Embracing the Unexpected: Financial struggles, health challenges, career changes, living situation and more!

When life handed us lemons, we not only made lemonade but also discovered the recipe for a stronger faith and community bond. I'm Pierre, and together with Dani Lee, we're peeling back the layers of our personal struggles, sharing how a summer without gas became a testament to resilience and unexpected blessings. Picture this: cold showers, microwaved bath water, and the grace of hotel stays and extra groceries. Our experiences might just change your perspective on life's inconveniences and the power of community support through tough times.

Have you ever felt your faith waver under financial pressure? We're right there with you, recounting times when spare change was our fuel fund and prophecies at the gas pump were our lifeline. Dani Lee and I dive into the emotional journey of ensuring our child's education against the backdrop of uncertainty, revealing how faith in God's provision shone through the darkest financial clouds. These stories aren't just our battles; they're a shared voyage in discovering that amidst the trials, hope and help can emerge from the most unexpected places.

Finally, the miracles that have graced our lives stand as a beacon of hope for anyone seeking a deeper connection with the divine. From the loss of a loved one to the miraculous health of our daughter Brooklyn, born against the odds, our episode unfolds like a road map to witnessing God's work firsthand. We invite you to join our circle, share your stories, and find strength in the collective journey toward faith and fellowship. This isn't just about listening to our stories—it's about finding the silver linings in your own, with a little help from above.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Two Months Without Gas
• 10:37 Faith and God's Provision
• 21:52 God's Provision and Miracles
• 31:10 Building Faith in God's Goodness

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Okay, I'm struggling, I'm struggling.

Speaker 2: 0:02

Do you want me to do?

Speaker 1: 0:03

it. No, hold on, I got it. I'm trying to start. Okay, what's up everybody? Welcome to the let's Dig podcast. My name is Pierre.

Speaker 2: 0:08

I'm Dani Lee.

Speaker 1: 0:09

Okay, did we ever tell you guys a story about last year where we had to take a bunch of cold showers? Actually, I think I was the only one taking cold showers, you guys weren't taking.

Speaker 2: 0:18

I did a. I forget what they call it. Yeah, it was something like that, yeah bird baths don't need working.

Speaker 2: 0:26

It was really bad. So last summer I had finished working at a job at the church, and so June was like my first month of not working at the church. I had looked for months, babe, do you remember? I was trying to just get like a nine to five. You were traveling a good amount of time then, so I was like I'll just get like a nine to five. You were traveling a good amount of time then, so I was like I'll just get a nine to five and that way I can be home with the kids on the weekends. First of all, I'm not a nine to fiver and I don't know why in my head I keep thinking that it could be, I'd be miserable, and so, anyways, it wasn't working out. I couldn't get any interviews, it just was not working out.

Speaker 2: 1:00

And so we go into June and I have no job and the kids are out. Like Jordan was out of school, Our 10 year old is out of school, our four year old, brooklyn, she still goes to daycare. So that was that and I was panicked, I was stressed. I'm like how are we going to make this work Like? So I shifted our schedule a little bit to have the kids home with me a little bit more, and the first weekend of June it was a Saturday night. You were out of town, yeah, and I get a text message from our landlords that says, hey, the gas has been turned off for the entire weekend. It'll get turned back in on Monday.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere in some nice luxurious hotel, working. Though it was struggling, it was a struggle.

Speaker 2: 1:48

And this is Saturday night. I don't know what we had done that day. I think Jordan had had a soccer game. So we were like stank, saturday night is like wash hair day, like take showers. Everybody gets ready for church on Sunday, on Saturday night. So I was looking at the kids like oh, on Saturday night. So I was looking at the kids like, oh, my gosh, we cannot have not have baths tonight and showers tonight. And so the landlords put us in a hotel and I was like, well, I guess I'm just going to make the best of it. So I packed the kids up by myself.

Speaker 1: 2:13

I don't feel like you were. You saw it like that. I did Remember I had to call you and say can happen, is you're still at home? Like remember I had to like talk you into how much of a blessing this was that-.

Speaker 2: 2:26

I don't remember that part, but whatever. Anyways. So I picked up McDonald's for the kids and we went to the hotel.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Hey, you know, there's some people that hate McDonald's, that are listening, there's little people that hate everything so, but what I'm hating?

