The Journey to Forgiveness Part One - with Emily J.

*Please note this episode deals with some serious subject matter like abuse, divorce and harm toward others. While these topics are not discussed explicitly, I encourage you to listen with discernment.*

Forgiveness is something that we all struggle with from time to time. Whether it's forgiving others or ourselves, we're often faced with a command from Jesus that seems difficult at best, and impossible at worst to see through. 

My guest today is my dear friend, Emily J. And she has a powerful testimony of how Jesus walked her through one of the most horrific times in her life with grace, compassion, love, and truth. And how He led her from a place where forgiveness felt like something that wasn't deserved to a gift given with grace, wisdom, and discernment. I pray you will be encouraged by Emily's story and how Jesus ministered to her in the midst of a circumstance none of us can truly imagine. 

You can find me on Instagram / Threads

Transcript

Carrie 0:00

Hey everyone, thank you for listening to this episode of Honey from the Rock. I wanted to let you know before we got started that today's episode deals with some sensitive issues like abuse, divorce, and harm towards others. While we don't dig deep into these issues in the course of our discussion, I wanted to encourage you to listen using your own discernment. Hey everyone, welcome to this newest episode of Honey from the Rock. As usual, as I say every every episode, because you know, I'm like a broken record. Uh, I'm really glad you're here.

Carrie 0:44

And I am especially glad that you are here today because I have an incredible episode lined up for you. So today I am doing an interview with my dear friend Emily, who I have known. We were talking before we hit record. I have known her for 25 years. We met when we were 19, which is weird because I'm only 26. Like, so I don't understand how we've known each other this long. It's very bizarre. Um, but Emily and I met years and years and years years ago when uh we worked at Focus on the Family together. And our friendship has endured a lot of twists and turns and ebbs and flows. And Jesus, in his graciousness, has brought us back together in this season. And I'm not going to tell Emily's story today. I'm not even going to tease what she's going to talk about, except for to say Emily has a story around the power of forgiveness that Jesus has worked in her. Um, and it is, I know it is really going to minister to you.

Carrie 1:51

I am just so thankful for my friend and her story. I'm thankful for her willingness to be vulnerable and share something that is completely devastating. Um, this forgiveness has come out of circumstances that most of us can't imagine. And there's been a lot of warfare around her coming today because the devil is never happy when we seek to glorify Jesus with our lives and with the broken pieces of our story and to make him known, which is actually the whole reason why I started this podcast, because the Lord has shown me so much sweetness in the devastations in my life and the hard things in my life, and also out of my own rebellion and sin when I've had to come back and repent and ask for forgiveness. And so my prayer for today, and I know Emily's prayer for today, is that you would be ministered to, that you would hear the loving kindness, the goodness of Jesus. Uh, we were talking about the beauty of his discipline in in in walking out forgiveness and her story. And so today I want to welcome my beautiful friend Emily to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here.

Emily J. 2:58

It's so sweet to be here. And um, it's so sweet how the Lord has maintained our friendship all these years, and even just um, you know, since I moved back to Colorado, just even that random meeting we had in the Walmart parking lot, and we were like stood there and talked forever. And I just I value our friendship so much. And thank you for having me.

Carrie 3:22

Oh my goodness, it is such a pleasure. Well, let's dive into your story um because there is an inciting incident like they like to call in fiction. There's the inciting incident that then just everything else kind of seems to revolve around that. But before we get to that, tell us just share a little bit about your background, like where are you from? Tell us about your family and and just kind of yeah, tell us about Emily.

Emily J. 3:43

Okay. Um, well, I was uh born an Air Force brat. So we moved all over growing up. It was me and two older brothers for a long time, and then we had a little brother join our family. Um we grew up, I would say, um, in a looking back, I can say it's a pretty chaotic environment. There was a lot of strife um between my parents. And when you're young, you just don't, you that's just what you know. And um, so when I was a teenager, I don't remember at the exact age. At some point my parents separated. Um, around 14, age 14, my parents filed for divorce. And just before my 18th birthday, um, that divorce became final. Um, and that was hard to go through in those, you know, teen years, trying years, trying to figure out life years. Um, both my parents met different people and remarried um when I was 19.

Emily J. 4:47

And then when I was 20, uh the summer I was 20, that's when everything came kind of crashing down. Um, I was living in Washington with one of my aunts at the time when I got notified that uh my stepmother had died. And that was initially a massive shock. Absolutely. Um and then it was made clear that she had been missing and then she had been murdered.

