Q&A (Part 2)

Your questions on all things faith and femininity, answered. This episode discusses topics such as:

- how to trust the truth of Christianity versus other religions

- how to know you're about to enter a new chapter in life

- why is there so much violence and harshness against women in the Old Testament

- the craziest prayers God has answered for me

... and more

Part 1 to this Q&A: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0pPYNih0Dj6GOwhUINoQ1M?si=TY6cI8vETHmG7IKfmgi4xQ

My Worship Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ymqW6Yjv7Iw5ZbTan2uuU?si=z3itEj80S-Og4olP08pUbw

Have a beautiful and blessed week!

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, hello, beautiful ladies. Welcome into part two of our QA. I love the questions that you've sent in, and all week I've been waiting to come back and do this episode with you. So if this is your first episode, hello, I'm Alexis. This is the Fruitful Feminine Podcast and it's where we talk all things faith and femininity. So whether you are a Christian, whether you are not a Christian, whether you're another religion, maybe you're just curious or you feel I do believe in God, but I want to learn more, this place is for you. So welcome, welcome, ladies. Also, I am getting over a cold, so my voice probably sounds a little bit different, but I have a hot tea. I'm ready to go. And these questions are too juicy to not do this episode. There's a couple of questions. Every single woman who put a question on last week's episode, I read all of those. So thank you so much. I'm probably not going to be able to answer all of them. There's two that I probably won't answer fully. However, I'm going to turn those into full episodes. At least that's my plan. So if you didn't hear that yours was answered, it's probably coming up in a future episode. Or I've already done it before and I'll let you know. Okay, whew. So if you didn't watch part one, please watch part one. We mostly talked about relationships and dating and love last week. So I really hope that you loved that episode. And we're just going to get straight into it now. Um, real quick, two quick, quick questions. One of them was about friendships, and I really, really love this question. How to find good friends, how to be a good friend. I want to let you know we already have a full episode about this. If you type the fruitful feminine friendships, you'll see that. So we've got that for you. And then second quick question was which version of the Bible do I personally read? So I personally read the New Living Translation, the NLT version. The thing is, I don't want you to get super caught up in the translation of the Bible because as you read more and more, you will find the translation that speaks to you. So why are there even different translations of the Bible? The Bible was originally written in Greek, in Hebrew, and in Aramaic. However, most people don't speak those languages anymore, especially Aramaic. That's a language that Jesus spoke. And so the Bible was translated to English and other languages as cultures grew and the world became bigger. And there's also different translations because there's different interpretations of those original words. So here's the perfect example. One of my, I've talked about this before, so if you've heard it, thanks for your patience. One of my best friends here in Dubai, she speaks Arabic and English. And we're talking about languages. And she tells me something that's so mind-blowing. She goes, Alexis, there's no direct translation in English for how you say I love you in Arabic. Here goes my voice. And she goes, in Arabic, when we say I love you, there's a phrase that means some I'm not gonna get it exact, so I'm sorry to my girls who speak Arabic who are listening. Um it means I would go to the depths of the earth for you. Like I would go to your grave with you. However, there's no exact translation for what that means in Arabic. You can only try to put words and phrases together, but even still, it doesn't capture the full essence of what is being said in the language of Arabic. Same thing with my friends who speak Portuguese who are Brazilian. When they tell me things sometimes, they ask each other, like, what's the word for this? Because there's no direct translation, it doesn't come out the same. So why there's so many different translations of the Bible is because all of these people who have studied the Bible are trying to take Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic and convey it in the way that makes the most sense. And also there can be a word that has more of a direct logical meaning, or you can look at it from an artistic, uh, really expressive view. For example, if I say um when I'm with my siblings, I'm really wild. Some people might say, Oh, that means that you party a lot, that you drink a lot. No, I don't drink. Maybe we'll talk about alcohol in this episode too. Um, it's not partying as and going crazy. It means I'm free. Like I'm free in my feminine energy. I'm just I let loose, I can relax. And so there's a studying of what was originally written in the Bible and different translations of what was being said because some people think from a very philosophical viewpoint, and everything is artistic and poetic, and some people are very logical. And so, depending on what version, that's why I say don't get too caught up in the version, just start reading the Bible. I would suggest the NLT version, it's very basic, easy to understand English. And then what you can do, this is actually what I did this morning, is whenever I read my morning devotional on the Bible app, there's a verse that comes with it. And sometimes I like to switch the translation to see how it's said differently. One of my favorite translations is the message version. The message version of the Bible is so poetic. Um, yeah, I could just keep going on in a tangent about that, but that can sometimes stop us from getting in and reading the word because you don't know where to start. Just start with the NLC version. You can always get another Bible later. You can always research other translations. All right, so that was more of an easy question. All of the rest of the questions that you ladies gave me were very challenging and I love it. They're challenging because I have to sit and go, God, please give me understanding and the words to teach because I will I always pray before I teach these episodes. Please, God, let me speak in truth. Take my opinion, take my bias, take my ego out of it. Let me speak in a way that aligns with your truth. So, with that being said, let's start with this question. Alexis, my fiance is open to God. He prays. Sometimes he comes to church with me, but it's not all the time. What do I do? And should I force this? First of all, what I want to say is I have been in a very, very similar situation. And what I want to say, first of all, is to pray for him. Your prayers have power. When you pray to God, God can soften and change people's hearts. Especially reading the Old Testament, you see it all the time. God can change hearts. Anything can happen. I wouldn't force going to church on a partner. I've tried it, it backfires, and especially with the masculine energy, using force almost always pushes them away. So here's what I would suggest instead. Let him know how it feels on your body when he does go to church with you. Do you feel extra excited and proud having him on your arm, walking into church and meeting your community and meeting your friends? Do you maybe look forward to Sundays more because he gets to be with you? Do you feel closer to him? Do you feel that going to church strengthens your guys' relationship? Do you feel respect for him, that he's curious and putting himself out there and trying something, even though he's not a hundred percent sure? Speak from the feminine. And actually, I'm