Life Church Podcast
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Life Church Podcast
God in My Story: Tish Taylor
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A testimony from Tish Taylor.
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.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Jamie Foster, and I am so glad that you are joining us for another episode in our God in My Story series. Today I'm sitting down with Tish Taylor to talk about her story and the ways God has been faithful through every season. Tish, thank you so much for being here and for being willing to share your story with us today. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to talk with you. But before we get into the deeper parts of your story, I have to ask about the Life Church barbecue contest. You and your family have definitely made a name for yourselves with the creative themes, the decorations, and of course the food. So, as a also participant in this, trying to, you know, make leave our mark, um I want a little inside scoop. Like, what's the secret behind the successes? Do y'all have strategy meetings and are there whiteboards and sticky notes?
SPEAKER_01Like, how do you uh not exactly? We would love that. That'd be so awesome. Like me and Nancy would be all over that. Strategy session. Oh yeah. So no, um, we just kind of were like uh the first year we came, we we've come a couple of times, of course we're new to life church, but uh we came and Matt just had us come. And so we just got on the side and cooked one year and we're here. And like uh I actually went to the service, like and then came out and like, you know, did my boss and stuff that I do and all that kind of way, but no, that and then at that point I looked at I looked at uh Matt and I was like, oh we can do this better. And so then last year we did it, and so of course, you know, Nancy and I have like a little t-shirt press thing, you know, we're just amateurs and all this and we love it. And then, you know, it took us a while to come up with the name, holy smokers. And I mean, you know, it was just all in because uh uh Jonathan and Adam and Matt, they all love to like cook and all that kind of stuff. It's a lot of fun, so we have a great time. And anyway, so we did that. Well, it just kind of evolved, and I then I was buying decorations like for the thing, and then we're ordering off of Amazon late at night, always a bad idea. And um, I mean, it just turns into something huge for us, and we just had the best time doing it, it was a lot of fun, and we just love poke of fun at Tommy too, so that was always great. But this year it's gonna be on October the 4th, so everybody can start getting ready and starting to get it. If we want to get our stuff together, we're gonna do t-shirts for everybody, everybody's gonna get to have something special, so we're gonna have a lot more categories, I hope.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you're gonna leave your mark not only on your booth, but the whole program's gonna have a little elevation.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, we're gonna have some fun. We're gonna have some fun.
SPEAKER_02That's fantastic. Well, that that I love all that. Thank you. We'll take notes, we'll go back and start our our uh strategy session. Um, and that's such a fun place to start, but I know there's so much more to your story, so we'll back up a little bit. Um, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so Tish Taylor, uh, I my real name is Tanya. Don't be confused, but Tish is off the back of a top work catalog, just say you know, because my mom wanted to name me Jerusalem. So that's a whole long story, so we're not going into that. But Tish Taylor, I'm married to Adam Taylor. Uh we have a son, his name is Will, he lives in a la. Um, you know, um, I have a really long story and it goes into a lot of parts, but I was a widowed at 33, and so uh, and Will was five, and but the Lord brought Adam back into my life. Adam and I were childhood sweethearts. We met at a lock-in. People won't even know what these are.
SPEAKER_02We come from lock-in eras.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we're at a lock in, like we recently went back and took a picture in front of the church. I mean, because it was like 40 years later, uh, kind of thing. But so the Lord just He's so good to us and how He provides and does. I grew up in Sicily Island. Uh, my mom and dad are Jackie and Walter Myers, look, they're just like the most selfless, sacrificial people, taught me how to love the Lord. Um, we could spend all day right there, but we're not. But they're just a loving example of how to serve the Lord. And then I have uh I have uh two siblings. Matt Myers uh is my brother, Leanne is uh his wife, and their children Jacob and Anna, who uh everybody at Life Churches knows about, and then my sister Nancy and her um uh her husband Jonathan that's just passed away recently. But uh all these people just demonstrate the love of God in their life and how how selfless they are and how much they think. And I just have so many stories just of how my family has blessed me, how they have been imitators of Christ. And um so professionally I'm an educator. I have been in LaSalle Parish for a number of years, uh, 15 years as the instructional supervisor for grades 6 through 12. 2027 July, I will be retiring.
SPEAKER_02So it's a countdown.
SPEAKER_01Uh this is gonna be a fantastic year for my people. We're gonna have some good times.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna see a year-long celebration of year-long celebration.
