This is How You Live - Pour

Transcript

This is How You Live

The Widows Walk - Division II – Part 3

[00:00:00] Rev. Michele Owes: All right. We are back with the Teachable Woman Podcast. We are Teachers of Good Things. This is Reverend Michele Owes. I am with Reverend Dr. Willette Wright of the From the Heart Church Ministries. She is setting us straight as it relates to our current state. When I say setting us straight, I mean she has let us know that our loss, if you will, was not about us.

Rev. Michele Owes: It involved us. She informed us that God has tremendous feelings of love, and care for the widow. His Word left a message that He wants to relieve us of difficult things. He also wants to surround us and set boundaries for us. She gave us Psalm 146:9 and Proverbs 15:25.

[00:01:00] Rev. Michele Owes: She asked us to memorize those or just to hold on to the two words, relieve and surround or establish. That is to relieve and establish. We had a heartwarming conversation in the middle of our break. She is going to take us to the part about pouring.

Rev. Michele Owes: Though the loss of our husbands does not define us, it does involve us. It is not about us, but it is to a perfect end, which is to the glory of God. And that puts us in a position to give. The giving that we're going to be talking about does not involve money.

Rev. Willette Wright: Yeah.

Rev. Michele Owes: Not necessarily.

[00:02:00] Rev. Michele Owes: But it is the giving of ourselves. And so, I'm going to say please take it away. It's in you. I've already heard it. Just pour.

Rev. Willette Wright: We left off looking at the base teaching for the Widows and Widowers Classes. It is from the series Give. I struggled with how something or a message about Giving could be the basis for teaching Widows and Widowers. We lost the most precious, the most significant natural thing in our lives.

Rev. Willette Wright: And so again, through the class, one of the things that we are to do with each of the teachings is to clarify what that giving is. There are several aspects of giving that we talk about. Most importantly, we talk about [00:03:00] what we must do to allow the word of God to be real in us. What is our response to the word of God and what fuels that response? Is knowing the two scriptures from the previous podcast what fuels us, knowing that God has a promise for widows? God’s Word is clear and complete from the Old Testament to the New Testament what the Lord desires for us. There's a responsibility in going through the class. We find that the church has a responsibility to the widow and our families have a responsibility toward us. I feel like God is saying, I’ve got you. Through every aspect He is saying, I’ve Got you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Willette Wright: The thing is, we must allow Him to do in us what He wants to do in us so that we become the witness the world so desperately needs from Christians. In this stage in life, the world needs the witness that is on the [00:04:00] inside of us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Willette Wright: The truth of God's word is in us. How we live the word, walk circumspectly, and walk worthy is what He wants us to demonstrate. To walk worthy in the scripture means to balance. It means having a balance in your life.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: What you say and what you do should match. There's a balance.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: It is for this stage of life that He pours into us. He's given us so much. He wants us to be a witness to how to deal with the most challenging adversity and continue to move forward glorifying God. Move [00:05:00] knowing that He's always working things together for good in our lives. It has a beneficial effect. It comes from going through this adversity and He's working things together for good, but it's for his glory.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: Whatever we are going through, He wants to get the glory out of it.

Rev. Willette Wright: That means there must be a witness showing forth. I teased Reverend Owes while we were in the conversation before this session. As widows, you walk around with the sign that says I'm a widow. I'm moving on as a witness that God has done some things. This is an idea of how we should navigate this state in life. It's not that we're trying to establish this club [00:06:00] of widows, but rather we're trying to demonstrate a witness within that impacts every woman.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right. Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: We want every woman to know this.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Willette Wright: And whether, if you have a spouse, this is how you live. If you're unmarried, this is how you live. If you experience this kind of loss, this is how you live. And that, that's really what that giving is about. It is about giving what the Lord places on the inside as he carries us through and helps us to navigate this state in life.

Rev. Willette Wright: There's so much that the Lord pours into us if we put ourselves in a position to receive it. As I shared earlier, I didn't want to teach a class on widows and widowers. I didn't necessarily see that I could do that and [00:07:00] still deal with those questions to God or those reasons why. How am I going to make it? What's going to happen beyond this point? The aspect of giving just exploded in me. Part of giving was that whatever God placed on the inside had to come out. Then it is necessary, not just for those who attend the class, but for those trying to move through a stage in life. Every person who comes into our sphere of influence, because of our being in this state, I believe the Lord trusts us to pour out of what He placed in us. I encourage those [00:08:00] listening in the widowed state. When this idea that I am to pour out of where I am, but you are hurting and it is difficult, remember God knows.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: Some women have shared that he wasn't a good man or it wasn't the greatest marriage.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Willette Wright: You do you do now?

