All right, family, are we happening?
I think we must be about live now.
Yeah.
We're rocking.
It is happening, it is on session number 14.
This is wild.
We are nearly halfway in the Kingdom Business Summit.
Seb, how are you feeling?
I'm doing great, I'm doing great.
My office where I'm sitting, the sun rises behind me, but then it sets right in front
of me.
So the sun is about to get to that point where it's going to be streaming on my face, vitamin
D on my face.
I am excited about that.
That is very cool.
But we are outrageously honored with all the beautiful people that we've had on this journey.
And it's so precious and special for us to be able to host Marina with us today, someone
who we've had just such beautiful adventures together around the world and deep journeys
into God.
We lived in the same town together for a bunch of times, for several years, building ministry
together and leading missions together and dreaming together and taking outrageous risks
and seeing God come through with amazing breakthroughs.
And it really is an honor and delight to welcome you, Marina, to be sharing with us today.
Thank you.
Thank you, Benji.
It's such an honor to be here, to connect with all of you guys.
Something that I've always loved and appreciated about who you are, Marina, is your capacity
to embrace the process of the renewing of your mind.
It's like poetry in motion when someone masters a principle from heaven.
And seeing you mastering this process of the renewing of your mind, it really has been
like that.
It's been like poetry in motion watching it because you see your life and how it's like
the journey that it's come on and the beauty that you carry and the beauty that you radiate
is just so beautiful.
I think that when people see the atmosphere that you carry, the goodness and the light
that you radiate all around you, they would never be able to imagine where your journey
began or what you've walked through in your life because you're just radiating the atmosphere
of heaven.
And I'm so excited to hear your story and so delighted for people to be able to connect
with you more.
Thank you.
And I've had that actually said before that people would come and say, there is no way
you've been through that.
How can you even share that without weeping your eyes out?
And that's the transformational and empowering healing of Jesus.
He's the only one who can do that.
Thank you for all your encouraging words.
You're always, always, as long as I've known you, never heard a bad word towards myself
or other people.
It's been always very, very encouraging.
Thank you, Benji.
Thank you.
Oh, thanks so much.
Well, how about you pray for us now and then we are going to jump into a really powerful
story.
So everyone, brace yourself.
This is going to be a roller coaster of goodness and chaos and redemption.
And you're going to see just the power of just the redeeming power of Jesus at work
in this story.
So Marina, why don't you take it away?
Thank you.
Yes.
Well, I bless you, everyone who is connected and everyone who's going to watch later.
I bless you with certainty and faith in the powerful name of Yeshua HaMashiach, Lord,
King of Kings and Elohim of Elohim, Jesus Christ, bless you with faith.
May God reveal to you everything you need to know to come into the fullness of who you
created to be.
May he bless you with the blessings that reveal.
His true nature. His character. I bless your soul. I bless your spirit. I bless your mind.
I bless your body. I bless your family. I bless your home. I bless your town. I bless
the country that you live in. May God reveal to you the depth of His love for you. May
He plant the seed of truth in your spirit that will deliver you. May He reveal to you
the true nature of who He is, the good, good Papa. I bless you in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach.
And I decree and declare abundance in every sphere of your life, in your finances, in
your relationships, in your marriage, in your relationships with your children. I bless
you. And I seal that with the name of Yeshua HaMashiach. Thank you, Abba. Thank you, Yeshua,
your good, good Papa. Your good Papa will love you. We delight in you.
Wow.
Good. So good. I love it. I love it. I love it. It's amazing. I, you know, I, I've heard
a lot, a little bit about your story. And I've heard the, you know, some of the impacts
of the journey that you've been on. And I'm sure we'll, we'll, we'll get into the detail.
But the, you know, we're in this Kingdom Business Summit. And, you know, one of the themes that's
been so prevalent through this whole thing is that the world is going a little crazy.
And the global financial markets are doing crazy things. Inflation here in the US and
in New Zealand is, is rocking around like 7%. And, which is crazy. You know, it's a
high for us for a while. And I know inflation had a huge, huge impact on your journey in
your childhood as well. And I'd love for you to just speak to that, the impact of inflation,
the impact of government overreach and inside these dynamics. How's that been? How have
you navigated that? What happened? And you start us off there and maybe we could go further
from there.
Oh, we'll definitely go further from there. But I want to start with one of my...