Speaker 2: 2:40

Anyways. So we go to the hotel. That was the first weekend of June. We come home, we wait till Wednesday. No gas. Meanwhile, this ends up going on for a very long time. We do not have gas in our house Over a month, maybe two months, it was two months total. We could not cook on the stove, we could not get any hot water. Have y'all ever tried to wash dishes with cold water? It's disgusting, because the food doesn't break down.

Speaker 1: 3:08

It's like and we have these kids that always be stinking dirty, stinking dirty, like our son. He's playing sports at the time he's so funky.

Speaker 2: 3:17

So I would for me to take a shower. I would take a plastic big tub and it fit in our microwave perfectly, so I knew exactly how long to warm the water up and then run it to my shower. And then I would take my loofah, wet my body and then suds everything up and then I would dump the thing on my body to rinse me off and that was my showers for two months. I would go to like my friend's house once a week to just like cry in the shower and wash my hair.

Speaker 1: 3:48

That's crazy. Yeah, Meanwhile I was taking cold showers.

Speaker 2: 3:52

He was taking cold showers. You're crazy. And then we remember we got the electric heaters that warmed up the kids' baths, but it took two hours to warm up a bath for one child.

Speaker 1: 4:02

Well, here's the point of the story. While we're telling you guys this, it's because actually, each week, god provided and we were in a hotel. Every single week, plus, grocery money was sent to us.

Speaker 2: 4:19

So for like the first month, because they didn't know how bad the repairs were going to be. This was for a whole entire complex. So it was a city thing, the mayor was involved, it was like a whole thing. It was on the news, it was ridiculous. But because our landlords were trying to take care of us, they would send us to a hotel and, honestly, we had the best time. Brooklyn still, when we drive by, she's like I want to go to the hotel. This girl we drive by any hotel she's like that drive by.

Speaker 2: 4:48

She's like I want to go to the hotel. This girl, we drive by any hotel. She's like that's the hotel we stayed at. I'm like she wants to go back. All the time. We really did, like, make the best of it, but it was so hard to go without that I I put on some extra weight because we were eating out all the time Cause we were getting blessed with grocery money, cause we couldn't cook. We're going to hotels. The kids were having so much fun. It was stressful for us. I didn't have a job and through June and July, basically what our landlords ended up having to do was, because of the gas situation, they couldn't charge us rent for that month. So for those two months we did not have to pay rent.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Yeah, and you know what's wild about this whole thing. As we talk about this, first of all, if you guys can't tell, we're testifying about the goodness of our God, because when we went into this that summer, you was just in between jobs trying to find something. Every single door was getting closed in front of you and I remember how much you panicked.

Speaker 1: 5:44

I remember how much you were stressed out, so stressed out, and I remember also telling you, babe, do you not remember the God that we serve and how God has always taken care of us, how he's always provided, how we have never starved, we have never been out on the streets, even when we've been between homes, between cars, Like yo? We got stories to tell you guys, and we're going to tell you a bunch of stories today.

Speaker 2: 6:10

So that summer was literally like this tornado of like no hot water, no cooking at home, go to a hotel, unpack from a hotel, go to a hotel, but you can't find a job, so you don't have extra income coming in, so you're just gonna have to figure it out, but you don't have to pay mortgage or like your rent. So like it was just chaos. But when August came around, it was the week that Jordan was going back to school and we took the kids to the beach and they told us that day it was a Tuesday and they were like there's a potential that the gas could get turned back on. And I was like man, I am not believing y'all. It's been two months, y'all are full of trash, I'm not listening to you and I'm not believing you and I'm not getting my hopes up. We go to the beach with the kids and they text us and said you're good to go. So on Tuesday the hot water turned back on.

Speaker 2: 7:06

On Wednesday Jordan started fourth grade and, thank the Lord, he didn't have to do it as a stinky child.

Speaker 2: 7:13

So he got to take a shower before the first day of school and on Thursday I had an interview for a job and on Friday I started work and it was literally like that whole week was like Tuesday gas turns on Wednesday, jordan goes back to school. Thursday you got a job. Friday you start working and I I remember telling friends of like y'all Jesus was just laughing at me all summer long because he knew how it was going to work out and that I just had the best two months of spending time with my kids, of not working, of enjoying the summer, being at a hotel, being at home, being a hotel, being at home Like it was just like man. I wish I would have just like trusted the Lord was going to work it out and just like relied in that and laid in that a little bit more. But it was so cool. At the end of the day, after all the struggles, I was like man God, you are so good Like he had everything in his timing and it was all the same week.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Yeah, and I feel like what happens to a lot of times people they because you don't know what the future looks like. You feel like you just have to take control of it.