Rev. Willette Wright: No matter what you are in this state.

Rev. Willette Wright: God desires that you bear witness to his goodness and what he has done in, with, and through your life, irrespective of what the marriage was or what the situation was. That will witness to the woman who still has a husband. And it's not a great marriage that witnesses. It is God’s [00:09:00] word.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Willette Wright: They can see God through his word. Because His love will equip us and give us everything we need. His words will relieve us and establish us. It puts us in a position whereby all that he imparts to us is necessary and beneficial for any situation.

Rev. Willette Wright: He does that for us so that we can be a blessing. We can share comfort. We can do what is necessary to let others know that our God is real and more than anything, He loves us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: God cares so much about us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: In a time where we are looking to so many different things to feel love, to deal with our situations, to move through life, and to [00:10:00] function in our marriages, we need God’s word to heal us.

Rev. Willette Wright: You hear these things like I’m trying to keep the marriage together. Again, God's word has everything that we need. I encourage those of us who are listening who are widows. There's an aspect of your life that may be difficult and you may be hurting. You may still have those moments of crying and challenge when you feel you can't move another step. I know those nights and the days when you feel like the phone has stopped ringing. Nobody is calling to check on you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Where are the people? Where's the body?

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes, and we seem to be stuck.

Rev. Willette Wright: God wants to encourage us. You cannot allow yourself to be stuck. Know that He desires to move in your heart. God desires to show [00:11:00] you His will in His word. He wants you to know His love and His comfort. He wants you to know His presence in a real way.

Rev. Willette Wright: That spot that feels like something is missing, you go to call your husband, to say something and it is empty there. I can't tangibly touch or feel it. God wants you to know that He is with you. He cares about you. He is for you.

Rev. Willette Wright: He wants to comfort and strengthen you through His word. He will encourage your heart so that the witness on the inside will have compassion and care for someone else. You can say, here's what God can do. Here is how we make it along. I'm still going through it but let me yoke up with you. Let us move this thing together.

Rev. Willette Wright: Be encouraged that there is a place beyond where you [00:12:00] are now. You may see a little light at the end of the tunnel but know that the light is real.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: Know that God is with us. He is for you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: He wants to help us keep it moving forward. That's the piece that is so important. We must keep moving forward in Him. Others along the way will need to see this. God will move in our hearts. He will relieve us. He will establish borders for us and protect us. Then we can demonstrate that love to others. They will see that our God is real no matter your situation.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Willette Wright: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: Something impressed upon me as you shared. It is that [00:13:00] we have not addressed the widower. Though this is the Teachable Woman Podcast, we understand the loss is the same for the widower. It is the same for humankind that has experienced a loss, and it may not even be the loss of a spouse.

Rev. Michele Owes: It could be the loss of a child, any loss. God wants us to still be a witness because of the loss and not receive the experience as though we are being punished.

Rev. Willette Wright: Mm-hmm.

Rev. Michele Owes: We should not receive the experience as though we did something terrible or wrong, or the other person did something terrible or wrong. This is not, “what we get.”

Rev. Michele Owes: Even if the marriage is not what one would have it to be, [00:14:00] every man or woman still has this same appointment. Every child has the same appointment. We serve the same God whose love for us has not diminished. Ultimately walking through this difficulty with Him, we can grow to a point that we can pour and share with others.

Rev. Willette Wright: Exactly.

Rev. Michele Owes: Women who are listening to this, if you know a man who is a widower, who has lost a loved one, please share this segment of our podcast so that there may be some light shed on their situation. We know that men may not openly discuss their feelings.

Rev. Michele Owes: But loss is still a loss. It does not matter which of us is gone, loss is still loss. We trust that the Word of God will be able to tap in [00:15:00] to how they're feeling and through His Word, to bring them to a place to find peace. Give them a door of escape, if you will, that we can pour into their lives.

Rev. Michele Owes: When we can pour, we grow.

Rev. Willette Wright: Yes.

Rev. Michele Owes: Now we find ourselves getting to where God wants us to be. The questions about what will happen next, because my spouse, child, mama, or daddy is gone, God is now able to get us to understand that regardless of the loss, He's our God and He loves us.

