Faith & Purpose

Speaker: Welcome everyone to
Faith and Purpose podcast.

Each episode of this podcast contains the
personal testimony of an ordinary person

transformed by an extraordinary God.

My name is Kaylin and I'm
here to introduce this podcast

for my friend Jesse Duke.

Jesse is a husband, father, author,
life recovery guide, lay counselor,

and small group leader, but his
most important role is disciple.

As a disciple of Jesus.

Jesse created this podcast to help other
believers tell their faith stories.

We'll be hearing the personal
testimonies of all sorts of people

who have one thing in common,
Jesus has transformed their lives.

Jesus used parables because he created
us to learn best through story.

And as we listen to how God has worked
in others lives, we find encouragement

and inspiration for our own faith walk.

Whether you are already a believer or
just a curious seeker, we believe that

as you listen to these stories, you will
be encouraged on your own faith journey.

We are sure that God can speak to you
through one of these episodes and that you

will see that our Heavenly Father truly
works all things together for our good.

When we simply love and trust him.

If you are currently going through a
trial, we believe that you will come

to see that your troubles, heartbreaks,
and failures are not gravestones, but

stepping stones into new life in Christ.

Here's Jesse with today's guest.

Welcome, everybody, to
Faith and Purpose Podcast.

Today, we are very fortunate
to have our friend Claudette

Drummond to tell her story.

And so I'm really excited to
hear it and welcome Claudette.

How are you doing today?

Oh, I'm doing great.

Thank you, Jesse.

I look forward to hearing your testimony.

So tell us, start from the beginning.

From the beginning.

I guess I'll start when I
first was introduced to Jesus.

It was when I was a little girl.

My mom and dad did not go to church,
but they did listen to a radio program

called the, Old Fashioned Revival Hour.

And that lady on that program could
play the piano just I just loved it.

And I don't remember too much what
the preacher said, it was good, but

I sure did the music of the piano.

How old were you at that time?

I think I was about eight or nine.

Maybe seven, And where did y'all live?

We lived in Texas.

Is that where you were born?

I was born in California, San Francisco.

Oh, okay.

And we have moved a lot.

I was born in San Francisco,
but I went to the first grade

in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Where my grandparents lived.

We moved there.

My dad got a job with my grandfather
working on a, an estate there.

Then the second world war hit and my
dad was a four F he had been in the

Navy, but he was four F because he'd
been injured in the service So he was

transferred to Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
and he was part of the group that

worked on the bomb in Oak Ridge.

And then, when the war was
over, his job was over.

All our family lived in
California, except my grandparents.

And my dad had a job waiting
for him in California.

So we left Oak Ridge in a 1939
Ford on our way to California.

And the car broke down in Texas.

And you couldn't get car parts
because all the auto plants had

been making stuff for the army.

Yeah.

So my dad had three kids.

to feed, so he found a job in Orange,
Texas, and that job was with DuPont.

I was in the 11th grade, we
were in Texas from 1949 to 1952.

And then Savannah River plant
in South Carolina was starting,

He was in the Power business.

he could run power plants.

Wow.

And anyway, they transferred
him out to South Carolina.

So we moved to Aiken in
when I, in the 11th grade.

Oh, okay, alright.

Sorry.

So you met your husband in Aiken?

Yeah, I graduated from Aiken High School.

Oh.

And worked at the Savannah
River plant where my dad was.

And that's where I met my husband.

we were married for 43
years and he passed away.

And at the time he passed away, we
were in Rock Hill, South Carolina,

where my daughter was born.

And up there, at the time, there was a
production company called Narrow Way.

And what they did, they
put on passion plays.

in this big arena where the
old PTL club used to be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

they met, they would put on these big,
these, passion plays where they asked

for people who wanted to volunteer.

So when my husband passed
away, I kept asking the Lord.

what am I supposed to do now?

because he'd been ill for, he'd been
bedridden practically for five years.

And he'd been up and down, but he'd
had some real drastic surgeries.

And, so I had been his nurse there and
when he passed away, my job was gone.

And you asked him the Lord, what in
the world am I doing going to do now?

But anyway, when I went, then I went to
this passion play and they asked, for

volunteers to, if you wanted to do that,
I jumped at the chance and did that.

