What If Healing Starts With Letting Go - Interview with Pastor Overton Duncan

We talk with Pastor Overton Duncan about how God draws him from the outside of church life into a real encounter that changes his heart and direction. We connect his book Release It to the everyday battles of anxiety, sexual trauma, shame, and the long road of learning to hand burdens to God. 
• being drawn to Christ through his wife’s joy and honor 
• responding to an altar call and choosing a new life 
• Bible college training and stepping into ministry 
• mission trip to Ecuador and discovering spiritual gifts 
• writing Release It over years of growth and obedience 
• challenging anxiety labels and sharing a deliverance story 
• releasing sexual hurt and trauma through honesty and prayer 
• finding someone trustworthy for spiritual counsel and learning discernment 
• naming common ways we mask pain and why they fail 
• addressing sin patterns with Scripture and making room for restoration 
• living the sanctification process and letting God reshape us 
Don’t put it off till tomorrow. Do it today. 

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

God bless you and thank you for tuning in to Blossom of My Life Radio. Thank you so much for faithfully tuning in every week and just listening to the wonderful God stories that we present. I I truly appreciate you doing that. And if you haven't downloaded some of our podcast places that we download, I pray that you can do that. The links will be below in this in this show. Today I am honored to be able to introduce to you Pastor Overton Duncan. He is a writer from New Orleans. He's currently living in Mississippi. He and his wife Davyn are the parents of three children. Pastor is passionate about teaching the word of God to small groups, youth events, or church service. Him and his wife had the privilege to attend a mission trip to the country of South America, Ecuador, while enrolled in Bible college. His objective in his book, Release It, that's the title of his book that we're going to talk about today, too, is to help people release their burdens to God. Oh boy, do we need that. Where can a hurting world run to when every alternative has failed? The one and only true God who created the heavens and the earth. God's arms are never close to anyone hurting. Praise the Lord. Amen. Pastor, I'm so happy to be able to take this time and thank you for sharing your time with us. And I just wanted to thank you for coming on Blossoms of My Life and sharing part of your God story.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Amen. Amen. It's a honor and a privilege.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

So let's, you know, because I don't know a lot about you. We just talked a few minutes before, and I know Sister in Christ introduced you. And I'm, like I said, I'm honored that you said yes and that we can talk to you. But why don't we introduce you to our audience? Maybe give us a little testimony of who you are, maybe when you came to the Lord and how the Lord has been, you know, so faithful in your walk and what has happened and occurred before you started writing your book.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yes, ma'am.

Drawn To God Through A Spouse

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I was serving heavily in the church, but before that, my wife really drawed me in to the Lord because when she got saved, she began to operate under the joy of the Lord. That drew me into the church because I saw a joy in her. She began to start honoring me as her husband, treating me as a king, and you know, respecting me, and it was just like a whole nother woman. And she kind of drew me into the body of Christ by her love and joy. So I said, I want to go to church and attend a church service because the event it was having was called an encounter. So my first event, I went to the encounter, I just remember I couldn't stop crying because the presence of God was so heavy in the room, and I know I've been changed. It was like salvation just came inside my soul. And I've never been the same since.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Wow. So then you're looking at her thinking, okay, now I understand.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yes, yes. And it was like God whispered to me when they gave the altar call, one of the pastors was preaching, and I just heard God whisper to me and said, You could live for me. And I just had tears coming down my eyes, and I just like, yes, yes, God, I I can live for you. Like I can walk with you. And ever since then, I've been walking with God, you know, a few bumps in a row, struggles, but the Holy Spirit always helped me get back up again.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

The Bible says a righteous man falls seven times. Get back up again.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yes, and that kind of goes along with your book title, and we'll get there. And so you're you're coming to church now, you're excited, you're coming as a family, and what led you, or did your pastor then at that time what made you decide to go to Bible college?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

The church I was attending, they had a Bible college.