Speaker 2: 8:24

It's true.

Speaker 1: 8:25

And going into that summer you started out forgetting who holds the future.

Speaker 2: 8:30

Well, and I told you I've had this realization in the last few months of that my Enneagram is a two and I'm a helper, and I'm realizing how much that impacts my relationship with God and that I feel this immense stress of I have to help him. I have to do my part. So did I not send out enough resumes? Did I not look enough for a job? Did I not save enough? Did I not like I feel that pressure so much of like I'm not doing my part? God is, but I'm not doing my part and that's not how he works. I realized that's something I have to work on.

Speaker 1: 9:06

So the reason why we're sharing this story with you guys is because we put our faith in God. We know that God provides, and that summer I remember when we spoke about it every single day, and you and I we're very different. Like I have so much faith in God. Right, I have so much faith in God.

Speaker 2: 9:39

Nothing can shake it, you could kick me out the house.

Speaker 1: 9:40

You could take my car, take every single dollar that I have. I literally don't care because I know who's my provider. And that summer I remember telling you I was like babe, like could it be that God is actually giving you a summer off? You tell him we had two, gave us grocery money every single week. The kids were in the pool, kids were going to the beach hanging out. You were off. But the whole first few weeks of it you was wrestling with God, the whole time of just like, but God, it should be looking like this, it should be looking like this, we should be doing this. And God's like saying relax, chill, I got this and that's what I felt.

Speaker 1: 10:02

Going into that summer was like we have never seen God leave us in all of our 14 years of being with each other. I mean I remember that time when we first got married, right the first apartment that we lived in West Palm beach, florida, and you know like I was just starting out in ministry, you're just starting out in hair, so we were barely making money Like we were struggling. I mean we were. I mean, guys, we we never saw inside of a bank, but we always saw inside of a check cashing store. Cause every time my checks came in, we had to go straight to the check cashing store to cash it. Cause we need literally needed money. That day I mean, this was 15 years ago, 14 years ago, and I remember us never being able to put gas in our car we will always have to like pull out the coins, go to Publix, yep.

Speaker 2: 10:49

They had a box that had kept all their coins in it. Yeah, your.

Speaker 1: 10:52

Redken box and we would cash in all the coins and put seven bucks gas just to make it around that day. The next day we put $12 and you know, 50 cent, just whatever we had. But I remember, I remember yo like you ever been so broke where when you go to put gas in the car, you like you can't lock the gas, like you got to hold on to it and stop it, exactly at eight dollars. That was exactly like you hold, and if that thing goes over, your account is over yep your.

Speaker 1: 11:19

That was us that year. But I remember one day we're pumping gas, it's at a arc, it's at a Sunoco or something like that Sunoco, right there at the crisscross, right where we live.

Speaker 1: 11:30

Yeah, and I'm pumping gas, y'all I'm pumping gas and and I'm holding onto it and I let it go and I'm like I'm gonna keep watching the light, the meter, to make sure it stops at like $8. And I opened the door and I look back at Danny Lee in the passenger seat and I said, babe, one day we're going to be able to put gas in our car God's going to provide and we actually will never have to look at how much we put in. We just hit that gas thing, hit the lock on there and just wait for it to click. And I remember, guys, when I said that like my faith saw into the future, but our current situation.

Speaker 2: 12:13

I was in tears just thinking about it.

Speaker 1: 12:15

I've never done that before at that time, at that time I'm thinking like I've never filled up my gas tank at that time.

Speaker 2: 12:22

Wow.

Speaker 1: 12:22

So for me to say it with my mouth, I just knew God was taking care of us, and you guys remember this. In a couple of episodes ago, we shared about three things that you should know about us and how we made it to this point. And one of them was this, right here, our faith in God. And I kid you not fast forward a few years later, a few rough years later.

Speaker 2: 12:42

Rough years later.

Speaker 1: 12:44

We're just putting gas, putting gas, putting gas, putting gas. And one day I'm putting gas and I'm just putting gas, click pump, I just put it in. I don't even see how much gas was costing that time at the gas station. I don't even see how much we put it in. It could have been 50, 60, 70 bucks, I don't know, depending on where we were living at the time and we're driving and I remember my heart telling Dan and Lee, several years ago, I said oh my gosh babe, you remember when, several years ago, I said one day we'll be able to put gas in a car with never having to think about how much we put into it. We literally been doing it for years before we realized we spoke that God's been providing for us.