Rev. Michele Owes: God has made provisions for every eventuality in life.

Rev. Willette Wright: Every single one.

Rev. Michele Owes: He's never left us or forsaken us. There's no new [00:16:00] circumstance that he cannot address.

Rev. Willette Wright: Exactly.

Rev. Willette Wright: I was sharing in the first podcast that the night the Lord spoke to my heart, He said it happened then to Ruth, it is happening to you now, and it will happen again. That is when that scripture, there's no temptation taken, you know, test, trial, difficulty, challenge but such is as common to man.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. That's right.

Rev. Willette Wright: There's no temptation, no test trial, or anything that you will come across that is not common to living, to being alive in this world.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right?

Rev. Willette Wright: From that night was born something that I say all the time, but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you ought.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes. Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: But He has made the way of escape that you're able to bear it. That's what we try to do in the class. That is the whole idea. He has [00:17:00] made the way to escape. It is through His word. If we take it, we know He is faithful because He has been faithful.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: Over the years, I found myself saying, that God is faithful. God is faithful. Now it is my response to everything. We made a T-shirt that says, God is faithful. I am grateful. Jesus is Lord, but God.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen. Amen.

Rev. Willette Wright: As we're moving through, or navigating through, that is when we see the faithfulness of God in every aspect of our lives, especially navigating the widowed state. It is faithfulness on top of faithfulness so when something comes up or when devastation happens, even while in this state, the thing that we can know is God is faithful.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

[00:18:00] Rev. Willette Wright: He was faithful enough to get me from that little chair that night to where I am now. It's been faithfulness.

Rev. Michele Owes: Right.

Rev. Willette Wright: Faithfulness on top of faithfulness. It has not been anything that I have done. What I have tried to do is to hear Him.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yeah.

Rev. Willette Wright: And to respond to His word, to dig deeper into His word, to do more, to pour out of His word, to do more, and to come alongside others. I share the witness of what the Lord has done because it's His faithfulness on top of His faithfulness. We can trust and hold on because if he has been faithful before he will be faithful again.

Rev. Willette Wright: And so now years of being a widow when I look back at how God has been faithful, I want to cry.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: He propelled me so that I could look and see that God has been faithful. Each challenge may seem to be more difficult, or it may be [00:19:00] harder. My first few challenges were putting the five-gallon water jug atop the water cooler. I spilled water all over.

Rev. Willette Wright: I'm sitting in the middle of the floor crying saying, if my husband were here, I wouldn't have to do this. God is faithful. Now I can put that jug of water on there in a flip.

Rev. Michele Owes: I know that.

Rev. Willette Wright: That is seemingly a little thing, but the witness I have now, the Lord has brought me thus far. The Lord has brought me. God is faithful.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: All we must do is to take the way of the way of escape, His word. God will not allow you to be tempted above what you're able, but will with that temptation, provide the way of escape.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: That night, He told me you have to take the escape, it's my word. Nothing else.

[

00:20:00] Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: When that happens, the witness on the inside begins to grow. The Lord wants us to grow, and to be strengthened so that we can come alongside someone else and say, God is faithful.

Rev. Michele Owes: Yes.

Rev. Willette Wright: What he's done in me, He will do in you. He did it for

Ruth. He did it for Naomi.

Rev. Michele Owes: Amen.

Rev. Willette Wright: He will do it for us.

Rev. Michele Owes: Thank you so much. We are at the time again. This has been such a blessing. Dr. Wright will be back with us one more time. We will dive into that story about Ruth in just a little bit. We want to share some things not to do in this state. Ruth’s story has some great examples in it.

Rev. Michele Owes: Stay tuned. Remember, if there is a widower that you [00:21:00] know that could use a boost or some insight into this state in which they found themselves, please share the podcast. We are not excluding men. We are not prejudiced toward them. We were just sharing for Teachable Women.

Rev. Michele Owes: But the word of God is good for all situations and all people. If you know men who need it, please don't hesitate to share it. Dr. Wright, thank you so much for being with us. We're going to be back. Thank you for your patience. Those of you who tuned in, we love you. We love you. We would not be a podcast without you.

Rev. Michele Owes: Thank you for sharing your time with us. And we pray that there was a takeaway that will make your life better. I know my heart's been warmed multiple times by what I've learned and heard. We trust that yours was too. Dr. Wright, thank you so very much for being with us. We love you.

Rev. Willette Wright: Thank you so much for having me.

Rev. Michele Owes: Bye.