Beth Grant on Leading with a Whisper / Back Channel with Foth
In an enlightening episode of the Clarity podcast, esteemed guests Dick Foth and Dr. Beth Grant guide listeners through a rich tapestry of reflections on resilience, faith, and ministry. Foth opens the dialogue with a candid discussion about the inherent instability of life and ministry, a reality he acknowledges without reservation. He shares his personal experiences of being 'rocked' by various challenges while emphasizing the distinction between being affected by hardship and allowing oneself to be paralyzed by it. Drawing upon biblical narratives, particularly the Apostle Paul's unwavering faith during tumultuous times, Foth calls upon listeners to find strength in their divine mission, a mission that transcends individual struggles and serves a greater purpose.
The conversation gracefully transitions to Dr. Beth Grant, who introduces her latest work, 'Leading with a Whisper.' With nearly five decades of missionary experience, Dr. Grant provides a poignant account of her journey, particularly her impactful work in India's red-light districts. She articulates the necessity for leaders to speak prophetic words into the lives of young people, highlighting the profound effect of simple affirmations in nurturing their spiritual growth. Dr. Grant's insights serve as a clarion call for authenticity and compassion in leadership, urging individuals to embody the very essence of their faith in their daily interactions. The episode concludes with a powerful prayer, encapsulating the themes of hope and divine presence amid life's storms, resonating deeply with the audience's own experiences.
Takeaways:
- The podcast discusses the significance of maintaining stability amidst life's inevitable tumultuous circumstances, emphasizing the importance of resilience.
- Listeners are encouraged to recognize the broader mission beyond personal challenges, which can provide a sense of purpose and direction.
- The dialogue highlights the necessity for leaders to communicate authentically about their emotions to foster trust and transparency with their teams.
- Participants reflect on the transformative power of simple, unadorned prophetic words in affirming individuals' callings and potential.
- The episode underscored the importance of compassion in ministry, particularly towards those who are marginalized or oppressed in society.
- Listeners are reminded that true peace comes from God, who is present with us even in the most challenging storms of life.
Transcript
Greeting and welcome back to the Clarity podcast.
Speaker A:So excited to be here today with our friend Dick Foth on another session of Back Channel with Foeth.
Speaker A:And then we're going to jump into our interview with Dr. Beth Grant on her new book, Leading with a Whisper.
Speaker A:Dick, welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker B:Thanks a million, brother.
Speaker B:Always great to be here.
Speaker A:Dick, got two questions for you.
Speaker A:The questions the listeners sent in or these are the two.
Speaker A:When life and ministry have been unstable, how have you learned not to be rocked by it?
Speaker B:I. I don't.
Speaker B:I don't think I have learned not to be rocked by it, actually.
Speaker B:I think what I.
Speaker B:What I have learned is that more often than not, I was and am rocked by it, okay?
Speaker B:But being rocked by something is different than being stuck in something, okay?
Speaker B:And, you know, I've.
Speaker B:I have a favorite phrase, and I don't know where.
Speaker B:You know, I'm sure it's borrowed.
Speaker B:You know, my, my line is, originality is the art of concealing your sources.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker B:This, this line, life is what happens when you expected something else.
Speaker B:And so I have been rocked by things, but I haven't been taken out by things.
Speaker B:And I know some folks who've been taken out, at least for a time, some maybe totally.
Speaker B:But here, here is Paul reflecting and saying, whatever state I'm in, whether I'm shipwrecked or whether I'm in jail or whether people are throwing rocks at me and leaving me for dead, I choose to be content.
Speaker B:And I read that statement.
Speaker B:I said, whoa, what kind of a statement is that?
Speaker B:Well, I think it's related to mission.
Speaker B:You know, if, If I drop dead tomorrow, have I been faithful to the calling, faithful to Jesus, to the.
Speaker B:To the mission?
Speaker B:And so that idea of being down but not out, for me, the, the thing that has helped me more than anything else probably is understanding that, that the world is larger than my world.
Speaker B:Even though my world consumes me when I'm in pain or when I get clobbered by something, the world is larger than my world.
Speaker B:And his mission is larger than my little life.
Speaker B:I had a friend, I was in a small group in D.C. for some years, for 14 years.
Speaker B:And in the third year, one of the members, a congressman, died of lung cancer.
Speaker B:And I called a friend of mine that we were about the same age.
Speaker B:And I said, you know, he was only 53, John.
Speaker B:And John said, 53 years, 5,000 years.
Speaker B:All the same to God.
Speaker B:You know, it's this moment in time.
Speaker B:So in my moments, in my little moment in time, I have Something happen that scared me like a baby, you know, a baby doesn't understand what's going on.
Speaker B:And so you count on the embrace of the parent to keep close and hear your heart and all that.
Speaker B:Literally hear your heart, all of that.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:Anyway, if I keep talking.
Speaker C:No, no.
Speaker A:I love that analogy of the, of the baby and hearing the heartbeat.
Speaker A:I want to ask a personal question, but I'll stick to listener questions.
Speaker A:All right, so I'll ask you that.
Speaker A:Maybe another episode.
Speaker A:I'll do some questions back channel with both Aaron's questions, not listeners, listeners questions.
Speaker A:Maybe next time we'll do those.
Speaker A:So the second question they sent in was how can I as a leader not passed on the anxiety and stress of the instability?
Speaker B:Again?
Speaker B:I. I think it's hard not to at one level.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:Unless.
Speaker B:Unless I see the instability, the moment in time that throws me out of step or off kilter or makes me struggle, you know, world my head.
Speaker B:I think that telling the truth sometimes about what I feel even from that platform, even, even from a pulpit or in personal conversation is.
Speaker B:Is important.
Speaker B:One reason that I follow Jesus is his stability.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And in the midst of the storm, he's still the stable one.
Speaker B:I love that old gospel song on Christ, the solid rock.
Speaker B:I stand when everything else is sand, as it were.
Speaker B:So I think that we don't have to pass on the anxiety and stress of instability, but I think we can identify it.
Speaker B:It's that idea of, okay, I'm certain of this, but.
Speaker B:But let me be clear about why I'm feeling this way at the moment.
Speaker B:This is what I feel is what I know, it's what I think, but this is what I feel.
Speaker B:And it's out of our feelings that we pass on that sense of in instability.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:Have a friend who, who has gone to the Lord in the last little bit this past year.
Speaker B:And some folks listening may know him.
Speaker B:His name was Rick Enlow, pastored in Washington state.
Speaker B:And some, some folks I think know the Couriers singing group.
Speaker B:And this was of that class and was bright and as funny as all get out.
Speaker B:He could be a standup comic.
Speaker B:And one day they invited us when I was president of the college to go up to Seattle to do a.
Speaker B:A weekend marriage conference.
Speaker B:We got there and something had happened.
Speaker B:It hadn't worked out, but.
Speaker B:And so he met us and said, and said, you know, we're not going to do it.
Speaker B:We're just going to give you two days downtown Seattle at this boutique hotel and so forth.
Speaker B:And so we.
Speaker B:Several things didn't go as planned, apparently, that weekend.
Speaker B:And then on the Monday, he and his wife came to pick us up and to take us to Victoria island or what, whatever the island is off Vancouver Island.
