The LUVE Episode - Matt & Christina Hjort

Matt and Christina Hjort join us this episode to talk about the attitude of competitiveness, fishing, and home improvement! Then we dive into marriage, relationships, surrender, and how you can access marriage coaching here at HighPoint Church.
If you're interested in marriage coaching, click here!

Transcript

0:15

Hello, and welcome to the Testimony Tag Teams podcast. I'm Charlie, your host, and I'm here with my beautiful wife and tag team partner, Valerie. Thank you, and hello everyone. Despite the name, this podcast is not about professional wrestling. That's correct. It's a podcast about glorifying God through stories from the lives of his followers. We're here for real stories, conversations, and a few laughs. So let's share a metaphorical cup of coffee or any other enjoyable beverage. As we tag in our next guest. As our next guests wait patiently. We want to remind you, our faithful listeners, all five of you, that you are invited to share your story with us. As a warning, if we don't have a guest to interview, we will be forced to discuss our latest obsession through hiking the Appalachian Trail. It could get weird if we start talking about cat holes. You should definitely look that up. All right. And today we have with us on what I'm titling the love episode. L-U-V-L-U-V-E. We have uh Matt and Christina Huort. And welcome, welcome, guys. How are you today? Thank you. Great. Thank you for having us. All right. So now that we've introduced our illustrious guests, we're going to now have them step up to the large wheel, as they all they're very now. They can be my witness that there is no large wheel in this room. Well, we're we're gonna we're building a picture here, folks. And uh so picture the price is right wheel, and that's exactly what it is. In tiny electronic version. All right, and here we go with the for the taggurate segment. Here's our question. Okay. I just it took a second for it to load up. Oh okay. So this is we're gonna kind of go around the room. So are you competitive or just happy to be here? So, Matt, how about you start us off? Are you a com real competitive guy when it comes to I don't know, sports or games or I am competitive. Yeah. Yeah. I used to be a lot more competitive. I played a little semi-pro football 30 years ago. So but yeah, I I am competitive, but with that said, I'm very happy to be here though. Okay, good, good, good, good. That's a good answer. How are you, Christina? I can tend to be a little bit competitive. I used to compete in, you know, in weightlifting. And I also, when I joined the military, I had to join the Marine Corps. You know, you had to go for the gusto. So I can be a little bit competitive, but I'm very happy to be here. I'm less competitive as I age. I would say that too, as I age. Okay. All right. I agree with that. I can definitely be competitive. I like to do a lot of smack talk. Even if I know I'm gonna lose, I like the smack talk. That's what I'm really there for. Yeah. But you know, I think as I've gotten older, like winning is not as much fun. Right. I think I tend to think I'm not a competitive person. You know, I play a lot of board games, as I've mentioned on the podcast before. And you know, I I'm typically I typically don't care if I win, but it's more just like, can I make something cool happen? And and I'm playing. But but I think I can have my moments depending on who's around me or what the context is. If my brother's around, I might get a little more competitive or you know, a little more smack talk, like we're just saying. So it just kind of maybe depends on who's around. But uh, but uh as you guys said, I'm also happy to be here. All right. So we'll we're gonna go. So this is our first, our first episode where we've had more than one guest. So we're gonna kind of go around the room a little bit more and make sure we have give everybody a chance to talk. But first, let's uh kind of a little more introduction to our guests. But Matt, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? I mean, where'd you grow up and what are you up to now? Okay, yeah, I'm right here from good old Polk County, Florida. Went to Bartow High School, graduated in '94, started a family young, worked at the mines for a while, 12 years, and God eventually brought me my beautiful wife, Christina. And it has been a great journey ever since then. We've been married 12 years, and I've started a small lawn mowing company in that time. And so yeah, it just we love serving here at High Point. Love you guys, uh, and the coaching that God has blessed us with. I'm sure we'll get into a little bit more of that. Yeah, yeah. 100% Christina? So I am 54 years old. I was born in San Diego, California, and my mom well, she met a Marine and we moved across the country to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and lived there for a few years until my dad moved us down to Florida. And I've been here since I was twelve. And anyways, I I followed in my dad's footsteps. I went into the Marine Corps for a few years, and then I I came got out and came home and living life and just you know, doing my thing. And then I finally met Matthew and been happily ever after since. It's a it's a pleasure to serve at High Point and just to have this church family here and to be coaching and you know, just following the footsteps, you know, of the Lord and in our ministry. So anyway, I'm just glad to be here. Very cool. All right, and so what what are some things y'all like to do, maybe together or separately, just just in just for fun, maybe outside of ministry or outside of work. Yeah, I love to fish. I'm in I'm into the whole tournament bass fishing thing. And that's where the competitive spirit comes in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, actually, I was just fixing to say that too. You asked about competitiveness, and when I first started with it four years ago, I was ultra competitive, you know, wanted, you know, on the water all the time, wanted to learn everything. But as I am getting older though, I do yeah, it the just the experience, just to be out there on the water and enjoying just the minute by minute experience instead of it being just all about the end game, you know, whether I went or what did I learn that day? So that that has been a journey for me because I'm not used to being that way. Yeah. So I think it's coming with age, a little bit slowing down. It's gonna be a theme. Yeah. Age. It's gonna be a theme. Yeah, I'll be 50 in June or next month. So it's I'm starting to experience some new things. Yeah. Sounds like it was when you first got into it, it was maybe like the rush of you know, winning, and now maybe it's more about like relaxing and enjoying the moment kind of thing. Exactly. Very cool, very cool. All right, Christina, so there's anything you like to do or you know, just outside of work or ministry? Or yeah. I I am so busy with work and ministry. You know, like when is there a time? But when I do have downtime, I actually love home improvement. Okay. So I've done a lot of home improvement projects, you know, just painting and decor and things like that. So that's probably my passion. If I was gonna have time to do anything, I would be pouring my time into decor. What's a project? There's there's a lot of HGTV. What's like one thing you want to do a project on right now? If you had the time and the resources. Oh, I would love to do my stairwell. Okay. There is some really old, ugly Berber carpet on the stairwell. I'm dying. Oh my gosh, I'm dying to rip it off and then, you know, do a feature wall on the stairwell, you know, on the on the um what is it? Where you the landing. Yeah, the landing. Yeah. So I would love to do the stairwell. Anybody wants to help me with the home improvement project? You're more than welcome to come over. Come hit us up. Yes. All right, cool. All right. Now we have another very important question that we ask all our guests, and that is determines how the interview's gonna go today. Yeah, pressure's all. Yeah, pressure for real. This is where it all starts, people. Um so how addicted to coffee are you? So you know, I never even drank coffee before I met Christina. Oh, okay. And now I would say I'm semi