Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey friend. Welcome to Perspectives into Practice, a place where life's stories meet practical wisdom. Together we'll explore how faith filled perspectives can transform the way we live, love, and grow.
So grab a seat, settle in, and join us on this journey to turn inspiration into action.
Let's dive in foreign.
Hey friend, welcome back to Perspectives into Practice. I am so glad that you're here with us today on another Tuesday.
Today's conversation is one that I've been looking forward to. My new friend Andrea is here with us today and she has a powerful story of transformation. For over 30 years, she was immersed in the new age practices and a kind of spiritual seeking that looks shiny on the outside but really slowly drains you from the inside. But then everything changed. I don't want to spoil it for you. She's got a great story. Welcome, Andrea. I'm so glad that you're here today.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Thank you, Jessica. I'm happy to be here.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: All right. We're gonna have so much fun. So before we dive in, I love a good fun fact and Andrea's fun fact is that she often wakes up at 2 or 3 in the morning singing worship music. No alarms, no schedules, it's just her spirit is ready to worship. I mean, that is just amazing. So my question on that is, are you more of a worship song gal or is it hymns that you hear and sing the most?
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Well, you know, because I'm really new to this world, I've always been a music junkie.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: So when I was in and of the world, you know, since I'm a little, little, little girl, I love music now. My mom was a concert pianist and you know, was in the choir and stuff. But, and I find when I'm introduced to certain, I guess I don't know if they would be classified as hymns, but older songs, I love them. But I also, once I, you know, once the Lord got me and I started to hear, I guess today's kind of worship music, it's like, oh my goodness. Like I love it. So I, again, I know I didn't really give you like a straight answer, but in to answer that because I love music so much.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: I don't really have a specific.
If I like something, I like something.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: And if I don't like it, I just don't like it. If that makes sense.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I feel like hymns are more of the like traditional scripture type poetic songs and. But nowadays worship leaders are turning those traditional hymns into amazing praise and worship songs that really bring, bring you in. So I mean The. I guess the answer is yes, right?
It's yes. Both.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Well, I don't know if you know this. I mean, you might. So I've come across. Because I'm a. I'm such a YouTube university junkie, I find that they're taking, like, psalms and scriptures and they're like, singing them.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: And it's just now my roots are Jewish, so, you know, that's what the cantors in the synagogue did. They sang the psalms.
Right.
So. But I am finding it funny. Not funny like haha, but like an interesting kind of funny that now within this Christian landscape that they're doing that, I think it's like, awesome.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it is. It really does change how Scripture speaks to you because it's not just words on a page now. Now it's this melodic song that you can sing, and it really does get ins you.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: It's.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: It's absolutely amazing. I love music as well.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Yes. So you know, then you know what I'm talking about.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Yes, Yes, I do. All right, so let's dive into your story of how God broke the noise, the silence, and the striving. And I cannot wait to hear about what you learned along the way. So can you take us back to what life looked like before Jesus met you in 2021 and what drew you into the New age beliefs in the first place?
[00:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I was born in the 60s and grew up in the 70s and the 80s. So I'm really like that byproduct of that era, you know? Yeah, it was that whole sex of drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. And even from when I was a really little girl, like, I was always kind of, you know, enamored. They really got the. The baby boomers and the end of the boomers with a lot of stuff. Right. So anyways, so I remember when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a member of the Peace Corps, and I was like, enamored with the hippies and again, music because of having older siblings and my parents, you know, really loved music.
Music was always a big part of our house. So that kind of, you know, fueled me fine. And I was always. I think I was a very curious girl and a seeker. But when I was 22, four years prior, my dad had gotten sick and he had passed away when I was 22. And that was a really traumatic experience for me. I was very much a daddy's girl. I think that was the opening to things because I remember just maybe.
Maybe within a month or two.
I don't even know where I heard about this one. But I had heard about this astrologer. I'm Canadian and I'm in the Toronto area. So I heard about this astrologer. I thought well that's really interesting.
So I went and I had my charts read and that was like kind of the first.
