On this heartfelt episode of Call to Freedom, Barbara Carmack and Kimberly share encouragement for listeners walking through difficult seasons, reminding them that God is still writing their story with grace and purpose. Through scripture, personal reflection, and thoughtful conversation, the broadcast explores rejoicing through trials, overcoming fear and bitterness, trusting God’s greater plan, and allowing the spirit of Christ to lead every circumstance. With warmth and compassion, Barbara reminds listeners that they are never forsaken, never forgotten, and always deeply loved by God.
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 02 :
Welcome to Call to Freedom. Oh, friend, I want you to know that wisdom is a blessing. Walk in it. Joy is a gift. Be generous with it. Prayer is a privilege. Act on it. And love is a miracle. Be God’s messenger today and always until we see Jesus face to face. That is our prayer. Wisdom, joy, prayer and love. You are blessed to dispense for in him you live and move and have your being. I’d like to ask a favor of you. I know that it’s important that we uphold the leadership in this country, but I want you to pray especially for President Trump, that God would give him strength and sustain him through these hard days. We’re looking into midterms, and I know it’s been a sapping of his strength. And remember, I want you to remember 2015. We had just experienced eight years of the Obama administration, eight years of him saying we’re no longer a Christian nation, eight years of him going overseas to the Middle East and kissing the rings of the leaders, eight years of that. And we asked God for a miracle. God gave us a miracle. He gave us Donald John Trump. Yes, Kimberly. And so I’m asking you to pray as a special favor from Kimberly and Barbara.
SPEAKER 01 :
to pray for president trump because i have seen a tiredness in him and uh you know when you get to be 80 years old it’s uh my goodness he is traveling all over the world yes and he’s meeting with other leaders and he’s conducting peace treaties and he’s ceased fire in the war and He’s got a lot on his shoulders. That’s just all over the world. There are all kinds of things in our country he’s taking care of as well.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, a lot of things on his plate. And he will be seeing President Xi from China. So thank you. Thank you so much for your prayers. Just mention him to God. God hears and answers our prayers. And he’s going to give us him such enthusiasm for being the president and also more energy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Grace.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yes. Thank you, Kimberly.
SPEAKER 01 :
More grace.
SPEAKER 02 :
Grace, grace. Speak grace. If you can’t think of anything else, say grace for our president. That’s wonderful. Oh, this week we have been dwelling on 1 Thessalonians 5, and that’s verse 16 through 18. Rejoice and pray and thank God. And it’s been a wonderful little study for me, Kimberly.
SPEAKER 01 :
It really has. For me, too. The New Living Translation says, always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Oh, so good. Yes. Yes. Well, we want to remember that we’ve got a meeting coming up this coming Saturday, May 9th. We would love to see you there. So if you would like to join us, please call us and let us know. Leave us a message and tell us your name. Give us some contact information and we will get back to you and give you the details. The number is 877-917-7256.
SPEAKER 02 :
hope you’ll call us and i hope you’ll join us oh yes we love the restaurant we love the food we love the fellowship we love the servers i mean we’ve got our favorite servers and most of them are favorite servers right the whole restaurant they’re our favorites yes so oh i hope you will join us on saturday that’s may the 9th saturday god bless you yesterday we were talking about blessed blessed are you or fully satisfied are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. This is Jesus speaking in Matthew 5. Then he says, Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s so true. And we as Christians have a hard time, I think, believing that it’s possible to rejoice when those things are going on. I was remembering that there was a little boy in the Easter pageant at his church, and his Sunday school teacher wanted to know what part he would like to play in the Easter pageant, and he said he wanted to be the stone. Now I’m going back to the subject of Easter because it was only a month ago. Our resurrection Sunday only happened a month ago and it’s been a month and maybe we’ve gone through some things. We’ve experienced some things and even the weather, it can be rainy, cloudy for so long that you kind of don’t remember the excitement of the resurrection power of Christ. So I’m remembering this little boy today, this morning, and how he wanted to play the stone. He didn’t want to play the angel. He didn’t want to play one of the disciples that ran to the tomb. He didn’t want to play Jesus. He wanted to be the rock in front of the tomb. And the teacher asked him, why do you want to play the stone? And he said, because then I get to let Jesus out.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s so good.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. I think it’s good because we want to let Jesus out. We are so used to letting our emotions guide us and our intellect and logic analyzing everything. We’re so good at that as human beings. And we forget to let the spirit of Christ be the leader in our lives and let him out. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Speaking life into our body, life into our thoughts and our emotions. And we want to be speaking his life into our world, into our realm, over our situations, but also our families, our community, our neighbors, our church. We want to be speaking life and we had talked yesterday about a situation in Philippians that Paul addressed. There were two women, they got into some kind of an argument and they weren’t talking to each other anymore, but he was asking for that spirit of peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. Let that spirit of peace come in and bring reconciliation to whatever, whatever circumstance you might be in the middle of. So often when we’re confronted with trials in this life, we either default to analyzing that situation to figure out what to do using our logic or we react to that situation with our emotions. Yes. Making Jesus the Lord of our lives means that his spirit is the one who will lead the way. And we stay in touch with him, talking with him, letting him lead us instead of fear leading us or worry or anger.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. Romans 12 is such a great chapter on talking about the brotherly affection we have in the body of Jesus Christ and remembering to be aglow in the Spirit. That’s so important, friends. Don’t grieve Holy Spirit, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 17. And so we’re going to go to Romans 12. And in verse 10, it starts in verse 10, be devoted to one another. And why? Because Jesus is devoted to us. We need to express our devotion for Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters authentically and our affection to the members of the family. Give preference to one another in honor, never lagging behind in diligence. That means enthusiasm.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Oh, that’s so good. I just have to interrupt and say in the Passion Translation, it says, try to outdo yourselves in respect and honor for one another.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s good. Yes. Yeah. Like, well, I want to take you out to dinner. Yes. And everybody likes somebody to take them out to dinner.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, OK, but that’s reminding me that can even turn into a fight if you’re trying to outdo each other. Like, I’m going to pay for it. No, I’m going to pay for it. Right. You and I have argued like that. Yes, we do that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. So here we go in 11th verse of Romans 12, a glow in the spirit, enthusiastically serving the Lord. Verse 12 says constantly. Here’s that word rejoicing in hope because of our confidence in Christ Jesus, not in ourselves. No, it’s in Christ Jesus, steadfast and patient in distress. When you’re under stress. that’s so important to give it to jesus give it all to jesus he’s the only one that knows you i mean from the top of your head to the soles of your feet contributing to the needs of god’s people pursuing the practice of hostility and kimberly i’ve just got to add here the powers of hospitality yeah the power partners have been so generous and gracious All these years. I thought that right after Darren left, you know, that I would have to go look at a different vocation. And it’s like you, you who are listening, just kept giving and giving and giving. And I just can’t express my thankfulness and my joy over our fellowship and over our relationship. I have a relationship with you. I may not have known you or seen you or even meet you ever on this earth. But when I get to heaven, I’m going to know you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
We’re going to know you.
SPEAKER 01 :
Wow. Well, I was also looking at Revelation 12, 11, because thinking of Jesus and that resurrection power when his spirit is in us and we’re allowing him to lead the way, allowing his spirit to lead the way in our lives. That’s how we overcome. That’s how we overcome our emotions. That’s how we overcome pain. Uh, our situations in this life that are really weighing us down and they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even when they were faced with death. That’s right.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. And we can go back to, because of that, in Revelation, we can go back to Romans and say, you know what? With Jesus, I can do this. When people persecute me, I can bless them. I can bless them and not curse them. This is what we have to learn, friends. We do as a believer and as a child of God. In verse 15 of Romans 12, it says, Rejoice with those who rejoice, sharing the joy of others, and weep with those who weep, sharing others’ grief. We don’t go to a funeral and say, That was a wonderful time. No, we are sharing the grief with others. We are sharing the joy with others. And we’re living in harmony with one another. Not being haughty or conceited or self-important or exclusive in our memberships. Well, you don’t belong here or we only accept members. No, but associate with humble people, those with a realistic self-view. Do not overestimate yourself. So important, Kimberly, that we don’t think of ourselves as more important than our brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER 01 :
I have to admit that I have experienced so much in life that when someone else is sharing a circumstance or a situation that has really been difficult, I can remember back to when it was difficult for me and how I overcame it. Sometimes that’s not helpful and being able to just sit and cry with them because when we remember how hurtful, how broken some of our situations have been in this life. Yes, we have experienced restoration because that is what our father does. But sitting with somebody, there’s just nothing like that. Having that kind of a bond with someone who knows that you will sit with them and grieve with them, that you will sit with them and, and walk through the painful part as they make their way to the recognition of God’s greatness in their lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, and his grace. Praise God. Never repay anyone evil for evil, verse 17 of Romans 12 tells us. Take thought for what is right and gracious and proper in the sight of everyone.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s talking about benefiting others instead of yourself.