Speaker B:And so they got to us late, and we ended up running by getting a scone.
Speaker B:And it took extra time.
Speaker B:And we pulled in just as the ferry was coming in.
Speaker B:And when we pulled up into the lane, he hops out.
Speaker B:He has a flat tire in his back.
Speaker B:In his back, left tire of this van.
Speaker B:And he changes that thing at about four minutes.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:Maybe he always had that tire, I don't know.
Speaker B:But he whipped.
Speaker B:And we drive on, and we pull onto the ferry, and the lady in the car behind us gets out and says, sir, that is the fastest I've ever seen a tire changed in my life.
Speaker B:That was unbelievable.
Speaker B:So we're standing by the rail as we're heading out across the water and say, rick, you seem so unfluttered by this.
Speaker B:You don't.
Speaker B:Everything's going crazy.
Speaker B:And you're just.
Speaker B:And he said, you know, years ago, my wife and I made a decision that if things went goofy, went crazy, we would just look at each other and say, well, it's better this way.
Speaker B:And it happened to me.
Speaker B:It happened to be that was.
Speaker B:This is 30 years ago or more.
Speaker B:It happened to be that I was speaking at missionary renewal years ago, and I said that to the missionary crowd, and they all said, yes, you know, and I.
Speaker B:And I.
Speaker B:Because these are people back in the day who stood in line three hours to get a stamp, you know, in some packages.
Speaker B:Anyway, good word.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker C:Dick.
Speaker A:Always enjoy our time on Back Channel with fo.
Speaker A:Going to go ahead and jump into our interview with Dr. Beth Grant.
Speaker A:Well, there's no time better than how to get started, so here we go.
Speaker A:Greetings, and welcome back to the Clarity podcast.
Speaker A:So excited to be here with a guest that's been with us before, Dr. Beth Grant.
Speaker A:Beth, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker A:It's a joy, it's excitement to have you back with us.
Speaker A:For those who are listening in, I think you are actually like episode number two or three, and we're like 336 episodes in, so if they've not listened to that episode, would you share just a little bit about yourself before we start talking about your newest book?
Speaker A:And one that has been a blessing to me.
Speaker A:Leading with a whisper.
Speaker D:Well, my husband and I together have been in missions for almost 50 years.
Speaker D:Much of that time has been focused on the land of India as well.
Speaker D:As some other places as well.
Speaker D:But the largest part of that focus has been India.
Speaker D:And a week after I married David Grant, he took me there.
Speaker D:So he had already been working in the nine years single.
Speaker D:And so it was a great way to start a marriage.
Speaker D:Just I write into this.
Speaker D:So Aaron, your invitation is especially meaningful to me because very much missionary family is our family.
Speaker D:Closest brothers and sisters are actually in the missionary family and part of that journey.
Speaker D:And so we've been at this a while traditional, more traditional missions for the first 20 years.
Speaker D:Church planting, starting Bible schools and myself with theological education.
Speaker D:Then 28 years ago, God introduced us to a red light district in India.
Speaker D:And out of that first entrance into a city within the city of over a hundred thousand women and children and prostitution, God opened the door of our hearts and our minds an opportunity to be in Project Rescue, a ministry for the journey out for those who have been sexually exploited.
Speaker D:So that's been 27, 28 years now.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:So that's been a big part of our focus.
Speaker D:And then along the way, God opened doors for me to focus on equipping and encouraging women in ministry wherever they may be.
Speaker D:And so that's also been part of the last 20 years quite a bit.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:And a, in a voice in the, the Assemblies of God in the Pentecostal world of encouragement and insight and wisdom.
Speaker A:That's when I, when I, when people talk Beth Grant, that's what I hear.
Speaker A:The words that are, they're shared often a, A woman who is spirit empowered and wise and someone that you want to have in the room.
Speaker A:And so we're, it's a, it's an honor to have you with us here on the podcast.
Speaker A:I reading your book.
Speaker A:It came to as we, as we said, it came as a recommendation to me and so I got some questions for you.
Speaker A:So one of the, as I read it through, we come from similar necks of the wood.
Speaker A:Now I come from West Virginia, you're from where the more civilized people are in Maryland.
Speaker A:But it brought me back a lot of good thoughts of similar campgrounds, the Potomac district, the network there.
Speaker A:And that, you know that that was just icing on the cake.
Speaker A:But one of the things you shared was you share about the power of a simp unadorned prophetic word in a teenager's life.
Speaker A:Can you share in the book you share about how that prophetic word impacted you and, and what can we do today to help the today's youth be to be able to hear that voice?
Speaker A:And then also when the Holy Spirit gives Us the prompting to be able to have the courage to speak it out.
Speaker D:Yes, I was.
Speaker D:Excuse me.
Speaker D:I was 14 when I remember at Potomac Park Camp being filled with the spirit.
Speaker D:And that in itself was a mirac because I was looking for quiet places.
Speaker D:And Potomac Park Camp, youth camp was not one of those.
Speaker D:But in spite of it all, I found my quiet place with God.
Speaker D:And out at that same time period, I began to sense God's hand on my life.
Speaker D:Tangibly, in a way, a sense.
Speaker D:It's like someone laying their hand right here.
Speaker D:And I began to feel that and didn't have words for it.
Speaker D:Wasn't sure what all it meant, but knew he was setting me apart for his purposes in some way.
Speaker D:And it was within a year of that we had a new pastor come to our home church, Urban Mason, who's relatively young at the time in ministry.
Speaker D:But I started showing up.
Speaker D:If they needed somebody to help move boxes or do whatever, I would show up.
Speaker D:I was one of those kids that showed up.
Speaker D:And so he started.
Speaker D:I started working alongside him and just regular stuff.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:But one day he stopped and he said that God's hand is on your life.
Speaker D:That was it.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:God's hand is on your life.
Speaker D:That hit me deeply.
Speaker D:I love what you said in your questions you sent me.
Speaker D:You call it the power of a simple, unadorned prophetic word.
Speaker D:My experience is the most powerful ones are the unadorned ones.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:Our.
Speaker D:Our temptation is Pentecostals is to over speak.
Speaker D:And sometimes we get further than God went and we can speak things.
Speaker D:We may be started in the spirit, but we're a little shy of stopping once we get going.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:The power of the word was that it was unadorned.
Speaker D:He could have guessed at how he thought God would use me.
Speaker D:I'm so thankful he didn't.
Speaker D:Because as a teenager then what began to come clearer?
Speaker D:When others were getting calls to missions or to pastor or something specific.
Speaker D:It was never specific.
Speaker D:God kept confirming in me, I've called you to be available to me whenever and wherever.
Speaker D:And so I didn't have a label, but I just knew every day I had promised Lord, yes, I am and will live available.
Speaker D:That that word from that pastor confirmed with words.
Speaker D:So few words confirmed.
Speaker D:He put words around what I was feeling.
Speaker D:And I said, in my heart, I don't even.
Speaker D:I didn't even have a response.
Speaker D:But as I walked away, I thought, he's right.
Speaker D:That's what I feel.
Speaker D:And I had told no one.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:What a.