I started to seek out psychics and psychic mediums and needing and wanting answers. But yet I had friends who read tarot cards and that I was like enamored by that. Like what? And as she would one friend in specific, as she would read the cards, I was like oh my goodness. Right. And the whole crystals and all of it, you know, it's that shiny object syndrome. I mean everything seems bling, bling, bling. And one of my personal scriptures, one of them, I have many, but one of them is Hosea 4:6. My people are perishing for lack of knowledge.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: And ignorance can be bliss. And I was very ignorant because I didn't even realize that what I was doing, I was sinning and what I was doing was opening up doors and allowing the enemy because I didn't even know about the enemy. It was very Disney. I'm thinking about my late mother. You know, like she would be like, she wore rose colored glasses, life was always great and you know, didn't matter how sick she was, you know, she would always say she first of answer how she was should be like perfect and you know, life is great and you know, people are wonderful and that was kind of my mentality. So I didn't even know anything about this enemy. So I just kept seeking. And then I would start with one thing and then later into my 20s, into my 30s, I was diving more into, I had heard I was diving more into New age practices. You know, I had studied psychology and I'd studied abnormal psychology so kind of everything made sense to my logical mind. It just continued me on. And then my husband had passed away in his sleep very suddenly, was not expecting it. In and around that same time that the movie the Secret had come out and I was like, wow, this makes so much sense, this whole law of attraction.
Now I just want to back up a little bit because sometimes I'm sorry, I apologize. When I share stories, it's like doing the cha cha with me. Like we'll move a few steps forward then go side and then we're going to go backwards. So we're going to go back a little bit. So because I was so into the new age and into thoughts become things and you know, speaking your Reality. And that all came through different businesses that I was in and in sales. So because mindset and I understood it and I understood the importance of it, everything just made complete sense. And because at this point I had already come into the coaching arena, I'd already been certified as a life coach, you know, I'm being exposed to kind of different things and about your mindset and different modalities and practices and NLP and tapping and your chakras and your energy and your frequency and everything just made sense to me. And I just dove more and more and more. And it's the crystals and angel cards and, and the whole thing about energy and frequency and vibration. That being said, I had had so much trauma.
You know, I started with the trauma from losing my father then. And that trauma stayed for a long time. And I had gone into a really bad depression. Being married and not knowing about grief, not understanding grief, nobody speaking to you about grief. I had a lot of anger, unresolved anger, and that kind of stayed with me. You know, I had opened up doors and windows and the enemy was on.
Like, the enemy was like, oh yeah, there's that sucker. That's kind of like how and why new age and new thought seemed really enticing because I felt broken. I, I in a sense knew I was broken. Now I have to, I have to really, I have to fix myself, right? I need to reinvent my life. Especially after my husband passed. Here I am like forty and a half and I've got a five and a half year old and a ten year old and no life insurance. And like, who do I want to be when I grow up? All of these theories and modalities and practices just made sense. So I dove and I dove and I dove, you know, and that, that whole world talks about Christ consciousness, the. What is it, the Book of Miracles, you know, and all of these things. And I'm being exposed to this stuff and everything seems light and love. Right? Even yoga. Namaste. The light in me recognizes the light in you. Who would think I didn't?
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So what made you say I can't do this anymore?
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Like any other day In February of 2021, I did my silent meditation. And when I came out of it now, God's always spoken to me since I'm a really little girl. And he's been clear and audible and given me clear directions for certain things. And that's kind of how we roll together. This one morning In February of 2021, I come out of my meditation and he tells Me, Andrea, this is your year to unlearn.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: I'm like, okay, I don't really know what you want me to unlearn, but you tell me I have to unlearn.
So if you're going to. If you're going to take something away, I know you're going to be replacing it. And whatever you replace it with, God, I will give it 150%.
So. Because he's never going to remove and not replace, because you can't leave land barren or you're only going to get weeds. He's so intentional. It just. He cracks me up, but at the same time, because he's really intentional. At the end of 2020, I started to hear on Facebook about this new social app called Clubhouse. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. So Clubhouse, it's still around. Think of it like a podcasting app where a bunch of podcasts. Because it's all conversation, it's only vocal. There is no pictures. There's no fluff like Instagram or Facebook or TikTok. But it was in a beta stage and it was only available to iOS users, and you needed to be invited. So I put a thing on my Facebook post. Does anybody know about this, this Clubhouse? My sister, God bless her, she goes, it's a brand of seasoning. I go, yeah, no, I'm not talking about that clubhouse. Anyways, yeah, so no, God bless her. Somebody in my.