SPEAKER_03 4:56

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

So they kind of made it easier. Yeah, it kind of made it easier for me to go down that route because I was on fire for God, and I just wanted to be a part of everything the church was having. And

Bible College And Radical Obedience

SPEAKER_00 5:10

that was my so I'll tell one quick story that um I used I was working at Dish Networking. I just wanted to always go to prayer in the morning, be at church service. So, long story short, I left the job. I got in trouble for going to prayer some days because we were supposed to be at work, but I was at prayer, and then one instance, something happened, and I just told him I want to cut ties with this job because I'm not able to go to church on Sundays. And no later than within a day or two, they called me back and said, We want you back, and we're gonna give you Sundays off to go to church. It was just like I was so on fire for God, I didn't want anything holding me back.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Praise the Lord. He just intervened right when you needed him because he saw that you were gonna be faithful with what he was putting in front of you.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Yes, praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

And so then you get the privilege of going on a mission trip to South America. What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

That was a great experience, a great experience. The the people there honored us so heavily, it began to nurture a gift within me that I didn't know. As I began to preach, it just felt like the spirit of prophecy came over me and I began to prophesy to people. It was just

Mission Trip And Spiritual Gifts

SPEAKER_00 6:45

so amazing. Like the by the way they honored us, it brought out the gifts that was within us because they received us. Yeah, it was it was very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Praise the Lord. And sometimes when you're going into other places that are open and honoring, I've had that feeling before. Um the way that the spirit moves is just so different. You don't feel any type of restriction, you know. Like some buildings you can walk into and you feel like, okay, I have to follow these rules and these rules, and you know, you're kind of held up by the those type of perimeters, right? Boundaries. But when you can go into a place where there it's like, you know what, do whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do, it just changes the whole environment.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Praise the Lord. And so did both of you go on that trip?

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Okay, and you enjoyed so both of you enjoyed that. So that was when you were in Bible college. So obviously you finished Bible college, and then you were able to obtain the the title of pastor at the same church?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

No, um, I well I'm gonna go back a little bit. I've been I was serving at the church for maybe about six years, five, six years. I served heavily at the church, and that's when guys started to download the book inside of me to start writing.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

So as I started writing, the book took me about seven years to write off and on, you know, it cost growing spiritually too, and a little bit of procrastination too. And God finally, you know, I was able to, he entrusted me to release the book when

Seven Years Writing Release It

SPEAKER_00 8:40

everything was finished, and I was able to put it out due to a lot of whispering, God was whispering in my ear from serving in the church I was at. And just being faithful to God, and the way that I began pastoring is that God put it on my spirit as I moved to Pickyun, Mississippi, because the church I was going to was in New Orleans. We were living in New Orleans at the time.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

So we moved to Piccinaun, Mississippi, and I was going to a church over here for maybe a year or two, and then God just put it on my heart to start pastoring my own church.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

And I've been doing that going on two years now. And and within that, you know, God put it on my heart to write another book. I already got it written. I'm just waiting for it to be published. I'm in the midst of doing that. And that book's gonna be called Hidden in My Heart.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Hidden in Your Heart?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yes, hidden in my heart, yes.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Oh, nice. Yeah, it's amazing what happens when you finally do follow through with the whole writing of a book and you get that process, because I know it's a process. I've written a few, and but when you do that one, there's just such a feeling of like, okay, I can do this, right, Lord? Like, okay, use me again because I I just believe that there's a gift in that, you know, to be able to put words on paper and to be able to have it available and to be able to share, you know, your testimony with many, because we're sharing right now part of who you are, but people can pick up a book and have just you know, more time is really indulging in what you have to share.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Amen. What I love about a book is because you may not have the opportunity to talk with somebody for two hours, but if you could put your heart and soul into a book, which the Holy Spirit is leading you to, if it's a Christian book, then people could really receive from that because they can take the time and sit down and read it and relax and get the revelation that God has given you to bless other people. Amen. So that's the blessing in writing a book.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

That is a big blessing. And so this book took you a while, but your objective you wrote here, your objective in the book, release it, is to help people release their

