Hello and welcome back to Upfront and Undivided with Luke and Dean'na. Hi. Hey babe. How's it going? It's good. How are you? I'm good. Good. We got news. We got news. We got news. Let me think. We do have news. Do we? I'm like, do we? Yeah. Wait, what is our news? I'm in my last surgery and I am cancer free. Yes, you are. You are cancer free. Cancer free. Woo! Yay! This is my clapping. Yes. Very gently. Woo! Because we don't have canned stuff. Not yet. But not yet. Not yet. We talk about videos.
We talk about stuff. We talk about these. Listen guys, we know, we know, we know, we know. I had so many sweet friends that go, you guys need this and you need this. Now we know. We know. If you want to encourage it, we will accept donations that will go towards future equipment purchases. We have Cash App and we have Venmo by all means. Just shoot it towards us. That's fine. But no, it's good. I'm feeling good. I'm still healing. My incisions are, I don't know, he said they looked good.
I know that they kept saying the nurse, Stephanie, woo, hey Stephanie, said that I could work out, which I've done the last two days with our beautiful brown eyed girl in with you, which has been good. But she also said I got to be very careful. Yes. Be wise. Be wise and don't manhandle me and be careful when you hug me because I am still tender but I am so much better than what I was and I'm not mad about that. Yes. Let's see what else.
I got back from Texas and got to celebrate the life of Charlie, god-Papa. I believe he was honored and it was good. It's been kind of a lot of life stuff. It's been kind of a lot of life heavy stuff. We just talked about this right before you pushed record. We were discussing how do we even do this with a full plate and all of the things but I'm seeing where things are starting to kind of slowly come off the plate.
That means that you guys will hear us on a weekly again on top of The Equipped Man that you are cruising along with your buds and In the REAL that I'm cruising along with your buds. With my buds. It's just all good. It's all good. It's hard but it's been good. So that's kind of almost... I got to be honest. I know because we've been going almost like two weeks between, I don't remember if we mentioned Charlie. We did. Did we? Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't know. Did we? I don't know.
I know I did on the reel. Yeah. In the REAL I talked about it. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah. No, we did. Did we? We did. Okay. We sure did. Okay. Because one of our friends in Wichita actually remember had messaged and said, hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was praying for you and Luke and the kids and just... That's right. Yeah. Okay. So we did. Okay. Just making sure. We did. Okay. Yeah. I don't remember what we said though but it's okay. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. It was good.
And my godfather who has been in my life since I was 15 passed away unfortunately on our beautiful brown eyed girl's birthday. And he is now literally cheering from the cheering section with that great cloud of witnesses.
And the beautiful thing is, I don't know if I said this on the last one or not, but when I was in the middle of worship after, it was the Sunday after we found out that he had passed away, it's really nice when God speaks to me in these places and it was like, you're in the middle of worship.
And I believe with everything in me that when in prayer and in intercession, in worship, in these kinds of times, I believe that that is when literally heaven touches earth and those that have gone before us, we can feel them almost in a more tangible way. And so if you don't believe or if you are a believer and maybe worship or prayer just doesn't seem to be something that's fluent in your life, I encourage you.
It doesn't just get you in the throne room of grace with God, but I believe that it brings you into an audience with those that have already gone before us. So that's just my thing. I don't know theologically where that even stands, but I've even asked people, I've asked different pastors and they're all in the space of, I really hope so, I believe so, you know. So it was good. So I would just, it was good.
Sunday was good and I just, I feel like I actually heard Charlie singing, which was really sweet. So what are we talking about, babe? So today, you know, I'm kind of going, we're kind of going a little bit back to episode 35. Okay. Wow. We talked about what is in your toolbox. Right. But yes, we're going to expound on some of that. Yes. Because today is cleaning out your or cleaning your tool shed, not cleaning out, cleaning your tool shed. Cleaning your tool shed.
Yes. Wow. Okay. So we're talking about the tool shed beforehand, where tool shed, not toolbox, because some of the tools that we use are too big to be in a box. It's true. It's true. It takes a shed. Yes, it does. Sometimes it takes a warehouse. Yes. Or at least a garage. You got to do those excavators. You know what I'm saying? It's like they're a real thing. Yes. So what does that mean?