The Facebook network says, yes, would you like an invite? I'm like, I absolutely would. So I went on it. It was really. It was a very. It's a very interesting platform. I find this room and the description of the room, I thought it was regarding a book that at that time I had been so intentional with for like 20 something years. So I go into this room and I get there right. It's starting at 7:00am Eastern, and I get there right at 7. And the owner of the room gives the description. She introduces herself and she says, I am a mindset coach. I went, oh, bonus, so am I. She goes, I am a mindset coach for brilliant Christian female entrepreneurs. I thought, well, this is a place for me. Doesn't matter that they're Christian. What does that matter? I don't care. But they're female entrepreneurs. I'm a female entrepreneur. She's a mindset coach. I'm gonna stick around. The rooms on Clubhouse, there was like the stage and the audience. I was in the audience and there was other. Other women with her up on stage. It was a biblical room. She would use Scripture.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: And I stayed silent for the first week in the audience.
Now the Lord's already told me this is my year to unlearn. I really don't know what he's talking about, but yet I'm very willing to unlearn whatever it is.
Now I'm in this Christian room who knew the Old Testament in a way that I, being born Jewish, raised in a Jewish home, raised in a Jewish community, went to Hebrew school from the age of 3 to the age of 11, never really heard this. And I thought, why are these Christian women so into the Old Testament? I don't understand, like, what's, what's going on here?
What's going on here?
I'm not really understanding this. So my curiosity has peaked and I'm hearing things like, like the term apostle. I'm like, what's an apostle?
What was an apostle? I don't understand. I always loved being Jewish. There was something about Judaism that I love, but there was also something about Judaism that never sat right with me. But I couldn't tell you what that was, right. I just knew something just doesn't feel right. And that started with me as I was in Hebrew school. Just something didn't feel right to me. Now my was family was more secular Jews. We were very traditional, not religious by any, any stretch of the imagination. Fun. Like. It's irritating me that I don't understand what's going on in this room. And when she's speaking Scriptures and from the books, I don't even get it. I don't even understand which books.
I knew I needed to be taught. Like I was in nursery school, so found that they're called the Bible Project and they create videos for children.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: So good too.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Yes.
So that was one thing. Now I have this friend who I've been friends with. We went to college together. God bless. We're still friends. And she, I used to say, my most devout Catholic friend that I have, I didn't know when my husband died, she was going through a divorce and she ended up a Christian to became a Pentecostal Christian. Me, I'm so ignorant. I don't even understand really, what's the difference between, well, isn't it all about Jesus? I have no clue. Right? Because I'm ignorant. So I didn't say much to people. When I was on Clubhouse for these few months, I would post about it, but I wasn't, I wasn't inviting anybody. So this one day the Lord tells me, you need to go get your friend Ida. And you need to bring her on this app now and bring her in this room. So I said, hey, I go, do you want to. You know, I found this awesome place. I didn't tell her much about it, really anything about it. She's just seeing my postings. She's like, yeah, sure. But you see how intentional the Lord is.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Yeah, He. He will. He will bring people and things into your path that you need at that time. And, you know, sometimes we wonder why. Why didn't I know this earlier? Why didn't you bring this to me earlier? It would have been so much easier if I would have had all these answers and I didn't have to go through all this.
But we know the reason is that we couldn't handle that if we were to know everything beforehand, we wouldn't be able to handle it. Sometimes he's refining us and maturing us before we even can get to whatever the answer is that he wants to tell us. And he is very intentional with his timing. And it is just so beautiful when we allow him to speak to us and we listen and obey, which that's the tricky part, is that we can listen all we want, but if we don't obey and step into that, what he's called us to do, that's where.
That's the part we gotta do.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: That's the hard part that a lot of people don't want to do.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Yeah, right, exactly.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: So when you joined that group and you weren't really engaging in the beginning because you were, you know, learning so much about, or I guess relearning so much about the Scripture and the Bible and why it's so important. And I know. Know why they're so interested in the Old Testament because it is the foreshadowing to the New Testament, which is the exciting part. Right. That's the place where we want to. We want to live is in only the New Testament when Jesus comes back. But if you don't know the Old Testament and the history, then the New Testament doesn't make sense as much either. My question for you is that when you were learning all that, when did you notice a shift in your spirit as you were reading the scripture out loud and declaring it as. As yours?