But when I first, my first
experience there in this big arena,

when you're immobile in a lot
of ways, for five years, you

don't have all the energy there.

And I just, I could not, the stage for
that passion play was the whole arena.

It wasn't just the bottom you, you
worked throughout the whole arena,

getting up those steps and everything.

It was, it took everything
I had, but by the end of the

season, I could get up there.

with everybody else.

It was like getting me back to life.

it was, God had it.

He'd put it there just for me.

He had to get you back in shape.

He did.

He did.

And he did it.

In a way that it was very exciting
because not only was I there,

I had two of my grandsons with
me, they were on stage with me.

And, Tommy, you've met Tommy.

he was the little boy with
the loaves and the fishes.

Oh man.

and actually Tommy told me that's when he
accepted Christ when he was in that play.

But he had never been baptized.

And do you know, it's another miracle,

Tom, I can give you Tommy's story.

He was a deep sea diver here on the, in
Florida and he's, he just wasn't making

what needed to support his family.

So he sold everything and was going to
get a job up in South Carolina with BMW.

He'd gone through all the
preliminaries of getting the job.

And they said, we will, don't buy you in
two weeks, but he hadn't had his physical.

And they, they get, they took
his, got his physical and it came

up that his, he was colorblind.

So they notified and we said that we
can't use you if you're colorblind.

So he was up there in South Carolina,
in a camper, waiting for this.

notice to come to work, and I was up
there when he got the letter, and I

could tell, it was pretty devastating.

but I had to come back home, and it was,
Monday night, which is the night that I

had Bible study at CBS, and it's a six
hour drive from Woodruff to Fernandina,

and I was tired.

I hadn't done my Bible lesson,
but Monday night was the day

I was supposed to get to bed.

Supposed to go to Bible
study Monday night.

So I, I can't, I was saying, I'm going
to, I don't think I'll go tonight when

I was driving down cause I was going
to be late too, but I've been in, in

Trent, I've been in the, leadership.

I know the training you tell everybody,
even if you don't have your lesson,

Just come because you're going to
get something out of the lesson.

I drove in, I was tired.

I was hungry.

I didn't have my lesson, but I
know God had put it in my mind.

I came to Bible study.

Well, Bible study was good, but what
happened afterward was even better.

guess who was in my.

Bible study class.

Becky Duke.

Becky Duke.

She walked out with me that night.

And, I told her about the devastation
that we just had that Tommy had

was not able to get his job.

And, I was telling her where I'd
been and I said, you probably

don't even know that little town.

it only had one stoplight
when I was there.

She said, Oh, I know that town well.

and she wrote down this telephone number,
on a piece of paper, and she gave it to

me, and she said, you tell Tommy to call
this number first thing in the morning.

And he did.

And I gather she called.

the person too.

Anyway, Tommy got the job with
your Kyle Renfro with Kyle Renfro

and it's a Christian company.

Yeah.

And Tommy is so happy.

He is, he's loved it.

I don't know how many years he's been
there now, but it has been wonderful.

just for the listeners sake, I'll
say Kyle Renfrow tells his testimony

on another episode on this podcast.

Oh, does he tell about Tommy?

I don't, no, he doesn't
mention people, but.

Well, Tommy mentions him because
it was really, that was only God.

Yes.

If I had not listened to the Lord,
and it was a whisper, those whispers

come through, you don't know That
they're from God a lot of times,

because you're so busy trying to do
other things, but they just float in.

And, if I hadn't come that night, What,
it would have been a, yeah, it was just

so close that I would have missed, my
whole family would have missed it anyway.

God is good and I, I do want to ask you
about that because, several years ago,

probably about six or seven years ago,
I stumbled across John 10, 27, where

Jesus says, my sheep, hear my voice.

I know them and they follow me and I
prayed and I said, Lord, if this is

true, I really want to hear your voice.

And he started working with me at that
time and, it's taken a long time, but,

and I have days when I'm more tuned in.

Oh yeah.

And days when I just totally forget.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Totally.

That is.

You know, that voice, we're so
busy doing what we think we should

be doing or what we want to do.

You know, I tried.

That's my whole testament.

I tried.

awfully hard to do what I thought
I was supposed to be doing.

Right.

Because when I got married and
had four children, I worked hard

because, you know, God says train
up a child in the way you should go.

