 If you are here, thank you, Justin, sound guys. They kind of go unnoticed sometimes, but without them, none of this would happen. So thank you, Justin, coming to my rescue. We are so excited that you're here with us this morning. And our prayer, even though we get to shop, we get to eat, which is always really fun for us ladies. Our prayer, and I know the team's prayer, is that we would all leave change today, right? We wanna leave here with the joy and the peace that God says he gives to us. He is our Emmanuel, God with us. So I'm excited that we can have that opportunity. You're already loved by Jesus right now, because I remember when he said to someone who was frantically running around with to-do lists, and like we get to do all the things, the baking and shopping and decorating at Christmas time, and we get busy and anxious about many things. And Jesus said to sweet Martha, Martha, Martha, you worry about so many things. Mary has chosen the better thing. And so you have done that this morning. You have chosen. I know we all have so many things on our to-do list, so many things that we could be doing right now, but you have chosen to come and just sit at our father's feet to hear from him and to receive his blessing and his peace. So I wanna just have you learn a little bit about me. If you don't know, my name is Michelle Sullivan, and I'm gonna have Justin do a little. I have four boys married to the love of my life, and this is our crew here. This was us in Mexico doing some four wheeling. I flipped my four wheeling thing about 20 minutes after this photo was taken. So by some miracle, grace of God, I am still here intact, but we did have a lot of fun on that trip. And my third son, Tanner, I'm gonna talk a little bit about today. He got married about two years ago and blessed me with the piece de resistance. Is she so cute? I know I have a slight bias, but I mean, look at that baby. She is just adorable. Now she lives in China with my son and my daughter and lots of some of you are like, oh, my grandkids live so far away. They're like in LA. Yeah, China, right here. So it's a little difficult. I am a FaceTime GG. So we do lots of Skyping, and that's kind of the way I have to love on her, but that's been a little precious Natalie, so in love with her. So that's just a little nugget about me, but I wanna talk a little bit this morning about Mary and we wanna just, I just wanna look at her story centered around the birth of Jesus so that we could kind of dive into a little bit and learn from her because we always wanna learn from those who have walked difficult trails because I think they're the ones that can teach us the most. So over 2,000 years ago in a town called Nazareth, a young girl named Mary had her life change in the blink of an eye. And perhaps some of you have had that happen as well. The blink of an eye, perhaps it's a diagnosis or the betrayal of a spouse or something that's gone on with a child. We all have these things that can all of a sudden happen, but she chose to just walk and follow after God. So in Luke 1, 28 to 39, I just wanna read right from God's word. And I just feel like this is really the thing to listen to is God's word this morning. Now in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, the angel said, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly perplexed at what he said and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. The angel then said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and eminent and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom, there will be no end. Praise God, no end. Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin and have had no intimacy with a man? Then the angel replied to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you like a cloud. For that reason, the holy child shall be called the son of God. And listen, even your relative Elizabeth also has conceived a son in her old age and she who was called Baron is now in her sixth month. For with God, nothing is or ever shall be impossible. Mary said, I am the Lord's servant and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true and then the angel disappeared. So I wanna look at a couple of things about Mary. So first of all, it says in God's word that she was perplexed. So she was pondering this thing that was happening to her and Webster's tells us that perplexed means completely baffled, very puzzled, confused, bewildered. Have you ever felt that way? I know I have. Why is this happening to me God? Why are these things coming into my life? Maybe the, like I mentioned, the test came back positive and you thought for sure everything was gonna be okay. Maybe your husband lost his job. Maybe your child was diagnosed with autism and he were like, I did everything. I ate well and I didn't take the cough medicine and I did all the right things. Why do I have this? Why is my husband ill? Why am I facing these things in my life? So we're a good company if any of you are feeling that right now. And if you're not feeling that right now, just wait because there are things that are gonna come to all of us. So praise God if you're in a season where all things are pretty good, we're like duck in the halls and presents are wrapped under the tree but we all will face things if you're not currently facing them. So she was perplexed. She was also afraid. It's okay to be afraid. Sometimes we have fear. Now God says do not be anxious but sometimes we are just going to be afraid and we are told that the angel said to her do not be afraid. So obviously she was. I don't think the angel is gonna waste that little sermon to say do not be afraid if she wasn't. So she was afraid. Our sweet Mary was afraid. But we have found favor with God just like Mary. We read in Ephesians one verse six. Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved son. What a wonderful promise that is. We are favored. That's, it's just so precious to know that the creator of the universe, our Emmanuel, God with us. He's not just with us at Christmas time as we sing Christmas carols. God, the living God, the creator of the universe is with us. That comforts me. As I've gone through things in my life, trials that I was perplexed by and fearful of. I just, I clung on to that knowing that God is with me and he is with you as well. Now I don't want you to think that I have it all together because I don't. So I'm gonna give you a little, a brief little thumbnail sketch about myself. I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I'm a Canuck A. And if you, any fellow Canucks out there, I know we have a few in the back. But we had a home that was not centered around Christ. We didn't go to church. Every once in a while, there was a prayer said at Thanksgiving or Christmas. I guess we were only thankful for food at Christmas. But I didn't really know that there really was a God. I believe the stuff I was taught in school. At one point I did believe that we, well we started from this little sludge and turned into a frog and then an ape and then man. Cause I just believed what I was taught. And so I went through life without knowing that I had a God I could turn to. And I, part of my testimony, I was molested by a cousin during my early formative years, also by a man that I babysat for. And so I didn't know where to turn with that, with that pain or that type of trial. So I did what many of us do is I turned to alcohol. That was sort of my numbing thing. I think if I was to lay on the couch of a psychiatrist, you'd say, well, you were numbing your pain, dear. Like, oh, I guess I was. But I was following after the world's way to try to numb that pain. When I was 18, I was attending the University of British Columbia and some friends said, hey, let's go up to Whistler Mountain for spring break. And I was all about that because we could go and party up at the Apre ski bars. I was underage, but I had a fake ID that I got from the back of a national inquirer. There was a little ad that said, do you need a fake ID? Yes, yes, I do. So I sent away for that little ID and I selected a California driver's license. I don't know, a little prophecy there. And so it came in the mail and this gained me access into these bars. I mean, it was completely fake, but it was laminated, so it must be real. I think that was the thing. So I would show that and I got into that bar that night and I met a man there that he was five years older than me from California, do you see the theme here? And so we danced a little and drank a little and long story short, 18 months later, over the phone he asked me to marry him. Now I had barely really knew him. We lived in different countries for most of the time I knew him and we would talk on the phone. Now this is back in the day, y'all might be too young for this, but our phones used to be attached to a wall. We had to stay in one spot. So we had this relationship and I just honestly just felt good to be wanted. And so when he asked me to marry him, because I didn't know the Lord, it wasn't like Lord, should I follow this man to this unknown country and leave my family and friends and college behind? I was just like, woohoo, Disneyland beaches! You know, this sounds like fun. So I said yes and got married. Well, it's funny how your baggage travels with you. I ended up going from a dysfunctional home life in Canada to a dysfunctional home life in California. And I basically numbed my same pains and hurts with alcohol and drugs and we were the neighbors you probably didn't want to live next to in that beginning. Meanwhile, back in Canada, my dad was also, he was raised without knowing the Lord and he was a bit of a partier himself and he was invited to a Billy Graham crusade and he got saved. And he started to witness to me and my husband at the time and I didn't really want to have anything to do with it because to me, all I knew about being saved is that I was gonna be holding up signs at a football game and I don't know, the Christians I knew were just a little bit weird. I mean, some of us are a little weird but that was all I really knew. So he kept sending letters and focused on the family cassette tapes, again, back in the day and I just kept them at arm's length. Didn't want to hear it. Well, four years later, we decided that what our troubled marriage needed was a baby because that fixes everything, right? So we decided to have a little baby, little Steven who's now 30 and tall and hairy. Used