Breaking the Cycle: Responding with Love Instead of Revenge

In a world where hurt and misunderstanding often dominate our interactions, it can be challenging to maintain a loving and respectful demeanor, especially when faced with negativity from others. This blog post explores the importance of responding to hurt with love, rather than mirroring the negative behavior we experience. Here, we will discuss how to protect our hearts without hardening them, extend grace without losing wisdom, and allow God to shape our responses instead of allowing pain to dictate our actions.

### Understanding the Cycle of Hurt

We often hear the phrase "hurt people hurt people." This means that those who are suffering tend to inflict pain on others, as they might not know how to express their hurt in constructive ways. When someone reacts negatively towards you, it’s crucial to remember that their response often reflects their internal struggles, not your worth. Instead of retaliating, we can choose to break this cycle by responding with compassion and understanding.

### Why Do We Naturally Want to Repay Hurt with Hurt?

Our instinctive reaction when someone hurts us is often to retaliate. This behavior is deeply rooted in our flesh, which desires to mirror the negativity we receive. For instance, if a neighbor ignores your friendly greeting, your first impulse might be to withdraw and ignore them in return. But as Matthew 5:44 reminds us, we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Choosing to respond with love instead of anger can prevent us from losing our joy and can even open pathways to healing and understanding.

### The Importance of Recognizing Negative Behavior

One key aspect of breaking the cycle of negativity is recognizing when we begin to mirror someone else's behavior. This often occurs in everyday interactions, such as when someone bumps into you and reacts with anger. It’s essential to pause and consider whether your response is influenced by the other person's negativity. Instead of escalating a situation, we can choose to respond with kindness, asking if they are okay and offering a silent prayer for them if they refuse to engage. 

### Practicing Grace in Everyday Situations

When faced with negativity, practicing grace can be a powerful tool. Consider the example of encountering a rude coworker or a dismissive neighbor. Instead of responding in kind, we can choose to extend grace by offering a compliment, showing kindness, or simply praying for them. These small acts can plant seeds of positivity and potentially change the atmosphere of our interactions. Remember, we do not know the battles others are facing, and offering love can sometimes be the light they need.

### Key Takeaways
- **Recognize the cycle of hurt:** Understanding that hurt people often hurt others can help you respond with compassion instead of anger.
- **Choose love over retaliation:** Responding with kindness and grace can break the cycle of negativity and help maintain your joy.
- **Practice awareness in interactions:** Pay attention to your reactions and ensure you're not mirroring negative behavior.
- **Extend grace in daily encounters:** Small acts of kindness can make a significant difference in someone else's life.

### Conclusion

In conclusion, responding to hurt with love is a powerful choice that can break cycles of negativity and promote understanding. It’s vital to recognize when we are tempted to mirror negative behavior and to instead choose grace and compassion. By doing so, we not only protect our hearts but also create an environment where healing can occur. As you go about your day, challenge yourself to respond with love, even in difficult situations. Remember, every act of kindness has the potential to change someone's life.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**What does it mean when we say "hurt people hurt people"?**  
Hurt people often inflict pain on others because they are struggling with their own emotional wounds. They may not know how to respond positively to others and thus lash out instead.

**How can I respond to negativity in a constructive way?**  
You can respond to negativity by choosing to extend kindness, offering a compliment, or praying for the individual rather than mirroring their behavior. 

**What does the Bible say about responding to those who hurt us?**  
Matthew 5:44 advises us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, encouraging a response of love rather than retaliation.

**How can I maintain my joy in the face of negativity?**  
By focusing on your own positive thoughts, prayers, and the support of your faith, you can maintain your joy despite the negativity around you. 

