God in My Story: Dakota Parker

A testimony from Dakota Parker.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Life Church Podcast, a place where the Word of God comes alive through scripture teaching and real stories of faith. Each episode, we dive deep into the Bible and share what God is doing in and through Life Church Windsboro. And we're going to hear powerful testimonies from people walking daily with Jesus. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, encouragement, or a closer relationship with Christ, you're in the right place. No matter where you are on your journey, our prayer is that this podcast feeds your soul, strengthens your walk with Christ, and draws you closer to the heart of God. Let's get started. And welcome back to the podcast and back to our series that we're calling God and My Story. Today we're talking with Dakota Parker about faith, overcoming worry, and having a steady walk with the Lord. Dakota, within the past year, you've graduated from high school and you've moved into a new phase of your life. Give us just a quick introduction. Tell us about yourself and what you're doing now.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

My name's Dakota Parker. Majority of my life right now is just working in school. I'm going to Delta Community Colleges at night, trying to get my electrical technician's degree. After that, plan to go get my electrical license, and I'm working as an electrician right now with a company here in Winnsboro. Try to make as much time as I can for my family and friends and do as much as I can for the church. I love being involved. I love being able to help out where it's needed. So that's about it for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Yeah, and that's that's one of the reasons why I really wanted to sit down with you, is because as a as a young man, uh, you know, the it's kind of easy when you're in high school and you got all your friends and they're going to church and your parents are going to church and everything. But now that you're starting to on the pathhood to adulthood or whatever, you know, the pathway to adulthood, uh, like you, it's up to you now. Yeah. You know, and so I'm impressed with your uh your continuation of your walk with the Lord and serving in the church and all that. And so I just wanted to talk to a I know you don't, you know, you're not a youth anymore, you're a young adult now, but you know, but uh you are a youthful person, and uh and I just think it's a good testimony uh to to hear about uh about how you continue, you know, because that's a the you know, obviously with this time of life, it's an opportunity for you to walk away if you wanted to, and a lot of people sometimes do.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Oh, yes, sir. It it would have been so easy for me too, and still, you know, whenever the life gets you down and the lies are told you, it's really easy to want to go and do all these things, because I'll be honest, a lot of people I used to be really close with are doing things that I never thought you know they'd be wanting to go do, and it's hard to manage that as I'm trying to do this, but I still want to keep friendships and it's it's it's kind of a lonely thing sometimes, but it's rewarding though. Yeah, so I wouldn't change it at all.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yeah. Amen. So when we when we uh hear your your message, I just want you to give just a short preview of what you want people to hear uh when they listen to your testimony. What do you hope they take away? Just give us like a one sentence short.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Man, it's it's it's real simple. Um we serve a God that loves us. You're gonna feel alone in life. There's gonna be people that hurt you, and there's gonna be things that are told to you that aren't gonna work out, but you serve a God that loves you and who's there for you. He's not gonna forsake you, he's never gonna leave you alone. It might feel like it, but in that darkest valley and even on that highest hill, he's standing right there beside you.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Amen. So let's get into it. So every powerful story has a beginning, and yours started during a difficult season of your life. Uh, tell us more about what was happening at that time.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