SPEAKER_01Nothing wrong with that. In November out of 2024, Adam and I moved to Windsboro. Uh, so it's part of my story that I'll continue to tell. But uh, we came to Life Church. We started coming in July of 2024. It's just been a tremendous blessing. A breath of fresh air, a renewing spiritually that I needed in uh my life. Um we have always been actively involved uh in whatever church we go to, we want to serve the Lord. Uh we do that really good sometimes, and not so good sometimes. I mean, that's just life, but that's that's who I am.
SPEAKER_02Willing this is where to start. Um well, thank you. That helps get us get to know you some. Um so next, let's talk about your faith story. When you look back over your story, who has God been to you?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, he would like to be my boss, but sometimes I haven't let him be. But no, uh God has been in control of every part of my life. Um, and and just in just the details and in broad ways. It it really doesn't matter. Um he's been he's been my God it through infertility, through uh being a widow, through financial struggles, through personal failures, uh, through tragedies and then unexpected blessings. I mean, you just name it, he has been there and has been the author of of the purpose in my life and what we do. He continues to show himself faithful. Um I can clearly see his plans. You know, when you're in the moment, sometimes you're just so close up, so microscopic that you can't see what's going on. Or in my case, you always think you know what's going on. Uh, but he has sustained me through every part of my life, in the mountaintops and in the valleys.
SPEAKER_02And um knowing a little bit about your story that you're gonna get into, what makes that so meaningful is knowing the road that got you here. Yeah. Um, would you walk us through some of the seasons that has shaped your faith? You mentioned those briefly, but a little more.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, so you know, when I was young, I was raised in church. I mean, like literally the console TV would come out, the parents would load it in the back of the car, they'd push it up to the church so we could watch peanuts while they worked at church. So I have always been, you know, a part of church and and what's going on. But when I was seven, you know, we were at home and um my parents couldn't leave me to Christ because that's not possible. Um, you know, so we had to call the pastor out. And anyway, that kind of started uh, you know, my that did start my walk with Christ. And even as a child, I understood how important uh it was to love Jesus, but really how deeply Jesus loved me. And that just grew over time. Um there was just so many uh godly influences in my life. I mean, um there's just a lot to talk about, about uh how God has been faithful, you know, um being in a very um small school, you know, you have big ideas, and so graduating from Sicily Island High School, I I promise I had no fear on where I needed to go to college or what I needed to do. I'd never really made back grades or anything like that. And so then I went to LSU. And I brought home some grades from there that were not respectable in any manner. If uh if anybody, there there's plenty to tell there, but um, so I experienced some academic failure there. Um, you know, um later on in life I would marry my first husband, Johnny, and he would um he he was not healthy when we married, and um there's just there's so much about everything that the Lord's done in my life. Um, but in that I can remember filling out my wedding invitations and I cried in my mom's dream was like, well, wait, wait, now if we don't need to do this, it's okay. I was like, no, no, it's not that. I just don't know if the Lord will provide one year or ten years. You know, I don't I don't know what that'll be like. Uh but I love this man and I know this is who the Lord's uh got for me and and and wants to build a relationship and and uh so anyway, um we were married 11 years, by the way, because the Lord always knows best. And uh he anyway, it was just a really uh special time in my life when uh there I saw just blessing after blessing after blessing with Johnny's health and how the Lord do. Also, we experienced infertility. And I can tell you where I was on the road for five years we tried to have a child. Oh wow. And uh I about three years into infertility, I was on Highway 500 headed toward Winfield, and I was just crying out to the Lord about it. I was just, you know, broken about it. And and the Lord promised me then and there that we would have a child. Now I had no idea what that meant. I didn't know if that meant we would actually conceive and have our own child or if we would adopt a child, but I don't really care. It was it's that's what the Lord promised, and that's what uh I felt like I knew I could count on, I knew it would deliver that. Uh Johnny uh became critically ill around uh Thanksgiving of 2005, and uh for the next 31 days me and Jesus were in those waiting rooms, and they actually let you stay in the hospital back then, like I had my own room. Uh and uh they would call me down or whatever, and um it was just uh a really very difficult time, full of some difficult decisions that had to be made. But I'm telling you, I can show you in Willis Night and where I was sitting when the Lord opened up his word to me. And um for a person that's really in charge and wants to be in charge of everything and wants to know the plan and how things are gonna go, or at least wants to boss it that way. I mean, um, he