uh addicted. Okay, not not fully, not quite yet, but I I do like it though. Okay, great. I'm a coffee pusher. Yes. I drink all kinds of coffee. So yeah, I I drink coffee every day. Uh yeah, we're both established addicts, but yeah, you know, speaking of coffee pusher, I'm a fancy coffee pusher. Yeah. Before Charlie met me, he was like, oh, like a black coffee plain creamer. I'm over here, like, no, we gotta do a latte and get some oat milk in there and get it going. And um, I drink the bougie coffee. Charlie, I do do the good stuff. Yeah, coffee, coffee and sushi. That's what I introduced myself to. Try not together, though. No, no, no. That'd be great. No, that'd be rough. All right, cool, very cool. We uh appreciate you know getting to know our our guests, and you guys happen to be friends of ours, but uh you know, we like to uh you know give our audience a little bit more of an insight into who you guys are. Sure. But so let's talk first, let's uh let's talk about a little bit more about how you guys met. So what's what's the story there? How did you guys meet? You want me to start? Yeah, go ahead. Okay, so Christina and I both went through some pretty pretty nasty divorces. Yeah. And so, you know, I I went through a divorce and I stayed single for three and a half years. And I told the Lord, I was like, Lord, if you ever want me to be married again, you're gonna have to bring her. Because I my my my bro I have a younger brother, and he was in the dating scene, and I was kind of watching some of that play out, and I'm like, I don't want nothing to do with that. So, and uh, so I but I did, I wanted to surrender and I wanted to do things right, you know. So I stayed single, I stayed true to that, and so I was I would go to the gym, I would go to work, go to the gym after work and basically come home pretty much every day. And so I met Christina at gym, at the gym and at church, the church that we both happened to be going to in Winterhaven at that point. And so when we first met, you know, it was kind of just a hey, how you doing, you know, little conversations, you know, how's your weekend kind of thing, you know, and then just go back to working out. And it went that way for about a year. And so then fast forward, what do you have anything to add? You're doing great. Go ahead, babe. So a lot of details in between. There was a weekend where she invited me to go to the movie theater, the church that we were going at. They rented out a whole theater for what was the name? What was the Son of God? The Son of God movie. And so she invited me to go and I I didn't show up. Oh, you set her up? Yeah, I well, it wasn't a complete, it was an invitation to sit with her in a group. With a group. Oh, yeah. It was a group anyway. Anyway, so I didn't I didn't make it. So but I was nervous though, you know, because I'm like I said, I've been single for three years, and I'm like, you know, I don't so anyway. So that Monday we see each other again at the at the gym, and you know, she comes over and we have a little conversation. Oh, that was the movie, she loved it and all. And so I I go to walk away from her, and the Holy Spirit said to me, I mean, just as loud as I'm speaking to you now, I'm walking away, we're in the gym. There's there's probably a couple of hundred people in there, and I hear him say, 'It's okay, son, go ahead.' And I stop in the middle of the gym and I'm looking up at the ceiling. People probably think I'm an idiot. And I'm talking to God in the gym, and I'm like, God, are you sure? He's like, Yes, son, go ahead. It's okay. So, man, I'm I made a beeline back for her. We talked, I asked her for her number, a lot of details in between, but we have been together every day since. Wow. And I didn't know that marriage could be this way. I would just say that. I really didn't. I didn't know that there were women like this out there still. It's been it's been amazing. I have a wonderful husband. Oh, that's great. 12 years of marriage, a year of dating, yeah, four kids. When she brought in two, I brought in two, and they're all roughly the same age. Yeah, we're a blended family. Yeah. So I just have to say this though. I was so glad that he did not show up to that movie. Oh. I cried. Cried. I mean, like the lady next to me was like handing me tissue. And I'm thinking, oh, thank goodness Matthew didn't come to this movie. I do remember her saying that to me too. It was so good. It was so good. So wait, Christina, were there intentions that were you were like, oh, like I hope he comes and hangs out with me? Were you interested in him? Valerie. I heard I heard Matt's side. I want to hear your side. Yeah, I mean, I was I was always looking for him in the gym. And I was, you know, happy to see him at church. And yeah, it was a casual group invitation to the movie. Gotta test it out. Yeah, test the waters. But um, anyway, it all worked out. You know, God purposed us to be together. So He did. He did. I will ha I have to say this before we got before we got together. I I had I had my surrender moment, right? Okay. I have been, you know, in the trenches and you know, went through divorce. And I just wanted to, I didn't I wanted to be pleasing to God. I didn't want to go through that anymore. And I had my surrender moment where I just I said, Lord, you know, whatever you want. If it's your will for me to just be single, you know, that's what I'll do. Whatever you want me to do. Well, not too long after that, I really felt the prompting of the Lord to start making a list. Like, what do you want in a partner, you know, in somebody that you are married to or share your life with? See, you know, I start this list, and at first it's, you know, the broad things, like, oh, I want them to be funny and a Christian and handsome, you know. But as time went by, my list got longer and longer, even to the point that I had said I wanted a six foot two man with blue eyes, and I wanted him to like have the bald head and everything. And I I've always loved having my nails done, right? So I was like, whoever it's gonna be with has to like like be okay with me getting my nails done. So the first date we went on, he reached over and he was like, Wow, your nails are so pretty. And I was like, Thank you, Lord. I like her nails. She loves her nails. So it was just awesome because the Lord had prompted me to do that. And as we were dating, I just went through that list, you know, for each date. And it just seemed like the checks kept coming. And and it just was so nice because I felt like the Lord had blessed me with that and just gave me confirmation and a peace of mind whenever we started dating that he was the one. So Yoko said that you kind of had surrender moments like post-divorce, pre-meeting each other. What did that look like? A surrender moment. My surrender moment, well, I had a small surrender moment when I say that, you know, I asked the Lord, you know, if you ever want me to be married again, you're gonna have to bring her. But my surrender moment, the biggie actually came probably about three years into the marriage. This is gonna this may sound funny, and I don't tell a lot of people this stuff because some people may think it's weird or whatever, but but I I remember I was just I was sitting on the couch. We were already married at this time, and and I just felt the Lord like just prompting me to get on my knees and to pray. So I went into our bedroom and everybody else was, you know, doing their thing in the house. It was and I think the kids were already in bed or whatever. So I I remember getting on my my knees on the bed and just kind of just pouring my spirit out to the Lord and just was curious of what it was that he was wanting, you know, wanting at that at that. I was a little confused and so he prompted me to say the word surrender, and I couldn't say it. I don't know what it was. I could not get the word to come out of my mouth. It was like this weird spiritual battle or something that was going on inside of me. So I got up and I walked in the living room and I s I asked Chris, I said, Hey Chris, I I need you to help me with something. And so she came in and we got on our knees again on the bed there, and I said, I need you to help me to say a word surrender, but