[Music] Welcome, Erica Kirk. So, the last time Erica was with us, it was two weeks before her wedding, and now she has two children. So, that will tell you um how many years it's been. Four. Four years, right? Yeah. Okay. It's been four years since she's been with us. And do you mind if I move this pillow? I don't mind if you move it. Okay, let me just put it back here. There you go. There we Okay. I feel bad cuz the dark MAGA hat guy put the pillow back here. That's how you know you're at a good church when he has the dark MAGA hat. MAGA hat guy. He had the I don't know where he is, but he was back there and set up my chair so nicely. We're MAGA here. Is anyone else? We're in good company. I told Erica, "You're in South Orange County, girl. It's conservative down here." Yeah. Good company. Yeah, we're in good company down here. You know, I don't know about the North County, but South County, we're we're good. Oh, goodness. Well, so since Erica was with us last and um some of you ladies, many of you ladies weren't with us back then because our church was actually in San Juan Capistrano. This is Erica's first time. Charlie has been here several times, but it's her first time here. because she's been busy having babies, which is amazing. We love babies. We love babies. I have four myself. So, we love babies. But, um I think I know how Erica and Charlie met. Do you want to know how they met? Okay, let's find out. So, if you ask him, it's this is the typical husband wife. Like the husband has a very spark notes version condensed and then the woman has the longer more meandering version. So, I'll try to blend the two. Um, it was a while ago. I can't even keep track of dates anymore with babies and anniversary dates and everything else in between. So, anyways, um, so we had met through a family friend. He had invited me to the office opening for Turning Point USA, which I know several of you guys are supporters of. So, thank you for all of your support for Turning Point USA. And so I went to the office opening and he was like, "You need to meet the CEO." And I was like, "Okay, great. I don't know." I was not familiar with that world at all. But the interesting point is that year, that was in August. In May, I had taken a pilgrimage with my mom to Israel. And my whole intention of that trip was to find my future husband. if there was a hole in a rock anywhere to put a prayer. And those of you who've been to Israel, you know that the whailing wall, all the different places you can stick a prayer on a little piece of paper. That was me. Like had a piece of paper everywhere. Little put in prayer, God heard me, answered. So that was my whole thing. So after that, um it was our last day on that trip and there was this most precious server that was there and he looked at me at the end of the trip and I was saying goodbye and he was like, "I'll see you again soon." He's like, "I'll see you here in about a year and a half from now with your husband." And I was like, "Oh, I haven't heard this part of the story." I know because I usually give this I feel I feel like I need to give the Okay. Okay. So, we're giving like the real And so I usually don't tell this part because it's very intimate, but I feel like I should. Bloom where you're planted. Right. Okay. So he said that to me. I carried that in my heart. I even I timestamp things in my phone when someone says something or I overhear something. I use my notes all the time and I like to look back to see what time that was, what year that was. I save all that. Anyway, so I have it in my phone and thrown off by it. Held it in my heart. Didn't think anything of it. Then I went to go to the ticket line to leave. I was with my mom. We were there was only a few flights out at the night um in Israel back to the States. And so was standing there at the ticket line and there was a guy who was checking out in the or with the guy get you know what I'm talking about. Get your ticket. Check your bag. And I see him and I was like huh. I tell my mom I was like that guy looks really familiar. And my mom's like go say hi. Those of you who know my mom, like that's something she go say hi and say hi to him. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, no. I don't know. I just looks familiar." And so anyways, flight fast forward from May to August. I'm standing in the office and the our family friend was like, "You need to meet the owner, blah blah blah." And he turns around and I was like, "Oh, hi. You're the guy from the ticket line." Oh, I did was so koi that I was like, "Oh, nice to meet you." Like, I have to get back to New York, so I'll see you again soon, I think. And so, he had discussed the mutual family friend work for Charlie. And they were trying to get me to do like a faith component within Turning Point USA. And I would say two and a half weeks later, I get I'm in the Hamptons with um one of my uncles and I I get a random DM on Instagram and you never know like if these people are the real people or whatever. Anyway, so it was Charlie. He's it was in my DMs and he was like, "Hey, I'm uh in New York. I want to sit down