revealed to me out of the Old Testament. Now I'm gonna tell you, I used to not be an Old Testament fan. I used to just want to talk about the New Testament all the time, but as I've gotten older and grown uh in the Lord, I just love the Old Testament. I just I just love it. And then Exodus 14, 13 and 14 is talking about when Moses is backed up against the wall with the people, and here's the Egyptians coming, the mountains on this side, and then there's the water, you know. So what do we do? And and he says uh to the people, he says, Do not be afraid, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. Um, and then it goes on to say the Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still, and from a busybody person's perspective, that is quite a commandment. That is quite a commandment. But during that time, and it was the first time in my life I really ever surrendered control. I really ever said, you know what, Lord, I don't know what to do here, but you do. And um, so Johnny uh died in 2006, and I just gained a really clear understanding of what God's presence was in my life and how he directed everything. And so uh there's like so much, so much there. I did have three questions. I sat on a white couch. I I'll never forget forget I had a five-year-old and a white couch. I still don't understand some of those decisions and why I'm allowed to make those, but I will say I just had to figure out, Lord, what am I supposed to do? You know how much an educator makes. You know how much we make. Um I had this intense desire to move home. I wanted to be with my family. I I was with some great people. I was in a great church over there. There's nothing wrong with the people, but I just wanted my child to be surrounded by Christian men, my brother and my dad. And then selfishly, I thought this is the most selfish thing I could have done at the time. I just wanted to know if I'd remarry. You know? Well, that's an honest question. I I well, you know, you feel bad because I just had this great marriage. I mean, a very loving husband, and then some people don't ever get that. And and I felt really bad about it, but I ask anyway. Uh, but the Lord provided such peace and such guidance and opened up doors, and we could spend all day there. But I that's not the part of my story I want to get to. So Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, and those were obviously very difficult seasons. Um, what began to change in the way you thought about trust and surrender?
SPEAKER_01Well, it was, you know, it's it was a constant revealing of who the Lord was. Um, one part I didn't share was two years after Johnny died, uh Will and I were in a terrible car accident. There were three horses, they were out on a main highway. Uh I never saw the horses. It was dark. I had a car that was very low to the ground. So uh, I mean, I asked the state trooper, I was like, how do you miss three horses? I mean, how could I not see that? Um, it just took the whole top off the car. It killed all the horses. Uh I I'm just telling you, it was it was something we shouldn't have survived. Um, but the Lord, all I can remember, uh, I mean, I can remember a lot of details, but the most important part about that car accident was when you're in a position where you felt like you've lost a lot already. And the one thing that you prayed for, your child, and the Lord giving you that child, he's sitting next to you, and and Will was completely reclined. He loved to sleep in the car. I like to go, he liked to sleep in the car. And the state trooper told me that night, he was like, If he'd not been reclined, I can't tell you exactly what happened. Well, I can tell you exactly what happened. Whatever the Lord said was gonna happen, it's gonna happen. But I can remember in that moment of me not really understanding even what I had hit or what had gone on, and I can see well, and I see all the things that go on when you have a wreck. And I just said, dude, I don't know what's going on right here. But he's yours. He's been yours, he's always been yours. And you can have him if you want him, but I'd like to keep him for a while.
SPEAKER_02Being open-handed is unbelievably hard with those.
SPEAKER_01And it's hard when you just lost. Oh. Because although it's been two years, it it has not been, you know, it's not an easy two years. But just there, God revealing himself, being able to to see the Lord just continually work, continually provide. And I I don't even know how to tell you how we made it financially, you know, but we didn't work for anything. It w you know, uh, the Lord provided, he he made a way.
SPEAKER_02Um, so what did it look like to step forward in faith again, especially in when it came to a relationship?
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh. I'm gonna tell you something. I I thought I knew myself. I you know, you just become so self-reliant. You know, you can do it all, you you can do it all. And then there came a time where ten years after uh Johnny had died, that Adam re-entered my life. And I as good as that was, I was scared to death to love again. I was scared just to trust my heart to go and look, I'd have to have some conversations, Lord. Are you sure? You know, that you know, this and I just I wanted to, but I was so fearful of being hurt again and and being in that in that place. Uh and look, the Lord knew exactly who to provide, and Adam is such a a kind, um, good husband. Um He just he just is, and I can see the goodness of God through that relationship. And we've been married 10 years now, so Yeah, tomorrow, right?
