net
Website: https://www.peims.com

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Speaker 1:

My name is Nicole Cater, your host, founder and servant leader of Graceville Community. I want to thank you for tuning in to Graceville Community Podcast. This is a safe space, a place in which we just share stories of how God has touched individuals' lives all across the world and how they are now impacting the kingdom of God. Thank you for tuning in. Blessings to you. Hello Graceville community.

Speaker 1:

Once again, I am so excited to welcome you to the Graceville Community Podcast, where we have authentic, transparent conversation, truly just about the goodness of God.

Speaker 1:

We may talk about some hard things, we may talk about some great things, but all together we know it's going to be good conversation because it's the conversation of the God things. And so, once again, I am so excited Y'all I know I say that each time like I'm so excited, but I really am I am truly just grateful and excited to just have these conversations and bring some people that over time I have known and loved and got to interact with and just see how God has moved in their lives, and today is no different. So I'm going to start off by just giving you a little bit about who we have today. She is a fellow homeschool mom. I know that we have been in spaces, especially in social of, like homeschool network and doing this homeschool life. She is a homemaker, definitely a household manager, business advisor and so much more. I can't wait for you guys to hear her story and really just dive into what God has done for her. So join with me today as I welcome Lindy Hi Lindy.

Speaker 2:

Hello, hello, friends, I'm so excited to be on your show and thanks for having me. I am just excited to share any number of testimonies that the Lord's done in our lives, in our family, and hopefully, by sharing our testimonies, that will encourage any of the listeners that God is faithful. Through every season in our lives We've definitely had our fair share of challenges, even dating back to our parents and grandparents. That's all part of our testimony today, so I'm happy to start wherever you would like me to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, definitely. I do want to say I intentionally kind of went through like an overview about you, but I do want to talk about so you've been homeschooling for how many years?

Speaker 2:

Okay, so my oldest son is now 14 and we've homeschooled since he was in kindergarten. So what is that? 10 years? Oh my gosh, already already 10 years and we're we're knocking on the door of high school, which means transcripts and college applications and dual credit, and it's like this mountain in front of me that I'm facing going. Oh my goodness, can I do this? But you know, I've had lots of fellow homeschool moms that are on the other side of that that have poured into me. So I'm just going to take that deep breath and we're going to tackle it one day at a time.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, that's the thing. And then you okay. So you have three children, yes, okay.

Speaker 2:

Remind me of their ages. Okay, so my oldest is 14. My second is 12, will be 13 this year, and my youngest is about to turn 11.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, and you have been married for 17 years.

Speaker 2:

Our anniversary is in March.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, 17 years congratulations so thank you and then also doing business for eight years uh, eight years, right going on nine.

Speaker 2:

I have to kind of think back again. And you know there's too many numbers. That's how you know, there's too many numbers to keep. I don't even remember how old I am. So, yeah, I think we're at eight and a half years now and that's. That is a whole like. I've got to write a book that I'll. I'll just dive into that, cause I think you kind of opened the door. Let's do it so.

Speaker 2:

I think that really one of the coolest aspects of where we're at today which we'll get there. But one of the coolest aspects of it is the fact that before my husband and I ever met, he had to declare bankruptcy. He had graduated college from West Texas and moved to Fort Worth to go to seminary. Originally he felt like the Lord had called him into ministry. So in his mind he was going to go to seminary and become a licensed, ordained pastor and he was not out looking for a job. He just, you know, nope, god's going to provide, god's going to provide. And he had a lot of wise counselors trying to advise him. You need to get something, even if it's flipping burgers at McDonald's, but nope, god's going to provide, god's going to provide. And he was basically living off credit cards for a while and it finally came around to bite him and he had creditors calling him, even at work. He had dropped out of seminary and instead pursued his master's degree in education at Tarleton and he was teaching at a small private school in the area. So you know, he was barely making by, but you had creditors calling him and and he ultimately had to declare bankruptcy and that was very hard and very humbling, and he realized that the Lord was working out that pride in his heart and that he also, in that season, realized his call to ministry was not a formal as a pastor calling at that time. That may come at some point in the future, but no, the Lord was not calling him in that role. And so he pursued education and he and then, right when he right around the time he graduated with his master's was when we met and shortly thereafter we got engaged and he he had been able to purchase a house. The Lord worked out all that. You know, you have to have a credit score, you have to qualify for a loan, you have to be able to afford a down payment. You know whatever all the numbers and all the stuff involved with that, and that that was also another miracle. Like, wow, god worked it out for me to buy a house or for him to buy a house.