and talk to you about the faith stuff. I have a Fox hit." Total like name drop. I have a Fox hit to do in the city and then uh I need to meet with you afterwards so it's going to be really late. And I was like it's fine. So he chooses a place, Bill's Burgers. Never been there before in the city and I've lived there for like six years. I'm like where in the world are we going? Burgers. So we sit down, we have burgers, he grills me for three and a half hours on Thank God the restaurant was open late because we were there for a very long time. philosophy, politics, anything you can imagine that Charlie loves to talk about, which is a lot of stuff. It was just like go time. It was like college campus Charlie but like in between French fries. And so we're just going at it in a good way. And so we were going back and forth and he was done and he just like wiped his mouth, put his napkin down. He looked at me and he was like, "Well, I'm not going to hire you." And I was like, "Well, I didn't really need the job, but I was here because you had asked me to be here." would. He was like, "I'm going to date you." And I was like, "You don't want to just be friends?" He's like, "No, I have enough friends in my life." And I was like, "So, do I have time to think about it?" He's like, "Yeah, until tomorrow night when I take you out to dinner." And I was like, "Oh." So, I call my mom on the walk home because my mom is my best friend. She's my world. And I call her and I was like, "So," she goes, "How go how was it? How did it go?" And I was like, "Okay, well, first of all, it was the guy that I saw in Israel at the ticket line, so let's just get that straight." So, that was just a total God thing. Second, he asked to date me, not to hire me, and I need to walk home right now so I can process what just happened cuz I have a date tomorrow night. And I have, you know, anyways, long story short, that was uh that was that. The rest is history. Now, we have babies. Amazing. Yeah. So, ladies, if you're single, you know, that's a great way, you know, real quick. Uh, I can't complain. My husband and I only knew each other 19 days before we got engaged. So, you know, it was quick. When you know, you know. When you know, you know. Okay. What inspires you most in life? Oh my goodness. Well, it depends on what season. Because right now what I would say my kids before my kids um I would just say that was more it was more focused on a ministry because obviously when you have kids that's a whole different ministry but it was focused more on and pre-married like how can I stay within the jetream of God's will and continue that but once you have kids that's just your inspiration for everything. Not so much from the standpoint of, you know, I want to make sure my kids have an amazing life, but you're you're teaching your kids all about Jesus. And then you're getting to see a whole new world through their eyes in the most simple way. Uh, but it's just inspiring because it it makes you, like Charlie says all the time, fight for what's right even more because that yes, it's their future, but you're also a part of their childhood and their memories. Like when they're in their 50s and 60s, they'll look back and be like, "Oh, I remember when I was five and my mom, you know, did this for me or so really my kids and um just my marriage." I know that's really cliche, but when you're in it and when you are married and when you do have kids, you you know what I'm talking about. It's very hard to put into words because it's such like a soul thing that you feel. But it's definitely it's definitely my baby's Well, I love it because that's exactly what your ministry is supposed to be right now. Yeah. It is the order is Jesus, your husband, and your children. That's it right there, you know, and everything else falls underneath that. But it's beautiful. That's as it should be. You know, our kids and our and our husbands are our ministry as wives. So, yeah, I love that. Um, what's your ideal your ideal day look like? Okay. I don't know. I guess this probably is without children. I mean, just like if they're not or you could have them. I mean, I can try like you sleep in. Do you There's no You're Yeah, you will never sleep again. If it was ideal, right? That's an ideal day. Ideal day. What would your ideal day be? I wouldn't look like Adam Sandler like with my baggy clothes and like no makeup 90% of the day. Um, no. My ideal day, honestly, is just um I mean, I'm already living it, but yes, sleep would be nice, but that's I'm going to get sleep tonight. We were talking about this. I won't have a little one coming into my room at 4:30 in the morning be like, "Hi, Kiki Milk." Like, sure, honey. Uh so that is yeah sleep will be ideal tonight but uh you know honestly ideal day would just I mean honestly no day is the same as it should it shouldn't be that that's just not that's not how we're wired every day is supposed to be somewhat different so it's not groundhog's day but uh you know ideal would be making sure that the kids are happy everyone's fed I I had time to comb my hair and FaceTimed G. My sweet Gigi loves