Speaker 2: 13:25

It's so crazy and I I want to like just make a mention of how much it takes to get to that. Like you, saying that in that season where we were literally using quarters to fill our gas tank made it feel so far away. And then it took years for us to realize, oh wait, the Lord has answered literally those prayers for the last two years and we haven't even thought about it. And then to know that then there's another level of faith and growing, and then that you begin to, like another one was putting Jordan in private school. These California schools are trash y'all, Like I'm was putting Jordan in private school. These California schools are trash y'all, Like I'm not putting him in public trash like schools.

Speaker 2: 14:07

And I remember feeling that pressure from the like not a pressure from the Lord, but just heavy on my heart, Like we've got to get them in something else. We've got to get them in something else, but we do not have private money school and our private school money, and so we started looking at them, having no idea how we're going to pay for it. And now Jordan's been, he's about to finish his first full year there. He's been there for a year and a half and it's every month. I don't know how it's going to happen, but the Lord really has provided.

Speaker 2: 14:37

And so it is just a faith walk of like. It's just one foot in front of the other and knowing that he truly does order your steps.

Speaker 1: 14:45

Yeah, faith has nothing to do with what you just know for sure that your mind makes. Everything makes sense in your mind. Faith is just believing in your heart, right, and the Bible talks about. We believe in a Bible. For those who don't know, we believe in a Bible in second Corinthians. It talks about how we don't live by what we see. We live by what we believe and we believe in our heart and we've always believed in our heart that God has always taken care of us and that's how we've gotten to this point. I remember when we first got married, how things were so tight for us financially and I remember us thinking like God, where's literally God, can you provide? And you remember someone just literally knocked on our door.

Speaker 2: 15:24

Yep, they knocked on our door and they it was a friend of ours and he said, hey, this is not from me, but the person is from. Doesn't want you to know who it's from. And they were like but here's some, this cash, this envelope, and it had over $500 in that envelope for us and I remember we needed over a thousand dollars in like three days, maybe 1500, but it was a big amount of money that we needed in a short amount of time and one way that that came in was literally money. Walking to our door and to this day?

Speaker 1: 15:57

we still don't know whose money that was, but we knew it was God that did it.

Speaker 1: 16:02

God uses people, he uses things. You remember that one time when one of our cars broke down, actually, so we've always had one car, we've had two cars. Right now we have two cars. We've had two cars before, but most of our marriage we've always had one car. Right, we did so much moving so we always just the Jeep member and our transmission went out, and me, you, jordan, our son, all of us had to be at different places, sometimes all the time at the same time, and I remember that that that season praying, I'm like God, you see all of our situations, you see our problem, you see what we're going through. I don't even need to ask you to provide. I know you will provide. And I remember our car was in the shop once we got the call. The guy would be like, yeah, it's gonna be a couple thousand dollars to rebuild your whole transmission. Yeah, and he's like the car is still in good shape. Like you do it. I'm like we don't have a couple of grand right now, I think it was.

Speaker 2: 16:59

Yeah, I was thinking it was like 3,000.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Maybe four, was it closer to four? Yeah, four or five, but we just didn't have it.

Speaker 2: 17:05

Whatever it was, we didn't have it.

Speaker 1: 17:07

We can't just cough that up right now. I'm just going to be real with you guys and I remember all of our friends, our community. Our tribe came in clutch. We had people picking you up, taking you places. I had people picking me up, taking places, would pick me and our son up, take us places. And I'll never forget one day someone came knocking on our door. They called us.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Yeah, they said we want to come hang out hey are you guys home?

Speaker 1: 17:31

I'm like, yeah, what's up? And they're like, yeah, we just want to come and hang out and see you guys. And I was like this is weird and gave us an envelope literally with half of the money that we needed to get the project started. On the car.

Speaker 2: 17:45

Right, because the mechanic said you had to pay half for us to start it, yeah, and then half to pick it up. And we didn't have none of that. We had none of it, nothing.

Speaker 1: 17:53

And I remember thinking like, wow God, wow God, like how you work, how you surprise us, Like our faith in God, guys, has never wavered. It's never been shaken because I've seen a move ever since I was a kid. But we've seen a move in our relationship. I mean time after time. Remember that time in St Louis, remember he was at the grocery store.