gonna give you a story that I was just reading yesterday and today. I had never actually physically read this story before, and there's a woman in the Bible named Abigail who has so much feminine energy, and it's only like one quick, quick story that I was reading about her, but I was highlighting the heck out of my Bible like who is this feminine queen? So, long story short, David is about to go and start this battle with this guy. It's gonna be unnecessary bloodshed. David is not yet the king, he's running from Saul at this point, and so um the guy that David wants to get vengeance on, his wife finds out, his wife is Abigail, and comes to David in a way that is so feminine and powerful and completely changes David's mind, where David goes, I'm not going to go after your husband. Like you woke me up. My like I can see clearly now. Hello there, Gus. Gus wants to say hi to you all. And this story, I want you to read it. It's in 1 Samuel 25, especially verse 31. Oh, this woman, just the way she speaks. I'm like, you are so close to God. You can just tell in the way that she speaks, and it completely changes David's heart. Um, so speak to him from that feminine energy. Let him know how it feels when he goes. Maybe let him know how it feels when he doesn't go. And here's my question for you Can you accept this situation where he's not going to church with you consistently? Can you accept this for the rest of your life? I know that you guys are engaged. When you get married, if nothing changes, would you be okay with this? When you guys have kids and he's staying at home, would you be okay with this? Another suggestion that I'll say is maybe try different churches because I have also been in situations where I know that I love God, that I want to explore my faith, but I'm at a church where I don't feel fired up. And I don't want to say that the church should like have full responsibility for this. I think our desire to seek God will be strong no matter which church we are at. But having a church that is so filled with faith and aligned to how you experience God can change everything. Everything, everything. My church here in Dubai has completely changed my faith. Yes, I've been Christian since I was like nine or ten, but I have not been on fire for Jesus until these last few years. And my church that I go to, it's just, oh, like it, it's my home. It just, I'm literally on the edge of my seat every we do church Saturdays here because it's the only day we can get the building. Every Saturday morning, I'm waking up early, I'm on the edge of my seat taking notes because the way that this pastor speaks, it speaks to me. Similar to you, I'm sure that there's other creators on YouTube that you found and you're like, I love this channel. This creator speaks to me. My content creators and business owners, this is why I'm always telling you, don't try to be like other creators. There is someone who needs to hear what you have to say, the way that you will say it. For your fiance, let him know, babe, let's go explore other churches. Let's find the one that you love. How is this one that we're at feeling for you? There's pastors like Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell who are tough, love, filled with passion. I personally love those pastors. Then there's pastors who are more gentle and soft, like Rick Warren. So you just need to find what speaks to you, and maybe that's why your fiance is having this inconsistency. But I really want you to ask: can you be okay with this for the rest of your life if nothing changes? And I wouldn't use force. Um, so I really hope that that helps you. Question number, I don't know which one we're at, two or three. How to not attach your worth to help help helpfulness. I was gonna say helplessness, but it's helpfulness. How to not attach your worth to helpfulness and how to just feel worthy for being. Oh, I love this question. This question actually came twice because I had posted on my Instagram story that one of my business students, she had done a lot of inner work around her self-worth and was paid $5,000 from a client that normally she would charge like $100 or a few hundred dollars for. And you're like, this is why God wants us to be so bold in our identity, rooted in him, because he's already called us worthy. And so many of us were negotiating with our worth as if God didn't already say, I chose you, my daughter, I gave my son for you because you are so worthy. We are so worthy that God knows every single hair on our head. It says that he knew us every page of our book of life. God already knew and was turning the page and reading and writing our story before we were even born. If you read Psalms, you'll hear about the way that God speaks about us. One of my favorite verses that I have memorized right now is for the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. That's Zephaniah 3.17. God takes delight in us with gladness. And remember this part because there's going to be another question that I answer around um being curious about different faiths. And how did I know that Christianity was the one for me, as opposed to Islam, um being Hindu, all of those. There's no other faith where God speaks about us as his children, the way that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, our God, the Father of Jesus, the Father of us. There's no other God, no other religion where God speaks about us in this way with so much love. Christianity is the only religion where God is a father figure. God tells us to call him Abba, Father. And so this love that he has for us, it's it's so beautiful and powerful. And our worth doesn't come from our works, our worth comes from being, it comes from knowing God and accepting that he's already called us worthy. And the perfect story of this, Mary and Martha, we just talked about this in a recent episode. And Mary and Martha, this is in Luke 10 in the Bible. And just a quick summary of this story: Jesus is going into the home of one of his best friends, Lazarus. And Mary and Martha, they're the sister to Lazarus. And when Jesus goes into the home, they are so respectful of him because they're excited. They've grown up with him, but also now he is the Messiah. And so they're treating him with so much love and so much respect. And the two sisters, Mary and Martha, both do very different things. One, Mary, she goes and sits at Jesus' feet. When Jesus comes and he's speaking and he's teaching, and a side note, it was not common for rabbis, which Jesus was a rabbi, it was not common for rabbis to speak and teach women. It was like, no, women don't get to hear the teachings. It's for men. That was the custom of Israel at the time. And so uh for Jesus to speak to Mary, it was breaking that custom. And by the way, that custom was not made by God. That custom was made by man. And this is the problem with religion, is that men, like men and women, come in and we start adding these rules to God's law, and it changes and taints God's law. And that's why people get very confused by Christianity because they see things like, for example, certain violences, which we'll also talk about, and go, but how would the loving God allow this? God allowed free will, and with that free will, men come in and create these rules. That's what's called religion. Jesus didn't come and say, I'm here to give you religion. He came and said, I'm here to give you life. And so we have to be careful about adding and subtracting from God's God's law and God's word. And so, um, anyways, Jesus is coming in and he's breaking that Jewish religion and saying, No, women are just as valuable as men. And so Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet. Martha, what is she doing now? She's in the kitchen cleaning, stressing, preparing this big meal, and she's so frustrated. And she tells Jesus, it's not fair. My sister is sitting there doing nothing, and I'm