to be this like little sweet little baby but so my dad flew down from Canada to visit his first little grandson which those of you in the grandparent club isn't it just the most amazing thing? So he flew down and I really got to see a change in my dad. My dad had a peace and a joy about him that I wanted. I didn't know what it would mean. I asked him some questions, do I need a membership card? Do I need to be visited by an angel? My dad had done some multi-level marketing stuff to help provide for the family and so it was like Melaleuca and Amway and Jewel Way and to me this was just Jesus' way and I was gonna need a downline and a buy-in and no, he just shared with me, just need to believe. Believe you're a sinner and you need a savior and that Jesus died for me and then rose again and for me that was really what made the light go on is that all the other gods and religions those guys are all in the grave. You know, Muhammad and Allen, Joseph Smith and Mary Baker and Darwin, you know, they're all in the grave. Jesus rose again, conquered death and he doesn't ask us to do anything to earn his love. He gave himself for us to give us his love and his joy and his peace. So in my little kitchen in Corona, California, 30 years ago last week, I just had like a really cool 30th birthday party, my dad led me to the Lord in my little kitchen. Yes. Now my pops is in the back row back there. I'm gonna try not to cry but an honored guest so if we could just give my dad a hand. Love you dad. So I was now in what is called an unequally-yoked marriage and it was really difficult to want to raise our boys in a home where we honored God and serve God. And so if some of you are in that situation now, God has a plan. I believe that God knew that Michelle needed that difficult marriage to keep me on my face, to keep me in God's word. Because it was in those difficult years that I really got to know my God. I got to know that he will use all things for good, that with him nothing is impossible, that he is for me. So who can be against me? Now, my husband on the other hand wanted nothing to do with Jesus and a long story, very short, after 25 years of marriage and several discoveries that he'd been unfaithful but then he would say he was sorry and there was forgiveness and attempted restoration but I found out that he was pretty much a Tiger Woods. And by that I don't mean he was a good golfer, you know what I'm saying. So we got divorced. So that was really hard for, because I just felt like I had a big D stamped on my forehead and I know God hates divorce. I hate divorce. I know why he hates divorce. My parents went through a divorce and now I've been through a divorce and it's horrible. That's why God hates it. But sometimes it's out of our control and I felt like God finally said okay, I'm lifting my daughter up and out of this and God makes all things new. He restores the years the locusts have eaten and the Lord brought me an amazing man about eight years ago, almost to the day. We were celebrating on 12, 11, 10. Sean Sullivan walked into my life and we've been married for seven years and he's in the back too. Love you, baby. We snuck some men in. We didn't make them wear a dress. We let them like to stay in the back row guys. So I have been through some trials and there's been messy times in my life. One of the trials that I really had the Lord use to really draw me on my face before him is what I wanna share with you this morning and it has to do with our son Tanner. So as I mentioned, we have the four boys. Tanner's number the third one. When he was two months old, he had a bad DPT shot. So don't panic. I'm not here to be anti-vaccines but back in that day, this particular batch was a bad batch and he suffered some brain damage on the right side of his brain. And so I remember being in the little CAT scan as they gave us this news that our little five month old baby had part of his brain to basically look like a stroke. It was just about 25% of the right side of his brain and we didn't know what that would mean. The doctors were telling us, we don't know if he'll walk or talk. We don't know if he'll count to 10. You'll just kinda have to see how it goes. And so it's like, okay, well, Lord, you tell me that you'll use all things for good. And so I trusted in that. Well, when Tanner was seven, he was developing pretty normally. He was always about a year or two behind in the typical development stages but at seven years old, he started having seizures and he was having about 10 grand mal seizures a day. So that was a trial. I was perplexed and a little bit afraid. And so I sought my Lord and thankfully I had developed that relationship with God where I knew I could turn to his word and I could turn to him and I could have joy and peace in the trial. Not necessarily a happiness about it, but a joy and a peace in it. So we took Tanner to the doctors, a really cool God story that led us to this one particular doctor at UCLA. And this doctor suggested that if we were to have a surgery done on Tanner and just cut out the right half of his brain, we might be able to stop the seizures. Like, hmm, okay. But if the seizures are gone and half his brain is gone, what are we left