When he's old, he will not.

The thing is, how old?

I thought old would be the
time that they would be going

off to college on their own.

Well, anyway, that is where I learned.

I had been doing what I thought
God wanted me to do, but I hadn't

learned how to listen to the Lord.

I am so thankful.

when I first heard, I was nine
years old, when my mom and dad would

play cards every Saturday night.

with this couple.

And one day, they didn't play cards.

And what happened was the couple
found the Lord, and instead of my

dad and mom playing cards, they
invited us to go to church with them.

I was about nine years old then,
when I first started playing cards.

Go into church.

And it was because of this couple that
my parents played cards, Pinochle with.

And, so they, it was a Baptist church.

And I am so very thankful for that

beginning that I had in the Baptist
church, because They emphasize the word

of God, no matter what, not only did
they emphasize it, you memorized it,

you sang it, you, it was, you don't know
everything about it, but you're getting

that word in you, and Bible school.

I remember, we had all these
scriptures we had to memorize.

They didn't really mean much to
me then, it was just memory, but

I had a mind that could memorize.

I don't have that mind as well anymore.

you were planting them in your
heart, at least in your mind.

Yes.

And I accepted Christ then and, and I
tried, like I said before, I didn't,

I don't know if this was on there,
but one of these books that I wrote.

It was because they let you
know that there is a real hell

and that there's a real heaven.

Yeah.

And I'm, I appreciate that.

And I didn't want to go to hell.

So I learned about heaven and
what, how I could get there.

So anyway, that's my
beginning with the Lord.

And

I learned the, when I had my children.

I was a teacher.

I was a Bible teacher for five year olds.

I was in the choir.

I was a Girl Scout leader.

I was, I would took them to
lessons, swimming lessons,

music lessons, all these things.

And I did, you know, train
up a child in the way to go.

I had four babies really
quick, close together.

I had four teenagers at one time.

And it devastated me when they
started going away and doing their

own thing and joining the world.

And my husband said he was a
Christian, but he never went to church.

he provided for us.

but didn't give, the Christian
background and things, although he'd

been baptized and all that, which.

That's what I thought when I got married,
he was a Christian, so when my kids

started going the opposite way, he was not
involved in all their activities either.

he liked to hunt.

But his main thing was going
to work and coming home.

He worked shift work too.

So it wasn't.

easy for him.

so he hadn't put that much into
the kids, but when they got older,

he would give them everything they wanted.

And we'd make the side decision to
do something and we decide and then

he'd go and change it behind my back.

And It really did, cause me
to get angry against him.

And actually it grew into hate
and I had never hated anybody

and I didn't like the way I was.

I knew it wasn't me.

I knew, and I prayed to God a lot
and I would be in his word and,

I couldn't think of anything that
agreed with the Lord on what to do,

could I, if I would divorce him.

But I realized My whole
point was my family.

Family was the most important thing
to me, and I felt like that was

the most important thing to God,
but God was really trying to show

me that my family was God to me.

An idol.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's what it was.

And, he was gonna show
me that he wasn't first.

my family was.

supposed to be up there somewhere, but
they weren't supposed to be number one.

And I had them as number one.

And I could see that what was
happening, it was all just for naught.

18 years of my life was worthless.

That's the way I felt.

so I went to the word and there's
a scripture in there that, you

can remarry if your spouse dies.

If one of you dies.

and I said, I know my
husband's not going to die.

But, I was thinking of all the
ways to get out of my problems.

so I did contemplate

anything, but the one thing that kept
me, I held on to life by Romans 8, 28,

all things work together for good to
those who love the Lord and are called

according to his purpose and Lord.

And I.

I've been called
according to your purpose.

And it was like, that was the thread
that held me, that kept me alive.

But yet again, that was
the thread that held me.

Allowed me to die to myself, I had to
die to what I thought And so my prayer

was, Lord, I'm going to stay here.

Do what you put in my life,
whatever you've called me to

do, that's what I'm going to do.

And, uh, so it sounds like you
just got to the point where

you just totally surrendered.

I totally surrendered.

I was not in charge of anything.

I thought I had to be in
charge of a lot of things.

Cause, cause I, you do, you got to
function or something, when they'd

ask you to be a Girl Scout leader,
there were a lot of people that.

their parents will all worked and stuff.