But I say, I say, I say cleaning your tool shed, not, not cleaning out, because cleaning out would be like, you know, getting rid of stuff. Right. So the, the, I blanked on the word I want to use, but basically the metaphor, that's the metaphor, metaphor. There you go. The metaphor I'm going to be using a lot, at least me, is tools. Yeah. Because tools is just a big, it's, it encompasses a lot. You know, it can, it can be, you know, it can be physical things. It can be emotional.
It can be mental. Yeah. It can be spiritual. And so it was, it was spurred on by a conversation that I had had last week about, you know, when you're doing something for the kingdom or, or doing something, you know, it's like, you know, kind of what, what tools do you have? Yeah. You know, and, and not just what tools do you have, but how do you maintain your tools?
Right. You know, and so I, I wanted to say cleaning your tool shed, because it's not just organizing your shed and organizing your tools, but also making sure that your tools are properly maintained, that they're in proper working order, that you remember how to use them. Yeah. You know, and, and make sure that, you know, nothing's in the way. So when it's time for you to use them, you know where they are, you know that they're working, you know, there's nothing in the way. Right.
You know, because it was just, that's, that's a big part of, of what we do. You know, not just we, but the grand we, you know, all of us, you know, you know, because it is, it's, it's, it's in marriage, it's in life, it's in church, it's in ministry, it's in friendships, it's in work. Everything you bring to the table is a tool. Yes. In some way, shape or form, it's a tool. Right.
You know, whether it's your language, whether it's your wisdom, your knowledge, your abilities, your faith, you know, how you deal with that one weird person that, that always wants to talk about things that you have no idea what they are. Right. That's a tool. How do you deal with that person? Right. No, that's good. Because I know that we talked about this a little bit yesterday too, after my appointment, or it might've been even before the appointment.
I think it was kind of off and on throughout the day, but it was one of those where when we were talking to two of the nurses and you're so cute because you're like, babe, it's like you have your own little fan club or something. You know, like everybody comes in, oh, the Wansers are here. We're going to come in and check and see how she's doing and whatnot.
And you know, one of them, I don't know if you actually, if you picked up on or if you heard her, one of them was like, they're just, when you guys come in, it's just, there's just joy. Yeah. And, and I was like, well, let me tell you why, let me express to you why. And it's not just it ultimately, yes, the foundation is God, right? The joy of the Lord is our strength in the midst of this.
And we, and we stand on that and we've lovingly seen where other friends have been in similar situations and, and they're in the same space of, why are you so joyful? I really shouldn't be, but you know, because I know that the Lord is, is good and he's going to walk me through this, whatever that looks like.
I know that there's still going to be joy, even in the midst of sadness, even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of heartache or trial or the heavy slogging through a swamp or slogging through a swamp, right? Like you have to whistle while you work or whatever you got to do.
So I got a chance to tell them the story about Sebastian, you know, and then went on from, oh, and by the way, the reason why I know that I'm allergic to this medicine right here is because they gave it to me when I was going in delivery with my daughter and, and her heart completely stopped and they had to do an emergency C-section, but here she is and she's perfect and here's Sebastian, here he is, all these 14 different things they said, but he's perfect.
And so when I look at you and I'm like looking at these nurses going, you know, so when, when we look at you, we're looking at you from not a place of we're trying to be flighty or flippity or anything of that nature. It's a, you, you come from a place of I've already, I know how to use this tool. I've already been challenged in this area and I have become skilled almost like a warrior, right? Like so warfare, which again, there's sweet friends that want to do, I love it.
They want to do a photo shoot with me and put me in war warrior gear, which I think will be epic. Yes. So fun. And, but they, that's what they see when they see me and again, it's very sweet, you know, because me who's so soft spoken and so very, but, but no, I don't know how to, but it, it's it, my confidence is in the one that has sent me. Yes. My confidence is in the one that I know that has already gone before me.