Speaker 2:

And so we met and got engaged, got married, and then we moved to West Texas, back to his hometown of Lubbock, for a few years, and he went from being a teacher to being an assistant principal and then, when we were out in West Texas, he got to work for the district offices. And then during that time, you know, I had our first son and we had always agreed he wanted me to be able to stay home. So I quit my job and we had to adjust to that single income which you know. I mean I was the coupon queen for a while, right, you know I had my three grocery stores lined up down the same stretch. You know I had my three grocery stores lined up down the same stretch and I knew what I could get at each store the cheapest.

Speaker 2:

And you know all that budgeting and and it was hard on our marriage, it was just another stress factor and we, and then his father, passed away there in Lubbock and then we felt like we were ready to move back to Fort Worth. We had struggled to really grow roots in West Texas and then, you know, we thought maybe the Lord brought us here because he knew Gavin's dad was going to pass away and that was a season to have. We had two. Our two oldest were born there, um, and we had that time with his dad before he passed. But, um, get at the time gateway. You know we mentioned gateway church earlier. We were, we were involved at gateway and we were watching online and that was home and our hearts were ready to come home, both to Fort worth and um and the Lord. This, this is another part of. I kind of glaze over this part of our testimony sometimes because I don't think people will understand it, but Gavin applied for so many jobs that fall of 2013. And when school started, it kind of was discouraging, because when you're in education, a lot of times when the school year starts then people are kind of in their places. So, but you know, I really felt the Lord leading me to pack out of faith Like he's. He's got something. We are going to just keep walking in faith.

Speaker 2:

In October he got a phone call for an interview and it was at the region center in Fort Worth and he got this job and that's what helped us get moved back to Fort Worth by Christmas. And later we found out that they were looking for somebody specifically with experience as a principal or like an administrator and at the district offices, because see, what I didn't mention earlier was in West Texas. They moved him to the district offices. He didn't want to go, he wanted to stay on the campus, but he he saw that as a demotion because he was starting to work in the, the peems area, which peems is just all the, the information management and the data that gets reported to the state, that that determines the funding for that school district, and so typically that's been held by just an admin assistant or like a secretary type position. So he was like God, what are you doing? Like I'm more qualified than this.

Speaker 2:

But he finally came to accept okay, god, if this is where you're going to have me, then I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. And he went to all the trainings and really mastered PEMS. And so then when he got the job in Fort Worth, he later found out they were specifically looking for somebody with both admin experience and PEMS experience and everybody was like that's a unicorn, you're never going to find that because people either go this route or that route. So when they found him they were like, oh my gosh, we found our guy. So that was another kind of miracle in all of that. That got us to the region center, got us moved back to Fort Worth and I was. I was halfway through my pregnancy with my third when we moved back and she was, she was, was born.

Speaker 2:

So we had her here and Gavin worked there at the region center for about four years and you know workplace politics are everywhere yeah so you know, don't really need to go into detail, but things were changing and we just were sensing his time is coming, something's changing and his time is coming to an end there. But what was next? Well, what he did with the region center he was under, his job was funded by a grant through TEA and his job was to support new charter schools and to help them with their data reporting so they could be successful and not have to shut down. And as he would travel to these conferences and he would teach breakout sessions for PEMS and data reporting and help make sense of it all Cause PEMS is kind of like a bad word in the education world Okay, okay.

Speaker 2:

I mean a lot of people hate it because it's so complicated it's. Imagine, you know, we talk about medical coding and we talk about health insurance and if it's coded wrong and that it's not paid for, you know, whatever. Well, that's themes in the education world is how everything is coded and how it's funded and everything has to line up. All the data and I'm not a data person, so somebody listening to this might it might make a lot more sense to them, but that's all about. All I can say about it is it's just all about the data and how it lines up and it affects the funding. All about the data and how it lines up and it affects the funding.

Speaker 2:

So, um, but he built a reputation for being able to teach on this how to do teams to be successful, and it made sense to people, and so people really liked him and appreciated him and valued his, his leadership and his teaching.