we we're gonna do it on the count of three. On the on the count of three, I want you to help me. And so I s I said, okay, we're gonna say, you know, Lord, I'd surrender. So I counted to three and she said it with me, and for some reason the words left my mouth at that time. And I'm telling you right now, something hit me so hard spiritually. It didn't hurt or anything like that, but I just remembered that just this love that I felt. It was like man, it felt like Niagara Falls was dumping on me in love and and just I couldn't hold back the tears. It was just it it was it was like this major, major thing that happened in my life, and it it's hard for me to explain. That's the best way that I know to explain it. Yeah. So is that like over a particular situation that came up, or like or is just like a general like letting control letting go of control, I guess? Maybe some of that. I I gotta be honest with you. I I don't really know. I I I believe my theory behind it is that it wasn't too terribly long after that, and we'll I'm sure we'll go into this here in a minute about the coaching. We received a my stepmother had a vision of us living water flowing from us, and it led into this coaching thing. We were offered, it was right before that happened. And I just really believed that God needed me to surrender fully my will to him. I was a believer, now don't get me wrong. I trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins, and I was following him, but this was more of a like a almost like a pushing me into this next chapter of my life kind of thing. And he needed me to surrender some things that I think I was hanging on to some anger issues from past experiences, and you know, we don't have to go into great detail about those. It was just it was some things that I was hanging on to, and it and at the time it it felt good to hang on to them because it felt like you know, like I had control, you know. But when you surrender that, you're giving that control up. And I think God wanted to use that. He's like, just give it to me, kind of thing. Does that make sense? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, I can relate to that, having to let go of anger and and let go of things that, you know, I think we want to make sure everything is gonna be okay, right? We want to control everything we can to to protect ourselves, but uh ultimately we we have to trust in God for protection. And so I I can relate to that for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, my moment, I uh you know, I had done things my way my whole life. I loved the Lord, I pursued a relationship with the Lord, and that's a long story, but you know, I had just gotten to the end of myself and I just I was just decided, I was decided within myself that I was gonna do it God's way. Whatever that looked like, whatever that meant, I was gonna give up my own thoughts, my own ways, and just surrender. And I literally ended up just face down in the prone position, just literally, you know, falling down on you know, on my face on the floor, on my carpet in my bedroom. I'll never forget it. And I just I made a commitment to the Lord. I just said, you know what? This is the moment. I'm I'm going to do your do your will and stop trying to control everything. It is a control thing, you know. I want it my way, or I think that if I control everything, you can, you know, predict the outcome almost, you know. But I just fully surrendered and I almost felt like like the Lord was with me in that moment. Almost like I felt like a warm hug, you know. I'm face down crying prone on the floor and saying, It's I it's your way, Lord. And he was with me. He was with me. And then not too long after that, he sent me Matthew. And I'll never forget, I was talking to him. I was like, Are you sure, Lord? Like I I promised, like, I don't want to do it. And you know, my way. So please just make sure that you know, tell me, show me that this is the direction that you want me to go. And I think that's again, I think that's why he had me make that list, you know, almost like a confirmation, like, it's okay, babe. You're you're you're all right doing this and going forward with this. So it was it was awesome. And that surrender moment that Matthew had, that was just incredible to be a part of. Because before that, I kept telling that. I was like, you have a special gift with men. You are gonna minister to men. I had known it from the moment that I met him, and I kept telling him, I was like, I don't know what the Lord's gonna do or how he's gonna put it in your life or what it's gonna look like, but you're gonna be ministering to men, a lot of men. And I don't know, that surrender moment happened and then it's just been just took off, right? We the marriage coach, I think God's using the marriage coaching right now to kind of fulfill that ministering to men for now. And I don't know what that's gonna lead into. Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah. All right, well, so another question just about about y'all's relationship. I was just curious, what were there any obstacles or anything early in your relationship? Like with dating or or why you're engaged or anything like that. We look up to y'all's relationship, so we just kind of see you guys as perfect. We're anything but perfect. Oh man. Okay, I'll just say this the whole reason why we even have these tools to give to others through our coaching is because we had to go through it ourselves. Absolutely. Yeah, about three years into our marriage, we were I mean, we were having blowout fights every week. I mean, it was it was almost to the point to where it was almost, we were like, I hate to say it, but like questioning God. Like, you know, like look, like I thought you told me this was okay. Uh, you know, and she's I'm sure asking, you know, correct me if I'm wrong about, you know, are you sure he's the one you've said that to me before, you know? And and so we, you know, we we fought through those battles, and it was just a spiritual warfare that was going on previous previous experience. Like I said earlier, I didn't know that there were women still out there like Christina. I remember we had gotten into it really, really bad one time, and and she's so good at just kind of staying calm and level-headed during stuff like that. And me, I mean, the house I grew up in, you could cut the tension with a knife. You know, and then my first relationship was really volatile too on top. So that's what I'm used to, you know. So I just remember just this we had gotten into it really bad one time, and she just kind of sat me down and she said, Matt, look, you don't have to get so angry. It doesn't have to lead to this. We can talk about that, you know, we can we can have a productive conversation about this. And and I don't know what it was, just that time, just just seeing this calm, peaceful, my calm, peaceful wife. And actually, there's a Bible verse on that too about a wife leading can can lead husband who's struggling. The Bible says a non-believing husband. In this case, I was a believer. I just needed growth in what she was good at, right? And being able to have a productive conversation, not letting it get too far dramatic, dramatically, you know what I mean? So just that particular time, I don't know what it is, it's that particular time sticks with me the most. And it was like something changed in me there. I think when we coach, one of our tools is getting in the safety bubble. And she made me feel safe. She it was it was like, oh, okay, we we can we can actually talk through this. I can trust her with my emotions. And whenever I felt that, then that just automatically de-escalated me. Now we can have these discussions, we can have these arguments and and it not go, you know, just World War III, you know what I mean? And then not too long after that, and I can't remember how how did we get Cindy and Dave's info? Do you remember that? I I c I called them. I don't remember where I knew them from, but I think I knew them from church, and I had been given their information from the church that we had been attending at the time. And I just remember calling her up and telling her the vision that our that that Neva had, and then we embarked