7 Years In The Making

Testimony shared on January 24, 2021 • Comments: 0 Comments

I Waited 7 Years For My Prayer To Be Answered

Listen in to how my family and close friends were all praying for God to heal and restore Josh for 7 years.

The Prodigal Son Returns

My story comes from the 7+ years of praying for God to show Josh that his ways were not good and that He has greater plans for his life.

This story starts in 2004 when I started noticing a change in my son's life, the people he was hanging out with and just some of the things he was doing.

Things really took a change when he went to college and joined a fraternity. I remember on Mondays, his fraternity brothers would always come up to me and say, "Mrs. Hines, you're never going to guess what your son was doing last weekend." It always made me really worry about the decision he was making and sometimes I feel like he was trying to be someone he wasn't in order to fit in.

When Your Son Moves Away

I think the hardest part about praying was when Josh moved away from home. He moved to North Carolina which is 8 hrs away.

What made it so hard was not knowing how he was or what he was doing, considering he wasn't just down the street and I could go see him when I wanted.

Tough Waters Make A Worthy Sailor

During this time there were calls for help in the form of money cause he was let go from his jobs.

We helped him every time but there was one time when my husband said, "The bank is closed. We are not going to help him out anymore. We don't even know what he is doing down there or where the money is really going to."

So we started the 'tough love' approach, which for me was really hard to do because I didn't want to see my son struggling but my husband ensured me that it was time that our son had to take responsibility for his life because we aren't always going to be able to be there to help out.

We told him we loved him but we aren't able to send money anymore.

The conversations with my son changed but I feel it was more him figuring things out, that mom and dad are here but not helping out financially anymore.

During that time I saw a lot of things change for my son and wish we would have made this decision sooner as he did grow up a lot during this time.

It Takes A Village To Raise A Son

Even though we weren't helping Josh financially and things were starting to change, I still knew there were a lot of things still going on down there that I didn't necessarily agree with and Josh still wasn't really listening or looking for God in his life.

We had a lot of people praying for Josh, family, friends, and church people.

We knew that in God's timing, we might see the prayer answered.

Waiting for your prayers to be answered, especially when waiting lasts for years, was the most difficult part.

There were a lot of times, not knowing what is going to happen next that we had to trust in God's plan.

We might not understand why things are the way they are but He does and even the bad things get turned into good things when God places His hands on them.

It took 7 years but finally at the end of 2012 my son reached out to me and shared he had heard from God and was attending church.

At first, to be honest, I didn't believe him. My son has a way of telling stories.

But I remember the first time we visited him in North Carolina after he started attending church and a lot of the members of the church were coming up to me telling me stories of how involved my son is with the church, how powerful his story is and that at one point the pastor was telling my son's story to the entire church. It was at that moment, that I realized, you're talking about my son and that my prayers were actually answered.

So as one mother to another, never give up hope. Pray every day.

Invite those around you to press into prayer with you, Mattew 18:20 says, for where two or three people gather in my name, I am there among them.

Testimony Timestamps

Who Are You 3:10

How Long Have You Been Walking With Jesus - 3:11

Have You Always Been An Active Prayer - 5:42

What Was It Like Before 7:12

What Was The Situation Like Before That Led To Your Prayer - 7:20

What Made You Decide To Pray - 13:52

What Was It You Prayed For - 16:19

What Was It Like While Waiting 19:36

What Was The Most Difficult Part While Waiting For Your Prayer To Be Answered - 19:45

How Did The Enemy Attack Your Prayers And Beliefs - 27:18

What Scriptures, Encouragement, People or Other Aspect Kept You Hopeful - 28:20

Where There Any Surprises Or Revelations You Came Across While Waiting - 38:20

What Was It Like When Your Prayer Got Answered 47:27

What Was The Pivotal Turning Point For Your Prayer - 47:34

How Did You Feel When You Found Your Prayer Answered 48:40

What Does The Situation Look Like Now - 51:48

What Was The Number One Thing You Learned While Praying - 53:14

What Are You Believing For Next 56:04

What Are You Praying For Now - 56:24

What Would You Want To Tell Mothers Out There Still Believing For Something - 1:01:00

Quotes From This Testimony

Jesus is always there, He is the one constant in your life.

Anxious For Nothing by Max Lucado.

You can't always worry or fix what's going on around the world but you can't worry and try to help out in your local community, whether that be talking and helping your neighbors, friends, family or other things happening in your local community.