Carrie 5:17

Wow.

Emily J. 5:18

And the initial shock hit your body like a ton of bricks. I fell to the ground, hyperventilating. You're just trying to catch your breath in this moment.

Carrie 5:31

Did that information kind of come over the course of a few days, or was by the time you got the phone call, was it really clear, like, hey, she's been missing and we found her, and it's it's clear that she's been murdered?

Emily J. 5:42

Yeah, it was all quick. I was actually at work and my grandma came to work and told me. I mean, this was I think I had a cell phone, but we didn't carry them like we do now. And so this was 2003. 2003, yeah. So it's been a minute, but um yeah, I it it all came suddenly as a shock. Um, I I had to borrow my grandma's cell phone uh to call home. I got a hold of my mom and she gave me some more details. So I got the information on Tuesday. Um, and you know, I'm calling home, I've called my mom, I called my dad trying to figure out what was going on and gain information. There really wasn't a lot of information at that point.

Carrie 6:32

You just knew that she had been murdered.

Emily J. 6:35

We knew that it looked like a murder. Okay. Um, we knew she had died, been missing, evidently for several days, and then at that point, you know, they were doing the autopsy and all that, but it it appeared to be a homicide. I think they had ruled it a homicide initially. Um, so then uh I got on a plane on Thursday, flew home, and went straight to my dad's house, and I was there with my brother and my dad, and our minds were just reeling, trying to grasp at anything of what happened here and trying to make sense of it. And um I was hungry, so I was gonna go leave to pick us up some food. And at that moment, the police came to the door and um spoke to my dad and charged him with an unrelated crime.

Carrie 7:32

Um how did you feel in that moment?

Emily J. 7:34

Yeah, it was shocking. I mean, we kind of all I think knew my dad was a suspect. Um, and I don't remember the clear details of when we found out exactly the details from the autopsy and all of that of what had happened as a blur, but I knew I knew from about Tuesday evening on that my dad was a suspect. Okay. And so on Thursday, he was being charged with. I mean, they read you your rights and they tell you what you're being charged with. And that was a blur. My dad was just handing us, me and my brother, some of his personal belongings. And um a detective came into the house and sat with my brother and I and laid out here's what we think happened. And um, it was shocking. I mean, it was shocking. Um how do you process that?

Carrie 8:30

Yeah. How do you process all of the emotions of not only your stepmom being missing, like she's passed away, but then you realize, oh my gosh, they're saying someone killed her, to oh my goodness, they're saying it was my dad. Like, how do you how do you process in that?

Emily J. 8:48

Yeah, I don't know that I did that well. Um, I don't know that anybody can't. I don't know that there is a good way. Um, it was shock. It was just total shock and anger. I ended up yelling at the detective across the table. Um, my brother swooped me up and held me and hugged me and and we looked at each other and just in shock of what had happened, and we kind of exchanged a conversation a bit about what we thought had happened and our opinions of it. But um yeah, you don't process it well, and then and then trying to be supportive of my stepmother's children who are planning her funeral. Yeah. And it was it was messy and it was very painful, and your nervous system is just your adrenaline doesn't slow down for I think a solid month. Um, I didn't sleep well. I was sleeping on couches. I mean, I wasn't living in Colorado at the time, so I didn't have you know a home really. Of course, I went to my mom's, but um uh that was good and and but it's hard in a way to be around so many people who are constantly talking about it or talking about it at times where you're like, I don't want to talk about this right now. And and so I couch surfed for a good bit of that month between friends and so thankful for sweet friends. And you were one of my sweet friends during that season that just immediately goes, 'What do you need? What do we do? I'm here.'

Carrie 10:32

It was shocking just to be on the outer circle of it, you know, and just to watch, you know, my my mom and your mom are super close. You and I are super close, and just to see the devastation, yeah, you know, and the ripple effect of that, you know, you have the you know, they I think when a bomb goes off, they call they call it the blast site, you know, they've got and it's like so small and contained, but then you just see the ripples of devastation around and just watching through the months of you all walking through this, um, just seeing the just the difficulty in processing, you just trying to wrap your minds around what had actually happened, where the Lord is in the midst of this and how he's gonna walk you through, and but also just wrapping around wrapping your mind around the fact that somebody that you know and love is capable of something like this. Yes, and the direct impact to you, but as you mentioned, also your stepmom's family. Yeah. I mean, when we were pre preparing for this podcast and having a conversation, I thought you said something that was so impactful because it's it's true, you know, you have your stepmom's family and they're the victims, and you know that. And then you're on the other side of you're the family of the person who did this. Walk me through that a little bit. What does that feel like? Because there are so many, it seems like there are so many fine lines and difficult places to walk in that. And how did the Lord meet you in it?