on the stuff. Oh, okay. Oh, to go through I'm sorry. No, you're good. That's okay. But to uh yeah. Oh, but you mean to go to them and get the help. Well, you know what? This this program that we do, I'm stuttering here. This program that we do is we're so passionate about it because we've lived it. We did it. We had, you know, it it was not easy when you are blending families together and teenagers, teenage, yeah, young, you know, young kids and you're blending and you have all this stuff that you're bringing in, and you can think that you're healed, you know. Oh, I took time from the relationship and I'm healed from my past or whatever. You're still gonna bring it in when you embark on a new relationship. And so when we were having difficulty, I I knew of our mentors and I was able to call them and we got in and got some coaching. But I think that's why we're so passionate about what we do, right? Because it was so effective and it just changed the you know trajectory of our relationship. Absolutely. And we just thought, wow, you know, God has blessed us through this, and we really wanted to pay it forward. And and we are blessed with every single couple that we spend time with. Yeah. I mean, sometimes I think that we get blessed more than they get blessed. But yeah, it's I think it was in like our first experiences through marriage and all that. We were doing things our way. Right. Right. Things we knew we shouldn't have been doing. Right. This this time around, we were doing things God's way. And that's where our hearts were. Now, did we get it right all the time? Absolutely not. But our hearts were in the right place. Not that God wasn't with us before, but he was guiding us now. Right. And so he was he was prompting us and pushing us and just the way that Chris would interact with me and then, you know, called to get the help to get these tools. And that's what basically set the whole thing off. Yeah, I I I did want to say this though. When I when Matthew and I got together, I was your typical, you know, your strong, independent woman, you know, single mom, got the career, I, you know, I'm doing it all. And it was, you know, I wanted to do things God's way. I wanted to surrender. And it was a huge transition when we first got together. And I had to put down my own will, maybe. Yeah, my yes, my will. I that's a perfect word, babe. My own will and look to my husband in the way that God wanted our marriage to be to be positioned. He has a perfect plan. Okay. He has a perfect plan for marriage. And it's not that Matthew's over me or anything like that. I mean, you know, but we o both have our own roles in the marriage. And the more that I surrendered my will and the more that I supported my husband, respected my husband and put him in his proper position in our marriage, the the easier that things seem to go for us. And and now it's just a blessing. Now I understand, you know, why God puts marriage in the in the form that he puts it, you know? So that this has been a growth opportunity for me. Oh, definitely. Matt, going back to something you said, I I you said, you know, you you expressed that story about how God had had told you this is okay. And then and then when things were difficult, you're like, wait, God, I thought you said this was okay. And I thought that's kind of struck me the idea that just because God blesses it doesn't mean it's gonna be easy. And so I think that's a that's an interesting lesson, a less interesting like principle to pull from this is just because it's good doesn't mean it's easy. And in fact, in fact, I think I found in in our marriage that it's the more what am I trying to say? The so anything good is going to have difficulty that comes with it. Anything worth having is going to be worthy of effort and putting the the the taking the steps and you learning the tools and and and doing the things you need to to uh to grow it. And so uh Absolutely that is the opposite of easy. Actually, me and Chris, we've been watching this series on Prime called The House of David. I don't know if you guys have heard of it. Heard of it, yeah, yeah. That was so good. It's the same as the chosen, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, long story short, we were just sitting there talking about it after watching it. We're like, you know, God anoints David through Samuel, and his whole life gets completely just turned upside down. He's on the run for years and years, loses a child, you know, commits the sin we all know David, you know, kills the giant and all this stuff. And it's like he's a shepherd boy out just watching sheep, and all of a sudden he gets anointed king, and you're like, oh wow, you're gonna be king. Man, it was years and years and years of just this learning process after that, a sanctification process, if you will. Yeah. But I love this though. That's what you guys are here for, right? Yeah. Testimony tag team, right? You don't have a testimony through without a test. Yeah, without a test. Exactly. Yeah, I love it. I love it. But you know, we always say, you know, change doesn't come from comfort. Yeah. You know, change is hard and sometimes it can really challenge you. And you know, it can be difficult, but it's worth it. It's worth it in the end, right? To to learn something new about yourself, about your partner, and and um to grow together and to that unity of purpose and to walk the walk with the Lord and to surrender or die to yourself daily. I mean, that's it's amazing, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So you you've mentioned that you were both married before you met each other. And was there anything maybe you can look back at now that like you were trying to bring with you, like maybe not intentionally, but like you you notice I was I'm bringing this with me. I need to leave that in the past and not does that question make sense? Do you do you have anything in particular that you you realized, hey, this needs to not carry follow-over from my previous marriage into this one. We need to let that go. Is there anything like you guys are thinking for that? Um, I would say kind of going back to our story of kind of how we met, how I mentioned that in the home that I grew up in, my poor mother, she she was a single mom, you know, had three little kids. I'm the oldest of three. And so it it was a little chaotic, you know. She's working 12, 16 hour days, and she's got to be dad too, and you know, help with homework and and you know, everything. She's everything, you know. So it would it it would get a little chaotic, you know. And then and then my first marriage was like that too, even though I was there and I wasn't the the dad and you know and all that. And and so I would say for me, that would that was probably one of the biggest things in into this. I I did bring a little bit of that in because it's just what I was used to. And again, she had to show me that you know, there's a better way, there's a godly way, right? This is how God loves us. I mean, thank God that every time I mess up, even as a Christian, that the good Lord doesn't treat me that way. You know what I mean? So actually, she actually showed me the way God loves us, with patience being the number one thing out of Corinthians, right? That's the first word he d uses to describe biblical love. Yeah. Right. I love that. I I just I didn't want to have that same fear and control, right? Fear and control that drives everything. And I I didn't want to be the quote leader, you know. I I mean, yes, again, we I you know, I have leadership skills and things that I'm good at and and all that, but I wanted I wanted to follow a godly man and I wanted to be a godly wife, and I didn't know what that looked like, but I trusted that the Lord would show me and that you know, if I pressed in and studied what he said that, you know, study what the Lord says, that he would show me the way, and and he really has. I'll give you a little something specific about her if she doesn't mind me saying I know she won't, but I remember when we first got together and you better be careful. And we're working on I think we had $150 in our check-in account. And but but I remember one surrender thing, what she's talking about, it it took a lot for her even to