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God Is Working Behind The Scenes In Ways You Can't Imagine | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start The DaySUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
Imagine being a soldier on the battlefield; one of the most treacherous situations is finding yourself in a valley. You open yourself up to danger from every direction and cannot anticipate the threats that lurk ahead. Chip uncovers the most dangerous spiritual valley a Christian can face in this program and provides vital strategies for navigating and escaping it. Don't be caught off guard—learn what it takes to stay vigilant and protected.Main Points Life is a journey; we all get physically tired, emotionally exhausted, and spiritually discouraged. Declarative statement: I will never give up. Remembering God's past faithfulness will empower you to trust Him for the future. --Psalm 103:1-7 After he remembers, David focuses on God's character and heart. --Psalm 103:8-13 God isn't surprised by our humanness and He understands that we are frail. --Psalm 103:14-16 The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. --Psalm 103:17-18 When there are valleys you need to: Talk to yourself. Praise God when you don't feel like it. Thank God by remembering what He has done. This will lead you to remember what He's like. That will lead you to a new perspective. Broadcast Resource Download Free MP3 Message Notes Additional Resource Mentions Prayer Journal "The ART of Survival" Resources About Chip Ingram Chip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways. About Living on the Edge Living on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus. Connect 888-333-6003 Website Chip Ingram App Instagram Facebook Twitter Partner With Us Donate Online 888-333-6003
We'd wondered how far we'd been from World War III – it looks like maybe only a matter of a few months.
In this engaging podcast episode, host Kent interviews Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers. Rudy shares insights into his music career, favorite performance venues, and the gospel influences that shaped his journey. He discusses the evolution of the music industry, emphasizing the importance of talent and perseverance. Rudy recounts memorable encounters with icons like Johnny Cash and Roy Clark, and reflects on his disciplined upbringing and early gospel performances in Texas. The episode highlights the camaraderie within the country music community and offers valuable advice for aspiring musicians. Automatically Transcribed With Podsqueeze Speaker 1 00:00:00 This Kent Hance, I hope you enjoyed part one of the interview with Rudy Gatlin. He's a great interview, a great American, and you're going to love. Part two. What's the worst place you ever performed? You know what I mean? Just a a dive. We were fortunate that. Speaker 2 00:00:21 We didn't work too many of those because we started had enough success. And we're making a little money on the road. And we I mean, we weren't taking a lot of money. We weren't making a lot. We were existing. We were living paying the bills, but we didn't have to work, and that wasn't our deal. I love, you know, good country, western, two step and honky tonk music, but. And Houston and lady takes the cowboy and but we we cut 28 records, 28 albums of other types of music. Great ballads write wonderful songs. Larry wrote a bunch of great songs, and we made a bunch of great records. But we thank you, Lord. Because they'd have been throwing beer bottles at us. Speaker 2 00:01:06 What Roy started doing done. Enough dying today. I've done enough dying today to get back to the honky tonk songs. We needed the chicken wire. Speaker 1 00:01:17 That. That's when, Roy Clark tells about the time that it threw some beer bottles at him and some other things, and he finally, we went. He refused to go back to that place, and they said, won't happen anymore. And they had the they had chicken wire in there so people couldn't throw things at them. You know. Speaker 2 00:01:36 When he was doing what he was doing yesterday when I was young, I remember that hit record. Speaker 1 00:01:41 That was a great song. I mean, one of the best that was rent. Speaker 2 00:01:46 They said, get back to Good God and Greyhound. You're gone. Speaker 1 00:01:50 Yeah. Thank God and Greyhound you're gone. But yesterday. Speaker 2 00:01:54 Song. Speaker 1 00:01:55 Yesterday was, written in France and, recorded French. And then somebody got Ahold of it and decided to do it in the United States. And then several people recorded it. And Roy Clark was the the most famous of the ones that did. Speaker 2 00:02:13 Great. Speaker 1 00:02:13 Songs. I know a little about music, not much, but, Speaker 2 00:02:17 And I do know that Porter and Dolly are your favorites. Speaker 1 00:02:20 Yeah. That's right, that's right. You got me up two tickets, I said at one time in class, I said I wouldn't take my dog to see Porter and remember it. Speaker 2 00:02:30 And I remember. Speaker 1 00:02:31 Y'all went out. Speaker 2 00:02:32 And bought. Speaker 1 00:02:32 It. You went out and bought tickets and some dog food and a leash and put it up on the the table where I came in. I came in to teach, and there it was. There's one of those, large classes that was in the small auditorium, and, I could look and there was 100, 150 people in there, and you were the only one that had written on your forehead. Guilty. I mean, I could just I could tell that you had been involved, but I liked it. And it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. Speaker 2 00:03:05 Yeah. I thought I was smarter than that. Speaker 1 00:03:08 No, you had Gilti written all over you. I got it early on. What? What's the best place? You know, I asked you the worst you could, but what's the nicest place? Speaker 2 00:03:19 Dallas, Texas. Anywhere in Dallas, Texas. Speaker 1 00:03:23 Was always nice. Speaker 2 00:03:25 I'm in Dallas right now at my daughter's. We have a love affair with this city. Going back to when we sang gospel music as a gospel quartet. Right. From Odessa, we traveled to Dallas and Fort Worth and Mesquite and all over Texas. But we came to Dallas to sing in Oak Cliff, Oak Cliff, Assembly of God church. Sure. See? Noah. Whoa, man. Speaker 1 00:03:50 Hey, hey. When the religious music. When you were gospels and everything. What were some of your favorites? Because there's a lot of people listening, and they remember when we used to sing hymns instead of being bop of Jesus. Speaker 2 00:04:05 Well, our first song was I Woke Up. I wish I had my guitar. I've got my guitar in there. Speaker 2 00:04:10 I woke up this morning feeling fine. I woke up with heaven on my mind. I woke up with joy in my soul. Because I knew my Lord had control. I knew I was walking in that light. Because I'd been on my knees in the night. I pray to the Lord gave me sight. And now I'm feeling mighty fine. Yes, I'm feeling mighty. Speaker 1 00:04:34 That's good. Speaker 2 00:04:35 So first song we ever learned. In fact, I think we won that talent show. Singing that song. Speaker 1 00:04:40 That's good. But the standbys are amazing grace. And what a friend we have in Jesus. And y'all, y'all would sing all kinds of. Speaker 2 00:04:51 Well, we sang a lot of those songs, like our heroes, the Blackwood Brothers Statesmen Quartet that came through Abilene, Odessa, Lubbock. We bought the records, took them home and put them on the high five and played those. And mom got up on the piano and we just started singing. Joe knew how to, you know, God just said, y'all sing. Speaker 1 00:05:16 And you. Speaker 2 00:05:17 Know, he he gave you the ability to to understand law and all that stuff. You I, I, like I said, I can't spell be much less understand, you know, lawyer doctors. How do they understand all the, Michael Jordan can shoot a basketball? Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler can hit a golf ball. Speaker 1 00:05:41 A long way. Speaker 2 00:05:43 now I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a better golfer. I'm than he is a singer, I guarantee you that. But God just gave everybody a talent because. And we developed it a little bit, you know, worked, sang in school And. Speaker 1 00:06:00 One year when, Alan White, he had that big party in Dallas headed out to Cowboys Stadium, and, y'all performed in. Your mom was there, and we we left. I was with y'all in a bus. They were taking us to to another part of the city and, had a great visit, and told your mom that you were a great student and everything. And she kind of grinned at me and said, you don't have to lie. Speaker 1 00:06:34 She she had a good sense of humor. Speaker 2 00:06:37 Yeah. I think she found out about that first semester away from home. Well, see, that was my first semester away from home. Curley Gatlin was a firm disciplinarian. Love. I love my upbringing. Mama, you know, wouldn't take anything for it. But, you know, they were firm. And I had to go to Odessa College and live at home for two years. And when I hopped in my 68 Volkswagen In 1972, headed north through Andrew. Boy, I was I was up all the way up to 65 miles an hour, probably on my way to Lubbock. I was free as the first time I'd ever been on my own. So. And like I said, I took too many hard courses, learn how to drink beer and play poker. But I made up for it and graduated and all that. Thankful for them. And they're there. You know, I try to a lot of people say you're just like your daddy. Speaker 2 00:07:29 And I say, thank you. Speaker 1 00:07:31 Sure. Speaker 2 00:07:32 Thank you very much. Mother drove us from Odessa to Dallas on Highway 80. Chancellor. Odessa. Midland. Big spring. Sweetwater. Abilene. Speaker 1 00:07:48 Eastland. Cisco. A Ranger. Ranger here in Weatherford. Speaker 2 00:07:56 Weatherford. Fort worth. Dallas. She one time we sang at Oak Cliff Assembly of God Church nine Sundays in a row, one. Speaker 1 00:08:06 Summer, and she'd take you back and forth every, every Sunday. Speaker 2 00:08:10 Before. Larry had his driver's license. And one night we stayed and did Sunday night service. The next day, I woke up in my bed in Odessa. On highway 80. Trucks, cars. You know how much. You know how much you miss cars going that way about like that. Speaker 1 00:08:34 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:08:37 And she drove us home and put it. Got us to bed. Got us up for school the next morning. Speaker 1 00:08:43 You were lucky. You you were fortunate. You had great parents, great parents. Speaker 2 00:08:49 And daddy was an oil field. He couldn't go with us. Speaker 1 00:08:51 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:08:52 Momma drove. We went to California a couple of times. New York one summer. Yeah, that. Great parents. Speaker 1 00:08:59 Well, it's a great training for you. What? What would you say to any young person that's looking to go into the music business today? Speaker 2 00:09:11 Bless their hearts. I'm. I'm so glad we came along when we did, because. But I can go pull a guy off the street and say, hey, man, we can get a guitar around you and you can start singing and make you a record and get you a website, get you a publicity agent and get you an agent and get you down here singing at so-and-so and do all this. Guess what? So can everybody else. There are just there's no gatekeeper anymore. There used to be a gatekeeper, and that was the A&R artist and repertoire person at the record company. If you couldn't sing and play your butt off, they weren't going to spend 100, $150,000 on making a record because they had to sell them if they didn't think they could sell them. Speaker 2 00:10:02 And they got money back. You weren't going to get a record deal. So there's. And the internet. Thank God. I mean, everybody's getting to live their dream and fulfill, you know, chase their dream and and everybody all chase your heart and. Yeah, we did. We did too. But if it hadn't worked out, I guarantee you I'd. I'd have gone and done something else. I'd I'd have taken that business law, by golly, diploma and walked right into First National Bank. Speaker 1 00:10:33 Well, you you could have been an accountant since you loved accounting so much. Hey, talking about performers. Who were some of the best people that you got to know and got to know well, and that recognized you the minute they saw you and and that were good people and encouraging type people. Speaker 2 00:10:51 Johnny cash. June Carter cash. Roy Clark. Speaker 1 00:10:57 what kind of guy was Roy Clark? Speaker 2 00:11:00 Great guy, great talent, great singer. Very entertaining. Entertaining, a great entertainer, good guy. John and June Cash. Speaker 2 00:11:09 Dottie West brought Larry to to Nashville. Roger Miller. Well, you name all those old guys, and we know them, and they know us. Speaker 1 00:11:18 Roger Miller was, originally from Shamrock. Or somewhere up in between, Shamrock and Eric, Oklahoma or something like that. And, you know, he he can't roller skate in the buffalo herd was one of his big ones. Speaker 2 00:11:35 But you can be happy if. Speaker 1 00:11:36 You if you if you have a mind to trailer for