At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than money. It's a way to support the people, causes, and community you love. Because helping you put your faith into action is at the heart of what we do. ThriveEnt, where money means more. Connect with us at ThriveEnt.com.
Life audio. Hi from the Salvation Army, and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life.
We are now in our third week with our guest, author and podcaster Rachel Wojo. And something that you'll start hearing more of in this show, you'll hear a couple other voices on top of Bernie's, myself and our audio producer Chris Hoffer. You'll hear us chime in from time to time. These are conversations that have always existed behind the scenes during these recordings, but we decided to start leaving them in here and there because we just feel that they do add to the conversation. One more thing we wanted to share with you before we jump into today's episode with Rachel.
If you're enjoying Words of Life, we want to introduce you to another show produced by the Salvation Army, the Prepare Podcast. Hosted by Heather Hanton, she's joined by Women of Faith as they cover topics like women in ministry, social justice, hope, grief, mental health, and more. And now, I would love for you to just hear a sample from this podcast. This is an episode where Heather was joined by Sarah Makula. And part of her testimony is that she and her husband had been trying to have a child for years with no success.
And then one random Sunday at church, they got some incredible news. I've always been fairly open about our journey with infertility.
So at that point, We had been married, I think, eight years. And that prayer hadn't been answered yet. To have a child, and we had been at Aurora Corps for our Christmas assignment, our first Sunday where we get introduced to the congregation as the cadet, you know, it's basically like interns for the season. And this woman comes up to me afterwards. She was just a very elegant kind of woman, and she tells me, You're gonna get pregnant this next year in the spring.
Yeah, we're like Oh thank you. Yeah, so come to find out, uh she was just invited that week to come to the Corps. She wasn't a soldier, she wasn't a member, and I'm not sure that they ever saw her again. I don't remember seeing her again the rest of the season. And so she shared that and yeah, we tuck we talk that away in our hearts and prayed that that was a a a prophetic word from from an angel, from the Lord, truly.
And so sure enough, in the spring we found out I was pregnant. And that was after all these years. And so, since we saw each of us, had our girl, we had our baby girl in January 2021. We got commissioned as Salvation Army officers in June. And the three of us moved to Kansas City, Missouri.
We were appointed the corps officers of the Kansas City Northland Corps. This was such a powerful episode from this show. We'll have a link to that specific episode in our show notes, but you can also subscribe to the Prepare podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or visit uscwomensministries.com. For some of us, personal finances aren't just personal. They include loved ones, neighbors, the communities we call home, and the causes we hold in our hearts.
At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than just money. We help you put your plans into motion and faith into action so you can do more for the ones in your heart. Because sometimes all you need to make a difference is someone to help you make it happen. Thriveent, where money means more. Connect with us at ThriveEnt.com.
Big episode, we got a lot of narrative. Yeah. I'm not crying, you're crying. Yeah, it's the pala. It's the pala.
Uh That's awesome.
So, I would say to that, it probably means you've endured a lot of heartache and pain because there were several times when I wrote this book. The editor came back to me and was like, Are you sure you want to include that? Are you sure you want to go? that deep to that pain. Because you'll be sharing this over and over again, and that may not be something you want to remember.
And so what I say to that is you need to remember the pain. you need to remember. It has to be a memorial because it's so easy for us to forget. Is just so easy. And so I was actually, I had coffee with a lady yesterday who is a podcaster and She'd ask me um She said, How do you How do you do this?
How do you keep saying it over and over again? Keep sharing. And I just told her that I really believe God wants to use the story. That's like the root of why you do it. You certainly don't do it for fame.
You certainly don't do it for any other reason other than you really want to meet people where they are.
So hopefully that comes through. I am absolutely grateful to anyone who has the strength to. Talk about their testimony and share the hard times. There's most of my testimony that I've never shared, and I may not ever, and that's okay. That's my choice to make.
And it's, you know, things that God has worked in my own heart that. Doesn't necessarily need to be public knowledge, but anyone that does have that strength goes a long way. And so, thank you for being vulnerable to share this. Sure. I think, Rachel, what's cool about that is like that falls in line with your prey acrostic, right?
Like, remember. Not necessarily the details of the hard, but how God brought you through it, right? Yes. Yes. Your willingness to do that.
It is the example of that acrostic. to remember God's faithfulness and affirm That he's good in spite of, you know, circumstances and what happens. I like that. I love it. Rachel, you talk about being a prayer warrior for your family in dark times.
I think a lot of people have very natural questions about, you know, does God hear my prayers? Is He still answering my prayers? How can we be a prayer warrior for our family? particularly in dark times. You know, as a child, I grew up in Sunday school with this huge soldier on the wall in my Sunday school class, Go First Baptist Church.
And I just remember seeing those Parts pointed out of Ephesians 6, you know, all of the things that the shield of faith and the fiery darts, and you read through Ephesians 6, and it's like we're armed up, we're ready to go. But so many times, what I found in that teaching. is that the very last verse of that Okay. phrasing in Ephesians six says and praying And praying. And so I think so many times we leave out the prayer part of arming up.