Testimony Transcript

Hey everybody it's Josh from PrayingMamma.com Today we are coming to you with our first live interview, I'm interviewing my mother the story that we're going to be sharing today is about how she prayed for me to get saved and get back in church and get out of the bars and we'll just start diving into this but i wanted to kind of give you a little preview of what's gonna what's to come and and then we'll we'll unpack it so thanks for joining us today thanks for staying tuned I know a lot of you been waiting for this i know I've been sharing that I was going to make this video and we keep putting it off but here it is without further delay I'd like to introduce my mother her name is Kim Hines she lives up in Ohio I'm down in North Carolina but yeah she's got a story of her power prayer, her power prayers, praying for power, praying for deliverance and and breakthrough that lasted almost what seven years pretty close to that yeah as I know, I started I'll share a little background of me and then we'll dive into her but I know a lot of my my crazy story started probably like high school, senior year, when i just kind of started wandering around and just kind of trying to figure out where I fit in the world and everything and of course it led me down some some stray paths but yeah I'm not going to share too much I'm going to let her have the focus for this so we're going to break this out in a few different parts.

The first part of this interview is who are you so we'll be explaining just my mother's story and where she's coming from. The next, we'll be going into what was it like before she started praying for me just her thoughts, her feelings about just my life and her being my mother, and then the next part of the interview is called what was it like while waiting so even while she was praying I know sometimes you probably know firsthand is that you don't say a prayer and then it's instantaneous sometimes it takes hours sometimes it takes days in the instance for my mom it took about seven years of her praying I'm sorry mom but yeah we'll share a little bit about what was it like while waiting for the answer to your prayer. The next part is called what was it like when your prayer got answered so what was what were you feeling what were you thinking when you finally got the prayer the the answer to your prayer and then we'll conclude this interview with a section called what are you believing for next of course this story happened about what this is back this story probably ended in 2012 I know personally for me it was November 2012 so it's been what eight years since this has happened so we're reflecting but I want to definitely share this story of course I mean me being the host of this channel wanted to kind of give you an idea of what it was about being radically and transparent with my own life before I'm like hey will you share a story about your kids or something that's happened in your life so this is a eighth year in the making and it took seven years so we'll go back to the very beginning the first question I would like to ask you mom is how long have you been walking with Jesus and maybe share a story of like the earliest moment you can remember where you saw Jesus in your life.

Well probably I've been in church my whole entire life my mom was basically the strong person in my life my dad was there fairly but then when we moved probably about 23 miles from where I was raised from fourth grade on it was prominently just my mom I'd probably say going in and out of the church with my mom the whole entire time I mean we just I just basically went, it probably wasn't until maybe junior high school that I was at church camp with one of my friends that I you know personally for myself you know asked god to come into my heart so.

What was that like what were some of the immediate changes that you saw from that point in junior high? for myself personally? Yes. Just seeing you know how I looked at things differently you know being of a young age you know there were some of my friends that weren't believers so it was kind of hard to know how to you know do both and i struggled with that a lot you know because I had more friends that were not Christian based believers than myself so I did gravitate you know to a lot of church people one and kids when we were there but they went to a Christian school and I went to a public school so I struggled with that you know and only having my mom you know to show me those values you know I just kind of navigated them on my own.

Okay that sounds good, the next question is have you always been like an active prayer or where there's was there a moment in your life that you started becoming more consistent with it?

I always prayed but now I pray differently but I always prayed but praying you know one way of just saying a prayer and not have it being focused on your life only that I now know that sometimes it's you look at God's gonna bless you in your own life if you're praying for other people first that's just me personally and how I word it, I would say I've always prayed but as an active prayer you know I think it come you know when my kids got older that I was not always I was the person that wanted to be the fixer and that is not my job but I thought I could fix that and sometimes I didn't choose the power of prayer to fix the problem and leave it up to Him to fix the problem.

All right so that's the who are you sections for everybody's following along the next section we're gonna go into is what was it like before so this is gonna start diving more into where the story started off when my mother started praying for me like I said it probably started late high school as she eluded her kids getting older is when she really started focusing differently with her prayers so the first question that I want to ask is what was this what was the situation like before that led you to start praying for me like what were some of the things that you were thinking some of the things you were feeling when you were kind of looking at my life and questioning the things that I was doing.

For me, I think it was realizing that I had to give up my motherhood of knowing that you know the kids were going to go out on their own and they weren't going to always come to me for the answers even though I wanted to be part of helping and navigating and telling them because of you know for my own personal you know things that I went through that could have been a little bit differently but to give that up and realize I was not in control of fixing the problem anymore my prayer shifted because I had to I was not going to be seeing that you know anymore and then when y'all go off to college I didn't have control of anything anymore because you no longer lived in my household.