Anxiety Labels And Deliverance Testimony

SPEAKER_02 11:20

burdens to God. I was just in a women's Bible study last night, and we were sharing around the table, getting prayer requests before we closed. And, you know, that's one of the things that a couple of women just didn't know how to do. Like, I I'm I've got anxiety over what's gonna happen next month. And, you know, I'm trying to share a heartfelt plea to them and and just to let them know anxiety is not for God. You know that, right? That's not from God. Anxiety is not from God. We know that, and yes, I know that. I said, so we have to train your your heart, your mind, your your spirit to not receive it because you're telling me with your words you have anxiety, and I'm telling you you don't, because I know who you are in Christ, so you don't have anxiety. You might be nervous about what's going to take place, but don't label it as something that the world caused anxiety because then that leads to a whole nother thing, you know. And then you want to go to the doctor, and the doctor gives you this medicine, and now you know they're thinking, well, maybe you need more medicine because you're still not sleeping. And that's just such a vicious cycle where if you could just learn how to give that burden to the Lord, it's just you know, I remember having anxiety when I first came to my church where I serve. It was 2016, and I told the pastor, I'm like, I'm tired of taking this medicine, I'm tired of thinking seeing a lady that says she knows everything about me when she doesn't, and you know, the doctor, and I I'm just done with it. I want it gone. He's like, Okay, well, let's pray and let's make that gone, and had a prayer of deliverance and immediately was delivered to where I told him, Okay, I'm throwing these pills out. And he's like, Are you sure you want to do that without seeing the doctor? I'm like, I already saw my doctor, I just saw my heavenly father, he just healed me and I'm standing on that. And I remember I threw them away. I went to the doctor the next week and I said, I'm not taking these anymore. And they're like, How long have you not taken them? It's been two weeks. And how do you feel? I feel great. Oh, I don't know. You know, I don't know. Can we see each other in a couple weeks and see how you're doing? I'm like, sure, I'll see you in a couple weeks. Comes back, she's like, There's something different about you. I'm like, Yeah, I'm walking in freedom.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

This is what it looks like. She's like, How did that happen? I said, My pastor prayed over me, I got delivered and I'm healed. So it's done. And she literally had to see me three months later just to really verify that I was truly healed. And she was astounded at the difference of my personality, and so I know it can happen because it happened to me. Yeah, it's powerful testimony, it's it's powerful what God can do, and that's why I was telling my sister. I'm like, you know, I can tell you from experience, you don't need to take that medicine anymore, you need a larger dose of Jesus right now and the Holy Spirit, right? We need to fill your cup with that instead of water and a pill.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

And so, yeah, listen, tell me about where this book came from because you said it took you years and how you want to help people release their burdens to God.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Okay, before I do that, I do want to say what you just said was extremely powerful, and the lie the devil gives us is only as powerful as if we believe it.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

What I wanted to say with that, because we can't claim anything because God is not the author of confusion, so we don't want to claim anything that's not of God. But with the book, my my heart behind it was that many people struggle with past hurt, especially from sexual sin. And a lot of people, you know, it may have been molested

Releasing Sexual Trauma And Deep Hurt

SPEAKER_00 15:20

as a child or mistreated sexually or raped or anything like that, or even come out of a bad relationship. And they hold on to that hurt, and they don't know it's making them bitter, they don't know that it's making them worse, they don't know that it's slowly draining them. And I just wanted people to release their hurt and not to continue to carry that hurt.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

And so in your book, what can you share some of what you're sharing with the world on how they can let that go because somebody that's listening to you, you know, I was delivered of that kind of hurt. I was in abusive relationships, I was raped at 18. I held on for that for years, like couldn't even drive by that street for 30 years thinking I was gonna see this person, thinking it was my fault, you know, all of those kinds of things that haunt you, right? But again, like the Lord healed me of all that that day. So it's like all that was like, okay, I could talk about it without being embarrassed to you because it's something that happened to me. It wasn't something I let happen to me. Do you know what I mean? And so I know I've been delivered from it, so I can help people with that too. But but what kind of tools do you have and words of hope that you have for people that have maybe been through those things?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I would I would definitely recommend that people find someone you could trust spiritually to open up about it. And most of the time, God would give you somebody that you could share it with once you give it to God. When you continue to give it to God, I mean you have to give it to God over and over and over and over again until your soul comprehends that you don't want to deal with this hurt and pain anymore. Yeah, and you could and God's gonna reveal that person to you that you could go to. Like this happened to me. A guy I really don't talk to, like, and he just God just put in his heart told him to reach out to Overton. And I was like, wow, that blessed me because God trusts me enough to counsel one of his children, so that blessed me. So I'm looking at it from God Could Trust Me Spiritually, and the guy who reached out to me on Facebook through Facebook Messenger because he didn't know me, he told me God told him to reach out to me, and I was able to counsel him and help him, and he's a part of my ministry to this day. Wow, praise the Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Wow, amen.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