doing all the work. And Jesus goes, Martha, my dear Martha, Mary has found what is worth spending time doing, and it will not be taken away from her. He's telling Martha, relax. You're not worthy to me for cooking this big meal and making sure the house is perfect. You are worthy because of your being, because of who you are, because of your heart and your mind and your soul and your spirit. Martha, that's enough for me. And the story is included to tell all of us who feel like our worth comes from performing, perfectionism, all of us type A girlies, that story was just for us. Your worth comes from who you are because God created you. And you know what really got me, because I also struggled with this, is when I realized actually anything that I put my worth in outside of the Lord is an idol. Why? Because God already said, I determined your worth and I called you worthy. Jesus hanging on the cross is saying, you are worthy despite any sin you've ever done, any sin you will ever do. It's not from your works. You're worthy because I've called you mine. If we negotiate with that worth and say, our worth comes from our career, comes from our performance, comes from even not sinning and being perfect. That is taking what God said and going, nope, I'm not gonna follow that. I'm going to decide, no, God, I'm not worthy from what you've said. I'm worthy from what I've said. My performance, my perfectionism, how helpful I am. You've turned God's word into something completely different than it's meant to at that point. And when we put our worth in anything else, we've said, we are an idol. We are we are the God that we follow. We create the rules, we determine what exists. That's making ourselves an idol. And when we put our worth in the world in the hands of the world, we've made the world an idol. We're constant constantly worshiping the world. And Jesus says, you cannot love two things. He's speaking specifically about money when he's talking about this. Men cannot serve two masters. He says you will hate the one and love the other. Same thing with worth. You cannot serve two masters to determine your worth. Either you will love the world and hate God, or you will love God and hate the world. And it's not like world, I hate you. It's world, I see you, but you do not determine how I live. I'm turning away from what you say determines worth, and I'm going to follow God instead. And this is where a life of peace comes in. What does the world say? You need more stuff. It constantly pushes consumerism on us. It tells us you're not beautiful enough, you're not young enough, you're not fit enough, you're not satisfied enough, you need this product, you need this service, you need this experience. God says, you have everything you need in me. I will provide your needs. And so if we make the world our master, we become a slave to consumerism. And you know what else that means? We are constantly in the slave mindset. We are constantly chasing dopamine, chasing happiness, chasing peace, and we will never get it. If God is our master, we have peace. Because you start to break off from these things that the world is telling you. For example, the closer I get to God, the more of a minimalist I become. I'm not talking about I only have a couch in my house type of minimalist. I'm talking about I don't need stuff. I'm not attracted to stuff. Like, even just going shopping, the joy in shopping, it's not the same as it used to be for me. I love shopping here and there, but it lost, like, I lost the appetite to fill my flesh. Now I just do it as a cherry on top. Because my desire for growing closer to God naturally breaks off my appetite for things of the world. And so to sum up this question, the more you make God your master, and the more you you grow your relationship with Him and serve Him and follow His Word, the more you will become so rooted in your self-worth. So rooted in it. Where things go wrong in life and you still have peace. People make comments about you and you still have confidence. And actually, this is gonna trans transition into another question. Um, what is the craziest thing that God ever answered in a prayer? I love this question. So I have four different answers for you. Let me drink some tea. Um, one of those answers, and this is crazy because it was something for me that I really, really struggled with. I had prayed to God, God, please make me lose the fear of man. Please make me lose that that tendency to please. Make me lose the fear to be liked. I had struggled really, really bad with anxiety for the first time in my life in 2024, where I had been coaching and creating already for a couple years at that point, but all of a sudden it's like I was hit with this wall of anxiety, and I was just so anxious to create. I was so caring about what people thought of me, so triggered by negative comments, and I'm like, what is going on? I never used to be like this. And looking back, I see that it was spiritual warfare, and it was trying to get me to stop creating and stop speaking, especially at that point. I had started speaking more about my faith in my business, and I see that the enemy wanted to close my mouth, and so I was filled with anxiety. And I asked God, please, God, take away this fear of man, and he did. And this is a crazy answered prayer for me because when I prayed this, I promise you, I really hate to say this, I didn't think that it could be done. I was praying not out of faith, but out of desperation. And yes, I know that God can do miracles and he answers our prayer, but I was so crippled with fear of others and opinions of others that I did not genuinely think that God could break that fear off of me. And why this, why I'm smiling now is because last week I had posted a video on TikTok and I was saying something about how when a man asks for your Instagram, don't give him your Instagram, give him this instead. Because I don't believe in men getting your social media too early, it's too much access. Uh, but, anyways, that video was more polarizing, and anytime I put out a polarizing video, the comments are usually split 50-50. Half are positive, half are negative. And in 2024, I had stopped being as polarizing because I was scared of these comments. It's like I my day would be ruined, and I just kept thinking about them. And so last week I posted this video, and there were so many comments. This is terrible advice. I would never do this. Giving a man your number is way too private, horrible advice. And I'm just reading those and I'm like, oh my gosh, God, there is zero triggering emotions in me, zero fear, zero anxiety. And at this time, I was about to do part one of this QA, and I already had this question last week, and I was like, oh my gosh, God, you have answered this prayer 100%. And he's been doing this these last two years, like slowly the fear of man has been breaking off. But now it's at the point where I just leave the comments. I would still delete them last year or block the negative comments. Now I'm like, you can stay. They actually don't bother me. Guys, I never thought that I would be like this, and it's so, so, so freeing. It has changed my confidence and just made me so grounded and free. Like, this is what God wants for us. He wants us to be free. This is why he delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. He says, My children are not meant for slavery. And what does the world do? It enslaves you. That is why you must be in the word more than the world. Every morning, before I even check my messages, social media, I'm reading the Bible every single morning. I don't even open my phone. My phone is on airplane mode until I've read the Bible for about 20, 30 minutes. And so that's just given me so much peace of mind. So praying and asking and staying in God's word. Okay, so that's one crazy um answered prayer. Another one is um, I've shared this story before, so