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. Oh. I think of these verses and Paul, oh, God bless you, Paul. These are very challenging verses. They really are. But there are future. There are future in our maturing and our growth in Jesus Christ. It’s like the fruit of Holy Spirit. When you first talk about the fruit of Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, and all of that, you aren’t there yet. You may be quoting it, but that hasn’t become a reality, and that hasn’t become authentic in your life. And it’s so important that as we grow, this is a process, friends, and you’re not going to get here right away. But as you grow, you’re realizing this manual is showing you how to love. and how to get along with others, and how to be a support to others when they are sick or when they are in grieving. It’s so important. And Proverbs 20, verse 22 says, Do not say, I will repay, I’ll get them back, because you don’t return evil for evil. Never, never, never. Wait for the Lord, and he will save you and vindicate you. So if possible, as far as depends on you, live at peace with everyone. And we can just take small little bits and pieces like from our family situations. If you don’t get along with a family member, okay, then you’re going to promise yourself, I am going to, in Jesus’ name, get along with family members. Well…
SPEAKER 01 :
Good luck with that if you’re trying to do that without Jesus’ help. I know you said in Jesus’ name, but sometimes we slap that saying onto what we’re praying for and what we’re believing for, and we forget to ask Jesus to be the one to show us, how did you do this? How did you walk through this? Yes. How did you endure the persecution of your own family when they didn’t believe in you and when they wanted to silence you? How did you do this? So when we include him, he gives us vision. He gives us the power, that resurrection power. Let Jesus out of the tomb of your emotions and the tomb of your own intellect. Even what you have memorized in the Bible can be a tomb. If you are trying to do it in your own efforts and your own strength, we have got to have a relationship with Jesus because he is the one who showed us how he entrusted himself to his father who judges righteously in first Peter two 23 says that Jesus entrusted himself to him who judges righteously. Even when it came to the extreme blood loss. I know we don’t love to talk about the bloody things and the bloodiness of Good Friday before we get to the resurrection Sunday. But what Jesus went through, it was absolutely a miracle that he could even walk to Golgotha after he had been so brutally whipped. I think the blood loss had been so great. So many of us would have needed a blood transfusion. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Amen.
SPEAKER 01 :
And he was doing, he was by faith entrusting himself to the one who wrote his story for him. That was part of his story. We all have a story that we’re going through. And, you know, sometimes our stories are really sweet and sometimes our stories are bitter. That’s right. That actually reminds me of Revelation, the book of Revelation in book five, chapter five. It says that there is a little scroll and in that little scroll, it’s sealed up and no one can open it. And there’s a great angel that’s standing, holding that little scroll. John is told to go and take it from his hand, take that little book from his hand and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey. That’s what he’s told in Revelation 10. That’s in Revelation 10. So Revelation 5 talks about this little book or scroll, and so does chapter 10. And when I think of Jesus and his life, what a sweet life to be able to do all of these miracles with the authority he was given. What a sweet life for us that he has now given us that authority. But how bitter it is to come up against those who persecute you. Learning to rejoice because we were made to be best friends with this one. We will never have to experience the same bitterness that he experienced. And yet we can have the same faith and entrust our story. to the one who is writing it perfectly. He has got a perfect ending for your story. And just because you’re in the middle of it and it’s feeling a little sour right now, doesn’t mean that it won’t be sweetened. It will be sweetened. You will be fulfilled and satisfied, fully satisfied because of the indwelling of Holy Spirit in your life and the way that he is leading and writing your story. We just need to believe. We do.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m so glad you mentioned Peter. I love those books, both First Peter and Second Peter. And I realize that this disciple, he kind of overestimated his life. It’s kind of what Paul was talking about in Romans 12. Do not overestimate yourself. And he was saying, I’ll never leave you, Jesus. I’ll never leave you. And there he saw rejection. Jesus saw rejection and he saw his disciples fleeing from him. And Peter also, when he denied Jesus Christ, he saw rejection from his brothers and he saw Jesus looking at him in the courtyard. Oh, that must have been horrific for Peter. And yet again, we can go to I’m going to go to first Peter, not second Peter this time. First Peter one, verse six and seven. In this, you rejoice greatly. You rejoice because Jesus paid the debt that you owed. You rejoice because he’s taken the whipping and the beatings and the blood that should be yours. And all of that, he took it all. Even though now for a little while, if necessary, you’ve been distressed by various trials. This is 1 Peter 1, 6, and going into the 7th verse. So that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in your praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now, if Peter can change from that overestimated ego that he had… Right. To the humble servant that he was. Right. Oh, I’ve got so much hope for myself. Yes. I’ve got so much hope for our brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Because that is an example of a man who has matured through loss, through shame.