sale or rent, you know. He had a bunch of them. Speaker 2 00:11:43 You know what Roger said? Speaker 1 00:11:44 What? Speaker 2 00:11:46 You know, it don't make sense. That common sense don't make much sense anymore. isn't that good? Speaker 1 00:11:54 It is. Rudy, thank you so much. you've you've been great. You've done so well. And and you really inspired those students when you and you didn't talk with about 7 or 8 minutes and you told them how much the school meant to them and how much it meant to you and what you wanted to do. And I think the only thing you said, you wish that your mom and dad could see you walk across that stage, and that would have been neat, but, well, in anything. Speaker 2 00:12:22 They had the best seat in the house. Speaker 1 00:12:24 They did an ending. What the the thing that kept you from walking across the stage. I was going to ask that. Explain to the listeners what happened that caused you from not being able to walk across the stage. Speaker 2 00:12:40 Well, I had 64 hours when I went to from Odessa College. four of them didn't transfer, so 60. And I was I guess I was close to being a junior or whatever. The one of the semesters we had a couple of concerts in LA at the old Palomino Club in LA. And then we went to Vegas for a week to work in the Vegas Lounge, which was a great lounge. And Glen Campbell was in the main room. Well, I said, good Lord, I can't take that. I can't take that much time out of school. So I took two courses. One of them was Doctor Bowling Corp. Finance, and another one was another. So I just took eight hours that semester and I made a D in Corp. Finance. Speaker 1 00:13:29 That's easy. Speaker 2 00:13:30 To do. I told you the story. He wouldn't give me one point. Speaker 1 00:13:34 I had to. Speaker 2 00:13:35 Take it again. So I just passed three hours. That one semester I got behind. I was behind 12 hours. I made it up the next couple of semesters, but in the spring of 74, I was still 12 hours short. I took four, I was going to take four summer school classes. I took the first two. I'm going to take the next two. And they cancelled that real estate course and I went, oh no. And at that time, you remember, you could not take any correspondence to your last 30 hours. It had to be on campus. Right. And I said, I'm going to Nashville. I'm going to sing, I can I'm not I can't stick around here for three hours. They said they made an exception. I thank them, thank you, Texas Tech. I took the course. I went to Nashville, sent my lessons in, came back home in December, drove to Lubbock, took the test, passed it, finished all 130 hours. Speaker 2 00:14:37 Right? Speaker 1 00:14:38 Right. Speaker 2 00:14:40 And so it's December 74th, but I got them all in. That's why I didn't get to walk. And those turkeys that taught me how to drink beer and play poker, they graduated on time and walked that May. I just got through talking to them a couple of days ago. Speaker 1 00:14:57 Well, they had learned they had those first two years to learn how to do it. And you didn't have those two years you were still at home. Speaker 2 00:15:05 I was ready. I was a rookie. They were they were. Speaker 1 00:15:09 They were. Speaker 2 00:15:09 Professional veterans. Speaker 1 00:15:11 That's the reason you got to be careful on New Year's Eve, because the amateur drunks will be out and they'll run over you. You know. Speaker 2 00:15:17 They'll screw up the weave. Speaker 1 00:15:19 That's right. They'll mess up the weave. Speaker 2 00:15:21 That's that. That's why straight people don't go. That's why I don't go drive. Because when I'm driving straight, I'm going to mess up the weave. Speaker 1 00:15:28 Yeah, mess them up. Rudy, thank you very much. We've enjoyed it. Speaker 1 00:15:33 And thank you. Tell your friends to listen to the Ken Hance, best storyteller in Texas. And they'll get to hear people like Rudy Gatlin.
What's my purpose? What is the plan for my life? These are questions that can eat at you as you wait to find "your thing". However, there is a template for understanding the plan for your life and it involves work. There is work for every person to do and that's exactly how God designed it. When you understand that, you can make sense of your world and find purpose in the ordinary.In this episode, we look at the template of man and the work that he's been given to do regardless of who you are. We break down the elements as well as the thought process of "Thank God you're there" so you can understand your responsibility. We also look at the wheel of life and show how you can understand what the work looks like in each area of life.Get all the information for purpose month in Mindset Mastery by clicking here. Come join us and start living with purpose! Click here to leave us a review on Spotify.Click here to leave us a review on Apple podcasts.Check out the unique growth focused content on our blog at https://www.theimpossible.life/blog. Grow to the next level by joining us in Mindset Mastery. We will teach you how to apply so much of what you hear on the podcast so you can transform every area of your life. Click here to learn more.Sign up for our Mission Ready Mindset Once-A-Week Motivational EmailInstagram - @theimpossiblelifeYouTube - @TheImpossibleLifePodcastFacebook - @theimpossiblelifepodcastemail - info@theimpossible.life
DOING LIFE: Daily Devotions For Finding Peace in Stressful Times
Start everyday with wonder as my grandson does, and THANK GOD!
Everything Lost Or Stolen Is Coming Back To You | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
Message for 02/02/2025 "Spirit Fueled" by Justin McTeer. *All verses are NLT unless otherwise noted.* Ephesians 5:18 - Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, John 10:10 NIV - The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Romans 6:12-18 - Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace. 15 Well then, since God's grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Galatians 5:18 - But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. Galatians 5:13 - For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. Galatians 1:6 - I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. Ephesians 5:18 - Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:4-5 - For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace. 5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. John 14:26 - But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you Matthew 10:19-20 - When you are arrested, don't worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Romans 8:5-16 - Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. 8 That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. Galatians 5:22-23 - But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:19-23 - When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Jeremiah 17:5-8 - This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. 7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Galatians 5:16-17 - So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. Luke 11:9-13 - “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 - And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
2/2 Sunday Sermon with Sermon Text Titus 2:11-14
Sunday Afternoon Worship Service February 02, 2025 Speaker: Ptr Abel Manalo
God Moves When You Surrender Everything To Him | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
How do relationships, opportunities, and invitations encourage young people to remain in the church and consider church work? Rev. Seth Flick, pastor of Divine Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hartland, WI , joins Andy and Sarah for our Set Apart to Serve Series to talk about his formation as a pastor and who encouraged him in this pursuit, his congregation's emphasis on their duty to raise up future church workers, how they use relationships, opportunities, and invitations to encourage children in the faith, and the roles of other church workers and parents in their approach. Learn more about the Set Apart to Serve Initiative at lcms.org/setaparttoserve. This episode originally aired on March 8, 2024. Christ's church will continue until He returns, and that church will continue to need church workers. Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is an initiative of the LCMS to recruit church workers. Together, we pray for workers for the Kingdom of God and encourage children to consider church work vocations. Here are three easy ways you can participate in SAS: 1. Pray with your children for God to provide church workers. 2. Talk to your children about becoming church workers. 3. Thank God for the people who work in your congregation. To learn more about Set Apart to Serve, visit lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve.
We are back at full strength. Thank God. Comedian Rich Aronovitch stops by and tells us about being the first person to start “barking” in Times Square, a woman puking on him while he was on stage and he and Adam going to s swingers party. ADAM”S TOUR DATES Feb 21 & 22 Sam Houston Race Track Event Center Houston TX Feb 28- March 2 Improv Chicago IL Ticket Links https://www.adamferrara.com/tourdates
Big Breakthroughs Are Coming For You (IT'S TIME) | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
Today: Greg has been through quite the exciting times these past couple of days, we have almost moved thirteen years of stuff out of the studio and are in the home stretch (THANK GOD), don't eat too much cheese and pizza cereal, and much more - have a great day friends!
UTXO is a long-time nostr developer and is single-handedly solving relay-based feeds on nostr.Jon is the developer of the Coracle and Flotilla nostr clients, and the host of the Thank God for Nostr Podcast. He is focused on discovering what a healthy social network would look like, and helping nostr make that vision a reality. Find Jon on Nostr at npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn , on twitter @hodlbod and on Coracle.social.The Thank For Nostr Podcast is a TGFB Media production. TGFB Media exists to educate and equip Christians to understand Bitcoin and use it for the glory of God and the good of people everywhere.
God Will Never Leave You Or Forsake You | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
Have you found yourself living a life through the lens of father wounds? Do you ever grow weary of the pain you have carried since childhood? In our present culture, it is becoming more and more common for there to be emotional trauma surrounding fathers. Satan knows that if he can tear families apart and attack relationships with one's father, he can wreak havoc on children's hearts. Sadly, this damage carries from generation to generation until someone rises up and says, "ENOUGH!" Listen in as Tiffany Jo Baker spends time discussing this topic with Kia Stephens, author of Overcoming Father Wounds. Listen in for: • How to first be honest with yourself about your father wounds • When enough pain is enough • Why father wounds can affect you and your family's lives • What the Holy Spirit can do Favorite quotes: "Father wounds are synonymous with father absenteeism." - Kia Stephens "Acknowledgement and acceptance; those two words are mammoth." - Kia Stephens "It's easier for some to stay in chaos than to do the work of getting healed." - Tiffany Jo Baker Favorite Scriptures: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. - Psalm 147:3 The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:7 Be sure to check out all the things Kia Stephens is doing at www.kiastephens.com and check out her book, Overcoming Father Wounds. *If you're looking for perfectly polished people or podcasts, this isn't for you. We're real people, with real good information, and a really great God. *Want timely words, resources and episodes delivered right to your inbox to help you fuel and fulfill your faith journey? Simply subscribe today at https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/subscribe (don't worry, you won't get spam or excessive emails) Don't miss the next My Full Life + Faith Leaps Podcast episode as we continue to help you GET FREE, LIVE FULL & THANK GOD! You can watch My Full Life + Faith Leaps Podcast on YouTube and https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/myfull... or listen in on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. Subscribe to never miss an episode, leave a quick review and share with a friend! Ratings and reviews are like high-fives and “go-girl's” on podcast players. Helping you refresh and refocus so you can do all the things you are called and created to do, my 31 Day Devotional “Soul-Care for Go-Getters” is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my website shop here. (https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com/go-get...) As a 3x Surrogate, Speaker, Soul-Care and Success Coach and Holy Spirit-led Strategist, I uplift the soul and success of women like you who are walking out your WHY, so you can birth your God-given dreams at home, online, and in the real world. Find me, @TiffanyJoBaker, on Instagram , Facebook and https://www.tiffanyjobaker.com. I would love to connect with you there!
