What Is Your Story?

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk the truth, Miss. I can't hide it. Oh yeah.

A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host.

Everyone has a story, and today we want to hear yours. Call us at 866-348-7884 and tell us your testimony. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. I'm Emily Curtis, the host of Hope in the Morning, where we share testimonies of trials transformed by hope. How has God transformed your story?

Again, call us at 866-366-666-866- 348-7884 and share your testimony with us. Today in the studio, I have two very dear friends, and they have incredible testimonies that they're going to share with us. I'm joined by Linda and Dave Blackburn. Thank you for joining me today in the studio. You're welcome.

You're welcome. And I want to start off with you, Dave, of just in a nutshell, kind of what your testimony is. Oh. It's Probably not much different than a lot of people. I was born in.

Texas and I was raised in the Presbyterian church as a As a youngster, I went through confirmation And then I hit my say my teen years and my weekends were taken up by hunting and fishing. um got involved into the rodeo aspect of the country there. Cited I joined the Navy. And God never left me. But I would leave God.

And In times of Need He was always there. And it took quite a while for me to see the uh True sin in my life. Calls I was the idol. My wife was an idol for me. It took some rather rough family issues to rays r come up that would Maybe realize that the only hope That we truly have is in Jesus.

And that's when I I turned my my heart turned. to him. For all things. How old were you? Oh.

Probably forty Oh, easily 40, 42.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, you know, it wasn't like early. You know. I mean, I mean, I look at people that go to church and They seem like they've lived the perfect life all their lives, you know.

And I didn't, you know. Yeah. Well, and the reality is, most of us haven't, right? Even if it looks on the surface like you're living the perfect life. It's just that some sins are more outward than others, and so you don't see it, but the heart is still there, whether it is turning away from God outwardly or just.

Inwardly. I think it's interesting how you had said that God kind of brought you into some dark seasons, some hard things that you went through for you to realize that you needed Christ, that he was the light, basically the source of hope that you had in all these things. And if you're listening right now, we want to hear what your source of hope was amidst your darkness, how you came to faith. And you're going to call us at 866-348-7884.

So when you first came to faith, did you then share the gospel with your wife, Linda? She knew the gospel. I knew the gospel. We were both. Two peas in a pot as far as being two sinners living together.

Easy way of saying it. Yeah. So Linda, wha what's your what's your Coming to Faith story?

Well, let's see. Um I grew up with my parents didn't take me to church, but my grandmother and my aunt did, and she was like my mentor. Um Yeah, so we didn't go to church all the time, but they would take us, and I. Remember that BBS, you know, when you're a kid. And then again, in my teens, Um Yeah, I didn't go to church that much.

I was in the German Bugle Corps, and then we traveled a lot with that, and it was all girls. Um and then after graduation um from high school. I just started working. That was my whole thing. I just wanted to work.

And then, um Yeah, I didn't live a very good life. I really didn't. I was abused uh sexually uh as a young girl. Um so that really did a number on me but Um I have to say that I still In spite of that, I give God all the glory. I really do, because I wouldn't be the person I am today.

If it were not For the things that he has brought me through. Not that it was a joy to go through them, but. to look back in my life I can honestly say that I I can see God's hand in my life the whole time. Yeah. And even when I met Dave, I went to Hawaii, and that's where I met Dave.

And. We we ended up talking over coffee and um He was getting ready to go out to sea and be gone for six months. And I lived in New Jersey. He was actually from Texas, but. In God's providence he brought us together, and I knew when I was When I met him, That we were going to be together forever, and it's been 46 years.

Oh, yeah, so praise God for that, you know? Yeah. So, in the interim of all of that, um, We have grown together. And yeah, we didn't live together. We thought, you know, I thought about it.

Dave said, no, we're going to get married. And so I'm like, okay, you know, so I packed up February 2nd or February 4th, I think, when we went back to Hawaii. And we started our lives together. And it It hasn't been easy because he was a sub-mariner and he was gone, worked a lot of hours, and raising two children and It was hard, but Again. I never lost my faith.

Um God was always with me. Always. Even now, I still give God the glory. Yeah. How long had you guys been married when when you came to faith?

Did you guys come to faith around the same time as one another? I think so when we actually Turn back to the Lord. It's through.