My confidence, my confidence doesn't come like a little bit of confidence comes into me. Yeah, I'll, I'll, if, are we allowed to say that like that? Yeah. Cause all of a sudden I was like, you know, I know it says don't boast in anything, but boast in the Lord, but there's that space where you say, but I know him in such a, such a way that I, but I, and, and here's where I would make the argument of it's not so much boasting.
Yeah. It's, it's, it's confidence, you know, it's the difference of, you know, yes, 100% we should walk by faith in all that we do, but you get a, a bit of a different stride when it's I've walked this walk of faith. You know, I, I know how this journey goes. I know, you know, because again, looking at your journey with cancer versus your journey with being pregnant with Sebastian, it's like, we, we know what the doctors can say.
We know what the enemy will whisper at us in the middle of the night while we're quiet and just trying to focus, you know, but we also know how God shows up and shows off. We know how God will sustain us and, and what the promises of God can look like on the other side. And it's like, when you've already gone through that walk, when you've already had a successful journey and you can reference back to that and say, but I, I know how it goes.
You know, it's, it's kind of like we, we, something we said yesterday or maybe I said it and thought it, but, you know, back to the tools, just because you know how to use a tool doesn't mean that you won't have to pick it up again. Yeah. You know, again, you can, you can master all these concepts or, you know, I know our daughter, you know, Gabri is going back into the gym and it's, it's like, you know, she's like, well, I, I don't feel like I have the strength that I used to.
It's like you've mastered some of these workouts, but now you get to go back to them. Yeah. You know, just because you did it once doesn't mean, well, like, you know, I used a chainsaw to cut down the tree. I never have to touch a chainsaw again. Right. It's like, well, you still want to know how to do it just in case the occasion comes up again. Right. Cause I immediately think of David just genuinely. Yeah. So here he is out in the field, right? He's sending the sheep.
He's making sure that everybody's safe. He's dealing with the lion. He's dealing with the bear. And then it's like, Oh, well, let's go. I mean, his faith and his confidence was in God, but there was also, there's this confidence because he was skilled, skilled. That's the word I'm going for. There's a skill that comes into the play.
Cause I know when you were, when you were saying all of these amazing things and we've got them written down, but it's like, the thing that came out of my mouth was you can't have consistency if you don't know what you're doing. Sometimes you have to conquer the mountain again. Right. So it's like, we were talking about like just the cancer, Sebastian talking about mental health, talking about Gabriel, talking about our lives, all of the things.
And it is, it's a thing of, as long as we're consistently moving forward and we're fighting, you know, like there's those things that rise up again. Well, wait, I thought God healed me of this or wait, I thought that this, we didn't have to deal with this again. And it's like, you know, is something wrong with me? Am I broken? Is something? No, there's nothing wrong with you. The fact is that you keep fighting, you know, it's like, don't stop fighting because you already know.
And this is what we were saying with her yesterday. I'm looking at her going, you know, what did we say? You're not starting from scratch. You're starting from experience. Yeah. You're not starting over from scratch. You're starting over from knowledge and experience. And so when you have that knowledge and that experience, when you know what you're capable of, like we have people telling us end of life decisions is what you need to probably start planning for for your little boy. Yes. What?
Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. Oh, by the way, Dina, you've now been diagnosed with cancer. Yeah. Okay. Why are you not freaking out or blanking? Because we're now literally springboarding ourselves from a place of experience of we've already we've already grown a faith here in this space. And that's I think that that's one of the things that I want to kind of lay in front of everybody. What are you doing consistently now?
Because we had friends come up to us even in the midst of some of the diagnosis and looking at us going, why are you so calm? And one friend in particular, she goes, she was you're not freaked out about this? And I go, no, not at all. And she goes, that's a faith that's built outside of war, not in the middle of war. Yes. Yeah. Right. And I'm like, if we start getting to know our God now, if we start learning the tools of what he has given us now in the midst of peace, right?
Then when it is time for the battles, when it is time for the things to come up, we've already we've already got the goods that we need. We can we can stand in that place of victory from the throne room. That's it. We can make it the enemy. Yeah. And say, bring it. It's true. You know, it's true. I mean, I think I think one of the things I was like, really? Yeah. Are you serious? All right. Let's I mean, you interviewed Derek, right?