Speaker 2:

And when things began changing at the Regent Center and we realized it may not be the place for him much longer, I started telling him you know, maybe you should think about starting your own business, Because the grant position at the Regent Center was only for new charters that were three years or younger, but he would meet people from other charters, older, and they would be like we could really use your services, but legally he couldn't, you know, because of conflict of interest. So in my mind I was just like it makes sense, you have people know who you are, they know you're good at what you do and clearly people are saying they could use your services. So if this isn't going to continue and if you apply and can't find another job which he didn't then I was like why not? Of course, that's a lot easier said than done, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 2:

So that summer he went to the, the um parent County courthouse there in Southlake and he got his LLC to be all official and he started that August with one little bitty contract that paid less than a teacher's salary. And I mean, our kids were a little bitty and we were. We had canceled Netflix, we had canceled, we had, you know, cut out all the extra expenses and and I thought, are we going to have to get on food stamps? And I honestly didn't feel a piece about that. And that's not to say that somebody shouldn't, because there's a time and place, right, right, right. But I did utilize the food bank. I utilized two, two local food banks and that helped us get through for about four or five months.

Speaker 2:

Finally, by Christmas he started getting a couple more contracts and slowly started building up. He started right here in our living room on a card table, similar to what I'm doing right now, and he, as he, slowly started getting more contracts that then, one year later, he was able to rent a small office here in the area and then he finally had to hire help. So he got himself an admin assistant for a while and just slowly, um, over the years he's been able to, he needed to hire another helper. He was able to rent the office next door and then at one point he had the whole hallway of offices at this little executive building that's here in the area. And then two no, three years ago I think, he was able to move and now he's renting still, but he's got his whole own office.

Speaker 2:

We are up to, let me think, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, seven or eight employees now, which is still small, but having started on a card table, that's a huge. You know, in eight years we've come a long way. We've been able to pay off a lot of debt. We have continued to just really remain humble, not to say that we haven't struggled with pride and, you know, excitement when we get the next big win, and and it's, you know, yeah, we want to get excited, and but every time those moments happen, I have to go hey, lord, protect my heart, cause I don't. I don't want to become prideful and I don't want to come across like I'm bragging, but I want to brag on God, because look what the Lord has done when I would be stuck at home because we couldn't afford to go anywhere or or all we could do was go down the street to the park or the library to rent DVDs or borrow books and play with the chalk again outside, or the Play-Doh the cheap and easy and the free stuff.

Speaker 2:

And, you know, looking at social media, wondering how can these people afford a trip to Disney or how are they affording a trip to the beach? And then, slowly, we were able to kind of finagle the budget and we were able to make a trip to the beach. And it was tight and we really had to, you know, watch the budget before and after to to stay on top of things. But we were able to do that. And then it was like, oh, okay, they didn't teach me these things in school. Like I need a, I need a class on budgeting. Like why was I never taught this? Right, you know? But but you live and learn, right, you literally live and learn. Like, oh, maybe I shouldn't have spent that much on a jar of peanut butter, because that adds up over time and and I need to be buying this peanut butter so we can have more over here to to pay down this debt or to save up for this trip, and so, um, you know, I feel like I don't know. I just feel like there's, maybe there's some young families out there, maybe there's a young mom out there that might feel like she's struggling and feeling like, you know she's not meeting that.

Speaker 2:

That was me. That was me. I felt like we were struggling. I felt like I couldn't afford a haircut, I couldn't afford to buy myself new clothes, right. But I have just reached this place where, um, it's easy now because we're we. We still, no matter how much you make, you still have to watch your budget.

Speaker 2:

Yes, you know, but like I don't stress about it as much like I did then and I, I know it's gonna be okay, no matter what happens, it's gonna be okay. But I still ask myself, and, and it's humbling to think, but why is it easier now? Because, financially, we're taking care of? Why was it harder than? Oh Lord, forgive me, forgive me, lord, and help me to always put my trust in you and not to put my trust in money, right, right, and and, man, that's convicting, very convicting, um, because money can become an idol and can become its own god, and I think that it's a delicate balance.

