 How would you start a relationship with someone by getting to know them? Be honest. If you're mad at him, tell him you're mad at him. Don't let one bad church or one bad experience ruin it for you. Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to The Walk Podcast. If you're new here, my name is Sam. I post all things, lifestyle, faith, travel vlogs, all the things on this channel. It's essentially a video diary of my life and so I'm really happy that you're here. We are on episode 19 of The Walk Podcast, which is really exciting, also kind of wild. We've been at this for almost a year now, which is funny because when the podcast started around this time last year, it didn't have a name. It didn't have a direction. I don't even think I really called it a podcast yet, but it's just really cool to see how it has formed itself into whatever it is now and I'm really enjoying it. So as long as you guys will have me, I will be here making these videos and I'm glad that you guys seem to be enjoying them as well. While we're on the topic, episode 20 is obviously next and that one is going to be a Q&A. So I'm going to ask for questions over on my Instagram. I'll put it up on the screen here. It is just Sam on YT, Sam on YouTube. So I would love for you to go follow me over there if you're not already and if you have a question that you would like to be submitted for the Q&A episode, which will be in about two weeks, two to three weeks, then that is where you can submit your question over there on my Instagram story and it can be about anything. It doesn't have to be faith-related. It can be about, I don't know, asking for advice. It can be asking something about my life. It can be about faith, of course, dating, family, friends, whatever, right, whatever you guys want to talk about. I've done, I might do that like every 10 episodes or something, do a Q&A and just let you guys lead the video. So I think that's what I'm going to do. So I would really, really like for you to be a part of it. Other socials, I would really, really appreciate it if you guys checked out this podcast on Spotify. I will have the link down below. This episode will be there as you're listening to this here on YT and it would mean the world to me. If you clicked the follow button, it really helps me out. It kind of boosts our podcast a little bit. The more people follow, even if you prefer to listen to podcasts on YT because I do as well, but your support would mean the absolute world to me. And if you wouldn't mind, I think you have to listen to a couple minutes of it. If you could rate the show, I'm not going to tell you to rate it five stars, but rate it whatever you would prefer. The ratings really help us as well. So I say us, I'm a one man band, but when I say us, I mean like you and me, like us. So yeah, I will have all of that information down below. So what's up guys? How are you? I am filming this on a Tuesday early afternoon. I am, I feel like I've been saying this a lot. I am tired today, but like today I am like tired, tired. I, if you don't know, she's not here, which she's very quiet, which actually makes me a little nervous, but I have a three month old Siberian kitten. If you're new here, her name is Luna. She is fantastic and she's beautiful and she is the joy of my life right now. I'm obsessed with her, but she's not the best sleeper. If you know anything about cats, cats have most of their energy in the middle of the night. She's been doing a lot better lately. We've kind of like developed a routine when it comes to sleeping and nighttime. So she's been better lately, but there was something about last night where she has never actually gotten out of bed to go play. She did that last night, which is fine. She does have one toy that is very, very loud. It's made out of pure plastic. It's one of those Kongs that you can put the treats in and as she plays with it, they kind of like pop out. She found that at like 1 45 in the morning and I hear it just like hitting the walls and hitting the floor. And I was like, Oh my goodness, my neighbors are going to hate me. So I had to get up and I had to, I kind of hit it from her. And she just, yeah, she did not want to sleep. And when she wants attention, if you, if you're a cat owner, you could probably relate, they will come up to you while you're sleeping and they will just smack you across the face or smack you in the head or like mine likes to like need it my hair a little bit because she's just kind of like, Hey, play with me. Hey, pay attention to me. So I didn't sleep a lot. And I had to get up early this morning to go to the dentist. I had a dentist appointment this morning just for like a cleaning. I don't know if you can tell. Do they look cleaner? They feel cleaner. They definitely, you can't tell. I know you can't tell, but I can tell. So I feel nice. I feel refreshed. No cavities. Thank you very much. But I had to get up early for that. And if you, if you know me, I work evenings. So I get home around like 11pm, 1130pm. And you know, when you have to get up for those appointments, it's rough alone. But when you didn't sleep, it's also rough. So I went to the dentist and then I got home by like 945. And I was like, I'm just gonna like sit, I'm gonna just like take a nap, right? Like a quick nap before I film, before I go about my day. And Luna was not feeling it. She said, what do you mean you're gonna nap? No, you're not. So eventually I was kind of like half playing with her, half like keeping my eyes closed. And then eventually I kind of drifted off into sleep. And then of course when