Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of Truth Talk.
I'm so excited to be here today.
I just want to share some really, really good praise reports about some things that
have happened recently in my own personal life to try to encourage so many people who
have very similar stories to mine and may have lost some hope on some things that maybe
they've had to lose in the process.
I know that for me, you get to a point in your life where it's even painful to pray
to the Lord and ask Him for things like reconciliation and healing in relationships that get broken
because when you pray about it, you think about it.
And for most of us, we don't want to think about it.
So this journey that the Lord has had me on has been pretty intense in emotions.
So I'm just going to tell you today, if I get emotional, just bear with me.
This journey for me, you know, of course, I'm 40 years into having been sexually abused
by my father, but it was 12 years ago.
In fact, we just passed the 12 year mark at the end of last month that I finally told
my dad that I needed to, you know, have some time apart from him and needed to be able
to just really focus on my relationship with the Lord.
And of course, that was the best decision that I ever made.
At the time, I did not have any idea that it would be 12 years later and we still would
not be reconciled.
That was never anything that the Lord revealed to me.
And obviously I know why, because I probably would not have been near as willing to let
him go at that point.
The first several months were horrible and excruciating.
I thought about him all the time.
And then the more that I saw that I was really drawn more to find that father relationship
with the Lord and the more fulfilled that I became in my relationship with him, the
less that it bothered me that I didn't have that relationship with my earthly father.
Not to say that I don't miss him and don't love him, because I do.
It's very, very painful in many different situations and circumstances, but it's not
like it was at the beginning.
And I prayed for a long time that the Lord would bring us back together.
And I lost several siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, you know, pretty much everyone
on his side of the family.
And it just got to a point where the more I prayed about it, the more painful it was
just to even think about it.
And I had a pastor at one point that said, because I felt like I was supposed to pray
about it, and he said, Wendy, he said, that's when the body comes together and lifts that
up for you.
It's not that nobody's praying about it or if I don't pray about it, nothing happens.
It's that the body of Christ, you know, we bear one another's burdens.
And so I know that I have had people praying about things, you know, this whole time.
And so I just want to report that in the last several months, two of my long lost siblings
have reached out and we have started talking and they are now grown up and they have their
own families.
And so I've been able to meet in-laws that I didn't know I had and nieces and nephews
I didn't know I had.
And it is truly amazing when I think about the times that were so hard and were so painful
for me especially concerning the safety of my siblings and not knowing if they
were okay or had experienced anything like I had gone through. It was so hard
not to know and not to talk to them about it but that's really where I
learned to trust the Lord and and know that he loves them more than I do and he
had a plan for them as well. So thankfully recently I have discovered
that nothing like that happened and that those siblings are absolutely wonderful
and we are now back in relationship and I'm so thankful because there's nothing
I could do or even like I said pray about because of how much emotion and
pain it brought to me but what I love about God is that and Jesus because he
sits to the right hand of the Father and he prays for us and he knows what we
need more than we do and so I'm so thankful that while I've just been
sitting and waiting and working on my relationship with the Lord that God was
working out the other things and he knew those relationships were important
to me and so he has slowly started to bring those back. So I know that there
are people right now that are either contemplating you know what would happen
if I said something? What would happen if I told somebody what this person did to
me? Because this person might be the leader of the family or a really
important family friend or whoever it is and they're afraid of what I was always
told you know don't rock the boat and what I learned was the boat was sinking
the boat was already sinking and the perpetrators that get away with what
they do to us is what gives the power to them is the silence and that's where the
enemy wants to keep us because of fear of losing out on relationships, fear of
you know being ostracized by our family. Whatever he can use that he knows
will push a button that's what he is going to use and so I just want to
encourage you that God knows what you're gonna have to give up but God is also a
God of restoration and I know that in the place that I am today versus where I
was 12 years ago that my relationship with the Lord is so much better and the
way that I will be able to handle these new relationships is so different. I used
to walk on eggshells with my family because I was so afraid of losing them
and now after having lost them it is it is not a fear anymore of course I don't
want to lose any of my family members but I know that if there is no one else
that God has me and that I am complete in him he is all I need and so that for
me is so it's just it's a it's a reassurance that you can't read that in
a book and come out with that knowledge and understanding it's something you
have to go through and I just want to encourage anybody who is on the fence
about maybe you know coming forward or talking about it the prism we build for
ourselves before we learn to open the door walk out and get our freedom which
is only found in Christ and
only found in bringing that secret to the surface so that it can be healed.
There's nothing that's going to be healed while it's kept in the ground and
it's swept under the rug. That's not... that is not how we get healing. But there's
so much fear that is being perpetrated and that the enemy is trying to keep us
quiet. And you can see that in the world today. There's so many people right now
that don't want to go along with, you know, the narrative of what is happening
but out of fear of being canceled, fear of what would somebody else think, they
just go along to get along. And guys, we are past that. We as Christians, we have
got to be bold. We have got to stand up and we have got to put on the armor of
God and fight this battle. And sometimes that is, you know, going full force
forward and other times it is just being still and praying and trusting the Lord.