**Is it okay to set boundaries with hurtful people?**  
Yes, it’s essential to set healthy boundaries to protect your well-being while still responding with love and compassion. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Well, welcome back to Planet and Rooted in God's Word. I am your host. I am Barbara Wallace. And I'm going to tell you about today's episode. Today's episode is for anyone who has ever been hurt, misunderstood, rejected, or treated unfairly by someone they genuinely cared about. Well, maybe you tried to show kindness, respect, and love only to have it rejected. Maybe you found yourself asking, why do they treat me this way? Now the truth is sometimes people who are hurting don't know how to give what they have never experienced themselves. Their pain affects the way they speak, now the way they respond, and sometimes the way they treat others. But here's the question we all have to answer. Will I allow someone else hurt to change who God has changed called me to be? It's easy to mirror that same energy when you've been given, to become cold because someone else was cold to speak, harshly because harsh words were spoken to us. Now to seek revenge instead of peace, but Jesus calls us to something higher. Today we're talking about how to love beyond that hurt, protect your heart without hardening it, extend grace without losing wisdom, and allow God not pain to shape your response. If you're ever struggled with forgiveness, bitterness, or wanting to get even, this conversation I will say is for you. Now let us pray. Dear precious Father God, in the mighty name of Jesus, I come before you today, humble as I know how, as your vessel. I ask that you use me, Lord Jesus, and that you forgive me of all my sins and righteousness. And Father God, that you come in the midst of this podcast, and that you speak through me, Father God, that you use me mightily, Lord Jesus, that the words I speak is only the words that you have given from your word, Father God. I pray, Father God, that folks be able to grow in your grace, and that, Father God, that there's a lesson learned, and that they will heed your word and go into the word for themselves and learn what your word says for them to be able to function in this world that we live in. So today I thank you once again, Lord Jesus, and I give you the praise and I give you the glory and I give you the honor in Jesus' name. Amen. So I'm glad that you're here with me today, and I just want to take this time out to you know speak with you about some things that a lot of us are experiencing. We're experiencing folks that are just not happy in their lives, and we as Christians, we want to make sure that we don't mirror that same energy that they're giving us because the joy of the Lord is supposed to be your strength, but sometimes we get caught up real quickly allowing our flesh to take over and just give that same energy, but we're not going to allow that to happen, and so I think today we should pretty much call this episode. Let me see, let's say breaking the cycle, responding with love instead of revenge, because we can easily take revenge out on folks, and sometimes it's not even just your family members that act this way, sometimes it's your co-workers, or it's your neighbors, or it's sometimes your friends, and we get caught in that situation where you know we have to decide if we're gonna walk in the things of the Lord or we're gonna react like that person that has come against us in some sort of way that just was not even like us or take us out of our character, and just remember that Satan uses everyone because he wants to come in and trap you and get you to get off of your game and and cause you to lose your footage and cause you to say, Hey, if you're gonna be mean to me, I'm gonna be mean to you. But we know that's not Christ-like, and we know that Jesus did not display that. So let's let's explore some some questions and let's talk about it. So the first thing that you know I want to ask, and I want you to think about it. Why do we naturally want to repay hurt with hurt? And the reason that is, is because when someone hurts you, and I'm not talking about physically hurt you, I'm talking about example where you see someone here, you talk to them and say, Hey, how you doing, with a smile, and then they have this frown on their look or meanness that you know you did something personally to them, and you know that you didn't do it. So our first instinct of our flesh is to rear up and say, All right, hmm, if you're not gonna talk to me, I'm not gonna talk to you. Or you'll get into that situation where day after day, you know, you're not on your game, you read your word, and you're saying, Lord, you know, this is gonna be a good day. You was in your word and you read and you got some understanding, and you're walking in the things of the Lord, and day one comes by and you see a neighbor. You say, Hey, good morning, neighbor, how are you doing? Because we know the word says a love, and the neighbor, you know, just turns around and go back into the neighbor's home. Okay, that's day one. All right, a couple of days go by and you see the neighbor once again, and you say, Hi neighbor, how you doing? And the neighbor looks at you like you just stole something from the neighbor, and then the neighbor gets in their car and drives off. So now you're wondering, okay, must be something that this neighbor is going through. Let me pray for this neighbor. Okay, that that's fine. And then another day goes by, let's say a couple more days go by, and the neighbor is walking to the mailbox, and your mailbox is next to your neighbor, and then you say, you know, good morning neighbor. Now you're face to face with the neighbor. Good morning, neighbor, and you know you prayed for this neighbor, and then the neighbor looks at you and tells you, I don't have time for this nonsense. You know, get out of my face. Now you've been assaulted because the neighbor just told you, shunned you away, get out of my face. I don't have any time for this. And you're