it came time for me to be like, okay, I need to get up now. Luna fell asleep. Isn't it so nice that she can sleep whenever she wants? So I'm good. I'm happy to be here. But I'm a little tired. And I have to go to work after this. And that's that's the part that's going to be challenging today. But it's okay. The life of a young mother. No, I'm not I'm not comparing a cat to a baby. I know it's different. People are gonna get mad at me. A baby is a lot more responsibility. Okay, I know that. But yeah, those of you with human children, you guys are superheroes because I'm tired. Okay, anyway, today's episode has been on my heart for a little while. And so I'm finally sitting down to do it. And I want you guys to know that I see your comments, I see your DMs and like the DMs I pretty much like on this topic, I'll answer them all. But I see your questions and like, I want to have a relationship with God, but I don't know how or I don't know where to start, or I feel like I'm too far gone, or I have hurt, like church hurt, or you know, religious hurt. You know, but I see that a lot of you are craving it and maybe just don't know how to go about it. And I come on here and I talk about Scripture and I talk about faith and I like to think it's beginner friendly, but some of it isn't, right? Some of it is like you really have to sit down and like, I can say all these things to you, but until somebody actually sits down with you. And even though I'm not with you, I want you to know that I am still kind of with you just virtually until somebody sits with you and really like explains it to you and is like, here's how you go about it. Here's how I went about it. Here is a little plan that you can make for yourself to start your relationship with God, to start your own walk, right? Ooh, see that little tie in I did there because this podcast is about my walk, right? But a lot of you want to start your walk and I think that's beautiful. So that's what I'm going to talk about today is kind of how I went about it and also just ways, tips that, you know, maybe I didn't have that I think you would benefit from. So I have some loose talking points. You guys know how I do. So these are for, yeah, this is for all the people that want to start a relationship with God, but don't know where to start or feel like they can't or they feel like something is holding them back. That is what this episode is for. So I want to just say it is like a little disclaimer. I want to say with this episode I am not forcing you or trying to force you into having a faith like mine. This is specifically for the people that are, oh, I want every, you're welcome to stay even if you're not the one sending me questions and messages and stuff. I would love for you to stay. You're more than welcome here. I want this to be a safe space for everyone because I love every single one of you. But I want you to know that I'm not forcing you. Okay, this is for really the people that are curious and who are asking these questions. And maybe some of you haven't, maybe you're like, you refrain from commenting, but you're thinking those questions, you know? So it's not forcing. It's just for the people that want this information. I want it to be readily available to you. I also want to say that the journey, the walks, all the walks look different. It's going to look different for everybody. So yeah, I may tell you some things that worked for me. You may want to do things a little bit differently and that's okay. I think that's where it gets a little dangerous when it comes to like religion and stuff is like, for me, it's more of a relationship with God rather than a religion, a religion of like following rules. And that's where some church hurt can come in because you'll be presented with these rules. And it's like, if you do this even a little bit differently, you're not doing it right. And that's where I think it can become dangerous. So I want you to know that's where I'm coming from. It can look different for you than it did for me. And that's okay. Everybody comes to God. Sorry, like Linton stuff all over me. Everybody comes to God for different reasons. After different occurrences and after different situations, a lot of people come to God because of hurt, or they go through something really painful, a loss, a devastating life change. I mean, so many reasons, but a lot of people, it's true, a lot of people do go to God after pain and after suffering. So maybe, maybe that's where you are. And if that's where you are, I want to say I'm so sorry you're feeling pain. But I think that there is a solution that can help you. And that's what we're going to talk about. You guys know that my, I mean, I've been walking with God kind of since I was like 14. But I wasn't taking it as seriously, right? That was more of like going through the motions, doing what I felt I had to do, saying all the right things, going to church, volunteering, doing all the things, which is not bad. But I've said it before on this podcast, it's a lot more sweeter when you're doing it because you want to and not because you feel like you have to. And now I'm at a place where, and I would love for you guys to experience this as well. Like when I was going through my pain, I felt his, I literally felt his love like almost like wrap me up in a hug. And I saw how much he changed my life for the better. I saw how he unlocked new pieces of my life that I wouldn't have been able to get to had he not let me go through that pain, right? I felt his love, I felt his presence. And now because I know what that feels like, I want