So I had to pray and pray boldly you know for His intervention for His wisdom to touch the life and to ask Him to show you what He had in store for you and then wait which was very difficult.

What was I know especially once I went to college started going down some crazy paths and I remember sometimes coming in for those of you that share a little context my mother works at the university in the cafeteria that I attended and I know when I joined college I joined a fraternity and that took me down a wild road of just craziness going out all the time and just kind of living this crazy carefree life where a lot of times I know my mother would always tell me I would come into the cafeteria early the next week like on a Monday or Tuesday and she'd always somewhat joke but I could understand where she was how she was feeling in those moments where she was like yeah she's like so uh some of your fraternity brothers came up to me and they uh said hey Kim you you don't know what your son was doing last weekend what was it like with those moments did it just like was that part of the situation where like you really started pressing into prayers when you were just like what is my son doing and I don't know what to do to to get him to think differently or do things differently what was that kind of like?

I teetered on where, what boundaries that I could go to because you know even though I knew but I didn't know how bad it was I always press that you know doesn't matter what you're doing you know God knows it all and and you know He can get your attention and but I was also afraid of pressing too much that that would push you further away from me and then I would not know other than secondhand from somebody else because I still wanted to be you know part of your life to let you know that hey I am here if you need me, you know, you know your dad and I both, but it had to be on your terms and and I had to trust that you know God was going to take whatever happens you know He's ultimately in control of everything anyways we may not understand why things happen the way they do, even if we did go and ask him we probably still wouldn't understand why He does what He does but to know that that He is the constant, you know that He was going to be there, you know watching over you and if you know something happened He was going to be there to help pick the pieces up and for me to see what you could be you know while you were going down that path it was very difficult you know at that time because it was like I've never been exposed to anything like that and to see like you know wasted talent I guess but God prevailed and He stepped in and you know and He, you know, made things better you know and and is there to you know be there for us anytime that you know we call on Him that's you know was awesome to see that happen.

So at what point, I know you alluded to it a little bit earlier, but at what point was it that you decided to pray that you, I guess gave your desires and you wanting to fix everything, at what point really did you make that decision to give those that fix it desire and wanting to be a part of my life wanting to fix my life at what point did you decide that you really needed to give that to Jesus and kind of lay it at the cross?

I guess when you moved away to where we weren't going to be able to see you anymore that I had to rely on God a lot to say you know what I've got this because you know we weren't able to see you know you in person. I mean, we talked to you on the phone, we would come down and see you but to be there, you know every day, and see you, now we had to trust Him because you know during that time you know you could tell us whatever you want to tell us and we had to believe it, you know, and then we had our reservations at the same time so I had to give that to God and say you know what you're right I can't do this anymore it's yours and whatever happens, happens even though I may not like what the outcome would be that you know that He is ultimately gonna be the one that's gonna have to fix this and give you a wake-up call.

By moving away, she means when I moved down to North Carolina. So after I graduated college, I moved down to North Carolina and I'm living now in the Raleigh-Durham area. I've been here since 2010, so that's what she means by moving away, that I was no longer right down the street even when I was in school like there was still that time where we would cross paths because like I said she worked in the cafeteria and then I still went home every once in a while but definitely when I moved down to North Carolina, I know that was probably a lot of the the times where things definitely got tough whereas like you wanted to come down here or me come up there and just being able to talk more and everything.

So the next question that I wanted to ask that kind of preludes to this that'll kind of go a little maybe deeper is what was it that you actually prayed for when I moved down to North Carolina and you realized that you needed to kind of be a little more hands-off or not not so much hands-off but like allowing that control of you wanting to fix things, what was it that you actually prayed for for me?

Well first it was for praying for myself, to you know, giving that solely to Him, which was very difficult but I knew I had to because mentally it was not healthy for myself anymore, that God would not necessarily, it's hard to explain like I shifted the way I talked but it was more or less for Him to open your eyes to Him, for you to seek Him, for Him to guide you where you needed to go and that you would be open whenever that time came that He was going to say, "Okay Josh. Hello!" and that you recognized that and didn't continue to run because you know going to church when you were younger you know you knew those values were there, so i wanted you to recognize that and that He would you know carefully align you and when that time came to realize that it's when your time was there and that He was constantly watching over you so many times you know that He could have definitely you know had a different outcome but He chose not to take that avenue and to you know bring you back into the fold, where you ultimately, you know, were all the time, it's just you lost the way and that you know that He would, that you, would recognize that He's always there for you waiting. You know that's what I tell everybody you know He's the one, I'm always constant, you know in your life so. But I just prayed for Him to intervene when He saw fit because sometimes praying on our timetable isn't always His timetable.