Join us each Sunday at 8:30 or 11 for service. We stream services on Facebook and Youtube under West Mobile Baptist Church.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ and Song Thank God I Do. ACU Sunday Series The Atonement of Jesus Christ https://youtu.be/cxPkFD7fnvo?si=aEHT47NFeQBKNCaD General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ 586K subscribers 37,824 views Apr 8, 2019 Tad R. Callister - The Savior's Atonement is not only infinite in scope but also individual in reach. https://www.lds.org/general-conferenc... April 2019 General Conference. Lauren Daigle - Thank God I Do (Official Music Video) https://youtu.be/wfR6XLXRNy0?si=txH08sdy5Kks8Pg9 Lauren Daigle 3.4M subscribers 16,035,949 views Premiered Apr 6, 2023 #LaurenDaigle #ThankGodIDo Lauren Daigle - Thank God I Do (Official Music Video) “Lauren Daigle” - The New {Self-Titled} Album - Available Now https://LaurenDaigle.lnk.to/LaurenDai... Limited Quantities Signed CD Available: https://store.laurendaigle.com/produc... Lyrics: I've seen love come and I've seen love walk away So many questions Will anybody stay It's been a hard year So many nights in tears All of the darkness Trying to fight my fears Alone so long alone I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you I'd probably fall off the edge I don't know where I'd go If you ever let go So keep me held in your hands I've started breathing The weight is lifted here With you it's easy My head is finally clear There's nothing missing When you are by my side I took the long road But now I realize I'm home with you I'm home I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you I'd probably fall off the edge I don't know where I'd go If you ever let go So keep me held in your hands I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you I'd probably fall off the edge I don't know where I'd go If you ever let go So keep me held in your hands You're my safe place My hide away You're my anchor My saving grace You're my constant My steadiness You're my shelter My oxygen I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you Thank God I do I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you I'd probably fall off the edge I don't know where I'd go If you ever let go So keep me held in your hands I don't know who I'd be If I didn't know you Thank God I do https://laurendaigle.com/ Follow Lauren: / lauren_daigle / laurendaiglemusic / lauren_daigle / lauren_daigle #LaurenDaigle #ThankGodIDo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- American Conservative University Podcast (ACU) is not an official representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All opinions, selections and commentary are solely those of ACU. We post a variety of selections from various Christian denominations. For Come Follow Me lesson manual and materials visit- Come, Follow Me For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2023 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/come-follow-me/2023?lang=eng For a list of 100+ episodes of ACU Sunday Series visit- https://www.podbean.com/site/search/index?kdsowie31j4k1jlf913=85cb8104bdb182c048b714ad4385f9e82a3aeb49&v=ACU+Sunday+Series+ Note- Click on “100 Episodes Found” in upper right corner. For many different Podcasts based on the ‘Come Follow Me' program visit- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=come+follow+me+ Subscribe to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the latest videos: http://bit.ly/1M0iPwY Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/churchofjesu... Twitter: @Ch_JesusChrist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ChurchOfJes... Website: ChurchOfJesusChrist.org The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints BYUEducationWeek Get a Free Book of Mormon | ComeUntoChrist Church of Jesus Christ https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org › requests › free-... The Book of Mormon brings you closer to Jesus. Click to download a free digital copy of the Book of Mormon and learn about it with online missionaries. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For the Strength of Youth To help you find the Way and to help you make Christ's doctrine the guiding influence in your life, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has prepared a new resource, a revised version of For the Strength of Youth. For over 50 years, For the Strength of Youth has been a guide for generations of Latter-day Saint youth. I always keep a copy in my pocket, and I share it with people who are curious about our standards. It has been updated and refreshed to better cope with the challenges and temptations of our day. The new version of For the Strength of Youth is available online in 50 different languages and will also be available in print. It will be a significant help for making choices in your life. Please embrace it as your own and share it with your friends. This new version of For the Strength of Youth is subtitled A Guide for Making Choices. To be very clear, the best guide you can possibly have for making choices is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the strength of youth. So the purpose of For the Strength of Youth is to point you to Him. It teaches you eternal truths of His restored gospel—truths about who you are, who He is, and what you can accomplish with His strength. It teaches you how to make righteous choices based on those eternal truths.13 It's also important to know what For the Strength of Youth does not do. It doesn't make decisions for you. It doesn't give you a “yes” or “no” about every choice you might ever face. For the Strength of Youth focuses on the foundation for your choices. It focuses on values, principles, and doctrine instead of every specific behavior. The Lord, through His prophets, has always been guiding us in that direction. He is pleading with us to “increase [our] spiritual capacity to receive revelation.”14 He is inviting us to “hear Him.”15 He is calling us to follow Him in higher and holier ways.16 And we are learning in a similar way every week in Come, Follow Me. ACU Endorsed Charities -------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Born! Saving babies and Souls. https://preborn.org/ OUR MISSION To glorify Jesus Christ by leading and equipping pregnancy clinics to save more babies and souls. WHAT WE DO Pre-Born! partners with life-affirming pregnancy clinics all across the nation. We are designed to strategically impact the abortion industry through the following initiatives:… -------------------------------------------------------- Help CSI Stamp Out Slavery In Sudan Join us in our effort to free over 350 slaves. Listeners to the Eric Metaxas Show will remember our annual effort to free Christians who have been enslaved for simply acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Savior. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, join us in giving new life to brothers and sisters in Sudan who have enslaved as a result of their faith. https://csi-usa.org/metaxas https://csi-usa.org/slavery/ Typical Aid for the Enslaved A ration of sorghum, a local nutrient-rich staple food A dairy goat A “Sack of Hope,” a survival kit containing essential items such as tarp for shelter, a cooking pan, a water canister, a mosquito net, a blanket, a handheld sickle, and fishing hooks. Release celebrations include prayer and gathering for a meal, and medical care for those in need. The CSI team provides comfort, encouragement, and a shoulder to lean on while they tell their stories and begin their new lives. Thank you for your compassion Giving the Gift of Freedom and Hope to the Enslaved South Sudanese -------------------------------------------------------- Food For The Poor https://foodforthepoor.org/ Help us serve the poorest of the poor Food For The Poor began in 1982 in Jamaica. Today, our interdenominational Christian ministry serves the poor in primarily 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Thanks to our faithful donors, we are able to provide food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more. We are proud to have fed millions of people and provided more than 15.7 billion dollars in aid. Our faith inspires us to be an organization built on compassion, and motivated by love. Our mission is to bring relief to the poorest of the poor in the countries where we serve. We strive to reflect God's unconditional love. It's a sacrificial love that embraces all people regardless of race or religion. We believe that we can show His love by serving the “least of these” on this earth as Christ challenged us to do in Matthew 25. We pray that by God's grace, and with your support, we can continue to bring relief to the suffering and hope to the hopeless. --------------------------------------------------------
Surrender and God Can Change Your Life Today | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start Your Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
Jason Vukovich - THE ALASKAN AVENGER2 days agoAs a young boy, Jason Vukovich was sexually and physically abused by his stepfather. So, when he grew up, he decided to get revenge — by tracking down known sex offenders across Alaska and attacking them with a hammer. As Vukovich put it: "When I was a little kid in my house, if some tatted-up guy would have kicked the door in and beat up the guy that was molesting me, I would have said, 'Yeah! Woo!... Thank God.' Because nobody cared."Soon, Vukovich became famous as the "Alaskan Avenger" — but he also got himself locked up. After attacking three sex offenders in 2016, he was arrested on the spot near the house of the last man he targeted. Vukovich was later sentenced to 28 years in prison for his actions. And while some campaigned for his release — hailing him as a hero — he remains behind bars.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.
Join us today as we hear a masterful sermon from David Paden on the power of forgiveness that only God can provide. Visit our linktree: https://linktr.ee/scatteredabroadnetwork Visit our website, www.scatteredabroad.org, and subscribe to our email list. "Like" and "share" our Facebook page: https:// www.facebook.com/sapodcastnetwork Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ the_scattered_abroad_network/ Subscribe to our Substack: https://scatteredabroad.substack.com/Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Scattered Abroad Network Contact us through email at san@msop.org. If you would like to consider supporting us in any way, don't hesitate to contact us through this email.
What does someone on the Seminary's Board of Regents do, and why is this work important? Matt Kenitzer, a member of the Board of Regents for Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, joins Andy and Sarah to talk about his upbringing in the church, what drew him to the LCMS, why faithful leadership in the church is important to him, how he became a member of the Board of Regents, and all the critical work the Regents do for the good of the Seminary. Christ's church will continue until He returns, and that church will continue to need church workers. Set Apart to Serve (SAS) is an initiative of the LCMS to recruit church workers. Together, we pray for workers for the Kingdom of God and encourage children to consider church work vocations. Here are three easy ways you can participate in SAS: 1. Pray with your children for God to provide church workers. 2. Talk to your children about becoming church workers. 3. Thank God for the people who work in your congregation. To learn more about Set Apart to Serve, visit lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.
Robert Bortins is the CEO of Classical Conversations, the world's largest classical homeschooling organization. He is a bitcoiner, a thought leader on the biblical worldview in education and culture, and the host of the Refining Rhetoric podcast.Find Robert at robertbortins.com. and on X @therobertbshowTune in for his podcast Refining Rhetoric.Jordan Bush is the founder and the Head of Content and Education at TGFB Media and host of the Thank God for Bitcoin Podcast. Find Jordan on Twitter @jmbushwrites.The Thank For Bitcoin Podcast is a TGFB Media production. TGFB Media exists to educate and equip Christians to understand Bitcoin and use it for the glory of God and the good of people everywhere.