to FaceTime my mom like three times a day. So, make sure that's in there. And um no, and then also be able to work with uh my company Proclaim and Bible and 365 and just do that route. Now, prior to kids and all that, I would have a great great answer of like, you know, from 8:00 to 9:00, I would be at the gym and 9 to 10:30, coffee and sitting down with my journal and just mapping out my week. And then the afternoon after that would be, you know, planning my trip to the Bahamas or something like the ideal day. Now, it's similar but not Yeah, exactly. Bahamas has a different meaning now. Bahamas is like a shower steamer with lavender and my shower with a child knocking on the window. Yeah, that's my Bahamas. I love it. I love it because it's so practical because we're all there. We've been there or entering that stage. What's one of the hardest trials you've been through and what did the Lord teach you in it or through it? That's tough. Um, so if you go the route of losing a loved one, that one's brutal. You know, I was very close to my grandparents. They were to me the epitome of what marriage should be. U, my parents got divorced when I was five. My mom raised me. Amazing woman. She was she owned her own company. Um, she's just phenomenal woman. But uh my grandparents were just precious humans. They're um immigrated from Sweden. Uh just amazing uh god-fearing people. And so when I lost both of them, that obviously was a trial to get through. Um but also too during different seasons of life when you shed an identity and walk into a new one. So, um, there would be multiple trials and there they don't have to be grand. They can be little pocket trials, if you will. But, you know, going from playing college basketball and then knowing that I'm not going to play anymore. Transitioning that into what's next for my life? I've played basketball since I was five. Like, what are what are you going to do? And everyone asks you the question when you're in college, what are you studying? What are you going to do here? And I was just like, I I don't know. And so, um, then, you know, I became Miss Arizona USA when Donald Trump had the pageant. And that was a wild and crazy experience. But again, once that's over in a year, you just have a bunch of different trials that you get through. But it's interesting because your your posture of battling through those trials is the same to some extent, but then stronger as you go through. So you're kneeling obviously through them, but I noticed that my posture of my heart through each trial from kneeling is stronger. So first trial just like totally on the ground losing it. Next trial you're like a little bit more postured and you're like backbone's a little stronger and then before you know it you're like all right God like I'm ready for this. Satan not today. Like I got a velvet steel spine by this time. like whatever trial you want to give to me, I take it as a blessing and and learn from it. I was going to say it reminds me of David. It says in the scripture that he fought lion and bear and then giant. It's like each one prepared him for the greater. Totally. And it's like, all right, you're facing giants now, right? And but each of those other trials that you've been through has has put really steel in your stool. Totally. the the Lord has allowed you to be stronger, more confident of him, right? And um and so as you face it, you face it with confidence like like David did, you know? That's totally true. And even be even as like being Charlie's wife, seeing him go up against this crazy world we live in and you know, death threats and crazy people and all that. Like that's a trial in itself and you just have to put on the armor of God intentionally every single morning. And there are times where I do have to rule my spirit so I do not um go crazy on someone. But that it's very hard because someone asked me one time they were like, "How do you handle when you see these kids like screaming at your husband and he's so relaxed?" And so and I was like, "That's the Holy Spirit." But on my end, I'm like, "Hold me back." like that's my husband. Did you're lucky I'm not there because that would not end well. So, I'm glad I stay home for those things. It probably would not be a good Well, I love that you have that um that fight in you. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's it's you have to and I was thinking about just your life being a basketball player and that's competitive. You have to have discipline. So there's a lot you learn in doing sports at that level and then competing in pageantry. There's a lot you learn different but you learn in in that. And so with each one the Lord is preparing you and and not just for the trials but just um molding and shaping you making you a confident making you a fighter because hey it is a fight right Paul said we are to fight the good fight. It is a fight. This is a fight. It's this life we live. It's not easy. And um and it's such a blessing to see how the Lord through your life has woven you into this place now where um where you and Charlie are a better team together. Like you