So that actually goes right into the next section of what was it like while waiting. So the next question in this section is, what was the most difficult part while waiting for your prayer to be answered?

That was very very difficult because the calls that you know of hearing you know something else happening down there, every time I turn around and then me and my husband would just pray and say you know what, he's not there yet but you know we continue to pray, my mom you know she was faithful, always there you know praying for my kids, I mean I think that's how I learned how to pray differently was through her because she told me you know it's got to be this way because it's a different kind of prayer. So yeah that was very difficult, waiting thinking okay is this ever going to happen, you know I believe that it's on God's timetable and He may never allow it to happen but you've got to pray earnestly to Him and allow Him to do those works and you know and to see if it was something He wants to answer that prayer for so to constantly pray for something you never give up hope because it's there you know and you just pray that God blesses that to happen so while you're waiting and of course all these difficult times getting phone calls just hearing different stories.

I know at one point, I lost a job, and Debbie, your sister, actually reached out to dad and said why aren't you helping your son? He lost his job, finances are tight, what was that conversation like with dad when he was like, I want to help him, but I know we shouldn't help him. What were your thoughts around that?

Well, we always helped you every time you needed the help, we always you know sent money down, we always helped. We didn't know where it was going, we never asked where it was going you just said hey I need this, we sent it down. The day that you called and said hey you know I don't think it was necessarily the day of but when you called and said hey mom I don't have this money you know because I lost my job you know obviously then we didn't realize you know completely know what all you were doing down there, and how you were spending your money because we weren't down there, to ask your dad because I always you know asked him and he said Kim I'm not sending more money down anymore all we're doing is enabling him he's going to have to realize that we're not always going to be here to to fix the problem and he says the bank is closed and I was we've you know we fought you know we had conversation I shouldn't say we fought but we did we had conversation and I said hunnie I just don't want him out on the street you know and he's like Kim we can't keep doing that I'm telling you things are going on down there that we don't know about you don't even know where that money is going we are not helping him he he is gonna have to figure this one out on his own and that was hard that was so difficult but when that happened we seen a shift and it was like oh if we'd known that was going to be that way a long time ago we would have done that a long time ago but it was at that time that's when God finally said you know what Kim yeah listen to your husband you know he is done you know and Josh will figure it out and it was meant to be that way and it turned for the good even though it was very difficult for me to not be there you know because we always wanted to help out so.

I always tell that story to some of my friends which is the 'tough love talk' or it's just like like you said a lot of times parents they want to take care of their children but it almost goes to the point where it's it's almost too much and I feel like at least for me looking back at those moments it's like at some point the parents need to have that where they kind of it's not so much that they don't care they don't want to take care of it's just like you said like you guys aren't going to be there forever eventually the the kid or your kids need to to learn how to take care of themselves and take responsibility for their lives otherwise they just kind of keep this childlike mentality where I can do whatever I want how I want to do it and if stuff goes bad mom and dad will bail me out like you said you and you and dad won't be there forever yeah and it's I could only imagine a few years back or a few years later for some people and I mean god forbid that their parents pass away early but if that does happen like a lot of kids especially these days that are very dependent on their parents even in their late 20s early 30s it seems anymore these days where it's just gonna be it's gonna be a tough transition when that if that does happen for a lot of people so it's like I share that same story with my friends and they're like wow like your parents really did that and I'm like yeah yeah my dad said and he had like he shared as I shared earlier like he had a talk with Debbie where he's just like I'm not it's not that I don't care about him it's not that I want to help it's just at some point you got to say hey you got to take responsibility for your life yeah like you said a lot of things did start changing at that moment where I was just like all right well I guess I gotta stop acting like a kid yeah and the conversations were different and I think then I don't know how you felt like if you felt betrayed because we weren't helping anymore or if it was just like i gotta figure this out you know and because you know they it did shift you know and then I thought oh this is this is bad you know because the conversations were not the same then but I think then is when you were figuring things out you know and allowing maybe your heart to be opened up you know to something you know to happen you know so.

So the next question then would be as you're waiting what were some of the moments or how was it that the enemy attacked your prayers and your beliefs?

