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Fear activates.
Over the Christmas break my son had a very serious health crisis. And we cried out to God. And God moved. My faith was increased and everyone who has heard the story was impacted to trust God more.
Have you ever heard, “There are no atheists in foxholes”? People want hope to grab onto. And when reason fails to give that hope, the power of God can come in to help people experience His love.
This is an opportunity to be an example to all who you know.
Don’t be the victim who numbs your fear, but the leader who stands in faith.
Believe me I’ve been the former, but I am want us to stand up and encourage and pray and love those who are in fear right now.
As Jesus-followers, we are lucky to know that this earth is not the end. But how do we encourage and pray for our neighbors? How can you start now? You may have a lot more time on your hands. How can you start to encourage and help others even RIGHT NOW?
Encourage your spouse. Love them generously so they can do their best in the world right now. Prioritize peace in your home so the storm isn’t ALSO raging in your home.
Sign up to my newsletter for more encouragement during this time: www.delightyourmarriage.com/present
And you’ll also get my 8 Tips to Stay Present in Intimacy
Love you and I’m praying for you,
Belah
transcript
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Welcome to the delight your marriage podcast. You’re joining me belah rose as I dive deep into the beauty, power and truth about intimacy, learn not only the practicals, but the heart behind what making love is all about. delight your marriage. All right, welcome. This is belah. Rose. Listen, thank you so much for tuning in. I’m sure that there’s a lot going on in your heart and mind right now. And I want to speak to you about that. I titled this broadcast, use this crisis wisely. And the reason is, because there’s nothing that motivates quiet like a crisis. We are so motivated to respond in fearful ways. And I think you can turn on anything. And see that that is the response of the world. Because there’s a lot of fear, a lot of concern, a lot of even paranoia. And certainly, there’s much cause for caution and carefulness. But what I want to invite you to do is consider the fact that you are a leader in every circle in every sphere, that you are in. Now, it really doesn’t matter if you are the founder of the organization, or you happen to be a part doesn’t matter if you are the pastor of the church, or you happen to be a member. It doesn’t matter if you are the leader of the family, or you’re just the shy brother or sister. What matters is that you impact every sphere and every circle, that you’re a part of every single one, even the group of social media members that you are a part of you are a person that has influence. I love the quote from Jane Goodall that says, what we do makes a difference. What kind of difference will you make? I just think it’s true that we all have influence. And it’s true in our marriages, as well. So let me tell you a story of what happened over the Christmas break. 2019 my youngest son had a scary health incident that happened. He was telling me that morning that his eye was hurting. And he was kind of itching it with his hand and I took a look. And I thought maybe there was an eyelash in there or something. And no, there was nothing. So I just let him continue throughout the day. But then, every couple of hours, it seems he was checking in with me to tell me it still hurt. And it was right read. And I assumed Well, maybe it’s a sty in his eye. I couldn’t figure out what’s going on. So at one point, I was like, Okay, let’s just flushes it out with water. And, you know, see if that fixes it. So he was away with his cousins all afternoon. And then he came back that evening, late into the evening, actually. And he said that his eyes still hurt. And at this point, it was streaming water as though we were crying just in one eye. It was bright red. It wasn’t like puffy like pinkeye it was just the the white of his eyes were bright red. And he said he could not see out of that eye. So that was alarming because this is the son that doesn’t make up stories. He’s not the one that exaggerates anything. He is the one that tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth in every situation. So it wasn’t one of those things where my other son, he probably would make up a story. So what I did was we were standing outside on the porch, and I covered one of his eyes, the good one, and I asked him to walk towards the bathroom. And he walked just about right into the wall. And I stopped him right before he did. And then I turned him around and I asked him to try again. And he just about walked into a chair. And then I tried another time and he walked just about off the porch and I would have
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had I not stopped him he would have done that. We tried probably 10 times. And then what I did was I called in. As I’m becoming far more alarmed, I called in my husband and my, my other son, my older son. He’s six and a half my younger son’s five at the time. And I called my my husband and I said, Okay, let’s let’s lay hands on our brother, our son here, and pray that God would heal him. And we prayed in faith that Jesus would, would reach down and heal my son. And they went back to doing what they were doing. And for some reason, I had my son repeat after me, Jesus has healed me, thank God that Jesus has healed me. Thank you, Jesus for healing me. I hadn’t repeat that. I think that’s what it was. Thank you, Jesus, for healing me. Thank you, Jesus for healing me. I had him repeat that after me. Probably five times. And then, you know, at this point, it’s probably 1130 At night, and we had the kids go to sleep. And because there was really, you know, I was trying to figure out what else to do. So where we were staying, we didn’t have electricity or Wi Fi or anything. So I ran to the center of the town where where I had purchased Wi Fi earlier in the day and praise God, that they had Wi Fi