Emily J. 12:01

Oh um, I mean, it is really hard because we felt like, or I felt like the obvious victim was my stepmom and her family that was directly affected by this. And of course, we were as well, but as stepchildren for really only a few months, it was less than a year that they were married, and so you felt like their grief was for sure heavier than ours in that, and then we're dealing with the shock of my dad being charged with this crime and wrapping our heads around that, and you do feel a little lost, and um there's not a lot of people to find who've been through similar experiences to go and talk to. I will say that very quickly the friends and family in my life immediately swooped in, and that is where you see the hands and feet of Jesus is just in the hugs, in the holding, in the I mean, Carrie, I don't know if you remember, but I was sobbing on my bedroom floor one day and you were just praying over me. And just in that ministering to us in our hearts, in our broken places, and letting us express and feel whatever we needed to. Um, I felt like Jesus was so close through the people he just had rush in. Um, and I'm so thankful for that. And then in the quiet moments at night when you're just awake at three in the morning reeling and trying to make sense of this and trying to figure out what you should feel. Um, I just felt like there were such moments where Jesus just wrapped his arms around me. I remember specific times just feeling like in this protective bubble um that he's got us and we're gonna get through this, and I'm gonna get through this, and I have no idea how, but I just really felt that Jesus was with us.

Carrie 14:15

Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing. I think so many people don't, yeah, like you said, there's not there's not somebody you can go and find to say, Hey, my dad's done something terrible. I need to like anybody else. I mean, just I and I think that that's just such a difficult place to to walk, and yet also such a beautiful place where Jesus can meet you. And that doesn't make it any less difficult. It doesn't make the impact of it any less tragic. It's not a, you know, and the Lord knows it's not a band-aid on a bullet hole, like it's not just gonna make it stop and everything, you're just gonna be fine and okay with it, you know. Obviously, something like this, you're walking through years and years and years of just processing what actually happened. And, you know, I know there was a trial, and we don't have to get into all of that because I know that that was really difficult for you and for your family. But I want to kind of get to the place where after the trial's done, right, your dad's convicted and he's in prison.

Emily J. 15:21

Yeah.

Carrie 15:21

And, you know, you've had, you know, that process was what, like a year and a half? Year and a half, yeah. Yeah. Of just kind of like from when it happened and then the trial and everything. That must have been a whirlwind.

Emily J. 15:33

Yeah. Total whirlwind. I'm in college. I'm trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy where the rug's been ripped out from under you. And you don't, I didn't have a feeling of stability in my life. Um, and I will say, you know, my mom and her husband, my stepdad were so sweet to try and maintain stability where possible, but it's just it's an impossible situation. And so I would say it definitely took me months before I could even really wrap my head around it and get to a place of being able to just move forward and kind of cope. And then you're just constantly waiting through this trial process was really difficult. The Lord um was so sweet though in giving us so much scripture to just pray through.

Carrie 16:27

Yeah.

Emily J. 16:28

Um, during that time. Um, but yeah, it was about a year and a half after um her death that my dad was convicted and went to prison. And I did not speak with him initially um for I I couldn't tell you exactly how long, several months went by.

Carrie 16:53

Um and in that time are you just kind of trying to process your own, like now everything's done. Yeah. He's been convicted, and so it it did it seem like it was just like everything, everything, everything, everything, and then all of a sudden screeching halt, and you're just kind of like, Yeah.

Emily J. 17:08

And in a way, it felt like a sense of closure and massive relief.

Carrie 17:11

Yeah.

Emily J. 17:12

Um, just to feel a sense of like, okay, that's done.

Carrie 17:16

Yeah.