I'm not gonna share the full story now, but finances. I was really, really broke in 2022, and I just remember one night praying to God. I was laying on my bed and just praying. Oh guys, I'm so sorry about my voice. It my throat doesn't hurt, but my voice is just gone. And so I'm praying on my bed, and I asked God, can you please give me financial breakthrough? Can you please give me financial stability? I am struggling with money, I'm barely having enough. My work was really inconsistent. I was trying to do hostessing at a restaurant, marketing, modeling, trying to survive off of three different jobs. And I was on government healthcare at the time, I was on Medicare, and I was just thinking, I cannot live like this. Total survival mode. And God told me, He answered my prayer in a way that I did not expect. You know what he said? He said, start tithing. I was like, God, I just asked you to help give me more money, not to give it away. And so I listened and I just started tithing 10%, which was about like $35 a week on most weeks. And then God also answered my prayer again. He goes, What you are making in a week, Alexis, you will be giving as your average tithe. And I was like, that's cute. I did not believe it. If I'm making $350 a week, how would I be giving that as my average tithe? Tithing is giving 10% of your weekly paycheck or your monthly paycheck. That would mean that I'm making $3,500 a week, God. If I'm giving $350, this doesn't make sense. Fast forward some months later, I'm giving my first tithe of $350. I just had a week where I had made $3,500. It was a little bit more than that. And I was like, oh my gosh, I had forgotten about that until that moment. And I just started crying, like, God, you're so good. This breakthrough, it just changed everything for me. And it wasn't even about the money, it was trusting that God will provide. Malachi 3 10 tells us, bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in. God is telling us two things. Number one, tithe. Not to give the church money, but to support God's ministry, to support those that are in need. I personally tithe to my church so that the pastors can have a stable paycheck while they are literally pouring into me and the rest of the community. I know some people that tithe by giving to children in need, giving to projects around the world. Um, some of my YouTube subscribers have venomoed me and said this is my tithe. Please don't tithe to me. Tithe to someone that is in ministry, like a church, or whoever pray and ask who God wants you to tithe to, if um you're wondering. So God's telling us to tithe, and God's also telling us something else. You cannot outgive God. He says, I will open the windows of heaven for you. You will not have enough room to take it in. Third thing God tells us, put me to the test. This is the only place in Scripture where God says, test me, and it's with tithing. You cannot outgive God. And I learned that lesson very, very powerfully. So God answered my prayer in a way that I did not expect, um, and it completely changed my life. And I like sharing that story because I think a lot of people that are religious will say, money is evil, um, careful around making a lot of money, that's gonna make you greedy. No, your heart makes you greedy, not money. Money just amplifies with varying in your heart. I'm so passionate about this because this is not what God says. People have just twisted it, and now people are slaves to poverty when God never told us to be in that. When God brought the Israelites into the promised land, it was flowing with milk and honey, flowing with abundance. When God placed Adam and Eve and Eve in the garden, there was everything that they needed, plus more. When God first spoke about money in the Bible, he called it good. When he placed gold in the Garden of Eden, God said, This is good. Not the love of gold, but having wealth and abundance. This is how God meant us to live. Not to be in survival mode and in poverty, but also not to be chasing money and full of greed and needing to consume and placing your trust and peace in wealth. That's also the other end of it of the extreme. Um, so okay, third answered prayer. If you've been with me from the beginning of this podcast, which I think we're going on nine or ten months now, cannot believe it. I know you know this story. The first day of filming this podcast, there was so much spiritual warfare. And I had been procrastinating on creating the podcast because I was scared. I was like, ah, number one, it felt like a lot to add to my plate already running my business. Number two, I was thinking, am I qualified to teach? Like, do I know enough scripture? Can I can I really help these women get closer to God? And so I just put it off and put it off. And then one week I said, I am recording the podcast episode this week. I don't care what happens, I'm recording it. Of course, I wait till Saturday, the last day of the week, and I get the worst migraine that day. I used to always get migraines as a kid. Now that I'm thinking about it, I really do think migraines are spiritual, um, some sort of spiritual warfare. But I had a migraine this day, hadn't had one in years, and I was like, oh my gosh, I don't think I can do this episode. I felt so sick. So I lay down and I take a nap, and I'm like, I'm gonna wake up and I'm gonna feel better. I take so much water, um, I'm eating really healthy and clean that day. I wake up from the nap, I start crying, guys. My head is pounding, I feel nauseous, and I'm praying to God. I'm like, God, should I just do this episode tomorrow? But I number one, I made a promise to God and to myself, I wasn't gonna break that. So I pray, God, can you please heal my head? Can you heal this migraine? And he said, go take a shower. And so I go take a shower. I come out of the shower, I'm like, whoa, I'm feeling good. And then I feel, let me have a snack. So I have some apples and peanut butter. Then I'm starting to feel even better, and I'm like, oh my gosh, the migraine is gone. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm feeling well enough to where I can think straight and I sit down, record the first episode. It was about how to have childlike faith. Still one of my favorite episodes to this day. And here we are. Um, so I prayed for God, or I prayed to God for healing, and He did it. God, speaking of healing, can you please take away this cough that I have? Um, another area of healing. I had prayed, this is super random. You know, when you turn your neck wrong and you get a stiff neck. I had prayed, like I woke up and I had one of those one day, and I prayed to God, please, God, take the stiff neck away. I cannot have this today. Guys, it was gone. It was a little sore for the next hour, but I'm turning my head by the end of the day, and I was like, What? Just little things. Like, you know, when you feel God wink at you, it felt like one of those moments because that had never happened to me before. And the fourth craziest prayer that God answered. Okay, this is one of my favorite stories. My best friends here in Dubai and I, we would always get together for girls' nights and Bible studies. This happened maybe a year or a year and a half ago. And after our Bible study one night, we had gone around in a circle. There's five of us. And we had asked each other, what do you need healing for? And I was like, should I bring this up to them? I don't know. But I just decided I would. And I said, guys, I would love prayer for my cycle because my period has been so irregular. I don't know what's going on. I was supposed to get my period 10 days ago and it still hasn't come. I'm on day 40 or like 42 of my cycle and I'm feeling miserable. And one of my best friends, she comes over. This girl, oh, she's she's amazing. Like one of the most powerful prayer, like people who have prayed that I've ever heard. She also sings and