0:00 And then she puts her head down and takes a minute and then looks back up at me. And her whole demeanor changed. Tonight's episode is about the ever-growing strange spiritualism in our normal life. You'll hear Wendy's amazing stories of starting a ministry in Alaska. If you want to contribute your thoughts or be on top of the latest news as it happens, or perhaps you just want to see uncut or cut behind-the-scenes footage, and special content, partner with us at patreon.com slash strangenormal. This program continues only because of people like you. We are lucky enough to have Wendy back. Wendy has her master's in education and biblical literacy. And tonight, we get to hear more about the amazing stories about her work. Wendy experienced some very strange spiritualism while working at a homeless ministry in Alaska.
1:19 Let's jump right into it. One thing I wanted to start off by saying, was that I'm going to share a lot of my own personal testimony. And I don't, for a minute, want this to be about me. God gives us some amazing stories, and he puts us through some incredible experience. But none of it's me. I'm nothing. But God, you know, to God be the glory for everything. He's the one that puts the desire in your heart when you're called to ministry. He's the one that lines up the details. He's the one that provides. He's the one that provides. He's the one that provides all the resources. And then after you've been obedient to do what God asks you, he then waters the seeds that you've planted. It is all God. So if you hear any stories about ministry, just remember, you know, who is in control of that, and who gets the credit and the glory.
2:11 So it's all God. Oh, absolutely. Amen. In fact, you've had a lot of experiences. And we talked a little bit about that in the previous episode. And I asked the audience, if they would be interested in hearing some more of your amazing stories from working in the mission field. I guess it's the mission field, right? Up in Alaska. And so I was just kind of wondering, what was the ministry you were a part of? And how did you get started in it? Sure. The ministry was called Heart to Heart. And I was part of one of four ladies who created it. So basically, to give a little background, I was a elementary teacher. And my husband and I had set up a Bible club at my school. And once I became pregnant with my firstborn son, I decided it was time to resign.
3:07 And I stopped that ministry full time. So the nurse from my school actually took that over for us. And we would come and volunteer for her and run big events and things like that. But I was really concerned that, when I had my first child, you know, that my child would become the focus and ministry would kind of take a backseat. And so I will say that throughout my pregnancy, I kept praying and praying for the Lord to use my son as just an open door. I didn't know how that was going to happen or when, but God really answered that prayer through the Heart to Heart ministry, which was amazing. So just to get you, some of the background, the ladies and I, we all attended different churches and we had been going to a Bible study. Well, my husband and I hosted a Bible study at my house and they were like the four main couples that were coming, them and their husbands.
4:08 And so after studying God's word for months together, we got to this point where we were like, let's put the pedal to the metal. Let's actually take our faith and put it into action. We had no idea how. But we wanted to do something. And so we were praying about it, the ladies and I, and we intended it for it to be a ladies ministry just because we, I now had a child and it's really hard for both husband and wife to be involved, you know, when there's a child and somebody has to watch him. So the ladies and I decided we'd pray about it and figure out what God wanted us to do. And so we went to a women's breakfast. One of the ladies, the ladies and I and the speaker there was the director for the downtown Hope Center in Anchorage, Alaska. So at this breakfast, we learned that the Hope Center at night was a ladies shelter and any lady that was homeless or needed a place to stay, she could find refuge there, but it was ladies only. And then during the day they had a soup kitchen, so they would just provide meals for anybody that was hungry.
5:19 And it's a Christian organization, which is really great. So, you know, they just try to meet the needs of the people through the service that they provide with food and shelter. And after hearing the ladies testimony of what the ladies that she serviced at the Hope Center needed, I felt like this is it. You know, we've got to do something. There's a ton of ladies with real needs and they're super close to our house. They're not that far. And, and so I talked to the ladies that I had wanted to talk to and they were like, you know, they wanted to be in the group with me and we all agreed like, yeah, this is a great need. Let's do it. And so what we did was we would go and the husbands actually would come and they would help serve dinner and the ladies and whoever else was eating would go through the line. And then after dinner was over, they would, you know, ding a bell and say, okay, it's time for the ladies shelter to open.
6:16 And they would basically move the tables and bring out mats. And, and then the men would all have to leave, including our husbands. And you know, they had to take the children with them. And then us ladies would stay. We, we set up tables kind of in a U and then we serves tea and snacks for like 20 minutes. And then we would have a Bible study with whoever wanted to stay and have a Bible study. And the Bible study would usually last an hour. And then we would probably say, and talk with the ladies a little while afterwards, but in a nutshell, that's the ministry. And that's how it started. Wow. Wow. So when did you first realize that there was a demonic force present in this, in this whole thing? Because you said, um, you've had some pretty amazing stories just talking with these ladies. And when did you realize that there was something else going on? Honestly, I would say the first time I walked into the soup kitchen and there were men and women, it wasn't just at night, but I could just, see people and the way that they were acting their mannerisms, you know, they would talk to themselves and flail their hands and like snort, like, I don't know, give weird looks to other people for no reason.
7:35 And a lot of people think that mental health issues are, you know, chemical or part of our physical makeup, or, you know, there's something wrong with a health issue. But the Bible generally speaks of, you know, when somebody is healed from, from physical sickness or spiritual sickness, as soon as Jesus cast out a devil, it's like, boom, they regain complete normalcy and their mental health state is fine. And so whenever I see people who are severely mentally unstable, it's just, I don't automatically think, well, they have a demon. I just, it's a red flag. And so walking in on there, I saw a lot of that. And so I just had little red flags going off, you know, just kind of, you know, be aware and just watch your surroundings. And it just kind of stayed at the back of my mind. But the first time that I was really approached by somebody that I thought was possessed by a demon, it was probably the third or fourth time that we'd had the Bible study.
8:45 And so we're sitting, we'd already given the tea and all of the snacks out. And so we, we told them, you know, we're going to do the Bible study. Whoever wants to stay can stay. And I was just sitting like on the inside, there's like tables and we all sit on the inside and serve them. As I said, on the outside of the table, if that makes sense. So one of the ladies that came with for the ministry, she was the one actually reading the study that night and she was reading scripture. And this lady just like, very quickly approaches the table and leans over the table and is shoving her finger in my face. And I wasn't saying anything. I was just sitting there listening to the study like everybody else.
9:34 And she starts cursing and swearing and saying, you think you're a Christian and you think you're a godly mother. And she said a lot of things that I probably just like blocked out because it felt like trauma. But then she just stopped. I remember sitting there and just praying like, Oh Lord, just keep me safe. And she just stopped and walked away. Wow. And the ladies that were at the table, like they just looked at me wide eyed. Like, what was that? I'm like, I don't know. And I was like, should we continue? And she just kept going. And so that was the first time I really felt like, yeah, there's some spiritual warfare going on here. And obviously it wants to be boisterous about it. Wow. Wow. And so unprovoked, she came in and started saying all that right in front of you. I mean, I think a lot of people would say, well, they're just mentally unsafe, unsafe, they're mentally ill.