And so whenever I was about 11 or 12 years old, I decided to move in with my dad for reasons I really couldn't explain at the time, now knowing it's it was definitely given to me by God. You know, that was something that I was revealed one day where I, you know, whenever I first found God, that that's the reason why I was kind of got that feeling in my mind because I couldn't explain where it came from. It just felt like what was best for me. So uh, you know, all the worst parts of it all started during my freshman year, a couple years after I moved in with my dad, where my mom moved to North Carolina, and I was real bitter with her for a while because whenever she moved, there was a big old rift in our relationship. Because even after I moved in with my dad, you know, I still went over and we still discussed, you know, we still talked to each other all the time. And after she moved off, it was like she just wasn't here at all. You know, we didn't talk at all, didn't have a relationship with her, and it just I just grew angry with it. And in that same period of time, my my papa, who I he was my rock at the time, and you know, he was always there for me. I talked to him every single night. He was always telling me what he was reading in the Bible, and he taught me so much, and like he was my rock, and he passed that same year a couple months later. And in that time, I was I felt so alone. And it's not that people weren't around me. I mean, my dad loves me and my stepmom loved me, and they were both there for me throughout it all. And I'm this has nothing against them, but it was just how the world was, you know, the world was coming at me, it felt like. And it felt like God was just letting it all happen. So not only was I angry with the situation and the people who had hurt me, but I was upset with God for letting it all happen. But uh now realizing, you know, that if these things wouldn't have happened, I wouldn't be where I am today.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Sure. So after and having you know, going through those at the time you're uh you were going through those experiences, you know, we we talked about and you know, you you talked about anger and and bitterness building up. Absolutely. So so how did that play itself out in in in your life? How how did it change how you viewed yourself and others?

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Well, I've I'm trying to think so, relationship-wise, just with myself, I was just angry. I didn't think I was worthy of any kind of love at all. Like I didn't feel like it was worth even trying to fight for anything because I knew what was gonna happen. If I tried to love somebody or let them love me, I was getting hurt in the end. And, you know, what what good if are these people gonna do for me? And I just started to drift away from any relationship I had, and the relationships I did have kept people at arm's length because I I was either gonna keep it far enough where it ain't gonna hurt, or I was gonna hurt you before you could hurt me. I'm gonna push you away. And that anger, I just was mad at the world. Like I didn't talk to nobody. I even my closest friends didn't know who I was. Like they knew me and we all hung out, but they didn't know who I was on the inside, and I put on a ploy for people, but I was just so angry at the world, but I let it fester for so long that I forgot the reason why, and I just blamed everybody and everything for it.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

How did it affect uh the way that you did school? Uh, did you any other extracurricular activities that you may have been involved in? Did you talk about with withdrawing from people? Were you withdrawing from other aspects of your life?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Uh no, I still, you know, I've always been a real motivated person. I've always wanted a lot for myself in the future. You know, my parents always push me to be that way and no fault of their own. Because, you know, as a kid, I'm like, why are y'all pushing me so hard now that I'm actually out there? I'm like, that's why you push me so hard. Because all these people who aren't weren't pushed hard are doing what they're doing now. Yep. But uh, no, I always stuck well in school. Um extracurriculars. I was at this time I was in track. And I thought it was gonna help me, you know, always being mad. And I wasn't bad. I was always middle of the pack kind of guy. But there were some times that you know you got people, everyone's trying to win, everything, you know, tensions are high, and people get in people's faces ready to fight and hollering and hooting and competitive pump, maybe. Competitive was an outlet. I'm a very competitive person. I mean, I'm sure you've known that, but a little bit of an uh outlet for your anger. Yeah, definitely was so. Um, it was definitely that, but it was so easy to get heated at people and have cussing matches, and I mean it just no, no, no fighting ever happened. Just yellow.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Right, right, right, right. We were all talking and uh no biting. Yeah, that's pretty much it. Uh so just in general, what was your view of life? Did you have a positive outlook uh uh for your future, negative?

SPEAKER_00 8:45

I had positive goals for myself, but my outlook on it was negative. Whereas, you know, I've always wanted to own my own company one day or be a part of a big company. And I still wanted that, but I wanted it so I could leave everything behind. So I could gather up wealth and go and do as I please, you know. Yeah. Go get my hundred acres to hunt on where nobody else could come and bother me, and I wouldn't have to deal with any of that. Yeah. Or I could just be, it could just be me. Nobody to annoy me, nobody to cause problems for me, it'd just be me and what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah. Uh uh, you know, I I think probably to some degree we all at times just would become the hermit in the cave if we could, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