to love him back so much more because he deserves it. He deserves more love that I could than I can ever give him, right? It's like it's humanly impossible to give him that much love and have that much gratitude. But that's kind of where I'm at. And it's a really, really good feeling. And that's why I'm so passionate about it because I know how it feels. And I know how it feels to come out the other side. And let me just say there are people that experience a lot more pain that I have ever felt in my life. I recognize how blessed I am. I have a lot of blessings and a lot of things in my life that some people may never have, right? So I want to reiterate that, that I know how blessed I am and I'm not going to sit here and be like, I have been through the worst pains imaginable and I came out the other side. No, but I did have my own pain that was devastating at the time. And I know what it feels like to come out of the other side. And I want everybody to experience that because it's such an amazing love and such an amazing feeling. So okay, I have like three, three and a half topic points that I want to talk about. And there are things that you can do. You can start right now. It doesn't matter if you've never stepped foot in a church. It doesn't matter if you have never even seen a Bible or you've ever held a Bible. It doesn't matter. This is for anybody. Okay. The first thing I want to encourage you to do, and you can do this by yourself. You don't need anybody is to actually pick up a Bible. Some Bibles are really cheap, like really cheap. You can get a cheap one on Amazon. But getting into the word is what really is going to start changing your mentality and things. And really, it's really just about, it's not even about changing your mind right away. It's about opening your eyes to things that you have never seen or read or experienced before. And when you're reading the Bible, you're reading the voice of God. So if you're asking, well, how can I get to know God? How can he get to know me by reading his voice, reading his words, reading Jesus's words? I recommend getting a Bible where Jesus's words are written in red. Most of them are, but I do I have a Bible that it's all black. Like there are no red letters. I prefer having the red letters. That's just me. Because when you're reading those red letters, you're like, wow, I'm literally reading Jesus's words, right? And what I would recommend, and I'm going to get it, I'm going to get into what to read first. But what I would recommend going into it, do you hear Luna? I'm sorry. She's playing on my shelves and she shouldn't be. When you are reading the word, read it, not to see what you can get out of it, what you can benefit from it. Read it as if you're like, looking for the characteristics of God, you're getting to know God and for who he is, for the things that he's done, the things that he said, the rules that he once put in place, things like that. Don't read it for selfish reasons. Because that'll come. You'll see how it'll change you and how it'll benefit your life. That'll happen automatically. But when you go into it, go into it thinking like, I just want to get to know God. That's how you start a relationship with him, right? When you meet a new friend, you meet a new person, you're going to ask about them, right? You should, right? It's not going to be all about you because that friend's probably not going to like you very much, right? A friend's probably not going to go anywhere. Think of it as like, I know he's not here. I know you don't see him. You can't see him. You can't even feel him physically. You can feel him spiritually, but you can't feel him physically, right? There's nothing to touch. But this is where your imagination is going to come in handy, especially in the beginning. Picture him as like an actual person, a human being like sitting next to you, or that you're talking to on the phone or something. Imagine that it's a real person. How would you start a relationship with someone by getting to know them, by reading about them, by asking about them, about starting conversation with them? We'll get into that. So that's how I kind of want you to think of it as you start reading the Bible, okay? You want to learn more about his character. And as you surround yourself with his word, that's when you're going to start to see things differently. Me, when I started, I started going to church and doing the things and writing down my notes that I took at church and all the things. But I wasn't reading the Bible on my own. When I started doing that last July, so almost a year ago, which is wild, I started reading it every single day. That's when I saw the changes in my life happen. I started to think about things differently. I started to feel differently about things because you're surrounding yourself with his words. And that's how you get to know them. It's really, really cool. That's how you learn. So let's talk about what to read, right? I am not going to sit here and tell you that there is one right way to do it, because I don't believe that there is. I have heard so many people have different opinions, like you have to read this first, and then you have to read this next. And someone's going to tell you what I did, because it worked for me. Um, so I started with Proverbs. Proverbs is the book of wisdom. And it's 31 chapters in it. So what I do, and I do this every day, every single month, I will read that the proverb corresponding to the day. So today is, I don't even know what it is. Today is the 19th. So I would read Proverbs 19. Tomorrow is the 20th. I