And his beautiful wife, Sabrina, they went through a similar situation. We'll bring them on that way. They can have a conversation. But she's like looking at me during the time that they were sharing at church one day. And she turns and she says, what do you do, Dina? Like when when you're like literally walking down the same hallways, which was crazy because there were some hallways that we both walked down and just went, wow, I've been here, done this, you know, kind of thing. What do you do?
And you well, you pull up your grip, big girl panties and you go, yeah, let's go. Yeah. Let's go. You walk with an attitude of knowing that your king has already conquered. He's already done it, but not in such an arrogant manner, but in a place of humility, knowing that he's going to guide you. He's in a secure, joyful, like confident manner, too, of I know who you are. You know, I know who you are. Back to, you know, kind of even back to Charlie.
Father, we were believing that you were going to heal him. We relieved that he was going to recover. He didn't. You're still God. Like one of the adopted sisters, right? She comes up to me and she goes, so like I'm in that space. Like he wasn't supposed to die. And I said, we got stolen from. And that seemed to, I don't, you know, it's like, do we have the authority, the dominion and all of the things over the enemy? Absolutely. Guys, we still have an enemy.
And it sucks because there's there's casualties still. And you know, and as much as I agree, I'll also go with, you know, that I forget where it is, but it's that verse that talks about, you know, I know the plans that I have for you. That's it. You know, I know the time that I've set out for you. I know the hairs. I know the number of the hairs on your head. You know, and I do. At times like this, I do.
I think of Charlie and you know, I wanted to, I wanted to throw out a joke because I could hear him at the funeral and I could hear his voice saying, father saw fit for there to be a family reunion. Oh, you know, because as much as you and some of the other like adopted kids and all the friends of like, man, how crazy would it be if we all got together?
Yeah. And it's, it's just, God knew it was, you know, I, I go back and forth with that whole, you know, well, if it's God's will or, you know, God called him home, you know, but it's also when you've run your race, when you've run your race and you cross that line and he ran it well and he ran it well.
And, and, and, you know, father was there to welcome him home and say, welcome home, good and faithful servant, you know, and it's like, whether it's a sprint, whether it's a half marathon or an ultra marathon, we all have a race to run and not everybody's race is the same length. You are right. And it's like, as, as, as much as that hurts to say, no, we're, we're all going to run forever. Yeah. You know, we, we all get to have a purpose. Right. Right.
You know, and, and that's, and I think that that's where I absolutely agree with you. Yeah. I do agree with you. No. Yeah. I think that that's where let's say it this way. I think that's where those tools have got to come into play because if we are not being instructed every day, if we are not allowing ourselves to bend our ear and get quiet before the throne room of grace, right? If we are not taking that time, I believe that that's when we start becoming prey a lot easier to the enemy.
Yeah. You said, you say this a lot and I know that I've, I've heard it before, but you say it a lot, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you're going to see every problem as a nail. Yes. And it's like, so you're not going to be able to respond in the capacity of what you could. Yeah. Or in, you're going to end up destroying probably more than actually helping hurting more than, you know, healing.
And it's like, when we start becoming more crafted in the things that God has set out in front of us, the fruit of the spirit, that's a tool. Yeah. The Holy Spirit, he is a tool. What? Oh, just all of a sudden, like, like your face moved. It did. Cause when you were talking about, you know, how I always say, you know, if the only tool you have is a hammer, you'll see every problem as a nail. Yeah. I always said, went into like the spiritual realm of when you want to pray for somebody.
If you, if, if in your mind, prayer always has to be tongues at the top of your lungs. Wow. Yeah. If, and when you pray for people, that's how you pray for people. Yeah. All of a sudden, how many people are you going to basically scare off? Yeah. Because you're that intense. Yeah. Which some people need that intense prayer. Correct. Some people really truly need that intense prayer.
But, but somebody, if, if they're like hurting or if they're really soft or yes, or if they're brand new to Christianity and have no idea what's going on, you shouting in tongues is not going to help anything. Or just shouting in regular language. Yeah. I mean, just, yeah, that could be intimidating for sure. No, that's good. So yeah. Wow. That's good. That's where I went. Sorry. No, absolutely. No, that's good. But that's, I mean, that's what it is.