Speaker B:What a.
Speaker D:Our young people don't need lots of words.
Speaker D:Their world is a barrage 24.7of words messaging.
Speaker D:But when we sense something, it could be our own child or another MK from another family, or it could be in the ministry.
Speaker D:We're a part of a tragedy is if we sense something and we don't speak it, we're withholding potentially a word from the Lord, but also a blessing.
Speaker D:A blessing that may never be spoken over their lives from their context.
Speaker D:And you and I have the opportunity.
Speaker D:I love walking with young people because I see and I sense God's gifts in them.
Speaker D:Now why did God give them?
Speaker D:He put those gifts there for a reason.
Speaker D:And I couldn't look at my old granddaughter and say, girl, you have a gift with teaching little ones.
Speaker D:You, they just follow you.
Speaker D:You have a gift.
Speaker D:I wonder what God might do.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And so there's power in that with young people that are hearing so many messages, but just a simple discerning word.
Speaker D:A statement of faith to plant a seed as we sense God's hand or God's gifts.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:Powerful, powerful, powerful, powerful.
Speaker A:When also when I was reading you share about challenging people on behalf of his truth, his.
Speaker A:His justice and his life changing compassion.
Speaker A:How did God can you share about how God burned that into your soul and how you've seen his faithfulness as you've proclaimed them?
Speaker A:Those three things, his truth, his justice, and his life changing compassion.
Speaker D:Well, I open the book with a story about a mother who's holding a baby.
Speaker D:And a visiting evangelist tries to tell her from the pulpit she was just filled with the Holy Spirit and with tears because God had blessed her.
Speaker D:She said, sir, I have been blessed today, but I was not filled with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker D:And he insisted from the pulpit, yes, sister, I saw you are filled with the Spirit.
Speaker D:And my mom said, no, brother, I was not.
Speaker D:I was blessed.
Speaker D:And one day God will fill me full of his spirit.
Speaker D:How many of us would have had the courage to do and speak that truth publicly and been tempted to not make it awkward?
Speaker D:Yeah, that's how much my mom valued truth.
Speaker D:And I was born into that.
Speaker D:And there's a little bit of that in me too.
Speaker D:Truth, truth.
Speaker D:Often if we look at the life of Jesus, truth made people uncomfortable.
Speaker D:But it wasn't because Jesus used truth with a fist.
Speaker D:It wasn't with a woman.
Speaker D:Well, like, he didn't reveal that he knew her whole story when she told part of it.
Speaker D:He didn't reveal it in a way that says, gotcha.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:It was not truth with a fist.
Speaker D:It was Truth with an invitation to come closer to the Son of God.
Speaker D:That is truth.
Speaker D:And I've seen the power of his truth.
Speaker D:Unadorned truth spoken with compassion at work in the middle of hell in a red light district.
Speaker D:I had always valued truth.
Speaker D:That when I started walking in places that are so full of darkness and bondage and demonic power and your in the middle of it and you realize I can speak that truth here in this moment, looking at the face of a woman so broken.
Speaker D:But I can speak his simple truth.
Speaker D:Because whom the sun sets free that his truth, his truth cuts through all the lies.
Speaker D:Aaron.
Speaker D:Exploitation in our world, whether it's in a local church or whether it's in the darkest places in our city, exploitation begins with lies.
Speaker D:It's perpetuated by lies and it ends in lies too frequently in death.
Speaker D:Now you asked me why truth matters.
Speaker D:Freedom.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Begins with truth.
Speaker D:Not theology, not doctrine.
Speaker D:It begins with truth.
Speaker D:The spoken truth.
Speaker D:The one who is the truth.
Speaker D:We can't improve on that.
Speaker D:I've seen the power of a simple unadorned truth spoken to a woman in a red light district that says I'm here because I'm a daughter of God who created me in his image and gave me life.
Speaker D:Just like he has you.
Speaker D:He knew you by name.
Speaker D:He knew us by name and he had good purposes for us.
Speaker D:And he has the power to make us new women and grow us to become strong, courageous women of God without shame.
Speaker D:There's the gospel truth.
Speaker D:We argue a lot of things that aren't worth the breath.
Speaker D:Why aren't we speaking more words of life and truth?
Speaker D:I I every day see people bending truth to fit a political narrative.
Speaker D:And it is nose hating if I'm nauseated.
Speaker D:What is God?
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker D:Truth, truth, truth.
Speaker D:And it's truth with open arms.
Speaker D:Not truth to condemn and shame.
Speaker D:That's not why Jesus spoke truth.
Speaker D:He had redemption in mind.
Speaker D:Can I speak truth to the most broken or the most haughty in our world with humility and redemption in mind?
Speaker D:Truth.
Speaker D:We will not see the purposes of God attained through h e w m without standing strong and clear and humble truth.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Powerful truth.
Speaker D:His justice.
Speaker D:I don't ever remember growing up hearing one message on justice.
Speaker D:Not one.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And yet it is a major theme of scripture from the beginning of the Bible to the end.
Speaker D:Why are we not people of justice?
Speaker D:God is a God of justice.
Speaker D:And I realized how lacking my theology was there when we started going into those red light districts in India and southern Asia.
Speaker D:And I then went Back to scripture.
Speaker D:Oh my word.
Speaker D:God is a God of justice is all over scripture.
Speaker D:How can then I not be as his daughter, a woman of justice?
Speaker D:So that's undervalued.
Speaker D:I feel we under speak it.
Speaker D:Yeah, we don't.
Speaker D:It's like we kind of pick and choose.
Speaker D:If God's a God of justice.
Speaker D:God's a God of justice.
Speaker D:I can't pick and choose.
Speaker D:My heart, my mind, my spirit needs to reflect his and how he feels about those who are treated unjust.
Speaker D:And that's one of the reasons a scripture that just shouted at me when I found was Isaiah 59.
Speaker D:And I go into that in the book because it describes the city streets of New York City or Detroit or la.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:It's all there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And it says at the violence and the injustice and exploitation.
Speaker D:God was appalled.
Speaker D:God was appalled that there was no one to intervene.
Speaker D:And then it starts describing.
Speaker D:So he stood up his own arm works salvation and it talks about his justice and salvation.
Speaker D:And he stood up and it's God standing up against the enemy of our soul.
Speaker D:And injustice on this, on the side of redemption and justice and healing and new life.
Speaker D:Powerful passage that still speaks to my life today and his life changing.
Speaker D:Compassion.
Speaker D:I really didn't don't remember many messages.
Speaker D:I remember a lot of messages on hell, but not which one.
Speaker C:Compassion.
Speaker D:Were we in the same district?
Speaker A:We might have been same part of the world.
Speaker D:So compassion.
Speaker D:I think I was.
Speaker D:David and I both were so blessed to serve in India because you will find some of the most compassionate people in the world there.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:They have such big hearts for the broken, for the poor, for people's lives are so, so destroyed if we look at it natur.
Speaker D:And yet many of them walk through their streets with compassion.
Speaker D:How do I walk through my streets?
Speaker D:Whether I'm in India, wherever I am, how do I walk when I meet a woman in prostitution and elevator and it's just her and I.