Their bunk mothers all worked.

So these people that stayed home,
God asked to be a lot of things.

So you have, you're in charge.

So I wasn't in charge anymore, but.

God was in charge, and whatever
came, I was ready to do it.

we were going to have a

lay renewal weekend at our church,
so people were coming from all over.

It wasn't going to be preaching much.

What it was, all these people
would give their testimonies.

People from all over, just regular
people, and they would all have little

groups where one of the leaders was
one who would give her testimony.

I was assigned to this lady.

I was in her group.

Not only that, I offered my
house to, for the group to meet.

Because I was really, I was,
whatever God wanted, he got.

And all we did was share testimonies.

my husband, was home that day that I had
all the people at my house and he wasn't

going to, sit in, but he did sit in.

He didn't participate, but he did sit in.

And, it was like the devil
was working all that week.

And, my daughter was at
Clemson at that time.

And she had a Christian friend who was.

Part of the group that came down to
give their testimonies because she

was a teenager and she was going to
be working with the young people.

She was at Clemson and so they came
down so I, we had them at the house.

and I had one daughter that
was, she was very abstinent.

She wouldn't even come to
the table to eat lunch.

She would just sit in her room because
she wasn't going to be involved in it.

so anyway, we went through that whole
weekend at the end of the week, end of the

series, we all met on that Saturday night.

And the lady, that was my
leader, said, can I pray for you?

And I said, oh yes.

Well, she prayed for me and she didn't
really know what, anything about my family

and my husband had, he just sat there.

He didn't say anything, but anyway,
she said that that she wouldn't be

able to do anything like she's doing.

if she didn't have a
husband that supported her.

and she prayed for me and
she prayed for my husband.

I didn't tell her that my husband
hadn't supported me spiritually,

cause he did sit in the group meeting.

But anyway, when she prayed for
me, it was like God had poured oil

on my head from a top of the head.

to the tip of my toes and it was
like I could see it dripping down.

It was lights all dripping down and then
I saw a piece of cheese and it melted

and I had prayed to God you have to
take this hate away that I feel for my

husband because I can't live like this.

And when that cheese melted,
I realized that was my hate.

And when I walked out of that bit that
night, I knew I loved my husband and I

couldn't wait to get back and tell him how
much I loved him, but he was sound asleep.

So anyway, the next morning
now this was the week of

Valentine's Day, February 14th.

And he was very mad because I
hadn't done the income taxes.

Now, how many times do you have to
have the income taxes done in February

Because I was a tax preparer and also
at that time, and I hadn't done them

yet, but I didn't usually do them.

in February, But he got so mad that
his face got red and his eyes squinted.

And it just shocked me because it, I
felt like it was a picture of Satan, how

Satan uses the people closest to you,
the people that you love to get to you.

They didn't know Satan was
using them to get to me.

But, I wasn't going to
let that to get to me.

I was just shocked.

But I realized that Satan uses the people
closest to you to get to you if he can.

So, that whole week, God didn't just
fill me with a love for my husband.

He filled me with His love.

It was So full, I couldn't stop
telling what he had done for me.

I just loved everybody.

and I told the pastor.

Now, one thing he said he
said, it's going to pass.

And I thought, I don't
ever want this to pass.

But.

You know, it did, it did calm down.

did you tell your husband
about this experience?

I tried, but he thought
I was crazy or something.

Yeah, a fanatic.

That's what I was.

I was a fanatic.

But My husband had to go through
some very humiliating operations and

things toward the end of his life.

And he was a very proud person.

And, you know, when you pray for
somebody, you don't know how God

is going to answer those prayers.

But God knew, what it
would take to bring him.

And he had to have, a very rare type
of cancer and he had to, have surgery

that was very difficult for him.

And and you were the caretaker.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it.

when he died, I know the Lord was there.

He saw the Lord.

He spoke to him.

he was in his right mind, very lucid,
and he was speaking to the Lord.

Actually, it happened twice the night
before he died, he got this death rattle

and When he got that, I knew, it just, it
got me, it worried, I was a nervous wreck.

And the only thing I could think of was,
I went and got him a, an antihistamine.

Anyway, it cleared up and
he slept good that night.

And he told me that day, he thought
that he was dying that night.