Oh, hey, I'm just, I'm just going to interrupt there. Just so we've got lots of people saying
hello, and thanks for your beautiful prayer. So everyone, great to be with you. And if
you haven't yet say hi to Marina, whether in the right now or in the future, just say
hi. So yeah, lots of people saying hi, and they love you. And thanks for your prayer.
So I just wanted to let you know, people are excited and checking with us.
Hi, guys. And I want to start with one of my favorite quotes that says that in life,
more often than not, the greatest pain becomes the greatest strength that empowers us to
serve others. Now repeat that in life more often than not, the greatest pain will become
the greatest strength that will empower us to serve others. And I've seen that in my
life. I've seen that in so many of my friends' lives. And that's very empowering to know
that your past does not equal your present or even your future. And also Isaiah 64, that's
been like a cornerstone for me. No eyes have seen and no ears have heard what God prepared
for those who wait on him or another translation says, who loves him, you know, or another
translation says, God will work on your behalf, as you wait for him as you love him. And that's
become such an evident, evident truth in my life that back when I did not even had capacity
to dream and lived in such deep poverty and brokenness and, and pain to now, we're not
only there's been such a transformational healing in my life, but also, Jesus empowered
me to serve others. And that's been an incredible journey. And I will take you on, you know,
I will share with you some of the horrific realities of inflation and poverty, but not
for not so we dwell on it and not so we feel pity, you know, or necessary source.
sadness because that's a reality for so many people.
But the reason I share that it's to testify
of the empowering transformational love of Jesus
because he's the only one who can take someone
in communistic and Muslim, very crazy, environment and poverty
and to bring care to the place of empowerment.
So just to reiterate, I will take
you on the journey of there is realities, broken realities,
but we will come to now where what Jesus have done.
So back to your question, Seth, I
wouldn't even know where to begin,
but I feel like I need to just talk
a little bit about the cycles of brokenness
because very often when we look at the life of one person,
you can trace it to so many generations
in that cycle of brokenness.
And at least the cycle is broken by this cycle of love.
It's curious to generations and generations.
And that's when I look even back to my grandma,
and she grew up in an orphanage.
And she was the only survivor of nine children.
So when she, I'm going to just fast forward,
when she ended up in orphanage, and that's during the war,
when she came out, none of her siblings were around
and none of her parents or grandparents, everyone perished
and she couldn't find anyone.
And that's on my maternal side.
I don't know much about my father's side
other than they are descended from Persia, from Iran.
So then fast forward, she marries,
she had four children.
Her husband was very abusive.
She was brutally abusive, actually.
Like he would pour hot water over her, beat her up,
just insane stuff, right?
And she ended up living on the streets with four children.
And my oldest child, my aunt,
she used to tell me stories how they would sit
at Russian Orthodox churches,
and that's back in Tajikistan, and beg.
And sometimes people would give some food or clothing,
and sometimes people would take them in as well.
So by now she would have four girls, four little children.
And when people would take them in for a little bit,
then they will kick them out
because taking care of mom with four little children,
that's a challenge.
And at some point she was living with the elderly.
I'm probably diversing a little bit from your questions,
but I feel like I need to share that.
To live with an elderly lady with four kids.
And the time came where the lady asked her to leave again.
They got in an argument and a fight.
My grandma hit her and the lady died.
So grandma went to the prison
and four little children went into orphanages.
This whole orphanage thing is like, it's a pattern.
It used to be a pattern and cycles of this,
of this sweet thing, you know, brokenness.
So all kids goes into orphanages.
Now I'm gonna go back to my mom.
So she comes out.
She'd been abused since she was a little kid,
sexually abused, physically abused,
and ended up marrying my dad, 18 years older than her,
had me and my sister,
and then ends up living that toxic relationship
and remarrying again and having my brother.
So now she has three children, little children,
and then my stepdad ends up in the prison.
And at the same time, the Soviet Union collapses.
And probably a lot of, you know-
Just to clarify for people, like where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Oh, I omitted that.
That's probably a very important part.
Tajikistan.
So that's where I am.
Help us track and where's, yeah, yeah.
I think that's where you were going,
but where is Tajikistan?
It's West of China, North of Afghanistan.
It's inland.
And you've heard probably of all the stunts,
especially recently, Afghanistan in the news,
Kazakhstan in the news.
So we're right in the middle of that.
So we'll have Uzbekistan around us, Kazakhstan,
actually China as well, and Afghanistan.
So those, that gives you a little bit of picture.