Speaker D:What does my presence, my demeanor say to her?
Speaker D:Without a word, do I see her?
Speaker D:Do I.
Speaker D:Does the way I relate to her indicate I recognize she too is a daughter created by God?
Speaker D:The image is barred, just like it's been with me at times.
Speaker D:But can I value her and treat her with dignity?
Speaker D:Because my father created her too, and surely these were not his purposes.
Speaker D:But she's in slavery.
Speaker D:Can I just say, hey, I like your purse?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:It says to her, you actually see me.
Speaker D:Compassion without a word.
Speaker D:It comes through, doesn't it?
Speaker C:Yeah, it does.
Speaker D:So all the preaching in the World from a pulpit.
Speaker D:Does it make us compassionate people?
Speaker D:What.
Speaker D:Who am I when I'm in the middle of broken people?
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker A:And as you said, how they, how they, how they perceive us, how we make them feel around us?
Speaker A:And, and as you said, do they feel the presence of Christ when we're in those spaces?
Speaker A:For sure.
Speaker A:Beth, one of the other things you, you wrote about was the idea that ministry is being your life, not just part of your life.
Speaker A:And, and it shaped who you are today.
Speaker A:And, and the decisions you've made through.
Speaker C:Made.
Speaker A:And as you've talked about, you know, Project Rescue in this, with truth, with justice, with compassion, you've made decisions that weren't the easy decisions to make because ministry wasn't just part of your life.
Speaker A:It was your, it was your life that God's called you to be a minister in every aspect.
Speaker A:Can you share more how that's impacted your, the decisions you've made?
Speaker A:And then also, also, it's how it's impacted your life.
Speaker A:Just saying, ministry is not just a, a part of my life, but it's, it's who, it's, it is being my life.
Speaker D:Ministry grows out of who I am in Christ.
Speaker D:And that doesn't turn off and on.
Speaker C:Okay?
Speaker D:It's not something that's restricted to a time and place.
Speaker D:If there's a fire in my soul for people Jesus loves, I don't have an on and off button for that.
Speaker D:That happens when I'm with people and see a woman in Walmart standing in line and I look at her face and I look at the little kids in the basket and I say, dear God, dear God, I can pray a prayer of faith without ever saying a word, because that may be the only prayer anybody ever prays over her.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:If this is part of our soul and the love of Christ compels us, I'm not going to relegate that to nine to five.
Speaker D:I care.
Speaker D:I had a friend who told me a few months ago that someone in her work team and ministry team had heard me speak at an event and I was a little passionate.
Speaker D:And she said this co worker, younger co worker, said to her, but I didn't think she's an EP anymore.
Speaker D:I thought, you know, and I, I didn't think she's ahead of Project Rescue anymore.
Speaker D:It's like, what is she doing?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And my friend said, she laughed.
Speaker D:She said, honey, if you go to the restaurant with her, that's who she is.
Speaker D:That happened a long time before I had a position that started when I was 15.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Because that was what God was doing in my life.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:It's not dependent on a position or title.
Speaker D:Those come and go.
Speaker D:Seasons come and go.
Speaker D:But has God laid His hand on our lives?
Speaker D:Has he put a fire in our soul for what matters to him?
Speaker D:Do I still weep over those he weeps for?
Speaker D:I mean, those positions and responsibilities, it's a privilege to serve, and it's for a time, but.
Speaker D:But this came before and this comes after.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:Because what flows out of my life has been happening because that's part of my walk with Jesus and part of the work of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker D:It's to my loss and others if I stop that just because the position's not there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:That's not why it was happening.
Speaker D:There's more to me, God.
Speaker D:There's more to God me than what happened at an EP table.
Speaker D:As much as I respect that, I didn't give it all out there.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:There's this river.
Speaker D:There's this river that flows, and people.
Speaker D:God brings people into our lives.
Speaker D:I'm a planner.
Speaker D:I like to plan.
Speaker D:But God has always brought people into my life and path in moments that are never convenient.
Speaker D:It's a spiritual principle.
Speaker D:I do believe.
Speaker D:It's never convenient.
Speaker D:So I can't say, well, I'm not on right now.
Speaker D:Wait a minute.
Speaker D:Did I say yes, Lord.
Speaker D:Use me.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker A:Good word.
Speaker A:And so different than what culture says for us today.
Speaker A:And you.
Speaker A:You described being authentic.
Speaker A:I mean, and you're authentic because that's who you are.
Speaker A:It wasn't a.
Speaker A:It's not a positional thing, but it's.
Speaker A:It's who Christ created you to be.
Speaker A:And you walk in grace in that and such a blessing we, you know.
Speaker D:Can I add to that?
Speaker A:You sure can.
Speaker D:Because you ask a question personally, how does that affect decisions when we know who we are in Christ and we know how God tends to use us?
Speaker D:And here's where decades become an advantage.
Speaker D:Because when you start, you do everything because, okay, Lord, I'm available, and you do a little bit of everything over time, you start watching and you start seeing patterns when the anointing flows, how God tends to use you.
Speaker D:And we learn prayerfully to become comfortable with that.
Speaker D:It's like, okay, Lord, I'm not all these things over there.
Speaker D:Once you start knowing how God tends to use you, then you more readily recognize when invitations are things that he's placing on your plate compared to those things that are gracious invitations that we might be tempted to put on our plates.
Speaker D:But Actually, there's not room for.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:There's some invitations that come my way, like last January to speak for the Western Salt Conference in January to Chi Alpha students.
Speaker D:When that invitation came, I say, I know, Lord, this is you.
Speaker D:Because you put words and a passion intercessory prayer.
Speaker D:All that's been there for Chi Alpha students, especially over the last few years.
Speaker D:It's like, this is God.
Speaker D:This imitation doesn't happen unless It's God.
Speaker D:I'm 75, right?
Speaker D:You're gonna invite me to come this law conference and speak two times.
Speaker D:And I knew immediately.
Speaker D:I was like, thank you, Lord, because my heart burns for them.
Speaker D:And I believe he has a future for them.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I believe the word about truth.
Speaker D:They need to hear the word about truth.
Speaker D:So there are already messages burning.
Speaker D:I knew that was God.
Speaker D:Other invitations come, and they're so gracious.
Speaker D:But I know what they're hoping to happen at their event is not going to happen.
Speaker D:If you have Beth Grant in the pulpit, it's not going to happen.
Speaker D:If you want a female funny David Grant, it's not going to work, folks.
Speaker D:So it helps me over time to be comfortable and quietly on my heart when to say no and recommend somebody else.
Speaker D:One of the greatest gifts we can do in the body of Christ in admissions, I think, is know who.
Speaker D:Who else to commend.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:That's one of my responsibilities, I believe, as a minister and a daughter of God, is to be paying attention to how God is using others.
Speaker D:And if something comes along and I know it's not me, I'm not the one, I could say, you know what?
Speaker D:But I know so and so.
Speaker D:And she would be powerful.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow, wow, wow.
Speaker A:And having the security to do that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That takes security to say, I know who I am and who Greg created me to be.
Speaker A:And the benefit, as you said, of those cumulative years of marriage and those decades, those that.