Some difficulties, family difficulties. About the same time. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

It's not like She had to drag me along, or I had to drag her along. No, it was mutual. Yeah, for sure. That's a wonderful thing when the Lord does that because not everybody has that. And no, you know, it's one of those things where I love hearing testimonies like this because we all have turned our backs on God at times and we've all gone astray like sheep, and yet he doesn't leave us or forsake us.

You know, there's that song that says, He will hold me fast. Oh, I love that song. I love that. I love that song because who among us, if we're honest, cannot relate to those lyrics? You know, when my faith will fail, you will not.

You will never leave me nor forsake me. And there's such a comfort in that, in knowing that He's a good father, that He desires restoration with us. And we want to hear your testimony as well. If you've gone through a season where you had walked away from the Lord, where the Lord was not on the throne of your heart, and then He turned it around and He transformed your ashes and brought beauty and a testimony out of it. We want to hear it.

So call us at 866-348-7884 to share your testimony. And going forward, we're going to talk to when we come back from the break in a minute, we're going to talk about. How God often leads us into ministry or at least into unique opportunities to share the gospel because of the hardships that He has sent us through. Absolutely. You know, we talk about that on my show, Hope in the Morning.

We talk about that a lot. How God, God is a redeeming God. And so He will not leave us in those ashes. And He really does bring beauty forth from them, especially when we're willing to share those testimonies. And so.

When we share our testimony with other people, it makes them realize me too. I'm not forever lost. I'm not too far gone. Absolutely. For God's grace.

Yeah. For God's grace. And so when we come back, I wanna hear not only from our listeners, but I wanna hear from Linda and Dave. I wanna hear from you guys how the Lord used the different things and trials that you had gone through to put burdens for other people on your heart and a compassion in your heart to make you realize, you know what? This is someone that the Lord deeply loves and wants to know.

So we want to hear your testimony. Call us at 866-348-7884. That's 866-34 TRUTH. Truth, dark, line. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.

Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God. We want to hear your testimony.

We want to hear how God transformed you, maybe took you out of some of these sins that the Lord clearly says with these sins when we are dead in our sins, we will not inherit the kingdom of God. But formerly, such were some of us, such were all of us, really. And yet, through the blood of Christ, He has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the domain of light.

So, call us with your testimony at 866-348-7884. And we're going to continue here in studio with Dave and Linda Blackburn. And we are talking about our testimonies and how God Redeems. God redeems our sorrows. And it's the difference between us feeling like we have to hide the shame of what we came from versus being willing and able and even sometimes excited to proclaim all that God brought us from and through.

So How would you guys say that the Lord has uniquely Equipped each of you to minister to different people groups based on what he has pulled you out of in your own testimonies. Can I start with you, Linda? Sure.

Well, I think the first time that I gave my testimony was when we lived in Florida. and afterwards I had three women older than myself. come up to me in tears. and said that the same thing happened to them. but they never shared it.

And and now they felt comfortable They were Christian women, who have held that in for so long.

So I was very thankful. I give the Lord the credit for that, that I was able to do that and have them. be able to be free of that.

So when you speak about it, The Lord does bring others down your path. that you can share that with and pray with them.

So that kind of leads into our What we do now, we're in the Christian Motorcyclist Association, so um. We go to Myrtle Beach Bike Week and we are have a table there and women just come up to this table. And it's amazing how many women come. And you just start talking with them and ask them, how can I pray for you? And boy, the Lord just opens them up.

And then I share my testimony with them and they share nine times out of ten. It's the same thing that I have been through myself. Wow. Yeah, it's amazing. It really is.

Wow. Yeah. That's incredible. And I think you brought up a good point is the fact that many people feel like these need to be hidden things, especially things like sexual abuse because they feel like there's somehow a shame in it for you. But that's not how God wants us to live.

God does not shame us for those things, but Satan does. Satan wants to whisper in your ear, no one wants to hear that. What are they going to think of you if they hear that? But those are lies and it entraps you in this cycle of darkness of feeling isolated. And I appreciate you so much being willing to share that aspect of your ministry and your own testimony and how the Lord has used that for you to speak into the lives of other women.