SPEAKER_02Tomorrow. You're celebrating this weekend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Going out to eat, baby. Dating out to meet you. That's right. That's right, that's right. Um, so anyway, that that's what that looked like. Um, and so then Adam and I um spring forward, you know, we kind of we kind of move on with what the Lord had for us. We're Adam was an educator also, and so um we're in LaSalle Parish, we're doing our thing, we're you know, working through, we'll graduate and all those kind of things. And Adam had this desire in his heart to live uh where he grew up on over there close to Wallace Ridge and Johns Valerie on off the um Bursley. And uh so our date nights would consist of riding around the Jeep and looking at property and got the property maps up, trying to see, you know, nothing's ever for sale over there. And the Lord miraculously provided our dream 700 square foot cabin on the lake in the exact fishing spot that that I mean, where he would ride his bicycle, get off and swim over, and like like, okay, Lord, this is the plan. This is what we're gonna do. And so, you know, just as the Lord would have it, just sitting at somebody's house, somebody said, I think so-and-so selling the house, we're third in line for the property. That doesn't happen, you know, financially. Like, we're making a promise to this man in the parking lot. We don't even know if we have financing. I mean, you know, like we're like, yes. Uh, but we knew what the Lord was doing. We just thought that was the plan, thought we were. And then um then in 2020, uh, Nancy calls and she said, uh, hey, I want you to know we sold our house and we bought a house. And I was like, seriously, like, really? She was like, Yeah, on Lanier Drive. I was like, Lanier Drive. They had lived in San Antonio for like, I don't know, 15 or 20 years, and we'd been over there tons. And I was like, Lanier Drive, I know where that is. Hang on, Lanier Drive. Where where is that? And she said, Windsaborough. And I was like, I just burst into tears. I had no idea. I mean, I love her, I and have, and we are m me, Matt and Ancer close. I mean, uh, we used to say when we were little, thick as thieves, uh, you know, we just uh really I just didn't know it meant that much. And uh she she was taken back, I was taken back, you know, and uh so but the Lord had already begun to reveal a desire that I didn't even know that was there, and uh he was already laying out his plan. Um many years earlier, Matt and Lee and moved to Windsboro. Like we never understood this, like you know, we had just gotten back together. Me, I had moved back after Johnny had died, Matt and Lynn were in Sisley, and then Matt and Lynn moved to Windsboro. What the heck is going on with that? I don't know. But you know, quietly God began to move all those years ago and placing Matt and Lynn here, and and they uh came to Life Church. Uh, they would tell us about Life Church, and I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we all gotta go church. You know, but no, but really Matt and Lynn, they would just talk about it and talk about how they were growing up and they stepped out on faith and obedience. It wasn't easy to leave our family church in Sicily Island and and come somewhere new. And they they did it for all the reasons that we we all think are great reasons, which are great reasons. They did it for jobs, they did it for education for their children, uh, they did it for opportunities, you know, for Jacob and Anna, and they did it for deeper spiritual growth. And we all believe we could see clearly see what was going on with God's plan. But we were just seeing a very, very small piece of what was going on.
SPEAKER_02So this is a kind of gets us to a point of your story where um it's probably one of the biggest or primary examples of God's faithfulness in your story. Yeah. Because the next part of that is he leads you and Adam to Windsboro.
SPEAKER_01Yeah we had no idea. Had no idea. This was you were happy in your little cabin had our cabin had the outside we even had an extra cabin. We had you know started developing our plans in our head for what we were going to do out there. We had just had trees cut down. I don't know if y'all do that very often it's not cheap. But so and you know I'm always I'm always working my mind's always working on what needs to happen. And you know Nancy was now in Windsboro and Matt and Lynn and then there was this house that came up for sale right beside Matt and Lynn we're like oh you know my mind's going to we're going to just move mom and daddy right over here to Windsboro. We'll come over look at it. Of course we're all in for shopping it doesn't matter what it is. So we all set it up we went over there and left the house it was not good for mom and dad but you know it's a good reason all to get together and figure out you know what we're gonna do. And Matt said let's go golfing Matt and Lynn we're gonna take us golfing and then Sissy calls. Well Sissy never calls and asks for anything but she calls she said hey look my uncle he's moving out of his house he's giving me this piece of furniture I really need your help he was talking she was talking to Matt and so uh she said can you and Jacob come over and move it and he was like no but me and Adam can and so we just tried over to off to this little house me and Adam and Matt Lynn we get over there and you know it's a cute little house and Uncle Wayne was there. We call him Uncle Wayne now but he was there and he had recently lost his daughter and wife and he was just starting a new chapter in his life and so he wanted to show us he loved the house he wanted to show us the house so we went along to Adam and I we looked at the house and anyway we get back in the car go play golf not much is said and we start on the way home and Adam says he says to me he says uh what'd you what'd you think about that house today and I was like you know it just it just felt like home didn't it just and he was like yeah it did and and I I said uh well that'd be that'd be nice you know or whatever uh that house is like three times the size of the 700 square foot cabin we're