Speaker 2:

I was just talking to a friend the other day about this, who who's in similar shoes that we were in. You know, they're, they're, they're making it month to month and I'm just, I'm trying my best to love on them and support them and encourage them, and we were talking about it's. It's one thing we have to think about. Money, right, we have to think about it because that's the tool that we use in our world today for spying and selling and trading, and we have to think about it and we have to make sure we're going to have enough to pay the bills. But how do we balance that without crossing over into idolizing it? I don't have the answer to that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, I want to say, not that it's the answer to that, but even as you were telling your story, and I can't help but to even think of my own experience as developing, you know, in life and Isaiah and I, and as entrepreneurship, and then even the stages that you go through, and I really think that a great portion of it is really God developing our heart, developing our character, like there's a reason why you have those humble beginnings. I think about the word scripture tells us don't despise small beginnings. There's something that happens in that small beginning stage. I remember starting a business and there was times I literally was out door dashing Uber Eats while doing this business and, you know, using that to help supply what was needed for the family, and going day to day and praying like Lord, please let me DoorDash enough to make you know, and I remember like make $45 today, and praying that, like putting gas in the car to DoorDash to hope to make the $45, $50 was a stretch.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah you know not very, very similar not being able to go places, looking at all the free events to do like I was the queen for Facebook events like what's free, what can we go to that I don't have to spend money on it, we can still engage.

Speaker 1:

I remember times taking my kids places where it was a free event but then there was stuff that you could purchase and having to say no and even the character being developed in that learning, like the boundaries that came with that not needing to prove something to someone else or try and please um an image. There's so much that is developed yes that stage of small beginnings, and I think that's why the scripture tells us like don't despise those small beginnings, don't run almost it like embrace them and allow it to do its work right. I think about the scripture that tells us about like um when we go through trials and tribulations.

Speaker 2:

There's a formula in that, there's a process that develops us yes, rejoice when you face trials and tribulations, because it produces endurance, patience, perseverance. Yes, that is, but they're basically a formula and that's a beautiful reminder because, um, yeah, I, I do see that in myself now.

Speaker 2:

Now right back then, yeah, back then, when life threw us a curve ball and I needed new tires on my car, I was, you know, really stressed out and worrying how in the world are we going to do this? We take a deep breath and we just we have to do what needs to be done. And then we do what, what needs to be done to compensate for that, whatever it is, and and it's just the Lord maturing us, absolutely, a hundred percent is maturing us, and and it is hard when you're in those early beginnings, those humble beginnings, it's hard. Um had prophetic words spoken over us right after we were married. We were candidates for the presbytery. You know that they do they I don't know if they still do or used to do but and a lot, what's really cool? I have the transcript, you know, typed out, folded in my bible, and I pull it out every now and then, and there's certain aspects that have just always stuck with me, and what's really cool is a lot of that has come to fruition.

Speaker 2:

One of the things that was spoken over Gavin was being a leader, training other people, having a pastoral mantle on him, but that it would not necessarily be within the four walls of the church, that it may be in, it may be out, it may be here, it may be out there, and he has. Just this morning even he was telling me our business as educational consultants. The first priority is we are a ministry. We're here to represent the compassion of Christ and if there's a spiritual need, we want to be sensitive to that. Are we out there on these schools blatantly preaching the gospel? No, our purpose is to help with teams and data management.

Speaker 2:

But opportunities arise many times to ask somebody you know well, do you go to church anywhere? Well, would you like me to pray with you? Sometimes people ask us will you pray for me, will you please pray for my husband or my daughter or so-and-so? And so it's not that, it's not that in your face, um, like evangelizing, but I think I heard somebody use the term. Um, what did they say? Mark, business, workplace evangelism marketplace ministry.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, there's a couple of different terms there, and so we see it as as a type of undercover ministry, not like undercover in the sense of like in China, you know.

Speaker 2:

Not like we're trying to hide anything, but many people that know us know that, a we're a family owned business and that, B we seek to honor the Lord and put him first and we're not here to push anything on anybody, but we're here to just represent Christ prayerfully, represent him well and draw others to him. Because I know there's a lot of people out there today that have been hurt by the church and that have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to Christians and and that saddens my heart because in a lot of ways they're right, because we as Christians haven't always gotten it right and and I'm sad and I'm I'm sorry for that I hope to represent Christ well, without compromising the truth and effort to build a bridge to people like that, Because I want them to know God's not some angry God that's out to get you and some of this stuff happening in the church that maybe hurt them. That's not God's heart to her.