And Dave, going to you, what are some things that you think the Lord, looking back now, you can say, wow, I can see how the Lord took that, what I thought was just. You know, just Something that he couldn't redeem, and yet here he's using it for his glory, he's using it for me to be able to share the gospel in a more unique way. Oh I think when you look at Mm. Moving. Seven times in our merge.

Excuse me. And in that process that was seven diff that was seven different people groups that you were associated with. There were several several instances of suicide and and unfortunate deaths and Yeah. came along with all that and you had to deal with those situations. And By the time we got married I was kind of up into the senior enlisted ranks.

So I had people that I had to counsel or counsel or talk to. And it was always best to go back to the biblical truths. I mean, we were in Florida I was having one student who was having a real hard time about being in the military and Oh, it justified and, you know, and went into Psalms for for David, you know. Was in there, you know, and asking the Lord to strengthen his hands for battle. And it just helps.

And same thing, it gets, you know. one individual's wife committed suicide, so I'd go through that process with him. And that's that was the whole issue: is you know, trying to get them to turn their sorrows then. everything over to the Lord and and rely upon him. and not themselves and not people around them, but, you know.

put their trust fully in him. Yeah, I think Those of us that that did grow up in the church, I think that that actually becomes Oftentimes part of our testimony is because we do Fully rely on ourselves, our good works so often. And so, you know, I've heard people say before, I don't have this big, elaborate testimony. And because they didn't go through, you know, really trying things, they didn't go through drugs, or they weren't, you know, alcoholics, or they weren't promiscuous, those sorts of things. And so they think, I don't have much of a testimony.

But even for those listening right now, we all have a testimony. And it's every one of them is incredible. It doesn't matter where it came from because what an incredible thing for God to look at our sin. Take it upon himself and call us clean. And so, if you have any testimony, we want to hear it at 866-348-7884.

And You know, I like I grew up in the church. I grew up in a really great Bible teaching expository church. And I very much walked away from the faith when I, and oddly enough, one of the things that drove me away for a time was learning about. God's sovereignty, you know, and predestination. I did not like that.

And part of that, honestly, was the fact that I felt like I had said the sinner's prayer all of these times, and my life never changed, and so. I started thinking, oh, I guess he doesn't want me. I guess that's why my life hasn't changed. And so it created in me a bitterness. And here I was only 12 years old.

But you know, I I come from a broken family and I think that Oftentimes, when that happens, at least for me, and I've heard from many other girls, especially like this, when that happens, You kind of have this like deep-seated feeling of rejection that's there already in your heart, and so I think that I was very sensitive when I heard that doctrine of just like, oh, this means God might not want me, which is not what that means. This is, you know, this is the eye through the eyes of a 12-year-old. hearing these truths for the first time, but For a season, it really did have the opposite impact on me because I thought, okay, if God doesn't want me, then I don't want him. And even at 12 years old, I remember telling my mom, like, I don't want anything to do with Christianity. I want nothing to do with God.

And really turned my heart away and began a very rebellious road for myself. Um And, you know, even at that young age, you know, be I did become involved in drugs and the wrong crowds. And, you know, I mean, my poor mom was terrified of what I was going to become. And It has to be a working of the Lord. And that's the incredible part of all of our testimonies is it really has nothing to do with us.

It's not that we somehow got our lives together enough. And and so we were acceptable in God's sight. And There's also, there's nothing that we can do to thwart his love, which. Is incredible. You hear these testimonies of these men and women, men and women, even who have ended up incarcerated because of their sins, and yet.

You're not too far gone to be redeemed. Maybe this is your testimony. Maybe you've got a testimony of sharing with us how God pulled you out from just the utter muck and mire. Call us at 866-348-7884 and share your story with us. Again, it's 866-34TRUTH.

Truth talk line. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. I'm Emily Curtis and I am joining you today with Linda and Dave Blackburn and we're talking about our testimonies.

So we want to hear your testimony. We want you to call in at 866-348-7884 and tell us how God brought you from darkness into light. We all have a story and we want to hear what yours is.

So we were talking about how the Lord not only saved you both really around your 40s, but you guys are both parts of a really neat ministry, a ministry that honestly, I've never heard anything quite like it. It's called the Christian Motorcyclist Association. And so you both are motorcycle riders, which I think is pretty cool. And I'm sure, I'm sure all of your kids and grandkids and everyone thinks that's cool. And, you know, those of you that are listening on the radio, you can't see them, but they look like very prim and proper people.