Speaker 2: 18:14

It was Valentine's Day week and we hadn't been in St Louis for very long two months and I went to go to Aldi and if y'all know Aldi, aldi is already like budget-friendly groceries.

Speaker 1: 18:27

This is about nine, 10 years ago.

Speaker 2: 18:30

And I went to go get just a few things I mean I'm talking like less than 10 items, just enough to get us through. I knew what I could cook to get us through. And I went to pay and the card declined and I was so confused because I knew I had just enough money for what I was spending at that store and I was like wait, what? Like you know, I was so embarrassed and like I guess a bill had gone out that I forgot about. It was a small bill and so it made a difference of my groceries. And the lady standing behind me she was like no, no, honey, it's okay, I got it for you. And I was like oh, and she was like it's okay. And she just looked at me and she was like happy Valentine's day. And I could cry thinking about it right now. Like it's so humbling to know, like sometimes they're just people that are going to do that for you and it is God's hand blessing us in those moments and just saying hey, I've got you.

Speaker 2: 19:29

A few weeks ago we went to a place and we got pizza and I told this story to a friend and I was like please don't judge me, but I'm going to tell the story now. We went to go get pizza it was just the four of us and things were tight that week and I was like I don't know how we're going to make it, whatever. So we just got one pizza and some wings. Well, this is gross y'all. We found a hair on the pizza, yeah. And so I took it up front to the lady and I was like, hey, I just want you to know. Like we found a hair and that's really gross. And she was like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. And I was like no, no problem.

Speaker 2: 20:05

And I walked away and in my head I thought, man, I could have been so mean, I could have been so rude, I could have gone hard on that lady because that's disgusting. But I didn't. I just walked away and I went and sat back down and later on she came over and she said hey, I'm so sorry about what happened. She was like I'm going to give you a refund for your pizza and I'm going to send you home with a whole nother pizza. And like it overwhelmed me that day of just like man, you didn't even just take care of our food for today, you send us home with a whole nother pizza. The kids ate the pizza all week and it was such a small thing and a lot of people wouldn't have thought nothing of it, but to me it's big, it was big.

Speaker 1: 20:46

It's like God saying like daughter, I got you.

Speaker 2: 20:50

It's exactly what it felt like of like hey, it's okay, I've got you guys.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Yeah, he's. He's a God of detail and he loves us. He cares for us Like he wants to provide for us, like the Bible talks about right. Jesus was teaching him like the father in heaven, if he takes care of the grass, right, he takes care of the birds in the air how much more does he not want to take care of us?

Speaker 2: 21:12

Yeah, I always love the part of that scripture that talks about the wild flowers and how beautifully they're dressed but no one sees them and like that's how much more does your father want to dress you and take care of you and provide?

Speaker 1: 21:26

for you. Yeah, we've talked about this in a few episodes ago, just about, yeah, matthew, chapter six, where Jesus is talking. He just says, like stop worrying about what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, like you know all those types of things. He was like just me, yeah, and everything else will line up. And that's literally been our story all these years. Yeah, that's how we've done it, like even our kids. We've seen. We've seen god come through for them and provide for them. We've been through. I remember several years ago when my grandmother passed it was 2020, top of the year when my grandmother passed and you were pregnant with bro. I was in the hospital. You're in the hospital and you was on pelvic rest too.

Speaker 2: 22:04

So your boy was Relax, we were on full bed rest. We don't need to go any further into that statement.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Thank you so much so for all the married men that have women that are pregnant, you know what I'm talking about. When you're, when you're, when you're when your wife is on bed rest, slash and the guy the doctors were like specifically pelvic.

Speaker 2: 22:30

That was at the beginning.

Speaker 1: 22:30

You're getting your story so confused you just want to complain about it. I'm still traumatized about the pelvic resting place. All right, cause that that's messed up for your boy, but I remember. You're in a hospital, brooklyn. You're high risk. You have preeclampsia.

Speaker 2: 22:48

Yep, we have no family.

Speaker 1: 22:50

We have no family at the time. Like we were at we, we, we weren't at a church.

Speaker 2: 22:54

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:55

I was traveling a lot.