It's like, to all men so that you can win a few. I believe that was Paul that said that. But he's like, just allow yourself to mold your life, bend your life to God, bend it in such a space, you know, because it was, it was one of my, my sweet, like adopted brothers, right? Sean, he's like, one of the first things he said to me was after he found out about the cancer, he goes, so what do you think God's wanting to talk to you about in the midst of this?
And I was like, shoot, Bubba, come on, you know? And it was, and it was a good solid question because again, we know that God didn't do this. Yeah. He, he, that's that he doesn't create you to get sick so he can heal you. That's just twisted and gross. Or make you sick just to teach you a lesson. He doesn't do that, right? He doesn't do that. But it was like, he goes, no, you know, and I think my response was I get to learn how to follow his lead even in the midst of the hard.
Like I learned, we learned that with Sebastian while we were pregnant with Sebastian, but now it's like, now we're going a different level and then also learning how to interact and respond to people as they respond to us. And that is a complete, like you said, that's a completely different tool. It is.
And because I think, I think another, you know, cause I've, I've mentioned this to people and we've talked about it with, you know, when you were pregnant with Sebastian, we didn't really tell anybody, you know, we, we were not public with what was going on. It was just, yep, we're pregnant. Everything is all right.
Yes. You know, we, we had like a tight little circle that, you know, it's like, okay, here's our, here's our five sick people that we're going to, we're going to be open and honest and this is what's going on. Stand and pray with us. And with this, it was for all of you. Okay. We're going to tell everybody, everybody, you know, maybe, maybe we won't. And all of a sudden it's like, hit record on the podcast. And it's like, we're guess what's going on? Like, okay, we're just telling everybody.
All right, cool. Right, right. You did warn me. So it's not like it was a total surprise. It would have been funny. But yeah, but I do it. I think it's, I think that's what it is. It's, you know, all of a sudden it was like, as much as it was a similar faith walk, if I can say it that way. Yeah, no, I think so.
That was like the difference between that journey and this journey was all of a sudden it's the, we're going to tell everybody and we're going to be completely public about this, you know, about what this walk looks like, you know, because it was, you know, you heard God say, nope, I need, people need to see how you walk this out. Yeah, because it is, it's back to one of the main reasons for our podcast to begin with was communication. Relationship.
Well, the, one of the number one communications of relationships that you want to have is literally with the creator of the universe. And how do you want to handle this father? How do you want to go about this? Like, you know, cause I, I'm teasing with the girls yesterday, but I was, I was seriously teasing. I was telling them the truth. And Stephanie attested like, girl, I'm throwing a fit. Like you're telling me I have to do this again. You're you're I'm throwing a fit.
Like, and she just, you know, laughing, but it was one of those where it's like, but we can, we can throw a fit and you are so sweet. And, but it's true. I mean, my fit, I stomped my foot. I didn't like throw myself on the floor like a four year old, but like, I'm like, I stopped my foot. Yeah. I started crying. I said, I don't want to do this again. Like, I don't want to do this again. Why are we doing this again? I don't want to do this again. And then I like maybe what? Five, 10 minutes.
And I'm just staring at you and I go, fine. Yeah. Yep. Fine. All right, let's go. Okay. And it was one of those moments. It wasn't even necessarily like you, you hear audibly. It's just those, and maybe that's something else that people need to hear it. Cause they're like, well, I don't, I can't even hear God like that. And I'm not saying it's an audible situation at all times at if at all, sometimes it's just something that you know.
My dad always explained the Holy spirit to me and just the voice of God. He says, you just know it in your knower. There's just certain things that you just know. And you know that that was wisdom that did not come from you that came struck strictly from somewhere else that was higher than you are. And it's like the, just those moments of, I just knew in my knower that, okay, father, I just, you're, you said that this was going to be a journey.
You said that I was not going to, I was going to live and not die. You said I was going to make it to the other side and that you would be with me the whole way. Yep. That's all I need to know. How do you want to do this today? And it's so sweet because I remember seeing a real, and I believe I think I had told this even to your family, to your parents, it was TD Jakes and Steve Harvey and Steve Harvey's like, you know, do you think we should be knowing all of the things?