Speaker A:That is one of definitely some of the benefits you wrote about the passing of.
Speaker A:Of Brian and.
Speaker A:And how the.
Speaker A:The church cared for you.
Speaker A:One thing growing up and at least my growing up years, the idea of grief and loss and caring for those that are going through grief and loss is.
Speaker A:Is sometimes in I just.
Speaker A:My experience is Pentecostals, where people are movement and sometimes we can rush past because we're uncomfortable with the grief and loss.
Speaker A:And so we just want to get over it.
Speaker A:And then we want those that are going through that season to get over it too.
Speaker A:Can you share just about how the church cared for you and then.
Speaker A:And this pivotal moment of your life.
Speaker A:Because you write about that it was a pivotal time in your life and how they cared for you and how that impacted you.
Speaker D:I think I was born into a very independent family, east coast New England.
Speaker D:And I grew up.
Speaker D:From the time I was five, I felt responsible.
Speaker D:But when Brian passed away and we were part of that church where we were on staff, part of the youth group, part of music, and I was also teaching in the school, I suddenly learned what it meant to be part of a community of faith and who we are as the body of Christ.
Speaker D:Because I didn't know.
Speaker D:I couldn't even imagine the next day, much less a future.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I was 25.
Speaker D:Some of the youth parents, several in particular, would invite me to their house for dinner.
Speaker D:I was the church first gift.
Speaker D:The pastor asked me to stay on and keep being air for a period of time with the youth, which I was so thankful for because part of my concern, I was grieving, but I was 25.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:They were 13 and 14.
Speaker D:Their youth pastor just passed away.
Speaker D:And I wanted to process that with them.
Speaker D:I didn't want that to become something over which they stumbled and said, who is God?
Speaker D:Where is God?
Speaker D:At least I wanted to walk with them.
Speaker D:And the pastor and Lord gave me that privilege of staying and walking through that time together.
Speaker D:And then these parents of the kids would invite me over.
Speaker D:For me, also, I'd work during the daytime and you know of your associate pastor of any kind, the days are full and the evenings are generally full, which in a way was helpful because I like work.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:I threw myself into the work of ministry and that helped.
Speaker D:That was therapeutic.
Speaker D:And dinner time alone.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:People recognized that.
Speaker D:Hey, you're welcome at our table.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I got invited for meals, dinners, and I had a couple board members who had teenagers that if.
Speaker D:If it was rough, I could say, hey, is your guest room available?
Speaker D:And I would just go over, be with them for supper and then stay there and just spend the night.
Speaker D:Very practical.
Speaker D:Is some of the next holidays.
Speaker D:Holidays are rough if you've lost someone.
Speaker D:And they would invite me to even go to Williamsburg.
Speaker D:Go.
Speaker D:Some they were going to take their family for the holiday.
Speaker D:Beth, you want to go?
Speaker D:So whereas some people being with.
Speaker D:Made me realize I was a fifth wheel.
Speaker D:And some of them, I could feel my first husband was life going, sense of humor, like the party person.
Speaker D:And I'm not.
Speaker D:And suddenly you find out who were Brian's friends and who were my friends.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:Because some of Brian's friends just disappeared because they weren't best friends, too.
Speaker D:Or they.
Speaker D:No, I won't say that.
Speaker D:Some of them were so uncomfortable because they were also grieving Brian's loss.
Speaker D:And so being with me reinforced the fact he was gone.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:So some people put distance well, how much it meant for those people that could weep with me.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I learned, Aaron, during that time, if we have loved, well, we can grieve well.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:That person, the loss of that person deserves to be grieved.
Speaker D:And I think we're healthier and long term if we go ahead and say, I have faith.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:But I don't understand this, and I may never understand it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:This is a huge loss.
Speaker D:I'm grieving.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And I think actually that's one of the reasons.
Speaker D:One of the first signs that I could trust David Grant was because I was grieving and he knew it, and he gave me room to grieve as a friend, and he understood that.
Speaker D:And so I had space for that time to grieve.
Speaker D:And I could see grief in other people's faces.
Speaker D:And it helped to be able to say, yeah, it's hard.
Speaker D:It's hard.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And there are no easy answers.
Speaker D:And I think we.
Speaker D:Sure, we.
Speaker D:We did do a disservice to God when we make it look like there are easy answers.
Speaker D:There are no easy answers when it comes to great loss.
Speaker D:But.
Speaker D:So I say that.
Speaker D:But at the same time, I've never felt more loved by God than I did that in the middle of the store.
Speaker D:There was such a sense that God is inherently good.
Speaker D:He knew exactly where I was, and he cared for me.
Speaker D:I wasn't out of his will.
Speaker D:I was still in the middle of his will.
Speaker D:And that pastor was the one who, in the middle of that first year, he was a presbyter.
Speaker D:He said that, I want you to get.
Speaker D:I want you to get your ministerial papers, he said, because I know that the call was not just on Brian.
Speaker D:God's hand is on your life.
Speaker D:They're the words again.
Speaker D:There's the affirmation again.
Speaker D:In the middle of that time of loss, he said, I know God's hand is on your life.
Speaker D:You feel you are called of God to ministry.
Speaker D:He said, other people need to know that.
Speaker D:And that credential is a sign of recognition and letting the world know it wasn't just Brian who was called.
Speaker D:You are called of God, and you know it, and you take responsibility for it.
Speaker D:Powerful words.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:Yes, it is powerful.
Speaker A:Powerful.
Speaker A:And you shared.
Speaker A:We began a conversation about David and his love for India and love for you.
Speaker A:And then how that.
Speaker A:Then how that dramatically impacted.
Speaker A:Impacted your life.
Speaker A:Do you want to share any more about.
Speaker A:About that, about David and his.
Speaker A:His love for you and then his love for India and then how that.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's come together?
Speaker D:Well, I had first met David Grant when my first husband and I were doing music and with our youth at youth camp in Penndell.
Speaker D:And David Grant was the speaker for two weeks.
Speaker D:So we were there and got to know him.
Speaker D:And I watched probably 100 girls leave that camp thinking David Grant was in love with him.
Speaker D:You know, when you're married, you look at it a little differently.
Speaker D:So when he started communicating with me, I didn't take him very seriously for that reason.
Speaker D:But over time, as he kept in touch over here by phone and showed up, asked me to have lunch and proposed.
Speaker D:We had never dated.
Speaker D:He knew, you know, I was not looking for another relationship, but he showed up anyway and he proposed anyway.
Speaker D:And I thought, this is.
Speaker D:Either this man has more faith than anybody I've ever met, or he's the most presumptuous person I have ever met in my life.
Speaker D:But then, and I kind of said, you know what?
Speaker D:You're entitled to your opinion, but you're used to playing games.
Speaker D:And at this point in my life, I don't need any games.
Speaker D:So if you're looking for games, you need to look elsewhere.
Speaker D:Well, then he told me he had already called the other girls he was dating and told them all he met the girl he was going to marry and he.
Speaker D:They would not hear from him again.
Speaker D:And I thought, oh, wow, God, you may somewhere be in this.
Speaker D:So obviously, I mean, he went back to India for a few months and he said, oh, I know you're not ready now, but I'm going to come back for your answer when I get back from India.
