This episode is supported in part by the Christian Standard Bible, a translation designed to be faithful to the original text and clear for everyday readers. We're grateful for their partnership in helping bring gospel-centered content to families like yours. To learn more about the CSB, visit csbible.com. Hey, we just wanted to give you a heads up before you listen to this next program. Today's conversation on Family Life Today is a little sensitive.
Maybe a little bit. We're covering some important subjects, but I'm just going to be honest with you, it might not be suitable for younger ears.
So we're encouraging you as parents, just like we are parents, use discretion when listening to this next broadcast. It's good stuff, but you might think, I don't think my kids should hear this. But if they do. Yeah, make sure you have that conversation. conversation with them and talk about it if they do listen to it.
Yeah, that's what you need to do as a parent. Don't just listen to it and then move on. Like, okay, let's have a conversation afterwards because you're going to have a lot of thoughts and a lot of questions. All right, let's jump into it. Dealing with the father wound is crucial.
It's key. I mean, it's the key designation of the identity of God is father. Jesus referred to God as Father in the first person, and in John they wanted to kill him. They said that he was committing blasphemy because he was doing that.
So he gives us a new picture of who God is. And when he tells us to pray, the first words are, our Father. Welcome to Family Life Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Ann Wilson. And I'm Dave Wilson, and you can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com.
This is Family Life Today. All right, we've got another great day for you with Rick Altizer and the Register star. You're gonna love this day, and you're gonna be inspired, and you might just cry.
So, let's go. These words, God, give me a people and a purpose for my life. I've prayed that prayer, but I didn't say the people. That was the purpose for my life. the people part like whoa who are my people who are what's my purpose That's really interesting.
And I think listeners are probably thinking, I still don't know what mine is. What would you say to them? How do you direct them when they're saying, like, do I pray that prayer? What's that look like? Yeah, I love that.
I mean, one of my most favorite parts of my ministry now is to the Christian people and to help women find their calling and then be obedient to that. God says, love God, love people, right? And so I was, my dad drilled that into my heart and head, and it came out of my hands. And so, what I would say to people that have maybe prayed, God, give me a purpose, is that that's good. That's a great.
godly prayer. But I think in the kingdom of God, and when we have been given and we've discovered God's mercy for ourselves and our salvation, and he's given that to us. How do we take what God has done in our hearts and move it to our hands? And what is that going to be to? That's going to be to other people.
Because there's nothing in this life that we can take into eternity except, you know, except for. the people that we were able to lead to Christ. And so I just think that that my encouragement to anybody would start praying it. Don't be scared of it, you know. Like I said, I was willing to go anywhere, and God said, No, you're gonna go three miles from your house.
And now that Skirl Hope is across the nation, he continues to say, Go here. And we listen, we go there, and then God does a great work. And so, um, it's just the best thing you could ever do.
Now, why is it called Scarlet Hope? I tell everyone when I share the story: I was not called to start a non-profit organization, he just said, Go and share my love. But about six months in, we were helping just so many women with housing and physical needs and groceries and all these things. And my church was so, my church at the time that we were there, my husband was on staff, was so kind and generous to help. But the elders had come to me and said people started writing Checks to say strip club ministry for Rochelle and put them in the offering plate.
And they said, We can't really, you know, keep doing this. We'll help you start a 501c3.
Well, those were foreign words to me.
So, fast forward, I actually had said no, thank you and went about my way. But a CPA that was an elder at our church came up to me and he said, I heard about the work that you are doing. I'm going to pay for your 501c3. I'm going to do it for you and I'm going to submit it. I just want to, I need to know the name of your ministry.
I said, well, I don't have a name. And he said, well, when God gives that to you, let me know. This was on a Sunday morning.
So, Sunday night, I'm reading in scripture, and I'm reading the end of Matthew where Jesus was stripped of his clothing. He was beaten, he was mocked, he was spit on, and they put a scarlet robe on him.
Now, Back when the Lord gave me my people, my purpose that day I was driving, it was always bring the gospel hope to these people. But I didn't know exactly why did they need hope? You know, I truly did not understand. And so as I'm reading the scripture, it was like Jesus brought it to life and was, and I had already been in the clubs for six months and I had seen people with bruises head to toe, had women be spit on. I saw a man spit on a woman.
And I just saw this visual of God covering those women and me with this scarlet robe, which represented his blood, and it covers everything.
So I ran into my husband's office and I said, the name is Scarlet Hope. And he goes, let's pray about that. And I was like, no, it's Scarlet Hope, you know? But we submitted it to prayer. And.
On Thursday that week, so four days later, we go to the club for our meal, you know, our regular show, 9 p.m. meal at the club. And we had brought this night the best meal that you could ever. I mean, it's truly a southern meal. Fried chicken, baked mac and cheese, rolls, pie, green beans.
