From Chaos to Clarity | Episode 7

Episode 7 is out today — with Gia Soriano-Manzo + Molly Inmon.
A conversation about survival mode, emotional processing, and why structure can be the first step toward real stability.

🎧 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/purpose-in-the-pain/id1866616325
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cqi1YmIAdLJfc6asLaFQU
▶️ Full video: https://www.youtube.com/@purposepain

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:03

That negative filter that I had over my eyes, the Lord just revealed it to me and just took away all that anger and pain in that moment, and he was able to give me a wisdom of understanding like Gia, it's not you. Your parents had a part to play in this as well. Let's work on this together.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Alright, everybody, we're so excited to be back again for this episode of Purpose and the Pain. And I'm so excited. This is one of the first guests that I thought of when we first started thinking about doing this. And it's just you'll find out. She is so well spoken. And things that come out of her mouth are so profound and so full of wisdom. And it's just, I'm super excited. And then she's joined by a great friend of hers who is just as powerful. So I've got Miss Gia Seriano Monza and Miss Molly Enman are joining my wife and I today.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

I know you've been super excited about this one. You've been waiting for a long time for it.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah, yeah, I have. It's been it's been really cool. So um I serve on the board of directors for Still Creek Ranch out of Curtin, Texas, and um started on that board, I think it was like 2017. Somewhere around there. Uh Molly's dad is the executive director there. He's been there for 10 years. He's going on his 11th year this year, which was a big deal. Yeah. And uh Miss Bolly has grown up there on the ranch and has made all kinds of friends throughout the years. Herd and brother. And hence Miss Gia. Miss Gia was a resident there. And uh so Still Creek Ranch is a Christian boarding school for at-risk youth. And as we'll learn, Miss Gia will tell you the mission is what?

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Taking children from crisis to new creation.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

That's right. Yeah. Teach them about Christ, give them an education, and give them a work ethic. And uh so I tell you what I fell in love with, Miss Gia. She you were a keynote speaker at one of the uh Boots and Bling, what, two years ago? Yes, sir.

unknown 2:23

Three years ago.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Three years ago? So we have this big event every year in the fall called Boots and Bling, and we just had this last weekend. Phenomenal. We had a um uh a goal to get to 400,000, and I think we hit 330,000, which was pretty pretty good. We fell a little short, but we had a big stretch goal. And uh, you know, just from where we come from, I think our first year that I was on the Boots and Bling deal, um we had was like 140 or 120,000. So I mean it's come a long way. But Miss Gia spoke at that one three years ago, and then I was so blessed to be able to go to her graduation, and her graduation speech was just a yeah, there's that smile on talking about. So Miss Gia, Miss Molly, you know, I don't know. Um, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, what you're doing now, and then maybe we'll go back into your story a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah, you got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Well, currently I am a sophomore at Texas AM University. So I'm still an undergraduate student, and I'm all bright-eyed, eager to be there, where some of our seniors are ready to graduate and go on to the big life. But um, like you said before, I am a graduate, I'm a resident from Stoke Creek Ranch, and what it kind of looks like now is I'm still at Stoke Creek as a young adult. I'm in their launch program, launching young adults to success, whether that's through college path or career path. I'm in both college and career, I'd say. So I'm a big thing. Yes, I'm doing school full-time, I'm working part-time, um, with the support of Still Creek behind me as my foundation. I'm still living on the ranch, just 50 yards away from Molly. Um, I see Mr. Emman almost every day. I advise and I look for his guidance in all of my big decisions. And so um just navigating young life with the support of the community that um I have here in Texas. Yeah, I couldn't imagine any other way.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

Right. So while you're in the program of still being at still create your interactions there um on the daily, is it just um that's where you reside and do your homework, go to work, and do all that? Are you still interactive with um some of the residents that are there as far as like being a mentor or anything like that?

SPEAKER_03 4:54

Great question. I'd say so. I uh I lived in those houses. I lived with the girls there that are still in there, and so there's always that relationship that is unlike no other. Like we went through so many trials together and it just has that bond. And so I have one in particular, I know I'm pretty sure you know her, Samantha Vivere Sammy, and she's a senior now, and we have a great friendship. I mean, it was tough at times when we lived in the house together, but now living off just that distance, we have an appreciation towards one another, and I still value our friendship so highly. I still stopped by the office and had a Mr. Inman and Miss Shantae, our staff, and I go to the volleyball games and the basketball games, and they're always like, Gia, Gia, and they come hugging me, and I feel just like so loved and wanted.