would read Proverbs 20, so on and so forth. April 1st, I will read Proverbs 1, April 2nd, Proverbs 2, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If there's a month where there's 30 days instead of 31, then on the last day of the month, I read 30 and 31, right? Um, you can even, I should have said this before, do it on your phone. The Bible app is free. You get the whole Bible at your fingertips for free. That's what I was doing before I was actually, before I even had a physical Bible. So it's free if you don't want to order one right away. Although I do think there's something satisfying about having something physical that you can highlight and write notes in and whatever, but there are options, right? Which is beautiful. So I would read a proverb a day and it teaches you wisdom. It teaches you how to go about your life in a smart way and in a way that's pleasing to the Lord, right? And it doesn't take long. It takes like two minutes, two minutes. So I still do that. I do that every month, always. Like that's just continuous. In addition to whatever else I'm reading at the time, I read Proverbs 1. So, sorry, I got distracted by an alert I got over here. So that's the first thing I do. I also started reading the book of Romans 1st. And I don't even know why I started doing that. I don't know if someone recommended that to me or what, but that was one of the first books I read was Romans. And Romans is all about living a life that is similar to Proverbs in that it's about wisdom. It's about living a godly life, how to live a godly life. And that was one of the first things I read. And it was actually really good. It's like a comforting book to me now. I really enjoy Romans. It's not that long. It's not hard to understand. I mean, depending on your translation, we'll get into that next. But it just, I don't know. It's just, it's a good introductory into like, okay, what is this? What is this Christianity thing? Right? What is it about? So anyway, that's the best way I can explain it. And I want to show you, I wrote a list. Don't ask me why I started doing this, because I don't know, but I wrote down every Bible book that I've read in the order that I read it. So Proverbs, Romans, then I read Ecclesiastes, which is about what truly matters in life according to the Bible. Then I wrote, I read Nehemiah, then I read Philippians, then I wrote, I read Ephesians, and so on and so on. I didn't get into the Gospels, which is like Mark, Luke, John, and Matthew. I didn't get into those until later. And a lot of people will actually recommend that you read those first. I don't think there's anything wrong with that either, because that tells the story of Jesus from different viewpoints. And it tells you about his life and what he did here on earth. And they're beautiful books. So if you're curious about getting to know Jesus first, then read those first. I do really recommend the Proverb thing though. You can read other things in addition to that. If you want, I really recommend the Proverb a day one. Some people will also just are adamant about you need to start at the beginning of the Bible. You need to read from the inside cover to the outside cover, because they're like, they're like, it's a book, and you need to read it in chronological order, which I understand, because the Bible, there is a lot of history in it, and a lot of it does go in order. And I understand that, but I'm going to be honest with you, the Old Testament is sometimes very hard to get through. There are certain books in there that are that are tougher than others. So if you're new to this whole faith thing, right? I don't know what else to call it, the faith thing, then I just think that there are other places that are easier to start me personally. Translation, there are a bunch of translations of the Bible. I like the new living translation, because it's very easy to understand. It's just plain English. Some people will say be cautious of that, which for good reason, because the ones that are so close to our English are the farthest away from the original translation. And maybe sometimes things can get lost. So I am aware of that. But I think both Bibles I have are the new living translation. And it's just what works for me. You can go online and you can read samples of different translations and find what works for you. The Bible app has all of the translations, so you can just do that if you want for free. But the new living translation is what works for me. I also, last thing I have on this point is that I have an app. It's free. It's called the Enduring Word. And when I read something that's kind of hard to get through, I will go on the Enduring Word and I will put in that scripture that I'm on. And it breaks it down verse by verse by verse, all the meanings. And it'll translate it to you in a language that you'll understand or it'll give you background information. That's when you get into the harder stuff, a lot of Old Testament stuff. But that is a really cool tool just for you to have in the back of your brain. So that's a little bit about the Bible. The last thing I want to recommend is, especially if you're new to Jesus and what he did in the story of his life, watch The Chosen. I'm telling you, it's literally the book of Matthew come to life. And I would even read Matthew along with the show because it just interprets it just for your eyes to see. And it's such a great way for you to understand what he did. And it's such a, like at first I was like, I don't know if I'm going to like this. It's going to be boring. I took so much comfort from