[00:17:41] Speaker B: As I'm spending time, Jessica, on YouTube University, and I'm, you know, like learning all these things. And so now I come across this show which I'm sure most people have heard about, called the Chosen.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: And I thought, have you heard of the Chosen?
[00:17:55] Speaker A: So good.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: I loved it. So it was season one and I think it was maybe only episode four, and it was about the Pharisees. And I was like, that's it.
That was my issue with Judaism. I was so happy that that got figured out. Now as I'm doing this research, thinking and learning and watching, and things are starting to make sense.
So in Hebrew, we call the father Hashem.
So it felt like Hashem literally took my hand that day.
And he walked me in to my classroom and he sat me down at my desk the same way when I was a little girl and for kindergarten, my mom walked me to school that day and brought me to introduce me to my teacher, the same as I did with my children and took them to school. So I knew that this. Oh, this was where the father wanted me. Okay, now things. Because you're right, he doesn't tell us.
Like, if you would have said to Moses, okay, that night, yeah, gather your peeps because, you know, I want you to do this with the blood, and then you're gonna meet me over here, and then you're gonna be chased by Pharaoh and his whole army, and I'm gonna part the Red Sea, and you guys are gonna be stuck in the wilderness for 40 years and all the disability, I bet you Moses would have said, you know what? Call somebody else, please.
Okay, yes, I know, right? So he doesn't tell us. And if the Lord would have told me when I looked at you and went, like, what?
No, I don't think so.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Everything.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: So it was after that with the Pharisees, and I started to think and, you know, the one thing about, you know, the enemy thinks he has you, and he often overplaces hand. But the one thing about the whole New age teachings, because of the supernatural.
So again, in Judaism, there's a thing called the Kabbalah, which is the mysticism of God.
And knowing the power of Hashem, which was something, since I'm a little girl, I've known and I've always been enamored with, and throughout this whole being in my own wilderness for those 35 plus years, was the supernaturalness.
So now it was like, oh, my.
Yes, this makes complete sense.
That he. Because as Jews, we were always told, you cannot see the Lord. If you see him, you will die. You cannot handle that glory.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: And because I love my people, but we're very disobedient, we're very obstinate, we're very stubborn, which is why, I guess we've survived for 5,000 something years, right? And I just kept taking in the scriptures and because this room was such beautiful women that I was able to form true relationships with. And they were so, like, if I had questions and they were just so great with me that they allowed me to just ask and if I had specific questions about specific scriptures, we would have conversations about it. So truly the Lord placed me in this beautiful little incubator where I would be able to just get what I needed as that little baby Christian. And I wasn't even, I hadn't even given, given my life yet. So my same friend that I invited into that room in August, we're having this conversation about everything that I'm learning and just how in awe I am. And she says to me, so, Andrea, what do you think about giving your life to Christ? And I said, well, yeah, let's do it.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: And I did. And then last October, not this past October, but the 2024, I found a church here, local, and then I got water baptized.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I see. You know what, Jessica? It was like as this transformation was happening, so a few things were coming up. I kept saying, God, what do you want from me? Like, I feel like, like you've brought me here. There's something specific that I know outside of, yes, accept accepting Christ so that I will have eternal life for sure. But there's something, it's like, like I was seeing myself as this bridge. But who am I this bridge for? Am I, am I a bridge for new, you know, coming in? Am I a bridge for forgetting my people to come in? There's something. I know you're being intentional with me. I was like, what is it that you, you require for me? Because I know that it's something. So whatever it is, I just said, yes, whatever it is, you have my.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Yes, which is so powerful because a lot of times we want to do that thing, but we don't want to fully surrender and let it go and give it to him.
And so that yes, putting that yes out there is absolutely huge.
And you know, there's so much in similarities in New age practice and Christianity that the devil, the devil is so much.
He was an angel, he was in heaven with God and then he was disobedient. God said, nope, you cannot be here anymore. And so he knows everything. He knows how to make it shiny and look good. And so there, you know, I hear people talk about new Age things and it's very, it's very self centered, self centric.