You would never think that they're these motorcycle riding people.

So they're. Hip too, right? Yeah. But what does that look like as far as you said that you have a table that you guys set up there, but like, where do you go? How often do you go?

What if other people want to get involved in your ministry?

Okay, right now our Prime Ministry is like once a year. Byrtle Beach. And we go to North Byrtle Beach to the Harley Davidson store And the CMA Christian Motorcyclist Association chapter there. sets a booth and a table up. And over the course of years we, you know, gave away hot dogs and then delivered Bibles and texts and tracts and talked and prayed and It it's an interesting situation, you know.

Linda was talking about uh the women. Yeah. We were headed for there one mornin', and we saw this lady go by on this real pretty trike. And We called up and we were on her left side, we were waving and kind of talking. Linda's telling her to come by the booth.

Well, later that day, her son showed up and he came to the booth and he wanted a ladies' bag. And Linda said, Well, you know, who's it for? And he pointed and he said, That's for my mom He said, Oh no, she has to come get it.

Well, we didn't realize it, but she had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident years before, and she had a prosthetic leg.

Okay. And that's why she was riding a trike.

Okay. Um Every now and then you'll see serva outlaw bikers uh friend of ours from uh upstate new the the thing the beauty of it is you know It's not like your little church family or groups, I mean you have Friends From all over the country. I mean, Western. It's international.

Okay. And it's international. Like last year at the ball game, when we were listening to the children's choir sing. Yeah. Uh Carrie said, Hey, uh I want you to meet It's the two missionaries from Ireland.

Yeah. And he's our motorcycle rider.

So I turned around and looked at him and you know and he said something. You know, explained we were from this Christian Motor Cyclist Motorcyclist Association.

Well, it turns out his youth minister We knew him personally. Oh, how funny. Because we had gone to Ireland to their rally. To their rally one year. Nice.

We used to go to Washington, D.C. to Rolling Thunder every year and serve up there. uh praying, you know, uh passing out texts, tracts. giving water, food. We're talking about over a million people.

Wow. And I mean, it took they started letting motorcycles out about eight o'clock in the morning and they didn't finish until four in the afternoon.

So we would, and it's out in the Pentagon parking lot, so there's no water or anything.

So we would get water and walk around that whole Pentagon parking lot just serving water. And they were so appreciative. Yeah. So appreciative. And just asking, how can we pray for you?

It is just amazing how the Lord just opens up those doors.

So we are. We are his voice here on earth. We really are. And what an honor it is to praise him in that way. Have you guys found that they're pretty receptive in that group to the gospel?

Some are, some aren't.

Okay. When they see, like, there's another couple that used to go to some of the rallies every year, every year. And some of the hardcore bikers would come up and say, you guys never change. You never change. And that's the thing with Christianity, you don't.

You don't change. You're you're just one way and it's the truth of the gospel. Yeah. Well, and being willing to reach out into groups that are outside of our church, maybe even for some of us outside of our comfort zone, you know, because I'm sure amongst these people are probably some pretty rough guys and maybe even some rough girls. But, you know, people that maybe not a lot of people have the gumption to go and speak to them, let alone speak the gospel to them.

Especially when you're going up to them and just saying, Hey, how can I pray for you? There are a few things. Less like there, there's few things more disarming than that because it shows a compassion and a care for somebody other than yourself that they're probably not used to getting a lot, especially now. You know, it's like so many people. Are so preoccupied with self that they don't take the time to say, Hey, how can I care for you right now?

And again, if you've got a testimony to share with us, please call in. It's 866-348-7884. That's 866-34TRUTH. And we want to hear your testimony. Again, we all have one.

Everybody has a story of how God brought them from darkness into light. And we want to hear what yours is.

So, going forward, if people wanted to join that ministry, the Christian Motorcyclist Association, How could they do that?

Well there's two ways. You know, uh there's a local chapter in uh Winston, Salem. which meets up in Mount Erie, and there's a chapter that meets In Greensboro Over By the Convention Center, there's another chapter, it meets down to Salisbury. Easiest way to do it is go to the website netcma. USA dot org.