Because it's like, there's parts of me that goes, man, like I know things that I didn't really even realize that I didn't know, but I know now. Yeah. But TD Jakes in a very confident manner said, I don't believe we're supposed to know everything. And I, and it was like, because then where's your faith? Like if we knew everything, we wouldn't need God. If we knew how the outcome was going to come, we wouldn't need the faith to maybe sustain it. That's right.
If we knew what we were going through on a lot of things, I don't believe that the majority of us, I'll be really bold in this statement. I believe the majority of us would not do it. No. Oh no. If we knew the struggle, if we knew the pain, if we knew the hurt, if we knew the people that we would, that we potentially are going to lose along the way.
I believe if we knew genuinely what some of this is required of us as far as our walk with God and our faith, I don't believe the majority of us would do it. Even if we knew the outcome would be great. Yep. Because we don't want to go through the pain. Right. We don't want to go through that. We don't want to go through the uncomfortable. We don't want to go through the hurt.
Yeah. I would say in this journey, it is, it's just my brain is just pinging right now with all the people that I've been able to share with. One of them in particular, I just looked at her and I said, I'm going to get a tattoo that says he's in the hard. He's in the hard. If we let him. He wants to tell us things. Does he want to tell us everything? No. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, there's certain things that he's like, no, there's certain things you just don't need to know.
I believe even with social media and just the technology and the ability to see everything, everything now, I don't believe that we should be seeing some of the stuff that we should be seeing because it creates the anxiety and the depression and the oppression and all of the anger and the stuff. I don't believe that that was God's intent. No. Even when it is, I think he's like, okay, let's walk through this as opposed to why are you getting your panties in a bunch?
I need you to just calm down and you either believe I'm God or you don't. Again, that goes back to what we've been talking about with the tools. What tools are we learning while we're walking as a Christian? What tools are we picking up when we're brand new Christian? What tools are being handed to us by mentors, by leaders, by pastors? Are being shared amongst friends and spouses and loved ones?
With that and along, I'm going to add also that with our tools that we have in our shed and in our toolbox that maybe we haven't used in a while, we need to remember to keep our tools handy and well maintained. Every now and then, because we don't know when all of a sudden we're going to need to use something from our past. I'm living on this one testimony or I'm living on this one story of faith and it's like, well, what if that doesn't work in the situation that you're in?
Or what if that doesn't work with the person that you're talking to? It's like, well, if that's your only story, then okay, that really doesn't make sense to me. So it is. As far as the well maintained, especially when I think about stuff like this, I think it was Abraham Lincoln that said, if you give me six hours to chop down a tree, I'm going to spend four hours sharpening my axe.
We as Christians, we as spouses, we as friends, how are we maintaining the tools to maintain our faith, to maintain our marriages, our kids, our friendships? I don't want to say people are looking to us and it's like, no, I don't know what I'm trying to say. But it's like, I know that we share a lot. We share a lot with each other. We share a lot with our listeners, our friends.
And it's like, if we're not keeping our faith, our marriage strong, well maintained, healthy, whatever we say is going to fall on deaf ears. It's not going to go anywhere because it's like, we have an opportunity to go talk at like a marriage workshop coming up. And if we didn't walk out, a lot of the things that we talk about, A, I sure hope we wouldn't be invited to one of those things. Hey, y'all speak on this, okay? Oh gosh. But B, it's like, nobody would want to listen to us.
Because it's like, well, you guys don't back up what you say. Come on, babe. It's like how many times do kids, they know that one parent that's, well, if you do that one more time, you're going to get spanked. Or if you do one more time, I'm going to ground you. And regardless of how many times the kid does it, there's no consequence. I deal with that at my job. There's no consequence, so there's no incentive to learn or improve your behavior.