leads the worship at our church. And so this girl literally has a voice and a gift from God. She comes over, she puts her hand on my stomach. She goes, Jesus, I pray that you heal Alexis' womb. I pray that you set her cycle to become regular. And we plead the blood of Jesus over Alexis's body and over her womb. God, that you heal it, that you release whatever block it is, that you allow her period to come, that you allow her body to be rested for it to come. So she prays that. All my friends are also praying with me. The next morning, I text my friends. I'm like, guys, guess what? And I had gotten my period that next day. And I know that it was her prayer. And so that was really crazy for me because at that point I had never personally felt like a miracle had been done for me, like a like an actual healing miracle. Um, and that was maybe the first one, and so that was really, really powerful. Okay, uh, let's see. Let's go to this question that I had briefly mentioned. So, Alexis, I'm also a Christian in Dubai. I'm questioning my faith because I don't know if I would be Christian if I was not raised Christian. Excellent question, girl. And then she continues to say, How how are you firm in your truth? And how are you doing living in a place where the main religion is Islam? Great, great, great question, girl. Okay, I'm gonna answer this in a couple parts. Um, first of all, that part, how how do I know if Christianity is the truth? Jesus says to seek the truth and you will find it. He also says, I believe this is in John 14, 21, Jesus says, those who love God and listen to his teachings, Jesus will reveal himself to them. There's been so many stories that I've heard from ex-Muslims who they've always been curious about Jesus. And so they start reading about him, they start reading the Bible, they just start being curious, praying, Jesus, can you speak to me? Can you come to me? Every single person who has called out to Jesus, who has run after him and tried to understand his teachings, Jesus has revealed himself to them. I've heard stories of actual Jesus appearing in people's dreams, appearing to them in their thoughts, um, instances of healing, um, Muslims saying, I just felt Jesus say, I love you. I saw him in my dream. I saw him when I closed my eyes and he said, I love you. And it's always the same thing. It's Jesus appearing and almost holding out his hand as an invitation to say, I love you, and I'm here. Running after the truth. There is nothing that God loves more, and with running after the truth, there comes questioning. And I think that God loves when we question this because there's curious, there's curiosity. And he probably loves it because everything in scripture lines up and matches, and there is nothing in the Bible that contradicts itself or the truth today. I used to think that there was until I started reading. Um, for example, we're gonna talk about this too, like women seeming like they're less than men in the Bible. And I used to think, uh, this contradicts God's truth. We're we're all equal and we're all worthy and valuable. And now I'm seeing, oh my gosh, it was not God's law, it was the religious customs. And I had to understand the truth to fully grasp it. And so seek the truth and you will find it. Matthew 7 7, God says, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened for you. So God wants you to run to him, he wants you to be curious, he wants you to ask questions. Just like Malachi 3.10, where we're talking about the tithing, God wants us to test him in that area because he gets to reveal himself to us, and that is what he is constantly trying to do through miracles, through people, through instances of healing, through just the world itself, the nature, the sky, the creation. And so I want you to know it is okay to question it, and that is a great thing. It means that you actually care. And what I would suggest is learn about the religions. That is personally what helped me too. Because if I was so scared, no, no, no, I can't learn about other religions. To me, I would feel that means that I don't feel solid in my truth. I became open to learning about other religions, and here's what I found none of them give me the peace, the joy, the love, the worthiness that the truth of Jesus does. And looking at the fruits of people of different religions also helped me navigate which one do I want to put my faith in. I used to wonder the same thing because my mom is a Christian. She raised my siblings, and I Christian. And when I was in college, I was like, let me see if this is really for me. I didn't not become Christian, but I stopped seeking God. And what that left me with was this feeling of emptiness. And every time I've run from God, that same feeling of emptiness comes back. The moment I run back to Him, there's a peace in my spirit. And I love the Bible because it does two things it confirms things for us spiritually. Um, for example, when God says to follow his laws and follow his rules, and we will have peace. There is a peace in my spirit, there's a restfulness in my spirit, and also logically, everything confirms and makes sense. For example, um, when God says, save your body for your husband and for your wife. Do not sleep with multiple partners. That's not my design for humans, and we go against that. It hurts us, it hurts us physically, mentally, and emotionally. And so I see that God's law has truth spiritually and physically, has good fruit spiritually and physically. This is not something that I found to be true with other religions. And what the enemy is very good at is using things that look similar and giving temporary fruit only for that fruit to be digested and leave you feeling rotten, leave you feeling sick. For example, the new age, I don't want to call it religion, but the new age practices of the laws of the universe that may feel good at first. I can manifest anything I want, and um I just trust the universe, I put faith in the universe, that idea, yeah. It can feel good at first until you feel depressed and powerless, and until you start opening doors that you're never meant to open. Tarot cards, psychics, mediums. It may feel relief, you may feel relief at first, but there will be this darkness that has that has been allowed to come into your body and into your decisions and into your mind. And you don't have peace. You're left feeling empty almost. And there's a lot of stories that I hear of women who used to dabble in things like witchcraft, and they're like, it leaves you so dark and destroyed, like it destroys your mind and it destroys your well-being. But you think you have power at first. And so all these things that the enemy uses to just to be disguised as good, I have realized there is nothing that compares to Christianity because it's the only thing that I have run to and it leaves me feeling peace. Um, and so living in an Islamic country, yes, I get this question a lot. Alexis, you're Christian, why do you live in a Muslim country? So my faith feels firm regardless. I don't believe that you have to live in a place um where Christianity rules to feel closer to God. God is with you wherever you go. And in the Bible, um, most of the events took place here in the Middle East. I've always felt this pull to the Middle East, and so my faith has grown so much. Ironically, living in a Muslim country, and I don't know what it is exactly. I think it's just seeing contradictions in truth and seeing the truth that I stand on and seeing, oh my gosh, now I see the difference clearly, and now I see the fruit of the difference. I see the benefits of following Jesus versus not following him. There's so much contrast, and I can see it easier. And also, it's allowed me to learn about other religions, it's allowed me to see why I will continue to stand firm in Jesus. Um, so for example, what I was saying earlier, with Jesus and with the Bible, with