You know, let me be to myself, do my thing, and you know, don't don't don't bother me. I I feel like this this life on earth uh can sometimes lead us to want to withdraw. Oh, absolutely. But I think, you know, that is I think that's probably what the devil wants, you know, especially if we have a relationship with the Lord, he, you know, he wants to separate us. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Because if he can if he can separate people who know the Lord, and like at this time, I'm not saying I knew the Lord. I I I grew up in a church, I knew of him, but it and I knew all the stories, I just didn't know it was real. I just didn't believe it in my heart all the way. Yeah. But uh, if he can silence, if he can silence the people who are gonna stand up and fight for the Lord and testify his name to people, he has nothing to worry about.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Yeah, yeah. Well, this next part of your story, I think a lot of people are gonna relate to. So tell us about how worry crept into your life.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Man, like I saw talk about the relationships. I was always so worried, and I'm even now I'm still, it's a bad habit I still hold, and I'm trying to work on it. It's just it's one of those things through prayer and through connection with people, you can't be alone in it. Like I got now a difference between a difference between then and now. I always worried about relationships uh with friends, family, girlfriends, whatever. And anytime I had a problem, I couldn't talk to nobody about it. It was my own, my own burden to carry, and I just worry about it. I sit there and I'd let it fester, and I wouldn't be bothered to tell nobody because I don't want to let nobody in. Well, now I have a group of men who I go to church with and who I care for and they care for me. Where whenever I have a worry like that and I'm letting it eat at me and tear me up, all I gotta do is pick up the phone and call them. That's right. And that worry will drive you insane almost. I mean, it's I don't know how to describe it other than a feeling of just either numbness or anger. That's that's the only two things that ever got me.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

So we talked, I think we talked a little bit about this, but I want to ask the question just so that we, you know, specifically talk about it. So, where do you think that our tendency as people, that that our tendency to worry comes from?

SPEAKER_00 11:54

I think I've heard people say it's a lack of faith, and I I see why they say it, but I disagree. I think worry is putting your faith in the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

So let's say I'm worried about finances, I can't pay my truck note. Well, if I'm, you know, serving my God, who I know who, I mean, it's Easter Sunday, who rose from the dead, who opened up the tomb. If I'm worried that I can't, you know, I can't go and pay my truck note, but I'm not trusting in God that He'll provide, I'm putting faith in my ability or my lack of inability. I'm putting my faith in my lack of inability to pay for it. Whenever I know I serve a God who would very willingly provide me the perfect amount to be able to pay it and be safe. That's right. So let's talk about Matthew chapter six.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yes, let me put that share that verse with us and and and tell us uh how it helped you to gain a new perspective.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

All right, I'm gonna start in uh Matthew 6, verse 28, and go into 34. And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies in the fields and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all their glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care more for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, and what will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. I'm I'm gonna pause right there just on that. Where it says these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. And I feel like I'm not saying I'm perfect because I I let it, I let worries dominate my life sometimes still. But that's why that I think that's why that specific part's written in there, just to show people that it dominates the thoughts of unbelievers. You're a believer who's been saved through Christ, you don't have to worry about it. That's right. All right, I'm gonna pick back up verse 32. But your heavenly Father already knows all that you need. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's troubles are enough for today.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