Speaker D:And I prayed, didn't have any communication with him from my side during that time.
Speaker D:And he kept writing letters.
Speaker D:But I was desperate to hear from God.
Speaker D:And it's amazing how God can help us know the unknowable.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And listen for his without even dating him.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:So then he showed up and I said yes.
Speaker D:And nine weeks later we were married and left for India.
Speaker D:I was privileged to go into a new culture and country with someone who already knew it so well.
Speaker D:He became my eyes, my ears, my interpreter, because he amazingly adjusted to the culture.
Speaker D:And he was already, for many younger pastors, he was their brother.
Speaker D:He was family.
Speaker D:Whatever part of the nation we went to for several months that first time in and I saw a people through the eyes of David Grant, who had come to love them and know them.
Speaker D:So I was privileged that I saw through his eyes, the eyes of someone who'd come to love a people of national pastors.
Speaker D:And they were his brothers.
Speaker D:And so that made everything easier.
Speaker D:Now, what surprised him and me was the first public meeting when he announced I'd been a widow.
Speaker D:And at the same moment, suddenly all people had been all 10,000 people, all excited because David Graham was showing up with his new bride.
Speaker D:It was a largely other major religions crusade.
Speaker D:Okay, so that's different than if you had 10,000 believers.
Speaker D:When he announced that I had been a widow, I was sitting on the women's side, thousands of women sitting on the ground among them.
Speaker D:And suddenly from celebration it like that, there was silence.
Speaker D:And then people began to talk out loud to each other.
Speaker D:And you could feel the atmosphere change and what they were saying out loud, like the leader had to start.
Speaker D:David stopped, and the leader came by his side.
Speaker D:But they had to wait for things to settle down.
Speaker D:They were saying, he married a wid.
Speaker D:He married a widow.
Speaker D:Why would he marry a widow?
Speaker D:And I'm listening.
Speaker D:And finally, the leader came, quieted the crowd, and David went ahead and preached.
Speaker D:And at the end, the leader said, brother Grant, we love you, but in this culture, no man would ever choose to marry a widow.
Speaker D:So it'd be better if you never, ever, we will love Beth.
Speaker D:We love you, but we.
Speaker D:It's better if you never mention that again.
Speaker D:What?
Speaker D:David was stunned because he knew India for nine years, but he didn't know that.
Speaker D:And so in that moment, I don't even think David heard what I heard.
Speaker D:I heard, she's damaged goods.
Speaker D:No man, no Indian man would choose damaged goods.
Speaker D:And in my heart, I said, oh, God, I really am starting over.
Speaker D:The next morning, David Grant got up in front of 400 pastors in a meeting.
Speaker D:He was to speak, and he pulled out scripture, and he started reading one scripture after the other.
Speaker D:What God says about widows, I will be your provider or protector.
Speaker D:And he goes down.
Speaker D:Not one word.
Speaker D:David Grant, God's word, only God's promises.
Speaker D:How he sees widows and how he sees orphans.
Speaker D:Because, see, in that culture, both are condemned.
Speaker D:One doesn't have a husband, and one doesn't have a father, and you're cursed.
Speaker D:If I ever wondered if I married a courageous man, I wondered no more.
Speaker D:He just kind of.
Speaker D:There it is.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And of course, over all these years, that leader, that leader, that general superintendent who was there that night, he became One of my greatest mentors and opening doors for platform ministry in India.
Speaker D:When I didn't ask for it, I wasn't looking for it.
Speaker D:But he said, there's that theme that other people speak into our lives.
Speaker D:He said, sister Beth, God's hand is on you.
Speaker D:You speak, you hear his voice and you speak his word.
Speaker D:We need to hear what God is saying through you.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:So humbly, so humbly to have those kind of men of God open doors after such a.
Speaker D:Interesting start.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Wow, wow, wow.
Speaker A:So, Beth, you raised two girls on the field.
Speaker A:You've talked about, you have some generations and you talked about, you have some cumulative years in ministry.
Speaker A:You've shared about that.
Speaker A:Ministry is who you are authentically living that out.
Speaker A:Wisdom.
Speaker A:Any wisdom you could share for some parents listening in today that are.
Speaker A:That are raising kids, MKs on the field.
Speaker A:Some lessons you've learned or wisdom you would like to share?
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:Make decisions for our mks based on faith, not fear.
Speaker D:Make our decisions based on faith, not fear.
Speaker D:Our children, from a young age and especially as they become teenagers, they can sense if mom and dad are afraid for them.
Speaker D:What that says to them is, if we can't trust God for our children, why should they believe they can trust God?
Speaker D:Is he not trustworthy?
Speaker D:Are we not there under his hand, his calling?
Speaker D:Our lives are in his hands.
Speaker D:Oh, yes.
Speaker D:Difficult things happen.
Speaker D:But do we believe God has the power to be with not just us, but with our children?
Speaker D:Do they not see and sense the hope, the faith, see redemption, see healing, sense God at work with us to believe they can also trust God?
Speaker D:So I see in the us.
Speaker D:I see it, I hear this in the US Because I see so many major decisions made in families for children based on fear.
Speaker D:It's almost this assumption that if my child is exposed to any other major religion, they're obviously going to go for it.
Speaker D:Wait a minute.
Speaker D:What is our experience with God?
Speaker D:How strong is that?
Speaker D:How powerful is that?
Speaker D:Is the hope.
Speaker D:Here's that.
Speaker D:Here's that.
Speaker D:My life again.
Speaker D:Not my.
Speaker D:Not my professional job.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Is the Spirit welcome in our homes?
Speaker D:Are we people of the Spirit in our homes that suddenly God gives us a word for a child?
Speaker D:For her husband discerning what's happening.
Speaker D:My daughter would walk into our home.
Speaker D:Rebecca especially, I remember because Rebecca's always been the artsy, creative one and way out on the edge.
Speaker D:And that's scary sometimes as parents.
Speaker D:I knew her heart, but she come in from school and she was drawn to the kids that were broken.
Speaker D:And she come in after school.
Speaker D:And some days she'd walk in and I could see as she'd open her mouth and hear the influence of the enemy pushing on her heart and her mind and her spirit.
Speaker D:I'm gonna fight.
Speaker D:I'm gonna fight.
Speaker D:Not with my daughter.
Speaker D:I'm gonna take on the power of the enemy that's pushing and trying to influence and destroy my daughter.
Speaker D:I'm gonna fight.
Speaker D:Parents, fight not with your children.
Speaker D:Fight for your children.
Speaker D:Remember who the enemy is and it's not the teacher.
Speaker D:In international school, one third, that's that long ago, one third of Jennifer and Rebecca's teachers were living an openly homosexual lifestyle.
Speaker D:It was everywhere.
Speaker D:Now what do I do is that the compassionate missionary is still going to be compassionate and pray for those teachers and go and thank them for the good things they were investing as a teacher in my daughter's lives.
Speaker D:I'm going to treat them with dignity because Jesus is reaching for them.
Speaker D:So instead of making someone else the enemy at home, we say we are compassionate because Jesus is reaching for them.
Speaker D:We're going to pray for them.