thinking, like, wow, now the first thing that you want to do is like, well, go on about your day. I don't have time for you either. But that's only how our fresh natural flesh will naturally ask. As if, you know what, if you don't want to talk to me, then I don't want to talk to you, fine as well. I'm going back into my house and I'm just gonna carry on as if you don't exist. But Matthew's 5 and 44 tells us, but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So, you know, with that said, we don't want to continually allow them to steal our joy because of the fact that they're having a bad day. And we don't know what the situation is because that particular neighbor just doesn't want to talk to you. And so, you know, you just continue on walking the way that you walk in the things of the Lord. Don't let the enemy come in and steal your joy, because once your joy is stolen, then that gives room for the enemy to come in and to attack you. So our first mindset is because that's who we are, I've is the flesh is to react. Like, listen, I I don't need to talk to you. You know, you go in your house, and then you know, days will go by if you allow your flesh to give into that. Days will go by, months will go by, and you don't talk to your neighbor. This neighbor could have been really going through something and just didn't know how to share with you. And because of that, you just have to continue on praying because one day this neighbor may open up and tell you, no, during that time where you spoke to me, I was going through the hardest time of my life, and I just didn't know how to react, and I was in so much pain. But if you kept your ground to love them and do the things that's pleasing in the eyesight and walk in your Christ-like walk, then you wouldn't feel bad later on and say, Wow, I I treated mistreated this person. I didn't give them an opportunity to you know share what was happening. So, you know, let's let's keep that in mind that we don't want to belittle our walk with Christ because of what someone else is going through. You never know what someone is going through in the privacy of their own home, and that's why we have to act as if you know Christ would not have done that. You know, there was a bracelet was what would Jesus do? And you walked around with that WWJD, what would Jesus do? And in that incident, that's when you look, what would Jesus do if you know he was faced with this neighbor? So let's move right along with that. Now, what does the fairy phrase mean? Hurt people hurt people? What what does that mean? Well, what it means to me personally, and and it may mean something different for you, but hurt people they want you to be hurt as well as they're hurt because they don't have any joy, they don't have any happiness, they don't have anything to look forward to. So it's in their mindset is why should I be in all this pain and you're happy? So if you're happy and you're attracting, you know, happiness out there, they want to see you in the Molly Girls too. They don't want you to be joyful, they don't want you smiling, they don't want you to seem as happy as everything's going on. Although we do have our our aches and our pains and our hurts and our days of sorrows, but the difference between us being like Jesus in everything, like God has asked us to be and walk in his perfect way, is that our pain is not going to be overpowering us where we can't be able to walk through it. So let's let's let's remember that hurt people only want you to hurt, they want you to be in the same situation that they're in, so at least you can feel some hurt. And and let's not fall into that. Don't let anyone steal your happiness because of their hurtness, because then they're they're belittling who you are as Christians, as saints. So let's just keep that in mind. Um, the next question that you know I want us to discuss is what it means to for people who are hurting and how they tend to lash out on others easily, is because they feel others feel their pain like them, being unable to go beyond their feelings and what's inside them. And like I mentioned, is that that is the reason why people lash out to you or and even perfect strangers if you're ever driven a bus. I I lived in a city and there was time to time that I had to get on the bus to get me from one destination to another. And th you can see folks pain in their face, you can see them the anger, you can see the hurt in their eyes, and you get on your you get in your seat and you like, wow, you know, this person's having a bad day. I don't even want to talk to them. And so you don't talk to them. You don't even know if you would have said one kind word to them, what that probably would have meant. And sometimes what I used to do when I saw folks looking sad or down, instead of ignoring them, I would give them a compliment. Like, wow, you look nice. I like that color blue on you. Didn't even know them. And because I said something nice to them, it sort of like broke that mean face that they were having, they were displaying. And I think it may have planted a seed to say, oh, a stranger could be nice to me. So just remember, it doesn't necessarily have to be a loved one that is showing that they're angry with you or they're angry with the world or they're hurting, it could be perfect strangers that are showing that they're angry or something like that. So the next you know question that I'm putting out there is how can we recognize when we're beginning to mirror someone else's negative behavior? And that's a really good question because when you find yourself stooping low to their their level, and so we don't want to stoop low to their level, we want to stay on you know a higher call that we are in Christ Jesus with the love of Christ that's in us, and so you don't want to go down to their level and act the way they act. So if you're in a store, and I've seen this happen a lot of time, you're in a store and someone you know bumped into you accidentally. Now they bumped into you, you didn't bump into them, they bumped into you and you turned around