10:34 And, but we, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities of the darkness. And there could have been absolutely something that was provoking that to happen. Was there any correlation between, I mean, we are on, we are on a strange normal. So any correlation between that and aliens? Yeah. So I actually have a couple of stories where I have recently found that the demonic influences that I've sort of seen in this ministry really correlate with a lot of things that you've shared on this channel. And also I have a, a copy of Joe Jordan's piercing the cosmic veil. Just going to show that here. Anybody that's interested, and you know, truth of what's going on with aliens. This is a huge, a wonderful book.
11:31 Like half of it is testimonies of people that have had real life experiences. And he shares over and over and over again, how calling the name of Jesus makes these things believe. So I use this book a lot, but I'm going to read a quote in here. So, so the correlation there's two, the last time that I was on the show, I spoke briefly, about a lady and I had sat and talked with her for honestly like two hours and she told me a huge long story about her life. I'm going to speak a little bit about her, but I'm going to break it up because it's a long story and I just don't want to go into all of that. But so at one point she was telling me that she had this other entity inside of her.
12:22 Like I had said, on the past show, for those who hadn't heard that show, she started off by saying that the doctors would call her schizophrenic. But what that meant was that she collected souls. And so I was just really curious about what that meant. So I kind of asked her, you know, well, who, you know, who or what are these other souls and how many have you collected and just random questions. And she told me that the soul whom she met first, was someone named David. And so I asked her, you know, how old were you when, when you first met David? And she said that she was four years old, four years old. Crazy, right? And I'm going to get to that a little bit later. But when she spoke about David, okay, I should rephrase that because she never spoke about David.
13:17 She spoke as David. She would always say, we, we, this, we, that, we, well, we were doing this. And then, you know, we work together to capture these other souls and we, we, so it's hard for me to remember to talk like that because it's just so unnatural for me. But what she said was that I'd asked her if David had always been with her and she said, you know, that she had met David when she was four. And so my question to her was, well, where, where were you before that? And she, and as David, she had answered me and saying that she was he, he, sorry, he was over in Europe for a long time. And then he had to go into hiding for a long period. And I said, well, well, where were you in hiding?
14:06 And he said that I was living in a cave or we, sorry, we were living in a cave, just living off of the gases of the earth. And I just, you know, that's odd. What? I'm just the subject. Yeah, it was odd. And I honestly had kind of forgotten that for the longest time. And then after I started watching your show and actually have a family member that's obsessed with aliens, but it's not Christian. And so one of the things that I've started to do is, you know, I just kind of bonding with that person. We talk about aliens a lot. I have a different perspective on it, but that's okay. Um, so I've been watching some of the ancient aliens because he'll send me random videos. So I'll watch them. And one of the videos that I watched on the ancient aliens was literally how there are aliens all around the world that have been seen coming out of caves.
15:03 They said that they're like, uh, um, lizard like creatures and literally like all over the world that come out of these caves periodically and go back in. And as soon as I watched that, I was like, wait a minute, that's what that lady had said. The voice of this weird demon. Like she was literally saying that he had spent this long amount of time in a cave. And I was like, that's just weird that they kind of have that same similar story. So there was that that's minor, but it really like put off a light bulb in my head because you know, it was just some of the conversation she had. The other thing that is really tied to aliens. I didn't realize until I had read Joe Jordan's book, piercing the cosmic veil. And so this story is a little odd to just bear with me. Uh, I, we were having tea time and there was a lady that came in, sat with us and she had never been to the tea time or the Bible study before she was super young.
16:09 I would say that she was younger than me, probably in her twenties at the time. And so immediately I was like, Oh, new face. I'm going to go talk with her. And so I go up and I'm like, hi, you know, I'm glad you're here. What's your name? And she just looked up at me very calmly, said 51 50 and just looked at me. Yeah. And I thought, okay. And then I said, that's interesting. And she said, yeah, it just means that I'm dangerous. And I heard a lot of people like straight face and I was just like, okay, well, this is the same place. Yeah. And then, so this is weird to say, but she looked at me and she says, you're very beautiful and very intelligent. And I don't want to hurt you and I, you know, my heart starts racing and I just say a silent prayer and I just said, it's okay. You won't hurt me. And she started talking. So I started just asking her questions to try to change the subject.
17:07 Cause it was just odd. So, you know, have you been in Anchorage long? And she's answering the questions and you know, nothing off the charts in conversation for awhile. And then she puts her head down. And takes a minute and then looks back up at me and her whole demeanor changed. So her voice before had been very calm, very collected. And then when she looks back up at me, it's like she turned into like a high school pothead. Honestly, she was just like, how long have we been talking about 10 minutes? And she's like, whoa, I feel like, I just woke up from a dream and there you are. Okay. We've been talking a while and she's like, I think I'm going to go get my meds. Yeah, it was nuts.
18:02 And so she gets up and she goes and waits in a line where they usually get their meds before bedtime. And the Bible study started and I just couldn't get her off my heart. So she's standing in the line for her meds. And I just started praying for her that God would deliver her from whatever, is tormenting her, whatever is going on, that God would just cover her. And I kid you not, she started like leaning backwards and contorting and flailing her arms silently. But I just stopped praying because it terrified me. I'm going to be honest. I'm like, ah, I'm not up for this today. Like, I don't know what to do about this. So I just stopped praying and then focused on the study. She got her meds and she went away, which is a lot for me. Um, I will say I was really shaken by that experience. And that night I went home and I told my husband about it and I'm like, I couldn't believe, you know what I just experienced.
18:58 And I told him, I'm like, yeah, she said her name was 51 50. I never actually got her name. And I just started thinking about that. I'm like, I Googled it. I'm like, what is 51 50? So I'm just going to share this with you. This is what I Googled and open my phone here. So I just Googled, what is the meaning of 51 50? And it says 51 50. It's the number of the section of the welfare in institutions code, which allows an adult who is an experiencing in mental health crisis to be involuntarily detained for a 72 hour psychiatric hospitalization when evaluated to be a danger to others or to himself or herself or gravely disabled. So yeah, according to the medical facilities, she has this disorder, but she's taken this on her name. And then, you know, she has these weird demonic characteristics. Again, I had no idea that this had anything to do with aliens until I read piercing the cosmic veil.
20:03 And I'm just going to read one tiny bit of this because I thought it was just amazing. So Joe Jordan says he's talking about people who have experienced the phenomenon in some like huge commonalities between experiences. And it says the frozen time and reports of no sound have been termed the Oz factor by some UFO researchers. And that's a big part of the dread and anxiety that people feel when they experience, because it's something that's like out of this world. Now he also speaks a lot about, he has a lot of testimonies in here that then back up this idea that when people have experienced an encounter with aliens, sometimes, it's it to them. It feels like they're gone for hours when in reality that there might be a person standing next to them.
20:59 That was like, well, you fell asleep for like a minute or you were not with us for a minute, but it wasn't very long and they like insist. No, I've been gone for hours. So it's that that Oz factor that somehow messes with people's understanding of time and here, you know, I had this lady that when this other calm voice was talking to me, she wasn't even. Present. So, you know, I see a huge correlation there between demonic characteristics and what these aliens are also, you know, revealing to people and the things that we're going through. It reminds me of the video Roger Murnau's testimony when he was watching in his Luciferian church. He said he got this experience when someone had a demon come into them. They were purposely doing it. They were doing this and I remember that they said they they were selected out of two or three people that had done their devotionals that morning devotionals as in your demonic devotionals and one guy was selected and he said.