Christianity, God is the only God compared to other religions. God is the only God that wants us to see him as a father figure. God responds to us with love. With Christianity, we are saved by grace. We are saved through God's love, sending Jesus to die for us in other religions. Let's use Islam, for example. Salvation comes through works. Salvation comes through how sinless you are, how perfect of a life you live. And Muslims do not know if they are saved. They believe that they will only know when they are saved after they die. They believe that Allah will determine that after they die. In Christianity, we know that we are already saved, that we have been given eternal life, and we are saved by grace. And I think it's so beautiful that God gave us this truth. And there's certain things when I read scripture, like when I read the Bible, it fills me with life. And I know that this can sound really, really crazy, but it's the only book where like my spirit leaps with joy, and I don't know how to describe it other than so much peace and joy and happiness. It's like a happiness that doesn't come from anything that's happened in my life, it just comes from feeling held by God. It says if you've ever fasted and prayed, you know that next day how you feel, or if you've just turned on worship music, I'll put my worship playlist in the description for you. If you just listen to worship music, you know how you just feel overcome with emotion? That's how I know that Jesus is the truth. And also, I'm very logical, and there's different um truths in scripture. So the Old Testament, Jesus was not in the Old Testament, but he's all over the Old Testament. There's different prophets that speak about what the Messiah will be like, and Jesus confirmed every single one of these prophecies. This is where, by girls who need logic to determine the truth, here you go. So, for example, the prophets such as Elijah and Moses, these prophets spoke for God. God spoke through them, and all of these prophets spoke about what the Messiah would be like. And so the Jews are excited, they're preparing for the Messiah to come. And I'm gonna give you maybe six prophetic messages that Jesus fulfilled. One of them in Isaiah 7.14, Isaiah was a really, really popular prophet. Isaiah said, A virgin will give birth and he will be called Emmanuel. That's in Isaiah 7.14. Jesus fulfilled this in Luke 135. It says, The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One will be born to be called the Son of God. This was an angel speaking to Mary. And Mary, a virgin, gave birth. And Jesus' name, Emmanuel, means God with us. Um, okay, second prophetic message that Jesus confirmed. It said that Christ will be born in Bethlehem. That was in Micah 5.2. And if you know the story of Jesus, he was born in Bethlehem. Another one, there was a prophecy in Genesis 3.15, very beginning, that Christ's ministry will destroy the devil's work. And what does it say in Genesis 3.15? God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. So this is after Adam and Eve had sinned, and sin enters the world, and now there's this constant strife with the enemy, this constant conflict. But in Genesis, it says that Christ's ministry will destroy the devil's work. And just like I shared that battle that I had with anxiety, that is spiritual warfare. That's the enemy trying to steal your peace. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and to lead you away from the truth. When you follow Jesus, you cannot have your mind stolen, killed, or destroyed. And so in 1 John 3:8, it says, the one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. And Jesus does this. When you follow what Jesus does and says, that destroys the enemy's plans. And what happens in Matthew 27? Judas sells Jesus out to the ones who want to kill him for 30 pieces of silver. This one I really love. It says in Exodus 12, 4126, the Passover lamb, none of the none of the bones can be broken. And so when God is instructing how to atone for sin, he says, it must be eaten inside the house. Take none of the meat outside the house, and do not break any of the bones. And what happens when Jesus dies on the cross? None of his bones are broken in his body, because he is the new sacrificial lamb for us. All of these details I am obsessed with because I think everything Jesus does confirms the Old Testament. People that are Jewish don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah because they believed that when Jesus comes, all of their enemies will be conquered. They believed because they were under oppression by Rome, and when Jesus came, they were still oppressed by Rome. And Jesus didn't free them from that oppression. But it's because they added to God's rules and God's word, and they said, No, when God says the Messiah will free you, he means he will free us from oppression from Rome. That's not what God was meaning. God was meaning that Jesus would free us from the oppression of the enemy. Rome is a temporary enemy, or was the enemy, Satan, is the main enemy, and that is who Jesus frees us from. And when Jesus came, he gave that freedom. Like the woman at the well who is constantly sleeping with men and had multiple husbands because she didn't feel worthy. Jesus says, You will always be thirsty when you are drinking from this well of men. Follow me. Know that I've already called you worthy, and that will be your water for life. Your thirst will be quenched for life. And he changes this woman's life, and she changes her life around. She starts following Jesus and she stops sleeping with these men because she knows that she is worthy. She doesn't have to get validated from them. That is Jesus delivering healing and freedom. And another one, um, Psalm 28 or 22, 18, it says, They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. And when Jesus is hanging on the cross, the soldiers are casting uh lots for Jesus's clothing, meaning that they're gambling for it. And so all of these moments of Jesus confirming the Old Testament, there's so much truth that aligns. So how I'm rooted in the truth is because I read the truth every day and I see it. I see it in the Word of God and I see it in my life, and I see that the Bible, written, I think, 3,000 years ago, still stands true to this day. And so, yes, I know that this is a long answer. To sum up, look at the fruit of people of different faiths. Call out to Jesus, and he will answer. Understand that in Christianity, God is a father figure, and we are saved by grace. And learning about other religions will help you see what aligns with your heart and your soul and your spirit. Because God designed our heart and our soul and our spirit, it will leap in recognition at what its match is. I have only found that match in Jesus. It leaps when I sing worship music, it leaps when I pray to God and speak with Him. It leaps when I read the Word of God, when I'm in church, when I'm with my friends who love Jesus. There's this joy and peace that only comes from the truth of God. And I would say go to a like experiment with different churches here in Dubai and see if you can make friends who love Jesus because they will deepen your faith even more. And you guys can question things together. Like my friends and I question different things in the Bible. Um, we've had questions like does every single person on this planet get to have an encounter with God? Like, does every person hear about God? What about the people who live in a third world country who don't have any technology? Will they ever hear about God? And how is that fair? Like questions like this, which that's a whole other video in itself, right? Okay. Um what's another one? Other ways to fast if you're pregnant and you can't fast from food. I really love this question. Here's what you can do: anything that you feel controls you more than you control it, fast. That can be social media, it can be TV, it