with? Well, we don't really know for sure. He may lose his vision, he may lose the ability to walk and talk, but he also might be fine. Well, we just don't know. We need to see after the surgery. So I was definitely puzzled and perplexed and wondering, God, what is happening? How do I make such a decision? Because I had to make the decision whether or not to have the surgery. So we know that we have a God that we can trust, but we have to know him, right? If I hadn't spent time in his word to know that he will give me a peace beyond all understanding, then what do I hold on to? And I kind of, I like to use the story of, imagine if you were gonna go away for the weekend and you needed someone to watch easier kids, your grandkids, or just your home. And so you're standing in line at Starbucks telling someone about, yeah, we're going away, but we don't have anyone to watch our place or our kids. And so some gal, like three rows back in the line says, I'll watch your kids for you. I'll watch your house. I'll take care of your plants. And you're just like, okay, crazy lady. Like, no, don't know you. But what if you're in line and Connie or Marie's there and they're like, I'll watch your kids for you. You're like, yes, okay, woo, talk them into that one because you know them. So we have to know our God in order to be able to trust him. And that means getting in his word. You know, if we were to have decided to come here, we picked up my parents in Palm Springs yesterday to come out and if I said to my husband, cause he's like, we need to stop and get gas. Oh no, we don't have time. We gotta go. I really don't wanna be late. We wouldn't get very far. And I think sometimes in our crazy world, we think we don't have time for this, but this is what will get us to where we wanna go. This is what will give us the peace and the joy. We can't say we don't have time. The enemy wants us out of this book. Have you ever noticed when you sit down to read the word suddenly, like things popping your head you need to do? I mean, it's like 10 different things. Oh, the laundry that's like in the washer needs to go in the dryer. Oh, I forgot to respond to that email. Oh, I need to mail that card. But if I wanna sit down to watch like America's Got Talent, I can sit for two hours and nothing comes to mind. And if something does come to mind, I'm like, I'll do it later cause I wanna watch this. I wanna see him sing. So just know that we do, we fight an enemy who wants us out of this. He doesn't want us coming to functions like this. We have to just say no to the enemy and yes to the Lord and get our noses in his word. That is where we will find the peace and the joy. He is the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end and he wants to know you. He wants to know me so that we can have the joy and the peace through no matter what trials we're going through. The situation that we were faced with with Tanner was what if, what if we do the surgery and he can't walk or talk? But I had to just know that God had a plan. And it reminds me of the time when there was this young man born blind in God's word. And in the book of John the Disciples asked Jesus, Jesus, who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind. And Jesus replied, neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed. So with something going on in your life where the works of God could be displayed, it might feel difficult, you might feel perplexed or afraid, but God will use it. He loves us no matter what, he loves us no matter how we react to the trial, but we have the opportunity to display his glory as we hold on to him through the trial. Satan schemes daily to discourage us and to make us feel defeated. He ponders you, the enemy knows what will get Michelle discouraged. So he goes after me and he tries to pick the things that he knows will discourage me. And so if I just say, get behind me Satan, I stand with the cross before me, the blood of Christ on me, I can do all things through Christ. And that's what we need to do. We just need to say no to the Satan schemes and trust that God has a plan. He is the one that will take the shadows that are in your world now and let you shine brightly. We can have that sparkle. I know many of you here this morning you're going through difficult things. And I'm not just trying to say like, put on a happy face and light a candle and you're gonna feel just fine. But I do promise that our God's promises are true. And he says he will give us joy and peace in the midst of the most difficult of trials. I love the message translation sometimes for reading just a little snippet of scripture. My husband calls it the Dr. Seuss version. But sometimes it's kind of fun to read a familiar passage. And so this is from Matthew 5, 14 to 16. Here's another way to put it. You're here to be a light, bringing out God's colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We are going public with this. As public as a city on a hill, if I made you lightbearers do you think I'm gonna hide you under a bucket? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand, shine. Keep open house, be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up to God, this generous Father in heaven. So God wants to use our trials no matter what it is we're facing. He knows exactly what's going on in your life and He will allow you to have that joy and peace. Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lott, so I just adore, I just love her teaching. And she wrote a little devotion. I'm talking about some of the trials we might go through. And she starts off with 1 Peter 4, 19. Those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good. Then she writes, if our kids always behave and our boss is always pleased with us and our home is always orderly and our bodies always feel good and our husbands are always loving and precious to us and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and happy and loving. Others shrug because they're capable of being that way too. On the other hand, if we have a splitting headache, the kids are screaming, the phone is ringing, chaos abounds and we do have a difficult marriage, a difficult diagnosis, a difficult situation. Yet we are still patient, kind, thoughtful, happy and loving. The world sits up and takes notice and others see Jesus revealed in us. That's the opportunity that we have. Now, like I said, God is still gonna love you unconditionally even if you don't shine through the trial. We don't have to work to earn God's love. But there are some promises that we attain because we trust in him. And if you choose to hide under your blanket sometime, God still loves you and adores you but he's gonna chase after you because he wants to use you. He wants to have you be that jewel. So what does a quiet time look like? What does it look like to, like as they say, to get in God's word? And maybe you're here this morning, you've never gotten in the word or, and I know there's a lot of Christianese language but getting in the word just means reading your Bible. And a lot of times my quiet time will look like I'll just, I'll open up the Bible, I'll praise God for who he is, talk to him as a friend. You don't have to use flowery language. In fact, he prefers us to just talk to him as though he's an abba father. He's our daddy's lap we can crawl up into and he will speak to us. So there's a place for praise, confession. Lord forgive me for that thought I had this morning. Forgive me for those words I said. Just cleanse your heart. And then I will, sometimes I don't know where to turn. Do you ever have that happen? You're like, I don't even know where to turn. I've got my brain, I have so much going on. I don't know where to go. So I'll just go something to the psalm of the day. You know, it's the second. Go to psalm two, go to Proverbs two. If it's the 16th, go to psalm 16 or add 30 to it and go to psalm 46. And it's amazing how when I do that, there's oftentimes I will hear from God. And we're just, the scripture will jump off the page and I know that he is speaking to me. God, the creator of the universe speaks to us personally. Don't let the enemy trick you into thinking that he's not speaking to you because he is. He adores you and he wants to change you. Isaiah 26.3 says, you will keep in perfect peace. Those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you. So during this trial with Tanner, I was just simply asked to trust God. And I know that God does allow bad things to happen. It's not all the enemy whirling around. Sometimes God does allow things in our lives. Lamentations three says, who is he who speaks and it comes to pass if the Lord has not authorized and commanded it. Is it not out of the mouth of the most high that both calamities and good things come? So I just had to trust that the Lord was going to be there for me. He tells me that if I commit my way to the Lord, trust in him that he will make my righteousness shine. He will be there for me waiting patiently. And so I prayed, God, what do I do? How do I make this decision? And the Lord had me turn to Psalm 18 and he gave me such a comfort that I am your rock. I am your fortress. I will walk you through this, just trust in me. And so October 25th came around. This was in 2001 and it was operation day, the day to have my precious little eight-year-old boy's brain cut in half. So we brought him into the room, they prepped him and then they had to wheel him away. And I just felt so much like with Abraham and Isaac where I was just putting him up, trusting God with the outcome. I didn't know what it would mean, but I knew that my God knew and then my God would walk me through whatever the outcome was. And I had a peace beyond all understanding. You know, when it talks in the word about beyond all understanding, well, I experienced that because as a mom, I should have been a wreck. And I had friends of mine saying like, how are you so calm and peaceful? And I just could just point to Jesus. And so he will give us a peace beyond all understanding. So the operation was nine hours long. We kept getting little updates as things would go along. At one point, you know, they would come and say, okay, we've shaved his head and his head is now like locked in. And it's like, I don't need all the details. You can leave a few of them out. At one point, they brought me this little bag and I opened it up and it was his hair. It's like, oh, his personal effects, I suppose, but