So Tajikistan used to be actually Persia,
and then the Russians came and took over
and been in the country for over a hundred years.
So it's quite culturally also a challenging place
because Persians, and then, you know,
very much influenced by Russian culture.
So you would sometimes meet Tajiks who-
don't actually even speak Tajiks, or half who don't speak, you know, the language of the land.
So yeah, so Soviet Union collapses, because Tajikistan was part of Soviet Union's collapses,
and that brings cultural, economical, and political chaos.
Absolutely, because the struggle for power, that it's a Muslim country, right, and radical Islam,
Islamists want to take over, and put hijab on women, and bring Shia law, hardcore Shia law,
and then there's a fight for that, plus culturally, okay, are we Tajiks, plus we have all this
Russian influence, who we are, so then discrimination against Russian begins,
or even, you know, pure Tajik, that begins, and of course, economically, and I was about
seven, eight years old, we would get up early, like at three or four o'clock, and sometimes all
night, we would stand in a queue, so we just received a small piece of bread, that's how
we were struggling, we would get little tickets for each family, how much bread you allowed, and
bread was so fluffy, you could just put it in a little bowl, so no flour, we were just in poverty,
it was very, very challenging time, and of course, by then, my stepfather ended up in the prison,
actually, he just went and stole something to feed us, right, and got caught, and now there's
still aspects of Shia law, the punishment increases the crime by much, here in New Zealand,
you probably just do a community service, when Tajikistan, you go to prison for years,
so my mom left in this situation with, you know, no job, people started losing the jobs, factory
was shutting down, people were leaving the country, especially Russians, and she loses her job,
and my stepfather in the prison, three little kids, it was just an absolute chaos, and I just
remember snippets of it, because I think a lot of it as a survival mechanism, I just blocked it
to survive, and then long story short, she started drinking heavily, it amazes me how in poverty,
you know, you might not be able to find bread, but you always find alcohol, I just,
and she got, you know, she got involved with wrong crowds, some of them were part of
organized gangs and mafia, and she turned into prostitution, and that was horrific, because
actually, we lived in one bedroom, which we had just one room in the kitchen, and our home turned into
a brothel, and for me being, by then, I probably was 10, 11, I lived in such a denial, like part of me
seeing all this men coming in and abusing my mom, realized that something is wrong, and part of me,
I just denied it, I was like, that can't be reality, and of course, my sister and brother
was little, so at school, and on the streets, it's a small city, people got to know very quickly who my
mom became, so we would be called daughter of a prostitute, or son of a prostitute, sometimes the
boys would throw stones at us, we were constantly getting in a fight, so streets became toxic, and
dangerous, and scary, and home was the same, my mom would drink, because of the shame and the pain,
what she had to do, sacrifice herself, she could have sold us, and parents did that, but she
sacrificed herself to feed us, and it wasn't even a lot of money, that's the crazy thing, we still lived
in poverty, but that was just for us to survive, we sold pretty much everything we own, I mean, we
didn't own a lot, but we sleep on the floors, we didn't have no beds, no couch, nothing at home,
and sometimes she'd close us in the kitchen, and men would come into the living room, so we would
constantly live in this environment, and I remember, I may, and actually remember the conversation,
he looked at me, and she said, well, he said, well, she's of age, I'll give you one sheep for her,
so that's kind of environment for lives, and of course, now that she's also drinking,
that anger and rage that she lived with, plus all the pain from the past, started affecting
how she treated us, so she started beating us, abusing us, so that was the reality of, you know,
cycles of brokenness, by the time I was 12, I already tried to commit suicide twice,
it was just darkened, and yeah, so this is just a snippet of, I'm not going to go into too much
details of gruesomeness, some of the abuse that we,
experience as little kids because, yeah, too much of it.
Yeah.
So that's, if that's answering your question,
that's a long answer to your question, Seth,
how inflation poverty can and very often will affect
the extent of to which parents will go
to protect their children or provide for their children.
But the thing is it didn't necessarily protect us.
It's hurt us significantly, but people say,
oh, well, she had a choice.
No, she didn't have a choice.
The other alternative would be to let us starve to death
or to sell us, but there wasn't a lot of choice.
Yeah.
I mean, this is, to me, this is so key in,
I mean, this is actually a key part of the process
of discipling nations.
And when we're talking kingdom business,
sometimes people don't realize the value
of prospering businesses, you know,
without prospering businesses, without an economy,
nations fall into complete collapse, economic collapse.