Prayer First Thing Leads To Unexpected Miracles | Blessed Morning Prayer To Start The Day With GodSUBSCRIBE to catch all the latest prayers uploaded to the Daily Effective Prayer Podcast!For more powerful daily prayers and to connect with the ministry visit:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/connect© Copyright DailyEffectivePrayer.com DO YOU NEED PRAYER? Send us a prayer request right now:https://www.dailyeffectiveprayer.org/prayer-request-online/CONNECT WITH US:YouTubeX / TwitterInstagram ThreadsInstagramFacebook
We are so excited to be joined today by our friend, Ali Levine. You will instantly feel her bright energy as she shares her awesome VBAC story with us.A celebrity stylist and TV personality, Ali is no stranger to being in the limelight. With her first pregnancy, she had glamorous photoshoots, went to flashy events, and made a dreamy birth plan. When the natural water birth of her dreams quickly turned into a traumatic and invasive C-section, Ali was left confused, disappointed, and depressed. Ali drastically changed her approach to birth with her second pregnancy. Once she began researching VBAC, Ali was determined, intentional, and never looked back.Ali's VBAC journey is one of a life-changing, spiritual awakening that we absolutely love and know you will love too. You can also listen to Ali's HBAC story on Episode 264!Additional linksAli's Podcast: Everything with Ali Levine How to VBAC: The Ultimate Preparation Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details Julie: You are listening to The VBAC Link podcast and we are so excited. We have been chitchatting with Ali today and she has a really amazing birth story to tell. We cannot wait for you to hear it. I am sitting here in my dentist's parking lot. I literally just got done getting a filling. I had to rush out so that I could be on the call to listen to Ali's story today. And so before we do that, Meagan is going to go ahead and give us a Review of the Week.Meagan: Yes, I am. Oh my gosh, you guys are in for a treat. Ali is so fun. We have just been talking to her for like, five minutes and I am just already giddy to hear her story. She has got such a fun, live personality to her. It's going to be awesome. This review is from jovannaf1 and in parentheses, it says “Germany.” So, I am wondering if she is either in Germany or her name is German.Julie: Ooh, that would be fun.Meagan: I know, right? Her title is “Love it.” This is from Apple Podcasts. It says, “Thank you so much for spreading such an important message, ladies. I am currently pregnant with my third child and your podcast has given me so much help and resources to know that VBA2C is possible. I find women's stories so inspiring. Thank you.”And we want to thank you for leaving that awesome review and thank all of you who are listening and support us along this journey. This podcast has been absolutely so much fun. We are so excited to be able to continue offering all of the stories and continue to get submissions. We get submissions all the time and it is always just so awesome to read them even if they are not all shared. We read every single one. They are all incredible. So, thank you, thank you, thank you and if you haven't already, please drop us a review. It means the world to us and we will read it on a podcast one day.Julie: Do you know what is so funny? My mom, I don't even think she knows what a podcast is still. It is so funny because sometimes when we are chatting, I will say, “You know, Mom? Look. Look at these reviews. See? I am actually helping people with what I do. I am really making a difference.” She looks at me and she smiles and she is like, “I know you are.” I am like, “No but really, Mom. Look at all my reviews!”It's just so fun. We really do love them and thank you guys for helping my mom know that I am actually helping people.Meagan: Okay, so we are going to jump into this episode because like I said, you guys are in for a treat. You're going to notice right off the bat, Ali is just such a fun person to listen to. She has had a VBAC and we just need to give her a little introduction if you would not mind, Ali. First of all, can I just tell you? Maybe you've heard this before. This is not VBAC-related. This is in regards to your Instagram page. I don't know why. So, it is Ali Levine and I always read it like “Avril Lavigne” every single time. When you started to contact us, I was like, “Avril Lavigne is contacting us?!”Julie: “He was a skater boy. She said, ‘See you later boy.'”Meagan: I was like, “Oh my gosh.” So, it is not Avril Lavigne. It is Ali Levine and, is it LaVINE or LaVEEN?Ali: No, it's LaVEEN. It is so funny because I have had this said to me several times. People will be like, “So, do you know her?” I am like, “I think she is a distant cousin.” Same with Adam. You know what I mean? It's so funny. I have actually styled Adam back in the day when I was styling different celebrities. It is just so funny when people say that to me because I crack up. So, yes, no. I am not Avril Lavigne, but I bring the same kind of flavor, I think, as she does.Meagan: You are so awesome. Yeah, it is just so funny. It is just how it reads. It just automatically goes to Avril Lavigne in my mind, but you are so awesome. We think you are awesome. And, yeah. As you were saying, you are a celebrity stylist, which, how cool is that? Motherhood, fashion, lifestyle expert, and TV personality. I mean, you are going to hear it coming out right here. You are going to see it on her Instagram page. If you haven't, go right now. It is @alilevinedesign. So, it is @alilevinedesign. Go check her out. It is super fun. I think you actually have a couple, like Everything with Ali Levine, right? Like, you have a couple of pages.Ali: Yes, that's my podcast.Meagan: That's your podcast.Ali: Everything with Ali Levine is my podcast, yes.Meagan: Yes. Ali Levine. So, go listen to her. It is just so fun. So, okay. I am just going to read your bio. Is that okay?Ali: Whatever you want.Meagan: Whatever I want, all right. So it says, “Ali Levine believes that no matter where you roam, from the laundry room to the red carpet, authenticity is your superpower and confidence is your best accessory.”I love that. The week your podcast goes on, we need to make a little word blurb and put that and put your name in that. It's amazing.Julie: I can make a shirt. I want to make a shirt.Meagan: Do it. Let's do it. “The New York-hotshot-turned-Hollywood style maven delivers a real, raw look at her own motherhood journey amid the treasures she's uncovered in the universal search for authenticity, spiritual wholeness, and happiness.”Seriously, so excited to have you. I know that you have two beautiful daughters. We are excited to hear about both of their births. So, before I take up all the time ranting and raving about how awesome you are, let's let everyone hear about how awesome you are from you and your awesome story.Ali: Aw. Well, thank you so much for having me. I was telling you before we started recording-- truly, I am so honored to be here tonight. I listen to you guys literally every day still, now. I was listening my entire pregnancy. My doula, Stacey, has given your podcast to so many different clients when she is like, “Hey, this client is struggling. What should I have them listen to?” And I am like, “Have them listen to The VBAC Link.” You guys have been such a godsend, truly. Especially during the pandemic, and everything that was going on with my birth, and plans changing every day, the only solid piece I had was with you guys. I literally had you in my ear as much as humanly possible to keep putting the intention that I was going to get my VBAC and I did with my second daughter. It was so freaking magical and healing. It makes me cry still.Meagan: Well, I love it because one of the things that I feel sometimes weird about even though it's my own podcast is, I still go back and listen to all the stories. I am not having babies anymore. I am not preparing for a VBAC, but all of these stories are just so inspiring. And honestly, they help me because I can send these to my clients. So many of these are powerful and educational for my own clients, so I am excited to hear that both you and your doula are still with us. You're still hanging out with us even though you rocked your VBAC and, yeah. We are just so excited that you are with us.Ali: Well, thank you. I agree with you completely and if there is anything I have learned from my social media and my own podcast, it is that beautiful authenticity, that sharing of that real and rawness, and being able to be vulnerable and share all of that. Not only is it so healing and beautiful for the individual, but it is so empowering for the other women listening and for the moms that are going through it. It is like, we are all there for each other and in that sense, we are all really going for our VBAC and when you get to hear these other stories-- like, during my pregnancy, I remember finding you guys randomly when I was searching for VBAC support and I was listening. I just started falling in love with the stories and I was like, “Oh my gosh. I could picture myself in that position. Oh my gosh.” And to feel like I could do it, it was such an empowering feeling. So, kudos to you guys, truly, for this show.Meagan: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. It has been so rewarding. It truly has.Ali: That's amazing.Julie: Yeah, thank you. It is fun to come full circle, where we have people who were listening to the podcast and are on the podcast. I just feel like it is really cool when you were listening to the stories, and you were getting inspired by the stories, and then you get to share your story now and inspire other people. Then, we have this domino effect where people are listening to the podcast, and then sharing their stories, and then others are listening to their stories and then sharing their stories. It is just this really cool community and platform that we have built. It just makes me really happy.Ali: No, I love it. And you can hear that with you guys. Like, truly. Every time you listen, you hear that happiness and how much you guys celebrate everyone who is on and their stories and it is like-- something that I have learned with my second daughter is, birth is truly beautiful. It is something that I honestly with my first, especially after having quite a traumatic C-section, I really was in a fear-based place. I am so grateful that I switched from that fear to that love, and that transformation, and all that because it really is. As intense as it can be, the more you can be intentional, the more you can empower yourself, no matter what the circumstance, it is transformational and it is life-changing and so many ways. Not just in, of course, the fact that you give birth, but in my opinion, you are reborn. There is a spiritual awakening, at least for myself. It has just been so magical for me to get to really, really dive into it. And so, I am excited to share it with you guys.Meagan: Well, we are excited to hear it.Ali: All right, so going back to Amelia. When I got pregnant-- we talked about the fact that I am a celebrity stylist and I do a lot with television and Hollywood and all of that. And so, when I got pregnant, I had just come off of being on a show on Bravo, so people nationally knew my pregnancy. A lot more eyeballs were watching my pregnancy than I expected them to be and watching my journey, which was really amazing and cool, but also a lot of pressure at the same time.I really didn't realize how much it played into my actual pregnancy and birth. When I was in the midst of thinking about what I wanted to have for a birth plan, I was of course very much in the mindset of like, “I really want to have a natural birth, and I want to have a tub birth, and I want it to be beautiful, and I want flowers, and I want this, and I want that.” I am a more natural person in general in how I like to do things. I like to seek out natural options before I go to something else. And so for me, it felt like it really aligned and it was what I wanted to do.I honestly didn't really do my research or homework into what that looked like. I got a midwife. I got a doula, but I didn't do research beyond that. I didn't really look into what it potentially could be. It was more just like I made sure I had my team and I made sure I had a backup doctor with that team in case things didn't go that way just to make sure I was safe, and that was it. I didn't really do much research I guess I would say.And so, once it came time for me when I went into labor-- First off, I will share that I was getting really fed up with everybody asking me when I was going to pop when I was going to have the baby. My parents were sitting and looking at me like this balloon that was going to pop and I am like, “Oh my gosh. It is okay. I am fine. They checked. The baby is fine. I am fine.” But every two seconds it was like, “Why haven't you gone into labor? How come she hasn't come yet?” I was like, “I don't know.” It was a lot of pressure, honestly. I got so fed up at around-- I think it was at 40 weeks and I said to my husband, “I can't deal anymore. If one more person asks me, I am going