Just to think that it wasn't going to happen when something bad else would happen I'm like you know doubting that you know maybe God is not going to choose to you know rescue you to bring you back in the fold or saying you know the devil saying you know he's where I want him to be you never had him to begin with, just the constant turmoil and I think it was just because you live so far away and not being part of you know being there physically seeing you you know all the time yeah, it was hard all right. So the next question I know as you're sharing some of the things that the enemy did to attack you to cause doubt and everything what were some of the the scriptures the encouragement people or other aspects that kept you engaged and hopeful while you were waiting for your prayer to be answered? So people that were engaging in my life was my mom you know having her wisdom and her strength and her you know counsel that I could talk to all the time about you know how I was feeling and everything you know she was you know able to you know help me navigate some things too so, which was nice to have, as far as you know scripture of what I was you know basically feeling was you know a lot of fear of not knowing you know what was going to you know to happen or not happen, I struggled with a lot of fear. It was hard you know to sometimes give it all completely to God, I did but then I turn around and I'd take it back because you know the fear of thinking well I'm out of control you know you know I struggle with that so a lot of mine was just the fear I did, you know read a book that you know helped me out a lot that actually one of my co-workers had told me about that she was you know a christian woman and stuff so I said you know what I'll give it a chance and I'll read this book you know so it was the book called Anxious for Nothing by Max Lucado, I kind of like a lot of his books now, I mean, I don't know if it's because of this book but it was you know I just kind of like his writing style I guess I'm more of a simple-minded person some books are kind of little in my head, I think about things too much and that's it but this one you know she told me about I went and got it laid on my shelf for quite a while but then I finally read it and they geared a lot about you know how I was feeling and everything and stuff so yeah if you want to read the book you can tell people about it it is a good book but mine was just basically fear I think I quoted a couple of them were Psalms 34 you know 17 and 18. Just saying to get and basically breaking it down was actually I when I go back there I'm backtracking now I do that a lot it's called a gray moment but in this book you know there was a lot of good things on there so I thought you know what I need every day to to look at this and say you know what don't go down this avenue this is you know it's in your head give it to God and let it alone so I actually printed off a lot of stuff on this and I actually taped it to my cupboard so anytime that I was struggling with something you know I just read this script of paper which is right here I took down from the cupboard but it didn't all fit on there so I had to give a little piece there but I taped it to my cover and I took it down just so I would have it but just to realize that you know that's the devil talking that's he likes us where he can have us and and try to not you know allow us to put our you know trust in and God and stuff so but in the nutshell it was Psalms 34:17 it says to give me strength to know that even in our struggles you are near to our broken hearts realizing that my strength you know has got to be through Him that He's going to ultimately come back and correct things if He chooses fit and then just to wait for that to happen another one was first peter 5:7 to erase my fears and know that you care for me and love me which is guaranteed you know just not for myself but for my kids too of to seek Him for refuge and stuff and for strength, I don't remember what the other one was Josh you had Romans 15:13. oh to remind us that the hope that we have in Jesus and given strength and compassion through the Holy Spirit to live as you want me to in these days and trials yeah those are big ones that you know I just had to say there you go Lord you can have these and not allow that the devil to give me false hope of something that may or may not happen so I know one of the things that you were saying earlier is you had your mom, pressing in as well was there any other people that you were talking about or sharing with that were aware of the situation and praying as well? We had a lot of people praying for you, my mom had her women's bible study praying at the time I did not know until later you know that was happening, of course, you know the family members on both sides of the family people some people at our church that we'd had you know talked to you know were praying so there were multiple people praying you know and all constantly checking in I mean we have people even today checking in you know asking how you're doing and stuff which is nice you know that to realize that even though you were going through those bad trials that people seen the good-hearted person that you were it's just the paths that you were choosing were not wisely definitely goes to that scripture where it says it takes a village to raise a kid yeah it's a lot of people yeah so so during that time, I know when we were going through the interview questions you shared that the greatest faith is born in the hour of despair and when we see no hope and no way out then faith rises and brings the victory yeah what was the besides the scripture and then having other people in your corner fighting with you is there any other things that kind of like that God kind of revealed to you or kind of gave you a revelation that allowed you to increase your faith I just knew that I think that if God was not going to for me myself I can't speak for other people but I think for me during my path I think he knew where I was at in my own personal life that I think God would have given me that presence of knowing that if something bad was going to happen that He was going to be there so I honestly felt like it was going to happen it just was going to be on His terms and to know that was going to happen just you know constantly you know did give the faith and that ultimately the victory was going to happen and that faith rises to that you know and then you can just be excited about it.