still, at night, I guess they leave the router Han. And there was no cell phone service in the town either. It was up in the mountains and super rural farm country. But so I was praying the whole time as I’m running there, praying the whole time call my mom, we prayed together. I did some googling. Turns out there was no good prognosis that I could find there was no like, oh, this will go away. No, it was like this is this could be a heart problem. This could be a permanent issue, you need to get medical advice, immediately medical attention. And so Okay, so I’m praying and faith and a couple of scriptures came to my mind, as I’m praying Ephesians 616 that says that the shield of faith protects against all the fiery darts of the evil one, the shield of faith. And so then I was like, Okay, well, we pray in faith in Jesus name, that you would completely heal this young man’s eye, and that not only would he have vision here, but this would be a testimony of his whole life, that he would have vision and clarity, where other people are unable to see he would be able to see. And those were the kinds of prayers I prayed over my son as we’re, as my mom and I are figuring out next steps and so Okay, so I need to immediately get my son medical attention, because that’s clearly the only only thing that would be prudent to do. So I ran back over to where my husband was, as I’m praying the whole time, and I told him, and he’s like, Well, the, you know, the clinic in our town is closed, and the closest hospitals probably like a 45 minute drive away. So that’s a big deal. And at the time, we didn’t have a car. So we would have to wake some people up that we know that do have cars, and they would take us. But we decided, why don’t we wake him up? And let him? Let’s just see how it is because we prayed, you know, we prayed in faith that God would heal him. Let’s let’s see what he did. Let’s see what God did. And woke my son up and asked him, you know, he’s sleepy, so he doesn’t want to be awake. And we asked him, we put them on one side of the room, and I covered the good eye. And I asked him to go back to bed. And he navigated around a couple of different things. But he walked straight back to the bed, being able to see in that blind eye. So my husband and I rejoiced, we thanked God, we praise God, I ran back to the Wi Fi place. And I called my mom and we praise God, we we thanked him again. I remember one thing that was on my mind was the story of the lepers. Do you remember there’s a story in the in the Bible where Jesus healed 10 lepers they came to him, they asked him for healing. He said, Go wash in this particular water and then go present yourself to the priests. They all did that. They were all healed.
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Only one of those lepers returned to thank Jesus Only one. And Jesus said wasn’t there wasn’t there nine others that were healed. And I only see one here. And then Jesus said, Your faith has healed you. And that’s what is really key to me is that sometimes we pray, we fast, we stand on the scripture, and God does it. And we don’t go back to think him. We don’t go back to share the testimony, we don’t go back to make sure that miracle was credited to God. That’s a big deal. Every miracle that God has done in your life, make sure that God is the one that gets the credit. Make sure that you’re sharing this amazing news with others of God’s glory and goodness and kindness and the fact that he does miracles even now. So that was my prayer with my mom. And then I spent some time emailing those that pray for the ministry that have told me over the years that they pray for me, and they pray for the people listening and they pray. So I, I sent them an email to just say thank you for praying and standing with with dy M, I want to share this incredible testimony. And, and that’s what I spent, you know, time in the middle of the night doing, and just so that God would get the glory. And I ran back again to my home just rejoicing, thinking God. In the morning, I asked my son, how was I was, and he said, it’s so good, because we prayed. And it wasn’t even read. There was no pain, there was no water leakage, like the night before, there was no symptom at all of the previous day’s blindness. And again, when I searched on Google, there was no, like, I searched things like temporary loss of sight, there was no, it was not an option. This was a flat out miracle that God did. But I want you to know, I was so motivated to ask in faith for prayer, and change and dramatic transformation from God, because it was a crisis. Because my son could have lost his sight for the rest of his life. This was a crisis. So I want to invite you to use the crisis that’s going on in your life. If you’re listening to this in the present, then we’re dealing with Coronavirus if you’re listening this to this in the future, you’re dealing with some other crisis, I’m sure but use this crisis to bring glory to God. Not sure if you’ve heard the phrase it goes something like there’s no atheists in foxholes, which is basically saying the people that are at the front lines, you know, risking their lives. In the times of war. They’re all praying for God’s safety and protection. You’re not an atheist. In a crisis, we are looking for the higher power to protect us, even if for many people, intellectually, they can’t get behind the fact that there’s a God and that there is a creative force that created everything on this planet. And he deserves worship and honor and praise and Jesus sent His Jesus came to the earth so that we could be in communion with Him. Plenty of people can’t get behind that until they’re in a crisis. And there is no other choice but to turn to something greater than themselves. So I want to invite you in this crisis to be the leader to be the one that says you know what? I can have hope I can have peace. My faith is strong. I stand on the rock in the midst of the storm. I am calm. Just like Jesus in the midst of the the storm where even fishermen are freaked out thinking that everyone’s gonna die. Jesus is on a cushion, sleeping.