that show. It's so good. It's so well done. One of my friends who she had never been to church, she had never nothing. She came to church with me once. And then she was interested in reading the Bible and was interested in it and watched The Chosen. I didn't even tell her to watch it. She just found it and watched it. And she was like, Sam, this is so good. She's like, I cry, I laugh, like all the things. And I'm like, I know. So give it a chance. It's all on Amazon, I believe except the fourth season. The first season I think is on Netflix still. It's just so good. It's just so good. It's so comforting. The man that they picked to play Jesus is fantastic. And it just, it will give you a clear image of what his life was like and why we talk about him and what he did, the miracles he did, the healing that he did, how much love he had for people. It's just beautiful to watch. So let me just say, the Bible is pretty juicy, y'all. Okay? I know that sounds stupid because I probably months ago would have probably said that stupid. But here I am telling you that it's good. The book of Genesis is like a whole novella in and of itself. There's drama, there's cheating, there's violence if you're into that. There's like, it's good, but you're also learning a lot too. So just, it really comes down to like picking a translation that I think works for you too. Okay. So I talked about the Bible a lot, but like really that's where it starts. That's where it starts. The next thing I want to talk about is prayer. And I feel like when you say prayer, it makes it seem like it has to be this fancy prayer with big words and, and, you know, that you have to be good at it. Let me tell you right now, there is no such thing as a bad prayer. There's no such thing as a wrong prayer. There's no such thing as like doing it incorrectly. I mean, it just, it's not a thing. I want you to think of prayer and this comes back to like your imagination. I want you to think of prayer as if you are sitting next to someone and you were just talking to them. Think about it as talking to a friend. There's a song, I'm going to give you a little homework. There's a song called Talking to Jesus by Brandon Lake. I think I've talked about it before. The first time I heard it, I cried like a baby, but it's all about talking to Jesus and what that's like and what that looks like and how amazing it feels. It just feels like you're talking to a friend. I sit here usually in this very spot and I pray and I just talk out loud and it's like a conversation. I tell him what I'm feeling. I tell him, you know, if I'm happy, if I'm sad, if I'm nervous, if I'm anxious, if everything, I'm just, it's like I'm talking to my bestie because that's what it should, that's what it should feel like. It's just having a conversation. There's no, I know, like for me, I was raised in a Catholic church at a very young age and I know that there are like, I don't really remember them anymore, but I know there's like, the, oh, I don't want to sound ignorant. It's like the, okay, I don't know. I don't know, I'm not going to try to remember what the prayers are called, but I know that there are different prayers for, they all different names and you just like recite them word for word the same thing every time. I am not going to sit here and say that that's bad. I'm not, but for me personally, it doesn't work. I don't get anything out of it. In my experience in the Catholic church, it was kind of like going to church, doing what you got to do and then you leave and you don't talk about God until next Sunday. You don't think about God until next Sunday. You go about your life and do whatever you want to do and that's it. It's very different. That's more like religion, whereas now more, I feel like I have an actual relationship with God. So I'm not going to, I'm never going to knock anybody's religion. Like I said, I did, I did my communion. I, you know, my grandmother, my nonna was Catholic. She sat there with a little prayer cards every night and said her prayers. You know, I'm not going to say it's bad, but for me, this is just what I found that works better. And just like I said, just talk to him like he's a friend and be honest. If you're mad at him, tell him you're mad at him. If you're sad, tell him you're sad. If you're anxious, if you're nervous about something, talk to him about it. He's there. I promise you, he's sitting there with open arms. You just have to invite him in. You just have to invite him because he's there. He's waiting. He's kind of like in the background like I'm here. Just talk to me. Like I got you. If you want to be healed from something, whether it's psychological, whether it's emotional, whether it's whatever, ask him to heal you and he will. He might not do it right away. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say, you know, you pray and then five minutes later, all your problems are going to be solved. No, not at all. I would be doing you a disservice if I said that because sometimes he will let you go through it. Some of you, I'm sure are going through things right now and you're like, well, how, if there's, if there's a good God, how would he let, why would he let me go through this? It's a very good question and it's a valid question. I have a friend in my life I've talked about before who is going through a lot of health issues and it's like, why me? And I'm like, I wish I, I wish I could tell you, but what I can tell you is that nothing bad, and this is the truth, nothing bad comes from God. Only it says in the Bible only the good and perfect things are from God. So the bad things, sickness, violence, disease, whatever bad thing you could think of, my mind's going blank, all the bad things, none of it is from him. He may allow it to happen because in everything there is a lesson. I promise you, he never wastes, he never wastes a battle. There is a reason for everything, everything. You're not going to see it right away. You may not see it for years, but I promise you that there's a reason. So nothing bad is from him. Okay, I promise. I always, I always like, I don't know why you're going to think I'm weird for this. The example I always hear or like see in my head about this is like, you know how vampires aren't real? But you know, like the idea of vampires, the old traditional like, folktale was that they couldn't enter somebody's house without you verbally like inviting them in. And then once you invited them in, then they could come and go as they pleased, but they just needed to be, they needed to be invited once. That's how I think of like, God in our lives. Like he just needs to be invited once because he's not a God that's going to force himself on you. He's not going to say, Hey, you need to talk to me. Hey, you need to love me. He's not, he's not like that. He wants you to want him. So you just have to invite him first and then he's there. If you ask him for his presence, his presence will be there. Promise. Okay. And I also want to say too, this is where a lot of people have a hard time because I see it all the time. And I've, I've experienced it myself. You have to be able to lay your pride down. You have to little yourself, humble yourself before him and just be like, I can't do this anymore. I need you. I can't do it by myself. I need you. A lot of people have problems with that, especially men. If I'm being honest, especially men, they have a hard time. Not all men. Not all men. Please hear me when I say that. But a lot of men really do have a problem with that, where they have a hard time humbling themselves. They have a hard time going to church and hitting their knees. They have a hard time going to church and lifting their hands above their head and surrender. They have a hard time doing that. Women do too. Again, like I said, I've experienced that. But you have to be able to lay your pride down. So that's a hard one that may take time, but just keep that in the back of your mind. And pray often. Pray when things are bad. Pray when things are good. If I'm having a good day and I'm driving around this past Sunday, the sun was out. It was warm. I had plans to go see my family and then I had plans to go see my friends. I had just gone grocery shopping. I left church. Like I was just in a good mood. And I was like, thank you, Lord. Thank you for that. I feel so blessed. Thank you for this day. Thank you for these blessings. Thank you for the people that I have in my life. Pray when things are good too. Pray often. And see him in the good things. I think we're going to get to that a little bit later. But if you really are asking, how do I get to know God? Like I said, exactly how you would start a relationship with a friend. Read about him and talk to him. It actually gets kind of fun. I remember like the first two weeks I started doing it and like really reading the Bible. It felt like a chore. It did. It felt like a chore, to be honest. I think what is it? You have to do something for two weeks or 21 days or something like that. And then it's no longer a chore. It just becomes part of your routine. I experienced that where then it got to a point where I was like excited to wake up in the morning and like read my Bible. I got excited to pray and talk to God. So in the beginning, it might be hard for you to work into your routine. Trust me. No, we all have jobs. You all have responsibilities. Some of you have families. Some of you have kids to raise. Some of you maybe are taking care of a sick parent. I don't know. That just kind of, I don't know if anybody's experiencing that, but that kind of just dropped on my heart. So maybe I'm speaking to somebody. I don't know. But we all have things that we're dealing with. I know. But like anything, you make time for things that are important to you. And I'm even speaking to myself right now because with Luna and all the things I have going on, sometimes it's hard to find time. Or if I'm sitting here and she's clawing at my Bible, sometimes I just want to close it and just not do it because I don't have the patience, right? Don't let those things be distraction. Don't let those things hold you back. Okay. So do it for, do it until it becomes routine. And I think you'll like it. That's how I found a lot of peace that way. A lot of peace that I, a piece that I have never felt before. And it's a really, really good feeling. I don't know. I'm, I feel like I could like cry. Oh, okay. Moving on. The last big one I want to talk about is what I believe comes next. I kind of tried to put these in order, but there's no real order. Like I said, there's no right or wrong way to do it. But three is find community. You guys have heard me talk about this for a long time. Um, I prayed for a long time for friends of similar faith, friends that I could go to church with, friends that I could pray with, friends that I could read the Bible with, friends that I could, you know, I prayed for it for a long time. And it took a long time. And I have that now. And I still believe that there are people I haven't even met yet that are going to be, you know, friends of mine. Or like, you know, my future relationship when that comes, you know what I