Thank you, Emmanuel, for inviting me to be here and sharing on your platform today. It is a pleasure. I am the founder and CEO of Vibrant Living International. And at its core, I want to help people live vibrantly. Well, what does that mean? Well, that is really different for each individual and what God has called them to do. But at its core, it's living from a place of purpose, peace without pressure, confidence without fear, and a peace that is it's that inner peace that isn't determined about circumstances. I am an author and a speaker. I am also a podcaster. And uh I'm a mom, a grandmother, uh, and a wife of 41 years, and I just love to help people grow and excel and uh enjoy life.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. I like that vibrant. What what comprises vibrant? How do you know somebody's vibrant?
SPEAKER_01Well, how do you know you're vibrant? That's the answer. It isn't my answer for you. It's your answer that matters. So when I was saying vibrancy is different for different people and what their what their values are, what's important to them, but it's really aligning to me. It's aligning with God's purpose, with what he has called us to do, what he has purposed for us to do, using and discovering our gifts that he's placed in us. You know, he doesn't hide things from us, he hides things for us. And when we discover that we're on a treasure hunt of all the things that he has for us in life, life becomes quite an adventure.
SPEAKER_00I like hearing that the treasure hut of us private life also great insights. We've heard about the vibrant living. Obviously, if we to start the vibrant living, there must have been a man, supernatural one who inspired you, Jesus Christ. Would you like to share with us how you made him and how it came to influence uh you study the vibrant living international?
SPEAKER_01Well, I have had a relationship with God since I was a child. So um when I actually was introduced to him as a child, I I recall a definite experience with him when I was twelve, and but God has always been a part of my life, and he is my source, he is my strength and my joy.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful, thank you so much. And is it important to share with the others the gospel? Why should believers never settle down until they have spoken the gospel to other people?
SPEAKER_01I understand the word must, but to me it's not a must that I must do. It comes out of my relationship with him, whether I actually speak a word or not. Someone that comes with my vicinity, even in a zoom room, feels the presence of God, feels peace, joy, and hope. And so I do I share the gospel because of my love and relationship with God. Not something that I must do, that it's a uh I must do the dishes kind of a thing. It's out of a joy of that relationship and people see the hope in me.
SPEAKER_00You just described the fruit of the Holy Spirit. How do we grow? Yeah, how do we grow the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_01Do you think it's our responsibility to grow it?
SPEAKER_00That's a good question. No.
SPEAKER_01So how do we become more more fruitful? Is a great question. And I think I would word it that way. And it's abiding. So many times we have a to-do list, but we don't have a uh abiding list, if you will, of spending be still and know that I am God. And at the end of the day, we all have was this day a good day? We have some kind of measuring stick, we have some way that says this was a good day. I accomplished X, Y, Z. This happened, or this wasn't a good day because this happened. But what if the way you measured your life was a grace or peace metric? What if how much did I stay abiding? How much did I spend the entire day, irregardless of circumstances? How much did I stay in grace and peace? How much did I abide that day? If that was your metric, the fruit is guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much. Something new here. Abiding list. I'd never heard of this ever since I was born. Yeah. What has been on your abiding list today? Sorry, uh, just in case you find it is okay to share.
SPEAKER_01If it's not, just well, first of all, abiding list makes it sound like uh a to-do list. And I never approach spending time with God as a to-do list. I look forward to that, what that looks like. And because it's a relationship, it can look different every day. I've been married 41 years, as I said. And having I don't have a to-do list to spend time with my husband. I kissed him today. Check. You know, I made him food today. Jack, it's not that. And so when we look at our relationship with God as a checklist, it becomes a discipline, not a pleasure to do. It becomes a ritual. It became so learning my spending time with God is something that I look forward to. I have a special chair that I sit in and I have a candle. That's mine. I I love to light a candle in the early morning and no other light on, just a candle and me and reading and writing and whatever that might look like for me. But it's and it's not just that period of time, whatever that is in the morning. It's learning to abide all day long. We started this recording with prayer. That's an example of abiding. Before I hop on every call and I talk with people international every single week. And it is learning to spend that time of uh it only takes a few seconds to focus on him, to give him preeminence. That's learning how to abide continually, no matter what the circumstances may bring.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much. And uh, for many people who may be very new to uh these terms, uh somebody is new to Christianity, they don't even know what abiding is. What would you say to them now?
