Finding Jesus in Everyday Moments

SPEAKER 01 : 0:10

Welcome to Call to Freedom with Barbara Carmack. This is Jimmy Lakey, and I’m delighted that you are joining us for this half hour. You can reach Call to Freedom at Box 370367, Denver, Colorado, 80237, or by going to the website at www.freedomstreet.org. If you want to leave a message or order a Word Power Daily Reading Bible Guide or a Freedom Street Express newsletter, you can call us toll free at 1-877-917-7256 and leave your name and address, including your zip code. If you want to talk to Barbara right now, she is expecting your call. You may call that same toll-free number 1-877-917-7256 to speak to her. And now, let’s join Barbara in the studio.

SPEAKER 03 : 1:04

Welcome to Call to Freedom and happy 4th of July. I know that next year is the 250th year and we will have a president that loves to celebrate that kind of thing. And his big, beautiful bill did go past the Senate and the House after more than eight and a half hours by the minority leader. And so we have a bill on the desk of President Trump tomorrow, just as he said, by July the 4th. When that man speaks, it seems to just really all of heaven is just in cooperation with him. It’s beautiful to watch. It really is. I am so grateful for, well, just to be able to see what’s going on. to know that God is in the forefront of moving forward and getting people in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ in such a miraculous way. It is a beautiful thing. May God’s purpose lead you through your day today. May his counsel guide you in every situation. Oh, he does that. He guides us. When we ask him, he guides us and leads us and teaches us. May his wonderful love bless you wherever he leads. You are blessed to dispense, for in him you live and move and have your being. And I am so blessed to have Kimberly on the air. Boy, sometimes it takes a lot to get you on the air, Kimberly Duell.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:28

I know. Thank you for your patience with me. Wow. It has been kind of a… Well, a very full past couple of weeks here.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:38

Yes. You have been across the U.S. to go see your nieces and their husbands in South Carolina. And that’s, wow, different climate, different environment, different traffic.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:54

Well, I will say that it was about the same humidity as we have here in Oklahoma. Oh, okay. So the humidity wasn’t much of a change, but it was hotter there. They had a heat wave while I was there. Yes, they did. Yeah, it’s not normally that hot, but just bless you people in the South that endure the hot weather. We’re believing that the Holy Spirit will just breathe coolness on each one of you that needs it. And I had a very blessed bonding time with my nieces and their husbands and the little kiddos. that there’s a two-year-old and a six-month-old, and that was just really fun to have some bonding time with them. I built up some muscle, for sure, just holding those little ones as much as I did.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:42

Yes. Oh, I can imagine. Wow. Been a long time for you, Kimberly. Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 3:49

Go ahead. I was just going to say, it has been a long time since I’ve been in South Carolina. It’s been 47 years. Wow. I am really thankful that I got to be back there and just see it felt very much like my childhood. I recognized a lot of the foliage and, um, just some of the ways that the people, the Southern people are the Southern drawl. I, I recognized a lot of that and it was, um, really nice, really nice to see, see that again. And then this week I was just attending to a family. who lost their daughter. She was 25. And thank you for announcing that. You said something on the radio because I started receiving emails. And I just want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you listening who emailed me with your love and your support and your prayers for me, but also for the young lady’s family who are grieving today. You are an amazing radio family and we are so blessed by your support in all these different areas. You support financially and you support with your prayers and you support with encouraging words and we’re so grateful for you. I haven’t had a chance to personally reply to each of your emails yet, but I want to say that your prayers and your words of encouragement felt like an act of worship to God for me and for that family. It was like you were in agreement with Him and His way of lifting His people up above the clouds of grief, the clouds of this broken world, giving them wings. And that’s what your prayers felt like in your emails. I just want to say thank you. I don’t know how to adequately express my gratitude and my love back to you, but thank you. Thank you. And I’m also wanting to say a couple of weeks ago now, I left you all with a question, and I’m not even going to get into it right now, because I had planned on getting back to you with responses, and I really loved the responses that I received by email, so thank you very much for participating and answering in a way that you felt like was Christ-like, and we’ll get back to that maybe next week. Today, I really felt led to share with what I was gleaning from 1 John 3, 2. And that’s what I wanted to focus on for today. So 1 John 3, 2 in the New American Standard Bible says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him. because we will see Him just as He is. There are a couple of other translations that I want to read from. Just to point out that often this passage is looked at as if it’s going to only happen in the future. And here’s another, here’s a Good News translation. It says, My dear friends, we are now God’s children. We are now God’s children. Yes. but it is not yet clear what we shall become. That kind of sounds futuristic right there. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.