And that means something for the people
that are a part of that economy.
So I guess that, you know, like the process,
it really highlights the value of kingdom business.
It really highlights that value of how critical economics is
to the process of discipling nations.
Because if you get that wrong,
like the Soviet Union collapsed, when they got that wrong,
the collateral damage was fall out
for tens of millions of people.
I mean, millions and millions of people
just crashed into poverty
because they got the economics wrong.
So there is a lot at play here,
and I think it should cause us to be really conscious
and engaged with what's happening right now.
Because we're seeing inflation rising and rising right now.
We have to be conscious of the fact,
okay, hey, this is a really disturbing trend.
We've seen it in other nations.
We've seen it in history of what this actually ends up meaning
for individuals as things collapse around them.
So Marina, I just want to touch a little bit more
on just a couple of other parts of your story.
And then I want to bring it into now
how you're actually bringing reformation.
Because we talked yesterday about these three principles
of Jesus's economic training plan for us.
One is alignment so that we have purity of heart and mind.
You know, because if we don't have purity of heart,
you know, then greed will rule over us
and if we don't have, you know,
an understanding of economics, you know,
and economic principles, then money will rule over us
because we just won't have any.
You know, so money can rule over us
either through having our, you know,
like it becoming an idol
or just because we simply don't have any
and it forces us into situations
or it just rules over us in that way.
So money can rule over you because it, you know,
it becomes an idol or because you just don't have anything
and it controls you.
So we talked about that.
We talked about assignment
that we have a sacred financial assignment on our lives,
which is to steward what we've been given
to produce multiplication.
And then the third part is reformation.
And what reformation is,
is reformation, financial reformation,
which leads to discipling nations
actually starts on a one-on-one basis.
It starts with me going,
hey, how can I create opportunities
for the people around me?
And this to me is like actually so much
of the heart of the kingdom,
so much of the heart of what fathering looks like
and sonship looks like.
One of the things the Lord said to me in Te Ano
is that fathers create opportunities.
And that right there,
that's enterprise in action.
And that's one of the elements of reformation
of how, you know,
how Jesus teaches us financial wisdom
is first, make sure you're in alignment
and you've got a pure heart
and you understand financial principles
so that you're not in poverty
and you're not serving money as an idol.
Then understand, learn how to steward the economics
and become a great steward so you can multiply
and then bring other people into your world,
whether it's by teaching,
whether it's by creating an opportunity for them
or something.
So we're gonna jump into this in a moment
of how you've actually flipped the script
and how you're now in a place
where you're actually creating opportunity.
But take me back to a couple of key points.
Oh, there's three key points
that are probably gonna be quite big points here,
but you mentioned something crazy right now.
By the time you were...
Well, did you say you'd already tried to commit suicide twice?
Yeah. So I'd love to hear about that, because you were.
So, yeah, I mean, let's start there.
Like what happened?
You were on your way to commit suicide and something happened.
Yeah. Third attempt.
Well, my first attempt was mercury.
I actually learned that if you saved, if you break.
Yeah, my first attempt was like, oh, no, no, no.
That's my third attempt. Yeah.
You know, I tried to cut myself.
I tried to drown myself. I would meditate on suicide.
And I mean, how does 12, 13 year old come to such deep darkness
and no hope, you know, where teenagers play and dream
and and, you know, do all of this cool things?
How does a bond come when I look at 13, 12 year old now?
And I'm like, I was 12, 13 when I already that's consuming me.
Well, because everywhere I went and everywhere I look, I saw brokenness.
Well, of course, the the the impact of
subterranean collapsing and the cycles of my family.
The home was not safe.
My mom mostly was drunk and it was always man
was beating the verbal, emotional and all aspects of abuse at school.
You know, school was sort of almost a safe place, but
not really. You know, the streets were not.
So anywhere I went, it was dark.
It was it was scary.
And also girls my age already start
sleeping around in traffic.
And so I knew it's coming my way.
Already men who would come to my house, looked at me and ask questions.
So I lived in so much fear.
That was my greatest fear, that something sexually would happen to me as well.
So that's why I thought the only way out is to kill myself
because there is no purpose. There is no reason to leave.
And I remember like just a few months before my third attempt,
which would have been fatal because I've done my to the best of my ability
research and I saved enough mercury to poison myself.
How do I now looking back like, wow, that's quite creative.
But I remember December 31st.
I was hanging out with with people, with my with my peers late at night.