surrender the finances. Does that make sense? To combine them, to let me know, okay, here's what we, you know, and to work together with that because she'd been doing it for so long by her. So she wasn't used to sharing that with somebody else, you know. And she'd been done wrong before, and we don't have to go into detail about that, but she'd been done, you know, wrong before with her finances like that. So she was holding on to that. And that was just one it was it was a little thing at the time, but it was her releasing hey, you know, if we're gonna do this, if we're gonna be, you know, godly partners in this and share everything, here's something that I need to surrender. Yeah. Also in a blended family, it's really hard with the children. You know, you're naturally partial to your own biologic, biological children. And Matt and I made the decision. I I think it took us a couple years, but a few years in, we both were like, you know what? Our marriage is first. That's you know, that's the example. We can't put the children in their improper position. We need to put our marriage for, you know, God first, our marriage, and then our children, and give our children, you know, the example by loving each other and and putting things in the proper order. So that was a huge step, right? You have any thoughts about that? We may get into this later, but and I won't say their name, but one of our children has come back now and has said that because of the way he's seen me and Christina interact, it played a big role in him giving his life to Christ. Right. So at the time it was difficult because like Chris said, we're blended, and I'm bringing in two, she's bringing in two. And then years later, we get this story of because you know, I watched that play out, it he said it played a big role in him his salvation in Christ. So hey, that's a win for me, right? Yeah, well, you know, and I even say that in blended families, you know, but even I gosh, we even work with, you know, families that aren't blended, and you know, they're biological children. And sometimes, you know, as parents, we can put the needs of our children before the needs of our marriage. Yeah, they're gonna be 18 one day, 20 or they're gonna literally the nest. And then you're gonna be looking at each other like, I don't even know you. And we've gotten couples that have come in after 20 years, 25 years of marriage, and their last child just left for college, and they turn to each other one day and they're like, I don't even know if I even love you. If I ever did, I don't even know who you are at this point. Because they've they put everything ahead of the marriage and they were racing through life. And then it slowed down and it was just them. And then Yeah, we had a couple, they had five children, you know, they went through, you know, the upbringing and you know, just everything that life had to offer that family. And then the children started leaving the nest and they found themselves looking at each other. And I remember being in coaching with them, and I was like, So tell tell us about when you fell in love. And they both looked at each other and were like, And I said, wait a minute, were you guys ever in love? And they didn't remember they didn't know what to say. Yeah, they couldn't come up with a time. And so it was Yeah, I was like, wow, that's that's shocking, you know, that you could have so many memories and so much time together as a married couple, and then stop at one point and say, Wow, I don't even know when we fell in love or if we are in love. Yeah, they had had a hard start, what we like to call a hard start. Yeah. And they had had a child, you know, before marriage. And and again, that's and then they had a few more, and they were just kind of just, you know, going through the motions. And then when those motions slowed down, it was like, what do we got left? Yeah. So sorry if we rambled a little bit. I was just thinking, like, we keep dropping these Easter eggs about this coaching. Yeah. Oh, yes, yes. Yes, that's right. We're keeping you guys in suspense. You mentioned that you guys you went through the coaching first, and then so it helped you guys, and you you saw this as part of your marriage, and that led you guys to want to pursue becoming coaches, right? So is there any more to that story? Like did was it was it both of you that wanted to do it, or was it one? And then the others kind of had to give you prodded or pushed, or what do you think? It was definitely me that needed to be prodded. Yeah, you know, uh, you know how, and and we get this sometimes too, that a lot of times, not all the time, but a lot of times the wife will call for help and the husband will automatically think it's like therapy. And well, I'm not going in there and letting somebody just two women pick on me, you know. You know what I mean? And so the wife ends up dragging him in. But and and I gotta be, if I'm gonna be honest, that was me. When she told me, hey, I have found a an older couple in Winter Haven that does this. I my mind automatically went to therapy. And I'm like, eh, I'm good, kind of thing. But she persuaded me to go, and thank God we went. Absolutely because it has completely changed our marriage. And again, it's it's given us a way to give back to marriage. So yeah. He says he wasn't, he was so willing. He was so great, he was so great. I don't remember any pushback. And even whenever it whenever it had been presented to us to pursue, you know, becoming coaches. Well, maybe you've seen something. You were he was so willing. I actually I thought it was gonna take so much more convincing. Like, okay, babe, what do you think about coaching? And he was like, All right, let's do this. If that's where the Lord is taking us, let's do this. So that was that was when you for you becoming coaches, yeah. That was us going through the coaching through the program. We went through a year program of you know learning to be coaches, and then we also went on to do some continuing education through the after we Yeah, after the year of training, we went through the American Association of Christian Coaches and did some additional training. But this is he was wonderful. He yeah, so when it came to becoming coaches, you both wanted to do that. That that right away was like, Yes, this is this is clear. This was for you guys to there's a little bit of a backstory behind that too. I was talking more along the lines of getting coaching, right? Yeah, I think she was talking more along the lines of becoming coaching. Becoming coaches, yeah. Yeah, with with becoming coaches was was pretty clear to us because my stepmother had had a vision from the Lord, and I remember she called us up one day and she's like, Hey, can we we need to meet up for lunch? The Lord's given me something I I need to tell you guys about. So she gets us in there and she she tells us about, and you're gonna have to help me out a little bit with this, with the details of it, but we're we're we're walking hand in hand up to house door, and we open the door, we go in, and there's a there's just a a stream or a river of living water that is flowing through the house and and out from us. And so help me out with that. No, that's as much as I oh, and she said you have to uh press in and study. That's what we were told. Yeah, she said that the Lord told me to tell you to press in and study. And at the time we didn't quite know what that meant, but uh obviously study is you know can be academically. Right. And so it wasn't what, maybe a week or so. It was so close that this our mentors that coached us, no, we haven't even heard from them in a in a pretty good time. And they just call us up out of the blue and say, Hey, we want to offer you guys. To go through our up program to become coaches. It's like a $3,000 value. We need to fill seats. We want to offer this to you. And God put it on our hearts. It's like, that's it. And I'm like, wow. So we got busy studying and we got busy pressing into God. And five years later, here we are, kind of thing. A lot of details in between. But yes, yeah. Our first couple that we coached, we were terrified. But they are still together and they just had a baby. So yeah, it was amazing. We love seeing the