balance him, he balances you. Like he he needed you, you needed him, but now you guys are stronger together. So beautiful. So beautiful. So, what's one of the um or what do you see as some of the hardest aspects of living as a Christian in our culture today? Well, I mean obviously you're going to be like being a Christian itself and culture is countercultural. like the the fact that you believe in God, the fact that you trust in the Lord, the fact that you don't put your faith in in human flesh, like that's that's counterultural to begin with. Um, but, you know, it's it's interesting because the world is so full of noise and the devil really loves to mess with our head. And so he'll he'll do it in a way because it's his playground of course and he'll do it in a way where obviously I know you and I have talked about comparison but he'll do it in a way of comparison. He'll do it in a way of you losing friends and family members uh because of different political beliefs or because the fact that you are a Christian or um you know it's just really interesting and and you'll notice that if you don't remove those people from your life that are intentionally trying to diminish you, diminish your light, diminish your relationship with the Lord. If you keep them in your life long enough, two things will happen. either you will totally crumble and you'll just be in pieces or the Lord will rescue you from that and remove those people from your life because you won't. Uh, so I I just think today as a Christian the everything I mean there's just people don't know what a woman is like. People don't marriage is not sacred. Um, you know saving yourself from marriage is laughed at. Having children is viewed as a nuisance or as a uh your life ending uh when it's the exact opposite. And so I think that there will always be the world will always hate Christianity just always. Um but it should make you feel even more empowered to be a Christian because you are walking with the Lord. And we say it within proclaim all the time like your role here is to make heaven crowded. Your role here is to recruit. And your role here is to be so bold and so fearless that when the world is mocking you and making fun of you for loving Jesus and for standing for the Lord, you just look right back at them. You quote scripture. You you battle back on your knees and you know that what you're doing here is ultimately for the kingdom. It's not for you. It's not for, you know, yes, a legacy is within it, but it's for the kingdom ultimately, and it's for the Lord. So, blessed are those who are persecuted, you know, so just just stands firm and when people again mock you, turn the other cheek. Yeah. Jesus said, "They persecuted me, they're going to persecute you." It's a promise. It's not a promise that we like to grab on to, but nevertheless, it's a promise that you will be persecuted. And I like to say like if we're being persecuted, we must be worthy of the persecution. We must be doing something correct, something right, something to make the devil mad to receive that persecution. So, you're on the right track if you're being persecuted. So, praise the Lord, right? I mean, here in California, we've um you know, we experienced I you know, we've experienced persecution. I would say it is persecution. I mean it's light com in comparison to what the persecution of the world. So I don't want to compare it by any means but we we have experienced persecution here and um and what a blessing that we um that we have because quite honestly I find it's an honor to live in California. It's a privilege. Does anybody else feel it's a privilege and an honor to live here and fight? Right. Yeah, I think so. I mean, um, and Eric and I were just talking about we think California's going to turn. Anyone else? We're And I think too when you start taking too when too many people flee like a dark space, this is what I say about people who because I loved living in New York and now it's obviously crazy. I mean, it's always been crazy, but now it's like 10 times worse. But I always say when people are like, "Oh, I got to get out of here." I'm like, the more that the light leaves the darkness, the darker it's going to get. So, if you can stand here and be in California like you guys are doing and just continue to flood the space with light, eventually things are going to start happening. Um, so I'm just glad you guys have always been, we were talking about how the church was outside and everything like that. Like you guys always stood firm during the craziness of everything. How has knowing your biblical role as a woman made you better? I know you talk about this a lot and I love your aunt. As a as a woman, as a wife, as a mom. Yeah. It puts into perspective what your purpose is as a woman. Because if you go by the worldly standards and the boss babe culture, it's like you need to be independent. like the 70s vibe of being the provider, being and I saw that weight that my mom had to go through to be both the husband essentially and the wife. That's exhausting. Like you are meant as a woman to be the guardian of your home, to be