By the way, you don't go to a restaurant. You make this. Yes. And I have volunteers all over now that make it, but I was making it at this time.
So we brought this delicious meal and we set it up. And I see a woman across the club. And this time we weren't in the dressing room. It's too small.
So we were out in the open. And this woman comes staggering into the club. She has a blue sweater on. It's kind of draping off of her shoulder. She has jeans on in a bag.
And I thought to myself, either she's a patron here or she's. coming to work.
So I just Beeline to her. And I said, Hi, my name's Rochelle. Would you like anything to eat? And she looks me dead in the face and she says, Well, Is it cost money? And I said, no, it's free.
And she said, Well, I This is my first like she didn't know what to do. She was stumbling all over words and tells me that she has five children at home that had not eaten in about a week. She was at the gas station and some she was trying to get beg for money and some guy said Lady, you should just go down to the strip club and get a job.
So she goes into the strip club. The manager says, well, you have to interview. You have to take off all your clothes.
So take them off. And she goes, I've never done this before, but I need to feed my kids.
So he says, Why don't you go get drunk at the bar next door, come back, and then interview?
Well, when she came back, was when we intersected. Come on. And we're standing there, and she says to me. I mean, yeah, I wanna eat and, you know, I can I take some to go and so I bring her over to the table, and my friends and I start serving her. And I had really never up to this point been around a true, like drunk person at this time.
And so when she started. We started giving her the mac and cheese. She took the spoon from us and started shoveling it into her mouth. And my friend leaned to me and said, She's probably going to throw up. She's like not even chewing the food.
And I said, Okay.
So I grab the pan, I go over, set it on a high top table. And as soon as I do that, she throws up all down the front of me. And I'm thinking, God, you have got to have a plan for this. This is not my idea of Ministry.
Well, she looks at me in her throw-up. It's on my hands. She grabs my hands. And let me just preface right here. We do not go in there with Bibles outwardly.
We do not go in there with church ladies' names on our shirts. We're. We show up with Jesus and we wait for the opportunity to speak the gospel, share the gospel. And in the beginning, that was very important because we were building trust.
So she didn't know I was a Christian. She had no idea where I was from. And she looks at me and she goes, Will you pray for me? She grabs my hands. We start praying.
She drops to her knees and she says, God, please, I don't want to do this. Please save me. Please give me hope. And There was that word and I thought. Yes, this is exactly, Lord, what we come here for.
So we're on our knees in the middle of a strip club with throw up on us, and the music goes off, the lights come up, and in my mind, I'm thinking, we're gonna get kicked out. And the manager comes over and he taps her on the shoulder. He says, You know what? He said, you can't work here. She goes, that's okay.
I don't want to work here. My team had boxed up all the food for her to take to her five kids. We were going to help her as soon as we left the clubs, and the next day. And we boxed that all up. And in the state of Kentucky, if someone is drunk in your club, the manager has to call her a cab.
So, I don't even think she had a vehicle. I didn't ask, but he says, Your cab's already waiting for you.
So, We pack it all up, we help her, we load her out to the car, and I looked at her and the cab window was down. I said, Hold on, hold on, I did not get your name. And she said, My name is Scarlett. And I Jess began to weep. And I said.
I'm standing on holy ground like Jesus is right here, right now. Saying this is exactly what I want you to do, and this is exactly where I'm at. The name was Scarlett Hope ever since then. And as a listener, you may feel like God doesn't see you, he doesn't know you, he doesn't care about you. He knows the number of hairs that are on your head.
He knows if your babies haven't eaten in five days. And All we have to do is say, God, help me. Give me hope. Amen. Yeah.
I think listeners are, this is what I'm thinking. I want to do that. I want to be a part of that. And I look at both of you. S And I think You're using all the gifts and passions that God's put in you.
And you're impacting people. How do you know? Either one of you. When you say God told me Yeah. There's some that are listening going, I've never in my life since that.
That strongly, or heard an audible voice, or such a nudge from the spirit that it wasn't a whisper, it was a nudge, it was a push. How do you know it's God? That comes from a relationship.
So When I'm familiar with someone Then I know what their voice sounds like when I know who they are. a shepherd and a sheep. The sheep know the shepherd's voice. Because they've spent time with him. Yeah.
You know, so someone who's come in and just speaks, you know, so This is, we're all on this process of sanctification. You know, we're justified when we're saved. And that's a one and done. And that's forever and ever and ever. And that's a work of God.
But the sanctification is this ongoing work where God is making us like Christ, and as He does that sanctifying work in us. We we were able to recognize his voice more. And so there are times when God will clearly speak to us or communicate to us in our hearts. Where we have this strong sense that But we recognize it. the more we know him.