and you saw the meanness in the face, immediately you want to say, excuse me, you want to have that face of angry, like, what's what was wrong with you? You don't you ran into me and you looking like I did it to you. That's when you recognize in yourself, like, listen, it could have been an accident, you don't know. Again, folks in this world carry so much hurt and pain, and you just don't know that you're equaling their negativity on the same level because now you're you're you're gonna get heated and you're gonna get bothered, and then it would become an argument. I've seen so many times, and I'm sure you have so many times where innocent people bump into one another, and then it becomes a brawl in the middle of the daylight where folks are fighting. They are actually knocking each other out, but and it's not that we we thinking that you know we are gonna humble ourselves to say that, you know, not to say anything, but you know, you can say it a little gently, are you okay? Are you fine? And and if the person doesn't want to, you know, engage in a conversation with you, that's fine and dandy. That's the time where you say a silent prayer for them, and you say, Father God, whatever that person is going through, I pray, Father God, that they get some kind of deliverance because you know, we sometimes we come from families that the first thing you want to do is you want to protect yours and you want to fight. I remember growing up, if I've ever told my brothers that someone was mean to me, the first thing my brothers want to do is show me where they at. I want to go and beat that brother down. But we have to remember, you know, everything does not have to come to a fight. You just have to recognize that you don't want to fall into that same negative activity that they are doing, and you don't want to react to them, you want to have some kind of control, and you want to be able to reflect and perhaps say a scripture in your in your mind or speak it out loud or just say a prayer that says, you know, Lord, just help. I have a story that I wanted to share. I was working on this job, and a particular manager, uh, for some reason, I don't know what was going on with her, but as I would come into the the store, the building, I would be walking up the stairs, and my manager would be walking beside me, you know, as she was walking a little faster, she was ready to go past me, and I would turn around and say, Hey, how are you doing? And my manager sped up to go, you know, beyond me. And I thought, wow, that's kind of peculiar, that her being my manager would act in that, you know, kind of way. And so I started noticing more and more that she was treating me a little different. Like in the beginning, I said, Wow, that's that's kind of odd. You know, there was a time you would speak to me if I said good morning to you. And then I was noticing, like, if we were face to face, I was going up the stairs and she was going down the stairs, and we were face to face to one another, and I would say, you know, hello, how are you doing? And she would walk to the side of me to walk past me as if I wasn't there. So after a while it started getting irritating that I would speak to this person and they not spoke to me. Well, the one thing, one day it happened, she wanted myself and another co-worker to work on a project. Now, my co-worker worked on a desk that was across from me and I was behind him. So, like, if we turned around to the inside of the aisle, we would be able to talk to one another. So the manager came over and she spoke to the co-worker, and she had her back to me and she said, I want you. Now she was talking to my co-worker. I want you and Barbara to work on, you know, this project. But she never turned around to tell me, and I can hear her because we were really close in the cubicles. She would never turn around and say anything to me. So at that moment, I I got really irritated. You know, I was like, Well, this is crazy. I I I don't know what's happening. And the enemy was really working on me at that time because I I became more frustrated with you know the way that she was treating me for no reason because I hadn't done anything to her. I would do my job, I would come in, say good morning to everybody. And I even asked a couple people, you know, on my job, you do you know why you know our manager is acting like this towards me? And they're like, I have no clue what's going on. And so at that point, I saw myself ready to say something to her, and and I was not ready to say anything that was pleasing. So what I did was I like I put myself on break mode, and I walked outside and I walked around the building, I started to pray. I'm like, Father God, I need your help because I don't know why this person is treating me like this. I don't understand what is going on because I know that we work together, and I know she spoke to me in the past, but now she's not. Lord, you need to come in so that I don't say the wrong thing to this person. You need to help me get beyond this, you need to give me um peace right now in the name of Jesus. And so I came back in and I relaxed and I got my my myself together. So what I did from there is I I sent an email to her and I said, I would like to have a meeting with you because I have some things to discuss with you. Because I wanted to address her face to face and I wanted to let her know that whatever she was doing was very disrespectful to me, not speaking to me, not acknowledging me, not listening to me, not talking to me. So we had the meeting, and I said to her in in a in a nice way, I said, you know, we both are workers, we work together, and my job is to do the best that I can do, but I need to understand why you are treating me in such a way. And she explained herself, and we got beyond it. I said, Listen, this can't continue on the way that it's doing because I respect you, you should respect me, it should be a hand in hand thing. But But if say if I didn't even pray, or say that I didn't walk out the building to breathe, I can imagine it would have been a hot