couples that are thriving and you know, just seeing, you know, marriages just thriving and just doing well. It's amazing. Yeah, even a few marriages, we were like, man, I I hope we didn't screw them up. Right. Our first couple, I still feel bad. I'm like phone, you know, flipping through the paperwork and all this, you know, and I'm, you know, trying to get everything right. And it just felt so mechanical, you know what I mean? And but what do you always say? You always say if we talk to them about the love of God, yeah, then I got that from our mentor. Then we can't hurt them. Yeah. Right. We were really nervous at the end of our up program. And I remember she looked at me and she's like, Matt, you can't hurt them. You can literally get in the room with them, talk about Jesus, and you have helped them. And I'm like, you know what? You're right. And it calmed my nerves down. And it was kind of like, you know what? We can do this kind of thing. It built confidence. Very cool. Yeah. And my we heard a sermon here at High Point about stepping out if you have a calling on your life. And we went and spoke to Mike Willis. And Mike Willis has been a huge support of our program and about our ministry. And honestly, if it wasn't for him, I mean, I don't know that we would have. I know. I mean, it's been, I think, almost four years now, or over four years. And it's because Mike had encouraged us and had confidence in us and facilitated, you know. A lot of facilitating. Yeah, facilitating the opportunity for us to be able to coach here at High Point. Yeah. And what she means on that, I'll I'll go back just a little. Do we have time for me to go back? Well, the first we something had happened at the church that we had gone to. I think they moved or something. So me and Chris was looking for another home church, and we wanted to attend a church that needed help. Right. Because we had we had gone to a few churches around this area and we would we would put in to you know for some sort of service. And we like we wouldn't hear back or you know, or or you know, not that they were doing it on purpose. It's just I think they were established, right? So my dad moves down from Georgia and he had been going to High Point when they were off of Burns Avenue. And he said, Well, why don't you come try, you know, just come visit our church, you know? So we did, and we walked, we're we're not even in the doors yet. And me and Chris stop and look at each other, and we're like, I think this is it. This is nice. I don't know what it is, but so we go walking in the door, and there's Mike Willis, opens the front door for us. We go walking in, and I kind of told him what I just told you about us wanting to find some place to serve, and he's like, Well, I tell you what, you're at the right place. Because we have plenty of things to do. We've been serving ever since I started with Miss Pat serving coffee on Burns Avenue and for church on Sunday. Open the door and just I mean, we literally the way that the coaching started, believe it or not, was from mopping floors, sweeping floors, welcoming people in the door. Yeah. You know, it started very small. And God wanted to, I think God wanted to say, okay, guys, y'all asked for this. I'm I'm gonna use you, but we're gonna start at the at the ground floor and work our way up. You know, because I and I gotta be honest, but you when when we were younger too, we I didn't, I wasn't raised in the church. We we would go every now and then. So I wasn't used to consistently going to church. As soon as something would come up, I'd quit going. You know what I mean? Well, you know, and that's but going back to my time kind of thing. So this time though, we were we were serious and we again wanted to do things God's way. So anytime any that old enemy, the devil, would try to push buttons in us to get us to quit coming again to church, you know, it would it, you know, we we didn't and we we worked through it. And so God wanted to, I think, build us up from you know, ground floor up before he gave us more responsibility. So yeah, like Chris said, she was her and Miss Pat was in there just serving coffee and I'm in there mopping floors and pulling out chairs and just shaking hands. I think that's a really great posture to have, like just you want to serve wherever you can. That's that's really great. Right. But you know what? I think this is a really interesting segue because you know, you go to church, right, and you think that it's just supposed to be this like, oh, amazing thing where everybody just gets along and it's like, you know, like, you know, you're you're in wonderland, right? But it's a family, right? And you go through tough times and you have to make decisions at certain points whether or not you're gonna dig in and stick it out and learn and grow. Well, your marriage is the same way, right? We have this fantasy idea of marriage that it's just gonna be, you know, just perfect and you know, amazing and we're gonna be frolicking through the fields for the rest of our days. But there comes a point though when you might, you know, like the church, you might get a little church hurt or or in your marriage, you might, you know, you might get a little hurt. And you have to make a choice at that point. You know, love is not just a feeling, it's a choice. And I'm gonna choose, you know, regardless of how I might be feeling in the moment, to love my husband and to press in and to, you know, stay the course even whenever it's difficult. And I think that that was a test for us when we first started coming to high point. You know, was it all flowery and perfect? Well, no, but it but it taught us to stay the course, to be to be faithful even in times whenever it might not have been easy, that this is a family and families are not perfect. A church is made up of you know, hurt people. And sometimes hurt people hurt people. So, so you know, I I love it because God I think that through that God was really showing us, you know, what what is a what is a covenant? Right? What what what commitment are you making? And are you going to stay when it's hard? Right? I chalk that into the that's the pressing in part. That's the pressing part. When things are going all right, maybe you don't quite understand everything. Press into me. That's what he was telling us to study this part and then press into me to have to get us through that leaning on Jesus. Yeah, yeah. I love that. I so kind of coming, you know, into a little bit more of the maybe specifics of the coaching. You know, without with well, without being too specific, describe like a typical couple couple who comes to see you. What are they looking for? What what what what might they look like? I wish there was a typical. Yeah. That's a great question. I mean, you think that the typical is you know, communication. Obviously, that's the biggie, right? Probably we get that's the main concern, communication. Communication. But we have we've had everything. We've had everything from blended family issues to adultery to addictions, from premarital young all the way we coached a couple that were in their 70s. Yeah. That I probably needed to be coaching us, you know. What is it that kind of what if it maybe if there's not a common thing, maybe because you guys are naming it, you know, a lot of variety of things, what brings them there? But like is there like what brings them there is a couple. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. They're they're married. It's hard and we don't know what to do. Okay, so that then maybe what I'm asking is you know, you know, what are what you know what so there's a lot of people who have who argue and and and and fight and sometimes they work it out, maybe they don't work it out, and or maybe they just suffer through it. But what is it that you find that when the the people who come to you, what are they, what has driven them to you? Is there any like a is there something in common that you see where they they they bring something that they want to work on or something that's driven them to seek help, I guess is really what I'm asking for. Well, I just I think that they get stuck, right? They get stuck, they don't know how to get out of the fear cycle, right? I saw the motion. I was like, oh, I know what's coming. That's the fear cycle. That's one of our tools, and I don't want to give too much away because I want people to come see us. Yeah, and you guys should. Yeah, but they get stuck in fear, right? They get stuck in fear, they get stuck in fear. I don't know how to solve this problem. We've talked and we still can't fix it. And they're looking for answers. Yeah, and I think I like that how you said, and they don't know how to fix it. They don't know how to fix it. Nobody gets into a marriage and some, you know, nobody gets handed a manual. Yeah. Here's how you do marriage. Yeah. Or I guess maybe they have, I don't know, marriage marriage dummies 101. I forgot I don't know. I mean they do, but it really comes down to it's like whatever your parents were, that picture, whatever that was given to you, whatever that looked like, a lot of times it's repeated. And they think, oh, that's what marriage is. And so they they live that and and it usually has the same, you know, it endgame, I guess, that their parents had a lot of times. I mean, unless unless their parents knew how to do it, and there's some out there that do, now don't get me wrong. But I mean, we know 50% of marriages are ending in divorce. And then uh a a couple of stats people may not know is that over 70% of second marriages are ending in divorce. Right. And then over 80% of third marriages, so it it it doesn't get better. Yeah, it it gets worse, you know. Um not that sometimes there aren't circumstances where you know there's uh some you know abuse of some sort, you know, that you may not have be able to stay in the marriage. But if you'll if you will get the proper tools and work on it and really dig in, uh I a lot of marriages can be saved under some really horrible circumstances. Absolutely. Yeah, I think that that's what uh that's what we love to do is to give people uh tools that they've never had before to change the direction of their marriage and the way that they communicate, even the way that they think about each other, or even the way that they think about themselves themselves. So it's just a gift. It's a gift to be able to give people a new perspective. Yeah. And and uh kind of along those lines, Charlie, too. We always at the at the very last week, it's a six-week program. We'll always ask them questions like, you know, how could we have done better, you know, and all that. But then we'll one question that we do like to ask them is uh, what can you take away from this or what did you get out of it? Probably 90% of the time they'll say hope. Yeah, yeah. Just simply one word, hope. Like there's okay, there's a light at the end of the tunnel now. We we have tools, we have a blueprint, we can do this. It's encouragement. And if you if you put them to work, if you implement them, you know, Matt and I have an advantage because we work the tools over and over because we give them out to people, but it's not easy. No, like you really have to put in the work, you really have to dig in and go back to those tools and and look at how they can be applied in each and every situation where there's conflict. But you know, and we're you know, we're we're experienced marriage coaches, and sometimes we even still have to open the book and look back and say, okay, what are we missing? Yeah. So Okay. That that's great. I really uh enjoy, you know, hearing about this and you know, actually full disclosure to the audience that uh Valerie and I went through y'all's coaching program and uh we We were not married yet. We were we were we weren't even engaged. Yeah, it was premarital. Pre-marital pre pre-marital. Yeah, pre-premarital. I was wondering if you guys were gonna say anything. Yeah. But we we found great value in in you know the course. And you you mentioned the fear cycle. I remember that was a big one for me. Well, but even to present day, like we we'll remember the techniques, we'll remember the the patterns, we'll remember the things, and then we'll be like, oh, so that was what it looked like on paper, but this is actually what it looked like between us. And I was like, oh, it's that thing. Oh, Valerie, I love that. I love that. And I'll be like, okay, so this is actually how it plays out real time. Like, this is what's going on. It's like, oh, okay, here we go. I love that. I love that. But look at it. Look at you guys premarried, you got married, you're doing the thing, and now you guys are podcasters. Yeah. And we talk about that unity of purpose, right? Doing something for the glory of God together. Well, and full disclosure, Charlie was the one dragging me. Even though I am a therapist myself, I was like, nope. I was like, what's a coach gonna tell me that I don't already know? Someone with a marriage and family therapy background. And uh I got there and I was like, I've never heard this before. I was like, okay, this is very practical. It's very hands-on, just you know, for those of you that are curious, it's it's something that you can walk in and you walk out having a next step. Hope is a really good way of explaining it, where you have tried everything, you feel kind of backed into a wall, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, here's a new tool. Let's give that a go. See if it fits. Yeah, I love that you, and it is practical tools and things like that. And kind of I touched on a little bit, Matthew, you said something a little bit about your like misconceptions that you have about coaching. What what kind of misconceptions would you want the audience to know about coaching or like to clarify for them? Uh, I would say kind of going back to my point too, a lot of a lot of the men, especially, you know, well, really everywhere, but I'm just a good Polk County guy, so I kind of know how the guys are around here for the most part. I would say it's it's probably not what you think it is. It's not, you know, somebody looking down their nose at you, you know. I I hate to say that because there's a lot of good therapists out there, a lot of good ones, and it does help. But this is a little different. And well, here, I'll just tell you what we tell our cob. I'll give you this little tidbit. And I told you guys guys this too. The difference between therapy and coaching is with therapy, they kind of take you back and they bring you forward to a healthy place. What we do is kind of like a football coach, right? We take you from where you're at and we push you forward, right? Like Val said, we're giving you tools to use as long as you're intentional about using them, they work, right? So I would I would say that's probably the biggest difference between therapy and coaching. Yeah, and we and we literally love our couples right where they're at. Like each and every couple. I and I think some come in like, you know, sheepish or shameful because of something. And we're like, guys, yeah, we've all been there. We've all experienced sin and shame and confusion and arguments. We've been there. And so I just I'm you know, I just see I I love watching Matt with the guys. He just like literally like loves them and gives them a big hug. And, you know. Some of them don't like to be hugged, but I do it anyway. Come here, brother. Bring it on in, you know. Yeah, but we just we just love people right where they're at. You know, there's no judgment, there's no condemnation. Like we're literally there just to just lay it all out on the table and see what God has in store for us and for that couple. So anyway, we just it's just an honor for us. It's a it's a privilege for us to be able to have those moments and vulnerable moments with these couples. Sometimes we're so surprised how vulnerable and willing people are to share what they've been through and and to trust us in that moment. And so we just love them. We love each and every one of them. And and it's just it's just been such a privilege and an honor. And I learned so much every time. I would say one more difference is we don't charge for these services. Yeah. Now we take donations and it all goes back into the to the ministry, but we don't charge for it. So, you know, we we would never want anybody to feel like we're, you know, in it for the money. Um now there's nothing wrong with making money, doing, you