SPEAKER 03 : 7:26

That’s right. And it doesn’t take facelifts. It doesn’t take fillers. It doesn’t take Botox. It doesn’t take any of that stuff. God is just going to renew us. But he is now in the process of working on us in our spirits and in our souls and in our bodies. Praise God.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:47

Yes. Yes. In the message version, it says that and that’s only the beginning. It says we are the children of God and that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we will end up? I love how that’s worded in there. But again, it’s really looking toward the future. And I really like to think of all scripture as being something that we can apply today to us. and to help us through life. And in our human thinking, it’s hard not to place the Word of God on a timeline and all of His stories, you know, on this timeline, because we’re time beings. We’re born at a certain time, and we live out time in such a way that that’s all our brains are really programmed, I guess is what you could say, to think like. And so our creator, we have to remember, is an eternal being, and he created us for eternity. Yes. And I believe that eternity is not really about a timeline. It’s outside of time. So when we think of this scripture, we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is. Let’s think of this in a way that Christ reveals himself to individuals in real personal circumstances. So when I attended the memorial service for this sweet young lady yesterday, this family ended up ministering to this large crowd who had gathered to celebrate her life. This young lady was born Down syndrome. And she ended up getting all the speech therapy. Her family was so supportive. And she ended up being a very high-functioning individual in life. And she went to school. She graduated. She went to the Olympics. She went to, oh, she traveled. She traveled to 48 out of the 50 different states in the United States. and she really made a difference in people’s lives. She loved to give hugs, and she would hug everybody. Total strangers, when they would go grocery shopping, strangers would get hugs from her. So she also ministered to babies and little ones that had special needs, and the seats of this auditorium were filled. Hundreds of people came to her memorial service, and they were filled with these individuals who felt her unconditional love toward them they they have maybe what we would deem conditional lives because their lives are defined by limitations in some ways not always you know that so so many of them have exceeded our limitations because they see this world differently and This young lady never made anyone feel limited. She always caused everyone to feel loved. And the pastor opened this service by saying, if anyone here is struggling to sit through the service and needs support at any time, he named off four different individuals that were standing in the back of the church. And he said, these people are here and we are here to serve you. And feel free to just stand up at any time. We will come to your aid. We are here for you. It was a beautiful way to open up this memorial service and to remember we are all just here to help each other.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:42

To help each other, that’s right, yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 11:45

And not to see limitations, not to see status or color, not to see what we would look at on the outside, but to see human beings. Yes. One of her uncles stood up. Did you look it up by any chance?

SPEAKER 03 : 12:14

No, but I remember the time I put it in my Express newsletter, and the person who wrote the dash informed me that she would sue me if I didn’t take it off. Oh, that’s one way to remember the poem. That’s right. That’s the one way I remember the dash. Between the birth and death, there is a dash of importance. Yes, there really is.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:41