But never ever is it to live in fear. That is never the answer and it is never
the answer to let the enemy control what you do because God promises us that
greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And I want to just
share a verse with you that just like really hit me because so many of us in
everything, you know, whether it's these relationships, whether it's in our job,
whether it's in parenting, you know, being a mom, whether it's in, you know, our
friendships, no matter what it is, we so try to do that ourselves and we so try
to, you know, just be perfect at everything. We're very much performers
and perfectionists by nature of what happened to us. But there is a verse, you
know, Jude is a very short book of the Bible, so there's only one chapter, but
the way that that book ends in verses 24 and 25, it says,
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior who alone
is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Guys,
listen, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. That doesn't say to those
who are able to keep from stumbling. We are going to stumble all the time. If you
got up out of bed this morning, you're gonna fail before the day is over. It's
called being human. It is, it is, there's no avoiding it. We are going to mess up.
We are going to sin. Sin, the word sin just means missing the mark, okay? None of
us hit the mark every time we try. It is, it's an impossibility because none of us
are perfect, okay? And then it says, the same him who is able to keep you from
stumbling, he also presents us blameless, okay? So, blameless is perfect before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy. So, the whole point here is to remind us
that there's nothing we can do. It's not in our own power. It's in the power of
the Holy Spirit and it is only through him that we are able to not stumble and
to be blameless. And I am just so reminded of that in the world we live in
today. It seems as though we are being bombarded with all these new rules, you
know, our new normal. And, you know, there is nothing that we're gonna do or not do
that's gonna change one day of our lives. The Lord, before we were created, he knew
our birth date and he knew our death date. And there's nothing we're gonna do
to change that. Just like there's nothing that I'm gonna do to have my family
members reconcile with me. I can't control that. That's something that God
has been working behind the scenes doing things I didn't even know he was doing.
That's in every area of our lives. God, I heard the saying one time, if we see God
doing something, just know he's doing a million things.
things he reveals to us that make you know it's like obvious that wow God is
really, really moving here. God's really working here. You can see God's hand in
something. People who don't know God call those things coincidences. That's
just not what it is, but there are millions times more that we don't see
what he's doing. His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than
our thoughts, and that is the only thing we can rest in today. You cannot turn on
the news. You cannot, you know, even check your email and not be discouraged over
something else that we found out today. You know, Jen Psaki said something this
week. I haven't even clicked on it because I don't really even want to know
what she said, but, you know, clearly separating the vaccinated from the
unvaccinated. You know, they are moving us into our camps, right, and
they're separating us just like they've tried to do in the past, and the thing I
love about God is God adopted all of us. He is about including those who want to
believe in him. He's not going to include people that reject him and
reject his son. That's not part of the deal. He is, the invitation is for all,
but it is a gift that must be received, and unfortunately so many people don't
want the gift, and I do not understand that. I just, I cannot understand why
somebody would reject the one person who has literally died for them, that
gave up everything to come to the earth and to be brutally murdered, and this was
a perfect, perfect man. Jesus, even by historical records, was a great man that
people were drawn to. I mean, he had no sin. That's, even atheists can read about
that, but this man was also 100% God. He gave up everything he had in heaven so
that he could come to the earth and die for us to give us a way to be with him
forever. I don't understand why somebody would not want to receive a gift like
that, that cost them nothing, but receiving it. It is just beyond
understanding for me, and I am urging you today, if you don't have a relationship
with the Lord, to please reach out to us. Find another believer that you can talk
to. Just ask them questions. Most believers want to share our Savior with
people, and I say it all the time. I will say it again in closing. You know, when
somebody saves you from dangling over the pit of hell, it is very difficult not
to talk about him, and if you were in a burning building, okay, we are about to
have the September 11th 20-year anniversary, and if that's something that
you know, you were in those towers before they collapsed and someone
rescued you, I'm pretty sure everybody in your world is aware of that person's
name, and that is nothing compared to what Jesus did for the world, and I just
want to urge you today, you have got to learn about him, and you will want a
relationship with him, because there is nothing else right now that can be
depended on, that can be trusted, that we can put our hope in other than God the
Father, His Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit in the Bible that He left us. This is the
only thing you can trust. That article you read today may be kind of true, but I
promise there's something in it. There is an untruth somewhere. There is a bias in
everything we read, everything we hear. The Word of God
is never changing. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And it is
all we can afford to put our hope and trust in. So I just pray that today, you
know, before the sun goes down, that you will find someone or reach out to us to
find out more about this Jesus who loves you so much that He gave His life for
you. I want to thank you guys for tuning in today. We invite you to come back next
week for the last episode of this season of Truth Talk with Wendy.