the helpmate of your husband. That doesn't mean you're lesser than your husband. that means you're his helpmate which is beautiful because he can't do what he does without you and vice versa. And so when you understand who you are ver in scripture biblically but also through the eyes of the Lord and you marry that together and you understand your role, you're not lost. You're never going to be like, gosh, I don't know what I need to be doing with my life. I don't know what my path is. I don't know. If you if you understand biblically how to operate and to navigate this world as a biblical woman and as a woman of the word and not of the world, you will understand this is the path that I'm supposed to take or these are the people that are I'm supposed to be surrounding to or these are the people I'm supposed to be ministering to. You will never be without your understanding of what you're supposed to be doing on this earth and what your calling is if you're rooted in that. And so for me, um, Ephesians 5, Titus 2, I mean, we've talked about that, too. Just understanding what your role is as a woman. Proverbs 31 obviously. Um, but knowing that it's a beautiful thing as a wife to be able to encourage your husband, be that be that biblical wife that you're supposed to be for him and honor the order that God had created marriage to be in. And it's amazing. It's magical. It really, it really is. So, yeah. No, that when you understand the word and you understand that you you operate better within the context. Well, that'll lead into my next question. That's what it's all about is understanding the word of God. Because if you don't know the word of God, if you don't read the word of God, if you don't understand the word of God, you can't understand what your biblical role is as a wife or as a mother. Tell us about your Bible in 365. It's my it's my love. Yes. For those of you who are part of the family, thank you. That's been um gosh, Kate, how many years has it been? Like seven almost eight years. Um we have gosh, we have had over 150,000 people go through our whole program and it has been amazing seeing all over. I mean, we have readers from Japan, uh we have readers from New Zealand, we have Yeah. So the so we read Bible in 365 is you read the Bible in a year with us and it's not just we throw you your program PDF form and you do it on your own. This is very intentional. We do not give you the readings ahead of time because I personally believe that we need to be doing it together. I don't want you know some people three weeks ahead and some people I feel like that's how Bible plans die off is when you're off doing it on your own. And so our intention is every single day we send you a your verse is to read Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms or Proverbs and we read the whole Bible in a year together as a family. You can email us, text us, whatever questions you have, and we always get back to you. Again, we're not robots. We're real humans behind the screens. And so, um, each month we do a live Q&A. We're very blessed to have Pastor James Kadis as our pastoral adviser um within the program itself, but it's bible365.com and it is the ministry arm of Proclaim, which is our clothing line that's all made in the USA. And so that is um those two together are my baby, if you will, pre-real children. And um so that that's special to me. But Bible in 365 is it's special because you know that you're there's nothing more important and more beautiful than being able to read the Bible with people and being on the journey with them of them learning more about the word and getting them excited and to be able to send you daily via text, email, app, however you want to get it, we're going to send it to you. Lo and behold, like an owl shows up at your house. We are going to get you your Bible verses. But we want to make sure that that you feel that you're a part of a family. And so even on the app, it's really cute and Kate will even attest to this. Like we have so I think we almost have 30,000 people on the app. Some people are hidden so you can't see the full number, but um they'll they'll be like DMing each other or we even had a marriage come out of Bible in 365 which is amazing. Uh and they're precious. But it's one of those things where you can see in the comment section after the daily reading like, "Hey Stephanie, so glad that you're doing well." Like, "We're still praying for you." It's really sweet. It's really cool. So, it's a community. It's a family. But again, we we are in the word together every day intentionally and not having people too far ahead. And like if that's how you know you're like in the word together and you can really pray with each other. So, what an amazing ministry to take people through the Bible. Oh my goodness, what a blessing. I know. I'm so blessed by that. And I've had the privilege of knowing Erica and Charlie for the last, you know, four or five years. And what? Wow. I mean, I've seen them both grow so much. It's I'm such a proud parent. I'm like, oh my goodness, look at them. I mean, you like Charlie opens his mouth and the