22:07 The demon came into him and he he shivered and then spoke as if he was someone different. And then afterwards the demon left because the demon didn't have exactly what they wanted. He. He. He. He. but he was willing to find someone else, find another demon to come into the guy. And when the guy woke up, he said, how long was I out? So he had never got to experience what was going on here. It reminded me of that because the person that you were talking to said, I feel like I woke up from a dream. And so it's very strange, but perfect possession, I think, is what they call that, and where they can come in and they can control every aspect of the body. Really, really crazy stuff. Yeah, how scary. Just goes to show that I don't want to give glory to the enemy, but he is powerful. And there's a reason why we need to be aware of what he's doing and where he's at work in situations.
23:12 So, yeah, I'm glad you shared that. I've never heard that about Roger Mourner. Maybe I'll place that clip in here. It was a good clip. Friendly spirits, just to digress for just a moment, you mentioned three different categories, and the friendly spirits are the ones that love to impersonate being a historian or something. Yeah, we specialize in that. In your experiences in the praise services or in the worship room or the other places where you were, any of the places you were, did you ever witness an event where, where necromancy or even something that would be popularly called channeling today took place, where you actually heard the voice of someone in response to someone's questions? Yeah, a number of times, but there was one time in particular that fascinated me because it was unique in one way. The priest told us that there was a French historian that was affiliated with Montreal, University of Montreal.
24:14 Which is a French university, and the English university is McGill. So the University of Montreal is the French university. And this man was from Paris, but he's affiliated with the university. And he wanted to have some details in regards to Napoleon Bonaparte and one of his generals. So, by the way, there are also, in other parts of the world, elite spirit worshipers like the group that we had in Montreal. And he mentioned there that he said, you guys are fortunate when my friend and I went in, because you're right in time to see something very interesting. My friend there is having his devotions, done the worship group of the Gods and he will use a trance medium to converse with certain demon spirits that will inform him in regards to ancient history about Napoleon.
25:12 And sure enough. we went down there and somebody came up and said he's ready to for the the second and we went down there and he said you would need three people you would need three people but he wanted five people that volunteer to be the channel for the spirit okay so he was three was true trade was chosen there and the others went back to sit down and the man shook his head like a little bit like this his eyes went glazed and he stayed at it for a half hour and the spirit spoke to him said I'm a spirit counselor and what would you like to know and the he had a clipboard he started in and asked him some questions this historian was from Paris yeah and he was wanting information some details and he was asking questions and he was asking questions and he was detailed information about Napoleon product and one of his generals and so he asked the questions of one of these human beings that was channeling oh yeah the voice changing everything the voice change of the person completely and it identified itself as a spirit gaya spirit counseloria okay a spirit counselor and and then proceeded to tell him all the events that he was asking yesiste question and there was a certain question that was asked and expect counselor said I will have Lord Remy and Lord Alphonse duplicate, in other words, the dialogue that had taken place. Oh, a little drama. Yeah, and the two other men fulfilled what he was looking for. But the one thing that interests me is the mayor of Montreal, Carmelien Hood, during World War II, at the beginning of the war, he was very controversial when it regards to the war effort.
27:18 He would tell the French-speaking boys not to go into the armed service, because you're going to go and shed your blood for the British, you know? And were their servants, so to speak, and all that, and he didn't want them to go into war. And they put him in prison. He was jailed for the length of the war. Now, the main thing, he said, I would like to have you tell me to the Spirit, to give me part of the speech that was given by Carmelien Hood on the steps of the Montreal City Hall, on a certain date. There are different versions of what has taken place, and you, Lord, would know the exact one. Now, the mayor of Montreal was still alive. Was still alive. And this historian is asking what was actually said at a speech.
28:18 Yeah. The Spirit Counselor said, I'm sorry I can't help you. All of my activities and my people have taken place in Europe. However, after my departure, our departure, other spirits will come and help you. And sure enough, the guy vibrated a little bit, and he's back, and he said, boy, how long? He said, 20 minutes. This is a channel. So they, again, the Spirit entered into him, and the Spirit said that he was a Spirit Counselor that could give him the information that he was looking for. So, again, it was given verbally, and it was the voice of Carmelien Hood. Now, how did you know that it was the voice? Well, because of the fact, you see, I was a youngster in those days, just about ready to go into the Army.
29:11 And Carmelien, we used to listen to the radio. We had no television in those days. It was only radio. And we'd read the newspaper. And all the speeches of Carmelien made in all of the, it was on the radio all the time. And in those days, they had no tape recorders, as we have now. So they would, Carmelien would have to go to the Canadian Broadcasting Studio, where they made a record, a real phonograph record. And then they played it over and over, you know, for the rest of the day. So you listened to those as a teenager before you went into the Army. So you knew his voice. So I knew his voice really good. So I said to George, he was sitting next to me, he said, isn't it amazing? He said, if you think that's amazing, wait, he says, until the spirits impersonate one of the departed people that you know personally, like an uncle or a brother or a sister or something like that. He says, that is unique.
30:08 But that's the way it was. You are able to reproduce a voice, man, and the, just perfection. The spirits are exceedingly proud of this. So you're, is this, you know, the highest level of perfection that you've ever been able to see in an ordinary person? Did you ever have any religious lessons learned while you were in your ministry in Alaska? Absolutely. And I love that question, because I know this, you know, podcast today is really about sharing about the demonic forces and what they were able to do, how I could see them in this ministry. But again, I don't want to give glory to them, and saying, wow, lessons that I will share with you. But also, I just want to speak about the Hope Center in general. So the Hope Center was a religious institution. And what they did, what they enjoyed doing was giving bread to these people. And one thing that was really amazing, we did see a lot of fruit from the ministry. And we also saw fruit from people that were in the Hope Center. So they had also a bakery program. The director, her name is Sherry.
31:26 She's an amazing lady. What she did was she developed a bakery program. God had given her like a dream and a vision of what she should do with the Hope Center. And she just had this dream to build a bakery. And so the ladies that are part of the shelter at night, and really any man or lady, I should say, anybody can be a part of the bakery. And so they built a bakery program. And they bring in like real life certified chefs to teach them all these things. And then they sell, they bake the goods there and sell them off. They do catering and things. And then they go through the schooling and also some religious courses, and they become certified to then work in downtown Anchorage, which is amazing because they're giving these people on the streets a complete second chance. And the only requirement really is that they have to go through drug screening and things of that nature. So, you know, it has to be somebody that wants change in their life, but they really are providing that hope of a new life, which is amazing. And I really wanted to highlight that because I don't want anybody to watch this program and think, wow, the downtown Hope Center is a demonic, horrible place. That's not true at all. There are wonderful things going on there. I just also gained some unique perspective on demonic warfare when we were doing this ministry. So there's that.