living in with the one closet that I overrun um and then God just starts to move and and but we were living the dream that we know that the Lord had the Lord had instilled in Adam's heart all that time ago uh to be able to return and so um I said well you know I retire in three years and blah blah blah this and you know we can't do that we can't have two houses and I said well I mean it's your dream and I can still remember the very look on his face when he turned to me and he said oh Tish dreams change and I was just stunned so we just kind of spent a little time talking just a minute about you know the cab and what that might look like and um the next morning I happened to be talking to a friend happened to be talking I'm doing some air quotations here happened to be talking to a uh friend and uh she basically said right then on the phone within 30 minutes she's gonna buy that the camp and I was like okay well wait a minute just a second and at that very moment I realized like I hadn't even called and told Adam but I realized that God could be asking us to let go of our plans so that we could uh so that he could give us his plan and for the person that likes to be in charge I didn't really know what was happening so that you know I was like okay um that we knew how much we'd prayed for the house that we were in we knew the gift that we'd been given at the camp um but what seemed impossible at the time was clearly what the Lord had planned for us. It wasn't really about the difficulty of the houses what all else we would be living leaving behind. We were in a church we loved we had a Sunday school class that was growing um I just worried about like who would fill those roles you know like nobody else can you know Jesus got a whole he's got God's got all these people but who's gonna do this you know because only you know people that think they're in charge think this way um I I wondered if we were making a mistake I would cry over this decision um I mean we were being we would be stretching ourselves you know to do something different um the Lord had all that worked out though I mean financially had it all worked out uh just in every way um so we just he just kept confirming that we were going in the right direction so in July we'd be invisible here um and I can remember uh the first Sunday that we were here and you know brother George gets up and he does his little welcome and you know gives his little mini sermon I call it as he's there and um I was standing there we're listening and everything and I was saying all these things in my heart and I just felt like brother George was just peeking in there like just every time he I would think something he would say it and like I'm literally starting to turn my head just a little bit see what Adam was doing over there because I was like oh my goodness he is just everything he's saying is exactly what I'm thinking piercing to where y'all are at that moment. Exactly and so I just I was just like God was just showing us during that service that he was assuring us once again that the steps we were taking were the correct steps. We were going in the right direction of what he had us do. And even still even after we get the confirmation sell the house buy the house move on or driving to church one Sunday and it was it was a little bit of a lengthy process that we were going through to get the house and everything and we were just kind of going back and forth about you know uh things and Adam had said a few things and I had said a few things in the car and of course you know like you do going to church real holy you know driving up to the door of church and um we were just thinking all the godly things and so as we pull up to church you know we get out and go in we're still going in there and the song service was about trusting the Lord and I was like we were sitting there and I mean in the middle of a song Adam literally reaches over to me and pulls me close and goes just forget everything I said in the car this morning that's fast working that's good that's a good worship I was like okay something about this church I don't know what's going on here the Lord's really moving um and I just look back at him and I said oh yeah yeah me me too for forget all that and we realized uh that we were trying to take control again of what God was already handling and doing. We officially closed on the house on my sister's birthday we made it a big thing because I'm all about having a good time and having a party because that just means you can buy more stuff and plan and play you know and so all the good stuff and so uh we just had all our family just fill in there did all kind of crazy stuff to help the house get ready like in a week because you know I was having friends over the next week because it was around Thanksgiving you gotta entertain and uh Jonathan would end up taking off work and I mean it would just be all kind of great stuff that went on so for months after that we would just family like I was I was just like we are living the dream here I mean this is so wonderful or just we get to eat with one another we get to be with another we go golfing we we do this we do our work we do what we have to do you know and we get to go to church like and want to go not not as a chore or anything but want to sincerely worship the Lord offer him praise and thanksgiving at church it had been a really long time since that was the reason that I was going to church uh so we did that and those moments now are even more precious because then May 15th 2025 arrived and on that day I would receive a call from Nancy and she would be begging me to hurry home and uh I would learn that Jonathan died at 47 from what we now know was a brain aneurysm and in that moment every question that I had asked God all the tears that I had cried trying to figure out the plan or trying to make the plan not be the plan um all the reasons I thought we should stay all the reasons I thought my plans were better um every one of those disappeared and I could clearly see what God's perfect plan was during that time. God had been positioning our family for years. He knew why Matt and Leanne had to