to lose it.” So, I took castor oil, which I don't advise.Meagan: I did that with my first birth too.Ali: Did you? Okay.Meagan: Yes, and everyone was asking me the same questions. I had one coworker who was like, “Do I need to get you a wheelbarrow to wheel you around the office?” I am like, “Shut up.”Ali: Right. Nobody wants to hear that. It is funny for a minute and then you are like, “Please, just let me be because clearly, I am uncomfortable, and I am trying to be at peace with this, and I am trying to allow my baby to come when they are supposed to come,” which, you know. It is easier said than done. And then you're sitting there and they are like, “Well, you haven't popped yet.” My mom was like, “Well, I had you and they had to induce me. Well, what if that is what you need? What is going on?” And I was like, “Oh my gosh. Let's just leave all of the pressures off of me please and let my body do its thing.” I couldn't deal.So, I took castor oil. It did definitely jumpstart something because all of a sudden, five hours later, my water broke and I was going into labor. But I went into pre-labor and pre-contractions because of the castor oil. And so, we think that now, obviously in hindsight, that it probably pushed her too fast and she wasn't ready. Because first off, it made me feel really uncomfortable. I went into my birth center to my midwife and I wasn't really dilated past even a 3, and so she sent me home and was like, “You know, go home and go to sleep. Try to do this and try to do that.” Of course, I couldn't do any of those things. I was losing it at home trying to stay calm and wait for her to come. We went back to my birth center and then I was finally progressing a little bit more. I still wasn't active, but she took me because I think she felt bad that I was struggling.And so, we go to my midwife's birth center and we are there. Hours of really hardcore, manual, full-blown natural labor, really doing the work. Squatting, on the toilet, on the ball, in the shower, in the bed, on all fours, just constant, constant, and it was a good day of full-blown movement trying to get my body to do what I needed to do, and progress, and make things happen.I finally started getting too active and she was like, “All right. Let's transition you to the tub so that we can get you ready and get you comfortable if that's where you want to be. I got in the tub and I immediately felt super sick, and super overwhelmed, and dehydrated, and also nauseous. I threw up. She was like, “All right. Let's get you out.” So, I got back on the ball. I got back on the toilet and I felt awful.So then, they lowered the water in the tub and everything. My doula was putting a washcloth on me, and essential oils, and trying to calm me. I could feel that I just felt off. We went back into the tub because I told her that I really wanted to give birth there and so she was like, “All right. Let's breathe, and take our time, and see where we are.” At that point, I was in the tub and I was almost at 30 hours of being in labor. She was like, “You know, you are only at the beginning of active labor. I think I was technically at 6-6.5, something like that. I wasn't fully progressing. She was getting concerned that things weren't really fully progressing and I was really losing my stamina and my strength because I had been pushing and moving for so long.She was like, “Let's talk about interventions.” Of course, being someone who did want natural and had a “birth plan” and all that, I wanted nothing to do with that. I was like, “No, no, no. I want to just stay here. Let me just progress. Leave it alone.” She stepped out of the room, my midwife, and made a phone call to the backup doctor at the hospital to let him know what she was thinking. I guess, of course, they advised each other that I should go in. And so, they got me out of the tub. That was a whole scene in itself. That could have been on a freaking reality show. It was like, getting me out, my parents are in the waiting room. We asked them not to be there, and they're pacing, and they're flipping, and everything is a mess. Everyone is flipping out. “Am I okay? What is happening?” It was just so much pressure.I get into my husband's truck. I am fine. I am in active labor, but I am totally fine. Baby is safe and I am fine. We drive over to the hospital. I get there and they check me in and I get to my room. They checked me and they were like, “All right. You progressed a little bit more, but she is stuck in the birth canal at this point. So we are going to give you some Pitocin to ramp things up and try to move her.” They put me on-- I think it was 15, I think, is the highest you can be? I didn't go from a small amount. It was like literally, they cranked me up and I went from full-blown natural-- it was awful. I went from full-blown natural at the birth center in the dark with my music, with my oils, all of that to bright lights, fluorescent, hospital, screaming, panic, everybody in your shit if you will. It was just crazy and then it was like oh, and then this Pitocin that was cranked to no end. I couldn't handle it. I immediately was like, “Oh my gosh. I can't breathe. I feel uncomfortable.” I'm like, crying. I was really struggling. So then they were like, “All right. Well, let's give her an epidural.” They cranked that all the way up. I went from feeling like I couldn't handle it to I couldn't feel anything and then I felt super sick.I threw up again. I just felt awful. I just remember in that moment feeling so down and feeling like I failed at what I was trying to do. I remember even now, that heavy moment of, “What just happened? Why am I here? What is all of this? This is nothing of what I wanted. I was so overwhelmed.” And so fast forward, I got to 40 hours. We spent 10 more hours at the hospital. We got to 40 hours. My doctor came in and was like, “All right. Well, at least you have progressed now to basically complete. We are going to give this a go and have you really push and make this happen.” I am like, “Okay.” And so I am pushing, but I really couldn't feel it to be honest. The epidural, they said, was supposed to wear off, but it was like I really could not-- I just could not feel it.They were like, “Push. Push. Push.” I am pushing. I am pushing. They are like, “Push harder.” I am pushing as much as I could. She comes down. I obviously, really couldn't see her, but everybody else could and they were like, “But then she shot back up in the back birth canal,” which I obviously didn't even know was a thing. And so, she shot down, and then she shot back up. Then they were like, “All right. We are going to go again.” She shot down again. He went to grab her and she shot back up. I just remember my doctor looking at me and being like, “Okay. We are going to take a break and then I will be back.”He went and actually said to me, “I am going to go get dinner and then come back.” At first, I was like, “Oh, that is so rude,” but my doula and midwife advised me because they were still there with me. They advised me that the reason he did that was to buy me more time because if he wasn't present technically there shouldn't have had me had a baby without him unless it was an emergency.So they were like, “He is buying you time.” So I was like, “Okay.” I didn't realize at that time that there were a lot of decisions that needed to be made. What are we going to do? What are we going to keep trying? Are we going to do something else? C-section hadn't even been in my mind because I hadn't even been talked to about a C-section, prepped around a C-section, like nothing. So I was not thinking that at all. I was just thinking, “We are just going to wait longer. I am going to rest and we are going to go again.” Everybody leaves the room. My husband sits with me and he turns to me. We were at almost 42 hours at this point. He looks at me and he goes, “Don't you want to meet her now?” I started bawling. I am like, “Are you kidding me? Like, are you kidding me? Of course, I want to meet her now, but I have done so much work. I want things to go the way I want them to go. They weren't already going the way I wanted them to go when we were at the birth center.”He's like, “I know, but you are so tired. You have been such a warrior. Don't you just want to meet her and let yourself rest? We will have her.” Of course, I burst into tears and I was just like, “Fine, I guess.” I just let go. I remember being so upset and feeling so defeated in that moment because I got to those 42 hours and I had gotten to basically complete. So much had played out and I was convinced that “Okay. At least I was going to have her vaginally in a hospital.” And then it was just like, “Nope.” I get rolled Into the OR and have my C-section. Thank God, it was so fast. It was probably not even 10 minutes. They were really, really quick and she was right there. I have to say that they did an amazing job and I was so grateful. But it was just so not obviously what I envisioned or imagined. I just remember after getting back in the room and the initial shock and then putting me with her and everything, I just remember feeling like, “Oh my god, I am so happy to have her in my arms,” but I just felt like I had failed and my body had failed.It was such a debilitating feeling. I felt so numb in me, even though I was so blissfully happy about her. It was like a wild rollercoaster of emotions, you know? Because I was so happy to have her and so excited to finally hold my baby, but at the same time, I was almost dead inside. Like, what happened? Why did things play out like that? What is that? Do you know?For those that have followed my story, you know shortly after having my first daughter, I had pretty heavy postpartum depression. I do believe a lot of my birth played into that. When I got pregnant again with Arley, I really made the intention of, “I really don't want to go through that again if I don't have to. I really want to be smart about doing my research this time around my birth. What can I do to prepare my body? How can I be more intentional internally and not externally?” Because I felt like with Amelia-- again, I was a new mom. I had no idea what I was getting into, so to me, it was like, “Oh, you just give birth. No big deal. Everybody does it.” I didn't prep my body. I didn't do anything. The only thing I did was take maternity photoshoots that were glamorous. I just did all of the checkboxes of the things in the external world and all the glam. With Arley, I was like, “No.” I am going to be so intentional about what I am going to do, what I need to do, and do my research and talk to my birth communities around me now that I know them from sharing my experience and everything with Amelia.Luckily, I had so many incredible people around me who advised me to get a chiropractor right when I got pregnant to get my body aligned. So I found a chiropractor who specialized in VBACs and aligned with her right at three weeks when I was pregnant. I stayed with her my entire pregnancy. I found people who could do labor stimulation massage for later in the game and a doula that had also been a part of VBACs. Just all of these different entities that I didn't realize were so important. And then most importantly, when I got pregnant with Arley, I went to my regular prenatal doctor, and the first thing she says to me after “Congratulations” is, “Okay, now let's schedule your C-section.” I looked at her and I said, “Whoa. First off, I am just swallowing the fact that I am pregnant again. Secondly, I don't want to do a C-section.” She was like, “Well since you already had one, I am advising you to have one.”I was like, “Well, with all due respect, I know that I can have a VBAC.” She was like, “Well, I really don't advise it. I really think you should have a C-section.”Julie: Wow.Ali: Isn't that wild? That was my reaction. Julie: Like, right off the bat, even. Not even discussing anything.Ali: Nope. No discussion. It was like, “I know better. Here is this information.” Gave me a folder, the whole nine yards of my risks, the whole thing, the whole fear-mongering. Thank God I had so many people around me in the birth community from Amelia that they had all told me that just wasn't true and that the success rate was way higher than people realize and discuss. It was funny because I actually learned about VBACs when I was on Berlin's podcast. I'm spacing on his name. Dr. Berlin.Meagan: Elliot? Elliot Berlin?Ali: Yes, thank you. Yes. And so, I was on his podcast and he wanted to share my birth story with Amelia. After I was on it, he turned to me and he goes, “You know, you could still have another baby vaginally.” I was like, “No, I can't.” He was like, “Yeah, you can.” I was like, “What do you mean?” He was like, “It's called a VBAC. They happen all the time.” He was like, “It has nothing to do with the way--” and this and that. It was like this reality of what had been told to me and preached to me all of a sudden just burst in front of me. It was like, “Wait. Unlearn everything you were just told and pay attention. Zoom in to what you're being told now and learn.” And so, I did. Once I got pregnant with Arley, I knew I wanted to at least attempt a VBAC and get myself aligned