Yeah that reminds me of like you read throughout the Bible of all these stories of people going through great things and it's always there was always some sort of precursor beforehand like I mean you had David and Goliath where even when David was a small boy like he took out the what was it a bear and a lion and all these different animals so when he came up to Goliath like he knew that God was with him and that he was going to prevail yeah and then you even think like the story of Caleb and Joshua coming out of Egypt with Moses and all of them and here Caleb is this 80 year old 85-year-old guy and yet he's the one spy that came back and said hey like this land's got huge walls and there are giants but it's a great land so we're gonna take it anyways and I know that God told this to me in the past that we were gonna lay like my foot was gonna be on this ground so it's just one of those things like you know it's if God spoke it's gonna happen it's just a matter of time yeah so the last question of this section of what was it like while waiting was were there any surprises or revelations you came across while waiting and i know that this probably is very similar to what we were talking about but is there anything else that you would like to share that kind of as you're awaiting that seven years that kind of surprised you i know that you said it wasn't just you praying for me but there was a lot of things that God took you through in your own life was there any surprises or like wow like God's awesome moments well as gearing toward you or just, in general, me or even yourself like I know hearing this for me had to do a lot with your your own walk as well.

So right I am, so I was trying not to do this because I was waiting you'd go down that path. it's all right mom. during all these times of I mean after you know you coming to Christ and stuff but well you know after my mom was diagnosed with dementia I didn't have that person to go to anymore I had to rely on God a lot and figure out I was going to navigate that you know without my mom because she helped me navigate that as far as the aha I think the day that my mom had congestive heart failure that she was gonna have to have open heart surgery you know when she was two years into being diagnosed with dementia you know we were told that you know my mom could come out being a different person was very scary but when she did come out i mean that night i told you know my your dad that it was just a weird experience that I had went through I've never went through it again which sometimes I seek for but the night that before she was supposed to have her surgery i was laying in bed going through a lot of things in my head of what could be it was very bizarre feeling in my body i mean i was there but i really wasn't there but to trusting you know God then I knew I had to sometimes I was didn't understand why He would you know choose my mom the Christian woman that she was God-fearing there for a lot of people I didn't understand so the night I was like almost like I was I don't know I've never been experienced to anything like this but I was just like babbling almost like talking in the tongues i didn't know what i was saying but because your dad said I was just like babbling and it was almost so to where I was like hyperventilating just because fear had just taken over and I had asked him I said Andy you got to pray over because you know I've got to have some ease here going into this because I'm not going to see the glory of God in this if I'm not here and your dad prayed over me that night and as I was laying there I felt 100% felt the power of God's hands just like rubbing over me my whole body I just felt like a hug like I felt Him and my body instantly just kind of relaxed and I looked at him and I'm like told him how I felt like that was weird I've never had that hat before I have not had that happen before ever again either but I knew then I was like oh my gosh He is real I just felt Him and to have that and I search for that all the time it is just crazy because I'm like I'm gonna feel that again but He is here it's just when I do need Him I feel that presence but not like that because I think He knew I needed that for sure and the next day my mom had her surgery she came out of surgery she knew who all we were she was talking she was still the pleasant person and we're all like that's God that is so God that even in the midst of who she could have been was still the same person the gentle soul He blessed us with her being the gentle soul that she always was you know up until she passed away so yeah He blessed us to have still that person there in our lives even though she was not there because He could have very well made her not be a very nice person if He choose to and I'm not saying that it's not for anybody else that may not be blessed the same way I feel for those people that don't get but I'm thankful you know that God was gracious enough to you know continue give us that graceful person yeah and then more time just to spend time with her absolutely yeah because I know there towards the end like you were there you were going in to see her almost like quite frequently I was there just about every day I mean Debbie lived there at you know that last year Debbie's her sister for those of you that are listening I was there you know before she moved in almost every day helping my dad take care of her because we did not want her in the nursing home we wanted her to be at home with her family as long as we could and God blessed us with that to happen you know so He gave us the strength you know and the thing that I, you know could take back from that is to know that you know I could help other people navigate that feeling that it's real, the loss is there you know, to give you know to pray for them you know once their family members have been diagnosed with that and just to have the compassion you know because it is real it is so real and it's so hard you know on the family so that's my only thing I learned from that that God was gracious enough you know to give us her her to still be happy and for me to be able to help others you know with that same process and that's all it was you know that God needed me to take away from that you know I'm okay with that and I'm not angry with Him at all now then I just questioned you know like we all do question why things happen you know but yeah So the next section of this is what was it like when your prayer got answered so we'll kind of circle back but what was the pivotal turning point for your prayer when you and grandma and other people at church and everybody what was the big pivotal point that you realized that things were about to turn around I know that you shared a little bit when dad said that it's not that we don't care but I'm not gonna keep bailing him out I know that was a big moment but were there any other pivotal moments when you started really thinking like wow like God's on the move like this is it, the prayer is about to be answered just for you to navigate you know and allowing Him to move in your life and pivot you where He wants you to be or go still continue to go through you know for Him to move the pieces around for that to happen now when it did happen I kind of like didn't believe that it happened because I wasn't down there I mean, I remember the day that you called and said hey mom guess what God spoke to me and I'm like you know okay, I apologize for that because I don't know if I ever told you that but yeah I was just like okay this is another one of his stories you know this is a story he's telling me again you know I did not believe it and I was like oh you did Josh you know and yeah I'm going to church and you know and telling me the story of the bar and stuff and I'm like okay I, we weren't down there and we were supposed to be coming down you know that summer and I think it was like a couple months well it was probably several months later that we came down and it was during spring break maybe in March and you kept you know we were talking and stuff and you were still talking that way and I was like I still was on the fence you know but to have those conversations you know that we could talk I was like okay Lord you're using me now you know I better you know talk that way and not let him know that I'm on the fence because maybe this is part of my responsibility here too you know and it wasn't but it could have been and it was but not the same but it wasn't until you know we came down there and we went to the church you said you were attending and you know everybody came you know with open arms and everything and started saying about how involved you were in the church and I was like oh crap he's not lying he's telling the truth and i was just then it was almost like okay Lord you were right you know and then you know to give praise back to Him for allowing that to happen and give Him the glory to allow that to happen because ultimately it was up to Him and you you know and when He decided to allow those pieces to be moved in so yeah you know I'm thankful for that but I definitely give Him you know all the glory and that and to see how you know where He's taking you and stuff so I did not know that, you never told me that story well it's kind of like something you don't want to tell your kid about but you can ask your dad because I got off the phone I said hey Andy supposedly Josh is going to church you know we'll see how long that lasts yeah yeah I don't you know that's something you don't tell your kid because you know? No that's that's real though because I mean I was wandering wherever I was wandering for so long that it's like you hear something it's like all right is this real or is this just a phase or something? And that's how we felt we're like okay this is just another story you know that he's telling us because ultimately we weren't down there in North Carolina with you we were up here so yeah to go down there and actually see and then have you know the church people tell us you know how long you've been going there and I can remember the pastor you know asking, was standing on the pulpit talking about you and it was just like it was almost like you know praise God moment but at the same time it was almost like that's my son you're talking about you know so and you never know whose life you're gonna touch you know regardless in whatever walk you're in you know even before like I said you know people still you know ask about you, you know and how you're doing and stuff you know and when you weren't walking the walk so yeah you've touched people's lives whether you know that or not just by being the person you know that you were even though you weren't walking the right way so