Speaker D:I'm going to value them for the good things.
Speaker D:So rather than the enemy, they became part of those that we would weep over because Jesus love compels us.
Speaker D:We cannot hide our children from the darkness in our world.
Speaker D:It's impossible with the Internet, social media, all the things.
Speaker D:And some of us live in areas of the world where there's very active participation in demonic power.
Speaker D:So we cannot hide our children.
Speaker D:But from a young age, we can start empowering and equipping them, helping them understand what they're seeing.
Speaker D:Not from a fearful perspective, but understanding why these things are happening.
Speaker D:Because they've never known Jesus.
Speaker D:They've never even heard about him.
Speaker D:They don't know they serve capricious, destructive gods.
Speaker D:There is no love.
Speaker D:We can, in age appropriate ways, inform them and equip them and make compassionate prayer for those who are in darkness.
Speaker D:Don't demonize them.
Speaker D:Let them remember that mom and dad had a heart for broken people.
Speaker D:No matter how much bondage they were in that mom and dad, their friends who were struggling the most, were welcome at our kitchen table.
Speaker D:You're welcome.
Speaker D:Because the love of Jesus dwells here.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:You're welcome.
Speaker D:And I think being compassionate as missionary parents means we don't practice selective compassion.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:It's challenging every way we look, the compassion.
Speaker D:If we have integrity and that compassion flows out of who Jesus is and who he is in us, we won't have divided hearts.
Speaker D:And there's a Benefit if we are compassionate with broken people, if our kids ever become those broken people.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker C:Good word.
Speaker A:Beth, I'm going to jump down to my.
Speaker A:My last question for you, then I'm going to ask you to pray for us.
Speaker A:You share the story of David being put in prison.
Speaker A:And then this quote.
Speaker A:I've read it over several times, that the potential of an obedient.
Speaker A:Yes, from God's sons and daughters to his call holds.
Speaker A:For the kingdom is not determined by the storm.
Speaker A:It rests in the love, faithfulness, power, and the purposes of the One who calls.
Speaker A:Can you share about that time, what they've been putting in prison?
Speaker A:And then that.
Speaker A:What you've.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker A:Not the lesson you learn, but this, the wisdom you're sharing from that time.
Speaker D:The.
Speaker C:The.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The obedience of sons and daughters.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's his call.
Speaker A:It's in his hands, and it's not determined by the storm.
Speaker B:Will you.
Speaker A:Will you share about that?
Speaker A:And then we ask you to pray for us.
Speaker D:As.
Speaker D:After David was arrested at the airport, and then we were held six hours until he.
Speaker D:They could.
Speaker D:He could appear.
Speaker D:They would take him to appear in court before a judge, just see what was next.
Speaker D:They take you through a government hospital, so the arrested person has to be checked to make sure they're physically fit enough to appear in court.
Speaker D:But that left me in the middle of a government hospital in a major southern Asia city, surrounded by the poor and people who cannot get help and pay for it, who are desperate.
Speaker D:So I was surrounded, I mean, literally standing up, shoulder to shoulder, front and back with desperate mothers holding babies who are dying.
Speaker D:Everything there was desperate.
Speaker D:And I'm standing there not knowing what's going to happen next with David and always knowing this could be part of a price for what we were doing.
Speaker D:And I stood there in the middle of so many poor, hurt, hurting, desperate people.
Speaker D:There was no hope.
Speaker D:And in my heart, I went, jesus, these are the people for which we have always come.
Speaker D:For 40 years.
Speaker D:We said yes, it's still yes.
Speaker D:If there's a price to pay, it's still yes.
Speaker D:And we left.
Speaker D:There ended up in court.
Speaker D:It was.
Speaker D:There was no justice.
Speaker D:Justice was for sale in front of your eyes.
Speaker D:And so this had been a setup, which we knew, and it wasn't based on truth.
Speaker D:And so then suddenly, David was taken straight to prison.
Speaker D:And it was one of the most notorious prisons in Southern Asia.
Speaker D:It's infamous.
Speaker D:And so I had.
Speaker D:There was no guarantee I would see him again.
Speaker D:But in the middle of that time, there was a Sense that we were walking with Jesus in a deeper way than we'd ever walked with him before.
Speaker D:We have identified often with the power of his resurrection, but not too often in the fellowship of his suffering.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And there's.
Speaker D:In those moments, there's a special kind of grace.
Speaker D:I experienced similar grace when Brian died.
Speaker D:It carries you.
Speaker D:That kind of amazing supernatural grace is never stored up ahead of time.
Speaker D:But when the moments come in the storm, suddenly you realize he's covered you, he's carrying you, and you literally are in his hands.
Speaker D:And it reaffirmed to me and to David when we compared notes after he came out of prison and I was able to be with him.
Speaker D:Both of us experience the same lack of fear and grace and tangible sense.
Speaker D:We didn't know the outcome, but we knew God was greater than the storm.
Speaker D:God chooses not the storm, not the enemy.
Speaker D:When you're in his hands, he chooses his hand is still there later.
Speaker D:Wonderfully.
Speaker D:Even though we didn't know the end.
Speaker D:But God gives us peace in the storm.
Speaker D:Doesn't mean we know which way this is going.
Speaker D:But I had peace because I knew we were right in his hand.
Speaker D:Walking this out.
Speaker D:We sensed his goodness.
Speaker D:We saw answers to prayer.
Speaker D:We walked with a really anointing of his spirit.
Speaker D:Things I didn't have answer to ahead of time.
Speaker D:When suddenly the embassy's calling every day already.
Speaker D:By the time we went to court, they already knew what was happening.
Speaker D:They're calling on my cell phone offering to help.
Speaker D:I knew it's like David and I, there's no chance he was already gone.
Speaker D:And I knew in the moment when they offered to help, the answers.
Speaker D:Thank you very much.
Speaker D:But we've never come here in a diplomatic capacity.
Speaker D:We always come as friends of India.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:We will trust our friends to help us.
Speaker D:Thank you.
Speaker D:That call came every day.
Speaker D:And I knew where our help would come from.
Speaker D:It was going to come from the Lord.
Speaker D:And I knew embassy personnel in a very liberal part of the world.
Speaker D:I knew I could trust God at work through our Indian leader friends who would do everything in their power and trust God beyond that to help us.
Speaker D:I knew where to put our trust ultimately in the Lord.
Speaker D:It was going to take a miracle.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:And I.
Speaker D:Some of what the insight I had.
Speaker D:I just knew.
Speaker D:Don't go there.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Now you don't practice that.
Speaker D:Our Indian leaders wept when they hear me say it.
Speaker D:They said, we knew you loved us.
Speaker D:But we never knew how much dare you.
Speaker D:Sad.
Speaker D:No, we're not going to look to the US Embassy.
Speaker D:We're looking to our friends.
Speaker D:There are those moments.
Speaker D:And they walked with us until they put us on a plane to get us out of the country.
Speaker D:They risk being seen with us in a hostile environment because it's our brothers, it's our sisters.
Speaker D:They laugh with us in the middle of the storm.
Speaker D:Sometimes something happens to your sense of humor.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:You find things to laugh at and you think, this could not be more crazy.