All right. So can you tell tell us a little bit? Uh you talked a little bit about the verse as far as that that part that talked about the, you know, this is what unbelievers worry about. Yes, sir. So uh exp talk about that a little bit more. Like at what point did you, did that really kind of hit you? Like, did that verse hit you as far as like, hey, I'm an uh, you know, am I an unbeliever? Did it question question your help you did it cause you to question your relationship?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Absolutely. So I tell you the first time I ever saw that verse and stuck with me since was at a church camp I went to. And that was because of those friends that I was telling you about earlier who were there for me, even whenever I wouldn't open up to them. They didn't know me, but they knew I needed someone. So they practically dragged me there. In fact, your daughter was amongst the four of them that did. And I was I was going through a rough time. I was in a really toxic relationship at the time, and I wasn't putting any trust in God. I I wasn't mad at him anymore, you know. I finally understood some of it, you know, why everything happened. Or to my belief, to my understanding, I thought I understood it. I didn't understand it like I do now. But I was so worried about that relationship I was in, and about, you know, I was finna graduate in a couple years, I needed to get my life on track. So I was so worried about all that, and I was just praying about it all, you know, Lord, if I ain't meant to be in this relationship, show me. And if I, you know, what what what career do I need to go to college? I need to go to trade school, do I just need to skip both of them, go straight to work? And, you know, I was just asking and asking for answers and answers. And I look up after that prayer and I see that verse on the big screen. So I go and I read the entirety of Matthew 6 to understand the context behind it. And it just made me realize that while, yes, I believed in God, I didn't trust him enough to put my faith in him and to put my worries to him. Because that's I mean, that's what he wants. I mean, you can't hide something from an all-knowing God. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Like, I I don't I've my mom always said, you know, people, people, people, uh it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when people use other words, but they're uh almost like replacing the cuss word with some other word. Oh, yeah, you know, no. So my you know, younger, when if I ever did something like that, uh my mom would say, Jesus still knows what you mean.

unknown 16:46

You know?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

No, that's uh in fact, the other day I was blessed to be able to go speak to our youth group, and that's what I was talking about. Like we serve an all-knowing God. What's the point? Because I was bad at that same time. If I sin, I ran from God. I wasn't gonna tell it to him because he was disappointed in me. Or that's what I thought, which is not true. If you are listening, do not think I'm saying God is disappointed in you. Go confess the sin to him and all will be forgiven if you turn away from your sinly nature.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, that that that that idea that God is disappointed in us. Not to say that he, just like you know, my with my children, I don't agree with everything that my kids do. Absolutely. You know, but I love them. Absolutely. I don't want I'm not gonna break a relationship because my kids don't act the way that I think they should act all the time.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Absolutely. And that's what that's what I thought. Like he was disappointed. He wouldn't want to be around me, he wouldn't want to hear my thoughts. So I ran. But I can't, you can't hide your mistakes and your sins from an all-knowing God. I mean, all he wants is for you to be honest with him and to confess to him.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah. I mean, it's like I like the part of the part of that the scripture that you read that talked about pursuing his kingdom and righteousness. And, you know, the idea of, you know, I I can think of a time where I was I was consumed with worry as a believer, you know, as a as a minister. I I was consumed absolutely and it distracts you from everything when it's a true anxiety kind of you know in your life. And um I know that during the that time I had to have something to focus on, or I was overcome by that worry.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

For me, it was whenever I was first saved, what I really got to dive into the word for was, and that's why I think serving is so important, is because it gives you a reason to dive into the word. That's right. But every time I was involved, I was a youth intern my senior year. I helped with like the big revival we do here at our church for all the youth. I was helping with all the services I could and this, that, and the other. And it constantly gave me something to be diving into my word and to be there for people. And through serving, all my worries just seemed to fade away because I wasn't focused about, well, you know, how am I gonna get to college? Am I going to college? Am I going to trade school? This, that. I was worried about, Lord, what can I do in your kingdom so that I can help those you want to help? And then through that, God gives you the answers without you even realizing it, I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

He works, He works it out for all that worry. I I found too, just as going back to this idea of separating ourselves from people that during those that time of those times of anxiety and worry, um, just sitting down, being at church and sitting down and having conversations. You know, I show up to church a little early. Uh, I, you know, I sit and uh, you know, normally I have conversations with with people that sit around me, you know, just drink coffee a little bit before the service starts. And just that, just not even talking about the Lord necessarily, just sitting down and talking with my Christian brothers and sisters. Absolutely. And that's where that's that's where that brings peace.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

You're not alone. Right. I mean, God provides you with people who you can be around and who will be there to support you. Whether you're talking about a football game, you're talking about hunting, or you're talking about God, you know, it don't matter.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

So let's let's go to Colossians uh chapter chapter three. Uh you also mentioned how it helped you to gain uh a new perspective. So let's let's let's talk about this verse a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