And then, the next
night it happened again.

And, That night he did die,
but I know he was ready.

He had asked me to read the Bible to him.

I know he was ready, God
knows what it takes.

You don't want people to go
through those things, but

sometimes it takes hardship to get.

your family was so important to you and
you poured yourself into raising your kids

and you tried to pour the word into them.

you thought you were
doing the right thing.

I thought, yes.

And I'm, I can relate.

we think we're doing God's will, but when
we try to do it without Him, it doesn't

quite work out the way we expected.

So I can see how when your kids are
teenagers and they're going the way

of the world, you get scared and this
fear, that's where anger comes from.

Anger comes from fear.

we're fearful that we're
going to lose something.

And God says 365 times.

Do not fear.

And here we are trying to work
things out to keep us from fearing.

Yeah.

I just love the way you handled that.

you just turned it all
over and I had to die.

Yes.

like the Bible says you can't
remarry Until the person dies.

I was the one who had to die,
but guess who I served then?

My husband was the Lord.

I, and when my husband was pretty
demanding, he grew up in a Southern where

you know, he wanted his coffee on time.

He wanted his meals on time.

And.

I began to resent doing that when he
wasn't helping me raise the kids like

they should be, you know, doing his part.

I felt he wasn't doing his part,
but he wanted the kids to love him.

You know, I realize, he
would give in to them.

So they would love him.

And I know that and they did love him.

And I didn't want them to not
respect their father because.

You know, we're taught to respect our
parents, even though they're not perfect.

so anyway, I wanted them to respect him.

but, he wasn't perfect, I'm not perfect.

None of us are perfect.

I don't want to divert you from
telling your story, but I would like

to make sure we talk about, some of
the ministries you've been involved in.

at the beginning, I told the Lord when
my husband died, what do I do now?

You know?

He puts things in front of you.

he's always put things in front of me,
when my husband died, not only did he die

within a year and a half, My mother died.

My father died.

My youngest sister had cancer
and she had cancer surgery.

She was in the hospital.

My other sister's husband had
Lou Gehrig's disease and she

was tied up with her husband.

So not only did.

I have all the, all these people
dying, but I had all the legal

stuff to handle too at one time.

And my mom and dad had lived in
Aiken for 50 years in the same house.

And they grew up in
the days of depression.

They saved everything.

Their house was totally
stuffed with stuff.

And It was run down and I had to go to
Aiken and just live there until the house

and all that stuff was taken care of.

but not only did they die, but then.

A year after that, we lost
our granddaughter, Katie,

and she, and she lived here.

They lived, my son lives here.

And I felt at that time, I was
going to be living in Fernandina.

And my daughter was.

from when we were in South Carolina.

She was transferred to Florida
and we moved to Fernandina.

So I thought, what am I
going to be involved in here?

so I, I was asked to be
part of the, jail ministry.

So I was part of that for a good
many years until COVID came.

COVID changed all that because they didn't
want any COVID in the jail, of course.

And they didn't want us to get COVID.

So that stopped there.

tell me about the jail ministry.

how often did you go and What
did the Lord teach you there?

we went every week we would.

Minister to the women there that wanted
to come and we would give testimonies.

We'd give.

Bible studies and mainly we'd listen to
their prayer requests and pray with them.

And, I've seen a lot of those girls.

You see them in the, when you
go out to the stores and stuff,

a lot of them have come out.

Of, the jail.

And they recognize me more than I
recognize them because when I saw

them, they were in their orange suits,
but now when I see them, they're in

regular clothes and they look a lot
different, but I've had a lot of

people come up to me and, recognize me.

So it's really.

It's been a joy to see
that they're doing good.

Actually, it hasn't been very long
since I saw one of the girls who was

working near where I go to church
and we had stopped there for lunch

and she showed She's working there
and her daughter was there with her

and it was so good to give her a hug.

And,

so yeah, I'm 88 now.

So I don't drive at
night if I can avoid it.

Well, other people have
stepped up and you did.

Yes.

So I still get requests from
the girls that are continuing to

go in so I was blessed to have
that opportunity to do that.

And right now my mainly.

I am working at the food pantry
two days a week, at The Journey.

I can remember we'd feed 40 people maybe
a day or give something out to 40 people.