word of God comes out. It's so It's such a blessing. We're like cheering them on. Do you guys cheering them on, too? Okay. Yeah. So, we're like so excited like proud parents. Okay, I'm going to get through maybe one more question. What piece of advice have you received that you always carry with you? Yeah, I do. We have some amazing people that pour into us and I don't take that for granted and we it's been throughout the years, you know, that we've collected kind of our own little chosen family. Uh, but something that my grandmother told me growing up and even before she passed, she would always say that our running legs can only take us so far. And it always stuck with me because it reminded me of how limited, even though I think that I'm limitless, which you know, you think that you can do everything. um that always reminded me that I am bound by just being mortal and have I am just am a sinful being. Like I need Jesus every single day and my legs can only take me so far and then Jesus needs to carry me the rest of the way. And so that's always been something um that I've really carried with me. But, you know, it's really special because even um I'm really blessed because my husband, he is so he's in the word all the time. I mean, people are always like, "What are you reading?" But they ask him all the time, "What do you read? What do you" And he I mean, he's always studying scripture. He for the past few years, he's been doing deep dives into the Old Testament very, very deeply. deep dives into the Ten Commandments, deep dives into honoring the Sabbath. And that to be able to witness that as a wife um is is a form of encouragement and inspiration and wisdom in itself to be able to witness, you know, an action form from your husband like on honoring the Sabbath. So, I don't know. I just pick and choose. Like I said, I write them in my notes whenever I hear it and I try to collect them as I go. So, okay, we talked about this earlier, but what's your go-to meal? I laugh because my response to her backstage was I my go-to meal is Gigi's snacks. My daughter's snacks. If they're in the car or if they're in her little bag or anything, that's like, and you know how it is when you're cooking dinner, like you end up not even eating the dinner. Everyone, by the time you're done cooking, you're like, I'm not even hungry anymore. But but again like my husband eats three things. Uh chicken, lettuce, and avocado basically. So I have mastered the art of cooking chicken six different ways. All of which I still need to I don't actually I have not mastered the grill. That's not my domain. Neither is it Charlie's. He's not a grill guy. But Instapot Oh, okay. That's like my thing. Air fryer, I have no idea. Oven, we're good. Insta Pot like the grill could be really good. You might want to I just kind of venture there. No, it's easy. No, we live in a condo and so we share with the whole building. I don't know what people are cooking on it. I don't know how they're cleaning it. True. Did you just cook tuna? Cuz then Charlie's going to be like, "Why does my chicken taste like tuna?" I just That's true. That's true. Okay. Okay. Strike that. Yeah. All right. Okay, maybe we have a couple a time for a few more. Um, how have you been able to balance ministry, um, politics, work, family, all of it. I know it's hard to juggle all of that, right? We were, uh, joking over on the way here that balance is an illusion because I So, each month my daughter gets these different toys in a box, Monasuri toys. One of them was those scales where if you put something in a bucket, one goes all the way down and so I was thinking of that of like if I am pouring into my kids, that bucket is down here because it's full and then the other bucket of work or something else is up here and then if I try to b it'll never be a balance ever. Um, so it's to me it's literally a a dance from the standpoint of you weave your way throughout your day intentionally knowing and you have to be so good about time management of like in the mornings this is what I'm focusing on nothing else. Because as women, we're so good at multitasking, which is a blessing and a curse because you can be literally habit stacking five different things, but not you can be physically there but not mentally there. And so I try to be really intentional about my mornings. But when it comes to removing noise like politics or other things within the house like we really don't the only time we have TV on is when Charlie's shows on in the morning because that's when um Gigi can get her news in. And like my 10-month-old has no idea what's going on, but Gigi is like, "Go Trump, da da." Uh, so that's, you know, cuz he's traveling a lot, too. So she, that's how she gets to see him. And so, um, but it's just it's trying to make sure that you are all in on certain pockets of your day. And again, it's not a balance, but you you make it work. Yeah. I love the word intentional. You've used that several times. It's it's kind of a word that I've been using a lot as well. I love that word intentional. Like we want to be all in. It's so difficult right now