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He’s resting. When they woke them up. And Jesus, I think Jesus wasn’t mad about being woken up. I don’t think that was the problem. It was the fear that they brought to Jesus rather than Jesus. Jesus help us with this. We asked for your help in this it was Jesus. Don’t you care? We’re all gonna die. I think that’s the kinds of prayers God wants, prayers of faith, that he would help us that he would destroy this, this virus that he would protect those we love, that he would keep those that are vulnerable to the the market, having crashing and the, you know, hourly wages that are being cut because of different things needing to be closed. And, Lord, we ask that you would put your hand of protection, and guide the leadership and guide the people that are empowered to help others. That those are the kinds of prayers of faith. And you know what God is going to bring us through this, and he will get the glory. And that is our discipline, our responsibility, that we don’t go get cleaned. We’re not one of those lepers that don’t come back to Jesus and say, Thank you, you’re the one that did this. But right now, your prayers, you’re reaching out, you’re crying out to God in faith, because he is a big God. And he can do a lot more than we can with our worrying and sitting on our, our hands. There’s a quote that I looked up just this morning, and I don’t actually have the reference. So I’m sorry about that. But it says worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles. It takes away today’s piece. I want to invite you to be the influencer in your circles that brings peace and faith and provokes people to turn to Jesus in a crisis. God is the one that can handle it all. And you know what, even if we have 60 7080 years left on this earth, even if that is still a snap of the fingers, that is still a vapor in the wind that is still, you know, flowers of the field here today gone tomorrow, no matter how long our life is, it is brief. So whether the Coronavirus is going to take us or not, no matter what our time here is fleeting, so don’t waste this crisis to impact those that need to hear the love of Christ, that need to be encouraged that you can have faith that you can reach out to God for His mercy for His grace, for his comfort for his peace, for his guidance for his leadership, for the relationship with Him even now, what can you do? You know, a lot of people are off of work, you’ve got a lot more time to impact a lot more people. You know, when I started this podcast, it was a side time as a part time gig for years. And now by God’s grace, it’s impacting hundreds of 1000s around the world in 155 different countries. But it wasn’t because I invested a bunch of money. In fact, my first microphone, it’s a really funny picture. Literally was balanced on a oatmeal box, because I didn’t have money to invest in in getting a big to do or what have you it was. And what I would edit my podcast with was, was the computer I had at the time, which was this tiny little thing that I would have to edit. I just learned I learned it all by by googling things. I did not pay anything to learn this stuff. It was free. So I just want to invite you, maybe God wants to launch Ministries for you right now. Maybe a podcast, maybe a YouTube channel, maybe social media, blah, blah, whatever a Social Media Group, people need support right now. And you’ve got time. You can be the one that’s helping and loving and supporting. You can be the one that’s being the influencer. You can start an email chain, an email list where you’re sending out email updates of of Scripture and encouragement and prayers. You can help people you can be a leader right now. No one has to pick you quote, you can pick yourself to be the help and support and guidance you can you can create a phone chain of praying
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on a daily basis you can invite everyone you know, to to pray at three o’clock in the afternoon to join a FaceTime that everyone’s going to pray on your on your phone list. You can invite everyone via text message. I mean, there are so many things you can do as one individual right now be a leader in this time. Don’t numb yourself and act like victim. Don’t numb yourself and act like a victim. God has made you more than conquerors. This is an opportunity for you to lead and support and love and turn people towards Jesus. Right now you have time to have perspective on what’s going on in this world. Right now you have time to step back and say, Wow, I mean, are we really on a mud ball? Circling and spinning around the Sun at a, however, million miles an hour? That’s not true. But, you know, there’s got to be more than this. Give people perspective that they need that they need right now. Dive into the word dive into apologetics. Help your own faith to grow. You have time to learn and implement dredge up things on the internet that you’ve never read before to learn more about your faith to be able to be that leader to be able to guide people towards Jesus. Stop dredging up Coronavirus, fear stuff, that’s not actually