Emily J. 17:16

And now I don't know what's next. But you I felt I felt like I could at least start to wrap my mind around moving forward in my life and moving toward a place of healing, though I had absolutely no idea what that really looked like. Yeah. I mean, I was so sweet and in my early 20s. And um, during this whole time I met who is now my the man who's now my husband. Um, so trying to maintain that relationship. And it was shortly after my father's conviction that um my husband and I were engaged, and so then my energy and my time was really spent pouring into finishing college and looking ahead at the life in front of me, yeah, instead of reeling in the day-to-day from what was behind.

Carrie 18:07

Yeah. For sure. So in the midst of that, I mean, you get married, and how how was that for you? Because I would imagine, and again, I've just my mind goes to places of like, you know, you things that the Lord has created that are good and beautiful, like marriage, right? And and and something that just so beautifully represents him. And yet we all know that I mean, even if your dad hasn't done something like this, you know, our dads can really shape the way that we look at the Lord, can shape the way we look at our husband. Like, I mean, so how did how how was that for you? I mean, what did the Lord use Dave in a certain way? Like kind of how just share about what the Lord did for you and that.

Emily J. 18:53

Yeah, I mean, it was um it was really sweet how the Lord swooped up my heart and really protected it and then provided my husband, Dave, and then um even my stepdad as these men who were um stable in a time that was extremely chaotic, and who were sweet and held my heart and just tenderly um, you know, carried me through. And um, yeah, I mean I would reflecting on those early years of marriage right after this all happened, I just think that um my husband was so protective of my heart and was so um wanting to make sure that these deep wounds weren't just ripped right back open. I mean, he was with me through the whole thing and saw how painful it was and saw the tender places in my heart and knew that it's almost like a you know, a wound that gets stitched back together and it's like you gotta really care for this. Yeah. And we can't just let anything um in or it's gonna rip back open. Yeah. And so he really did help guard my heart and protect me in those early years for sure.

Carrie 20:19

Yeah. I think too, just the just the picture of the Lord coming in, you know, there's so much in scripture where it talks about dwelling in the shadow of his wings, and he puts his pinions and his feathers over us, and he comforts the brokenhearted and and I, you know, and the devastated and the poor and the needy, and and I and you just and scripture is full of devastation, you know, full of difficulty and how the Lord comes and ministers to his people and and also meets out his justice and meets out his um his righteousness and his holiness and all of those all of those things in ways that we probably never anticipated seeing. I mean, you don't ever like set out on your life and be like, you know what would be great.

Emily J. 21:04

Right.

Carrie 21:04

Because if a series of really horrific and devastating events could happen, right. So I could know you more, Lord. Yeah. But he uses anything and everything. And so as you are walking into marriage and you know, your husband's really caring for you, where are you at with your dad? What's your disposition towards because I would guess that there is probably a lot tied up emotionally, mentally, spiritually, in how you felt and just getting a like a year or two past it, all of a sudden realizing, yeah, oh my gosh, this is how I feel. Or am I okay? Because right now I still feel numb and I don't feel anything. What was that, what was that process like for you?

Emily J. 21:44

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely um there were certainly a long period of time where I just really physically, emotionally, spiritually separated from the event. I think out of sheer survival. And um I think the Lord was really sweet during that time to work on healing my heart and allowing my body just to have rest. Um I can't remember where it is in scripture, but there's a point where um people are removed from their land and and then they get to go back and it says the land has rested. And I felt like in that time my body just needed to rest. And so um, yeah, there was several years that went by where I think initially I tried to communicate with my dad, it didn't go well, and I think that's when I and Dave were both like, okay, we're just gonna take a break here and and have some separation from this situation from from this person for a while.

Carrie 22:57

Absolutely. So then in the midst of that, do you realize? I mean, were you angry with him? You know, and I don't want to delve into any sore spots, but I know part of the reason why I have you on today is because of how the Lord's worked in the area of forgiveness and just the process of kind of coming to terms with what your dad did, yeah, how it impacted you and your family, how you personally had to deal with whatever was in your heart. As the Lord's protecting your heart, is he also you know dealing with things as he likes to do? Always, he's always dealing with things. Let me ask you a leading question.

Emily J. 23:34

Yeah. No, I mean, I was very angry. Yeah. Um, I don't I wouldn't have told you at the time that I was angry every day, but looking back, I was, and it flowed out of me for sure. Um just deep wounds and frustration and anger at so many things in the situation. But um I would say I I developed um a hard heart in some areas, and um some of that developed into a place of judgment as well.