SPEAKER 01 :
Through his own failing. Yes. His own betraying. That’s right. Yes. That’s right. We’ve all made mistakes. Yes. Those are the various trials that he’s talking about to rejoice because there is a perfecting and a completing an accomplishing of God’s dream in you as you’re listening today. So when your health is challenged, believe that’s right. When a relationship goes sour, believe when your financial state is threatened.
SPEAKER 02 :
Believe. And here he’s kind of saying in 1 Peter 1, though you have not seen him, he’s prophesying over you. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not even see him now, you believe and trust in him. And you greatly rejoice and delight with inexpressible and glorious joy, receiving as the result the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. This is so important, folks. He’s not judging you. God is not judging you. He will never put you down. He will come alongside and love you with all the failings that we have, Kimberly. He will come alongside. And you remember whose you are. You remember that God promised you joy to take the place of sorrow and peace in the middle of the storm. He will see you through to your final destination. God wants to see the genuineness of your faith. so that your life will result in praise and glory when our Lord Jesus returns, just like you were reading in Revelation, Kimberly. That’s a book we can really look forward to.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, and so we might be experiencing some bitter things. It might be bitter to us in the moment, but we can overcome that state of bitterness by believing, not loving our lives in a way where we take the reins, where we take control and we’re trying to control the writing of the story because we’re not the author. He is the author and the finisher of our faith, the author and the finisher of every story, entrusting him to write our story with higher ways and higher thoughts than we could ever even imagine. Proverbs 19, verse 20 says, many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose. It’s his story that prevails. It’s his design that succeeds, not ours. So many are the plans. We make plans based on thoughts that are too small. His thoughts are so much higher than ours and what he has planned for us is much greater than our plans.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right, or our plans could be full of fear, doubt, and unbelief. And, you know, like the fearful one in Heinz Feet and High Places, she just didn’t want to do a whole lot. She was so fearful. And we could spend time, we could ask God, oh, I want to be on that mountaintop experience all the time, Lord. Mm-hmm. We can’t be there all the time. It’s in the in the valleys where we really learn the bottom of the mountain. It’s cold and sometimes reality is hard. But Kimberly, those valley valleys are where we find ourselves. We really discover who we are in Christ Jesus and who he is, who he is.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s right. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we do not fear.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s where we learn not to fear. Yes. Your fruit grows best in the valleys. I know in the valleys near Grand Junction, that’s where the peach trees grow the best. It’s wonderful. And it’s not on the mountaintops when everything seems to be going well. No. Our greatest character development takes place when we take what we have learned on the mountaintop and put it into practice on the valley. That’s right. Much afraid got to be. What was her name in Heinz Fietenhain places? She became Grace and Glory. Grace and Glory. There it is. Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Grace and glory. Such a good story. It is. Yeah. The Lord’s story is the one that we want to look to. Not our story. It’s his purpose. He has a single, singular, really amazing purpose. Our plans are plural. We keep running from one plan to the next plan. But he has one singular purpose and his purpose is to make us his best friend. His purpose is to make us his bride, a bride for Jesus. We want to align ourselves with this. We want to be in tune with him and say, you know what? I like your plan. God, I like your plan. I want your purpose in my life. And he might not give us the details until we give him our obedience.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. And then, as Isaiah said in the 62nd chapter, you will be a crown of beauty. in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said of you, forsaken, not forsaken anymore, not to your land will it any longer be desolate, but you will be called, my delight is in her and your land will be married for the Lord delights in you and in him your land will be married.
SPEAKER 01 :
We are the bride of Christ, Kimberly, and we need to start acting like it by believing that he has got this, you know, and we are making some changes on call to freedom. If you’re listening here at one o’clock, we just want you to know that you might not be hearing us next week at one o’clock, but we are still on KLTT. Look for us at nine o’clock at night. 2.30 in the morning, 5.30 in the morning, and also on the sister station, 1220 KLDC at 11 in the morning. That’s right. You can also find us on freedomstreet.org. The radio shows are always posted up there. And we hope that you will join us for our meeting this coming Saturday, May 9th. Give us a call and let us know you’re coming. 877-917-7256. Take joy.
SPEAKER 1 :
877-917-7256
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