But now we have over a thousand a
day and we only serve one day a week.

Yeah.

Now on Tuesday, but
they're, they give out a.

that many.

And they have some people that will
pray for them as they drive through.

you're a busy woman.

I, you know what?

You gotta keep going.

So that brings me to One more question
is how do you see your future?

What do you think god has for you?

I believe jesus is coming very soon
and You look at the signs of his

return All those signs in the bible
are happening and when Hamas said that

the reason they attacked the Jews on
that day in October was because they

were going to sacrifice the red heifer.

they did it to stop the sacrifice.

the Bible is It's happening
right before our eyes.

And if we don't wake up,

if my people, who are called by my name,
would humble themselves, pray, seek my

face, and turn from their wicked ways,

I would hear from heaven, forgive
their sins and heal their land.

we need a healing.

we need the Lord.

We need to go back.

We need him really badly.

Absolutely.

That's my heart right now.

I know people that are so
ignorant of how close Satan is.

To robbing us and stealing the joy of
the Lord, our peace, and, it's just

hard to hear, to, just see it happen.

Yeah, I think it was, I heard David
Jeremiah, I think it was him, say

that this, the key characteristic
of the end times is deception.

And, and there's so many people
that are, deceived because

we got away from the Bible.

And we've gotten, we've allowed
our country to make laws.

against God laws.

Yeah.

Yes.

so many laws of God are,
we've gone against them.

Totally.

And we think we're wiser than we are.

Yeah.

Taking prayer out of the
schools was number one.

When they made that law,
that was a real beginning.

And it's not stopped.

They're just continuing this LBGT stuff,

mutilating our children, so they
won't be able to have children.

it's crazy.

It's insane.

It's satanic, I think.

It's crazy.

But we can see it in the first chapter
of Romans, and God tells us this is the

way it's going to be, in the end days.

it reminds me of a proverb

It says that there's a way
that seems right to a man, but

it's really the way to death.

Exactly, yeah.

we're just heading down that road.

And I see Christians.

Heading down that road.

people who profess Christ.

And that, that hurts because
I know it hurts God's heart.

Yeah.

Because he loves us.

the enemy is at work but the good news is
that God's at work too, and God's at work.

Amen.

Yeah.

Yes, and I've still got the
thread that I am holding on to.

God works all things out for good to
those who love the Lord and to those

who are called according to his purpose.

His promises are true
and we can count on them.

Well, you may have just
answered my next question.

I was going to say, if there's
one bit of wisdom that you could

pass on to the listeners out
there, somewhere in the future.

What one bit of wisdom would you pass on?

What bit of wisdom?

For one thing, they
need to ask God for it.

Just like Solomon did.

cause he will give.

it.

He's our strength.

He's our peace.

He's our joy.

I have never had so much joy, so much.

Love so much peace since God
poured his love into me and I

wouldn't give it up for anything.

and he's got it there for everybody.

Everybody, he wants all of us to know
his love, the fruits of the spirit.

He wants us to experience it.

If we're not experiencing those fruit.

we need to look more
seriously toward getting them.

If I'm not, and if I'm not giving out
that fruit, then there's something

that I need to read, I need to do
within me, between me and the Lord.

if I'm not experiencing
love, joy, and peace.

a lot of times.

That's not the first thing that comes
at us when something goes wrong, right?

we want to blame somebody
else, it's their fault.

No, it's Satan's fault.

He's the one that wants to
rob us of all of our peace and

our joy But it sounds to me like you have
been able to overcome a lot of adversity

just by surrendering to the Lord and not
doing things your own way, but his way.

That is what it is, surrender.

Yeah, your life story is
a good example of that.

And just for the listeners information.

I want to say Claudette has two
books that, that are out there, and

I know they're available on Amazon.

One of them is Love You from
Heaven to Earth and Back.

And, it's, the subtitle is
Who's the God of Abraham?

And you can find that on Amazon.

Claudette Drummond is the author.

And then she has another one called
From Time and Space to Eternity.

And the subtitle is Heaven or Hell.

You know why I've got Who
is the God of Abraham?

Oh, what is that?

My daughter married a boy.

a guy who was at one time the bodyguard
of the prince of jordan he while he

was a student at princeton university
and we had the privilege of having

during the spring break at Princeton.