So that those are the steps. You have to continue to give that hurt and that burden to God. Be honest about it. Yes, it bothers me. Yes, I like you said, I can't even go down that street. I can't even go to the store. Whatever is bothering you, you gotta admit it, give it to God, release it to him, and he's gonna lead you and guide you to somebody that you could trust spiritually that would help you.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

And you know, yeah, because I I I wanted to quickly interrupt and I apologize, but when you said that, um a lot of times, and this happens too, you can think you're going to the right person spiritually, you can think you're going, but then it doesn't feel right. And that's part of learning when you're walking with Christ, learning discernment. Because I've been heard by people that say they can help me that I thought were spiritual helpers, but it didn't fit right. And and that's all part of the problem. Everything that happens to us, Pastor, is a learning lesson. We're never gonna be knowing everything until we are in his presence, and then we're gonna just absorb everything that we didn't know because he's gonna reveal it all to us, right? But it's okay that you made a mistake and chose the wrong person. That doesn't mean you stop, that means okay, get back up, dust off your feet, and go to the next person.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Amen. That's right. That's right. That's the beauty of life, you know, you learn from your mistakes and not keep making the same mistakes. That's the it's a journey. It's a journey.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

It is, and and then I always go back to like, okay, Lord, you know, this is temporary. You know, I'm here, you created me, and now that I know you, because I didn't for so many years, I didn't walk right with you. I was hurt so much, but now that I do know you, you know, this isn't my home that I'm I'm preparing for my home with you. And so this is all temporary. So the hurts and the hangups and everything that you're hanging on to, if we learn how to let them go and give them to the Lord, let him hold those while we're here on earth because you have a purpose and a plan. And that purpose and a plan is not to live in that hurt and that hang up kind of stage. Your purpose and your plan is to be able to serve God while you're here. Amen. Like you met the boss, you just got interviewed, and now go to work. Right? And so a lot of times, you know, people think that they have to be completely healed or they have to be completely, you know, ready and and all fixed up and made beautiful to be able to work for the the Lord, and and that's not what it is. He'll take us right where we're at. All we have to do is say yes, Father.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Amen. 100% right.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Praise the Lord. Well, I love that he's working for you now, and you know, the other thing that you the objective is like how you said the hurting world, so hurt people, hurt people.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

And we do have a hurting world, and so the majority of them are running to things as an alternative, and that's where you find people using substance, which I did, to you know, block out the pain. I need to have a drink because I'm not gonna go to sleep. I can't think about this anymore, so I'm just gonna do this until I black out. You know, all of those things that we use for alternative ways of not thinking about what happened.