SPEAKER_04 5:45

Yeah, I would think just I mean, even just your presence there alone just shows um the younger ones or the ones in high school or whatever, like I'm sure it is just a reminder to them at like look what I can do if I keep going all set. Precisely a lot of times just not even have to say anything, just your presence there alone only speaks more volume than what you even realize.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Thank you. Yeah, I think that that's a good point. I think that people miss the impact and the value of the ministry of presence. You know, just being present. Right. You don't have to say all the right things or do all the right things, you don't have to have the answers. Sometimes it's just being present.

SPEAKER_04 6:25

Most of the time we probably do better off if we just do this uh and just show up and just love. Right, love on, you know. So it's my two cents.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

No, that is a great question, and I think that's something I learned later on is at Stoke Creek, I kind of was put in a position where I was on a pedestal and a lot of the younger kids looked at me, looked up towards me for just inspiration. And at the time, I was young, I was a senior, and I was like, I kind of felt that pressure of being the quote unquote poster child.

SPEAKER_04 7:00

And it's a lot of pressure, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Right. But it's not a negative thing. At first, I think I was painting it as a negative thing in my head, but then it came to where I realized like this is such a good opportunity to use this platform that just somehow came to me and use it for a positive impact, showing these kids that you can overcome trials, and it's so much more impactful when you can say, like, look what I've overcome in spite of what's happened to me instead of look what I've let happen to me. Absolutely, right. And so that's why I encourage kind of just leading by example. Maybe sometimes I won't reciprocate me talking to them precisely, but just leading by example of what, like, hey, I'm living proof that you're gonna be okay. And I owe a lot of that to Still Creek, right? And just the people there, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Man, that's so it's like I told you, she's so well spoken. She's just a bright light. And Molly, your smile's just lighting up this room. So tell us a little bit about you, what you're going through now, where you're at now, and what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

So I'm currently a junior at Texas AM. I'm a sociology major, which I didn't think I would end up liking as much as I do, but I really do like it. And it actually helped me get the position that I have at the ranch right now. So I get to work as the whole whole child coordinator. So it's been really awesome. I get to work with the kids and help them to just set goals for their future, and kind of like what we were talking about with Gia, just the concept of showing them that they are capable of doing difficult and challenging things, and that because they've faced hard things before and overcome them, that they can overcome more hard things. Right. That they have that resilience. Right. And just having someone there to be like, hey, I believe that the Lord's gonna bring you to a point where you can do this. And like what we were talking about, her presence there, they see um, they say, Oh wow, Gia went into college, she can do college, right? And not just any college, yeah. Texas and exactly, yeah. And then they see her making friends and getting involved with the church and just everything, and they just see, you know, I just think it's really cool to have that example there. And but so I get to work at the ranch and I love just getting to work with the kids. Um, like we talked about, my dad is the headmaster out there, so I get to live right down the road from my dad, which is awesome. And I live right across the lawn from Gia. I usually just tell people that she's my roommate because that's a pretty easy way to say that. Sums it up, but also my bestie, my sister in Christ. So, but it's just awesome. Just kind of living the college life right now and getting to be involved with the church, and yeah, it's just been really awesome. Good.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, you mentioned the whole child thing. Yes, sir. And when did we start that? Was it four years ago, maybe? Five, two?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

I think it was just like three years ago. 2022. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