All right, let me give you just a second to flip over to it. Let's see. What did we say? We said verses 12 through 14. Yes. All right, I'll start off here. Since God chose you to be a holy people, he loves, you must clothe yourself with tender-hearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Man, I tell you what, that uh the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. The first time I read that, that one hurt my feelings a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Stepping on your toes.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yes, that's it's one of them things. He like, he wrote down there for me that day, but not in the most loving way. Well, you know, it's all in love, but more of the reprimand type of fatherly love.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

I had a uh preacher at the church I went to in high school, and he always said, Sometimes we need to spanking just on principle.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Absolutely. Well, I tell I tell you, uh we were at work the other day and he said, Man, I've I'd messed up something. Uh I think I'd pulled the wrong home run to a box or something. He was like, Man, if I was your dad, I'd whoop you just for the mess up you were gonna have before you even before you even did it. Right. That way I ain't gotta worry about it later. That's right. But no. Uh no, this verse right here, man. It this verse really stepped on my toes and it kind of hurt my feelings because I did not want to change my way. Because tenderhearted mercy. I didn't have mercy for nobody. Kindness. I was respectable to adults, but these people around me who I didn't like, I was as mean as it could be. Humility. Okay, so I'm I'm a little cocky now, and I understand. A lot of it I say is a joke, but back then I meant every single bit of it. You know, look at what I can do, look at what I've done. Now, I I say it jokingly, like my yes, my mom and my dad, I joke about it all the time with them.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Because me and my dad play golf and we play tennis together. And I'm not good at golf. I'm just not good, but I'm I'm pretty good at tennis. But you're still gonna, you're still gonna I'm still gonna trans talk him all the time. And he's like, oh, Dakota's the best at everything, and we just joke about it. But anything serious, you know, I'm gonna give the glory to God. That's right. Like me being here with you has nothing to do with me. Like all I have been, all I have been able to do is just be obedient. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

I I I've been it's been in my daily Bible reading, it's and I've I've just kind of come through uh Psalms and Proverbs, and I don't know if it's specifically that, but I I think it is, but it just I have been hit uh kind of in the face with the idea that God knows the intentions of our heart. And so you're talking about like back in the day when I said it, I was not humble in the things that I was saying, you know. But but now I think that as a Christian, you can do a little trash talk. Oh, yeah. And it's not it's because the intentions of your heart are different. That's right. You know, it's not you you may be, I I feel like that you may be saying the same words, but your heart has changed.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Absolutely. And that's like I'm talking about the intentions of the heart. That's like my biggest fears that people think I'm doing, you know, this whole God thing for those, you know, there's no camera here, but I'm doing air quotes with what I'm saying, God thing. This whole God thing just for show. And that's something that I hate because I think I I genuinely saw people, and I know people do do it just for show, you know, for attention. But I thought everyone who was doing it was just doing it for show, and now I realize how wrong I was, and that fills me with such I'm not gonna say shame, but regret for how I looked at these people and what I said about these people who wasted time. Yeah, I mean it was it was nothing but wrongly placed anger, and it's just something that I couldn't I couldn't see myself ever doing now, but that's because now I live it, you know? Yeah, I see it in people's lives, I see it in my own life. It's one of the things that I had to be revealed.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yeah, I had so I I want to read this again. One of the like we've we've talked about it already, but I have the question written down, and and so I want to bring it out.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

All right.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Uh the question I have says how much of your time was spent on thinking about how you'd been wronged, and then I have a follow-up question. It's like, what would uh would it cost you to be consumed by these thoughts? And did it ever do anything to help you? And we just kind of do, we just kind of went through that. Absolutely, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

There is no positives to it, isn't it? No, no, not really at all. Um, I spent a lot of time focusing on it because it'd be like I'd be having a good day, you know. One day I didn't wake up, I didn't think about it, I'm just going about the motions, and then something happens that reminds you of it, or somebody says something, you get mad and you start focusing on all the bad, and it does nothing but drive you crazy. And I mean, that's the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And each time I'm like, oh, well, you know, something's gonna be solved if I'm mad like this, or somebody's gonna say something, everything's gonna be fixed. But it never did anything.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