Carrie 24:10

And so what did that look like? Like how did that express itself and how did the Lord catch your attention on that? Um, I've flayed myself on this podcast, so it's okay. You are among friends. This is this is a this is a unrighteous judgment-free zone because we're all sinners before the Lord and you know, just sharing, you know, just what he's what he's done.

Emily J. 24:35

Well, yeah, I mean, I think when we don't deal with stuff, right, it comes out sideways.

Carrie 24:40

That's such a good way to put it.

Emily J. 24:41

So that's how it was coming out was sideways. It came out in all these other relationships. Even with my husband as a newlywed, I would be, you know, angry with him for the wrong thing. Or um anytime it was brought up, um, it was it was out of a place of um anger that this had happened, and also I think a little bit of a place of judgment of I'm better than because I didn't do this.

Carrie 25:17

Yeah.

Emily J. 25:18

Um, and I think the Lord over time, over several years, did start to deal with me. And the way that that all came out was uh we had our first baby in 2010, and uh she was a couple months old when my husband had to take a work trip. I went with him. I had a newborn, I don't know where my mind was. Tired is where my mind was, but we had bugs in our hotel room, literally just crawling on the walls on my like legs at night. And I don't know, I was just tired and I didn't think anything of it. And we just traveled back home at the end of this. It was about a two-week long trip. So we go back home, and over the course of the next several weeks, I'm just itchy, itchy, itchy, itchy like crazy. And I'm thinking, I got a newborn, I'm never outside, I don't know what's eating me alive. And of course, I Google it one day, and it's like, oh, you might have bed bugs. And I was like, Oh, huh. And so my husband's in the military night before he was gonna deploy. We lifted up the mattress and we had so many bed bugs. You could just see them. And everyone's like, Oh, you can't see them. I'm like, oh well, we had big ones, and you could see them. And so my husband had to leave the next day, and here I am with my three-month-old by myself, dealing with this situation, feeling very like dirty and kind of judgy of myself. Like, how did this happen? And we had to move out because of the pesticides that the companies were using, and I take my, you know, my baby can't be around it. And so we're out and we're couch serving sweet friends' houses. And um, I went to the pharmacy one day because my daughter needed some Tylenol. And um, I didn't have my wallet, I don't even know where it was at this point, and I'm have a change jar and I'm just counting pennies at the counter and um mortified. My daughter's crying, I'm stressed to the nines, and I'm standing there counting pennies, and these sweet people behind me in line just come up and start counting with me. And I got into my car and sobbed, and I just thought, I don't think I would have been that nice to me in line. Yeah, I think I would have been, what are you doing? Why are we counting pennies? Get out your credit card, you know. I just I felt like the Lord was bubbling up in me, like this place of self-righteousness and um and having compassion for other people and their situations. So we continue on in life. We had to deal with this whole bed bug situation, but I say the Lord gave me bed bugs to give me compassion. And um, my husband returned home, I don't know, a few weeks, month after he came back. Um, my dad had really started to be on my heart, and he hadn't been. I really just kind of think I blocked that out and just didn't think about it often and let it just be this thing that had happened in the past.

Carrie 28:30

Right.

Emily J. 28:31

And I mentioned to my husband one night on it was a Saturday night. I was like, man, I just kind of feel like I should write my dad a letter. And my sweet husband was like, uh, no, I don't know that that's a good idea. He's like, Do you remember the last time you guys communicated? It didn't go well. You know, again, he's trying to really protect me and that wound, and didn't he didn't want it to reopen. Yeah, and so I he said, Well, let's pray about it. And I think he really said it in a shluff it off. Yeah, well, let's pray about it, kind of.

Carrie 29:06

I told the Lord we're not going to do this. I have prayed about it. Right.

Emily J. 29:11

I have any way through it, yeah. Right. Um, and then the next day at church, I couldn't tell you what their sermon was about, but at the end there was a prayer time, and there was a prayer time for people who were dealing with mother wounds. And then the pastor came up and said, Hey, you know, I know there's always people who are dealing with father wounds. So if you'd like to receive some prayer, you know, come on up. So I go up. And I don't remember what I told this gentleman who was praying with me. Um, I certainly didn't pour out my whole life story to him, but at the end of the prayer, he said, you know, maybe writing your dad a letter and news of a grandchild would soften his heart. That's amazing. Yeah, I love it. And it was like, oh gosh, now I have to do that. Yeah. Um, and there was some trepidation there.