body-wise, intentionally, mind-wise, soul, everything to do that. Once that doctor said that to me, I was like, “Well, I am sorry but I am not going to stay with you because you are not for me if you are not going to at least try to let me have a VBAC.” And so, I parted ways with her. I was so grateful she showed me her true colors right from the beginning because I know some doctors can bait and switch from what I have heard. She let me know right from the beginning and so then I started reaching out to different doulas and people to give me references. I landed on Dr. Brock who is in Los Angeles who is literally known as “The VBAC King”. You guys will appreciate that.That's literally what people call him. “The VBAC King”.Julie: I want to know more about The VBAC King, but it's okay.Ali: Totally fine. It's all good. So actually, it is funny that you guys bring up Elliot because Elliot and he have actually worked together in several births. Because a lot of people in LA go to him, if a baby is breech, they go to Dr. Brock because he is the only doctor known in Los Angeles to turn a breech baby. He is amazing. And so, I went to him. I asked for a referral to go see him because he is really hard to get into. I sit with him and I am twiddling my thumbs when he comes in. I am pregnant and he is like, “What is going on with you? Why are you so nervous?” I remember looking at him and I said quietly to him, “I want to discuss a VBAC.” He is like, “What?” “I want to discuss having a VBAC.” And he is like, “What is there to discuss?” He was like, “I did three this morning. What is the problem?”Meagan: Oh my gosh! Yeah.Julie: Best feeling ever.Ali: It was the best feeling ever. I looked at him and I was like, “Oh my gosh, that's it?” Because I felt so shamed and wronged with that other doctor. And so, when he was so open to me and he was just like, “Yeah.” The nurse was so funny that was in there. She was taking my stats and she was like, “He does them literally every day and sometimes three times. It is not a big deal.” I was like, “Oh my gosh.”He was like, “Yeah. We will just monitor you. We are going to check your scar and make sure everything is together. As long as everything looks good, we will plan to do it, and if things down the road change, we will have a conversation.” He was like, “But I don't see why not. You look like a great VBAC candidate.” He was all for it day one. I was so grateful that he was so supportive and his team and everything. And so fast forward, he checked my scars several times and everything looked good, thank God. Baby was growing great and everything was happening. We get to when the pandemic hits. The world changes. I went from, “Okay, you can't have your doula” to “Now, you can't have your husband at the hospital.” It was becoming really intense for me because here I am, I really want to go for my VBAC and I want to have my support system, and now I'm not going to even have anybody. How is this going to work? Am I going to be able to have my VBAC? I am not going to lie, I was in a lot of fight-or-flight mode. I started researching home birth and HBACs at home. I started really doing research and talking to midwives and other people who were home doctors in case my husband couldn't be with me. Because to me, it was one thing not to have Stacey, my doula, but it was another not to have my husband. I just felt like he had been through so much with me through Amelia that I couldn't imagine not having him with Arley. Thank God, I think Arley knew. She held on because she literally came right at 42 weeks and they had just opened the hospitals back up a week before. And so, my husband was allowed to come and be with me. I really felt like she held out for him. But it was funny the week before, actually a week and a half probably before, Dr. Brock, as great as he was, he is still a doctor. Near the end, especially with the pandemic and everything, he was just like, “Well, you know, you're getting close and you still haven't gone into labor. Maybe we should just induce.”I was like, “No. I don't want to. I really want to give my body a shot.” He kept pushing me. He was like, “Well, let's do a sweep. Let's do this. Let's do that.” I finally got a sweep a week before. Nothing happened. It was just painful for me. He was like, “All right.” We did another sweep a few days later and nothing was happening. He was like, “Let me just induce you. Let me just--” and I was like, “Dr. Brock. With all due respect, you have been so supportive of me through this whole experience. Please, just let me get to the final mark, and if things don't happen then, then fine. We will do it.” I think it was maybe four or five days before and he kind of, not went back on his word, but I think he had moments because all of this was going on with the pandemic. He was just like, “Look.” He was like, “I am going to schedule the induction. It is going to be tomorrow,” and this and that. I remember leaving there and I felt really powerless. I was really upset and I came home. It was my eight-year anniversary with my husband. I turned to him and I was like, “I don't want to do it. I don't want to go in tomorrow.” He was like, “All right. Let's talk through it.”He is very logical and he was like, “Let's talk through it. What's going on? Why don't you want to?” I just told him, I was like, “It just doesn't feel right. I have worked so hard to be so intentional around this birth from my chiropractor to finding a supportive doctor, to the right doula, to even different workouts, meditation, The VBAC Link podcast, just all kinds of things that I really surrounded myself with material-wise and tool-wise.” So I was like, “It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't align.”He was like, “All right. Well, if you feel that way, then don't go.” I called my doula and she was like, “Look. At the end of the day, you would be your own advocate. Everything is good with you and the baby. They run tests. Everything is cool. So at this point, it is really just a waiting game. So if you really don't want to, then you voice that. You call and you cancel and you cancel the induction.” I remember calling Cedars-Sinai and canceling. I called and they were like, “Oh, we don't even have your name on the list.” I was like, “Oh.” They were like, “But we will let Dr. Brock know.” It was funny because it was such a build-up to call. I felt like I was being a bad kid in school. So I was so nervous to call and cancel. I was dancing in my room for hours to call. I finally called and they were like, “Oh, you're not even on the schedule.” I was like, “Oh, okay. Well, just let them know I am not coming.”The next day, I got a call from my doctor and Dr. Brock is like, “Come in. I want to do a nonstress test on you.” So I go in, everything is cool. He was like, “All right, so you pushed against me.” He was like, “Message received. You're not doing it.” I am like, “No. I am not.” And he is like, “All right.” He is like, “It is fine.” He is like, “Everything is good. Tests are good. I just thought you'd want to have her birthday. Don't you want to have her already?” I am like, “I do want her here, but I want her here on her terms. If there is anything I learned from my first birth, it's not about me. I don't want to do it on my terms.” He was like, “Okay, fine. It is fair.” So then he was like, “If you don't go--” because now, I was at the end of 41 weeks and 8 days or whatever. You know, when you get close to 42. He was like, “This weekend if you don't go, on Monday, we are going to schedule the induction.” I was like, “Fine. That is fair.”So that weekend came and it was Friday. I wasn't getting any kinds of signs of going into labor. I was getting a lot of that prodromal labor that you guys always talk about which is the start-and-go, and you actually contract, and you think you're in labor, but then it stalls out. That was happening for weeks to me. I was like, “What is this?” It kept happening and happening. That happened again on Friday and it just like-- nothing. My doula sent me to get acupuncture. I did that to stimulate things. That actually, I think, really helped. I did that Friday and I did that on Saturday. I went back-to-back and it really stimulated things and moved things around, I think, from what I could feel. My husband was also doing acupressure with my points at home that she had shown me.At this point, my doula had said to me, “Okay. In my opinion, I feel like there is something more to this than your body.” It reminded me of one episode, well, many episodes I listened to with you guys, but there was one specifically where you guys really hone in on fear releasing. She was like, “I really feel like there's something going on with you and we need to work through it.” So we did a recording of my birth story of Amelia‘s birth with her, just her and I recording everything, getting it out. She was like, “Okay. Now it is out. Let's process it. Let's release it. Wrap it up in a pretty bow and that's it. We are going to move past it.” I was like, “Okay.” We did that on Friday. And then, we did some more rebozo and this and that. We met up outside at a park and everything and talked things through. Saturday came and she was like, “All right. I know you are getting close and you are getting concerned.” She was like, “What else can we do to help you release this?” I was like, “I don't know. I am just so afraid of a C-section. I am so afraid of this. I am so afraid of that.” She was like, “All right.” She goes, “When you get home, you are going to write down--” And I remember learning this from you guys. She said, “You are going to write down what you told me you listened to on The VBAC Link, which was to write down your fears and release them.” She was like, “I want you to do that because I feel like there is more to this.” And so, I went back and listened to a bunch of your guys' episodes and I wrote down on pieces of paper all of the different things I was afraid of. Getting an induction, stalling out, getting a C-section, getting stuck in the birth canal, all of the things. Being on Pitocin, getting an epidural, all of the things I was truly afraid of and I burned each and every one of them. There was such a relief when I burned them. I felt it in my energy and in my body. I started crying. I just felt so good.So then, my husband and I took a walk with our toddler, Amelia. We went around the block and we were just talking and he started talking me through stuff. He was like, “What do you think it is?” I was like, “I don't know. I think I'm just afraid to wind up in another crazy, traumatic birth.” He was like, “Okay. And if God forbid, that happened, what is the worst thing? We come home. You heal. We have our second daughter. It is the four of us as a family. The overall things are fine and we have our girl.” This and that, you know, putting things into perspective for me. I was like, “Yeah, no. You are right.” He is a golfer, a really good golfer. And so, he was walking me through all the strategies for a big tournament and comparing it to getting ready for a birth of the mentality and this and that, but actually, it was really helpful for me. So we come home and we have dinner and he was like, “Let's hang out, and just stay up late, and have a good time.” So we have a little dance party with Amelia. We are playing music videos and just having a good time, dancing and laughing. And then, I go to lay down in bed. I turned on my essential oils and I do a little more acupressure. I say a little prayer. I got in bed and I put meditation in my ears and get the room really dark. I am meditating. I am like, “I am going to go into labor. Things are going to happen. Things are going to happen.” I wake up a couple of times in the middle of the night, nothing is happening. I am getting a little crushed. But I am like, “No. I am going to let it go. Let it go.”I started getting hungry and I was like, “I'm going to go downstairs for a snack.” It was probably around 1:30, maybe 2:00. I start walking down my stairs and I feel this cramp and I am like, “Ooh,” and then I feel it again. I am like, “Ooh.” I get down and I am like, “Ooh, ooh, ooh,” and I can't. I get down on my knees and I can't get up.Julie: I love that.Ali: I am like, “Oh, maybe I'm not going to have a snack.” And so, I crawled up my stairs and I'm like, “Oh, okay. Could this be?” I honestly didn't believe it because I had had so much prodromal labor. I had had so much start-and-go that it was like, “Oh, here we go again.” So I am just like, “Okay. I am just going to go lay back down.” I am crawling, but as I am crawling, it is getting more and more intense. More tightening and I am barely able to crawl. And so, I get up my stairs. I get in my room. My husband is sleeping and snoring. I am like, “Okay. I'm not going to wake him because I have told him so many times that this could be it and nothing is happening.” So I am like, “I am just going to chill.”So I call my doula. I could barely get the words out because I am in quite a bit of squeezing pain, feeling the surges, and she was like, “All right. Do me a favor. Draw your bathtub. Get in the tub. Put in a little bit of your oils and call me back. Let me just hear your breathing.” So