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Speaker 2:

Gavin and I, both as individuals, as a couple, as a family, we have had church hurt and there have been many times I thought if I didn't know any better I would have left the church a long time ago. But I know that's not God's heart towards me, yes, and and we have had to make the hard decisions to say, okay, this may not be the right church place for us to go any longer. Our season here is finished. We don't ever want to leave a place out of offense, right, we want to leave in in a, in a blessing, where we're blessing the church, and we won't want the church to bless us as we move on to wherever God has for us. And sometimes that hasn't happened.

Speaker 2:

We, we we seek to leave without offense. But we have had others offended that we were leaving and we just, and like I told Gavin, I said well, the you know, when one of the situations happened, I said well, I think we made the right decision. That reaction confirms we're making the right decision. And then also we need to pray for that leadership, because for them to respond that way tells me there's deeper issues. So that's the body of Christ. We're not perfect, but the Lord calls us to forgive, and as hard as that is, um, so, so yeah, all of these things, you know, it's just incredible how it all ties together.

Speaker 2:

And, um, we, we some extra capital in our business and we, we, that was when we faced a difficult situation where we decided it was time for us to step away from a particular church we were at at the time and, um, we went to the Gateway Justin campus as a temporary landing pad. We weren't sure if we were going to stay at Gateway long term or if that was just a temporary place, but we were going to the Justin campus for a while. This was before the campus was built. They were still meeting at the Marriott.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

And, yeah, that was a hard situation. Gavin faced some difficulties in the business. Um, uh, we had an employee that left us and it was just a hard situation. And one particular week, um, his mom and I both were trying to tell him you need to get away, you need to go get a hotel room and just turn off your phone, turn off your computer and just be with God, right, and he looks up at me with the puppy dog eyes and he says, okay, well, will you go with me? I was like, well, yeah, if you want me to, but bottom line is you need a break, right, um, so we went to a little bed and breakfast in Duncan, oklahoma two hours away and we turned our phones off and traded them so there would be no temptation.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and we had the most peaceful weekend. We both spent time reading our Bibles, praying, spent time together and on the way home, gavin said those two little magic words we could, because that's how it always starts.

Speaker 1:

Right, yes.

Speaker 2:

And he said you know, we could buy a house up here and have our own little Airbnb and and just you know, it's only two hours away. So I was like, are you sure? Because he's the one that handles the budget, like I'm, I'm, I'm girl math over here, I'll admit it he handles the numbers, paying the bills, taking care of all that? Because I couldn't, it's too complicated for me, so he knew better than I did. If we could, he was like, well, yeah, we, we've, we've got enough cushion. He said I think we could put a down payment and I think I think we can do it.

Speaker 2:

That was the fall of 2020, a year later. We first started looking in oklahoma because it was closer, just a couple hours away, but we lost, I think, four offers. That was when the market was really hot and people were paying cash above asking price. We finally pulled back labor day, weekend and um, it was mentioned why don't we look in arkansas? And okay, so all these houses pulled up in a place called hot springs village, about 30 minutes north of hot springs yes and they had amenities.

Speaker 2:

it was a gated community, it was in the woods, I mean tall trees, shade, and so that was labor day. On wednesday we were driving up there and looking at houses and over the next about three weeks we we went up there two or three times and we lost about three more. We lost a total of seven offers between Oklahoma and Arkansas. The eighth house had been on the market for a couple months no offers, very few showings, and our first thought was what's wrong with it?

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, nothing was wrong. So we and it wasn't that we really liked the house. It wasn't like, oh, hey, well, let's just put an offer on it. It was like this this really is a good house, I think it will work put an offer on it and it was accepted. That night Come to find out it was owned by a pastor. I thought that was interesting. So so, fall of 21, we were able to move in and that became our second home, kind of our getaway home, and we fell in love with it so much that we call ourselves accidental Arkansans. We found a little church there that is a smaller community church. It has that family feel they are my family and we found ourselves just wanting to be there more and more, and so we made it home and we adore it.

Speaker 2:

Out there it's a slower pace of life, it's peaceful, and we still have to come back to to the fort worth area occasionally because of gavin's. Business is still based here. Yes, but to see where we've gone, from bankruptcy 20 years ago to the food bank nine-ish years ago, yes, to now. Technically, we own two homes. Wow, the Lord's brought us a long way.