Right. And so this uncle got up and he read that poem because really our birth date and the date of our leaving this world, those dates don’t really matter at all compared to the dash in between and how we lived our life. That’s right. And everything that we have done in that lifetime to be more Christ-like and to help others. And it was such a beautiful poem. And so that was kind of the beginning of of this memorial service. And then her dad and mother and brother got up and they each took a turn to talk. Her brother was so precious. His name is Cole. You could be keeping Cole in your prayers because he thought of his sister. Well, they all did. She was their buddy. And Cole said, you know, I didn’t really want to address all of you. I’m hurting too bad. to even say anything to any of you. But I thought about what my sister would want. And I know she would want me to honor our mother today because our mother was such a beautiful servant in helping her achieve everything that she was able to in her lifetime. And so, Mom, come here. And he, in front of everyone, he honored her. his sister by hugging her really warmly. And it was just the most precious thing. Then her dad got up and his testimony was talking about how the Lord has left breadcrumbs all throughout their lives and throughout Avery’s lifetime of how to find God. Just because of the way she lived. And One of the breadcrumb stories that he shared was early in her life when she needed speech therapy, she couldn’t say dad or daddy. And after working with her and going through some speech therapy, she got to the place where she could say gaudy. Gadi, like with a G. God, like for God. And she would call him Gadi. And he was like, well, that works for me. It’s good enough. That’s right. And he said, sometimes she would shorten it and just call me God. And he said, that was really humbling. Oh, I can imagine. Oh, wow. Right? And he went on to say there was one time that they were at their favorite Mexican restaurant when she was younger. And She needed to go to the bathroom. So his wife took her to the bathroom and they were sitting. He and his son were sitting at the table. They could hear the bathroom door slam open and they knew it was Avery. She was coming back. And with all of the waiters and waitresses and people, it was a little bit too confusing for her. And she couldn’t remember her way back to the table. And she had ran out ahead of her mom. So her mom wasn’t with her. So Cole, her brother started to get up from the booth and wanted to go help her. And her dad just put his hand on, on Cole and said, just, just wait just a minute. Let’s just see what she does. Not to be mean, but really to help her gain some independence in life also in confidence.

SPEAKER 04 : 16:11

Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:13

And she, she started panicking and in her panic, She squatted down and put her elbows on her knees and you could just see her shaking, he said. She was shaking and it felt like a shaking of a volcano. And sure enough, after a little bit of shaking, the volcano exploded. And she stood up and she yelled, God, where are you? I love it.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:43

And he could hear. Yes. She was calling for her dad. Yeah. But also her heavenly dad. Help me here.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:50

Yes. Right. And they could hear whispers around the restaurant. People saying, oh, how sweet, how precious. She’s calling out to God. She’s calling out to the Lord. And he knew he was going to have to intervene for her. That’s right. Because he called. Yeah, she called. She called. So he stands up and he says, here I am. He has very, very white hair. He has had very white hair for many, many, many years. And so he stands up with his very, very white beard, very white hair and says, here I am.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:33

Now, is this family from your church or how did you know them?

SPEAKER 02 : 17:41

Yes, he used to be the youth pastor at our church about 25 years ago. And his mother has stayed at our church, and so they have come as visitors. And we’ve just kind of stayed in touch with the family, just knowing where they are, who they are, what’s happening in their lives. But I want to continue the story. He stood up to say, here I am, or I am here. And, you know, people were really looking like he just called out for God and he just stood up and said, here I am. And so some of them started playing with him. They were sitting at a booth near the exit. to the front of the building. And so as people were paying their bills and leaving, they were making comments to him. Comments like, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. He would just smile and nod his head and say, I’ll always be here. And you can just imagine this family is telling these beautiful stories and really ministering to the people who are hurting over this loss. And they’re hurting even worse. You know, he decided to play with one biker dude that was coming through and he had paid and was walking out the front door and he looked up at him and he had decided, I’m going to say something to this guy. And he said, I know what you did last night. And this guy looked at him and said, please don’t tell my mom.

SPEAKER 03 : 19:21

You know, Kimberly, this reminds me of some people go to a restaurant to eat. But the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but bringing righteousness, peace and joy to all around. And that’s exactly what they did at this restaurant. I mean, the food was down the list of priorities to what happened and what they permitted God to do with this crowd of people. Yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s just beautiful.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:48