It's not been very long, but I love that program. We went down there for training for that. Yes, yeah, it was life-changing. Yeah, it was. It you know, we we have uh uh Child Lives With Us, uh DJ, and it's you know, there's a lot of similarities, you know, and uh it really helped us understand some of the his mannerisms where he interacts and stuff. But since you're coordinating that, why don't you share what the whole child initiative is?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, so the whole child initiative, I would basically just say is focusing on the whole child, and like that sounds so obvious, but getting to dive into all the different areas of a kid's life that maybe you don't always realize they need guidance or just help seeing that structure. So we get to dive into emotional health, physical health, spiritual health, educational health, and just all these different areas of their life that you might not think that they want, you know, they want a goal for that or something. But we get to sit down with them and over a course of four weeks, it's a four-week process that we go through each one over each semester, and just um setting goals that they come up with and some goals that um staff kind of helps um you know come up with for them that they might need. And we just build tons of like little documents that help us to track and make sure that the kid is being cared for. And I help to coordinate some of the meetings between house parents, teachers, staff, admin, just to make sure that we're all on the same page of like, this is what this kid needs right now. This kid needs maybe this accommodation in the classroom. This kid needs a structured time to get in the Word because if we don't give them a structured time, they're not gonna do it because they don't want to miss out. Right. So even just the small things, just helping them to accomplish the things that they want to see in their life too. Um, but it's just a really good way to turn some of the basic goals of life back to the Lord and helping them to just learn those basic things early on because they're still in middle school, high school, but things that will help them again to be able to look forward, get out of for like survival and fight mode, exactly, and look forward to the future and say, Oh, I can plan for the future because I'm in a safe place. Exactly. Yes, that's huge.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've heard her talk about, you know, just living in that survival or flight.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Yes, you know, and you don't realize it when you're in it, that's what's going on. Yes. But it dictates, it dictates everything around you is about fight or flight and survival. And you don't realize it until you're out of it. Yes, because you haven't known any different. I know no different, right? And so it is a real thing for sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Yeah, we might need to start a whole adult in this year. I'm just saying, like, you know, it's like you everything that you just said, you know, like how many adults, you know, don't you?

SPEAKER_04 12:51

Well, because our generation, this was not a thing. You sucked it up buttercup and went on about your life. And there wasn't there wasn't the opportunities. There, there it wasn't talked about. There was there just wasn't it just wasn't discussed, you know. You did what you had to do and you just you just kept on going and you made the best out of it. There is some, I would say there's some good that can come out of that as well, because you you do you have to learn to be resilient and things like that. But if there's a whole nother route that you can take that helps you to realize that you do have options even when you feel like you don't, and there's ways to learn how to cope with these things and how to move forward, you just that would be amazing. Yes, so many adults would need that, I think.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yeah, I think it does that that whole child initiative, it does still build a huge resilience in in kids because they're still going through a lot. Oh, yeah, a lot. And uh seeing it firsthand, also have I've had a lot of conversation with James, you know, about the stresses that he feels with that and the turmoil that can be there, but also how if we stick it through the relationships and the bonds that are made as you go through that process, you know, and there's so many I don't know if trauma bonding is the right thing to say, but it's almost like you all you're all going through this through this turmoil thing, and you end up bonding over that, but allowing them the mechanisms to be able to work through it in a healthy way, yes, you know, and I don't know, yeah, I'm everybody's gonna be sick of me saying this, but I'm on the Pinocchio kick. Bring it up every single show. Every single show. But here's the thing, right? What he had to do was he had to go to the dark and the deep and face the monster face on, you know, head on, and overcome, right? And so it's like people in our generation and have never really had that, so you just bury it down deep inside. Well, the more that you bury that stuff, when you get older, it comes out all the time. You don't realize how it's coming out, but it comes out in ill-placed habits or anger. Anger or whatever. And so being able to allow kids to be able to process that, it doesn't do away with the anger, it doesn't do away with that stuff right then, but it it it gives them an outlet to address it, you know, and face that monster then before the monster gets too big. Right. You know, yeah, and uh take that head on, and it shows them a process of how to do that ongoing, you know. Maybe it saves them from addiction in the future.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Maybe it saves them some from some sort of uh self-destructive, maybe it serves them saves them from being a workaholic. Yeah, I don't know. That's my advice.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah. And like I'll tell you, it's even whole child for the kids is as much for the adults as it is for the kids.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Because it gives you a context to the things that they're going through and maybe why behaviors are showing up the way that they are. So it's just very helpful because sometimes whenever I'm sitting with some of the um some of the other staff members, it's we're coming up with a goal for the kid, yes, but then it's like this is also a goal for us to be checking in with the kid and holding them accountable and helping them to overcome maybe this thing that they're struggling with. So like it's just one of those things where it's like it's for the kid, but those goals are also there to keep us accountable to like to caring for that kid and being like knowledgeable of what they're going through at that time.