32:48 I will say this. When I was talking to the first lady that I'd mentioned on the previous show, I'm just going to call her Annie because I can't think of a better name. Annie had told me that she was four years old, four years old when she had first met this entity or this other soul that she called David. And so one of the questions I had was, were your parents religious at all? Because she in no means wanted to stay, by no means wanted to stay for any of the Bible studies. She was very anti-religion. And she said, you know, my parents, they were always fighting. They were always drinking. They were always, you know, I don't remember much. She said, I just remember sleeping on the floor of my parents' bedroom and listening to them fighting and arguing. And David would come to me and comfort me. So he became the family that I didn't have and the friend that I always wanted. And so, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's And as a parent now, that thought really like sobers my mind. It wasn't as a four-year-old that she opened a door to a demon. You know, how do you do that at four? You're so innocent. I don't think that's possible. Could be wrong. But what I saw from this was that the parents were responsible by their actions, by their lack of a relationship with God, and they're, you know, indulging in what sounded like drugs and alcohol. They opened a door to demonic forces. And these demonic forces were so strong that they then, you know, impacted and later on in life, completely possessed their daughter. She was telling me that during her life, because her family knew that she heard voices in her head. And anytime she said, anytime that there was a death in the family, they all blamed her. Anytime anything went wrong in the house, they all blamed her. And she said, her, um, her grandparents, we're religious, and they would come and just bash her with religion and speak against that the only friend in her life. So she just had this twisted view of, you know, this demon is helping me. It's the only person that loves me. And everybody yells, including my religious grandparents, they're the enemy.
35:12 And again, as a parent, that's just a huge religious lesson to me. You know, sometimes we, we think sin isn't that big of a deal but like if you are opening the door not just for yourself but for your children and your family that's a serious thing and there are serious repercussions in doing so so that was one of them um i just wanted to stick some scripture in there because first peter 5 8 says to be sober and vigilant because our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking all whom he may devour and that's just proof that when we are not sober in mind it's that open door the enemy can then you know it's his playground he can do whatever he wants in tormenting and deceiving and drawing people further away from god so again just that call to as parents you know we have to pray over our children and we have to set up those firm spiritual boundaries by not allowing the sin to then open door for our our helpless children um i also have one other thing i wanted to read from again from piercing the cosmic veil yeah so i thought this was really great that he spoke about the same thing here i'm on page 102 okay so here joe jordan is talking about the phenomenon i'm talking about demons but i think we agree it's the same thing so we should Jason Correlation. It says, people unknowingly open themselves up to this experience by dabbling in the occult or new age practices or mystical things. In other words, the things the Bible tells us not to be involved with. These people are dealing with anything connected to the paranormal, not just UFO stuff, but also areas such as ghost hunting stories, experiences, involvement with psychic abilities, fortune telling, and they make themselves susceptible.
37:13 So he's thinking again about experiencers, and he said, I started questioning more about their lives and their past. What was your family like? What was your family life like? What were your parents into? And he says, that's when I usually found an open door, and the open door wasn't caused by the child. The open door was caused by the family itself, the parents. And that opens it up to the generational cycles of the experience, which secular researchers are seeing. But they don't have an answer to it. He's saying that the secular researchers say that there's some genetic trait that allows this experience to happen. But he says, no, it's not dealing with any of that at all. It's dealing with an open door, similar to the sins of the fathers. It's carried on to the next generation. But also keep in mind that the cycle can be broken at any time. And through that true belief in Christ Jesus and repentance, and taking the initiative, to move on and get free from the experience.
38:17 And then that freedom will carry on through numerous generations of being free from these entities involved. Same can be true for demons. And I just love that he spoke so openly about how the parents, I mean, we have a huge responsibility when it comes to our children, and opening or closing the doors to demonic warfare, or even, you know, this phenomenon. Yeah. So, Wendy, I know you mentioned that there was some ties to when people die, particularly with this last story that you told. Is there any other ties to the state that the dead are in when they die? It's really interesting. A lot of the content that was written by Peter Levenda, shows ago when I spoke about him, he comes forth and says that there's a huge... There's a huge tie between the phenomenon and the state of the dead.
39:15 There was a lady that I had met in the ministry, and I'm just going to give her the name Lindsay, out of respect. She was very different than the other ladies because she didn't have any history of drug addiction. She didn't have the normal, well, I shouldn't say normal, the oddity of characteristics about her that a lot of the other ladies did. She came to literally every Bible study interview. And she always had great things to say. She knew a lot of scripture already. I really just love this lady. And so over the course of like five months or six months, I really got to know her, which was great. I did some things with her outside of the ministry. She was very lonely. She was like in her late sixties, but I could tell she just, she was really lonely.
40:06 So I just made it my, I guess, personal goal to spend time with her and to help her out. So. So I learned some really interesting things about this lady. Um, I do consider her a friend, so I don't want to be disrespectful to her in any way, but she did have a lot of beliefs that I disagreed with and I'll share them with you. So where to start? So Lindsay, I ended up finding out that she didn't have any family in the state and that she actually had a. Condo there in Anchorage and there, uh, she had not been in that condo for like the past winter. So it was like six months she hadn't lived in her condo and she started sleeping and staying at the homeless shelter, which I thought was a little odd. Uh, but she said that it needed a lot of work before she could go and move back in. So this was just something temporary for her. And she was thankful that we were there as a, you know, somebody to share the gospel with because she loved the Lord.
41:12 And so, uh, you know, I spent time with her and another of the things that she revealed to me was that in previous years, I would say like five years before she had experienced this temporary homelessness, she said that she was just very lonely. Her family again lived out of state and she decided that she was going to join this church. She wrote the Anchorage city boss to the church and got to know a bunch of people at the church and felt. Like it was, you know, a really good church family, I guess. One of the families that attended the church started picking her up and bringing her and would have lunch with her and they'd make a full day of it and, you know, drop her back off at home. So she felt like they really filled that void for fellowship and connection that churches should. And she loved it there. But what was interesting is she told me one day she started receiving these messages from the Lord.
42:11 And she said. That their church was very open. And if, if you felt like you had a message or a word from the Lord, that there was a time set aside that they would let people go on the stage and, you know, free Mike, I guess, and share what they're hearing. That always makes me nervous. You never know. Yeah. What's going to come out. We're very flawed people. So she told me that she was given these real specific messages, but she had no idea. Who they were for or what it was really about. She was just confused about the whole thing. And she started giving messages. And this happened for several weeks. And by the third week, the couple that was taking her to and from church said, you have to stop because you don't know the history of our church and you don't know a lot of the families in our church, but you're speaking directly against our pastor.
43:04 And she was just like, oh, no, what am I doing? You know, I've just just developed this fellowship. And this is the last thing that I want to do. She had a very tender heart. And so she told me that night she went home and she said she spoke with the Lord and she told the Lord, I'm done. I don't want another message because I don't want to hurt this family anymore. She said, I don't want to hear another word from you if it's going to hurt anybody. And she said from that moment on, she could not hear anything from the Lord. She said before I would pray and I would hear all these things from Jesus like we were sitting across the table from each other. And she said after that moment, I heard nothing. And she said that it had severed the relationship with that family so bad that she stopped going to church. So she went back to her her hermit lifestyle and stayed in her condo. Well, several months go by and she starts feeling this pull to go to a church that's right down the road from her house.