move he knew why Jonathan and Nancy needed to move he knew Adam and I would move he had drawn us where exactly where he wanted us to be and where we needed to be before May 15th would occur. I thought this was going to be our story about buying a house. I I had this whole testimony written out about buying the lake house but I thought it was about that and it was actually God's story about God's preparation in your life. I thought the story was about changing locations and it was just really a story about God's love and how he wants to provide for you and how he wants to um allow you to trust him because his plans are better for what you know I would not know what May 15th would mean but he did and he had gone before us long before planning out all the places we would be and live and when I look back over our life I can see a pattern now of how the Lord has done this over and over again God has been faithful um uh we have been able to trust him even when I doubted what we were doing I just always make it about me it's that's just our that's our human nature and but he's he continues to be faithful um it's one of the greatest lessons that he continues to teach me to trust him that his ways are are higher than my ways you know um in Isaiah 55 eight through nine you know God reminds us of of our humanity and and he how he is his divine wisdom and sovereignty is provided it says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways declares the Lord as the heavens are higher than the earth so my ways are higher uh than your ways and my thoughts are higher than yours like that's me in a nutshell like like I I think he's trying to tell me that over and over again um telling all of us that yeah poor him I'm kind of the old testament in a nutshell to begin with and you know maybe has not you know as a kid I used to be like this Israelite now it's like a mirror and you're like oh gosh yeah so looking back I can clearly see that um God was never reacting to any circumstances in my life um that he was always there he was always preparing the way um God continues to teach me that um and he is faithful I love the you know the what makes me think of I love that it's like the tapestry of your story there are so many threads and and they do tell that kind of a a cohesive story of God's faithfulness um and I I love how scripture has been woven through your story um and uh I think what would you kind of encouragement would you give somebody walking through uncertainty right now well you know if you're struggling financially if you're so struggling sorry with grief or loss or facing failure or battling a fear or just questioning God's plan in your life um if you're just simply exhausted from trying to carry your own life I want you to know that there is hope and his name is Jesus he provides he heals he restores he loves he guides he trusts you can without a doubt trust him you can trust him um if there's one lesson that he's taught me to stop trying to be in charge that's very difficult I mean Matt laughs all the time he's like I have had no idea that there was actually a job where you could just boss people around all the time I mean who knew if we surrender our plans our fears our timelines our expectations to the Lord he will show up in a mighty way we can trust him completely and when you do this in your life your life will never be the same and when you recognize it and I just want to I just want to thank the Lord for loving me unconditionally where he would have to teach me these lessons over and over again like Tish you know you can make a 0.00 at LSU and be the secondary supervisor there's a couple steps and I got this. Yeah and then you know you can marry the person that I have for you even though you might there might not be the ending that you think it may not be a 50th wedding anniversary. I you can know about the promises that I have for you can deal with things like infertility and know that I have a promise for you. There's just so many things that the Lord has done he just told me and has shown me over and over again so I can learn this lesson of surrender. Learn this lesson of allowing him to be the one in charge um on a side note I would also like to encourage you know uh when we're in church we get real excited about the times that we can be away from our children like I just I'm saying that out loud every parent absolutely can't praise the Lord for the nursery praise the Lord for the nursery praise the Lord for you know uh kids life but I will tell you somewhere where not to step away you know and that is when your children become youth there are opportunities in every one of those areas but I will tell you a very valuable area that really ministered to my to me in every area and that was in youth ministry and um I did that for about six or seven years um not as the leader just as a helper that's all you have to be you don't have to commit the lead you can just commit to help but it was wonderful what the Lord did in that time. Yes I got to see my child do some fantastic things we got to go some concerts we got to do some camps got to do some stuff like that but I began to believe that I was there that the Lord had me there for me and to really understand because I don't think I valued that as a youth all the things that were available to me and I really just enjoyed growing in that time so so yeah you know we got to go do all these cool things and I got to be involved and and be present with my child but the biggest thing was my spiritual growth during that time of just being able to to listen to watch the Lord do things in young people's lives to watch to listen to the testimonies of others and and grow in the word during that time and so I would just say this just do it just go when you're tired go when it's inconvenient go when you don't feel like it just do it I promise the reward that the Lord has there is just infinite I if I pulled out my little notebooks from all that time I would probably be in a puddle here because of of all the things that the Lord did um some of my greatest spiritual growth came from that time um and just being involved and showing up during that time.