Twelve one o'clock. It's a new year.
If it's a big celebration there, people are drunk.
We're walking from one place to another.
And I remember looking at the sky and just feeling that
this the heavens were calling me.
You know, I just feel like there is something bigger.
And remember, I'm a communistic country, Muslim country.
No, like no capacity or not capacity,
but no preconceived notions of who God and I mean how nothing.
But I just felt this call like I knew there is something more to life.
There is something bigger.
I remember looking at the sky at night and almost wanting to weep.
But I had no idea how to get there.
And I think that was my another thing.
I know there is something, but I don't know what to do.
And that's kind of led me to like I you know, there's not a choice.
So on the day I wrote my mom a letter when I was in March 17th,
1997, I wrote my mom a letter explaining why and what
and went to school to say goodbye to to
not directly going to school to just as my last day.
And I was on my way from school back home
because I hid all this mercury in the matching box.
And a girl invited me to church.
And I vaguely heard that there are some Koreans, some crazy people somewhere,
you know, but nothing really of much.
I just heard some of my friends went to church,
but didn't have a concept what it is.
So she invited me to church and I was like, not really,
because I thought Russian Orthodox, you know, what you see on TV,
dark, gloomy candles, ladies with, you know, head covering.
No, but something inside of me pulled me to.
So I just went to her and I remember getting into the bus,
coming to to this massive building where the South Korean doesn't
want to collapse all the South Koreans missionaries on fire.
They were on fire.
I mean, and you met some some of the South Koreans when they pray,
the wall shake, literally the frequency in the room.
And you had to be so on fire because the atmosphere in the country was chaos.
So I walk in and there's just, you know, nothing what I imagined.
There's some people in front of worship and we're sitting
and they start worshiping.
And I remember I have no greed
for what Christianity, who Jesus God is nothing.
I had some experience of spiritual experiences before.
But as I said, and as they started singing, I felt the present
come and set by me.
And now I can, of course, put words.
It was Papa. It was my Abba.
He put his hand over me as I wept and wept and wept.
And he.
He said, it's okay, you're mine, you're gonna be fine.
It's gonna be all right now.
In Russian, he spoke in Russian to me.
He said, Marina.
So,
So, he just start pouring.
It was just a couple of sentences really,
but the feeling and the reality of it
is so real that no one could ever convince me otherwise.
You know, I experienced Abba's love.
Wow.
Such a deep level.
And that was the moment for me, you know?
And I had that moment.
That was the moment for me.
And ever since then,
just having the revelation who Jesus is
and the transformational healing power,
I've never looked back, never looked back.
I've passionately fell in love with Jesus.
And I remember, you know,
cause I was fiery afterwards.
And I remember someone told me that,
oh, it will subside, you know,
as you grow and mature, it will subside.
You're a bit too far, you know?
And actually it's increased, you know?
Come on, come on.
I become more crazy and more in love
and more on fire for him.
And it's definitely still a journey
and always will be a journey,
but I absolutely in love with Jesus.
Yeah.
Come on, that's wild.
So, you know, but it wasn't all roses, you know?
Like it wasn't all roses after that.
You encountered Jesus,
encountered love for the first time.
You cancel suicide plans,
but still after that, still things got pretty hectic.
I mean, you had times living on the streets.
Yeah.
I mean, times that were really, really challenging.
I mean, you, you yourself almost got trafficked.
Yes.
Before I knew what trafficked was,
yeah, that was a crazy story.
And my family was affected.
My sister was trafficked, my brother was trafficked.
I mean, this is very, very close home.
My mom was a victim of a sexual exploitation.
And then of course, living in poverty,
you are so vulnerable.
And as an older sister,
I've always was in a position,
I need to provide for my family.
So my best friend, Yulia,
who actually was trafficked herself to Israel.
And when she came back, she managed to escape.
She died shortly after.
That's another horrific story.
But she said, oh, I have a job
because I've always looked for a job.
I worked as long as I remember.
You know, it was something,
trying to bring a little bit home.
And my best friend, she introduced me to him.
And she said, oh, he has a job.
It's a really well-paid job.
You wouldn't even have to do much.
Okay, so I meet with this, looking back,
really dodgy guy.
And he said, oh, I have a package for you.
All you need to do is take this package
and I will put you on the train to Moscow.
You will deliver the package hand-to-hand.
They will put you back on a train and you'll come back
and I'll give you this amount of money.
And I was like, whoa, that's amazing.