Speaker 2:

And I remember people telling us you know, everybody's got their beans and weenies days and, it's true, everybody had their beans and weenies days, and man. It seems like those days can drag on and on. But, um, hold on, hold on because, yes, like you said, the Lord is, is growing us in those seasons and strength, I think, strengthening our faith. And my prayer used to be a dangerous prayer to pray is Lord, deepen my trust in you, deepen my trust in you and, like that song, you know, spirit, lead me where my trust is, without borders. Yes, wow, has he brought us. And and now you know, even now, where we're at. We still have big decisions we have to make that are difficult. What do we do? We can't hold onto this house anymore. Do we sell? Do we rent? Do we hold onto it? Do we? What do we do, lord? Because in the end, his wisdom is the best right. The mind of man plants its ways, but the Lord directs his steps.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely, you know I. I want to go back to something that you mentioned was like having prophetic words spoken over you.

Speaker 1:

Cause I remember a time. You know I have talked about having own church for experience, like I grew up in the church, so all my life has been in the church. I've been behind the scenes of ministry since 14. Wow, definitely seen a lot right and so um.

Speaker 1:

One of the things, though, is I remember Isaiah and I were up for Presbytery and the Lord told me to write out all my past prophetic words, and I'm like what, like some of them I had on my phone. Some of them I may have had an email, like you know, some might've been in my journal, and we just jotting stuff down, and even the Holy spirit brought me to remember it's a words from even like teen years. Spirit brought me to remembrance of words from even like teen years, and so I just started typing all the words out, and as I was doing it, it was like I could see from like a word from like 15, how like, oh, okay, that that happened, like this happened at 24, you know, and then see a word from like being 24 and be like oh, this happened two years ago.

Speaker 1:

But what we don't talk about is the timeframe from the time that you got the word and all the development like practical, natural and spiritual, all the development that happens before that word actually comes to fruition.

Speaker 2:

And I just want to encourage the listener.

Speaker 1:

That's like I have. I've had these prophetic words I know what I'm called to do, I know where I'm called to sit, or why is it such a struggle to do the thing that I know God's asked me to do? Um? Yeah get discouraged in it. Like don't be discouraged, I think in our humanity we think, oh, okay, I heard from the Lord to do this. And we think because we heard from the Lord. It's supposed to be easy, yes, and when it gets hard we're like did I really hear from him?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, even you know, when Gavin felt a call to ministry, he was like, okay, I'm going to seminary, I'm going to be a pastor. But the Lord was like your ministry is in education, your ministry is through your business. And, um, you know it was. It was 17 years ago when we had that, those prophetic words spoken over us at gateway, and and it just hit me I mean within this past year, like wow, almost all of this has come to fruition. One of the things spoken over me was I would be raising the next generation, teaching the next generation.

Speaker 2:

I never had any thoughts about homeschooling 17 years ago you know, and what's even cooler I want to add to that about the idea of prophetic. That about the idea of prophetic is that before Gavin and I met, I had a prophetic dream, and I do believe that the Lord speaks to us in our dreams. I think sometimes, sometimes they're just dreams, sometimes it's just our brain processing what happened yesterday or the pizza we ate last night.

Speaker 2:

But I definitely encourage people if you think there's anything, any symbolism in your dream, journal that down, because maybe next week something will come to you and you'll go wait a minute. Maybe that was my dream. You know, anything can happen. But I had a dream in 2006, august of 2006, that there were several different parts to it, but there was like a brown horse and there was a donkey that I had to like. It was like a wild donkey and I had to get a hold of it and I had to take it back to its owners and they were in like a mobile home park and they were like oh, thank you, thank you. And I said, well, I'm looking for a place to live and a job around here, if you know of anything. And they were like oh, yeah, yeah, we'll let you know. And in my mind I thought, okay, they're saying that, but I don't think they're going to actually follow through. But that's okay, god's going to take care of it.

Speaker 2:

There was a part in my dream where I was like on this huge stadium, like soccer field or football field, and I had like my backpack that I've had since eighth grade, and then I left it behind and I was riding this bus home and I suddenly went oh, I left my backpack, oh well, that's okay, I can go back for it later. And this bus opened up on the backside and it was like a flatbed trailer with bleachers on it and it was all empty and I thought, oh, I'm glad I got on it now before it gets full. And then you know how dreams transition. And then I was in this like kind of a dormitory and it was like this ultimate college hangout place. There was a place to do laundry and there was a place to play ping pong or watch a movie or have snacks and there was a girl in there that was yakking away and really distracting. And then I finally left and then I walked outside and suddenly I was like sliding down this rocky hill, like it was iced over, but it wasn't ice and there was three people with me in my dream.