can be overeating, it can be um fasting from like certain websites, fasting from certain people and conversations, fasting from a habit like gossiping. Starve your flesh of whatever is causing your flesh to feel more powerful than your spirit. That is what you can fast from. When I'm doom scrolling and I feel like I can't control it, my finger just wants to do to do another video. I know I need to fast. And what that has looked like for me in the past is completely doing a day without any social media and setting boundaries around it, like literally setting a timer on my phone and only scrolling for 10 minutes. That's some of the happiest days of my life. It's where I'm barely on my phone. So fasting, it doesn't have to be just with food, it can be anything that is filling your flesh. And yeah, that's a really great question. Um struggling, okay. I think this will be the last one that we do. Oh no, we'll do two more. Okay, I'm struggling, Alexis, with understanding and coping with the violence in the old testament. Yes, I so get this. I'm actually gonna open my Bible for this one because let's talk about it. Okay, first of all, the violence in the Old Testament. Yes, it is graphic, yes, it is crazy, and yes, it can make you question why would God allow this? I've had the same question. I'm gonna do two stories specifically. Um, let's start with Deuteronomy 1.14. If you have your Bible and you want to go to this part, this would be great to add a note to. Okay, there's a story, this is probably the most violent, horrific story in the entire Bible. This is in Judges 19, and it's with the Levite and his concubine. So, long story short, this Levite who is supposed to be a priest for God, but becomes very corrupt because he's not actually following God, he has this woman that is his concubine. Basically, this woman that he's taken to sleep with, but is not his wife. And he is traveling and the concubine is going with him, and he goes to this man's house, and he's in the, I believe he's in the land of Benjamin, which is one of the tribes of Israel. And these men of Benjamin, they're completely corrupt, not following God. They go to the house when they hear that the Levite is in town and they're banging on the doors, telling him that he needs to come out, they're going to abuse the Levite, they're going to abuse the man that he's staying with. And the man that he's staying with says, No, no, no, um, we're not going out there. And he wants to send, who is it? He wants to send his daughter, who is a virgin, out there, and he also wants to send the man's concubine out there. So basically, they want to send the women out to these men to yeah, we're not gonna go too much into it. This story is horrific because the concubine woman is thrown out to these men, and they um she goes through so much abuse and it's heartbreaking. When I read this, I was so mad. God, why did this happen? I need understanding because what and why was this included in the Bible is very, very important. We'll talk about it. Okay, so I asked God before I ever pull out Google and research. I'm like, God, can you please reveal and give me understanding? Because why did this happen? Like this woman could have been saved. And here's what God told me. So the act of the Levite and the old man from Ephraim sacrificing the concubine to the troublemakers and Benjamin rather than the Levite going out there, shows a deep patriarchal worldview that came from a result of a lack of leadership in Israel and a straying away from God. And then I'm thinking, okay, I'm putting the pieces together. Right at this point, Joshua had just died, which means there's no strong leader in Israel. Moses had led Israel first, then Joshua led Israel. Joshua dies, and what you see in judges is all these judges start to rise up to try to lead Israel, but they do a terrible job because as soon as they die, the Israelites go back to being so corrupt and worshiping idols. And that's the thing with sin, it will dangle idols in front of you. The world and the enemy do this. They dangle idols in front of you and say, Look, worship this, worship your image, worship validation, worship this celebrity, worship this other religion or this other philosophy. It will help you and heal you. And then you see chapters later in life, people become so corrupt because a seed, a rotten seed was planted that produces rotten fruit later. And that's what has happened with these men in Israel. They have no leader leading them under God's law. And what happened when Moses and Joshua were in charge? When people sinned and they did wrong or they mistreated women, they were put to death. Moses and Joshua did not play about God's law. Unfortunately, there's no one that is in that position now. And what happens is patriarchy starts to rise up, which is when people start adding to God's law and making men seem like they are superior, um, lowering the value of women, twisting God's word. God did not say to treat women like this and to um abuse women and hurt them. God wants to protect women. So that's number one I want you to know. God did not want this abuse. It happened because people stopped following God. And so this means that God's design was not for patriarchy or for women to be less valued. This came from sin. What I love about God is immediately he seeks justice, and he does this through his children that are still following him. And so um what happens is all of the other tribes of Israel hear about what happened to this woman, and by the way, she ended up dying from the abuse. So all the other tribes hear about this, and they're like, absolutely not. They say in um Judges 1920 or 1930, everyone who saw it said, such a horrible crime has been committed in all the time since Israel left Egypt, or has not been committed in all the time since Israel left Egypt. Think about it. What are we going to do? Who's going to speak up? And all of Israel gets so upset about this cruelty that happens to this woman, and they go and they go to war with the tribe of Benjamin. Even though the tribe of Benjamin is still a part of Israel, they're like, Nope, you guys are getting destroyed. So God seeks justice. God hates injustice, he hates abuse. It is not from him, it is from the world being cracked with sin, and the abuse and the violence is a result. We were never meant for violence. It happened the moment that Eve and Adam took a bite of that apple, and sin entered the world. Their eyes were open to things that were never meant to be open to, and sin combined with free will, created a ripple effect of suffering and violence. Another example in um Deuteronomy. Oh, I'm sorry, guys, I think I told you to go to Deuteronomy earlier. Deuteronomy 21, 14. What did I write here? Oh, yes, so when Israel is conquering the promised land, what happens is when they're fighting their enemies, the men, the male enemies are dead, but not all of the women and children are. And so it was custom at that time for women to find security through marriage. And so what happened is the captives, the captive women or the enemy women, they would become wives to a lot of the Israelites after they had taken over the land. And there's a part in here that I was like, God, I don't understand this. Why would like why would you allow women to be forced into marriage with these men? And then God opened my eyes. And so what happens is in Deuteronomy 21, 10, it talks about marriage to a captive woman. And this is either Moses or Joshua outlining what is supposed to happen. So it says, Suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you are attracted to her and want to marry her. If this happens, um and then he goes on to say, Let her grieve, let her grieve her husband, let her grieve uh what was what just happened from the war, give her a full month. Then you may marry her and you will be her husband and she will be your wife. But if you marry