I turned the tub on and I had this overwhelming feeling while I was sitting there in my room, just talking to myself of going into Amelia‘s room. I didn't know why. So I crawled into her room and I opened the door and crawl in. She is asleep. I crawl into her chair. I'm sitting there and I start bursting into tears. I am hysterical out of nowhere and I just start babbling and I am like, “I love you. I hope I can be a good mom when I am a mom of two. I have made such an amazing relationship between the two of us so far. I don't want to fail you.” I am just pouring my heart out. She is passed out. I am just crying and crying, just sharing my heart with her and my fear of being a mom of two. I don't want to let her down.And then I remember I said to her, “Okay. I think your baby sister is coming. So the next time I see you, she is going to be here.” I was hysterical. Then I crawl back out, crawled into my tub. I think this was maybe 2:30 or 3:00 at this point. I get in my tub and I call my doula. I start breathing and she was like, “All right. Let's do some meditation.” I had also done some HypnoBirthing between learning for Amelia's birth and then for Arley's birth. So I am doing HypnoBirthing in the tub. She is guiding me. My contractions were 11 minutes apart, so they weren't that close. So she was like, “Okay. We are just going to let you stay in the tub. Meditate. Stay in your zone. Let's see what happens.”Shortly after, not even an hour, she was like, “Okay. You are eight minutes. You're seven. Oh, okay.” She was like, “Okay, Ali. You need to wake Justin up. You are getting to be close to six minutes apart. You have got to get ready to go.” I was like, “Wait, what?” You know, because I was so in the zone at that point. I wasn't even listening to her count. I was so in my zone in the tub, in the darkness, meditating, really bringing the affirmations of having my VBAC and talking to Arley. I was just so in it, more so than I think I even realized I was. And so she was like, “You need to get out. You need to get up. You need to get to the hospital.” Justin, of course, doesn't know. My husband doesn't hear me. He is sleeping and snoring. I am screaming from the bathtub and he doesn't hear me. I'm like, “Babe. Babe! I am in labor. We have to go to the hospital.” He doesn't hear me, so my doula calls him and wakes him up. He is like, “What is going on?” She is like, “Ali is in labor. You have got to get ready to go.” He goes into the bathroom and of course, he is making fun of me as he usually does and his sarcasm. He is like, “Oh, I hear a ghost or something.” I am like, “Oh my god.” He literally is like, “Oooh. Ooooh. What is that noise? Ooooh.” I am like, “Ha, ha. That is so you.” I am like, “Come over here and squeeze my hands. I am losing my shit.” That is his personality, by the way. He gets me out. We are getting everything ready to go and getting everything in the truck to leave. My doula ended up coming down to make sure I was okay, but also because my friend was supposed to be here for Amelia had I gone into labor in the middle of the night, but wasn't picking up her phone because they probably just thought, “Oh, I am going to hear my phone go off.” And so, my doula came rushing out so that we could leave so that somebody could watch her since we couldn't bring her, especially with COVID and everything.She comes and she sees me off. I get in the truck and I am in full-blown active labor. I am transitioning. I am shaking. I'm convulsing. I am screaming. I'm trying to stay zen. I am screaming while I am meditating. This whole thing in his truck. We arrive there. I am screaming when we get out of his truck. They pull up. They bring the wheelchair. I won't forget. They put me in a wheelchair and they were shoving this mask in my face. I am screaming through the mask. I am trying to rip the mask off because I'm screaming. It was a whole thing.I get into the room. They get me in and my doula was immediately on my FaceTime. Stacey was like, “Okay.” Thank God for her. She was like, “Turn the lights down. Let's get it to be zen for her again. Get her out of the bright lights. Let's calm things down. Justin put out her crystals. Let's get her intention cards up. Get the little lights up.” Stacey is orchestrating everything from FaceTime. Justin is getting everything together and I am sitting there and breathing through. I am still natural at this point. I am just breathing through my contractions as much as I can and screaming at all of that. They checked me and I am 6.5. They're like, “All right. Well, you're definitely active and ready to go. You are progressing, so we are going to let you progress.” I think I got to almost a 7, or out of 7, and I really was having a hard time. I was really having a hard time breathing. It was getting really intense. Stacey was like, “Look. If you want to get an epidural, just get the epidural.”But, I had so much fear around getting an epidural because of Amelia‘s birth. I was like, “I don't want to. I am too afraid. I don't want to get stuck. Let me just keep going.” But I wasn't fully progressing because I was struggling. I was like, “Okay. I'm going to get an epidural.” Luckily at Cedars-- I know some hospitals don't have this, but Cedars does. I had been advised by a couple of other doulas to get a walking epidural if I could, even though I wouldn't be walking anywhere, obviously, because of the world, but I could walk in my room. And so, I got a walking epidural and for me, that was just enough to take the edge off, but not enough to numb where I could walk around and I could be on the ball. I could do hip exercises on the side of the bed. I could get on all fours. I could keep switching positions. Even when I was in the bed, I had a peanut ball being switched between my legs. I was moving constantly. I was never still. I think that was a really big game changer and helpful for me when it came to progressing because shortly after, I was at complete.We arrived at the hospital around 6:00 a.m. and by noon, I was complete. It was pretty fast for me compared to Amelia. It was like, “Oh, wow. This is happening. I have got to complete.” The doctor comes in. Dr. Brock is like, “All right. You are complete, but you are not--” I forget the stations when you are at the last station, but you're not fully there where the baby can come out. What is that called?Julie: Yeah, like +2 or +3 station.Meagan: Yeah, or even +4.Ali: Yes. Yeah, whatever it was, like the lowest one. I was almost there, but I wasn't there yet. He had said that. I was like, “Oh, okay.” He was like, “But don't worry. We are going to figure out getting her down. Let's get you to move more. Let's do some more pushing. Let's do this.” You know, I didn't realize that because of Amelia‘s birth, even though the labor was so intense with her, my body remembered that, which is wild. The muscle memory of that.I hadn't really fully pushed with Amelia, so it was pushing like a new mom, which I didn't expect to go through. I pushed for 2.5 hours after we had been told I was ready to go and was complete. I was really working, working. I had the squat bar. I was pushing. I was on the ground. I was on all fours. I was doing everything possible to move her, and keep going, and move her down and everything.She was just right there, but just wasn't happening and then I spiked a fever. Dr. Brock came in and he was like, “Okay. I was all for everything you were doing, but now you spiked a fever. I am concerned for you and the baby. I am sure everything is fine, but I don't want to take any chances, so these are the last pushes and then we are going to have to figure something out because I am not going to let you go longer because of the fever.” Of course, they had given me medication at this point to bring the fever down.And so, he had turned to me and he was like, “All right. We are going to do a vacuum to try and help you get her out. Once I get the vacuum, you are going to have to push with all your might. It is just going to be to assist and then you're going to have to push her out.” He was like, “When I tell you to push, I mean you'd better push with every single thing in you and push until you can't breathe.” I was like “Oh, okay.” I remember being in the bed, and looking at Justin, and even reflecting on it myself, and being like, “Oh my gosh. I cannot believe I got this far and here we are again. I am freaking going to have a C-section.” I was really starting to go into fight-or-flight. I was getting really, really upset. My doula was trying to calm me over FaceTime. She was like, “It's okay. We are still in control. It's okay. Breathe. Just allow things to play,” and I am in total panic at this point. I looked at Justin and I said, “Can I have my earbuds please?” I put them in my ear. I turned on one of my fear-releasing meditations. I shut my eyes. I remember praying really, really hard and just being really intentional. Like, “I can make this happen. This is going to happen. I can do this. Come on, Ali. You can do this.”Before I knew it, it was like, “Push.” I pushed so hard and the next thing I knew, there she was on my chest, screaming. I was hysterically crying. I couldn't even believe that she was there. I honestly didn't even feel her fully come out because everything was happening. It was so wild. I remember them putting her on my chest and I was bawling because I was like, “Oh my god, I did it. Oh my god. Oh my god. She's here. Oh my god.” It was the most surreal experience and so healing in that moment for me of just being like, “Holy crap. I did it. My body did it.” Even now, I get choked up because I still can't believe it happened.Meagan: I'm sure in that whole moment there was just such that rush.Julie: Yeah, wild.Meagan: Yeah, okay. I have to do this right now. And then, boom. You did it.Julie: Yeah. It sounds like she came so fast when it was time.Ali: Yeah, well once he put the vacuum on and was like, “Okay, push.” He gave me that bar--Meagan: The assistance, yes.Ali: Yeah, the assistance and gave me that bar and was like, “Push down.” I just remember I pushed with everything in me. I pushed and holy crap. She was here. She was 9 pounds, 3 ounces, by the way.Meagan: Yeah, girl!Ali: Amelia was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and I thought that was big. Arley was 23.5 inches long so it was like, oh my gosh. I couldn't believe that I got her out. It was truly amazing to me. It was so empowering. It was like, “Holy crap. My body did it.” It was so amazing. After having her on my chest and holding her, I was just bawling. I just couldn't even believe it happened.Meagan: Yeah. I'm sure it was just such an amazing moment. It sounds like she just needed to come into that pubic bone and then she was there. Oh, well congratulations.Ali: Thank you.Meagan: So awesome.Ali: It was so magical. It really was. I just felt so much support around me through my whole pregnancy. It's funny you say the pubic bone too because my chiropractor-- she kept adjusting me. Even the day before I went into labor, she adjusted me. She kept adjusting me and adjusting my hips and doing this, and my sciatica and everything to make sure I was as aligned as possible. But I think in a way it was kind of like me being tested, like how bad do you want this thing? Because when you guys were saying “the rush”, I felt like I could have either gone into fight-or-flight and I could have been like, “Oh my gosh,” in panic and allowed myself to not have that release that you guys talk about all the time, but I think because I did release, and I did allow her to come, and I got really intentional and listened to the fear releasing in my ears, I think it was all divine. And there she was.Julie: Yeah. It's incredible what can happen when you have that release of emotions. Fear in the birth space is real and it can really hold you up if you let it.Ali: Mhmm, yeah. You're right.Meagan: So awesome. Now, she is just crawling around and being such a big girl.Julie: Oh, such a fun age.Ali: It is wild how fast. I feel like I just had her and I am like, “Oh my gosh, she is already crawling everywhere.” I literally turn around and she is down the hallway and I am like, “Oh, hey girlfriend.” It is crazy.Julie: Wow.Ali: You know, but in a wild way, this whole thing with the pandemic and 2020, for me, is such a blessing because it has been such a healing time for me between my VBAC, and having the family time, and having my husband home to be there with me with my girls, and truly not experience postpartum depression. I am just so grateful for it.Julie: That's awesome. That is really cool. We are living in a really crazy world right now and whenever we hear incredible birth stories coming out of this pandemic, it warms my heart. I don't know. I could go off on five or six different tangents right now, but Meagan, what should we talk about? What should we talk about for an educational piece?Meagan: Well, I love that she talked about fear releasing and self-advocacy. One of the things that I love that your doula did-- so birth workers, listen up if you are listening. They sat and they recorded. I love that she was like, “We are going to wrap it up, and seal it with a bow, and send it off.” That