Speaker 2:

And all of these things have symbolism, like horses represent strength and authority and brown the color brown represents compassion and humanity. You know, donkeys can represent stubbornness or determination. So the fact that it was like a wild donkey could have been stubbornness, but I tackled it. So that was to me was like the Lord said you have this negative aspect, but we're going to tackle that and it's going to turn into determination in a good way. And the, the bus and the field and the university hangout place through prayer and other people kind of telling me their thoughts on the dream was like these are all like higher levels of education. And so I didn't know if I was like, okay, am I supposed to go get a master's degree or is it just like? Now, looking back, I'm like no, like that was the Lord growing me all these years higher levels that he's teaching me and growing me. And the bus that was like somewhere in my dream was a little moped and a bicycle and these are all like.

Speaker 2:

Bicycles mean there's a personal calling. A moped or a motorbike means like moving from one place to the next through moving through difficult areas is what it means Buses and the is many is like reaching many. And then I thought it was real interesting the last part, sliding down this Rocky Hill with three people, and I thought, well, I have three kids. We moved to Arkansas, the natural state, and it's all rocks. And I thought it's just hit me this past year Like, wow, lord, was that? You know that was almost 20 years ago now, was that like my life flashing before my eyes, kind of thing? You know, like, wow, look what you have done, lord.

Speaker 2:

And in my dream there were people that I knew from a past season in life and somebody said well, I think the fact that they were familiar means there, there's going to be familiarity, like it's not just going to be you and God on this calling, but he's going to put people in your life that you know and that will support you. And that's true through every difficult season that we have been in. Yes, Friendships come and go and sometimes they kind of wane, so to speak, but the Lord always provides what we need, not just financially, not just materially, but relationally. He will provide the people, even if it is the grocery store clerk that has the cross necklace to remind you God is with you, even if it is just that random text or a phone call. Or, like I had one lady say, I had cookies left in my fridge. I put them in a Ziploc bag and I just ran them by my friend and said, hey, I was thinking about you today.

Speaker 1:

That's all that's needed, so all of that's just like you know.

Speaker 2:

It's so cool how God just he wants that, that intimacy with us. He wants to pour into our lives and speak to us. And you know, and, and then you talked about when you have that prophetic word and you think, okay, this is what I'm supposed to do. Well, sometimes if we hear a word from the lord and we think okay, and then we try to make it happen in our own strength.

Speaker 2:

Yes, sometimes it's okay and we need to take a step back and say, okay, lord, how do you want this to come to fruition?

Speaker 1:

and, when you know, also ask when right and just waiting the aspect of understanding often comes over time as well. I know, um, you know, I had a prophetic word that led to a vision, and in the vision it was like this field. It was just a field and it was like dirt and every mugs like you walk through, you would see like there was a leaf here, or like a leaf a little bit more grown, maybe some fruit from it, and then you would have like a little like like a leaf a little bit more grown, maybe some fruit from it, and then you would have like a little like like a house, but it would have a cross on it remind me of a church and then, as I kept walking, I started like watering them and they would grow, and they each were growing into the little like houses, and so I remember like I'm am I supposed to have all this property?

Speaker 1:

Like there was not an understanding and I had went before people and, you know, gave the dream and prayed for people to agree with me in it and it was so many different things. And then it came that like you're going to be a part of church planting and even I got my I got a prophetic word about Priscilla and Aquila, and I'm like church planning.

Speaker 1:

I'm like Lord, I don't want to have a church. Like what do you mean, you know? And then I look and I fast forward to what I do now, and even three years ago, four years ago, I never would have imagined that I would transition and take all the skills that he gave me in business, all of my experience, all of my experience in ministry, and literally be traveling to help small churches grow and develop.

Speaker 1:

And I think back and I'm like you showed me that over 20 years ago. Wow, and I didn't have an understanding. And all this time, you know I didn't purposely say, oh, let me do business for these many years to get this aspect of training or let me be in ministry to get this training. But you were developing and you were creating it and you were like giving me the skills to carry out the vision that you have for me. Just like he says, like he knew before we even formed the plans, like he has a good plan for it.