So I know we've answered a couple of these questions already so I'm gonna skip ahead a little bit but what was the number one thing you learned while going through this whole thing I know you shared a little bit of it about with like with grandma passing away you being able to like handle things without her guidance or support but what was some other things that you learned that now you can kind of rest on and know that, I'm I don't know the words I'm looking for but just things that you learned throughout the last seven years that I was running around or even the last eight that we've gone through as we continued this walk and everything but what's some of the big things that you learned?

Just knowing that you know for myself, that I, I am not ultimately the fixer that I want to be that there are some things that I can never fix and to let that go and that one I have given to the Lord and not taking it back, that has allowed me to see Him work in different ways and to trust that you know He's going to be the one that's going to fix those problems you know whether He does or not and then I'm gonna be okay with that not that I did still don't struggle with the waiting process of you know but I've never right now have not personally seen something that I've not you know prayed for that He is not you know either fulfilled or I can see those you know movements you know so I know that they're you know not to give up hope that you know they are going to be fixed because I can see that moving in that area and it might not be you know like I said in my time table, it might not be in my lifetime I don't know but He's never you know there's been some things I've seen instantaneously that He has fixed you know, so it's nice to know that I can give that to Him and not take it back and that has helped tremendously not that I don't worry still but it's like okay Lord I know where this is gonna go you may have it and then be done with it so.

Okay so the last section that we're gonna go through is what are you believing for next so I know like I said earlier it's been eight years since this kind of happened I know it was November 2012 for me that kind of made that decision to give my life to Christ again and start walking a different way so even looking back the last eight years and and then going forward here now in January 24th of 2021, what are you praying for now?

As for as a whole or for just you or anything and everything?

Anything.

Right now I just pray for God to lay His hands on this chaos that's going on I pray for, you know, your continuous walk with Him, I know it's very hard you know with the you know the churches being different because we you know we ourselves struggle with that with the churches not being the same as they were before because of covid but I pray for that continued walk to stay engaged to stay plugged in whatever it may be because it's very hard that once you start because of this shift that's going on it's very easy to...