her and she does not please you, you must let her go free. You must you may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her. I'm reading that and I'm like, what? And I'm asking God, please give me understanding. And now I see. So I actually did have to do research for this one. I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, first of all, she's forced into marriage. Second of all, what do you mean if she does not please you, you must let her go free? The only reason that this rule exists. Exists is because men at this time were very, and still today, honestly, a lot of men are very animalistic and lead with the flesh. So this law came into place to actually protect women. And I had wrote in my Bible, this is likely instructed to protect captive women, as the men at this time did not, may not have properly married her, let her mourn, or let her go freely without this instruction. They may have treated her much harsher. So if God did not say you may marry her, the men probably would have just taken these women and may have abused them. And God's saying no, marriage can happen. And also, if a woman did not please a man, a lot of the times these corrupt men would either hurt a woman, end her life, or sell her as a slave. And God is saying, do not sell her or treat her as a slave. You for you have humiliated her. When he says humiliate, it's not disgrace. It's you've married her. This covenant has happened. You guys have been intimate. She cannot go now and marry someone and still have that purity. You've already taken that from her. And so this law was put into place to actually protect the women. And I know that it can feel so strange to read, especially the um the violence in the Old Testament and some of these laws. Well, God did not want these women to be treated harshly. And so a lot of these laws are put in place to protect men from going overboard and treating the women more harshly. Um, that could really be a whole episode because that one is hard to digest, right? But I hope that that can give you some help and some clarity. I'm so with you on that. And last question: how to tell when God is calling you to the next chapter? And how did I know that God called me to Dubai? Um, and I think you had mentioned that you have a really big chapter and that you're nervous about it. So, one thing I'll say is you will know if you're being called to a new chapter because it will almost feel like your current one is blocked. It will feel like what you've been doing and where you're at in life, you will feel like this restlessness, like something is about to change or something needs to change. There's this overwhelming, like internal feeling that something is not right. Not that it's not right, but there's something that's going to happen. And also, you may notice that a lot of doors will close. For an example, I felt like this when I was applying for a ton of marketing jobs back in 2021, 2022. Every job I applied for, I got rejected from. The doors just kept closing. And God was preparing me for a chapter of running a business. I kept fighting it because I was like, I'm gonna put security on a job. I don't know if I can rely on myself. And thank God he changed that chapter. Um, what I also want to say to you is pray and ask God for him to speak to you. God, what is the next step? God, can you please point me in scripture? Can you give me a sign in the world of what I'm supposed to do next? Can you send the resources, send the people? It is okay to ask God for signs. In 1 Samuel 14, 10, Jonathan, the son of Saul, he is feeling really brave and he's like, I don't know why my dad is scared of these Philistines. God hands the enemies over to us. And Jonathan, he goes up and he's with his servant. This is in what did I say? 1 Samuel 14, 10. And I love this part because Jonathan he goes, Um, if the Philistines say to us, stay where you are, or we'll kill you, then we will stop and not go up to them. But if they say, Come on up and fight, then we will go up. That will be the Lord's sign that he will help us defeat them. Jonathan was literally going to climb a rock and go into the enemy territory, and he goes, God, if we are meant, if I'm meant to go and fight the Philistines, if you'll hand them over to us, please tell tell them to tell us, come on up and fight. And sure enough, spoiler alert, they do. And Jonathan and his servant literally defeat a whole group of huge, strong Philistine men. And then God sends an earthquake, and even more of the enemy Philistines are destroyed. And it's beautiful because Jonathan asked for a sign and God delivered. So you can absolutely ask for signs. And yeah, it's it's exciting. I just know that I'm always praying for you, ladies that are listening to this. And whether you're in a transition season or you just feel like something is going to change, just trust that it's always changing for the best. Even if it doesn't feel like it in the moment, or you feel scared, you're not alone. God is with you, He's guiding you. Remember when I said He sees every page in your book of life while you're still in your mother's womb. The same applies now. He knows the page that's about to turn, and he's turning it because he knows that it's going to be better for you. He knows that there is something that he has for you that you can't see, and the page has to turn for you to see it. I had asked when I first came to visit Dubai, I asked God, God, I want to move here, but I want to know if this aligns with your will. This is a huge new chapter. And so I prayed and I said, God, if I can find a church home that fills me up with joy and where I can feel your presence, I will know that that is you saying that I can move here. And so thank God I ended up extending my trip and I was here on a Sunday, and I go to this church in Dubai, and I'm standing there worshiping, and I start crying because I felt so much love from God, like I just felt his presence with me. And I didn't know, like, are there Christians in Dubai? I didn't know at this time, and I there was, and I was standing with them and worshiping God and learning about God, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna move here. And by the way, the population of Christians in Dubai is one-fourth of the population. I had no idea before I moved here. There's a lot of Christians. I had an appointment yesterday at the doctor, and I was talking with my doctor, and uh, we were talking about church, and I said, Yeah, this is the church that I go to. She's like, Oh, yeah, I go there sometimes too. And I said, Are you Christian? She's like, Yeah. I'm like, I love it. No wonder why we connect so much. So, yeah, there's there's just so much love in people that are loved by God. I tell my friends all the time, I'm like, guys, the way you love me, it feels like the way that God loves me. And so, friends, they are so, so, so important. Um, that episode, friendships that we did, if you haven't watched that, I would highly recommend that you go and listen to that one. So, we're gonna end here. This has been a super fun, super um powerful discussion that we've had, and I really appreciate all of your questions. And I tried to answer as many as I can. We'll we'll absolutely do another QA in the future. So I hope that this helps you. I hope that this has blessed you. I love all the questions. You're always welcome to leave comments on these episodes of what you want to hear about. And I'm praying for you, ladies. I love you so much. I love your hearts, I love hearing your excitement and your journeys and the things that God's doing for you. And um also I want to say thank you for being patient with my voice. Crazy that we haven't had any problems since I prayed. God, can you please take away this cough? Jehovah Rafa, he's so good. All right, ladies, have a beautiful and blessed week. I love you so much, and I'll see you in the next episode.