But if you were to replace God with, or Jesus or Christ or Holy Spirit with some of the self centered practices, it would sound the same thing. And I was.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: It's the same.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: It is. And that's how crafty and clever Satan is, is that. He's like, well, this sounds great. This sounds like you're doing the same thing as them, but actually, it's all about you. You can do it by yourself. You don't need a higher power. And the higher power, essentially is him in that aspect. Because you're not serving God. You can't serve two gods. Right. There's only one big G, God.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Right.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: And. And he's really, really good at deceiving us.
And, you know, you don't have to jump all in at once. Like you were saying, you had, you know, this one little. When you went to the astrologer.
[00:24:18] Speaker B: And it was then I started to seek out psychics and mediums.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Because it looked good. You're like, oh, that's actually giving insight to me that I didn't know. So I'm gonna go look up more. I want other people to tell me everything that I don't know about myself. And it's.
It'll get you. It'll get you real quick because it looks. It looks nice and it looks fun, and other people are doing it and they're fine. So it can't be that bad. But like you said, it's a sin, and it's going in the opposite direction that the Lord wants us to go into.
So as you've walked through all of that now, you, you know, have come to Christ and you've been baptized, which is just the most amazing thing. I love that so much.
What does daily surrender look like for you? Because, you know, I hear stories of people that come out of a cult or come out of, like, the new age. And since you've had so many years in that, I'm sure that it's. It's still in your mind. So what does that daily surrender look like for you?
Giving it all to Christ and not falling back into old ways.
Okay.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: I'm so glad you asked that, because it's so funny how lately, through certain scriptures and certain teachers that I follow, you know, that whole expression about, you know, starting to understand the whole 40 years in the wilderness and how he took them out of Egypt in one night, but it took him 40 years to get Egypt out of him. And lately I've been thinking, oh, my goodness, it's like, this still has to get this New age stuff.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Out of me. There's still this stuff that needs to come out of me. So there's a Lot of things that I become aware of in terms of now being able to recognize the enemy. So in New Age you do things very silent. Silent meditation, silent affirmations. That's how the enemy keeps you. But as I've been studying and learning and just I'm like a sponge and soaking it all in and confessing out loud and using our voice very intentional with that now. So that's a big part of it. I love that youversion Bible app.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: So good.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: So I love it for a lot of reasons. Like even though I'm into physical books, I love it because I have the ability that if I'm not quite understanding the wording of a scripture, I can go to a different translation. And now I can understand. I like. Oh okay. And I like the devotionals. You know, I'm daily surrendering and I'm being aware and I allow myself to stay in that place of the observer. You know, listen, quantum physics was a huge thing that I very much got into when I was into that whole New age thing. I just want to touch on something of what you said because so as I've been going through this metamorphosis since 2021, I've really recognized how the new Age, a new thought has seeped into the church.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: And how it's being very deceiving to long time. But then I've also come to understand is because I was very double minded in New Age because especially Law of Attraction. Law of attraction states that you need to be in vibrational alignment with your desire. Right. And a lot of the times I couldn't believe in myself. All of the trauma. Because again you're right, it's very self centered Christianity. Is Jesus centered, Is Holy Spirit centered? Is the Father centered? I don't have to believe in Andrea, but I need to believe in them. So I see sometimes how the enemy likes to come in and wants to take that away from me. I see how he's wanted to keep me silent, keep my thoughts all locked up in my head. I would silently journal. I would silently say my affirmations. I like. You know, I like music and I would sing. So I'm really grateful that I love music really. My surrendering is staying present and inviting him in and asking him questions. And because I talk to myself all day long out loud. I just talk to him all day out loud. Every day, all day. Especially when I'm taking my shower. I have like my in depth conversations with him.
And when I first gave my life to Christ. So I thought that my soul like My things would be healed. And it's true, because you got the resurrection power, the duminous power, which has that ability to heal and close those wounds. So at first I was like, I don't understand why certain circumstances, like, haven't changed. And then I was like, oh, it's my spirit. Oh, okay. My spirit. Now to go back to that. We can call ourselves Christian, but, you know, are you double minded? Do you have one foot in and one foot out? Are you lukewarm? Like, what are you doing with your day? How much time are you spending with the Lord? Do you let him in? Are you listening? Are you just talking? Are you giving him an opportunity? For me, I've learned along this way. I mean, Holy Spirit's convicted me about many different things.