Have the excuses to kind of pull away.

Yeah and that's the devil, that's the devil working and that's where he wants it to be wherever it may be you know we've had people from our own church go to different churches just because the kid's programs might be a little bit different our church opened a little later and they needed to be in the church I get that you know some churches are running like covid never happened you know yeah it's just a tough time so I pray for everybody in that area to not deviate from God, doing the online watching is not the same as sitting in church we had to do that for a while and it is not the same, sit in the pew get out of my house you know to sit and engage because when you're in your own home, things distract you and if you're sitting in the church you know there's nothing distracting you because you're there so I pray for that I pray for you know the God wherever He chooses you to be with you know you losing your job that you'd be open for Him to you know open a door wherever it may be and it may not be where you want it to be but I don't know if that's going to be the case or not but I just pray that you know he would you know take care of that with you and you know along with your sister the same you know way of you know getting plugged back in again yeah just just the chaos that's going on basically you know with the new president how things are going to be you know for us to all navigate that you know moving forward as a Christian and not forgetting our Christian values and the process and not getting wrapped up into things that you know there's no way that you're not gonna fix that I think I've told you before you know I for myself I'm not a political person, so I don't get wrapped up in that stuff but I've told you before you got to worry about your own community and what you can do in your own community you can't worry about you know what's going on across the world but you can worry about your own community your neighbors whatever engaging because you never know why things happen the way they do and you and then when you look back you're like oh I missed that moment you know just because you're wrapped up in something else.

So the last question of this interview and then we'll conclude is what would you want to tell mothers out there that are still believing for something?

As far as the younger ones or older ones or just any mother that's either praying about something or believing about? Believing for something that they're still in the weight. Christian moms. That if they're struggling with anything you know we have a lot of programs at our church that you know engage in with you know young moms with kids, moms with you know teenagers and even dads, but I think it gears more toward mothers because i think the moms usually are the ones that are the engaging for me personally, I mean.

That's true I mean yeah moms are more into collaborating and I guess networking more, men are more prideful and just I'll figure it out.

Yeah, I think you know even this at 50 years old I still struggle with things that you know I might have done differently I can't change that now but yeah to stay engaged can you pray with your kids spend time with your kids they grow up fast you know don't fall into the enabling avenue just because you want their likes you know to be fulfilled and sometimes it's not always you know the right right to change but even if you did you know ultimately God had that plan to happen anyway so but just to stay engaged you know and spend time with your young ones and and you know just love on them life is short could be taken away in a moment you know just me personally not having my mom you know and living you know eight years with dementia it's very hard so you see things differently now than you did before for sure just to pray you know and never give up hope that even if your kids stray you know to continue to pray and allow God to you know move and to pray for others kids you know that may not have that you know mom or dad figure in their lives either because you know you might have been put in their life for a reason and it might just be just to be the second mom or the second dad you know to be available for them because there's a lot of kids out there that you know don't have that yeah when you become an empty nester you find things to help you mean we volunteer a lot will help out with other people and do things just to feel like if you can help out in somebody else's life just you know just even for a little while you see that that there's a bigger picture for that so.

Okay, as I said at the beginning, no right or wrong answers. Well I'm sure if there's other questions you could ask the questions like she just said if there's anything that you'd like to to hear more about we'll definitely be sharing this on social media, feel free to drop a comment she'll definitely respond or I'll respond and I can reach out to her and maybe get some additional insights on maybe something you're wondering more about but I definitely want to thank you mom for taking time to do this interview, hopefully there'll be more to come for this I'm excited to see where this goes, I know over the last couple of weeks, we have quite a few people liking this and it kind of getting some interesting reach I'm not promoting it or anything so we're just kind of all organic and whatever happens happens but this concludes the video as always if you guys enjoyed it be sure to hit that like button share it with your friends and family, mothers that are currently going through some situations where they're still waiting and need some encouragement and hope like my mom said there's a lot of craziness going around right now and with covid and the new president and everything else going around in our nation that definitely share this around with people help people to get their hope renewed and that there is power in a mother's prayer, it takes a village to raise a kid as you saw, with my mom my grandma my dad's mom was praying, people at the church there was a lot of people but there is power to mother's prayer so stay hopeful trust God as always we love you guys and we'll see you guys soon my name is Josh and this is Praying Mamma and we'll see you guys later. All right thanks Josh. No problem thanks, mom. Thank you. Bye. Bye.