Speaker 1: 22:57

I was in and out of different countries A lot A lot and and I remember getting a call that my grandmother passed and you're about to have this baby. Anytime you have the baby. And I'm sitting here thinking like God, what am I going to do, like Jordan is only, you know, six years old at the time. And I'm like God, what am I going to do, like the finances right now to we're paying for so much food, groceries, things like that. You're in the hospital. There's still, you know, luckily, most of the bills were taken care of. I'm like, how are we going to get to Florida to cover those costs and plus hotel, maybe a place to stay, car to rent all this stuff, then eating out, somebody sends me money and say, hey, get all the flights that you need for you and your son to go bury your grandmother. I'm like, wow, god, wow, god. Someone else calls me and say, hey, I know you're going to bury your grandmother, what do you need? I was like man, I got to rent a car for the whole week.

Speaker 1: 23:52

Yeah, yeah they're like all right, pick whatever car you want to rent and send us the bill, We'll get it for you.

Speaker 2: 23:57

And then my mom was able to fly out to take care of me for that whole week because I had just had C-section. I couldn't drive to go see Brooklyn and Nick you so like you were leaving, but you couldn't leave me with no one, so like she was able to come and stay with me for that week so that you could go to that funeral.

Speaker 1: 24:13

Even Brooklyn is a testimony right. She was born what? Nine weeks early, nine weeks early, and she was just outside of the window where her brain was developed.

Speaker 2: 24:24

Had it been had she come.

Speaker 1: 24:25

What A week earlier?

Speaker 2: 24:26

A week or two before that. So when they're born like 29 or 30 weeks, there's a part of their brain that fuses together. If they're born during those 29, 30 week mark, a lot of them can have brain bleeds and it causes major development delays. Sometimes it's handicapped, sometimes it's motor skills Like I'm talking kids in wheelchairs and walkers and you know, like huge delays and she came at 31. She came right after it and she has nothing, nothing, nothing, if you guys haven't seen.

Speaker 1: 25:02

Go on our Instagram, on the let's Dig the Podcast Instagram. You can go on our personal pages. You can see pictures of this girl. She is literally a miracle child. Listen, y'all. We can sit here all day long, all day, and testify of God's goodness. If you don't know anything about God, ask us about him and testify of God's goodness. If you don't know anything about God, ask us about him, dm us, send us a message. Matter of fact, if you're liking these videos, if you're enjoying this conversation right now, if you feel like this is bringing value to you, like I want to ask you, take a moment, hit that like button. It doesn't cost much. Just hit the like button. Send it to someone that you feel like needs to be encouraged by these stories. We can sit here literally all day long and talk about all the things that God has done for us. You remember that time when God healed my back?

Speaker 2: 25:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:43

We were probably year three of marriage and something happened to my back. I honestly have no idea. I'm in my mid-20s around that time.

Speaker 2: 25:52

I was pregnant with Jordan.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Something happened to my back. Yeah, and I remember one Sunday morning waking up and you remember we're supposed to go to church and we don't ever miss church, never, ever miss church. And my mom found out I miss church Like it's going to be problems, right, and I woke up and I literally got out the shower and I just remember feeling stuck, broken, paralyzed. I felt I fell to the floor, like you couldn't get dressed after the shower.

Speaker 1: 26:18

I couldn't even put my clothes on. Yeah, I remember calling my leader, saying like I can't make it to church right now. We went straight to the chiropractor and of course he did his stuff, did his things like that, but the pain was terrible. I've gone through a few things here and there at that time but since I have never dealt with anything with my back ever again, I remember praying. I had my mom praying because you know, my mom has a main direct line of Jesus.

Speaker 2: 26:42

That lady right there she squeezed IBS out of me. Do you remember that?

Speaker 2: 26:46

I was having tons of stomach issues when we first got married and it was affecting our new married life Like it affected me. I couldn't finish dinner at a restaurant because my stomach would be upset. I it was terrible and I was going into the doctor and the doctor would do a colonoscopy. And right before I went in for the colonoscopy your mom prayed for me. She had all her prayer line, people praying for me. But I always joke about cause she was squeezing my stomach so hard and I was like babe, I think she squeezed me to a size four and if you know me, you know I'm not a size four. It never happened, but I joke about she squeezed the IBS out of me and healed me, cause like it. But when I got the colonoscopy results, the doctor said man, I did think you had Crohn's actually, actually. And she was like and you could tell that something is irritated, but there's nothing there and my stomach was never the same after that. Like it truly was healed. God did it, absolutely God did it.