know, therapy or coaching if that's what you want to do. Just for us, we chose to not receive any funding for that. Just so that it it would it seems to be more genuine that way to me. I like that. You know, yeah. And yeah, we like I said we appreciated you guys in that moment. And I I think you guys are we're both very trustworthy people, people we felt comfortable talking to. And so I think that is definitely it comes through in your in your coaching. Thank you. What is what do you guys have? Uh what's your vision for coaching for the future? Like, what does that look like in the future? I guess I get excited when you talk about vision. You go ahead and short them. Well, we are working with our very first couple, teaching them the coaching tools that we have. And so we're very excited, thinking that you know, there will be another couple here at High Point working with couples. I would love to have a few more couples doing coaching because it's so, so needed. Yeah. But if we had the time, if I'm dreaming, if I'm dreaming of God opened the the doors, I would love to coach full time. I would love to coach full time, yeah. I know Matthew would too. And I would love to do a lot more small group studies. And I would love to eventually do a retreat. I would love to get into marriage retreats. And probably some more of what we call 911s. Yeah, 911s. Where you're able to take a say a three-day weekend, like a Friday, Saturday, Sunday kind of deal for marriages that are like like in crisis. Yeah, yes, yeah. In crisis. Yeah, so give them all the tools right then and there. Yeah. So instead of spreading it out over a six-week period, if we have a marriage in crisis, we would literally spend you start Thursday night actually, and then you spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and you work through the entire program with them, just one-on-one throughout the weekend. And we would love to do a lot more of that. Just time right now does not permit for us to be able to do that. So a lot of dreams. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see what the Lord has for us. Okay. And uh, if people wanted to reach out to you for marriage coaching, how would they do that? We are on the high point website. If you go under the support category online, it says new here, and then you scroll down, and there's some options there. We are under the support category, and you can find us in there. There's marriage coaching listed, and you can fill out a form online, and we will be contacted. Okay. Actually, there's there's another way. What are the cards that are up front when you through through the lobby? The connect cards. Connect cards. Okay. Yeah. Sometimes we get them through connect cards. They'll fill up that connect card that you get when you walk through. I mean, there's the little wooden boxes that they can drop it in. Okay. Those go to Mike Willis, and then Mike will pass them on to us if it says something about needing marriage coaching. Well, and I think that's about brings us to our tag out segment. All right. So this is where each of us get is going to give a one-sentence takeaway from our conversation, and then we're going to give each of you guys a time a chance to just kind of just give a give our audience just kind of a final thought just about what what we talked about today and just whatever, whatever's on your heart to share. So for me, I'm kind of going back to a little bit earlier in the conversation. There are a lot of little good little nuggets throughout there, but this one I think struck me. But just that that idea that if God blesses it, just because God blesses it does not mean it's going to be easy. It doesn't mean it's going to happen overnight. It doesn't mean it's going to be some blissful existence where you're, you know, kind of like Christina mentioned, you know, there's going to be challenges. You're you're both people. You're both neither, neither of you is perfect. And so the idea of combining lives and and growing together, growth is hard, growth is difficult. And so I think that's that's my tag out. It's just because it's okay, just because it's from God, doesn't mean it's easy. Right. Amen. I guess I might have two. I don't know. But I'm gonna start with this one because it was something I thought about saying, and then I was like, I'm gonna save it for the end. So a question I did not ask is you know, like, how do you guys have A God-centered marriage. And the reason I didn't I didn't ask it is because I heard you guys talking about it without saying the cookie cutter things I'm used to. So people are like, oh, you need to read your Bibles together, you need to pray together. Yes, of course. Those things are important. But what I heard you guys talking about also is like, well, well, we surrender. And and and we're it we have each other's backs. And these things, while, while maybe they're not, I don't know, listed out specifically biblically, these are ways that God treated his people. This is this is Jesus' way. And so we display that in our marriage to each other and then carry it out to other people as well. And I just didn't feel the need to ask the question because I felt like it was already wrapped into everything you guys were talking about. So that was one thing I was thinking of. And then the other thing, I think just the word we said age, age was going to be the word, aging. No, it was surrender. Surrender was the word that kept coming up. It was individual surrender, it was surrender in the marriage, it was surrender over circumstances that were outside of your control. And it maybe took a little while to get there, but I heard that word keep coming up. And I just think that that's so important in our Christian walks, whether it's marriage or or by yourself, just Christianity in general, like it is surrender. Like that's what it is. Absolutely. You know, as you were saying that, Val, for whatever reason, remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and it's everybody knows it, and he's like, you know, not my will, but your will. And he went through the cross anyway. Yeah. And he even asked, if there's another way that this can happen, please let that happen. But your your will be done. And so he surrendered his will, and we all know if it wasn't for that, goodness, we'd all be gone, right? There'd be no point. Right. So I love that. That's so great. Um we have this saying with our couples, to not be deficit detectives. Don't be a deficit detective. And I know we didn't really get into that today, but I I just, you know, we do when we go through coaching, we do a lot of we request that our couples do a lot of self-reflection. You know, less of me, more of you, right? Let me die to myself and let the Holy Spirit fill me up. And you know, let me not, you know, judge in others what I see in myself, right? So I just I don't know. I mean I just think that we just need to be willing to put down our expectations and our own, you know, wills. Our own wills. Yeah, you keep saying that word will, and I'm like, yeah, that's what it is. It's your own will and be and be agreeable to what God has for us. Right. And and it might be hard. And it might be hard, and that's okay. There's a whole group of people here at High Point that are ready to receive you and love you and support you. And and you know what? If if a marriage finds itself struggling and not knowing where to go, you know, we're we're here. We're ready to to spend time with you and to love on you and to talk with you. So just know that High Point is just an amazing place. And they, you know, they have a channel and an opportunity for people to come and to to get some marriage coaching and and we're happy to do that. All right. Well, we thank you guys for coming on today. This has been awesome. Uh, our first couples on here, and also extra special to us because you guys were were and in a way still our marriage coaches and our friends. Yes, yes. So we appreciate you guys coming on and talking. And to our listeners, if today's episode encouraged you, share it with someone who might need it. And if you are interested in sharing your testimony, email us at testimony tagteam at gmail.com. This has been Testimony Tag Team, and we're tagging out.