unknown 16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Well, you know, I know that when we went through it, I guess it was three years ago. It was it was for you know uh for us to understand what we were initiating at the school, it was for our own household. But I mean to tell you, we got so much out of it retrospectively.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Oh. Yeah, it just kind of all made sense.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Yeah, it just kinda all made sense then.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Right, you know, so it can be healing for the for the adult, so it's almost like the whole child slash adult. Right. The initiative, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

And like you were saying, whole adult. I went through whole child when I was a resident, when I was in high school, sophomore, junior, and senior year, and I don't necessarily do the whole child initiative anymore, but I did it so much that it was a practice that I carry with me in my life right now as a young adult. But I've developed the discipline to learn how to assess those aspects of my life myself, or learn how to communicate it with other people to help me kind of see maybe things that I'm not missing that I'm missing. And so I think it helps. I really hope that the kids through with Molly and the staff can learn how to discipline themselves and they can care about these aspects of their lives when they're a young adult, when there's not necessarily a staff member to do it for them, but they can learn how to goal set for themselves, analyze where they are right now in the physical, spiritual, mental aspect, and then set goals accordingly.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

So and structure is a huge thing that brings a lot of structure, and a lot of times just if you can just get some structure to a child or to a situation and let that be your starting point, that can help so much in just developing structure. So then, yeah, do you take that on into your adult situations and stuff? And even if you just have to back it up and be like, okay, let me just get back to the basics and just get to the structure, and that it just can open up so much in its in itself. I don't think we realize how important structure is. Without structure, there's a chaos, right? It's chaos in your life, it's chaos on your mind, your spirit, everywhere it's just chaos, and then that's gonna come out in anger and tantrums and eating disorders and just all kinds of things that um so I think structure issues. I think that brings um the whole child, you know, starts with with the structure. But so how old were you when you came to story?

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Yeah. I mean, if I can maybe I'll go ahead and just say my testimony. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

I personally have not really heard the whole story. Okay, so I'm excited, I'm waiting for this.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yes, I'm glad. And a testimony is quite literally one of the first conversations I have with people, because it's really how I am, the young woman I am today. And so going in college, it's like, where are you from? And it's kind of a complicated answer, but that's where I tie it in and I end up telling them my testimony. So, yes, I'll just go ahead and start from the beginning. Yeah, let's begin to. Yes, of course. Okay, well, I was born to a young mother and father, they were 18 and 20, so they were new to adulthood and new to parenting. And unfortunately, my mother just succumbed to just other mechanisms of coping. She drugs and alcohol, and just the pregnancy was rough, so I've heard. And when I was born, she just was not able and capable to raise me. And so when I was three, my dad was given a hundred percent custody of me. And so ever since then, and since the when I was born, but since then, when he was granted 100% custody of me, he just dedicated his life to providing me a stable upbringing that I was um deprived of from the beginning. And so he just he joined the Marines, he got us out of Chicago, that's where we were staying, that's where they were, they met, that's where I was born, that's where all my family is. He joined the military, and so we got deployed or he got stationed to Hawaii, Honolulu, mm-hmm. And it was just the iconic father-daughter duo. I didn't know anything else. I just knew my dad is a single parent, and he was just my role model, my idol, just this macho man who um saved me from just a negative influence that my mom had and just raised me to be a woman. He definitely instilled some of those like marine core values like respect on, right? But he was raising me to be a respectable child, right? And so we're moving around. I am the new girl in school every two years because he's getting deployed. It's just a notion I'm all too familiar with because I mean, we have an impending end date, an impending due date, but before he has to move to another military base. And so At first it was hard to go into a new environment knowing that you're not gonna be there for the rest of your life. You come with the question of like, is it even worth investing in? Is it even worth making relationships? But I soon realized that I am a relational person. And so it was much easier to make friends than to not for the two years that I was there. So um I can remember in every single place that I lived in, there was always that one person who went out of their way to extend me a welcome. And so that was that in turn plays to some further things. Now, when I was around 11, that's when my dad started talking to another woman. So now it was him and I my whole life, and then suddenly a mother figure comes into play. Um, something I'm not used to. I didn't have a mother figure, I wasn't um very respectable to mother authorities or woman authority for that matter, teachers. I was having a hard time just being respectful and obeying instructions from any type of woman authority, whether that's a teacher, student, counselor, a principal, somebody who was babysitting me. I was just being um sandoffish, held them at arm's length. So then when this new woman comes into our lives, she actually isn't a new woman, she's um my mother's cousin. Yes. So her and my her and my mom are cousins, their dads are brothers, and so I grew up knowing her as my aunt. Yes, and I grew up knowing my cousins as my boy cousins, and then suddenly they start seeing each other romantically, they get married, and so suddenly my aunt becomes my stepmom, my cousins become my stepbrothers, and now we're in this new blended family. Um at first I wanted to be like the cookie cutter cutter stereotypical, like I finally have a mother, right? A mother-daughter relationship that I see were painted in television shows and movies, but it was like that for the beginning, the honeymoon phase. Right, but then living in a blended family, then that's when all the problems started to arise. Same thing. I was just not reciprocative of any of her um attempts to make a relationship with me. I had this negative filter over my eye saying that like she was gonna be my mother, she was gonna hurt me like my mother, they're from the same family. Like I why can ex why can I expect different results? Why didn't my dad marry into the same family? All these things. And so, same things. I kept her as at arm's distance, I just was not reciprocative, and my father and her were kind of in a in a standpoint where she was the head of the household, that she was the money maker, the breadwinner, whatever she said went. My dad was submissive in that aspect. Yes, and he wasn't doing his part of being the man of the house, the head of the household. And so um he just led gave all the parenting to her. And I think it was mostly because he never had a co-parent. And so now that he's married, he finally has somebody to raise.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