I'm like, okay, don't really need all of this stuff right now. But the Lord did continue to give us a peace. Tanner prior to the surgery for a couple of years, this was back when Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan were the big stars and they were bald. And Tanner wanted to be bald. Tanner has really good hair. So this mama did not let him be bald. But when you have brain surgery, you get to be bald. So we kind of played that up a little bit with him that you know, you get to be bald and he knew what was happening. I don't know if in his little eight-year-old mind he understood all that was going on, but he just knew he didn't want to have the seizures anymore. So they tell us that he's in recovery and that we would just have to wait an hour or two before we could go see him. Well, I'm a little bit of a persistent mama and I don't want to wait one to two hours. So I just said, is there any way that I could just get snuck in there to see him? And so I think this nurse realized because we'd had this really great relationship through this journey that I wasn't gonna freak out. So she snuck me down in there, into the bowels of the UCLA Children's Hospital and there was all these machines making noises and people moaning and it's kind of a scary place. And so they brought me around this curtain and there was Tanner just laying on this gurney. His head all wrapped in bandages. Seemed like there was tubes coming out of every part of his body. And he looked like he was in a coma and I kind of forgot to ask what to expect after the surgery. So I did just figure he's gonna be in a coma for a while. So I go over next to him and I put my hand on his little hand and his eyes started to flutter. And I'm like, and by this time the nurse had walked out so I'm alone with him and he starts to pull his oxygen mask off. So I'm like, oh no, oh no, what's happening? And he's like, mom, he said my name, he said my name. Mom, can you get me a mirror so I can see if I'm really bald? One sentence told this mama everything. He knew me, he had memory. He was still the crazy kid who wanted to be bald. So that was a good thing. He still had his funny little sense of humor intact. That is Ephesians 3.20, beyond all understanding what God had done with this child. So Tanner survived the surgery. He was sitting in his third grade classroom four weeks after surgery taking a spelling test and he got an A. Yes, amazing, beyond all understanding. Now Tanner went on to not only continue to do well in school, he graduated high school, he played varsity tennis in high school. Now I have to tell you that the one part of Tanner that his left side is weaker because the whole right half of his brain is gone. And so his left side is a little bit like he has cerebral palsy, so his arm's a little weak. So this is how he plays tennis. He tucks his racket under his arm, chucks the ball really high in the air, grabs his racket and then whoosh. And half the people get aced by him because they're just like, what just happened? So he won many of his matches by acing kids who were just like, oh gosh, what just went on here? So he played varsity tennis. Then he decides when he's 18, he's gonna move to China to learn Mandarin. So now he speaks fluent Mandarin. Yes, again, has half a brain. While he was there, he had an appendicitis attack, which you would think is a bad thing, right? I remember getting the call. He's been rushed to surgery, has appendicitis attack. God, you're gonna use all things for good. Praise you, Jesus. I'm trusting you. He's by himself. He doesn't even speak the language at this point. He met a nurse who attended him after that surgery. She is currently my daughter-in-law who I actually had the privilege of leading to the Lord just about a month or two before he proposed to her and they are the parents of that precious little baby. So yes, praise God. Ephesians 3.20, God is able to do beyond what I could ever have asked or imagined. So when you came in today, I hope you were all handed a little crinkly bag that has a puzzle piece in it that you're probably wondering what in the world is this thing? I would love it if you could all take it out. Okay, so on this side, it's dark and messy. And we go through stuff in our lives where things feel dark. That situation that you're going through with your child, with your parent, with your sibling, it can feel dark. But right in the middle of that darkness, right in the middle of that messiness, is a little mustard seed. Because God tells us with the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. We just have to trust Him with it. We have to take whatever that pain is. So I just pray that you would even right now just think of what is it that's going on in your life right now that is dark. It's hard. It's messy. You're perplexed. You're even maybe a little bit afraid. What do I do with that Lord? Just cry out to Him. Say, God, I want to use this darkness for your glory. And then He will use it. It will be on the flip side, the treasure. We store treasures in heaven. Heaven, treasures for us in heaven that are there for eternity as we use our trials for Him. Now it takes a decision. We have to decide, okay Lord, I don't like this