And you'll go through the prompts. And you will find find a chapter. You click find a chapter, you click your state. It'll open it up, show you all the chapters in the eight you can Click on the chapter, it'll give you the pr chapter's president, vice president, secretary, treasurer. It will give you their name and phone numbers and contact information.

It will give you the times and dates of the meetings and Okay. Have you guys personally seen people come to know the Lord? Through that ministry? Yeah. Is that a pretty incredible experience?

It is. It is. Yeah. Do you guys, when that happens, when you guys. make these contacts and share your faith and people say, yes, I want to come to know the Lord as well.

What does the next step look like for them as far as like, do you help them find a church? Does the CMA help them find a good local church? From our standpoint, you know, CMA is a parachurch ministry, so. You have Different Religions. Religion not religions, but you have different sects, different domin denominations.

In one case of one young man in Myrtle Beach We spent Hmm. When he came he came to accept Christ We looked and I looked and I went online and nine marks and Everywhere, you know, and actually ended up calling a church there in Myrtle Beach. Yeah, finding him a church and found him a church so he could go. Speak to a pastor, you know. And have a place to go.

So, you know, it's not like, you know, hallelujah, you know, hallelujah, you've accepted the Lord. It's like, If you're really going to do it right, you have to say, okay, now we need to find you a good church. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Not let them find a. A church on their own, but try to find them a good church. Yeah. Well, and part of that, again, for our listeners, part of that is because you don't even know if they will. Maybe they don't even know where to start looking, let alone what kind of church they could get into.

But that's part of our job when we're sharing the gospel: share the gospel, but don't just leave them there. You know, it's almost like no, I mean, it's like having a newborn. You know, it's like if you give birth to a newborn, it needs that milk, it needs that nurturing, or it will never grow, let alone thrive, it won't. And so, as believers that are sharing the gospel with others, and if we have, if we have the joy of seeing them come to faith, that's the next step is then helping them find a church where they can get fed spiritually. Have you guys remained in contact with some of those people that you have met from time to time?

There's a few that I have. Yeah, some of the women. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's so neat.

Now you go to you go to Myrtle Beach. I think we've been doing it for Long time. Probably longer than 10 years or so.

Okay. Um. and I'll be out standing by the booth and Somebody will walk by that I don't remember or recognize, and they go, Oh, you're back again.

Okay. Yeah. There's a lot to be said for consistency, too. I know when I was younger and used to go to Croatia, I went to Croatia on a missions trip and they actually spoke to us and said, you know, what's most impactful is when the same people come back.

Well, our team made a decision. We're going to be that team that comes back. And our same team went back four years in a row. And so we got to know these people. And then some people from that team actually went back and served there for years at a time.

Wow. And, but that's what makes these people realize: okay, you're the real deal. You're not going to just. come and then go. I can actually, I can share more with you.

When people feel like they know you, they feel more confident to share things with you and share vulnerably with you because they know you're not going anywhere. You're coming back again. They'll see you again. And if you've got a testimony of how, maybe you have a testimony of how someone brought you to the Lord, how they went out of their comfort zone and shared the gospel with you, we want to hear it. It's 866-348-7884.

Again, that's 866-34TRUTH. We want to hear your testimony of how the Lord. Took you from that darkness into the light. And when we come back, too, we're going to talk a little bit about how we can share the gospel with our children because that's something that not all of us have children, but many do. And even if you don't have children of your own, many of us know children.

There's children in the church. There's ways that we can get involved with that next generation. And even with your guys' biker ministry, I'm sure there are a lot of people that you guys minister to that are a generation below yourselves. There is. Absolutely.

And they need those parental figures that have some stability to them where they can say, okay, this is. You become like a spiritual mom and a spiritual dad. To them, and maybe it's the parent they never had. Maybe it's, you know, it's that. I don't want to say void, but sort of, you know, where they're looking for someone that can guide them in truth.

That loves them for who they are, but shows them: okay, in our sins, just like the verse we just read a little bit ago in 1 Corinthians, in our sins, we're all destined for hell. None of us is better than the other. You know, in James, it talks about how if you stumble in one area of the law, you're guilty of all of it. And we've all done that. Yep.