SPEAKER_02That's such a good encouragement and and I agree with that I think um it's one of those areas I feel like when you serve you truly do get back more than you pour in. Yeah and I don't know if there's just the environment of um it's not a the simplicity of the message but just kind of taking it back to almost early steps or I don't know what it is but there is something about being that moment and watching other um youth their faith grow and the lessons that are being preached and maybe because you're not sitting there thinking it's for yourself. Oh yeah so it's kind of coming in the back door and you're like oh that okay never mind that's that's toe stepping on my toes.
SPEAKER_01Holding my feet up here yeah no I think it was always that for me like I I was just doing such a good thing and I was doing my little churchly duty and helping the Lord out here and you know going to do the stuff um and it was always so much more it was always so much more the just the Lord just would just just open his word to me and and I'd I would be like Lord I'm sorry for the thing I was making that I was making that about I was making that about doing something. I was making that about that about the work or whatever and and and that's not what you intended at all. And so many lessons about you know you're gonna have a flat tire when you go on a youth trip.
SPEAKER_02Yes the air conditioner's not gonna work air conditioner's not gonna work in the van you're in. Yes it's gonna be working in the van you're not in it somebody's gonna be car sick oh absolutely absolutely and and there's just a certain rite of passage that that comes with but I I would agree with that and I thank you for that encouragement and um you know I think there's just so important I guess to be open to those moments and I think and I think at some point in your story you talk about God's faithful when we doubt we're not paying attention when we're going after something we think is not at all why you know what we're supposed to be going after but but his faithfulness he shows up he's in it to me if you if you are there just there he can do the rest even when you're bringing all kinds of baggage that has nothing to do with what you're supposed to yeah I mean and and nothing is just happening.
SPEAKER_01Right I mean I I I'm just telling you I just cannot get over I can't get over it. I can't get over how much he loves me. I cannot get over how good his plan is for us I I just can't get over it. Like it's just it's it's just amazing and it's just so uh refreshing I will tell this tad bit story that wasn't in any of my testimony but I just feel really the need to tell you so when I and I uh got married you know it was very clear to us that we wanted to do things God's way we'd done a bunch of things in our in our lives our way we had reaped the benefits of that if we call it benefits um but we just had this sincere desire just to do things God's way and so not because of Tish because you need to understand in this whole conversation there's not one single thing That's because of me. It's because of God's work in me. I can't be nice. I can't be kind on my own. I, you know, I came from the era where we have something to say back all the time. And so just really trying to focus on doing what God would have us do. And so we were challenged at a youth theme, by the way, you know, to really try to be very mindful in our prayer of who we were praying for. And I saw this also as a shopping excursion. So, you know, we go out and we buy a little bulletin board. And then, you know, I do have a little bit of teacher in me because so then you have to decorate the bulletin board. You know, you have to get all the stuff and do all the things. And so I began to take the things that Adam and I were praying about. And I would put them with a push pen, by the way, on the on the bulletin board. And and that was to the right of our bed in our bedroom. And that's where it was. And there was a chair, and you could sit there and pray about it or whatever. And I had some humongous things on there, like huge things. Our house was on there at the lake. Um, just large, large things. And so when we were getting ready to move to go to the lake, I took that bulletin board down. And of course it was full of push pins, and you know, anybody that moves knows you need to take all those pieces of paper off, or you know, so I began to take the paper off. And I was thinking about how I was gonna reconstruct this, you know, what this was gonna look like later. And so I was putting it in piles of answered prayer, things we were still praying about, and and and and things that were just way out there, you know. We were sure we were supposed to be praying about them, but we really weren't sure how God was gonna be able to take care of that. But whatever, we were still praying. And I I just want you to know as I started taking that, I started going, taking each one of these pieces of paper and laying it in the pile that God had answered the prayer.