And it has been, you know, a lot of them. Not condemning me, for sure, not. But convicting. And even though he can convict us, there's certain things he will convict us of that had a lot of pain attached to that. That time frame. The way I coach now is very. I don't coach differently, but what I bring to the table as that creative life strategist is different. So I don't bring New Age modalities with me anymore. Now it's very biblically and scripturally based. The Holy Spirit is fully moving with me. Just like the Holy Spirit is our teacher and as our life coach, creative life strategist, counselor, awesomeness, everything.
He will convict us. He will convict you because we need it. That's the correction.
That's the pruning. So for me, I've always felt like life is a one big connect the dots. Now, I don't believe we should live in our past, but hindsight is 20 20, and sometimes we need to go back and take a look. So it makes sense to why we're living the results now so that we know. This was my thoughts. These were the feelings I was coddling and giving into.
Now this is why I'm living these results today.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, when you said when you came to Christ that just everything would.
And the reality is, yes, everything is better because you can see it through the lens of Christ. But the. The reality in what your past was, there was sin. And while he, when we ask for forgiveness, he does forgive us and he pushes it as far as the east is from the West. Like, he's not. He doesn't remember it anymore. That doesn't mean that there's not consequences for those sins that are still there. He's not just going to Take all of that. And that's when we. He allows us to do that hard work and to work through those consequences with him and, and come out victorious on the other side. And I just, I love that he gives us that opportunity to work with us and not us just have to do it by ourselves. Because that's really, really hard work. And if it worked by ourselves, then we wouldn't need him. But we do. That's why it doesn't work without him. And that's just, it's just, it's just beautiful to see how he works in and through our lives. Whether we want to see him or not. He's still there. And I'm so thankful that you have invited him in and just asked him to just like, clear it out and make it all brand new and be obedient in that. Because that's again, like I said, that's the tricky part is that we can ask all day long and he can tell us, but if we don't listen and obey, what was it for? What was it all for?
[00:32:19] Speaker B: But that's just it. Exactly. What was it all about?
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: You know, since I have him, it's all transforming. But since I have the Holy Spirit processing those very deep feelings and thoughts and, and. And past experiences that we often want to just forget about and throw into that closet and sweep it in and then quickly close the door. But God forbid you open that door because everything's just going to come out and it's going to come on top of you. Right. It makes. It truly makes such a difference.
In. In. It's not fearful.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: If that makes sense. Deal?
[00:33:01] Speaker A: It is. Absolutely. Because the enemy wants to keep us in darkness. The enemy wants to keep us by ourselves and secluded and in the quiet and in the dark, because that's where he does his best work. But when we open that closet door and we let out our past, we let out what we've done in the pit and we bring it into Christ's light. That is when he can do his power in his work in and through us and clean it all up and make us whole and make us new. And where there is light, big L light from Jesus, the enemy can't stand. He lives in darkness. He can't live in the light. And so we have to continually remember that even if it hurts for a moment to have to go back and to work through that, God is with us at all times through that process.
But it's not going to last forever. It's not a pain that lasts Forever. And that's. That's the truth that I. That I hope that we all continue to walk through.
So in that vein, what is. What would you say to someone that's coming out of a similar background and is starting to walk in the truth now?
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Just keep walking.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: So I knew that I felt like that rat on a wheel. I'm going round and round and round, but I'm not getting anywhere. You gotta ask yourself, be honest with yourself. Humans do themselves such a disservice when they continually lie to themselves. I know I lied to myself. For years. I wore that mask. I lied to myself. I stuffed stuff down. I didn't want my children to know. They needed to know, you know, I knew that they were looking to me. I was their mother. No, I'm so okay. Mommy's okay. Mommy was freaking broken. And I just kept trying to fix it and heal it in silence, you know, I started to see a psychiatrist. Then I went to a psychologist that I went to was, you know, a psychotherapist that I worked with. So I tried that route. And when that wasn't working, well, the New Age stuff and all of that seemed enticing. And I thought it was working and I was meeting with success.