And so, you know, when we understand what our own standing is before the Lord, it makes us have a heart of compassion. Toward everybody, no matter where they're at, what walk of life they're in. And so, again, we want to hear your testimony. We want to hear what the Lord brought you out of and how you're now sharing the truth of the gospel with others. At 866-4666-6666666 348-7884.

That's 866-34 TRUTH. Truth time. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Hit up here. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.

I am your host today, Emily Curtis, and I am with the ministry Hope in the Morning. And what we do on our ministry is we share testimonies, and we share testimonies of trials and tears and how the Lord transforms those things into hope. He turns What were our darkest days of ashes and tears and sorrow into something that we can actually look back on and say, you know what? God is still good, God is still faithful, and He gives us a hope and a peace that. overcomes our circumstances.

And if you listen to Hope in the Morning, which is here on the truth on the Truth Network as well, you'll hear these testimonies. And it's incredible because God does take our sorrows and things that you would think, man, How do you ever survive that? How do you survive the loss of a child? How do you survive the suicide of your spouse? How do you survive crippling depression?

It's through the Lord and through the Lord alone. And he's the only hope that any of us have. And yet, what a hope he is, right? Because. Those of us that have been saved, we can say it's nothing of ourselves.

There's no works, lest any of us should boast. It's Christ alone. And what a gift. And that makes us. Excited.

It makes us glory in what the Lord has done and how He has redeemed those things. And we want to hear how the Lord redeemed your life at 866-348-7884. I'm joined again here with Dave and Linda, and we've been talking about our testimonies. And one of the things that, again, that I think is important for us to think about is the fact that. We all have children around us one way or the other, whether they are our own children.

You know, I know that some people listening may be foster children, and so you have a unique opportunity to speak into lives that are really placed by the Lord into your home, into your life. And that can also be true of those of us that are just in the church. Maybe you don't have any biological children, and yet you have opportunities to speak into the lives of those that are younger to you. You know, I mean, I think, Linda, with you as like a Titus II type thing, that is something. For those listening as well, like Linda is part of our prayer team on Hope in the Morning.

And I so appreciate. I so appreciate the advice, even that you were giving at the last prayer meeting, because to have women and men that have lived more life than we have. What richness of wisdom to be able to glean from that and to be able to. Bring different things that we have going on in our lives and say, Hey, what would be a God-honoring way to handle this? And we may not always have the right answers, but we know who does.

Absolutely. You know, and God's Word has all of the answers that we need for life and godliness. And how have you guys found since becoming believers, how have you guys found that even just a knowledge, a true understanding, a deep understanding of God's word has helped you be more effective in the ministry that God has called you guys to with the Christian Motorcycle Association? I think, um Staying in God's Word is probably the most important of anything. Just being in it as often as possible, every day.

Um Because when you learn that, um, that's when you're really able to share. The love of Christ. He just leads the way. He leads the way through His Word. Um and if you don't have that You're lost.

You really are lost. Yeah. Um and prayer. Prayer is the other thing. Um Constant prayer.

I know for us with our own children, we didn't always do things right. We didn't. Um unfortunately They say when you become a parent, you don't have a manual. But in actuality, you really do have a manual, and it's the Bible. But we chose not.

to go there. We didn't really understand that, and I think most people don't. But hindsight Um I wish we had. And maybe we would not have gone through the things we went through with our children, you know, whether it's. you know, drugs and alcohol or whatever, but Um prayer and And I have to say that My daughter, now who is a believer, and at her church, she did a Mother's Day dinner.

And it was interesting. I had no idea what she was doing. her talk and she did the talk On a praying mother. And I had no idea that she was doing that. And it really was a tribute to me.

I was shocked. I was shocked. But she knew. That I was praying for her. And you know, when when your children are in the throes of that, in drugs and alcohol and getting into a bad crowd, that's not the time that you just kick them and say, you know, I'm done with you.

No. Pray for them, be there for them, love them. Christ loved us when we were down and out.

So how much more should we be doing? He gave his life for us.

So, how much more should we do for our own children? Yeah. That's not a good time to do that. I think sometimes what you were saying as far as like We do have a manual with God's word. I think one of the things that, you know, speaking even as a mom that does have four young-ish children, is that even when we're reading God's Word, we have to know how to apply it.

And that is like knowing how to apply that to different parenting situations can be so daunting because you're so overwhelmed with your circumstances. And that's true of parenthood. That's true of life circumstances that we go through. And again, that's where the one-and-oh's come in. That's why we need the church.