That's so, yeah, I can do that.
It was a little bit scary.
I've never been out of the country.
But looking back, I'm thinking,
living in such a brokenness,
as a kid, you still want to trust.
You still think, oh, you know, nothing will happen to me.
This is my best friend.
No way.
Anyways, so the man, and of course by then
I already lived in the streets.
My mom actually kicked me out for going to church.
That's not a long story.
But I lived in the streets, went from home to home
and lived literally on the roofs of the building
to stay safe.
And so I was quite desperate.
So he takes me home.
He get, you know, we get in the car.
He's like, oh, I'll get you some clothes.
Cause I looked like, you know,
someone who lived on the streets, obviously.
So he takes me to the market, get me some clothes.
And I remember how uncomfortable I was in the clothes
because the skirt was too short
and I didn't dress like that, you know?
So I already started feeling like, oh.
And then he brings me home.
And of course I think that there would be wife, children.
This is an adult man.
Well, there wasn't.
So we're sitting there, you start cooking.
There wasn't wife.
Anyways, long story short,
that night he was trying to sexually abuse me.
But I've never heard this story before in my life.
He actually physically could not do anything to me.
I remember freezing.
It was so paralyzed with fear.
I couldn't even scream.
I remember hearing people outside.
It was late at night, men walking.
And I said, maybe I can scream for help.
But then I thought, what if this man are bad as well?
Because this person is bad.
Maybe they're bad as well.
I was paralyzed with fear,
but physically he couldn't do anything.
And in the morning, he just let me go.
He just, I just go home.
Later on, what I realized that the package
that I was trying would have been delivering was me.
I was the package.
So that's whole story.
I just be really intrigued by this.
What do you mean he physically couldn't do anything?
Like what happened?
nothing was happening to his junk.
And so he couldn't get an erection.
No, he couldn't.
So of course at that point, I mean, I'm a kid,
nothing sexually have happened to me before.
I lived in fear,
like conscious of things around me happening,
but I was so, I was like a little, you know, wolf.
I would just run from men.
I actually, I hated anyone who, you know, who was man, boy,
I would fight all the time.
So I wasn't this flirtatious, you know, and yeah.
But so he actually tried, but couldn't do anything.
That's some of like, when I look back,
of course I blogged that out of my memory
because the pattern is when some,
when sexual abuse happened to a girl or a boy,
it's, you know, you feel dirty.
You feel that you've done something wrong.
You feel guilty, you know?
So subconsciously you just put this back.
As a shame thing and blogging,
that's what happened to me for many, many years.
I was just in the back until things start clicking
and Jesus started healing my heart and my memory
bringing and showing me where he was, you know,
it's so powerful.
Now that was before, I want to point out,
I had an encounter with God.
I didn't pray, you know, that was before, I was about 12.
So-
The trafficking story was?
Yes.
Oh, wow.
So you were, that was crazy.
Before I became,
before I had an actual conscious experience with God.
So Jesus, the reason the memory came,
because he was showing me all the times
that he was right there.
Because this story is such a pivotal moment in my life,
just saying, I've never heard of abuse,
like in the middle of the abuse,
he was probably wanting to break me
and then send me to Moscow, you know,
that he physically could not do anything.
And he just sent me away.
And I remember just blocking it,
just blocking it as something, yeah.
Yeah, totally.
The hand of God on you right there, protecting you.
And so I just want to touch on one more thing
and then we're going to get into how things are,
how you're really flipping the script
in this space right now.
But what happened to your mom
after this whole lifestyle of exploitation and alcohol?
What happened?
I just want to point out
that my mom was truly a phenomenal woman.
I want to honor her,
but she sacrificed herself to protect us.
I remember no one ever, she would beat us up,
but no one ever was allowed to touch us, ever.
She was a very powerful woman.
And I remember crying to God and asking God,
give me my mom back,
because seeing what alcohol and that shame
and that brokenness was doing to her,
it was unprecedented.
It was just nothing that I've ever seen.
She was turning into almost a monster,
you know, right in front of us.
And then your drink, of course,
did not that and would cry.
It was just, but she at age 43,
actually, I left home when I was 16 for good.
I left and moved to Russia and then Norway and traveled.
That's a long story, but I'm not going to go there.
But I remember coming back
and I was helping my family as much as I could,
sending money.
And when I was 18, I felt like I need to come back home.
And by then her liver deteriorated, she was dying.