44:04 And it's a Catholic church. I'm going to pause here to say that there are a lot of beliefs in the Catholic church. Catholic church that I don't agree with, but I firmly believe God has his people in every church. So if there's anything I say, if you're Catholic and you disagree with it, believe me, that's perfectly fine. This is my belief and what I stand upon. So I have nothing against Catholic people and those who practice the tradition of Catholicism. The religion, I should say. So she starts going to this church for a couple of weeks and she said everything was good. She got really comfortable. And one time she goes to just like a Wednesday worship service that they were having. And she said she walked to the church by herself and something just felt different that night. The whole walk. She said she felt like she knew she was going to receive something from God.
44:57 I don't know what that meant, but she could feel it, she said. And she went into the worship service and she said she sat in the back row. And she told me that she cried the entire worship service. And at the end of the day, she said, I'm going to go to the church. And at the end of the worship service, she could feel a spirit standing behind her. And she said that the spirit touched her on the shoulder. And she knew immediately that the spirit was feminine. And she said, I knew who it was immediately. She said, if I would have turned around, I would have seen the face of Mother Mary. She said, but I respect and honor her so much that I knew I wasn't worthy to look at her face. So I was frozen and I just stood forth. But she said from that. And from that day on, when she would pray, she would get answers from Jesus and from this feminine voice from the mother of Mary. I don't believe that Mary has the ability to speak with anybody.
45:54 I believe that she is dead and in the grave. Yes, she was a wonderful woman. Yes, she was the mother of Jesus. But I don't see in scripture where the dead can come back and talk with anybody. And I know you've done this many times. Not scriptures, but I just want to bring out some more because scripture is what we need to lean on. So I'm just going to open up my Bible and read some to you. Here we go. So Job 14, 12 says, And then Psalm 6, 5 says, For in death, there is no remembrance of you. In the grave, who will give you thanks? In Ecclesiastes 9, I think you're familiar with this one, but it says the dead know nothing. So they have no more reward. The memory of them is forgotten. And also their love, their hatred and their envy have now perished.
46:57 And then in 10, it says, Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with your might. For there is no work, no device, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave where you are going. And I'm going to read some from. From the New Testament. Okay. John 5, 28 says, From the words of Jesus, he says, Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the grave will hear his voice speaking of himself, and they will come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Reminds me of that. Sorry. Sorry. Reminds me of that. Reminds me of that verse that says David is dead and he's buried in his sepulcher, his grave is with us today. Yes, that's a good one. And then John 6, 40 says, And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son of Man and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
48:04 So in my mind, it's obvious, and it's in the Old Testament and New Testament, that there is a... There is a time for the resurrection. And here he says, it's at the last day. And also he says, those who are in the grave will come forth to the resurrection when he comes, you know? And so one more I want to share that kind of attests to that. I may have shared it before, but... It's like, why is God coming back if everyone's in heaven already? What's the point? He comes back and says, hey, it's me. Okay, bye. Who's raising from the grave? If you die and go straight to heaven or hell, why is the grave even mentioned at that point? It doesn't line up. It doesn't make sense to me. Behold, I tell you a mystery. Sorry, this is 1 Corinthians 15, 51. Behold, I tell you a mystery.
48:58 We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed in the moment and a twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Yeah, what are they talking... I was just going to say, we receive our incorruptible nature, our new heavenly body at that last trumpet. Absolutely. Go ahead. Absolutely. And what is it talking about? We shall not all sleep. Well, obviously, it's not talking about, you know, slumber. It's not talking about dreaming. It's not talking about what we do every night. It's talking about what Jesus said was he referred to death as a sleep. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And if we're sleeping in heaven, you know, how does that work out? If people are coming back to earth and giving messages to their family, how is that sleeping in heaven? That still doesn't fit if people believe that sleep is somewhere else and not in the grave.
49:56 It's lost on me. Fascinating. Fascinating. Yeah. So back to this lady named Lindsay. What she shared with me was that after this spirit, this spirit, who called herself Mary, and she knew in her heart was Mother Mary, after the spirit came to her, she started having really weird things happen to her. So what she told me was that her neighbors started plotting against her and that she was in the middle condo. So what she said was that the neighbors that lived above her were pouring chemicals down into the water to poison her. And that, that Mary told her of these things to protect her from it. And then she was saying things like the people in the bottom floor, they were constantly, when she would leave, she would come back and she said, I know that the people in the bottom floor were in my, my condo in my apartment and they were messing with my things because Mother Mary would tell me when to leave and when to come back after it was safe.
51:02 And that really struck me as odd. Because she's saying that this spirit of, of God is, is protecting her from these things from the neighbors. But what I saw from the outside perspective is that this spirit made her horribly paranoid. She was afraid of everybody. She was afraid of the landlord. She thought he was trying to kick her out. She was afraid of all her neighbors on every side, to the point where she ended up saying that the reason she came to the women's shelter was because Mary told her it's no longer safe. It's no longer safe in your condo. You have to leave. Until I tell you to come back. And so she was homeless for six months living on the street. She never went back to her condo. She'd stay the night at the women's shelter. But then after, uh, I think it's like eight o'clock or so they put up the mats and you're out on the streets.
51:56 So she chose to be homeless because of what this spirit was telling her. It brings to me, um, in my mind, I just think of second Timothy where it says that God does not give us a spirit of fear, but he gives us a power and love and a sound mind. And so this is the opposite. You know, this spirit was making her completely paranoid, kicking her out of her home, turning her mind against all the people that lived around her and, you know, creating an atmosphere of constant fear. She thought everybody was against her when she was at the homeless shelter. She was talking about how the other ladies knew she was a Christian and they're always trying to get her. Kicked out and always trying to do these things because she loved the Lord and, and they didn't or wanted had held something against her. It was just odd. It was all very odd.
52:50 And in my mind, if, if you received a spirit from the Lord, you know, man, why would it be chasing you out of your house and into these horrible situations? So that was a huge red flag to me that, you know, even though she hadn't had any drugs, or was, you know, this, the situations that the other ladies seem to be in to open the door to demonic influence. I started questioning, like, how did she get this way? You know, how is it that, that the spirit has driven her to such a recluse and hermit life? And I just kept thinking, I wonder if it was that time where she told the Lord, I don't want to hear from you anymore. She it's like, she closed the door to, you know, the Lord reaching her heart. And then the next thing she knows, she finds herself in a church and this new spirit comes to her. And then her life just crumbles. So she also did tell me, she said that to speak of the state of the dead, other than mother Mary, she said that her dad and her mom were both deceased.
53:59 And she said that she had a family member. It was an aunt and the aunt had come to her after like shortly after her aunt died. And her aunt said, I want you to rest assured that your dad and mom, they're both in purgatory, but they're going to come out. The Lord has reached down to your dad and said that he has worked off all his sins and that it's time for him to come. But he refused to come because he said he wasn't going to leave purgatory until your mom came. And she said, I'll never would have believed that in a million years, because my dad was not a Christian by any means. I, she said, I loved him. I was daddy's little girl. But when I started learning about the Lord as a teenager, he shunned it and he shunned me. And in my whole life he wanted nothing to do with religion. She said, so I had a really hard time believing that he would be in purgatory and was asked to leave before my mom.