We need one another. We need these conversations. We need these testimonies where we can say, okay, I can go to this person. They've walked the road that I'm currently walking. And maybe they've looked back in hindsight and they have some scripture for me.

They can teach me how to apply the scripture, which is so incredibly profitable. I mean, that's how we profit from scripture is learning how to apply it. If you're just reading it, it's not really going to change your life just to read it. You know, you have to know how to apply it. And, Dave, have you found?

That to be similar for you too? That the more that you know God's word and have learned to apply it, the more effective your evangelism is? Yes, it is. And I'm with evangelism and with your children. The one thing he has to remember is to be the example.

You know, uh You we used to call it in the military, you have to lead by example. If you want people to follow, And it that's the same thing with your children. You know, it's the same thing if you're at work. Er everyday life. I mean Whether you think it or not, people are watching you and they're watching to see.

what you're doing, what you're gonna say, you know.

So, you have to keep that in the back of your mind. Yeah. You know, um And I know there were several times my son growing up. We know. I would have to I would see something that Would be a good example, and I would try to really exemplify it in front of him.

We were in Puerto Rico. And we're sitting there And Linda and my daughter off shopping. I looked down and Under this leaf I see something kind of black and leathery.

Well, I pick it up. And I open it up and it's a bill fold. Oh. and I go through it and there's seven hundred and fifty dollars cash. Driver's license, dive card, uh credit cards.

And I looked at it and I s said, Oh, And I I looked at my son. This is this gentleman's Very, very lucky day. And he says, Why? He says, He we're on the same ship. Oh, wow.

And there were three ladies over at the next table from the ship, and I said, Would you ladies please inventory this bill fold for me? And You know, write down what you got in it, you know, because I'm going to take it back to ship turned into the purser. Yeah. Well We're going down the street, and I see. I look up and I see this guy coming down the street, and his wife and kids are behind him, and he's just like.

And all kinds of angst, you know. And this was in nineteen eighty seven.

So $750 was a sizable amount, money being a billfold. And I looked at him and I walked across the street and I said, excuse me, sir. And he says, yes. I said, this is your lucky day. And I handed him his bill fold.

Oh, man. Yeah. Wow. I mean, honestly, even things like that are testimonies to how God transforms us, right? Because that is not, that's not within our nature.

Our nature is to say, oh, it's my luck to me. Finders keepers, right? Loser sweepers. Right. That's our nature.

And yet God transforms it. And, you know, I think back to when I was like 12, I remember thinking like, man, I don't like, it doesn't seem like any fun to be a Christian because, you know, how I don't want to change my desires. Like, I don't want to change these things. Like, this is fun. The stuff I'm doing is fun.

And, and the Bible talks about that too. It talks about how sin is fun in the moment. And that is how it gets ensnaring and entangling. And, but Satan, he, he is there to destroy and devour. And those are his devices.

And so when we, when we actually come to know the Lord, and this was one of the things that I was doing, of the things that the Lord really changed in my life is that For the first time ever, I understood what it meant to actually have your desires changed. And that is a huge thing. And that's what we look for in one another: like the fruit of salvation, right? Because it's not, our salvation doesn't come from our good works, but scripture is clear that good works are an outpouring, a result of our salvation. It shows proof to other people that our hearts have been changed, that our desires have been transformed.

And that I mean that to me is just such a good example of that because That's what we want to be known as, right? As men and women of integrity. And that's what is going to make others. want to come to you and talk to you and And I think that there's both sides of that. It's like having integrity and having the humility to be vulnerable with our testimonies to say, you know, I don't have it all together.

I'm not perfect. I'm not sanctified yet. But by God's grace, we want to be walking the road of sanctification. We want to look more Christ-like today than we did two years ago. Oh, yeah.

And. That should be evidenced by other people as well. And I just wanted to thank you guys for joining us today on Hope in the Morning, or not Hope in the Morning, but on Truth Talk Live, and hope that you will join us on Hope in the Morning, which we air every Tuesday morning. And we hope that you'll listen to us. But this has been such a fun time to share our testimonies and get to know you guys better here on Truth Talk Live.

All right, thanks, Emily. Truth talk light.