mean? Like there are so many people I think I haven't even met yet that, you know, like I've said, one of the things I've learned this year, you haven't yet met everybody that's going to love you. And I think that that's so true and such a beautiful promise to hold on to. Having that community is so important. And I know people in my life and my personal life that say, I don't need to go to church to love God. I'm going to sit here and I'm going to tell you that that's true. True. Sure. You don't need to go to church to love God. But when you're not going to church and surrounding yourself with that community, I believe that you're not unlocking the full potential that you could if you were just by yourself. And I know it gets dicey because a lot of people have real church hurt. I know. I have a little bit of church hurt. Where sometimes in my new church, sometimes I sit there and thoughts creep into my head and I'm like trying to fight them away because not every church is the same. Don't let one bad church or one bad experience ruin it for you. Because just like just because one guy hurts you doesn't mean that all men are bad. Or just because one woman hurts you doesn't mean that all women are bad. Just because one church hurts you, it doesn't mean that every church is going to hurt you. I promise. I have experienced it. And now I'm in a church where it's actually like it feels really good. Not that my bad. My last church was bad. It wasn't. But growing up in church, sometimes you see things that maybe don't sit right with you. So don't let one bad experience ruin it for you. Because when you're in church and take it from someone who was going to church, I went to church for a month not knowing anybody. I would show up. I would go in. I would sit. I would sing. I would listen to the word. I would do all the things. And then I would leave. And I wouldn't talk to a single soul. I think that's how it's going to start. That's how it starts. It's not like you just show up to a new church and all of a sudden you have friends. That's how it's going to start. It's okay. It's okay to go alone. It's okay. A church should, it should be one of the safest places for you to go alone. It's okay. I have brought that same friend that I said that never really went to church and never really experienced any of that and whatever. I brought her to church once and we got in the car afterwards and she said, why was everyone so nice? And when you're in a room of believers who genuinely, like I'm talking about the genuine ones, when they genuinely love God, it's impossible to love God and not love the people he created. So when you're in a community with people and you're just like, I want to love up on you. Like are you good? Like what's going on in your life? Really? Like how are you doing? Do you need anything? Like that's what it's like. That's what these people are like. And I started volunteering at church in, I think it was like late September, early October. And people genuinely like took interest in my life. Like I would go on a trip and I wouldn't tell anybody like when I went to Seattle. I came back and they were like, so how is Seattle? Like they genuinely care. Those are the people that you're going to meet. People, they're just, it's different. There's nowhere else I can think of that you go and people are that inclusive. People are that loving. And yes, you get a couple of bad eggs everywhere you go. It just is what it is. Nobody's perfect, but it's just different. It's just different. And when you're, when you're in a community like that, even if they're not your best, best friends, right? They don't need to know everything about you yet, especially if it's a new friendship. But when you're in those situations, you have people that can pray for you. You have people that are going to hold you accountable. If there's something that you struggle with, you can reach out to them and be like, Hey, I'm being really tempted with this. I'm struggling with this. And they will walk with you through it. They will call you. I've actually never experienced it. And when I started gaining friends at this church and they would call me all the time and they would text me all the time, it would kind of, I would kind of be like, Oh my God, why do they want to talk to me all the time? Truly, that's how I felt. It was like different. I had never experienced it before. And it's because people genuinely care. They genuinely care. And we live in a world where everybody is just doing their own thing all the time. It's me, me, me, me. That's how the world is. It's me, me, me centered. Again, not to say that these people that you're going to meet at church are perfect. They're not, they're not. So please don't go in thinking that they're going to be because that's going to end up, that's going to hurt you. That's, you're going to give yourself church hurt. If you put your, if you put people up on a pedestal, take it from me because I've done it. Don't people up, but don't put people up. Whoa, don't put people up on pedestals. Pastors, they're human, just like you. They deal with temptation. They deal with sinful thoughts, maybe lustful thoughts. They deal with, you know, self centeredness. They deal with doubt. They're, they're people. Those are just random things I threw out there. Not every pastor struggles with all those things, but I'm just throwing out examples. Don't put them up on a pedestal. Yes, they're in a position where they're going to be held to higher accountability because they're in a position with higher responsibility, but they are just human. That's