54:57 She said, but what convinced me how I knew it was true was because my dad always waited for my mom. That was his like signature move. Whenever there was a family event, he'd be like, well, just waiting for you. Yeah. You're mom. I, you know, I'm just, I'll, I'll get to that as soon as I can. You know, I'm just waiting. And whenever there was a decision, he's like, she was always waiting for mom. He said, so I knew, I knew that my dad and mom were both going to be in heaven. And I just received such joy about it. And again, you know, we know our, our stance on the state of the dead. So it's just a sad situation that these spirits are leading her through. Yeah. And what does that say? You know, if, if somebody that we know had nothing to do with the Lord had nothing to do with religion, but then you hear from a dead relative, Oh, don't worry.
55:48 They're going to be in heaven. Like ultimately, what does that say? Is everybody safe then? There's, there's no accountability in salvation. You know, there's, it's just completely not what the gospel says. Right. So it's just a sad situation for her. Wow. The, the last experience with this lady, Linda, that I wanted to share was I was spending time with her and we were, I started doing some Bible studies with her thinking, you know, maybe if we just read the word together, that the Holy spirit will do some work in her because in my mind, she was very far off from the truth, but I considered her a friend and she was a very sweet lady. She still is a very sweet lady. And I just had this burden on my heart for her. So my husband and I, we actually had these mentors, kind of spiritual mentors that we became friends with. And the older lady was 77 and the man was 75 and they lived in Talkeetna, Alaska.
56:53 And they had asked us to come out to their property and just help with some of the work that they needed done. The husband who was 75, he had hurt his leg years before in a chopping down a tree. And he was just disabled. And so there was a lot of work they had to do on their property, huge property, gorgeous property. So we agreed that we would go and help, you know, just I could clean and cook and my husband's going to do whatever he can do. And we just were going to help. They were really great people. And so we loved spending time with them. Well, I thought maybe I can bring Lindsay with me because she's, you know, in, in close proximity, age wise to this couple. And I thought, man, they're spiritually sound super strong in the faith. If anything, maybe they can make it. Maybe they can make a difference. And it was really odd.
57:42 So the whole time we drove there talking to us, like two hours North of Anchorage, I drove with Lindsay and my husband, we had a big RV. My husband drove the RV and my son up. And so just speaking with her, she was so excited to find me, you know, be in a service area. She's like, I've been served for all these years at the hope center. And you know, people are always doing things for me. It's so good. I can't wait to go there and I'll do whatever they ask. I'll cook, I'll clean. I'm just so happy to go. And I was thrilled, like great, you know, and hopefully you guys can develop a friendship and you know, you can have another friend on your list. And we went there and the first day was uneventful. It was nice. Everyone was kind of courteous and it was just great. And then that night after dinner, we were having a Bible study and in the Bible study, the lady who owned the house that lived there, she brought up the state, of the dead.
58:39 And I was kind of just holding my breath because I was like, Ooh, already, I'm not sure how Lindsay's going to feel about this. And it was like a light switch. She completely changed character. She was so soft and so subdued, talked really gently. And as soon as they spoke about the state of the dead, it was like something, some other personality came out of her. She was like slamming her fists on the table and screaming and saying, this is all. I'm biblical. And I can't believe anybody would ever believe these things. And then she just left. She stomped up the stairs and closed herself in the room where she was staying. And for the rest of the week, she stayed in that room. She didn't come out until it was time to eat. And when she came out, she wouldn't look at anybody when talk to anybody.
59:30 And I went up there a couple of times trying to talk with her. And she's like, sorry, I'm not feeling well. And she just stayed in the room. And I was like, this is so weird. I've never seen her act like this. She was such a lovely lady. And then on the way home, as soon as we got in my car and drove off, she just started apologizing like repeatedly and saying, I don't know what came over me just the whole time I was there. I felt like the spirit inside of me kept saying that this place is the enemy. And she's like, I don't, I don't know what happened. I was really looking forward to help cleaning and cooking. And, and here, she's like, I just sat there and I did nothing. She's like, I'm so sorry. I was like, it's, it's okay. I'm sorry that you felt the need to stay in that room. And then we just kind of dropped it. And I started talking about other things, but it was just so sad to me that the spirit inside of her was so strong, such a strong influence in her life that she couldn't even listen to the Bible being read, you know, to the, to the voice of somebody that had a different belief.
1:00:37 Is this, is this the same lady that saw things she would see a dead relatives and stuff? Do you know? Yeah. He's the one who had the aunt come and talk with her and she had a lot of stories. Another crazy little story. Actually, she said when her children were young, that she had a child throwing like the biggest tantrum she ever saw. And she said that she saw a demon on their shoulder and then she prayed and cast it out. And she said, she just saw it fly away. And then her, her daughter like came to and said, mom, that wasn't me. Was it? She said her daughter was like five years old and she said, no honey, that wasn't you. And so she's told me that she's had a strong connection with the spiritual realm for whole life. And that it's like her gift is to discern the spirits and to see the spirits. And I don't know.
1:01:31 It's, it's odd for sure. Yeah. Yeah. It always makes me a little bit nervous when, when someone says I have a message from the Lord, or I have a spirit that tells me or whispers in my ear because you don't know you don't, at least in my personal experience, it usually is not the correct message that they give. Not sure the exact verse, but somewhere in Samuel at the beginning, it says that before he, what he heard the word of the Lord, the Lord was not in the land in that way. And we were told at the end of time, you know, we will see, see visions and dream dreams. And so this will happen, start happening again. But until that time, I'm not even sure we have to test the spirits to make sure they speak according to the word of the, of the Lord, the Bible. So very good. Yeah. That's the scripture I was thinking of to test the spirits.
1:02:27 And it's interesting how, you know, it, you know, it says, is it in Joel at the end of the days that we will, you know, God's children will dream dreams and have visions. Well, what I think of in that is if God is promising to do this, don't you think Satan's going to counterfeit? That's what he does. He doesn't have any creative juices of his own. I feel like all he does is counterfeit what the Lord does. So in my mind, if the Lord is promised to send visions and dreams to his people in the end, Satan's going to do the same thing just with opposite visions and dreams and messages to lead the most of the people astray as well. Absolutely. Absolutely. Wendy, you've experienced quite a bit working at that mission. What, where's the hope? I mean, how, I mean, certainly, I mean, we've, we've seen God working in all this different ways, but how would you, how would you see the positive in all this?
1:03:25 It's a great question. You know, in a dark place like that, I feel like people might get scared to, to go in there. And I truly feel like that was the point when that first lady approached me. And we were giving those Bible studies. I was kind of the leader of the group. I kind of wrangled everybody into doing it and coming. And when that person spoke to us, sorry, when that person came and approached the table, she was in my face. And I felt like the whole point of that was because we were coming with a message of light and we were coming to give the truth of Jesus and the freedom that he gives to people in addictions and chains, and especially under demonic influence. And I don't think they liked it. I think they were trying to scare us out of there. And, you know, had I not been rooted in grounded in God's word, it might have worked. There are several, several times that I would go home and talk to my husband and be like, Oh, if I'm cut out for this, this is way above my pay grade.