Carrie 30:02

Obviously, you know, for sure.

Emily J. 30:04

But there was also this very strong conviction in me to just obey and just do this. And I don't really remember what I wrote in that letter. I think I kept it pretty short and sweet. He had no idea where I was living. He didn't know that we had had a baby. My um, that was a request I had made to family um that had chosen to stay in contact with him. I had asked, please don't share about my life with him. And so he didn't know anything. And so wrote him this letter, put it in the mail on Monday, and just had peace and forgot about it, honestly.

Carrie 30:40

Which I think is so funny. I mean, the Lord is so good in that way. I because you said that to me when we were talking before we started recording, and it really struck me that you would stick that letter in and then forget about it. And I and I think sometimes it can be easy, like I'm just gonna make and then I just can't think about it anymore. Yeah. But it and just the way that you talked about it just now, sticking that in and getting the peace of the Lord and having obeyed, like it's like the Lord took it from your mind to say what he does with it, you're not responsible for. Right. You've been obedient, and so he just gave you peace and then just took it from your mind, which I think would it just sound like such a gift. Yeah, it sounds like such a beautiful thing that the Lord did for you. And I just I love through these pictures that you've shared so far about, you know, your your stepdad who married your mom and and Dave, and and even the situation with the bed bugs, how the Lord just used a variety of different things, even though you're struggling with your anger, and you can see that there are maybe areas where you're like, man, Lord, my heart is is hard in these areas that he just never stopped working with you. He never stopped meeting you, he never stopped ministering to you, he kept shaping you into his image, and I think that that's just so powerful, you know. I from my own, you know, my own life perspective, I look at so many things and it's it we were talking about this as well. It's so easy to want to wallow. Oh, yeah, you know, and I was talking about it a while ago on an episode, I think, like in December of just the Lord was like, that's enough. Yeah, knock it off. And and and people would be like, Oh, you have, you know, every reason in the world to wallow. You have every like you've had something devastating and hard happen.

Emily J. 32:24

Well, and I think people would say you have every reason in the world not to have a relationship with this guy and not forgive this man. Yeah, and um, I think the Lord tenderly brings us to these points where he goes, Okay, that's enough.

Carrie 32:36

Yeah.

Emily J. 32:37

And now we're done. And um, I think that is very, very sweet. And I think over those years where I wasn't in communication with my dad, I had learned more about the character of the Lord and how he tenderly is a protector. Yes. And I think when I sent that letter, it just felt like, all right, well, I mean, the Lord's got it. Yeah. So I'm just gonna keep this is just what he asked me to do, this step. And I, you know, as I've gotten older, the more and more I want to see all the steps.

Carrie 33:08

Yeah.

Emily J. 33:09

I want to know, okay, if I take this step, then what's gonna be the one after that? And then what's the outcome gonna be? And and bless my sweet young faith, at that point, I didn't need to know what the next steps were. I just knew that one and took it and went from there. So I love it.

Carrie 33:28

Well, there's still so much more of Emily's story that we need to share. So she is actually gonna come back for a second episode because what the Lord did in her life in order to teach her the power of forgiveness and also what it looks like to enter into relationship, as you just said, with somebody who's caused such devastation. I just think it's so powerful. So I'm so excited that you're coming back next week. And I can't wait for people to hear the rest of the story. And so I hope that you will come back and listen to what Emily is going to share with us um next week. And as I always do, I want to pray a blessing over us um as we end. And actually, this probably is gonna sound kind of funny, but I actually think it really fits. Uh, and that the Lord would show us that this is his unending and unyielding truth and power when we are walking through difficulty, and that he is with us. There are lots of things that the Lord doesn't cause that he doesn't do that aren't his will, and yet he uses them. And right before we got started, I read out of 2 Corinthians 12, and this is what I just am, I'm asking the Lord to bless you and I with them, and also anybody who's listening. So we know that Paul had a thorn in the flesh, right? That the that had been sent to him so that he would not glory in the greatness of the revelations that he had been given. And he asks the Lord three times to take it. And he said to me, This is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, but Jesus said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Jesus may rest upon me. For the sake of Jesus, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Amen, friends. Okay, friends. Thanks for listening to this episode of Honey from the Rock. If this episode or any other episode of the podcast hasn't heard you, would you consider taking a like share subscribe or write a review for the podcast? I would greatly appreciate it and may you be blessd in the Lord.