So at what point I remember a time when I was in high school, you know, growing up, and uh we we grew up in church, sort of like you said, grew up in church, but my relationship with the Lord, my you know, I I I came to know the Lord as my savior at a young age, but I didn't really start growing in my relationship with the Lord. I didn't I said I say it like this, I didn't become a disciple until I was in high school, also. Absolutely. I didn't understand what it meant to follow Christ and to live out his word in our life. And so um uh at one point in high school, after I had been in church, you know, and going in youth group and growing in my relationship with the Lord, absolutely, uh we I rode to school with with a friend, and we were leaving school. I was in the back seat and and the two two friends in the front seat, and the driver and the passenger in the front seat were just chit-chatting and basically looking at each other, having a conversation, and and as we were leaving school, you know, everybody just flies out of the parking lot. Yeah. Well, the they the driver wasn't paying attention, and we rear-ended a person, and I don't think she ever hit the brakes. I mean, it was, you know, the straight on third. Yeah, the girl that was in the passenger seat wasn't wearing her seatbelt, and she crashed into the windshield. I mean, it was it was a it was it was a big thing. I I don't think I I was in the back seat, I don't think I was wearing my seatbelt. But um after it was all said and done, I remember thinking to myself, you know what? I didn't I didn't curse in that situation. You know, nor normally as as growing up, you know, you know, just a kid thing. You don't think about the language or you don't think about how you how you you know um for sure. You know, so I didn't I didn't wouldn't necessarily cuss like a sailor, I I guess, but you know, I just I just in my mind I remember thinking, like, wow, even in that moment of uh an instantaneous, you know, you hit your hand, hit a thumb with a hammer and it just something just pops out. Yeah, you know, it's like wow, I I didn't cuss. You know, and so to me that was evidence that that my relationship with the Lord is is changing my life. So that's what I want to like. So we you know, we talk about in uh Colossians about this uh having a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and and patience. At what point did you were able to look back and go, man, the Lord is working in my life?

SPEAKER_00 28:31

So I remember coming back and I didn't know who to be, like I was around the people I was at church with, and I just didn't know what steps to take. And I was sitting there, I was working at a feed store, and I was I was praying to God. And I'm like, Lord, you know, I need because I've always worked with a bunch of roughnecks. It's just gonna happen in my line of work. Uh and I was like, Lord, you know, just give me someone I can talk to, someone who understands what I'm trying to do right now, walk with you. A couple weeks later, we got this new guy, new fella comes in, you know, we're talking. I introduce myself, super nice guy, and he looks over to me. He says, Are you a Christian? I said, Yes, sir. He was about he was about eight years older than me. I said, Yes, sir. He said, Well, are you a follower? I said, I'm trying to be. I ain't, you know, I'm I ain't perfect, but I'm really trying right now. He said, I thought there was something different about you. You know, everybody here's cussing like a sailor. I ain't heard you cuss once. You know, you haven't talked perversely, you just talking to people about hunting. And, you know, somebody saying that right there, like I see that they could see it in me. That that was like, okay, I I didn't even realize it, you know. Because for me, cussing was a hard thing to it wasn't like I've heard people say it was instantaneous for them.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