It feels like he can kind of take that load off her a little bit and pass it on to someone else not realizing the potential damage that was that happened.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Yes, ma'am, thank you. And so if I wasn't getting along with my stepmom, then I it was go time for me. And so that's when I was about 15 years old, a sophomore in high school, when we had just been we reached to a point where like she was done trying to make connections with me. I was still hella had so much walls up against her, and that's when they started looking for alternative places for me to live. Now, I wasn't smoking, I wasn't partying, I wasn't drinking, I just did not want anything to do with women in general, and so that's when we started looking for places for me to live. Now, Chicago wasn't an option, I couldn't go back to my birth mom. I didn't want my dad didn't want me to live in that city anymore. And so that's when they found Silkig Ranch, a therapeutic boarding school. And so when I was 15, I made the big jump from California, San Diego, all the way to Bryan Curtin, Texas, in the middle of nowhere. I had never been to Texas before, and you can imagine the California and Texas the differences. Now, if I know you've said it before, but I love saying this part that Silkick Ranch is a therapeutic boarding school taking children from crisis to new creation. Now, crisis situations fall in that category of adverse childhood experiences, the aces, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and then everything that falls in between. They analyze this the situation where the kid is in, the home environment, and if they are experiencing them, we come take them in and we give them a stable home, giving those basic water, food, shelter, and then going beyond by giving them relationships. We raise them in a Christian household. So here I am. I'm in a new household full of seven other girls being raised by a mother and father figure who are rooted under Christ, raising us under Christ, something I was not used to. I'm learning how to live amongst other people, and then also learning how to be a positive member of a family, learning how to contribute.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

All at 15.

SPEAKER_03 27:35

All at 15. All at 15. Which is already hard. It's already a hard being in high school, just figuring out all the things. Are we good on time? I okay. I see y'all.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

I'm watching you.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

Okay, okay, yes, ma'am. And so I go into Stoke Creek and I still have those walls. Now I am the person I I was that I'm talking to you right now. I'm still that friendly, hospitable, but I'm a little bit more reserved. My house mom, she is just doing all these things to welcome me and to make me feel loved. I'm just cordial and respectful, but I didn't want to make any further relationship just saying, hi, good morning.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