why I love about my new pastor is that he is, he'll be upfront with us like, y'all, I'm struggling with this. And he has, he has his accountability partners, other men that will, that will call him, that will pray with him, that will hold him accountable. Hey, don't do this, you know. And it's just really beautiful. And that again comes to laying your pride down. It's really, it's a really important thing that you have to do. And also you have people to pray with. You know, the Bible says when two or more are gathered in my name, I am there. So when a church full of people are singing or praying together or whatever, God's there. Like it's, he's there. He says that he would be there. He's there. So you're going to really experience him, you know, not to say you can't experience him when you're home praying by yourself. You can, I have, but it's different. It unlocks something different. My church says like this is saying that they always say like relationships are oxygen and it's true. And this past Sunday, one of our pastors preached and he was preaching on like, well, he was preaching on like the power of our words, but he was preaching on like confession. And he made this analogy of community and he was like, in the middle of a safari or whatever, what zebra, just a random example, but what zebra would be safest from a lion that's coming to get you. And this is in this example, like the lion is the devil, right? What zebra is going to be the safest? It's the one that's in the middle of the pack because you have so many people to, to protect you from what's coming after you. Doesn't mean that the zebras in the middle are perfect at all, but they are the safest because they are in the middle of that community. And that's, I thought that was so powerful. I can't take credit for that. That was, that was our pastor, one of our pastors. And I think I'll always remember that example because it's so good. And I will say too, like for me personally, being in church like helped me discover passions that I had that I didn't even, that I didn't even know, you know, I work in television now. I work in news. I wouldn't have gotten into that had I not served on my media ministry and my old church growing up. I wouldn't have found my love for that. Now at this church, I'm a greeter. I also volunteer and I like serve hot breakfast to people in need. We're doing that once a month now. And I have learned, I'm not saying that to like toot my own horn. I'm saying that because I learned that I actually have, I have a heart to serve. I love serving people. I love making people feel seen. I love, even if it's just giving them a smile, you know, maybe they, maybe no one smiled at them that day. Maybe nobody was kind to them that day. And I unlocked all of that because I got involved. So let me tell you, it's hard. Take it from me. I did it by myself for months. I went into, and I'm actually, I will say for someone who grew up super, super shy, which I kind of grew out of that. A lot of people don't even like believe that I was once shy, but I was. I didn't talk to anybody. Even like through most of college, I was very shy. You know, I went into a building where I didn't know a single soul. And now I have so many really good friends and I've become involved in, you know, and I get to hug so many nice people every Sunday. And it's just, it's just so, it's so life changing. And I really want you guys to experience that. And I know, listen, I don't know why I feel like I really need to harp on this. Like I know church hurt is a real thing. I know it is. But don't let one bad one ruin it for all the other ones. Okay, try, try, try your best. And then lastly, I just want to say after all of this, really like be attentive and look at the way your life starts to change. Because I believe that it will. Not to say your life is going to be perfect. My life isn't perfect. There are still things I'm anxious about. There are still things that worry me sometimes. I am not perfect. I sin every single day. But I can see night and day how my life has changed in just a year, year and a half. So I believe yours will too. So really take notice of that as your life starts to change. And remember that every good and perfect thing is from God and just thank him for the good. And I believe that you'll get to a point to where you can thank him for the bad because that's what comes when you come out the other side. So this is just this was like a very general basic. I don't even want to say Christianity 101 because I'm not here to like, I don't know, like I said before, there's no right or wrong way to do it. But this is like a little starter pack that I want to give to you just to get some ideas flowing in your in your brain. And like always, if you have any questions, my Instagram DMs are open. I also read I read every single comment you guys comment below these videos. So just let me know. But yeah, I think that's going to be it for episode 19. Thank you guys so much for being here so much for watching and just supporting me with this whole podcast journey. Remember next episode is going to be a Q&A. So like I said, go over to my Instagram and you will see when I post the Instagram story asking for your questions. And I would love to hear whatever you guys want to talk about, even if it's not a question, but it's just a topic. I would love to hear what direction you want to take the next episode in because it's really up to you guys. So thank you guys so much for being here. As always, like I said, thank you for watching and I will see you in the next episode. Bye guys.