Prince Ghazi was our guest at
our house for his spring break.

And it's been such a privilege in
my life that I was able to meet him.

He was a precious young man.

He was going to Princeton University.

He's over the religious.

area of Jordan right now.

Actually, he's over there
over the, Temple Mount.

Okay.

They have charge of the Temple Mount.

Oh, wow.

A lot of the, a lot of things that
happened in the Bible happened over

there, across from the Jordan River Yeah.

And I had had my experience with the Lord.

When he, stayed with us and we
talked a lot about differences.

And in our faith, he thought I
believed in three gods, he thought

Christians believe in three gods,
father, son, and Holy spirit.

And I'm saying, no, it's
one it's three in one.

do you know, and I, when I was
first became a Christian, also,

I was wondering, how can we have,
what, how can God be three in one?

That was, from a child, I couldn't
understand the Holy Spirit and

I used to pray about it, ask God
about it many times, And people

used to say, It's like water.

It can be ice, it can be
steam, and it can be liquid.

It's three things in one thing.

Or it can be like an egg.

It has a shell, it has
white, and it has a yolk.

It could be as three in one.

But it was hard for me to
see God as an egg or water.

And I used to question him on that.

God has answered my question.

Like I said, my brother-in-Law
had Lou Gehrig's disease.

He was a very brilliant.

engineer

and he exercised all the time.

He was physically fit, but when
he got Lou Gehrig's disease, he

started losing all his abilities.

The last thing he did

before he would go, he had a rolling
chair that he could go out into his.

And he would get the prayer requests
from, one of these ministries

and he would spend his afternoons
out under the trees, praying for

people, praying these requests.

that was the, those were the last.

Moments that he could do, but I watched
him, he had a brilliant mind and I

watched little by little how his body
lost all its power to do anything.

Yeah, but it showed me what
three in one was because.

In the book of Genesis, God said,
let us make man in our image.

And when it says our image,
that word is the capital L O R

D in the Bible, which is plural.

he is calling himself plural
from the very beginning.

And he's calling us plural
from the very beginning.

my brother in law, had a brilliant
mind and that mind created things like

God, he is the, God is the creator.

He is the master architect of
everything, but without a body, you

wouldn't be able to do anything.

And then if that body is Restricted,
like my brother in law, that body and

he had his body, but that body became so
that he could not do anything with it.

The power was gone and the power
is the spirit that moves the body.

if God didn't have the power of the
spirit to move, He couldn't have cast all

those planets and stars into the heavens.

He couldn't have created it without
the body and the spirit all together,

working together with the mind.

So I can see him.

I can see him as one.

he's everything.

It just, anyway, that is the
way I see the three in one.

If you look at yourself, if you didn't
have a body, nobody could see you.

You wouldn't be here.

But you do have a spirit
that lives within this body.

that's really great.

MacBook Air Microphone: You know,
over in, uh, First Thessalonians 5 23.

I believe Paul says.

May the very God of peace
sanctify you completely.

And I pray to God that your whole spirit.

So M body be preserved, blameless.

And to the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

So to me, that, that tells me that we are.

A three-part being, we are spirit.

So, and body, and I like
to think of it this way.

the soul is really our mind
and our will and our emotions.

And our personality.

And that's how we interact with
the world, through our soul.

My mind will emotions,
personality, and that's what

Lives on forever when
we're, when we're saved.

but We are spirit.

In our essence.

And when we get born again,
When we received the Lord.

Our spirits are United with his spirit.

And that's really what sets us apart.

From the world.

That we are.

W United with the Lord, you
know, Jesus said, Abide in me.

And all about the news.

So it's that abiding.

It's that union that we
have with Christ with God.

Through Christ.

That sets us apart from the world.

And that's the difference between.

It's a true Christian and,
and somebody who just,

MacBook Air Microphone-1:
Has an intellectual.

Understanding our belief.

We are spirit.

Yes.

It's like God's a spirit, right?

Yes.

We live in a body and we have a soul.

So the main part of us is our spirit.

So when we get born again as
human beings, we're all in bodies.

But the difference is that when
we get born again, our spirits

are united with God's spirit.

And the only way that you can get to that
relationship is through Jesus Christ.

It's not through any other means
what's so important about Jesus's

resurrection is that he's alive and he's
the only one that can make us laugh.

and so I hope I'm not
getting off track here.