We wake up in the morning and we put our armor on and we're like, okay, God, I'm ready to go. And we walk out the door, and we haven't spent any time with him, we haven't. Afraid, we haven't truly communicated. And so, what I found. Is that one of the reasons we feel powerless is because we've had no communication with heavenly headquarters.
And we've walked out the door trying to face this world on our own. I have a A little word. Um I don't know, I guess you call it wall art. above my front door. that says the battle is the Lord's.
And so, every person who walks out our front door, they're getting hit with that word that we're not in charge. We're not in charge. And so the sooner we recognize that. And the sooner we recognize that we've got to have That communication with our Heavenly Father, then the better off we are, in my opinion.
So I would encourage that person who's saying, I don't even know if God hears me. Does He still answer prayer today the same way that He did in the days of the Bible? Test him. Test him. I can attest.
That he still answers prayers the same way he did in the Bible. I can also attest. That sometimes, many times, we don't get the answer. that we wanted. And it It can be very difficult.
At Thrive Ent, planning your finances is bigger than money. It's a way to support the people, causes, and community you love because helping you put your faith into action is at the heart of what we do. Thriveant, where money means more. Connect with us at Thrivant.com. I was just thinking about a phrase that a friend of mine would always say, and I think it's a lyric.
God may not be there when you want him, but he'll be there right on time. And that's been true in my life. I have been desperate. I've shouted out to God. Are you listening?
Are you even there? I think particularly for me, it was post-cancer surgery. And uh I was reminded of this book that A friend gave me full of prayers from Other friends, which I started to read through and just came unglued. God had already prepared for that moment. by using other people Time collect these notes of encouragement, which then I realized, man, I felt like an idiot.
Of course, God was there. And it was just me being alone during COVID where even my wife couldn't be with me. uh recovery room in a hospital for three days and I have certainly Had dark times personally, but I can attest too to his faithfulness in my own life. I think about a scripture. In Hebrews 13:7, I use it a lot when I'm talking to young people specifically, and I quote: Remember your leaders.
the ones who spoke the word of the Lord to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. I have prayer worries in my life. My mother. Was a preacher, and she used to use those Sinefeld things for our listeners who are young, who don't understand, but they were these.
Sort of fabric that you would put on to a board and create a whole story. And when it comes to putting on the armor of God from Ephesians 6, I still remember that breastplate of righteousness. You know, and that was the coolest thing to me, the soldier that Rachel talked about in her first Baptist Sunday school room. I hope that our listeners prepared. you said, you know, to connect with that heavenly headquarters.
And we are reminded that when we go out into the world, the battle is the Lord's. And he is there with you. I shared in an earlier episode that I had a daughter who Had special needs and a rare metabolic disorder, and wound up. That she lived for 22 years, even though her lifespan was 10 to 15. And I remember one specific day.
When she was seizing, she had severe seizure disorder and We're in her room together and she finally finishes seizing, you know, what what you feel like is lasting in eternity only lasted a minute. Her body has been convulsing with you know severe Tremors and her entire body has just been wrecked. And finally, her body is at peace. And I just am so angry as a mother. And I say to God, God, you don't know what it's like.
to watch your child. Suffer. And Immediately, immediately, I had such a strong communication with the Lord. I had developed over the course of many years that. His spirit.
spoke to my spirit and said, oh yes, I do. I watched my son suffer and die for you. And in that moment, the love of God was so evident to me. If my human love as a parent. Could be so big that I wished I could take the place of my child.
Imagine how much greater God's love for us that He sent His Son. to die for us on the cross. Rachel, I am privileged to be able to share this podcast with you this week. And I know that there's more to come.
So I want to encourage our listeners to join us next week. For our final podcast. Podcast with Rachel Wojo. And if this is the first time that you've joined us, you can catch up with her at rachelwojo.com. You can listen to her podcast called Untangling Prayer or Check out desperateprayers.com.
This is the website that accompanies the new book that she's just published called Desperate Prayers. And there's some free resources there that I cannot encourage you enough to check out. God bless you, Rachel. We'll see you next week. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs.
You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit SalvationArmyUSA.org to offer your support. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life.
These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeeaudio.com where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time. I'm Don Hawkins, and I once heard Chick-fil-A founder Truitt Kathy say, You can tell if a person needs encouragement, check to see if they're breathing. I'd like to invite you to my weekly podcast, Encouragement for You, featuring encouraging guests like Dr.
Greg and Aaron Smalley, Dan Cathy, the late Dr. Frank Menrith. Josh McDowell, and more. To subscribe to my weekly Encouragement for You podcast, go to lifeaudio.com. That's lifeaudio.com.
The Historical Jesus Podcast is the sweeping saga of the life and times of Galilean Jesus of Nazareth, as well as the faith, religion, and church founded to honor and disseminate his acts and teachings. Join me, Mark Vinette, on this fascinating journey through time, exploring the many great works of Christian theology, literature, architecture, music, and art inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
