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Hey everyone

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and welcome to Get Your Hopes Up. I'm Chrissy Wright and

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I'm so glad you're here. Romans 15, 13 says, May

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the God of hope fill you with all joy

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and peace as you trust in Him, so that

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you may overflow with hope by power of the

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Holy Spirit. Our God is the God

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of hope, and He wants you to overflow with

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hope. So let's start our week by getting our hopes

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up again. Now

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today we're talking about how to see and

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hear God more. This is a common question I'm

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asked from you all. How to hear

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from God? How to find God?

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How to discern God's voice? How to

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know if something is from the Lord

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or not? This is a top question

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I'm asked and I love talking about

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it. I'll tell you, this is something I

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have grown in tremendously over the last couple

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years. But before we get into the tactical,

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let me start with an example because you

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all know I love to do this. Now,

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I know that many of you listen with kids in

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the car, so they will actually appreciate this example. Every

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single Christmas, the coolest thing happens. Okay, so

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we will unpack our Christmas decorations. We get

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them down from the attic. We start unpacking

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everything and we start to put things away.

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We don't even have to have the

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house completely decorated, but every single year

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since we've had kids for 10 years

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now, on that night, an

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elf comes to our house. And

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y'all, we wake up the next

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day, even with partial decorations, and

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there is a tiny elf hiding

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in our house. Now, our

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kids have named our elf Chippy, and

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Chippy will be hiding in some spot somewhere

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in our house and our kids run around

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the house to try to find him. Well,

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this is the beginning of the Christmas season

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with Chippy because Chippy is going to be

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in a new spot every single morning when

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my kids wake up, run downstairs, and they go to

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find him. Now, here is what is

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crazy, y'all. No matter

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where Chippy hides, they find him. it

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doesn't matter if Chippy is hiding

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in a window or hanging from

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the curtain or hiding in a cereal

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box or getting into some kind of

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mischief and making a mess. It doesn't

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matter what room he's in or how

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high or how low or how hidden.

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It doesn't matter. Every single morning my

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kids find him. They find him every

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single time. Some of the times I can't

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even find him and they find him. Here's

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why. They're looking for

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him. They're looking for him.

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During the Christmas season when Chippy

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is at our house every single

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night, they know that he's here

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and they look for him. They

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look for him relentlessly, persistently, passionately.

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They run down the stairs and

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they start tearing the house apart

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to try to find Chippy.

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It's not just a game. It is

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their number one priority every single morning.

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They find him every single time. Why?

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Because they're looking for him. They're

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looking for him. And the same

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is true for you y'all. You will

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always find what

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you're looking for. You

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will always find what

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you're looking for. So

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if you're looking for God and his

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activity in your life, you

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will find him. But if

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you're looking for ways to be discouraged, down,

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you'll find that too. Either way,

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you will always find what you're looking

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for. 1 Peter

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5.8 says this, Be alert

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and of sober mind. Your enemy

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the devil prowls around like a

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roaring lion looking for someone to

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devour. Think about these

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words right now. Doubt,

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discouragement, death, hopelessness,

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hurt, hate. These

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are tools of Satan himself

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and he will use them.

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They are here, they are available for the

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taking if you're looking for them. If you're

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looking for ways to be discouraged, if you're looking

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for ways to take the bait of the enemy,

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which is doubt, disbelief, discouragement, the tools

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in his tool belt that he uses

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to put a wedge between you and

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God and tear down your faith. If

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you are looking for those things, friend,

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you will find them. You will

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find them. But

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if you're looking for God and for hope

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and love and joy and

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faith and encouragement and happiness,

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you'll find that too, because

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you will always find what

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you're looking for. So here's the great news.

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You want to see God more? Look

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for more. The more you look

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for God, the more you will find him, literally.

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Jeremiah 29.13 says, you will seek me and

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find me when you seek me with all

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your heart, half

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heartedly, with all your heart. Deuteronomy

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429 says, but from there you will seek

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the Lord your God and you will find

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him if you search after him with all

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your heart and with all your soul. 1

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Chronicles 16.11 says, look to the

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Lord and his strength, seek his

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face always. Mark 12.30

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and 31 says, you shall love the Lord

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your God with all your heart and all your soul

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and all your mind and with all your strength. The

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second is this, you shall love your neighbor

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as yourself. There is no other commandment greater

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than these. So if you

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want to find God, you need to look for him.