So what you said just clarified that
for me more in that, these bodies

are like the least part of us and
yet, these are just going to decay.

this, we live in here, and we're going
to get new ones, God's making new ones

there for us that are going to be.

eternal, but these here are
just going to waste away.

But, and it's not, this body isn't
me, but what lives in here is me.

It's my spirit.

But the funny thing is
this body demands so much.

the flesh wants to.

To overtake the spirit
that lives inside me.

Yeah.

And it demands a lot.

Like you say, we have to feed
it, exercise it, take care of it.

And we're supposed to take good care
of it, but it, then it wants what

it sees, that was one of the things
that I felt like the Lord really

shown me in my spirit what,
who he really was, the trinity.

I don't have to question it anymore.

anything else you want to add?

Sometimes, you know, people think
that they miss their, purpose in life.

like, if they married the wrong
person or something like that.

But There was a time I thought I might be
a missionary, but you can be a missionary

where God puts you in your own home.

And that's where, you're supposed
to be a missionary first anyway, is

in your own home, in your own town,
in your own neighborhood, that's

the beginning and he leads you.

He will lead you where, I mean, I
could have been in California, but

God has me here on, on the East
coast rather than the West coast.

MacBook Air Microphone-2: Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

What you mean is kind of a.

A mystery the way God directs our lives.

You know, when we turn it over to him.

something I've been thinking
about a lot lately too, is that,

you know, I used to want to be.

Uh, missionary.

I wanted to go and.

Do something big and important
and meaningful to God.

And those are people and, you
know, something dramatic that.

I could look back on and say, I did this.

I think there's a lot of ego on that.

But.

But anyway, everything here, he has a
purpose and a mission for everybody.

And.

And somehow when we come to accept
our place in life and what we have

done and what we are capable of doing.

when we turn our lives over to him,
it just all seems to work out, you

know, So, anyway, what I wanted to
say is like, The thing that he's

been teaching me lately is that.

He is my mission.

You know, when I can stay my mind on
him throughout the day when I can.

Filter my thoughts through his
spirit, when I can just, abide in

him and, and live my day in the
awareness of his presence is like,

That to me is, is, is prayer.

It's meditation and it's it's ministry.

I'm really ministering to the Lord.

When I do that, I don't know
if that makes any sense, but.

Uh, administers to me.

And since he lives in me
and I live in him, then we.

We're both benefiting from that.

And it's something that I can
feel I can see in my spirit.

So anyway.

That's my.

Ministry my, my mission.

And it turns out that he always.

Puts me where he wants me to be

Yes.

and that relationship is
the most wonderful thing.

My mother in law told me that
she had prayed for me, she'd been

praying for me for a long time.

I didn't know it was me.

She didn't know it was me, for
her son to have a wife like me.

And you'll never know
until you get to heaven.

Just what you did in his life.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

So Claudette, thank you
for doing this today.

I know that somebody's many,
somebody's are going to be

blessed by your story out there.

In podcast land, and I just wonder if
you'll pray for our listeners today.

I'd be glad to.

Heavenly Father, I just thank you
that you are our Father, that you

love us beyond our imagination.

That you want us to be with you and
father, I just thank you that you are

willing to work with each of us as
individuals to bring us closer to you

as we desire that closeness father.

We, I just pray for everyone.

Hearing this testimony, I pray
that it will be a blessing.

I pray for each one of you out there that
you will see God in every circumstance,

that you'll know how much He loves
you, that you will experience His

agape love filling you from the top
of your head to the tip of your toes.

I pray father for that.

I pray for your healing power
to touch everyone out there.

Lord God, guide them, direct
them, be with their families.

Lord God, be with our families.

Father, help us to seek you with
all our heart, with all our soul,

with all our strength, with all
our mind, guide us and direct us.

Father, as we do that
in Jesus name, I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Speaker 2: We hope you've
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Most Christians don't share their
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But none of that is relevant.

If Jesus has changed your
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All of our stories are completely unique.

No one has a story like yours, and you
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So don't be intimidated.

A story is just that, a true account
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When we tell what Jesus has done in
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It's not about theology, and it's not
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So when you're ready to tell how Jesus
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Thank you for listening today and Shalom.