For me, it was my anger and my uh anxiety is what dissipated for me. I wasn't angry at nothing no more. That was something I had to struggle with, whereas, you know, I get cut or something, and I'd cuss, and I got to the point where I'm like, Lord, thank you for giving me the ability to feel this pain. And I tell I tell you that that is what I tried to say instead of cussing because if I wouldn't have said anything else, something would have come out that I ain't want to. That's yeah, changed. But someone seeing that and seeing that the Lord was with me, that that's where it I kind of realized that like other than the anger, like I knew he was there because my anger wasn't there and I wasn't holding anything to it, but somebody seeing it in me was such a revelation to me because I hadn't even said nothing about Jesus to him.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Like we were just talking, I think it was uh I think it was football season. We're talking about football season or hunting, one of the two. And he just blurts that out to NAS. It was something I wasn't expecting.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Well, let's let's let's move on. Let's let's move to uh the next verse you you you wanted to to bring out and talk about talk to us about is Luke 8.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Luke 8 verses 13. Let's see. Give it just a second here. The seed on the rocky okay, let me give some context here. This is the uh parable of the sower and the seed, where there's four different types. There's your good soil that lands on, there's your rocky soil, there's your shallow soil where the roots are planted and don't go deep and eventually wither out, and then there's the soil that is good but has a bunch of weeds and thorns around it. So as it grows, the thorns snuff it out. So I really like verse 13 where it says the seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy, but since they don't have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away. Oops, I lost it. They fall away when they face temptation. I was on the rocky soil all my life. Like I said, I grew up in church, and there were times where I'd had encounters with God, and you know, I'd cry at an altar and this, that, and the other. And, you know, for a week or two, man, I'm on fire for the Lord. I wasn't doing nothing wrong. And the second something bad happens, I'm like, well, can't go back now. Might as well just stick with it. Yeah. And after I was really saved, and you know, God showed me his grace and mercy by doing a work in my life, like taking away all the anger that I've held up for years. I knew I did not want it to be like that this time. I wanted to be in that good soil where my roots just keep getting deeper and deeper. And you know, it's funny. Uh, I know we don't have this written down, but we talk about the roots. I like uh Psalms 52, verse 8, where it's after David's affair with Bathsheba, and this is whenever he's at his repentance, because 51's his entire repentance of it. 52 is a continuance, and he says, For I'm like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God. But he never says anything about outside of the house of God, because we can't flourish outside the house of God. We might be, we might be wealthy and we might be popular and we might have a cult following around us, like some of these influencers or whatever they are have. But I believe deep down, no matter how much money they have, no matter how many girls or guys they have surrounding them, they know that something's missing, and they're trying to fill that God-sized hole in their heart with something that can never mat compare to it. That's right. So that's why I thought that one was so special, because I want to be in that good soil. I want my roots to keep digging and not to be snuffed out by the thorns or to be picked up by the birds at the first sign of temptation.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

So we and again, you know, but I I feel like we we're having this conversation and all the stuff that we have, you know, or my questions I have down on the paper. We we kind of, but I again just want to what ask the question because I want to make sure we we make this point specifically, what made it different this time?

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Um my commitment. I mean, I I genuinely think that without the this is what I go back to where I said I see why everything happened the way it happened. If my freshman year, all of the things that happened, my papa passing, my mom leaving, um, all the times me and my dad butt heads, and I mean he was completely in the right to be mad at anything I did. I was definitely in the wrong. But all the times we butt heads, and I'd have I'd want to say something, and I never understood why all this seemed to happen. Since God, you know, since everyone always told me God loved me so much, and why are all these bad things happening to me? Well, I think what made it difference was God had something that had torn me down that he was able to use to build me back up again, where he was able to take away all that anger that was holding me down all my life. So I knew it was real. There was no doubt at all. Because I mean, I'm I'm I'm telling you, I'm sitting there, I can take you to the spot today. I'm sitting there on my knees and I'm crying, and I tell you, the second I stood up, I felt a hundred pounds lighter. Yeah. Like I felt like there was nothing wrong. I could see so clearly. Everything was everything was brighter. And there was no doubt that it was real for me then. Because God had cured, God had cured my heart, he had replaced my heart.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