necessarily. This is hard, but God use this for your glory. I pray that you would take this situation, God. Take this difficulty. And I have the faith of a mustard seed. It's very, very tiny. And isn't that a great thing? There's a Mercy Me has a really neat song that says it's a good thing that all I need is a little faith because a little faith is all I've got. So sometimes we can just have a little faith, but that is what God will use. He can take what is dark and use it for good and He will use it for glory. So I'm gonna just pray right now before I close. I just want us all to, I just feel like the Holy Spirit wants us to do this right now. I just want you to take what it is in your mind. Only you know it. Only you know what the trial is and commit it to the Lord. Decide, God, I'm gonna take this faith. I'm gonna commit this trial to you for your glory. So you just bow with me. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you Lord that you are sovereign, that you are a good, good Father, that you allow things in our lives Lord to grow us to be more like you. So often we cry out that we wanna have your peace and your patience and your joy, but we need to become more like you, God. Father, help to just sand off the rough edges in all of us Lord. Help us to be that light you've called us to be. Thank you that we don't do this in our own strength because we cannot. But God, we have you in us, the power of the resurrection in us to be used for your glory. So Father, I pray that whatever these precious sisters of mine are in here with Lord, the burdens they carry, the weight they are under God, that they will take that burden and set it at your feet. That they will decide today Lord to press into you, to know you better, to spend time in your word, to be filled with your spirit Lord, that they might know you deeper, be used by you for your glory, Father. So God, we trust these trials and these situations to you Lord, knowing that you are an amazing God who takes our deepest, darkest hurts and turns them into treasures. We love you and praise you Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, Justin, do we have video or did that? I think so. Okay, all right. Well, we may or may not see this. This is up to the Lord right now in IT. So if we don't, we know it's that he doesn't want us to do it, but I wanna play Tanner again through just how God works, was asked to be a part of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. They were doing, they chose five people in the entire country to do a little segment on in their museum about amazing people, because he is amazing. And so, we may get to show you the little snippet from the museum. Most of my friends don't believe me when I tell them I have half a brain, especially when I beat them, but it's true. We first noticed something was different with Tanner when he was about three or four months. He had had a bad DPT shot at two months old which caused a stroke. He lost about 25% of the right side of his brain and that was causing this weakness on his left side. Doctors told us to just continue with physical therapy. They didn't really know how he would progress. It's just towards the end of first grade started having seizures. At one point he was having about 10 grand mal seizures a day. So we went out to UCLA. They ran a battery of tests to see if he was a candidate for what they explained to us was called a hemisphere ectomy. A hemisphere ectomy is when you have a whole brain and then you take away one hemisphere. So for Tanner it was to remove the right hemisphere because that is where all the seizure activity was and he has not had a seizure since. Post-surgery, Tanner was incredible. The best thing for him was just to engage in life and stay active. My left side is basically damaged so I'm not able to turn my wrist. The way I serve is I'll throw it in my left arm and I'll throw out the ball. I'll grab the racket, serve it, get it in. Sometimes I'll ace people. Me having half the brain, I think it has nothing to do with disability or handicap. It's a challenge, but it would be even more of a challenge if you saw it's seizures. The idea that something is difficult and you just don't quit, that to me, that's fantastic for anybody. If I just describe Tanner, I just am in awe of him every day. Yay, God. God is amazing. So in closing, I'm just gonna read this poem that the Lord gave me a year or so ago just about bringing sparkle back. If you just need to have that sparkle come back where you can just ask God, God, use me. Use me for your glory. Our life should be a vessel used to shine forth our Savior's light. Let's offer our lives to him right now. Choose to walk by faith, not sight. Like the moon reflects the sun, which gives off that lunar glow, choose to reflect the Father's son so that the world will know that though we are far from perfect and make mistakes along the way, God is doing a work, changing us each and every day. His Holy Spirit dwelling within, wanting to correct and lead and guide, we simply have to obey and trust. In him, we must abide. God tells us to share his love with every tongue, tribe and nation. We are called to be the salt and light to the entire population. But if we have lost our saltiness, how will we cause them to thirst? And if they don't thirst and turn to him, their eternal fate is cursed. Let's decide today to be that salt and light, women with God's sparkle, spreading God's love everywhere we go, hoping to share the gospel. It takes strong determination to follow God's narrow trail. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. His love will never fail. God will always give you the strength you need, just determined to never quit. Stay close to him and in his word and your light will stay brightly lit. The enemy does slink around looking for someone to devour. Be that woman after God's own heart and Satan will slink away and cower. God will allow things in our life that tests us and makes us grow. Keep trusting in him and he'll lead you along and show you which way to go. Even when bad news comes and life seems to throw you a curve or the strains and pressures of this world have everyone on your last nerve, determined to reflect God's Son in every thought and deed, like providing a cup of water to an enemy in need. This is how a dying world will notice we shine God's light. When we offer love, not hate, an act of kindness instead of a fight. God tells us to turn from our own wicked way so he can heal our land. Let's start today to turn the other cheek and offer a helping hand. Let's respect our husbands, love our kids and honor our fathers and mothers. Follow God's lead and do what he says when we want to know how to treat others. Stop the hiss of gossip and the drinking of too much wine. Don't have sex before marriage and stop all the arguing and lying. End the swearing and cursing and using God's name in vain. Instead, meditate on his word and pray in Jesus' name. This is how we win a lost world to know that God sent his only Son who lived and died and rose again. He is the Holy One. We are called to be that beacon lighting the way to know our amazing Lord, showing the world that there was a reason that his precious blood was poured. You might be surprised by who is peering into your own little world today to see who is this Jesus that you have decided to obey. Live each moment knowing that your life is making a mark. It's all in choosing to do right, not wrong, living a life set apart. Don't beat yourself up if changes are due. We are all a work in progress. He offers forgiveness at the foot of the cross where his blood will give you access. He'll give you the peace and strength and help you to become your very best. He's taken your sin and cast them as far as the east is from the west. We are daughters of the king of kings. And in him, there's nothing we lack. Let's make today the day that we start to bring sparkle back. So I just want to, in closing, if there's anyone here this morning who like me, 30 years ago, thought that it was all about religion. And my dad was the one who shared with me it's about relationship. It's not about having to read your Bible, having to go to church, having to do this to-do list that we think God requires. It's about putting our trust in him, confessing with their mouth that we believe that he is God, that he died for us, rose again, and we can have him in our lives. He can be the one who gives you that joy and peace that you need. So I'm just gonna ask you to bow your heads right now. And if any of you out there decide, I want to give my heart to the Lord, I've done religion, I want relationship. I pray that you would just pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, God, we come before you, Lord, knowing that the angels rejoice as a sinner turns to you, Lord. And Father, I pray if there's anyone in this room who has done religion is tired of trying to somehow rummage up enough strength or joy to get through a day that she might decide right now, Lord, to just give herself to the joy giver, the strength provider, our Emmanuel, God with us. And by just confessing with her mouth, believing in her heart that you died for her sin, that she would just ask you to come into her life that she wants to repent, to turn from the things she knows are not good in her life and turn to you and just trust you with all that you have for her, Lord, to use the darkness and the mess for your glory. And so Father, we stand rejoicing with these new sisters, knowing that this will be an extra special Christmas as we know that hearts were changed. And Lord, for those of us who already know you, God, I pray that this Christmas would be an amazing time for us to sparkle for you, to be the salt and the light that you call us to, Lord, that when we are with family and friends who perhaps do get on our last nerve, or with people who think differently than us, who act differently, who we know don't know you, Lord, help us to be you to them. Let them see you in us, in our smile, in our eyes, in the joy and the way we react to them. Father, we love you. We praise you. You're so worthy of our praise and honor, God. And we stand with a standing ovation to you, God, in awe of what you do, how you use us cracked pots and these vessels that you have made and we desire to be used for your glory. We love you and praise you, God. Merry Christmas. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, thank you.