Breaking Cycles Of Sin And Shame

SPEAKER_02 22:00

The world and the world makes that so easy for everybody right now, Pastor.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Very easy. It's it's a temporary relief, and the problem is still gonna be there. Most people go to smoking, drinking, sex, partying. And you have to keep on doing that to numb the pain. But it's just numbing the pain. God wants us to reveal the pain, release it to him so that we can walk in freedom and healing. That's the difference. As believers, this book, my book is written to believers to be honest with yourself. And basically being honest, meaning that I talk about fornication, homosexuality, adultery. I talk about different topics that need to be talked about. I talked about divorce. Like if anything that's bothering you, we could go to the scriptures and see what God says about it. Okay, so if fornication is wrong, I'm not gonna put myself in a position to have sex before marriage. Same thing with adultery. If I'm married, I'm not gonna be spending a lot of time with another female. There's one instance where a leader, one of the leaders in the church, said that I believe I have it in the book. He said he ain't got a divorce, and he said he thought he wasn't gonna make it into heaven because he got a divorce. And God had to heal him from thinking like that. Because just because you got a divorce, don't mean that God stopped loving you or stopped caring for you. And I and I teach people how to be restored and how God wants to restore you even after the divorce.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah, I love that. A lot of times people don't think only because I've been through it myself personally, they don't think that, okay, if I go out and I'm gonna mask that pain with something because I just can't live with that pain. We don't really think about the repercussions of continuing on in that sin because that sin leads to another sin which opens up probably 10 doors to other sins. I mean, it just keeps building up, you know. I had somebody explain something to me, and it was just so profound that, you know, every sin is like a thumbprint on our heart, and that those thumbprints just continuously cover up the heart to where it's so callous that we can't hear the Holy Spirit trying to just seep through, right? And I think to myself, wow, Lord, that was me. Like my heart was so closed to you, and I was trying so hard, you know, to the point to where I just wanted to take my own life because I might as well. I've done everything else and it's not working, right? And I thought to myself, Lord, you know, thank you for restoring my heart. Thank you for restoring my heart to the place to where I can know that I'm in your arms, know that you forgive me for everything, know that I could help somebody else that maybe's walking in those same shoes. Because you can attest to this too, is that when we walk through something, if we're willing to then share that hope with somebody else, you know, our testimony, like the book of Revelation says, will set somebody else free because I could actually say, Yeah, I know what that feels like. It feels like this, this, and this. I know exactly what that feels like. Instead of sitting with somebody that says, Well, that's really too bad. I don't know what that feels like.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

I agree a hundred percent. That's why my first chapter is about my testimony, how I was bound by the spirit of lust and bound by pornography. I brought that spirit of lust into my marriage and almost caused us to get a divorce. And that leads up into what I was saying earlier that if it wasn't for my wife giving her life to Christ and bringing the joy of the Lord into our marriage, I don't know where I would be. But then you think yeah, it just makes it just make the Bible what it says is true, that the believing wife could draw the unbelieving husband.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

And vice versa.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

And that the believing that the believing husband could draw the unbelieving wife.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

The other thing too is that you know, when we get in those places and we're just so bound up in those places, we really can't see clearly out of it. You know, we do feel kind of trapped, like we don't know how to stop, you know. And I know a lot of people say like smoking was probably the hardest thing for me to stop. Yes, but little by little, like Lord, make me sick then. If I don't want to stop, and my my flesh is not allowing my spirit, my spirit saying don't do it, my flesh is saying you need it, make me sick. And so he did, he made me sick to the point to where like this is so stupid, Ramona. Why are you why are you still doing this if you're getting sick, right? Um and people, you know, I mean it's it and it is there's hope, I guess, you know, yeah, and releasing it to the Lord fully, right? The other thing you can probably attest to is that one thing leads to another.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Amen. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

And you might think, okay, I just need to stop watching porn and everything will be okay. Well, watching porn opened up other doors that also have to be addressed. And if we fully commit ourselves to the Lord, he starts showing us those doors too.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Exactly. It's never just one door, 100%, right? 100% right, yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