is so cool. It is such a powerful way, just talking about it, and getting it out there, and hearing yourself say it, and then maybe even watching it, and then saying, “Okay. That is how I felt and this is how I feel. This is why I am moving on from this fear because of this.” And then of course moving on and doing the other activities. It is so powerful.I know I probably have talked about this until I'm blue in the face, but it really came down for me-- like, I had worked through so much and there was still stuff that I found in the very moment of labor that I didn't realize that I had worked through. It's just so, I don't know. It is just so crazy how you think you have worked through it, and then it comes up, and you are like, “Oh, wait. That didn't come up during my pregnancy,” and you have to work through it again. But if you have practiced and worked really, really hard processing during your pregnancy, then it won't be so foreign. That's the word that is coming to my mind and maybe that's the wrong word.Julie: Unfamiliar, maybe?Meagan: Yeah. It just won't be so unfamiliar and foreign in the moment to process. I know it would make processing during that time easier.Julie: Yeah. I agree, 100%. Gosh, I mean, Meagan and I have both seen the same thing with our individual doula clients and working with parents through our VBAC preparation course. I actually just had a one-on-one consult with somebody preparing for VBAC a couple of weeks ago. Most of the time when we get hung up, and when there are things holding us back, and we feel like something's not quite right, it is stemming from fear. When you can take out that fear, and write it out, and tear it up, and break it apart, and figure out where it is coming from, that is when you can really move past it in order to create a really, really clear birth space that is conducive to a nice, peaceful birth that is just happy and that you can look back on with really fond memories.Ali: Yeah. I love that. I think it is so well beautifully said and so true. You know, it is so crazy because again, when we were talking at the beginning of this podcast, with Amelia, it was obviously a normal world. I was at events and doing all of this glamorous stuff. I was doing maternity photoshoots and all of these things. And you know, fast forward to Arley and it was like, stuck at home and especially in California, very much locked down. You know, everything. It was so wild how different in that sense the world was, but yet, even in such a chaotic world, it really was such a peaceful birth. And then in such a normal world, Amelia was such a chaotic birth. So I just find that, like you were just saying, so telling when it comes to that fear and that processing of all of that and the actual intention around it. It really does, in my opinion, make such a difference. I have seen it in my own birth.Julie: Yeah. It absolutely does. Well, Ali, not Avril. It was so great to talk to you. Oh my gosh, I feel like we could just sit here and chat about everything for hours. I feel like we are friends. I just love at the end of the episode, all these podcast episodes that we do where sometimes, it's really hard to say goodbye. It's like, “No, you hang up.” “No, you hang up.” “No, you hang up.”Meagan: I know. It is so true. So true. We are like, “Wait. Can we hang out, like, tomorrow?”Ali: Right?Julie: Let's go to lunch. Where do you live again?Meagan: California.Ali: Yes, please. When we are open and normal, please do. I mean, I am so honored to be here. I truly love everything you guys are doing with your show and everything at The VBAC Link. I truly, like I said, still listen. I tell everyone to listen. I just think it is such an amazing space for women who need that kind of support. Especially women who really do want to have a VBAC and don't have those kinds of resources. I think that too many times we are told so much in birth, but especially with VBAC, “No,” and they put the fear around it from the beginning.I was so grateful that when that woman tried to really instill the fear in me that I knew better and that I was able to work past it because I feel for so many who just don't have that. That's why I was so grateful when I landed on The VBAC Link podcast because I was like, “Oh my gosh. Look at all of these amazing stories. I could be one of them too.” And like, holy crap. Here I am.Meagan: You are one of them.Julie: Full circle. I love it.Ali: Yes. Yes.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Head over to thevbaclink.com/share and submit your story. For all things VBAC, including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Julie and Meagan's bios, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
After leaving Nigeria in 2017 to make a better life for himself in America, Tolu Michael suddenly collapsed from a heart condition. The doctor said if he had been just 5 minutes late, he would have died.That literally life-changing situation made him realise how short and fleeting life is.Because of it, he has written 8 books in the past four years, and he has developed a business that transforms the lives of people like who immigrate to America and don't know the first thing to do.This is a man in a hurry to make his life count - and in this interview, he tells you exactly how you can do the same in your own life.The full interview is now up on withChude.com.I'd love to hear your comments below ❤. Exclusive Patron-only Content Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Wednesday, 22 January 2025 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:30 “And if the herbage of the field, today being and tomorrow throwing into the furnace, God thus enrobes, not much more you – little-faithed?” (CG). In the previous verse, Jesus made the comparison between the lilies and Solomon, stating that the lilies exceed Solomon in how they are arrayed. Now, to explain why that is important to consider, He next says, “And if the herbage of the field.” The word is new, chortos. It literally signifies a court, garden, field, etc. where grass grows. Thus, by implication, it refers to that which grows in such a place. This would be inclusive of grass, but not limited to it. In this case, saying grass is insufficient because Jesus has just been speaking of lilies. Switching to grass confuses the analogy. Rather, using herbage allows for the inclusion of whatever has grown in the field, including any lilies that pop up to adorn it. Understanding this, He continues with, “today being and tomorrow throwing into the furnace.” Here is another new word, klibanos. It refers to an earthen pot which is used for baking. As such, it is a furnace or oven. It corresponds to the Hebrew word tanur. Today, because of the popular nature of Indian food, many people know of their tandoor which is quite similar. Depending on the style of pot, it is either heated from the inside and then bread is slapped onto the outside to be baked, or it is heated from the outside and bread is slapped onto the inside to be baked. Either way, the flat bread adheres to the side until removed by the baker when it is turned and heated on the other side. In the case of Jesus' words, it would be one heated from the inside. This is because the herbage is thrown into it. The point so far is that Jesus has spoken of the immensely intricate and beautiful nature of the lily, outshining the beauty of Solomon. And yet, in a day, it is dried up and dead, becoming stubble, useful only for burning in an oven. Understanding this, how the next words are applied varies based on the translation, “God thus enrobes, not much more you.” Most translations apply these words to the lilies – “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven” (NKJV). However, some apply them to the hearer in the final clause – “...God so clothes much rather you, ye of little faith!” (SLT). Without the dogmatic nature of other translations, the ambiguous nature of the CG translation allows the reader to come to his own conclusion – “And if the herbage of the field, ... God thus enrobes,” or “God thus enrobes, not much more you?” Either way, if God has ordained it to be this way, the point is understandable because of what Jesus has already said previously about the lilies. However, another complication arises because of how translations are rendered. There are different ways of interpreting what Jesus is saying concerning being clothed. One is that man is more important than the lily, and so God will tend to our needs in a way that is commensurate with the honor and dignity that man has been bestowed as the pinnacle of His creation. This is how most translations express the thought. They do this by either shuffling the words around and/or inserting words to fit this presupposition, such as “will He not much more clothe you” (NKJV, et al). The SLT omits the negation (not) and comes to the same general thought, “God so clothes much rather you.” The word amphiennumi, to clothe or enrobe, is used. It signifies to put on clothes or to enrobe. In this case, God is the One who is performing the action. The way the words are structured it seems more likely to point to the state of the clothing, not a later granting of it, “God thus enrobes, not much more you.” The verb is present tense, not future, as the NKJV and others imply. As such, Jesus is not saying God is going to give us garments to enrobe us, but that He has given us garments that enrobe us – meaning the dignity and honor of being a human. The comparison is to the beauty of the lily, which didn't labor or spin. It was simply enrobed with beauty. Unlike the lily, man is enrobed with intelligence and ability. Therefore, he has the necessary basics to provide himself with garments. Therefore, why should we worry about what we will wear? When the time for garments is needed, we will obtain what we need because we have already been enrobed with the garments of humanity by God. Understanding this, Jesus next uses an adjective to describe those who are anxious about such things, calling them “little-faithed?” The word is also new, oligopistos, coming from two separate words that indicate little in number or low in quantity and faith. He is saying that humans who worry about such things are little-faithed. They walk around constantly worried about what might be. Instead, they should trust that God has given them the wisdom and ability to take care of themselves. In turn, they should be grateful to Him for such blessings. Life application: The basic intent of Jesus' words, regardless of some of the pointless or obscuring changes in translations, is that man has importance to God. He is the highest point of God's creation, and we should conduct our lives in a manner that demonstrates that we believe it is so. Not in arrogance or boasting, but in humility that God has given us such wisdom and ability. We should provide for our needs as humans because we are human. We shouldn't fret about what lies ahead when we are fully capable of using what God has given us to provide for ourselves because He has and continues to provide for us. Let us do so at all times. And as we do, may we remember to thank and praise Him for allowing us the honor of existing in His presence for all eternity because of what He has done to reconcile us to Himself through Jesus Christ – the One enrobed in humanity and yet fully God. Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord. Glorious God, because of Jesus, we are granted greater and eternal garments of righteousness so that we can stand in Your presence for all eternity. Why You have so favored us is hard to imagine, but we accept that it is so. We have faith that what Jesus has done is sufficient to carry us through to behold Your glory forever. Amen.
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From televising underground drainage systems to using LIDAR drones and hydraulic modeling, one engineering and design firm in the Twin Cities is using cutting-edge tech to transform watersheds and drainage systems in the upper Midwest. Guest host Trey Allis sits down with ISG Vice President and National Drainage Expert Chuck Brandel to learn how this technology is providing solutions for drainage contractors and professionals and the water management industry.Chapter & Episode Topics: 00:00 Today on the Water Table Podcast00:23 On the road at ISG01:15 How do you look at 100-year old pipe02:45 Catastrophic failures03:20 No meetings during harvest…04:30 Serving its purpose05:40 Making sure it's cost-effective06:17 After installation…is it up to standards?07:30 Courtesy run08:06 The advantage of avoidance10:00 Making sure it's done right12:20 Building relationships with contractors13:20 Any other tools?14:00 The cost effectiveness of LIDAR15:50 Thank God for GPS17:25 Hydraulic modeling19:25 Giving farmers the confidenceRelated Content: ISGEpisode 107: Drainage Summit and Crumbling Infrastructure: Why Collaboration is KeyEpisode 21: Ellingson Companies: A Passion For Ag Water ManagementEpisode 13: Advocacy and Water Management PracticesFind us on social media! Facebook Twitter InstagramListen on these Podcast Platforms:Apple Podcasts Spotify Visit our website to explore more episodes & water management education.