So the more time we're in the word, the more abiding in the vine that we're doing. the more familiar we are. with who our father is. And we get to know our Father, and we know that we're known by Him. then we can hear him in a much more clear and profound way.
At an early age, you heard him clearly. We come up with these father wounds and we want to work to it and figure out the way, the magic way to do this. It's not a magic, there's nothing magic about it. It's about relationship. And so our Father will communicate to us as we get to know him and we know what his voice sounds like by knowing what his word says and knowing who he is, by spending time in his word, spending time in prayer, seeking him.
We uh we recognize his voice.
Well, it was interesting too, Rochelle, as you shared the story how you thought this was the name of it. but you submitted it to prayer with your husband. No, your husband made you submit it to you. We better pray first. But even that, like.
God's like, let me confirm and affirm that prayer and that word. Let me show you. And it was like he dramatically showed it. It's not always dramatic. But he did in that case.
What would you say to Dave's question? I agree with everything Rick said. I think, and I know this isn't everybody's story, especially watching this movie, you're gonna see like we all have father wounds and all of that, but my dad. leading by example. made it easier to Know when the Lord was speaking.
And yes, it was because I had my own relationship with the Holy Spirit and with the Lord, but. My dad Helped Guide me along my life and nurtured me to hear it.
So, when I did hear it for the first time, and again, that journey of praying and asking God for our people and a purpose was a couple of years. When I did finally hear it, I was like, yes, this confirms for me everything my dad had taught me that Jesus would do. It also lines up with scripture and the command to go into all the world and share the gospel. And it just, you know, so to your point, it's. It's like a muscle.
The more you use it, the more you hear it, the more you seek it, the more you'll find it. And God does not ever. Ever Withhold from his children.
So, yes, it could be in a dramatic way or it could be in a very small way, but we've got to be attuned to it.
Okay, real quick, you gotta join us on the Love Like You Mean It Marriage Cruise February 13th to the 20th in 2027. You don't want to miss it. There's a sale going on right now through March 17th. This is the time to sign up. Go to familylifetoday.com and click on the banner, and we'll see you on the boat.
What do your kids and grandkids think about what you're doing? You have a 12-year-old son and a five-year-old son, Rochelle. Yeah. They know what you're doing. Do you talk about it?
Is this part of your discipleship piece with your kids? You know, with boys, it's a little harder because of what I do. But what my boys think I do every Thursday night, they say, Mommy's going to tell people about Jesus. And they've been involved in our kids' programs that we have and a lot of our community programs. What I want them to know and see is that.
We are called to share Jesus with everybody. And so we try to do that in other ways to teach them that. But I often. Teach my boys well, my 12-year-old, not my five-year-old, so much right now, is how to see women. The way God sees women and begin teaching them how to have that godly perspective in view.
Because in the world I minister in, I see both sides, right? I see the demand side, I see all of the men that come into these establishments and women, and we deal with a lot in the pornography world as well. And so I want to teach my boys to. Love God, love people. Will you share the story that you shared at lunch about the Las Vegas woman who received a text from your ministry?
Yeah, so our advocates, our volunteers sent a text message to about 250 people. And this one particular woman received that message, and she was in the process, literally in the process of committing suicide. And she had sent her suicide note to her family, and she was about To drink cyanide, and the text came in, and she, the text sounded like this: Hey girl, how are you today? Is there anything we can pray for you about? And she immediately said, Is this real?
And Our team is trained in suicide prevention. And they responded immediately and said, Yes, this is real. My name is Emily. I would love to, you know, talk with you. And she said, Well, I'm about to take my own life.
And so we proceeded through the process of helping her. You know, why was she doing that? What was she doing? Can we get her help? And through about two hours of conversating with her and finally getting her on the phone, we were able to get care to her at her house.
And it has been confirmed by all of the team that showed up that she had emailed her suicide note and she had. Had the things there to take her own life.
Now, this woman had been trafficked for many years. Her trafficker cast her out. She wasn't worth any money anymore. And so, you know, she didn't know how she was going to live. And she said, I just simply cannot keep doing this anymore.
People who are trained in, you know, Suicide prevention knows that from the time someone sends a note or a message to whomever, their family. To the time they take their life is five minutes. And our text message came within that five-minute window and ultimately saved her life. And now she's in counseling and therapy and care, and she's still alive today. And so is we finished today.
There's so many things that we can apply and understand and know. One, that God loves you, He cares about you, your calling. He has assignments for us. And I don't know about, I can tell that you guys are thinking, I don't want to miss any of those assignments. And so as a listener, what's there?
action plan, but what's something they could do? What what would you say, Rick? You know, obviously you go see the film. There's a free curriculum you can get that can help you with that. And we're also on our website offering uh discounted counseling services from a vetted counseling center of Christian counselors.