1:04:27 I'm not getting paid, but you know, point being, I don't feel like I have the experience to do these things, but the word promises us greater. Is he, is he living in you and me and you Bradley and the viewers here, if they call on Jesus greater, is he living in us than he who lives in the world? We know that the enemy is running rampant. He knows his time is short. So he's pulling as many tricks as he can out of the bag, whatever he can do to deceive people. And so again, I feel like one of the best ways to have hope is to be assured of what the Bible says. And that is yes, the enemy is powerful, but God is so much stronger. You know, we have hope when we read the books, like piercing the cosmic veil proof and testimony after testimony, that the name of Jesus casts out alien experiences.
1:05:25 And we know the Bible says this, the Bible says that the name of Jesus casts out demons. All the disciples did so. And at the end of Mark, I believe that's where the call is that, you know, those who follow Jesus, Jesus and are baptized and repent, they will have that same ability to call out demons. Well, if we root and ground ourselves in God's word, we don't have to fear the demonic games that are played around us. We just have to, you know, abide. We have to abide in Jesus. When we abide in him, he does all the work. He makes our lives fruitful because we are looking to him for strength and we're looking to him for answers and resources and all of our, our needs. And he's happy. You know, he's happy to do these things for us. So I have a couple of scriptures I just wanted to share.
1:06:15 And that is Ephesians two 10. I just love this scripture. It says we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do this. The scripture, when you really meditate on it kind of blows your mind. And then there's another scripture in Ephesians that I think correlates with it. Ephesians one four. It says he speaking of Jesus, he chose us in him before, sorry. Yes. Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him. So tie those two together. And before the foundation of the world, God chose us to do great works for him and for his glory.
1:07:06 Like that should really humble all of us. We all have a great work to do as Christians. And that is to spread the truth, excuse me, and to not be afraid of the demonic forces when, and where they, if people have stories that they want to share with you about their experiences, give them the hope of Jesus, because there's tons of hope. And the hope is this, that Satan is already defeated. He's destroyed. And he's waiting for his time to return. But he says the victory is already ours in Christ Jesus. So there's our hope. But I also have a scripture. Sorry. I also have a quotation that I wanted to read and share out of a really great Bible commentary book. So it says none are in greater danger from the influence of evil spirits than those who deny the existence and agency of the devil and his angels.
1:08:02 So long as we are ignorant of their wild, they have almost inconsequential. Advantage. Many give heed to their suggestions while they suppose themselves to be following the dictates of their own wisdom. Sadly, this really reminded me of my friend, Lindsay. No, she didn't, she wasn't aware that all these things were happening to her. She thought she was just following your heart and horrible, you know, demonic influence in her life. There is nothing that the great deceiver fears so much. As that when we shall be come acquainted with his devices and then here's, here's some good hope the power and malice of Satan and his host might justly alarm us. Were it not that we may find shelter and deliverance and the superior power of our redeemer.
1:08:54 We carefully secure our homes with bolts and locks to protect our property and our lives from evil men. But we seldom think of the evil angels who are constantly seeking access to us and against whose attacks, we have in our own strength, no method of defense. If permitted, they can distract our mind, disorder and torment our bodies, destroy our possessions and our lives. Their only delight is in misery and destruction. Fearful is the condition of those who resist the divine claims and yield to Satan's temptations until God gives them up to the control of evil spirits. But here's the hope. Okay. Those who follow Christ are ever safe under his watch care. Angels that excel in strength are sent from heaven to protect them. The wicked one cannot break through the guard, which God has stationed about his people.
1:09:51 And I just want to share this book with the viewers. I don't know if anyone's if anybody is aware of this book, but I'll show it to you. It's called the rate controversy. And again, it was written almost 200 years ago, but has some amazing truths for today. I actually have a box full of these books, so I'm just going to do this, but I hope you don't mind. But if anybody wants this book, please just reach out. You can put it in the comments. I'll read the comments for this show and then, um, you know, hold me, maybe email Brad and he can forward it to me. I'm not sure, but if you want this book, just let us know and I will make sure that it gets shipped to you for more hope. And yeah, I'll pin a comment. Uh, on this program and, uh, I'll put an email address in there so that you can email Wendy.
1:10:41 This is an amazing, amazing testimony. Do you have anything else that you would like to share as far as this testimony goes? Yeah. You know, Brad, my favorite thing to hear when ministries are highlighted is how God moved, right? We want to see the answered prayers, the fruit from the ministry. So I feel like I'd be doing a disservice if I didn't share those great things with the audience here. If that's okay. Yeah, go for it. Okay. So I had mentioned before that when I had, when I was pregnant with my first child, I was praying or the Lord to use my child as an open door. And so this was actually the first answered prayer that I found when we were doing the heart to heart ministry. So like weeks before we started, we decided that as a team, the four of us, the ladies that were involved, we would go in and just serve dinner and fellowship with whoever wanted to speak with us, not knowing how that was going to go or if they were going to be welcoming at all.
1:11:46 And we were a little apprehensive about it, but we decided to just to go in and try to, you know, familiarize our faces with them so that when we came in with the ministry, they'd be like, Oh, okay. We know them. They're they're nice. And so for three weeks, I think before we started my husband and I, and three of the, or two of the other ladies came with their families and we all served and ate with the ladies. Well, we had talked initially, like trying to figure out what are some good conversation starters with these ladies, because we generally have different backgrounds. You know, we, none of us had come from, you know, abusive parents or drugs or alcohol praise the Lord. But a lot of the people in the streets come from rough backgrounds. So we just, we weren't sure how to do that, but this was the first answered prayer. So the very first night that we went there, I had my son in a little baby carrier and two of the other ladies there had children almost the same age as my son.
1:12:50 And so they brought theirs on their baby carrier. And I kid you not the line of, of ladies and gentlemen, as I walked through, they were really grumpy and just, you know, didn't want to make eye contact with you at all, get their food and go. But as soon as they saw, our babies, it was like, Whoa, they had all these smiles. Sometimes I forgot that I had the baby on me. Cause I'm like, why are they so like these huge smiles are all giggly. I'm like, Oh yeah, it's the baby. It's not me. But it was amazing. And then afterwards, when we went to, like we gave the meals out and then we went to go talk with everybody. I'm kind of looking around like, Hmm, who am I going to talk to? You know, how are we going to get started with this? And the ladies just blocked to me. Such an open door that God had with my baby. So they came up and they're just like, Oh, you know, what's his name? How old is he asking me all these questions?
1:13:44 And then it was like, they just poured their heart out. Oh, I have a son. I have a daughter. And it was seamless and just so easy when, you know, initial conversations can be awkward, but God just really used again, my child as an open door, which I was so appreciative for. So that was the first answered prayer. And I felt like it was just, you know, the encouragement we needed before the ministry started. Um, my favorite answered prayer was actually the first night that we did the heart to heart tea. There was a lady that showed up and, um, she was native Alaskan and we had decided for the first Bible study. Uh, we chose a study that was about like a mixture of women from the Bible, but it, um, it was all these women who had been forgotten and like ostracized and pushed to the side and neglected by society, but who God then redeemed and showed love to, and, you know, took care of them.