And she died in agony.
And that's another like a massive trauma
that I still dealing through
because there was no assistance at all.
You know, when I came,
I didn't have money to help her,
to put her in the hospital.
And she was from hospital in and out,
but, you know, always went back drinking.
So there was nothing left from her liver.
She died in absolute agony.
And she had experience with Jesus.
I have no doubt that she's with Jesus now.
Absolutely no doubt that she's with Jesus.
It's like this, you know, hero who managed to raise us up
in one of the most horrific environments.
Yeah, there.
And she had encounters with Jesus
and some amazing things happened in and out in the process.
But she died a very, very painful death.
That was in my arms.
Yeah, she was bleeding all over
and there's nothing anyone could do.
Yeah, so it was really, really traumatic.
Wow, that is wild.
Now I'm gonna do a screenshot.
just now because you've come out of this place and now completely flipped the script
and what is this that you're building right here? I see March 2017, February 2022,
what is this? What's going on here? So a number of years ago I've founded a ministry called
Invest in a Life and the mission of Invest in a Life is to empower and equip individuals by
providing necessary resources for them to thrive and become leaders and catalysts of positive
change. So not just hands out, actually training people and it's focused on survivors of sexual
exploitation, human trafficking, women and children at this stage. Now when I left Tajikistan
I never ever ever wanted to go back, I never wanted to do anything with survivors of human
trafficking or anything to do with men or women who've been through that, I was way too close home
and then had a powerful encounter again, Holy Spirit softened my heart, spoke to my heart, it was
that story is worth writing a book on just how amazing Holy Spirit is. He never is like okay
you're doing this because it's good for a character, just come like a loving papa would give me a hug
and just I want to partner with you. So Jesus invited me to partner with him to go back and to
build a home for people like my mom and people like my sister who had no one actually no one to
turn to for help. There was no government agency or a non-profit or even churches had no idea what
to do with people like my mom or my sister you know with that situation. So now I'm partnering
with Jesus to building this home, it's called House of Shalom, a safe place where women and
children can come find refuge, heal, restore and be empowered and equipped to integrate back into
society. So back in 2007 actually, at 2017 there was this building that he showed me and at first
I was like there's no way like I was still you know just living day-to-day pretty much
and he gave me Haggai too, it's an amazing story and every story is amazing and gave me strategies
how to pursue that and brought people my way who was on fire as well as like yes let's do it and
some of the people is Benji and Alana right here and then John, Stephan, John and Fiona just want
to honor you so much guys who just came along is like yeah let's do this absolutely let's do that
and so within five years we've raised roughly two hundred thousand dollars and this is a massive
house as well and I came to this place but this is just part of our ministry you know we have
emergency funds, we have an amazing team on the ground that works and empowering people and help
them with because our main thing is to providing resources most of all why people in
people in poverty are so vulnerable when they can't feed their children this is our weak part
you know if I can't feed my daughter there's nothing I would do wouldn't do right so I think
providing medical assistance, paying for their bills you know things like that so that's
very very practical you know a love that is an action first so a lot of people see that
they're like wow awesome you know let's build it but this is just part of our project so
there's that going on on the side as well with micro loans and helping people to start businesses
and things like that yeah so that's that's to present here. It's so exciting and we are going
to hear more about this going forward in the future I'm really excited about journeying
you know journeying together as Raising Royalty with you and it's been cool right from the start
I mean this is this is something I love I remember the day you know that we kind of just
remember there in the church we're in the cafe there with the crew and we had that service it
was kind of like should we go all in on this guys and everyone's like yeah and you know we didn't
really have you know cash floating around none of us had cash in those days all of us had like next
to nothing in those days and we're all like you know what yes and we make this massive all-in yes
and take some big risk and get in there and I mean this building some people say I mean depending on
how you sleep people then you could accommodate nearly 50 people yeah absolutely and then there's
also a second house there that's built there's all these other ministries that you've got happening
alongside it as well I've got a team there in Tajikistan and so really this is so beautiful
of you know along these conversations around legacy around actually bringing
explanation, Discipling Nations, it always starts somewhere, it
starts with something, it looks like something, love looks like
something. And it's so beautiful to see this, because I mean, is
there anything else like this even, you know, in that city or
in the nation that we even know about?