And and psychiatrists and psychologists will be like, well, let's just address the alcoholism. No, it's not just alcoholism, there was something that led to the alcoholism.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Yes, yes, you know, and most of it times it'd be from rejection. Yes, yeah, be from rejection, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah, wow, powerful. I love this conversation because I know that there's a hurting world out there. I know that there's somebody listening out there to us that probably feels unworthy in a certain area where, you know, I don't feel like God loves me or I don't know if I'm really saved. You know, I made so many mistakes when I was in the world and I don't know. And you know, I all I can say to that is just I I can say that he does love you because if he didn't love you, you know, he wouldn't have pursued you the way he did. And it's almost like your story, Pastor. It's like it wasn't just that your wife went to church and you saw her hope. It's that the the Holy Spirit was already drawing you because he was saying, like, I've got a job for you, Overton Duncan, and I can't, I gotta grab you from this spot so that you could have your own church because I have people out there that need to be reached. And so I'm gonna do something with you if you just say yes to me.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Amen. I agree with that, but I feel the Holy Spirit is telling me to say this to a listener. There may be a one, a young lady out there that have been molested and raped and taken advantage of sexually, and God wants you to release it to him, he don't want you to continue to carry on that hurt. God sees you, God notices you, and God loves you, and he wants you to release it to him, and he's gonna give you somebody that you trust that you could go to and talk to. And God wants you to release it because the longer you keep it, the more you're gonna hinder yourself and cause more heartache to yourself. So God wants you to release it and stop holding it in. I just feel that strongly.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

Amen. Amen. I do too. I do too. And once you do release it, you're gonna feel really good. Like it's gonna be like I know that was God. You're gonna say, you know what, you're talking to me right now because I don't feel worthy. I can't, you know. The other thing it leads to is I was really good at masking the pain. You know, I I had a good job, I was working on my masters, I taught for years, you know, and then I would go home and I lived a whole nother life because of the aches and pains and the hurts within, right? Yeah, it took a trial.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

I have a lot of amen. I have a lot of female cousins and family members, so I know when a female is masking stuff. They mask it through makeup, they mask it through dressing clothes, they mask it through shopping, different ways they can mask it, mask it through different men, always dating. So different ways people mask their hurt when they could just give it to God and walk in freedom, and you could date the man of God that God has for you instead of a man that's in the world who just wants to misuse you or mistreat you, not treat you like the queen you are.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Mm-hmm. Because God had a purpose, you know. Psalm 139 is one of my favorites when I tell people and talk to youth, it's like you were woven in your mother's womb, and he knew every single fiber that created you, and you have a different fingerprint than anybody else of all the millions of people in the world. You have a different fingerprint. Because when someone goes to take your fingerprint, it's not because you did something wrong. He wants you to know it's because he created you

Identity Purpose And God’s Love

SPEAKER_02 32:40

that way. Like you're you're you're unique, you're unique exactly where you are, and even though bad things happen to you because we live in a fallen world, yes, it doesn't mean he didn't create you. You know, if we can get right back to the core of things, like okay, do you believe that God created everything that you see? Well, yes, I do. Okay, then he created you. That means he created you with a purpose, and you need to try to find what that purpose is so that you can get beyond the hurt and start walking in that purpose. Because when you do, then you'd be like, Pastor, here how he's talking. Now he's pastoring his own church. Never even realizing he was gonna have a healing on that day and be delivered.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Amen. You know, only God knows.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Oh, God is such a perfect author. And you know, um, the writing part, I just want to talk briefly about this. You know, writing a book, that's another thing. I love to talk to authors because me writing my first book, it was a healing. I had been asking the Lord the why question for so long, like, why do I track back men? Why can't I walk in freedom? Well, this was before I had the prayer of deliverance. Like, Lord, why? Like, I'm saved, and you said that I was free indeed, but I don't feel free, you know? And so that's where my first book came free at last, the struggle to be good enough. And the crazy thing about that is that in writing it, I kept putting it off, Pastor. I kept putting it off. Now I'm not gonna write. I just finished my master's, I'm too tired of writing, you know. And I kept putting it off, not realizing that God was like, You're asking me to help you heal you, yet you're not wanting to do what I'm trying to tell you to do, so you can see where you need to be healed. And then after writing, he like literally showed me like this is when it started, this is what happened, and then I just broke down and cried, like, oh my god, you're right. Like that was it, you know, and and so writing is so healing, and I'm sure you had healing when you were writing this book.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Of course, of course, yes. I had a few crying moments myself writing a book, a few crying moments, yeah. Just in awe, if I could just get the listeners to just get this revelation, how much God loves you. It sounds cliche, but if we just really had a revelation about how much God loves us, we wouldn't be so hard on ourselves. Is that God forgives you when you repent and come to him, and he wants and desires a relationship for you, almost like the prodigal son was waiting for his son to come back.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