Speaker D:We were getting wonderful God words on my cell phone from pastors and partners and their wives in America.
Speaker D:God would give them a word.
Speaker D:And I'm getting words while we're not knowing what's next.
Speaker D:Yeah, there's that community again, walking together.
Speaker D:David and I feel strongly about this partnership.
Speaker D:It's deeper than that.
Speaker D:It's brothers, it's sisters.
Speaker D:But then we got a few strange things too.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Well intended by probably just a little out there beyond where we were.
Speaker D:And you just have to laugh and how good to do that with brothers and sisters that are saying, we're not leaving you.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:Until you get through this.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:So in the middle of the storm, we knew, you know what?
Speaker D:The outcome of this is not up to the enemy.
Speaker D:And it's not about this storm.
Speaker D:God is over the storm and we're still in his hands, and he is greater.
Speaker D:We're going to trust him and we're just going to keep saying yes.
Speaker D:And what I loved besides that the very most is when the first people leaders got in to see my husband and they came, they wouldn't let me go because they didn't know what shape he would be in physically because of violence in the prison.
Speaker D:And they came and found me and they were weeping.
Speaker D:They said.
Speaker D:We went to encourage him.
Speaker D:He encouraged us.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:He was laughing.
Speaker D:He said, guys, I'm on assignment.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker D:I'm praying.
Speaker D:I've never met pray for this many people in this country that are these other religions.
Speaker D:He said, I feel like I'm on assignment even.
Speaker D:He said, I'm doing fine.
Speaker D:God's with me.
Speaker D:Friends, sometimes we fear what might be in missions.
Speaker D:The beautiful thing was David Grant in prison.
Speaker D:Was David Grant out of prison.
Speaker D:He knew the culture.
Speaker D:I said, what was it like when he got out?
Speaker D:He laughed.
Speaker D:He said, it was India and culture.
Speaker D:The culture we already know.
Speaker D:So he knew what to look for.
Speaker C:Sure.
Speaker D:He already knew what to look for.
Speaker D:And he knew.
Speaker D:David Grant said the last thing I said to him when they were taking him away, and I only had five seconds with him and they took him.
Speaker D:I looked at him, I said, I love you.
Speaker D:And God's given you a gift.
Speaker D:Make new friends.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:And he did.
Speaker D:He did.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:God was with us all the way.
Speaker D:And I got to encourage national leaders and their wives who were with us, that we prayed together round the clock.
Speaker D:And they wept.
Speaker D:And one of the most precious things, most humbling things, they wept and said, sister Ran, one day this will happen to us.
Speaker D:You have taught us how to walk it out.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:When I say yes.
Speaker D:When I said yes to Jesus, I had no idea.
Speaker D:But it every.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker D:He has met me.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker D:His faithfulness, absolutely.
Speaker A:Beth, will you pray?
Speaker A:Will you pray that maybe that somebody's listening into this, this podcast?
Speaker A:Maybe they're in the midst of a storm.
Speaker A:Will you pray for their faith?
Speaker C:Will.
Speaker A:Will be strengthened, will be encouraged, and will you pray for us?
Speaker D:Father, I thank you for this family, that, Lord, in my heart, in David's heart and Aaron's, we really are family.
Speaker D:And, Father, I know.
Speaker D:I know that there are more than I would like to see who are in the middle of storms.
Speaker D:It's part of this journey.
Speaker D:And, Father, some of those we walk through and some may be walking through now that are saying, God, if you don't help us, we're not going to make it.
Speaker D:We will not make it through this storm without you unless you intervene.
Speaker D:But, Father, I. I thank you as we pray right now, and I join my faith with errands.
Speaker D:I pray for every missionary family who is in the storm today.
Speaker D:And, Father, I have seen over these years, you are with us in the storm.
Speaker D:The storm is not.
Speaker D:The storm is not in charge of our lives.
Speaker D:Father, one day we placed our hand, our life in your hands, and we gave ourselves to you and said, jesus, we will follow you.
Speaker D:We will serve you and, Father, like the disciples.
Speaker D:That includes times of walking through storms.
Speaker D:But, Father, I pray that you would encourage them today and may they sense your presence, your tangible presence in this moment in a more powerful way than have sensed in a long time that your tangible presence would surround them and be with them.
Speaker D:Oh, God, you are the God who is with us, Emmanuel, with us even in the storm.
Speaker D:And, Father, I know you have the power to say, peace, be still, and literally stop the storm.
Speaker D:I know that, and I've seen you do it.
Speaker D:And, Father, that would be our prayer.
Speaker D:That would be our greatest desire, that you would speak now in the middle of the storm and say, peace, be still.
Speaker D:And, Father, may the storm dissipate and suddenly come to nothing.
Speaker D:I've seen you do that.
Speaker D:We have experienced it where it literally implodes on itself.
Speaker D:Father, I also pray that you who speak peace into our hearts and minds and spirits in the storm, I pray that we would hear your voice in this moment.
Speaker D:Speak your peace.
Speaker D:May the storm of our emotions and our fears and everything that seems impossible that is.
Speaker D:Is causing us to feel like all is lost.
Speaker D:Father, I pray that you would speak over our hearts and minds and spirits like you did over mine when Brian passed away.
Speaker D:And literally I felt your peace cover me like a warm cloud of comfort and strength.
Speaker D:And I do strength from you Lord, literally, day by day, hour by hour.
Speaker D:And your spirit rose up in me with strength and courage.
Speaker D:Courage and literally boldness to step into the storm and rebuke the power of the enemy.
Speaker D:Bring discernment upon your sons and your daughters and the missionary family today.
Speaker D:Help them discern what needs to be fought in your spirit, what to be addressed and to take on by your word and your power.
Speaker D:Give them the courage to do so.
Speaker D:Make it clear, Lord.
Speaker D:I pray Lord, help them also to know those things where they need to be silent and watch you at work and be still and know that you are God.
Speaker D:Father, I commit our mks today around the world.
Speaker D:Oh God, even if they were as if they were my own daughters, I ask you to Minister to our MKs today wherever they in the world, those that are from on the other side of the world or those that are here in the States for whatever reason, oh God, speak and reveal yourself in your love and your power to our MKs.
Speaker D:And Lord, help us to know what to say.
Speaker D:But help us again to know when to be silent and trust you.
Speaker D:Reveal yourself in power, love, compassion and we're needed in deliverance.
Speaker D:Break chains.
Speaker D:Oh God, you Jesus came to break chains of bondage.
Speaker D:And I pray that over MKs that need free freedom today, may they find freedom in your name we pray and we trust.
Speaker D:Give us peace.
Speaker D:And may your missionary family, Lord, today, wherever they may be, may they receive the gift of peace and the gift of faith to believe you for everything you have promised.
Speaker D:Those things that are impossible to us but are possible with you.
Speaker D:We pray and we will trust you for all that we have prayed.
Speaker D:We trust you with our lives, our marriages and our families.
Speaker D:In the powerful name of Jesus we pray and when we come together we will celebrate and say look what the Lord has done.
Speaker D:He is faithful still.
Speaker D:In Jesus name we pray.
Speaker D:Amen.
Speaker C:Amen.