going to help you, you probably no, you have to wash your hands, you probably know you should boost your immune system. I’m a big proponent of gut bacteria, healthy gut bacteria. So we eat a lot of fermented stuff and raw garlic and that kind of thing. So if you want to learn about that fine, but now it now is an opportunity for you to serve others that let that be your legacy. Let that be the thing that matters most in this season. Now, I want to also invite you to be the one in your marriage that brings peace that brings shalom, be the one that starts prayers between you and your wife and your kids. If you have kids, be the one that starts the prayers be the one that prays for your spouse’s encouragement and peace and strength. Be the one that has faith that God is going to lead you through this. You are not alone. You are not alone. Now is a time to be intentional about your lovemaking right when we don’t feel like it because we’re in this state of negative and fear and that kind of thing. This is the opportunity to apply your will. And to decide I’m going to enjoy myself for a half an hour or an hour, however long you have, which you have plenty of time probably now. So enjoy yourself. serve your spouse, enthusiastically make love, engage with them. Help them help this season, to be easier for them. Help this season to be easier for them. Love them well in this season so that they can love others. Well also love them the way that they receive love. So if you’re a wife, make love passionately and enthusiastically. If you’re a husband, listen to your wife’s heart and her thoughts lead spiritually that makes her feel safe. So let me pray for you. Father. I believe that you work all things together for good for those who love you and your calls according to your purposes. I believe every single person listening fits in that category, Lord, you have called them. They are called according to your purposes. Father, and I pray right now you would provoke love in their heart for you, God that you are doing things we don’t understand, but you are definitely doing things. We trust you God, our circumstances do not release our faith. We hold fast to our faith we stay on the rock in the midst of the storm. Lord, we trust you. And Father I pray in Jesus name that you would end this Coronavirus father, I asked for those around the world, Lord that are suffering.
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I pray God that you would heal them. I pray that things would stabilize. I ask Father for those that are concerned about their wages of hourly workers. Lord, I pray for money to open up for them. I pray God that people would be generous to help others. Father, I ask Lord that people would turn to you. They would turn to you for hope. They would turn to you for peace. They would turn to you for steady hearts and minds. Lord, I ask God that there would be a shift in culture, Lord, to love you better to be more resolute in our pursuit of the fruits of the Spirit. Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. God, I asked that your followers would exhibit those fruits in this time that people are really looking for good leadership. Lord, I ask that everyone listening to my voice would be standing up as a good leader, even if it’s a temporary thing that they’re going to start right now, as they have some extra time. Help them to know how to do it and just to start, start by encouraging start by loving start by pointing people to have faith in you, Lord, start by praying for others. Lord, I ask for your grace. To bring people to love you better in Jesus name, in Jesus name. In Jesus name, amen. Awesome, well, again, don’t waste this crisis. God is a good God and he is still on his throne. He has not given up control. I pray that you would be led by Him, you would be encouraged that you would move you would act. By loving others well, by encouraging them by being the voice that invites them to know Jesus that invites them to be stable and steady. And to trust that God is doing awesome things, even now. Even now, he is not far. He is intimately aware. And he cares about you. He cares about your family. And I believe he is with you in this. Love your spouse well during this time. Thank you so much for listening and joining me. I am sending email updates more frequently, just so I can, again encourage you and invite you to dig in during this time. So feel free to sign up you can go to delight your marriage.com you can sign up if you are needing some encouragement to stay present. While you’re making love. I’d love to offer you those eight tips to remain present. So just go to delight your marriage.com/present It’s a free gift for you and you’ll automatically be signed up on my email newsletter if you do do that. God bless you thanks for listening in. Please share this if you feel like this would be helpful for someone that you know and love. And also if you would be willing to add an iTunes review or wherever you listen to podcasts, add a review. Five Star Review and rating would be very appreciated by me. And God bless you. I look forward to our next conversation. Love you. Bye