God is waiting for us to come back, he's waiting for us, just for that relationship.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

We are all created to have a relationship with him, and that's the void that we try to get in other stuff, in people in the relationship with God. This is why even men do men date different multiple women too, trying to fill the void, and females date different men trying to fill a void that only God could fill.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Amen. And our purpose, our purpose and we're on this earth while we're here, because we don't know the day or the time, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

We don't know the day or the time, we don't know, we do not want to get caught with no oil in our lamps, amen.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

Amen. And and like if you're listening to this message, I think you can also agree with me, Pastor. And you're thinking, you know what, that person he's talking to is me. This is because the Holy Spirit is tugging on your heart right now, and that is exactly what he's saying. He's saying, Okay, it's time. Are you listening to what they're saying? Does it resonate with your heart? You know, are you ready to be free? Are you ready to come to me? And and and it's an opportunity, right? We either say yes to it and we say, Yes, Lord, you know, I'm ready. Maybe you maybe you just happened to just drop in and you didn't even realize this conversation was going on, and so that wasn't by accident. You know, the Holy Spirit just wants you to be drawn to something where you could listen to this is all truth, it's all biblical, it's everything that we're saying is testimony, and it's just time. I hear that word, like it's just time, because we don't know the day or the time that it's gonna that that the Lord could just say, Okay, I gave you a chance and you denied me. And I don't ever want that to happen with anybody that can hear my voice. I want I want you to be able to say yes, and and it's so it's so simple to say yes to the Lord, and yet sometimes people make it so complicated, right? It's like, you know, oh I'll I'll commit myself to have a relationship with the Lord when I when I get this job, or you know, when I stop drinking, or I stop doing this, and and he wants you just the way he you are, he wants you just the way you are. Just say yes and let him do all the work. And and sometimes it's instantaneously everything's like, wow, you're a brand new person, just like that. But sometimes it takes some time. He wants to do a good work, and so it takes time, right? He's the potter with the clay.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Amen. It it takes time, yeah. It's called a sanctification process where we grow, it's a journey of growing spiritually. I was telling one of my members yesterday that um they was kind of hard on themselves, and I was telling them we all going through a sanctification

Sanctification And The Potter’s Wheel

SPEAKER_00 39:00

process. Nobody's never going to say, Oh, I've stopped being sanctified. I reached the flag. No, we all gonna always be in the sanctification process to where we continue, God's continuing to cleanse us. And I was saying you're the Holy Spirit is with you because you feel convicted about it. If you didn't feel convicted about it, then that would be a problem. By you being convicted about it, that means you want to do what's right. But sometimes we may slip and fall and we get back up again. Yeah, we're gonna always be striving for perfection, but we ain't gonna be perfect until we make it in the gates of heaven.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

We can't wait till that time either, huh?

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Yeah, that's it. So we have to be patient with ourselves and continuing to go with God when we mess up. Yeah, continuing to go with him when we miss it. Because that's when spiritual growth happens, is when we fall short and we get back up again and we become stronger from it because we don't want to mess miss it again. That's how we become stronger sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

And he's so merciful that he picks us back up, you know?

SPEAKER_00 40:19

Yes, very merciful.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

I love that part of him. I always like I can visually see, you know. Have you ever sat at a potter's wheel? No, it's it's really uh, you know, once you've done it and then you learn about the Lord and you you hear that he's the potter with the clay, but literally you're sitting down and there's this spinning platform in front of you, and you put a slab of clay on it, and you're spinning it, you know, and the potter is trying with his hands to mold it, right? And when it needs a certain thing, they'll sprinkle some water on it, you know, and they'll try to mold it, mold it. And sometimes something will happen, and it just wobbles off into from the center of the wheel, it wobbles off to the side. And what the potter does is then puts more water and draws it back to the center, and so that reminds me of what God does to us in the Holy Spirit, right? We're we're that clay and He's He's molding us to what He wants us to be, and sometimes things happen and the bump happens, and then you know we pull ourselves away and we end up kind of a little bit wobbly, but then He's like, I'm drawing you back to my heart, I'm drawing you back to center you, I'm drawing you back to perfection, and I love how God works that way. Amen. So praise the Lord. Well, Pastor, our time's almost up. It goes by so fast. I have so enjoyed our conversation. We'll have to talk again because I'm sure you'll probably have more to share. But the book, Release It, is out and available on Amazon now, yes, ma'am. Okay, and did you self-publish your book?