But I think that's important is to start to see.
Okay. When these things happen in my life, what is my response to God? What am I believing about God right now? And how is that tied with My own dad. And what I believe about myself.
Imparted into me in my own identity and self-worth.
Okay, Rochelle had this amazing dad who modeled Christ. What if I didn't have that dad? Who didn't model Christ to me? Who modeled to me that you're really not valuable and not worth my time and not worth you know for me to stick around for And then Is God like that?
So it's going to be different. that person. to hear from God. It's going to be different. Because there's so many things that are connected about what they think about God that's not true.
So it's unlearning because we're projecting these things on God.
So I think that this. Dealing with the father wound is crucial. It's key. I mean, it's the key designation of the identity of God is father. In John 14, the word father is mentioned 23 times in one chapter.
When Jesus calls God Father in the first person, he's the first rabbi ever. To refer to God in the first person as Father, we have Father in the Old Testament as a metaphor. The father of the nation, and you know, as a hen gathers her, you know, did they're metaphors for God. But Jesus referred to God as Father in the first person. And in John, they wanted to kill him.
They said that he was committing blasphemy because he was doing that.
So he gives us a new picture of who God is. And when he tells us to pray, the first words are, our Father. This is the key identity as you are his daughter, you are his son, and we're all sons of God in the sense of our inheritance. We all are. And This is gonna freak you out.
This is gonna blow your mind. God loves you. with the same love that he loved his son. Think about that. The same love he has for Christ is the love he has for you.
That is a life-changing. Just completely paradigm shifting truth.
So When I'm not there yet? It's going to be hard for me to know where I'm supposed to go. Because I'm not on the path yet. I'm dysfunctional orphan.
So I think The key, the key relationship is God as father. And once I can relate to him as father in a new, fresh way, that's healing and I find healing from my own father wound. I think I'm going to be much more likely now to be able to respond when a door closes. It's not going to be, there you are again, God. I knew you had it in for me.
I knew you were going to close the door because that's what dads do. As soon as I can get beyond that and see, oh, you're closing a door. Oh. You must have something for me. Because I know who you are, and I know that you're going to lead me and guide me, and I can trust you.
So it's just a different it's a different paradigm when you when you see it that way and different understanding. Then now I'm able to be led. And Rochelle got it early on. Because she had this amazing father who showed her that kind of... What a godly father is.
We can't heal what we don't acknowledge. We have to first acknowledge that there is something broken within us. And that there is no way to fix it except through Jesus, and that He absolutely can become our father, and we are His daughter. And then out of that, We can take steps for action. And so we love people to be a part of our ministry.
We have hundreds and hundreds of women, all that have father wounds, right? That have all been restored and redeemed by the blood of the lamb and now are bringing the message of the father to other people. 30 minutes ago, You said, Rochelle. God showed me my people and my purpose. We all have a people and a purpose.
And I think until we discover what that is, we're just sort of floundering alive. But when we discover that. We're on a legacy mission. You know what I mean? I always say make a dent where you're sent and people think Well, then you have to be sent, and you're sent, you're in a studio, you're a pastor, whatever.
Like, no, you're sent where you are.
So, wherever you are, God wants you to make a dent, make an impact. That's what you guys are doing.
So it comes from identity though, you know. My purpose is tied into my identity, knowing who I am. And I can't know who I am until I know who my father is. You know, that's where my identity comes. And again, it comes from outside of me.
It's given to me by Christ. It's not anything I have to earn or work to get. He calls me daughter. Go see the movie. Go see the movie Tuesday night, Tuesday day.
Wednesday night and Wednesday. And Wednesday. Two days only. Don't forget, go see it. Take your friend.
Take anybody. If you're in Michigan, come join us. We'll be there. The way this works is you got to buy a ticket. If you don't buy a ticket, this just doesn't work.
Yeah, that's just how it works. Yeah. You can buy tickets now, but yeah. Hecallsmedota.org and you can find the curriculum and other resources there. Thank you guys.
Thank you. Thank you both. It's been awesome. What if the questions you're too embarrassed to ask are the ones your marriage needs answered? Marriage After Dark is Family Life's newest podcast, where a real married couple talks openly about healthy, God-honoring sex.
Yes, the stuff you'd never ask your pastor or your friends. Yeah, so for more, go to familylife.com/slash marriage after dark because intimacy shouldn't stay. in the dark. Again, that's familylife.com slash marriage after dark. Family Life Today is a donor-supported production of Family Life, a crew ministry, 50 years of helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.
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