There's only one home in the capital that can host 12 people
and they are heavily monitored by the government. So even
though the leaders are Christians, they're not allowed
to bring Jesus into conversation. I mean, how can
you even operate like, without Jesus, you know, so there's only
one that I know of to date, I might be wrong, there might be
something more, but hence why we not registering as nonprofit, or
we're going to stay low, this is going to be just a family
living there. So we can actually do what we designed to do and
not work around what government tells us what to do.
Yeah, I mean, very difficult context to be working in, in the
context of an Islamic nation, KGB dynamics, all of those things
really tense. So we're so delighted Marina and what you're
doing really excited going forward is raising royalty to be
partnering with this more and so cool to see, you know, it has
been, it has been love and action, it has been a battle, it
has been step by step. But you're seeing God just keep
breaking through. And I mean, it's just looking amazing what
you've, what you've built over there, it's starting to really
come alive.
Absolutely. And we also take teams every year, from New
Zealand, and whoever wants to come to Tajikistan to minister
because one of the things is we are a bridge between resources,
you know, yeah, so we take teams every year to Tajikistan, we had
some real cool adventures with Kiwis.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, it's so I just want to invite people as well to come
along.
Ah, yes.
So fun as well. It's not, I really love this quote by
Frederick Buchner that I want to just read the place God calls
you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world deep
hunger meet. Deep gladness and deep hunger meet. So it's
actually so fun to be part of this. It's so life giving. So
yeah, it's a cool thing to come and come and part of it.
Come on. Well, that's an exciting invitation, isn't it?
And as the world opens up again, and let's all go to
Tajikistan. Let's hang out there. Let's impact lives. Let's
build this we're gonna see. Yeah, I mean, one thought that I
have, you know, in the process of building and fighting for
something like this is how much will it impact the kids who were
on the street, you know, with their mom when they get to go
and live in the house of Shalom and get looked after.
Yeah, yeah.
That's amazing. Amazing. I love it. I love that. This is the
space that we're in. And so much of discipleship of nations, you
know, has been in this conversation with God very, very
intentionally recently about, you know, the difference between
discipleship of nations always, and, you know, discipleship of
the one, you know, Heidi Baker talks a lot about stopping for
the one. But really, it is, you know, it's, it's a journey of
stopping for the one leads to the discipleship of the nations.
But it's also the discipleship of the nations that creates a
platform for the one to be stopped for. And, and that's
totally what what's happening here. So I'm excited, really
excited for this. So very cool.
Yeah, beautiful. And I think, I mean, your story is so powerful
as well, because sometimes Christians, sometimes we have
poverty as a badge of honor. And it's really, really important
to highlight testimonies like yours, because poverty is a
curse that Satan uses to destroy people.
Yeah, so I love what you've done. I love that you've brought
abundance into your world. I love that you flip the script,
you're creating a legacy for generations to come there. And
we're really excited, you know, going forward partnering
together more and, and chuck your hand up if you like the
idea of going to Tajikistan with Marina, helping build the
House of Shalom together. I mean, that sounds like a wild
amount of fun to me. I look forward to seeing you guys
there. Let's go and hang out in Tajikistan together and, and be
a part of building the House of Shalom together. So Marina, why
don't you pray for us to wrap up and people absolutely loving
your story. They're so delighted and grateful for what you're
sharing. So thank you so much. And everyone. And say thanks,
Marina. And let's, we'll let you pray and we'll close it up
there.
Well, Jesus, thank you. We acknowledge you. Thank you for
igniting our hearts with love and empowering us to love
ourselves and
love one another. Thank you for increasing our capacity to dream. Thank you for empowering
us. So I bless you. I bless everyone who's watching, who will be watching. I bless you
in certainty and faith in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach that he will reveal to you everything
you need to know to come to the fullness of who he created you to be. I bless your mind.
I bless your spirit. I bless your soul. I bless your finances. May God bless you with
all the blessings that will reveal the amazing nature of who he is, a loving papa who delights
in you, who loves you. In the precious name of Yeshua, I pray. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you so
much. So blessed. Love you. And we will be live with Kelly in just a couple of minutes. So Kelly
is going to share with us some of these real critical steps in the process of changing
mindsets, which is as well critical in your journey and every single person that we've had share.
The mindset transformation has been so critical. So Kelly is going to be talking with us
in just a couple of minutes about how to actually make those mindset changes from,
you know, from orphan mindsets to royal mindsets. You can actually start
making transition in your life into a world of abundance. So Marina, thank you so much. We love
you and we're excited to share the journey together with you. So bless you and see you later. Bye-bye.