I think there were people in that restaurant that day. that heard her call out, that saw her dad respond, and that decided, I want to be like that. I want to call out when I need, when I’m in need. I want to respond when someone else is in need. And this is the way that Christ loves to reveal himself. So when we’re reading this scripture from 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, now we are, right now, we are children of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we will be. See, this is what I see as us observing other people. And as we observe and adopt these characteristics of Christ that we see in others, we don’t know what that’s really going to build in us. We can’t see who we’re going to be five years from now. That’s right. Even a year from now, you know, or 10 years from now. We don’t know. It’s not… appeared as yet what we will be but we know that when christ appears to us when he shows up in the the story of our lives in the restaurants when someone’s calling out to god and a father is coming to the rescue when he reveals himself we look at that and say oh i want to be like that we will be like him because we will see him just as he is That’s what really stood out to me when I read that scripture this morning. And the rest of the memorial service, they showed a lot of her pictures, you know, just all throughout her lifetime. And as we were watching those beautiful pictures, many of them she was just hugging. She was hugging people. She just was so beautiful. I thought to myself, there she is. That’s the bride of Christ. She is displaying love to everyone. It doesn’t matter if they have any special conditions or what their color is or what their size is or what their age. It didn’t matter to her. She always saw the person who needed love, and she deemed them worthy of love. And that’s what Christ does. And that’s what the bride of Christ does. As we continue to be made into that image, it’s a beautiful process. And it happens by watching others who are kind and loving and pure and gentle and holy and righteous. You know, when we see these things, it calls us to higher places and to better places in our own personalities. And in our own choices. One of my favorite parts of this service, the pastor came down off the platform and walked in the aisles. He recognized that there was such a large crowd that there was no way all these people could say what they wanted to say on an open mic. So he kept the microphone in his own hand and he opened up. a time for everybody to share something, he asked them all to think of one word. Oh, that’s so good. And he encouraged even the shy people to be brave and offer this family their support by saying one word that they remember about Avery. And as a congregation as a whole, to think of this as an expression of worship to God for her beautiful life. to put a word on it, to stand up and to give worship to God for who she is. I loved that time. There were dozens and dozens of people who stood up. You know, I actually am thinking a little bit about the support I received in the emails from you who are listening. That felt like a form of worship to God for this little life that you don’t even know. You just heard that there was loss. And you offered prayers and you offered words of encouragement. That’s so beautiful. When we all start working that way, that’s the body of Christ at work.

SPEAKER 03 : 24:09

At work together. Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:11

Yes. And there were dozens and dozens of people who stood to say a word. I wish I had recorded them all because some of them were maybe what you would expect people to hear. Joyful, precious, loving, kind, beautiful. But some others… Some other words were lioness and overcomer and pink and sparkly and turkey. I have to tell you why. Yes. I have to tell you why the word turkey, because the pastor was standing up there and he knew all these, a lot of these people, he called them by name when he saw them stand up or raise their hands. And that’s precious to the shepherd. The good shepherd knows his sheep. And, Turkey was what one of the people, she just adopted that name for them. So every time she came to church, she’d see them and call them Turkey. And so one day this person looked back at her and said, well, if I’m a turkey, you’re a turkey head. And then she said, well, then you’re a turkey bottom. So it’s just everyone was laughing at that report. And you can just imagine. I know we just have one minute here. I took up a lot of time to talk about this beautiful young lady. It is. But I just want to wrap up by saying that when someone brings that kind of joy into a moment of grief, It’s so beautiful. And when it comes through the one who’s grieving the most, that is Christlike character. And I came away from that service thinking, wow, that was heavenly. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a heavenly celebration. And I know that our God is moving and he is moving. filling this earth with the knowledge of his glory, how glorious his love is, his joy and his peace. And that’s happening in all of our lives as we open ourselves to him, to his goodness in our life. I just want to encourage each and every one of you out there. I want to encourage you to keep looking up because God is not done. The best is yet to come in our lives.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:33

Amen. Praise God. Thank you for that story, Kimberly. And thank all of you for letting Kimberly know that you’re praying for her. That’s a blessing to her mom. God bless you and keep you. Have a wonderful Fourth of July and take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 26:59

877-917-7256

SPEAKER 01 : 27:19

Call to Freedom is a listener-supported radio ministry. Barbara and her power partners invite you to come on board with us and become a network of hands holding up Call to Freedom ministry. Power partners support Call to Freedom with prayer and monthly financial support. You will be blessed supernaturally. We invite you to visit Call to Freedom’s website, www.freedomstreet.org, where you can hear Barbara’s daily radio broadcast 24 hours a day or order materials. You may share your praise reports and heart cries by mailing them to Call to Freedom, Box 370-367, Denver, Colorado, 80237. Or you may email us at barbracarmack at freedomstreet.org. Until next time, remember, Jesus loves you, Barbara loves you, and take joy.

SPEAKER 1 : 28:23

Thank you.