mess. I would have probably got up and and yelled at her and and did some other things that just was not appropriate of that matter. But I decided to pray, and God led me to how to handle that situation. And from that day forward, I didn't have any problems with her. You know, she was able to speak to me. Like I said, she never shared what was going on, but I did not allow her unhealthy feelings towards me or her actions, behaviors to make a difference with who I was. Now Ephesians 4, 31 through 32 says, get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger. Be kind and compassionate to one another. Forgive each other just as Christ God forgave you. So, like that I said in that story, I had to get rid of the bitterness, I had to get rid of the rage, I had to get rid of the anger, and I had to show compassion, and I had to show love to her and forgive whatever she was going through towards me to let her know that this can then continue going on, but I'm gonna go work with you, and you know, I just hope that you know you okay. Um next question that I have for us is can you love someone and still establish healthy boundaries? Now, sometimes we this is towards you know family members or close friends, and they're constantly in that battle of being angry and hurt and bitter, and you know, at that time, if you can't get through to them by you know your love, and your meekness should not be your weakness, so you can have boundaries if that person is not going to allow you to speak to them or have a conversation, then you know, okay, I'm gonna stay away. Perhaps they need some time alone, perhaps you don't have to always call and check up on them. Perhaps you can just text messages. You know, we live in technology where you can send an email, you can send a text message, you can send an emoji, you can send a gif, you send a lot of things to remind them, you can send them scriptures, you don't have to be in there first, in their face, but you can set boundaries and say I'm not gonna be in that proximity of that person any longer because of the fact that I need to set some boundaries so that I don't fall into you know that unhealthiness of what they're bringing. Uh so the next question is why is bitterness so dangerous to our spiritual growth? And the reason that is is because Jesus Christ is love, he's not anger, he doesn't have strife, and he comes with us with nothing but pure love for our fellow man, and the Bible says that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and that if he can forgive us for all the sins and righteousness that we have done, then we can do that, and that keeps us growing in the things of the Lord, it brings forth fruit, it allows us to be prosperous in the things of the Lord and be obedient vessels because if we're going to walk like Christ and do the things like Christ, we have to have that mind to allow our spirit to grow by taking in the word and be obedient. I want to walk like him. When you look at me, I want you to see Christ in me. I want you to see the love because they will know who you are by the love. And that's how we should be able to walk because that's what Jesus teaches us. And Proverbs 4 and 23, it says, Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. So if your heart is guarded from any of the anger, or guarded from any of the bitterness, or guarded from any of the hurt and pain that you feel and others are displaying towards you, then you know that the Holy Spirit will be able to flow through you and that you'll be able to grow. So you can protect yourself by keeping the word of God in you, by studying yourself to show yourself approval, because a workman that study rightly dividing the word of truth, you don't have to accept what everyone says, but you don't have to fall prey to what they're doing every day. So now, how does God help you forgive someone who deeply hurt you? Now that's a tough thing because when you deeply love someone and they hurt you so severely and so badly, sometimes it's so hurtful that it makes you want to cry, it makes you want to give up on things. But in Luke 6, 27 through 28, it says, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. So that's a lot to say when that word tells you that you should love your enemies. And although it could be someone you you love, but their hatred that they have is something that the enemy has. It's nothing but pure hate, and it's evil to hate someone, and that's the thing about it. You hating someone is is is an evil deed, and you want to do good deeds and you want to love God through and through, all the way through, even the fact that if they show that they want to do something to hurt you, but you're just gonna love your and your enemy. Like I said, your meekness should not be misunderstood as your weakness. So the uh next question is what practical steps help you guard your heart without becoming you know hard-hearted? And you don't want your heart to be so heavy that now it's so hard that you can't even love anymore, that it now blocks you to you know show forth the love that Christ, and you don't want it to be so hard-hearted that you can't even spread the word anymore, that you can't even put the word in you and feel the joy in you. So you don't want that to happen to you. So the practical steps is to always remain in God's word and always remember, I am a child of the King, of most high God, who dwells in me, I am his temple, I was made to worship him. And if you're made to worship him, then you're gonna do the things that are pleasing in his eyesight, and you're not going to allow anything or anyone or any pain to just, you know, get you out of that way. Now, Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love. Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So my question with that verse is, are you displaying any fruits? You have to have the fruits of goodness, of love, of joy, of peace, of patience, of kindness, of faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So that's all the fruits that the Lord allows us when we are truly walking in his thing, truly celebrating that we are a child of the King, truly understanding that whatever is done to us, regardless of what anyone says, that we're gonna stay faithful in his word. We're going to stay encouraged, we're gonna always say, Lord, I love you, regardless of what anybody's doing. And that's the thing about it. You get into that place, don't feel ashamed about it, or don't beat yourself down, and you know, and don't allow anyone to tell you, well, if I was you, I would, you know, get even with that person. Don't accept that. That's a trick of the enemy. The enemy will always have somebody coming, especially when you tell someone that what someone did to you, you have to say, I'm not going to do that. I will pray for them. So, you know, and in our hearts, we're ready to say, yeah, and I mean our spirit, we're ready to say, yeah, I'm gonna take off my jacket, I'm gonna knock you out. But we gotta run, we used to do that. The old man is the one that used to do that. The old man is the one that was always ready to fight someone, always ready to cuss someone out. We're not the old man. Once we accepted Christ Jesus into our life, we made a commitment to walk in his love, to walk in his grace and his mercy until we get strong enough to stand on his word and to be obedient vessels and to love everyone, regardless of if they love you or not. You know, you don't have to be in the same, you know, vicinity with them all the time. You don't have to always be in their presence all the time, but you can love people from a distance. There's been folks that I had to love them from a distance because of the way that they're always treated or the way that they spoke to me. I how many times have I spoke to a family member that I was talking to and they got angry because they didn't like something that I said which was a truth and they cussed me out? And that's my family member, and I'm thinking, whoa, I'm not going to allow you to speak to me in that way. I will continue to love you, but you have to realize I don't speak like that, so I don't accept you speaking to me like that. And there's sometimes I had to separate myself from them and say, I gotta cut that out. And sometimes we may have to cut them loose for a little bit, talk to them maybe on the phone here and there, but when they start that nonsense and that shenanigans and they bring up things that is just not pouring into your spirit because you don't want to continue it pouring into your spirit. You know, we have our eye gates, we have our ear gates, we have our mouth gates, and we smell things, and so a lot of times I know that because we are the light, darkness can't comprehend light. And when you are walking in the light, sometimes darkness smells that death because they know that they're walking in that death, they're walking in that place of darkness, and you're walking in light, and they can't stand the light, and that's you. You will continue walking that, and they don't want to dull your light. Keep your light shining bright, keep your love strong for Christ, keep yourself strong in the things of the word so that when these tests come your way, when these tribulations come your way, when people come into your face and people want to, you know, rear up and be evil and mean to you, you can say, I am not falling for that. And if that means I have to remove myself from that situation and pray about it and stay strong, then that's just what I have to do. Now I pray that this message was able to touch someone, that this message was able to give you some steps that you can do to move and stay closer in the things of the Lord. And I pray that if you like this episode, that you would like, share, and place a comment because we're having real conversations, conversations that most people may not be talking about, and that I want you to be able to grow in the things of the Lord. I want to be able to be that vehicle that God used the tool to draw you and keep you in the things of the Lord, that you are really excited about God, and that you're not letting the things of the world just pull you apart from loving and being God's child today. So I give you the glory and I'm gonna give God the praise right now, and I'm gonna pray right now over you and your life. Dear precious Father God, in the name of Jesus, I come before you again, thanking you for this opportunity to be used as your vessel. I pray, Father God, that anyone that's hearing this podcast, anyone that's hearing my voice, Father God, you know where they are. You know the struggles, you know the situations, you know that, Father God, that sometime the enemy is just out there ready to knock them down and to pull them away from you. But Father God, we pray that they stay strong in your words. We pray, Father God, that whenever the enemy rears his head up, Lord Jesus, that you give them a word to strengthen them, that the joy continues to be their hope, Father God, that the joy begins to be their praise, Father God, that you forgive them and that you keep them and that you hold them and that they walk diligently after you and seek you for everything, Father God, and that you bless them from the crown of the heads to the soles of the feet. I give you all the glory, Lord, and I give you honor in Jesus' name, amen. And as I say every episode, if you are not in a church, find a church home that will feed you the full gospel. If you left your church home, go back to it. They'll be more than happy to grab you and wrap you in their arms and minister to you. If you're in the Tampa Bay area, you're welcome to come and visit our church, Foundation's Church. We're in Tampa, Florida. We're in Corpus Park Drive, we're in suite 125A. So if you're ready to come and join us, again, we welcome you. We have a pastor that's dynamic, and she brings forth the word. Each week that I'm under her, I'm getting fed and I'm growing stronger and stronger in the things of the Lord. So I thank you all for coming out. Now it's time for my theme song. I'm looking forward to everyone to come again. Have a blessed evening. Thank you.