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_01And God had answered the prayer, and God had answered the prayer, and I just became overwhelmed. Like I can remember the exact number. Twenty one things in the pile that God had answered prayer on. There were only three outstanding things, and there were things like my to-do list never looks same. I know, I know this is Jesus' to-do list. Oh, that's fantastic. And so, like, the and they were huge things. They were like, you know, Will was going to college and like his future wife and all these kinds of things. I mean, I mean like stuff that the Lord's still working on, you know what I'm saying? Right. But these things, these things, these really large, weighty things in our lives, I had just put them in the pile of answered along with what a wonderful physical testimony. Yeah, so sometimes you know the Lord's asking us to do things like that so he can show us. I mean, they're all kind of tangible things that I believe the Lord's asking us to do so that we can recognize how much he loves us. Yes. If you've ever driven the road from on Highway 28 from Texaco Town to Alexandria, that's a that's a that way kind of thing. But it is 15 miles of the most barren place that you will ever drive. And Will was just one day, he was just overwhelmed with how long it was. And so, you know, I was doing a spiritual mother thing, and I was like, Well, we're gonna talk about all the things that we're thankful for. That sounds like a great I mean, you know, probably he was probably, you know, griping about something, and I thought, well, I'm gonna show you. I'm gonna show you how thankful you should be. And we start counting. And I said, Well, let's look, let's just do 10. And so we did 10 like in three seconds, you know. So I was like, oh, well, this is a 15-mile road. We better get going here. And literally, we ended up at a hundred when we get to the end, and I was just blown away by the things that the Lord had done, but not just that, the things that he recognized as a child that the Lord was doing. And so I think the Lord through this podcast, through me having to write this down, I knew many years ago that I was supposed to write things down. I I don't know if you understand how disobedient I like to be. But I know a little stubborn streak of I got some. I got I got a full load of that. I don't know who to blame that on, but uh anyway, I have it. And and I just really haven't done it. And so when you talked to me about doing this, I was like, see Tish, if you'd written some of this stuff down when Jesus said to write down, then here we'd be. This would be like a five second, oh sure, let me just flip this out, you know. But it was also more than that, it was a recollection of how good the Lord has been. And like, not just good because it's all mountaintops.
SPEAKER_02No, but it's it's the testimonies of what's in between the mountaintops.
SPEAKER_01That's right. It's it's what's in the valley, and so um it's good.
SPEAKER_02Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you taking the time. Um I this your story, it is a hard-fought testimony. There is not one thing that you talked about today that was not well thought out as far as the prayers, the tears, the um, and I just I appreciate you being willing and open to sit and talk with us. Um, this is good. Good stuff. I I identified with a lot, it touched me a lot, and I I very much appreciate this. Um so to wrap it up, would you mind closing us in prayer? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Lord, I just I thank you for an opportunity, Lord, to be here to testify to who you are. Lord, you are so faithful, you are so trustworthy. Lord, thank you for showing up every time, Lord, in my life. Lord, thank you for all the blessings, the ways you've provided, Lord. Lord, thank you for the times that I've been in the car just crying because I was alone. And you reminded me that you were there. God, you are so good. And Lord, each of us have a this wonderful testimony that glorifies who you are today, Lord. Or for whomever might listen to this, Lord. Lord, just show them who you are. Lord, open their eyes and their hearts so that they can know who you are. Lord, that they can feel the love that you've shown me, Lord. Lord, I know that you want to. Lord, I know that you desire for them. Uh Lord, for the person that's questioning the plan or the the purpose or the progress or whatever, Lord, that you would just be with them. And Lord, if they can't know right now, that you would just help them take that next step, that you just reassure them in everything that they're doing. Lord, that you would, Lord, make a way. Lord, I just thank you for just your unfailing love, Lord. Lord, thank you for just being there. Thank you for providing. Thank you for being Jehovah Jireh in so many situations in my life, Lord. And Lord, I want to honor you in what I do. Lord, I ask you to help us to do that, Lord, today. Lord, I ask that you help the person that's struggling, help the person that's in any situation, Lord. Lord, I just ask blessings over them right now, Lord. Lord, I just thank you. Lord, I trust you. I love you. Lord, I just ask that you continue to reveal yourself to me, Lord. Lord, that I'd be able to recognize that. Lord, that you reveal yourself to others and they'd be able to recognize who you are. That it just wouldn't be happenstance, Lord, but it would be intentional, purposeful. Lord, that they would know that you're in charge, you're in control, and they can trust you to take care of it. Lord, we lay it at your feet today. Lord, we lay illness and depression and infertility and grief and so many other things, Lord. Addiction, whatever it is, Lord, we lay it at your feet. And we ask that you make a way. And Lord, for the parent or the family member, Lord, that it's praying for salvation for someone, Lord. I just ask right now that you just Lord, that you let them know that you're at work. And Lord, that we would be your people and we would be at work. Jesus, I love you with all my heart. And I ask that you be with the fosters, Lord, and that you be with Life Church, and you be with our community, Lord, that we would shine our light for you, and we would be the people that you would ask have asked us to be. Lord, I ask all these things in your name. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Thank 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 VLC.us or follow us on Facebook. But the best option is for you to join us in person each Sunday, 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.