So it's like, it comes down to how are we doing this with God? How are we doing this with God? How are we doing this with our spouses and our families? I don't know. It's like I want to shout from the rooftops of just, it is. It reminds me of that, Steve Daly, it's so simple. It's so simple. Get back to the basics. Yeah. If you're not, I'm not going to be as bold as he was. But it is. It's the simple basics. It's the simple faith. It's the remembering the journeys you've been through.
It's remembering the lessons you've learned. It's grabbing a hold of the word, grabbing a hold of your faith, grabbing a hold of the King and remembering and keeping those things sharp and just handy. Yeah. And I know that I kept saying specifically to you that I want to get into a space where God can trust me. Yeah. With a heart. With a heart. Trust me with a heart, right? Trust me with the things.
And remember what I told you, what I believe that I heard him say back was in order for me to basically talk to you in this space for you to live in this kind of realm, you have to let me speak to you in a place that you, Dina, have not let me speak into. That doesn't mean that I'm not a child of God. That doesn't mean that I am not his kid, but that means that, oh, oh, I haven't let you speak to me in a place. I haven't let you talk to me and tell me the hard-er than what we've even had.
And the scripture that came to my brain whenever you were talking was as far as getting back to the basics, it was even in the things of, you know, because there's going to be some people that say, well, I seem to keep going around the same mountain, Luke. I seem to keep dealing with the same thing, Dina. What do I, you know, and it's like, and one of the scriptures that comes to my mind is when you are fateful in the little, he'll trust you with more. He'll trust you with more.
Maybe one of the reasons why you keep going through the mountain, around the mountain, is because maybe it is because you are not letting him speak to you in the hard. Maybe you're not letting him give you the directions. Well, God, I've got this. No, God, this is the way that it needs to look like. Well, God, this is how it should go down because again, so many amazingly beautiful people, yes, we should be praying. Yes, we should be believing. Yes, God can do great signs and miracles.
I am a walking sign and miracle. Thank you. Yeah. I'm also okay if God, if you want to use this surgeon to open me up, but you get to let me pray for him and he gets to feel the presence of God like he's never felt it before in his life. Now experience that because I know who you are. You're ultimately the creator of my body and you can do what you want to, how you want to. When we give him full fledge, full fledge, you just, God, whatever you want to do, I give you full permission to come in.
You are the one that created me, kind of like Charlie, like everything you're saying. Again, I'm like, I can see him saying, God, if you want to take me, if it's my turn to go or if I get a chance to see heaven and glory and taste of your goodness, I'm probably going to want to stay with you as much as he absolutely loves his Karen again. It's like, who are we to say? Who are we to say?
Yeah. I had something, I thought of something when you were talking about, I keep going around this mountain, I keep going around this hill. Again, yes, if we're faithful in the little, we can be trusted in the large. But also in my mind, what popped into was that story of Jesus said, or somebody said, go dip your foot in the river seven times. Yeah, yeah, your body. Go dunk yourself seven times in the river.
Or hey, Israelites, I'll give you Jericho, but I need you march around the city walls for seven days in a row. Yep. It's like, how many people are like, no, come on, God, why? For real, what are we doing? No, that's literally what we're going to do. I only feel like going six times. This is crazy. I'm done with this journey. Or who was it? Was it Israelites? Was it when the walls of Jericho? There was another story, wasn't there? Sorry, guys.
We don't always know exactly what story, but we know it's there. Where they even, he just said shout, start worshiping or shout. Oh, it was when they said, wait for the sound of when you hear us. When you hear the angels running through the trees. Running through the trees. That's when you start shouting. You break your jars and shout. And then the enemies literally fight themselves and annihilate each other. See, look at that, babe. You see my goose bumps? So it's these things.
It's these things where God says, I want to show off. Jesus walking on the water after he did the loaves and the fishes. And here he's saying, hey, I want to do something even cooler. I want to show off for my friends. Because nobody else is on those boats except his disciples, his buddies. He's like, I'm going to show you. Dude, check this out. What guys do, right? I can top that. Let me show you. I can do this. Right? And so he's like, show it. Check it out.
They're like, oh my God. And he's like, oh my gosh. Okay, fine. How much longer do I have to walk with you? If we as the people of God would really grasp hold of this. Well, that sounds crazy. I sound like a lunatic. I'm talking to these nurses. I probably could sound like a lunatic. I'm pretty certain I even said, guys, I could probably sound pretty flaky right now. And that's what maybe some people might get out of me. But it's not.