Probably also too, I'm sorry, but probably also too in the back of your mind, you're used to moving every two years. Right. You're used to being somewhere for a couple of years and moving on. So subconsciously, you probably were thinking, I'm not gonna be here too long anyway. Right. You know, I don't know if that ever, if that ever came up, I would think, right being patterned, you know, for that many years though that many moves, that subconsciously you would be like, God, I want to be all in. I don't know how long I'm gonna be here.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Right. I'd say that's accurate. I'd say that's accurate. Now, my father and stepmother sent me to still click with the notion that it was my fault, that I was the reason why there was um it wasn't working out in our blended family, that I was the one who needed correction, therapy, counseling. But a relationship is a two-way road, but it was just me. And so they sent me there to fix myself. Yes. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And so I'm there and I'm just going through counseling, I'm going through school, I'm going to church for the first time consistently, and I'm looking around all these women in the form of a house mom, in the form of a teacher, in the form of just friends, just girls my age, and I'm like, why are these women pursuing me? Why are these people coming back to love on me after I reject them every single time? After sometimes I was ugly to them, and yet they kept coming back. Now, the moment I was ugly to my stepmom, she was done. She didn't want to invest in me anymore. And she took that as discouragement and she was done. But I discouraged these women here at Still Creek, and yet they still kept pursuing me, and I could not wrap my mind around like, why is this? Like, I thought all women were the same. I why are they choosing to invest in me as opposed to all the other um girls and boys who are open to a relationship? And so that's when my gears started turning. I'm like, what is different about these people? Why are they like this? Why do they have such a joy on their face when I'm rude to them? And so I'm 15, and then eight months into my stay at Still Creek, I'm 16 now, a young 16-year-old. I got the opportunity to go on to one of our trips. It's called On River Time. I'm sure you've heard it. Yes. It's an organization based out in Alabama, and they take a select number of children from children's homes. We have ours here in Texas, and we have two over there in Mississippi and one in Alabama. And I'm only here for eight months, and Mr. Inman and Miss Shantae decide to take me, and I'm like, why me? I haven't invested in Sult Creek, but they invested in me. And so I'm on this trip of a lifetime, wondering why me of all people are there, wondering why people are are loving me and having such um interests in me. And that's when I break down telling them, like, I can't, as much as I try to go counseling and do over-the-phone counseling with my parents, it's just not working. Like everything I'm doing to fix myself, like my parents aren't seeing any change in me. I'm trying to see change, but it's not happening. And that's when women of all people come to me and tell me, like, Gia, it's not you who can change things. It's not you who can fake yourself, it's the Lord. And so on June 3rd, when I was there that summer, I prayed the prayer to give my life to the Lord, and I just declared my life for Him, saying, I don't want to live like this anymore. It's not me who's trying to fix it, it's you. And so I gave all of that off my shoulders, and it was just a relief. And I um, you know, I felt loved and I prayed it in the hands of a another woman. She was a young adult, she was like maybe five years older than me, and I just felt this release. And now after that, I come running to Mr. Inman that morning, like, I gave my life to the Lord, and he was like, Let's baptize you right now in the river. And I was like, actually, like, I don't know about the river. We were in Idaho at the time.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Yeah, that'd have been cold. That'd have been real cold.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Right, but just a joy. Yeah, and you can ask him about it too. You can ask all the on-river time staff. Now, at this moment, I'm 16, and I mean, as you know, just become declaring your faith publicly doesn't mean everything is automatically fixed. Oh, yeah, doesn't mean life is just cupcaking rainbows, it's just my perspective changed.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

Scales were removed.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Right, right. That negative filter that I had over my eyes, the Lord just revealed it to me and just took away all that anger and pain um in that moment. And he was able to give me a wisdom of understanding, like, Gia, it's not you. Your parents had a part to play in this as well. Let's work on this together.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Hey, we look forward to hearing your feedback and your ideas, like uh even merch ideas. Yeah. Things you might like to see on a shirt.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

Yeah, if we've saved something on here, like, you know, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Awesome. Send us your ideas if you got something you'd like to see or something that triggers for you, and uh just send us the idea. We're we're open to it, and like I said, we're leaving this out thing out loud.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

That's right, that's right. And we want you to be along on the journey with us, and uh, we want it to always be an open forum and always be communicational. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.