Speaker 1: 27:44

You remember a couple of years ago, where. So we, you know we live very simple lives, you know, even though we're busy have a lot of stuff going on here and there, but we're very intentional about the things that we do in our schedule, and so we've always had one car. For those of you that know us, we only have one TV in the house. That's by choice, not because TVs are expensive they're actually stupid cheap but as a family, because there's a lot going on in our life, we decide to simplify things in the house, and so there's no TVs in the bedrooms, no TV in the kitchen. There's only one TV right here. We're sitting right here in our living room and if we're going to watch something, we're all going to watch it together, right, and so we've always actually had one car.

Speaker 1: 28:23

There's been times I remember when we first got married we had two cars, gave one away. Several years later somebody gave us a car and I remember thinking like man, what are we going to do with a second car? It's literally going to be a burden to us. It was a blessing to us that year because that year you got a job.

Speaker 1: 28:38

I had to be, you know, at the church in and out I was gigging, I was traveling. Jordan now's first that was his first year in school, school. So that boy actually had to be in school right, or day it was daycare, but it was like school right. It was still official, he had a schedule. We're paying for it. And God provided and just literally dropped the car in our lap and it was like wait, what Somebody and we were living in a different state.

Speaker 1: 29:06

God provided all expenses were covered for all of our cars, everything to literally get moved from one state to another state. And I'm like, wow, god. And so years, few years later, we didn't need that car anymore, so we got rid of it. Here we are, fast forward, several years later. Now we're living in another state, california, and a few years ago some of y'all already know this story we're in California doing our thing. Our one car that we had, where the transmission had to be rebuilt we shared that earlier. God provided, all the income came, all the funds came, literally rebuilt the whole transmission. The car is perfectly fine, still drive it to this day. It's in great shape.

Speaker 2: 29:35

Love that car.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Great shape and it's paid off. So that's amazing too. Right, it's better than car payments. But about what? Three years ago, maybe two years ago, god put on our pastor's heart that we were going to get a second car. And I remember thinking like, oh man, I don't want a second car, I don't want a car payment, I don't one car, it's completely fine. We take Ubers Car payments are still more expensive than Ubers and we go on vacation, we come back and there's a car waiting for us at the church. So crazy.

Speaker 1: 30:12

Somebody literally blesses us with a car.

Speaker 2: 30:15

Paid off. Paid off With a title.

Speaker 1: 30:17

And I remember thinking like God where are we going to park this car? What are we going to do with it? Like we got to transfer titles, all this stuff, this car, is going to be a burden. Once again, it was a blessing to us Biggest blessing Our whole schedule changed that year where there's no way we would have been able to make it with one car.

Speaker 2: 30:36

Never.

Speaker 1: 30:37

And God saw it ahead of time and blessed us. And I'm telling you y'all, man, we could sit here all day long and literally testify, Even this home, that we're living in, this condo that we're in right now, like all the things that God has provided for us in our marriage. He's restored our marriage. This is what God has done for us, man.

Speaker 2: 30:59

And so today we hope that just by us sharing our experiences and our stories and what God has done for us, we really hope that it encourages you.

Speaker 2: 31:10

I was telling Pierre before we started this.

Speaker 2: 31:13

I said sometimes it's so much easier to believe and have faith for someone else's situation more than what God will do for your own situation.

Speaker 2: 31:21

I have friends that are believing for healing and I know God's going to come through. I have friends believing for income changes and new job opportunities, and I believe a hundred percent, a thousand percent, that God is going to come through for them. But it's when you reflect on like but do you believe that God will do the same thing for your situation? And so when you hear these stories, we want that to build your faith and to know that God can make a difference for your situation and he will make a difference for your situation, and that I always joke about I think he is on a different time zone, because it does feel like God is always late, but the Bible says that he is always on time, and so I just want to encourage you all and I hope that our stories and us sharing these stories today really, really does build your faith to remember that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or even think, and that's the God we serve.

Speaker 1: 32:22

Yeah, so send this to somebody, save this, watch it again. If it encouraged you, um, again, like, hit that subscribe button. Share this, though. Share this, like I said, share it with somebody. Um, we're going to keep talking about this even after we hit stop on this recording right here, and we will never stop declaring God's goodness. He's been faithful to us and we believe that he could be faithful to you. If you want to know more about God, if you want to know about the things that he can do for you, hit us up, send us a message, dm, youtube, instagram, facebook, tiktok, the email, all that stuff. Right, hit that link and let's connect. So let's keep digging. Let's keep using our lives to honor God. Let's keep building strong relationships with other people and with ourselves. Let's dig.