Speaker 1:

And so I'm, I'm like you knew, and now I look just like you. I'm looking like, oh my gosh, it's so incredible about the fact that I didn't understand it and even at times when I tried because I did I was like maybe I should do real estate, like, and I tried to do the real estate, I tried to get the houses, but that's not what it was for, right?

Speaker 1:

so we mentioned like moving fast and moving off of, like oh I think I have an understanding the importance of really just sitting with God and not trying to move from that place and move from a place of just being with God and bring those things Right. The difference of being versus doing right. We want to be with God while we do for God, not be doing for God, thinking that that gets us being with God.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, that's so good Can you say that again, oh Lord.

Speaker 1:

I'm like let me try and say it again we don't need to be.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we don't need to. We need to be with God and then do for him.

Speaker 4:

Because sometimes we think doing for him is going to be a bring us closer man that is so powerful.

Speaker 2:

That's really good, that's really good, yeah, yeah. And you know, everything I'm hearing you say is like, we know people that like they want to maybe it's a personality thing, sure, even they want to map out their whole life and like, okay, I'm gonna go to college and get this degree and then I'm gonna get this. You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna fast track to and then I'm going to work this kind of job for this many years and then I'm going to work my way up the ladder and do this and and some people do and they're successful and they're great, that's awesome. But you know what, for me, that ain't working and I just have to sit back. I literally have to let go and let God let him be.

Speaker 2:

God because he's in charge.

Speaker 1:

I look back over my life and I never could have planned it this way, never, never could have planned it this way, and here we are here we are, yes, and there's a certain piece that comes with it, right, a piece of just lending to you. Like, lord, you take the will. Like, literally, jesus take the will, like you guide me. There's a piece that comes from trusting him, knowing that, like I'm going to trust your plan and trust that you have a good, good plan.

Speaker 2:

Yes, oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1:

Once again, I feel like time flew by and I'm like it feels like we've been talking for five minutes. How has it been 40 something minutes already? This is wow.

Speaker 1:

I wish we could talk all day I know, yes, well, I absolutely have loved the time of you being connected and coming on to the podcast. I mean we stay connected through social. I've watched you guys Like I'm like Arkansas, which is so funny. My father's from Arkansas, so I have very fond memories of Arkansas and being there for summers growing up. But I continue to just pray a blessing for all the endeavors that you guys are doing to unite people and be that example of Christ living in you. And so thank you, thank you, thank you, oh Graceville listeners, thank you again for tuning in today.

Speaker 1:

As always, we hope that this episode has encouraged you, has inspired you, and we want to lend the opportunity, as we always do. If you don't have community around you, we want to support you Email grow. At gracevillecommunitycom, we have community partners globally that we would love to partner you with that we believe are trustworthy and safe for you to build community within. As always, thank you for listening. Thank you so much for being on today. You're welcome. Thanks so much for having me this has been awesome.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thank you, it sure has. I'm like I think we should do this again so much more to talk about.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, a lot more. We definitely have to do it again.

Speaker 1:

Yes, we will, man, I would love to. I'm even thinking like, oh, we need to talk about this homeschooling stuff Cause I both you and I have some journeys that the Lord has walked us through with it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes we will All right listeners. Thanks for tuning in. As always, may the Lord be with you. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of Graceville Community Podcast. We would like to invite you to visit gracevillecommunitycom.

Speaker 1:

Graceville Community is all about doing church the way Church of Acts did, using five main principles that we see in the book of Acts Sharing resources, as believers pooled their possessions and resources to support those in need, as we see in Acts 2.44. Through hospitality the early Christians practiced hospitality by opening their homes to others, as we see in Acts 2 and 46. By financial aid the church in Antioch sent financial aid to believers in Judea during a time of famine, as described in Acts 11 and 29. As described in Acts 11 and 29. Prayer and encouragement they supported each other through prayer and encouragement, as we see in Acts 4 and 24. And finally, spiritual guidance the apostles and elders provided spiritual guidance and teaching to help strengthen and build the community, as we see in Acts 15. 30. I would like to encourage you. If any of those areas are areas in which you are in need or can contribute, please reach out to Graceville Community. We are working together across the world with ministries and individuals alike, to help bring back the church of acts.

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Nicole Cater

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