But really, what was that success? It wasn't. And we need to know what we're doing. So I say, allow the scripture of Hosea 4. 6. You are perishing for a lack of knowledge. And when you can confess that you're ignorant, you come out of that state of ignorance. So to anybody who's like, will, say, I'm spiritual, I'm not religious. Because that's what us New Agers would say. I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious. I'm all about light and love.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: I say bs, but it's also the wrong kind of light and love. It's the light and love that you are trying to find from yourself, not from Jesus. And when you ask the Lord into your heart, when you accept Christ as your Savior, you become in a covenant relationship with Him. And this is a relationship like a marriage. This isn't just some thing that you decide in and out. This is, you want to talk to him, you want to tell him everything. You want to spend time with him, you want to read His Word and read his love letters to you. And everything in there is how to live a life of godliness. And that. I mean, that's our manual right there. That's if you're not in the Word and talking to the Lord, those are the two steps to a good relationship. And you can't do it by yourself. But it is that, like you said, walking in the truth, walking day in and day out, keeping with the Lord, and he will guide your steps. And I love that you said that. I'm spiritual, not religious, because in my world, I say I'm not religious. I am in a relationship with the Lord because religion, you know, you talked about the Pharisees, right? Religion is what the Pharisees were doing. They were very religious. They did everything. They checked all their boxes, they wore their things, they read their Bible. They didn't have a relationship with the Lord. And then when Jesus asked him about it, they're like, wait, but what. What box does that check?
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Where.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Where is that in my manual to do things? And that's. That's a huge, huge difference in. In someone who is just a Christian, to check boxes or to really be in a relationship and heal past wounds and walk with Christ in that big L light and love that Jesus gives us. And I just think that is. It is so important to know.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Absolutely. You know? Absolutely. And here's the thing. They still will be. And they will condemn you for not doing things right. So whoever's going to condemn you, whether that be in your church, if you're a member of the church, your own mindset, your own thoughts. No, you need to redirect your course, and you need to then ask the Lord, and you need to be honest. I'm hearing all of this condemnation. I'm feeling condemnation. Lord, help me. Help me with my unbelief. Help me with my mind. Search my heart, oh, Lord, Clean my mind. Give me new thoughts, Lord. I want your thoughts. I want your thoughts, Lord. Give me your thoughts. And you know what? Because he's so amazing, he will do that. He loves us. He is our father.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Yes. Andrea, thank you so much for sharing your heart so openly. Your story really is a reminder to us that even in decades of darkness, it can't stop the light from Christ breaking through. And I'm just so thankful for that. And, you know, we have to remember that not everything that glitters is gold. And the enemy knows just how to package up his deception.
And we. We have to stay away. Don't take the bait, my friend. Don't take the bait. So before we wrap up, I want to ask you a question that I ask every guest on my podcast. And that is, what is one perspective that you would encourage listeners to apply today?
[00:39:03] Speaker B: And you brought up something, Jessica, and this could be why people are struggling with their relationship when you said it's like a marriage. So if we think about individuals, a lot of individuals don't honor relationships. They don't even honor friendships, let alone honoring a marriage. And sometimes I think that's the first place to start in how asking oneself, do I respect relationships? Do I respect this friend who I'm in a friendship with? Do I respect my husband? Do I respect the relationship with my children?
And if you do, then you will respect your relationship with the Lord. But if you don't, that could be probably why you're having a little bit of trouble with the Lord. One perspective I would give would be and asking yourself how you show up in a relationship and how respectful you are in that friendship as a mother, as a sibling, as a daughter, and as a wife. Because how you show up there, it will really directly affect how you have a relationship with the Lord at the end of the day.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Yeah, you're right, because it's. If not one, then it's not going to come over into the other. And when we are filled up with Christ, it's going to spill into everything else that we do. And that is the beauty of a true relationship with Christ.
I. I love that. Thank you so much, friend. I hope that this episode stirred something in you. Whether it's to open your mouth and declare the truth, or to lay down striving and just sit at his feet. Let it go. Don't hold on to the past. Don't hold on to those things that you think are shiny and sparkly that don't give you that true truth and light that Jesus wants for you.
And remember that even small shifts in perspective can lead to big changes. Now go put those perspectives into practice. Talk to you next time.