with everything that's pulling at us and technology and everything to draw our attention away. It people can't even have conversations anymore without somebody looking down at their phone. I know. Or you sit at the table. You probably who have teenagers in your home and they have they're looking at their phones while you're trying to eat a meal. or um how many have no phone policies at the table? Good for you. I think that's great because um it's important. It's important to be intentional with your children. You only have them for this long. I can say that because I have grandchildren now. My kids are married, out of the house, and and so we have one in the house, but three are out of the house. And and the time is so brief that we have with them. Make make it matter. Make make a difference. and and um we have one of our workshops that that is going to um talk about that. So I I pray that you ladies can um if you desire to be more intentional around the table with your family that maybe you can glean from that. But um what is something that you can share maybe a piece of advice or something that you can share with our younger women here today? Uh younger from like the age of like teen to like mid20s. Uh, don't view the person or someone within your orbit as competition. I think that's very easy to do when you're in sports or when you're trying to get certain grades or when you're trying to get into a school and you're looking to the girl next to you thinking she's your competition and said that's not how it is at all. You you need to work on yourself more so than anything and to focus and stay in your lane. Um, I I think it's really easy to get wrapped up in what you believe you're supposed to be and the expectations set on you by your parents, but if you just again stay rooted in the word and you know what your self-worth is and you're not letting the world define that for you, um, I think that's really important. And, um, honestly, something that I would also say is really just honor your parents. Um, I that's not for some people who have are in situations that have abusive parents. That's not what I'm saying. I just have to add that caveat because there's always going to be someone that says something like that. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying honor your parents. You don't have if you're in a situation where you don't love them. That's fine, but you're still to honor them. Um, and so I would just um, you know, if your mom's giving you advice, it's not because she's being nagging. It's probably because she experienced it before and she's trying to help you not uh go down a path that she went through before to save you some heartache. So, there is some wisdom there. So, just know that God's putting certain people in your life for a reason to help glean some wisdom from them. And don't look at that as um you know, someone barring you from living life. Um there is something to be said for having structure and guard rails and um just boundaries. They're healthy. Don't look at it as something that's stifling you. Yeah. Yeah. I love that comparison. It can it can really us. And I think we all go through that, you know, from time to time. And um but when our eyes are on Jesus, uh those things are going to be there, but it's not it's not not going to take us down. It's not going to we're not going to lose our distraction. we're not going to or lose our focus. We're going to and be distracted by those things. Um comparing ourselves, our situation, um it could be body type, it could be anything. We tend to do that as women. And and um but I have found when I fully surrendered my life to Jesus, not just my heart, but my will, everything changed. So, I don't know about you, but for me, I felt like there was I surrendered my heart to Jesus and then it took me a few years to give him my will. That means my rights, my ways, you know, that sort of thing. And uh once I did that, um it was so much easier. Just everything fell into place and and my my priorities were clear. Um I had a completely different perspective on things. Um what about you? When was it like your turning point in your life where it was like you completely surrendered to the Lord? Because sometimes it can, you know, it can take a while where we're we, you know, everything changed for you. Um, I well, you know, the first time would probably be when after MissUSA and all of that, I did not want anything to do with that world anymore. I just got down on my knees and was like literally metaphorically ripping my clothes like, "Please Lord, take this world from me." um and stepped into a new season. And then also too once you have kids, you know, you just are like, "Lord, Jesus, take the wheel." And it's just, you know, so it's it's there's multiple times that you go through it, but you you embrace them and you like tuck them away in your heart and you're like, "This is what life's about. This is all what life's about." It's that process process of sanctification, isn't it? like you get saved in a moment, but sanctification is this lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus over time, over your lifetime that is. And and we're all in it, you know, it's not like you arrive and you're there. We're all in that. And um and so that's why I think you have like pinpoints in your life like, okay, yes, yes, and yes, and that's that's what happens. But um we have like time for probably one question from the audience. Is somebody just dying to ask Erica something? Um, raise your hand. The first hand I see anyone. Nobody wants really. Okay, right here. Yeah. Okay. I'll reiterate the question really quick. She said that for the Bible 365 ministry that Erica does, she wants to know who comes up with the encouragement because she'll screenshot it and send it to others. That's a good question. So we um over the course of several years have been able to accumulate um whether that's sometimes you'll see it's a quote, sometimes you'll see that it's um you know a small little few sentences of encouragement. Usually that's from me um that I've I love to write. That's just my thing. It's very cathartic for me. It's it's how I process a lot of stuff. And I've always just fell in love with the the beautiful way of being to being able to use words to articulate feelings that it's that's hard to do and I view it as a challenge in a good way. So, it's a it's a hodgepodge of me quotes u things that I've read that I've loved that um we make sure we try and give credit to. Um, but yeah, it's just it's the encouragement portion is really special because I do agree with you in the morning because I do my Bible in 365 in parts. I get mine sent to me at 4:30 when my daughter comes into my room. I check the encouragement first. I'll get to the Bible readings once I have a minute to like put on my glasses so I can see what I'm doing. But it's the encouragement portion that I love because it sets the tone in your heart for the readings ahead. And it's almost like your little spirit check of okay, I'm about to dive into the word. I need to posture my heart right, read the encouragement. Let's get started. So that's really sweet. Thank you for being a part of the family. Thank you. That's a sweet question. Very sweet. One more question. Anybody over here? Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Yes. Yes. I forgot that part of the story. I think you that you were listening. Uh yes. So we did go back. This is the wild part is that he had to go to a trip in London and after London he was like why don't we stop in Israel? I'm not kidding you. We went to the same restaurant in the is it the David Citadel of David or whatever. So we went in there. I was like a heat seeeking missile trying to find that guy. I mean I was asking and people thought I was crazy. I was like, "Do you know where Joseph is?" Like, "I have to talk to Joseph." And they were like, "Uh, we don't have a Joseph working right now." I was like, "Okay, tomorrow." Like, "Where is this guy?" I can't I could not find him. I could not find him. And I Maybe it was an angel unaware. Yeah. I mean, I'm serious, you guys. I have a screenshot on my phone of when he said it and the time he said it, the date he said it because again I'm a nerd with my notes like and so it says right there the date but didn't get to see Joseph. So if you're watching this Joseph somewhere out there you knew. Thank you for being the vessel for the Oh, I love that story. I haven't heard that part of it. That's amazing. And thank you. We're going to I'm going to pray for Erica. really quick and then we're going to uh move on. I'm going to have her stand so they can take these chairs from us and we can Dark Magga. Yep. The dark magga. Will you join me in praying for Erica? Lord, we just thank you so much for our sweet sister. God, you have called her. You're faithful. You will do everything that concerns her. God, we thank you, Lord, that you have brought her and Charlie together as a stronger team, God. It's um they're they're on your side. It's team Jesus, God. and and um I thank you that that she has so many amazing strengths, God. I thank you, God, that she's passionate for the word of God. Lord, I thank you that it just pours out of her and her husband. I thank you, God, that you have called her now to be a mom, Lord, of these two amazing little children, God. I thank you, Lord, that um you have made her strong, Lord, that as she said, you've put steel in her soul, Lord. that she has fought lion and bear and even giant God and and maybe another around the corner. But we know that you will fill her with the power of your spirit, God. That there isn't anything, God, that is impossible with you, Jesus. Lord, that you are on their side, God, and with you all things are possible. And he who is in me, you say, um, God is greater than he who's in the world. So we just ask right now that you would fill Erica with the power of your spirit that Lord when she goes home Lord that you would use her in even more amazing ways Lord in her home outside of her home. Protect her. Put a hedge about her and Charlie and continue God to fill them with your spirit that they may fight the good fight in Jesus name. Amen. I love you. Okay. [Music]