That yeah, and I I think you know, that's the scripture that we just looked at in Luke. Um, to me, the the part of that that that's really stands out is the idea, it talks about hearing the word and and clinging to it with an honest and a good heart. And it goes back to the conversation we were having about the intentions of our hearts. Absolutely. You know, that when we come to the Lord, not just in religious activity to because that is a way, religious activity is a way we pat ourselves on the back to make ourselves feel good. It's not about God, it's all about us and our selfishness, but the intention of our hearts. And when we come with that commitment and and you know, the idea of repentance and and asking for forgiveness of how we've done wrong, and then the Lord sees that the the the that honest and good heart, and then our roots grow deep and we bear the fruit that he that he wants us uh 100%. Wants us to do. So, so what does your walk with Jesus look like today? Tell it tell us some things that you're you're sp involved in and what keeps you growing spiritually.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Um so I'm involved in a couple different things. We just I just re me and another guy I work with just recently started hosting a Bible study every Wednesday morning, and you know, that's doing really well. I'm really glad that you know there's a change being made in the workforce because I've no I've noticed a bunch of people I've met at work have talked about Jesus, and that's really makes me happy to see. Yeah, not like I'm not just talking about my crew, but like, you know, we work around plumbers and carpenters, and we're seeing these guys and they're you know talking about Jesus. Like, hey, do you know the Lord? And I'm like, Yes, dude, I love hearing that. Um, of course, I'm involved with the church, help anywhere I can, speak every now and again. Um, every Sunday morning we come to our meeting here in Kevin's office, our prayer meeting. Let's see, uh every other Sunday, little little drop little plug right here. Uh every other Sunday at six o'clock, we have a young adult, small group we do here in the youth room. Uh, from that anyone who's graduated high school up to age 30 or so, you know, trying to figure everything out, trying to figure out how you can walk with the Lord in this time that me and you were talking about where it's all on you to go. And I just enjoy to serve any way I can.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Yeah, so let's let's bring us in uh for a for a landing. So that's let's go back to the beginning. I asked you to give us a summary of of what you wanted people to remember. So again, what is that one thing if someone listening to your story today the thing that you want them to remember to walk away with?

SPEAKER_00 38:40

God loves you. There's no need to worry about it all. I mean, it feels like you're alone sometimes, and I get it, but you're not. Um even even if there's not a single person on this world who's gonna be around you, we serve a God who will be there for you. Like I said, even in a time where I thought God despised me, I see how he was working it for me. So I would come back to him and he could give me the gift that he's giving me now of salvation. Where I know right now, if I died, I'd go to heaven, even though that's not what it's all about. That's just a bonus. I mean, we get to know we get to have a relationship with God, heaven's just a bonus. Yeah, but you're not alone, he's always gonna be there for you because nothing you've done is too far for him to want to push you away. So just don't try and push him away, just accept him.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

That's right. Yeah. And I I would I would say if I could sum up your story, it would be serve the Lord and He'll work it out.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

That's right. Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

I mean, I'm telling you, the second I started like taking my faith seriously and wanting what he wanted and trying to reach people in his name, is whenever everything, all the jigsaws started falling into pieces. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

All the pieces came in came into place. Well, amen, brother. I I appreciate you sitting down with me today. And uh close us in a short word of prayer and an encouraging word to those who listen.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

All right. Dear Heavenly Father, God, we come to you today on this Easter Sunday, and we're so grateful for your sacrifice and the love that you've shown us, God. Everyone who's listening to this, and even those who weren't, God, you were thinking about them on that cross, Lord, and we'll never understand what kind of sacrifice that is because we weren't you. We might see how the pain was, but we'll never feel it, God. And we know you did that just for us. I pray that all those listening today, Lord, that they hear your words in this and that your spirit will soften the hearts and tear down the walls, Lord, and that the worry will dissipate and the anger will dissipate, Lord. And I just pray that everyone goes in peace in your grace, Lord, in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Thank you for listening to the Life Church Podcast. We pray today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, and brought you closer to Jesus. If you enjoyed the podcast, consider sharing it with someone so that they might be encouraged as well. To learn more about Life Church Windsboro, get connected, or find spiritual guidance, you can find us online at the c.us or follow us on Facebook. But the best option is for you to join us in person each Sunday at 10 30 a.m. at 23 30 Highway 15, Windsboro, Louisiana. Jesus said, the one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. So until next time, continue walking with Jesus, allowing yourself to be fed from his word.