I have literally seen the hand of God completely heal and restore my life and my family's life in places that they should not be. True. But yet here we all are because we allowed God to come into a place and we refused to dictate to him how it needed to go down. And we were open and vulnerable to listen to that still small voice. Period. Yeah. Period. And that takes the tools. Yeah. That takes the praise and the worship.
That takes the getting into the word of God, learning these stories that we're telling you guys about. It takes allowing the Holy Spirit to come into your life and give him a space where he can be God. It takes those tough workouts. It takes the tough workouts. Listen, guys, I can barely walk. Me and my daughter, we're having a hard time. Gabriel did bless her. Bless her. We both are hurting pretty good today. But it is.
But when you know that even in the hard and when you know the benefits that are going to come, not just for you, because one of the things that I looked at, Gabriel, was I said actually, and I had sent it to one of my friends and I sent a picture and I think I sent it to you. And let me, as I'm talking about it, let me find it. And it was, sorry guys, hold tight for me. This is one of those points, times where it'll make sense when we get video cameras in here. It's true. It's true.
So they can watch you scroll through your phone. I am scrolling on my phone and I am trying to find my friend. There it is. So, nope. Nope. Dang it. Who did I say it to? I said it to somebody. Actually, what I told them was this, and I keep saying this to Gabriel. When we're helping other people stay accountable, it also causes us to become accountable. And even in this walk, in this sharpening the tools, walking up to each other, loving each other enough to say, how are you and God?
How's your walk? What's happening with you? How are you feeling right now? Do you need prayer? Do we need to do a Bible study together? What do we need to do? It's the lovingly gentle calling out of your friends. That's it. That's it. You know, the gentle nudge that kicks their chair. That fun reminder. You've said it before. You say it to our kids so often, especially on our way to school or whatever. You always ask, Avery and Sebastian, who are you? Whose are you?
It's those reminders where we get to go out to our friends, where we get to go out to each other. Tell me who you are and whose you are. And it is. It's that gentle, loving reminder of, I'm going to kick your chair and kick your butt if I need to, but you know that I love you, and I don't want to see you go down this path. Me who's dealt with mental health stuff on and off for most of our marriage, you've learned the lovingly firm gentle way of, hey, get off the couch. Change out of your PJs.
Let's go outside and let's work on your mental health together. Not kicking me out of the house and saying go to therapy. It's what can we do together? How can I help you? How can we better ourselves? How can I help you better you? How can I learn how to walk in the hard with you in this moment to where we both become strengthened? Again, the simplicity of the gym. Okay, Gabri, I get to be your accountability partner, but ultimately you're helping build me also. This isn't a one way street.
You're not the one. I'm not just sitting here watching you go and lift the weights. I'm lifting it with you. Hey, that was... Yes. That's what we're supposed to be doing as the people of God, as the church. Lovingly loving each other enough to say, this isn't who you are. This isn't the end of your story. It's not working out the way I thought it was. Maybe God has a different plan, maybe he has a different way he wants to go about it.
Have you thought about this or have you... Are you going off your preconceived idea, your vain imagination, your ways that are lower than God's ways? Or are you going by what he desires, who he wants you to be, how he wants it to go? That takes the sharpening of the tools. Agreed. The excavators. Yes. The jackhammers. Yes. The pruning shears. The pruning shears that I hurt and cracked my ribs. Yes. But it's fine. Yes. It's good. Yeah, it is. So go be iron sharpen iron to somebody.
Yes. Go be the sharpening rock or go find somebody that looks sharp and then go take your tool and have them help you sharpen it. Or even the polishing finishing oil to help somebody stave off rust. Wow. That's good. Yeah. It keeps us from being stiff and stiff-necked people because God can't deal with you if you're a stiff-necked person. Right. Wow. There it is. It's okay. Still coming off of my workout stuff. It's fine. Yes. It's fine. All right, guys. We will see you next week.
Yes. Have the best week. Have a great journey.