1:14:49 So we chose that as a study, not really knowing, you know, who it's going to reach or what it's going to do. But the first night that we met and, uh, one of the ladies that stayed for the study afterwards, she like kind of flagged me down. And she was like, I've seen you somewhere. Where have I seen you before? I was like, I don't know. I don't think I know you. And she was like, you know what? I had a dream about you just the other night. I was like, oh, okay. No, that's kind of odd. I'm like, that's cool. Fine from God. I was like, well, maybe you're supposed to be here, you know, to be part of this study. And she's like, I really, truly think so. And then she goes to share that like three nights before that, she was getting ready to commit suicide.
1:15:37 And she had come from a long line of drug and alcohol abuse. And she'd been homeless for a long time. And none of her family wanted anything to do with her. And she, she was just going to end it. And she said that God stopped her and she didn't know why, but she said, when I came here tonight and I heard the words of these forgotten women in the Bible, God opened my heart up. And I heard, she's like, he said to me, this is why. You couldn't do it. This is why I didn't let you end it because I needed you to hear this message tonight that you are loved and you're not forgotten. And she was, she was crying. I was crying. I went home crying. I mean, it was amazing. There's more answered prayer, but if there hadn't been the whole ministry would have been worth it just to hear, you know, the testimony that one night it was great. God is good. And just another way to show that, you know, he's the one that does it all.
1:16:34 He works out the details. He provides the resources. He is the one that provides the fruit waters, the seeds like glory to God, you know? So a little bit more, the director that I had first met, she, she's the one that told me about the hope center. I met with her a couple of times throughout our ministry, just asking her, you know, how, how do you think things are going? And she would ask me, how do you think you're going to do the same things? And she told me that the ladies were just like enthusiastic about tea time and the Bible study. She's like, you know, there's still fights now and then she's like, but the ladies that have caused the most problems, they go to your study and the tea time, and they have acted way different. She's like, they're not, you know, a hundred percent, but she's like, I just see this huge behavior shift going on.
1:17:28 I just praise the Lord. You know? I mean, sometimes you just need that encouragement. And the fellowship people to remind you, you know, it's not all about these little things. There's a bigger picture and there's a bigger God that has a plan for you. And so, yeah, that was really encouraging throughout this study. She had a couple of testimonies that she had given about how the ladies just love the tea time so much and asked if we could do it every night. Sorry. Once a week is about all we can give, but it was still nice to hear. You know that they really appreciated it and that it seemed to be making a difference. And then the other two things that I wanted to share, the way that God had moved and used us was the lady that I had told about her.
1:18:22 Her name is Lindsay that I shared. That's not her real name, but the lady that I gave Lindsay the name for, she actually a couple months into the ministry, we helped her get back into. Her condo. So she had, again, she'd heard from that spirit that it wasn't safe to go there. And she's, she was resistant. She was saying, you know, I haven't had the word yet. I haven't been told that it's safe. And so it took a little convincing, but like, well, what if we go with you? You know, what if we check out the water and check out, you know, your neighbors, make sure it's safe. And she was finally, you know, we would pray about it all the time. And we'd say, you know, we were asking the Lord for protection. Let's let's just try. And so she did. And when we went there at first, she was a little terrified and, you know, she's like, I just feel not safe here.
1:19:12 And so we, we just kind of went through the rooms and prayed with her. And it just settled her spirit, settled her heart, settled, whatever you want to call it. And she decided to live there. So we just kind of helped her, you know, getting back on her feet, uh, as the ministry, you know, we offered to come in and like help her clean. And, you know, we had a grocery shop and there was a while where she didn't have water. So we helped her do dishes and things like that. But I think she just was really happy to have a little bit of a support network in her life again, because she didn't have any family, but it was really great to see somebody, you know, come off the streets. And then there was another lady who she was homeless with her son. It actually moved to Anchorage, Alaska. Um, it hopes to live with a family member. And after a month or two of being with that family member, this lady was a strong Christian from what I could see.
1:20:10 She loved the Lord. She was always singing hymns and never had any drug addictions or alcohol problems. And her and her teenage son were actually homeless because they refused to live with their family members any longer because they were cursing and swearing and fighting all the time. And she said, I cannot let my teenage boy be around that kind of environment, which I mean, such respect for this lady. She chose homelessness out of her love for God because she didn't want her boy to be exposed to that, which is hard to fathom, but that's what she did. And so she actually got ahold of a program that helped her and her son get into an apartment, but they didn't have any resources. So, uh, my husband and I, and the ladies at heart to heart, we just did like an all call and asked all our friends.
1:21:02 And family and church and work, you know, these are the items that she needs. If you have anything extra, you have anything you could donate. I had one person donate $200. Another person gave like a couch, a TV, a lamp, a table, a bed, like everything she needed. Honestly, it was so amazing. And again, like it wasn't us. God just brought all these people to fill this need. We just had the privilege of delivering it, which was great. But, yeah. And then the last one that was a huge answered prayer was one of the ladies who she was really struggling with family because her family lives far away and they really didn't want anything to do with her. But she was determined to go through the bakery program and she did, and she graduated from that program. And then she then had some sort of like certificate where she could, I'm not sure if she could work as a chef or work in the kitchen as like, you know, a chef assistant.
1:22:03 I don't really know how all that works, but she had a certificate. So then she could get a job, you know, a decent job, downtown Anchorage. And she actually had gotten a job pretty quickly, but didn't have a car. So our ministry, the four ladies and the families and I got together and we were able to provide her with a car so that she could then continue, you know, her path of sobriety. And she had a huge love for the Lord too. She was at every tea, every Bible study and stayed after, and wanted to talk forever. So it was just amazing to see how God used. I mean, honestly, it was less than a year that we were there and doing this ministry. And I felt like God had really moved in some powerful ways. So yeah, it was an honor. Yeah. Just to continue on with the message of hope, because sometimes it's really scary to be the one, you know, if God calls you to start a ministry, or if he calls you to go into a place that feels dark, like God says, he, Jesus says he is the light, but he also says that you are the light.
1:23:12 And so if you have Jesus in your heart and you're approaching a place of darkness, you know, for the purpose of spreading his love and sharing the gospel, he goes with you. And when you arrive there, you know, it's like hope arrives on the scene and that light shines, darkness flees, you know, in his name, so we don't have to be afraid, just more of that hope. You know, there's no fear in love and God does all things for his good. So he's going to be with you on those hard mission calls. Absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. Wendy, thank you so much for, for contributing. This is fantastic. Um, will you pray us out? Sure. Absolutely. I would love to. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we love you and we thank you for your goodness, your grace, your kindness, and your promise to be with your children. Those who you love and those who love you.
1:24:05 Father, we thank you for the safeguard that we have in you. We thank you for the promise that you are greater than the forces that are battling against us in this world. And the promise that will come for us one day and put an end to all sin and death. Nothing is greater than that promise. And we thank you father. I just pray that those who are listening, listening to this show, that you would open our hearts and spur us on to continue to share the truth of you and Lord, that you would prepare more good works for us, for all of us, that we would have a heart for ministry and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ while there's still time. God, we just thank you for strange normal and for this opportunity to speak about you freely. And God, I just thank you for Brad, and his faithfulness to spread truth in a world and in a place where truth is rare.
1:25:07 God, we love you. And we thank you so much for being with us through all of these events and trials and through every stage of our life. Again, we love you. We praise your holy name. Amen.