SPEAKER_01I think uh using what I said as a relationship, what do you do with your best friend? You spend time with them, you talk with them, so that's part of it. And spending time in his word is always part of it. Spending time in the word and um but as a letter to you of what he's saying to you, not as a checklist. I read my devotional today, check and surrounding yourself with people that have the same interests so that you can learn how to grow because we are like the people we surround ourselves with. And if you're new to have a relationship with God, you probably need to change some of your friends, most of us do, and grow in who you surround yourself with and who is speaking into your life.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much. And before we go very far, it would be nice to let the people know the books you've written, uh the name of the podcast, and your website, where to find all those.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01The key to transform your life is the book that I am sharing publicly. I have some other ones, but that's one that I'm still promoting. The other ones, I'm probably going to begin to rewrite them. And the key to transform your life is a 30-day devotional of understanding how the power of your words and it gives you 30 days of different declarations based on the word of God, because in Romans 12, 2, it says, uh, transform your mind, the renewing of your mind. And to do that, I need to think different thoughts, speak different words, and focus on different things. Most of the things you also have have been asking me is the things to do or the things that hinder us. If we focus on the things that can hinder us are not going well, instead of just focusing on who God told me to be, if I focus on sin, and I'm going to use a natural example, if I am trying to diet and I don't want to eat a chocolate chip cookie, but I have a chocolate chip cookie in the kitchen. And I continue to say, I'm not going to eat that cookie. I'm not going to eat that cookie. I'm not going to eat that cookie. I'm focused on that cookie. And what do you think by the end of the day I've eaten that cookie? And so most of the time we focus on what we don't want instead of really focusing on who God has called us to be. And that is one of the biggest differences for me for abiding. Back to my website. My website is the letter I, vibrantliving.com. On there, you can find ways to talk to me to get further support, as well as upcoming events and resources, my podcast, other things that are available, my blog that are available on that. And again, it is I, the letter I, vibrantliving.com. My podcast is called the Vibrant Living Podcast. Do you see a theme here? Uh so that is uh there available on YouTube as well as on all the uh the podcast platforms.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. And uh maybe we would like to, we are getting close to our end, and we talked about shining God's light uh to the world, and somebody out there needs an encouragement on how they can overcome the challenges of the world or are there challenges anyway? And some people when they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal savior, they don't expect challenges. When they receive challenges, then they tend to fail. Yes. So uh what would be your encouragement to these people? But but before you speak, why is it important to connect with Jesus? From the very time he came, he came as the light of the world. Many people today had underestimated the value of Jesus until the 21st century, when the world's leadership, the world's great leaders, and those that are in the middle, and those that maybe people think are not the greatest systems are failing because they have undermined he who should breathe into them so that they live and so that they establish justice. So time is coming, they are also going to be phased out because they have not revealed God's plan. So it shows the evidence that Jesus is actually the Prince of Peace as the scripture represents him. So that's why it's critical, it's important that we present this Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord and the head of the church and the head of every person, he is the creator, and there is no doubt about that. But here the question to you was somebody out there, they have a longing to connect with Jesus because they think he's gonna solve their problem. But there are many challenges. So, what should they expect and how can they overcome?
SPEAKER_01Well, with the challenges, if you want to go check out my story, the challenges that I have faced in my life, the thing that is uh a joy to say is God is faithful, no matter what the challenges that we face in our life, He is faithful. But the thing that you ask me regarding the thing you ask me about disappointment, when things, you know, all of a sudden I've accepted God in my life, He's my Lord and Savior, and everything's supposed to be a bed of roses, if you will, and everything's supposed to go smoothly, and then when life doesn't go that way, we can get disappointed. Even if we don't expect it to be easy, disappointment still hits us all. We expect it to be one way and it turns out another. It is one of the number one deterrents for continuing in faith is how to handle disappointments. One of the biggest keys is staying in the world. When you get discouraged, you usually withdraw. And instead of pursuing that. So the question I ask people that I work with: do you have a relationship with God to get the things that you're praying for? Or do you have a relationship with God because it's a relationship and what he is and who he is, the magnificence of who Jesus and God is. So is he our part in this kind of crass statement? Is he the tool to make my life better? Or is he my Lord? And when we understand that there is a difference, and we can slip into praying so I can get my needs met, or am I spending time with God because he's the treasure? He's the treasure of my life. And it's really subtle how we can slip into that. But as long as he's the treasure and you begin to taste and see that he is good, and it is amazing and marvelous, and all of those things, then the things of this world get dim, as the old hymn says, and you begin to see things in a new light. And it's what I call kingdom spiritual intelligence. It's living from my spirit out. Instead of living as a human, fighting circumstances, trying to survive, and barely getting through life. There's a big difference and learning how, and that's one of the keys to vibrant living.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much. Uh, what else would you say if we're given one final word before we close? Jesus loves you. Amen. Thank you. Uh loves you too. Thank you. It's been a pleasure hosting you on the Ministry of Reconciliation podcast. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01You're welcome.