SPEAKER_00 42:13

Um, I used Meister Media.

SPEAKER_02 42:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

Yes, a publishing company.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

Yes, ma'am.

Where To Find The Book

SPEAKER_02 42:20

So he's got his book, Release It. It's there to help people release your burdens to God. I think it's a book of the times right now that people need to help with their deliverance and help with a hurting world, just like he said. And and it's only God that can bring that true healing things, and people can fix it for a minute, you know, and you might not see it for a minute, but it does it's not fully healed yet. And so we want you to be fully healed in Christ. And he has another book coming out about how long before that one's gonna come out, Pastor?

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Perfectly soon. Purfully soon.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

Okay, so that's gonna be hidden in the heart, and maybe we'll have him back and we'll talk about that book for right now. Release it. Amazon, probably it's on Barnes and Noble. You can find him on it's Overton Duncan. He is on Facebook right now. You can find him there if you need to message him. I'm sure he'd like that. If you're in the how do you say your city picayoon?

SPEAKER_00 43:24

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

If you're in that area, you can look him up and maybe visit him at church.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Yes, ma'am. And my email is overtonduncan at gmail.com if you want to email me.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

There you go. You can email him. I'm sure he'd love to speak if you're in that area. You want him to speak at your church or to your group. I'm sure he would love that. I just want to re alliterate to, you know, whoever is listening, if that person was you, to just really listen. We're gonna pray before I'm gonna have Pastor pray for us, but just listen to your heart. And and reach out to someone that you can trust, or reach out to one of us. We can talk you through this. And if you don't know the Lord, or maybe you've walked away, just He just wants you to come back. And you filled your heart like, I really need to listen to what they're saying. And that's just Holy Spirit saying, Yeah, listen to them. You know, come back to me where it's safe. And and it's just repent. It's it's it's you're turning away, you're saying you're sorry, God, and you don't do that again. And we realize there's going to be mistakes. We realize that it might happen again. And then you repent and you say, Lord, I'm trying, but I can't. I need your help to overcome this. And he will. And just start walking with the Lord and develop that relationship with him because the Bible says, no one goes to the Father without the Son. Amen. So imagine yourself holding his hand, going to meet the Father. You're not going to just go to the Father. It's not going to happen. You have to hold his hand and walk through those gates with him, knowing that you have a relationship with Christ. So don't put off today what you could do. Like, don't put it off till tomorrow. Do it today. Right. Do you have any last words, Pastor?

SPEAKER_00 45:20

I would just recommend that anybody that's maybe struggling, hurting, that's wounded, to just find you somebody you could trust spiritually. Read the word of God for yourself because there's a lot of false teachers and false prophets in the world. And find you a biblical, Bible-based church to help you grow spiritually. Because iron sharpens iron. We all need somebody that can help us grow spiritually.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Amen. Good words of advice, Pastor. I'm going to have you close us out in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Amen. Father God, we thank you for this time of fellowship. We ask you to bless the woman of God and her show that it reaches the masses and bless the people it needs to bless. And Father God, we ask you to bless any of the listeners,

Final Advice And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 46:20

God, that any hurt they may be carrying, we ask you to grab it out of their hearts, grab it out of their souls, and deliver them, God. We pray, God, that you move by your Holy Spirit on the listeners' ears, God.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

Yes, Father.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Touch them, embrace them, and give them the hug that they've been so desperately needing. And Father God, we ask you, God, to be with us as we walk through this life.

unknown 46:52

Yes, Father.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Journey that you lead us and guide us into our will, into our purpose on this earth. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Thank God. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Amen and amen. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Amen. My pleasure. It was such an honor and privilege to be a part of the show.