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But here's the catch. You

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have to recognize it's him. You

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have to recognize that it's him. You have

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to give credit that it's him. How

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many times in the Bible did people stand

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face to face with Jesus and not even

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realize it? The disciples in the

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boat, when Jesus came walking to them on the

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water, they thought it was a ghost. Y'all. What

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about Mary after the tomb when she was heartbroken

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and she was talking to Jesus and asked him

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where her Lord was or

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the men on the road to Emmaus? in Luke 24

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32 they asked each other were not our

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hearts burning within us while he talked with

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us on the road and opened the scriptures

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to us? Y'all you can

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be face to face with God and

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not even realize it. You

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know what's interesting about all of those examples? None

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of them were looking for Jesus. None

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of them. And if you're not looking

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for him you not only might

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not find him you may totally miss him

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when he's right in front of you. You

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know in episode 211 of Get

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Your Hopes Up I share several

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crazy stories of signs and God

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moments that I have experienced and they're

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wild. Y'all they're crazy, they're weird, maybe

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they made some of you uncomfortable. I'll tell

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you those stories were actually edited out when

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I first shared them last year and then

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when I took my podcast back I re-recorded

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them and put them back in because

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I'm hard-headed yes but also because

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I really believe they're powerful. They

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tell a testimony of not only what God can

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do but even who God is, his heart, his

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character, the way that he moves, the way that

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he acts, the way that he speaks, the way

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that he leads and I think that's really important

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to share because it might open your mind

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to how he's moving and leading and

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speaking and guiding in your life.

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If we don't know what to look for then we can't find

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him and the reality is God

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will do some things that make people

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uncomfortable, even good Christians

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uncomfortable, even you

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uncomfortable. He will do things

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that you don't expect and he will work in ways

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that you do not understand. You know

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for example one of the ways that God has

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shown himself to me really powerfully over the

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last two years is through signs. So

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a lot of different things to me

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have become signs because of how God has

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used them in my life in powerful ways.

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So here are just a few examples okay.

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Cardinals, hawks,

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deer, the number 15, the

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number 25, A house.

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And not just a literal house, but even. Imagery of

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a house and the analogy of building

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a house. And. Even

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Fedex. I. Have multiple stories

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about each of these signs and how got has

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spoken to me through them, but I would usher

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one of them hence. The. Last year when

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God was telling me. We were going to move. I

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felt him also tell me at that time to

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start packing. And as crazy as it

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sounded, I know what I heard him say.

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and I wanted to obey. Or. That

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very day I was driving to my son

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school to pick him up and just before

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that to school on the right side of

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the road at the end of a driveway

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with this giant pile of box is less.

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Third, go to the tracks. And

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your as I'm driving by I felt my

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heart jumped and I felt the Lord say.

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Go. Back and load of the boxes. You

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know what? I did. I

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turned around. I pulled in the driveway

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with two of my three kids and

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my dog. And I loaded up. All.

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Of those boxes, They. Were

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all Fedex boxes? So.

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I took those that x boxes Hum! I

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had my house assistant help me begin plucking.

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Those Fedex nexus. Now. I

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know what you're thinking you're thinking. But

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Christie, you never moved. Okay right sir.

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Yes, I do know that. No

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one is more aware of that that than me. Trust me.

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I don't know what that was all. I don't know if

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that was a test or training or what. I don't know.

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I don't hear. All. That I know.

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Is that God said to pack and

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I obeyed. That's. My job. Understanding

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why he asked me to do something or

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why something doesn't play out. the way that

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I exist is not my job. This is

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a sidewalk, not a logic walk. Keep.

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In mind that Jesus was going to save the world

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and everyone at that time thought he was going to

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be a military leader. And they were devastated

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when he died and so we have a rule

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track record of you know, not understanding the why.

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of what got sick. So anyway

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fed ex has become this thing

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between me and. Because. Of

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the said X boxes. Because. God told

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me to pack. And then provided the

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very thing I needed to do the thing he

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was asking me to do. So.

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New. Every time I see

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a FedEx truck go by, I smile.

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I remember that moment between God and

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me when he gave me boxes, when

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he provided for the thing he was asking

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me to do. By the way,

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do you know how many FedEx trucks are on the

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road on any given day? A

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lot, y'all. A lot. So

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here's the pushbacks. Here's the devil's advocate.

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Here's the criticism of this story. Every

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FedEx truck isn't a sign, Christy. Every

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cardinal is not a sign. Every number

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isn't a sign. It's just a bunch

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of trucks on the road. You over-spiritualize

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everything. Mmm, careful. Let's

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just sit here for a moment, shall we? I

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have one question for you. I have one

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question for anyone that is thinking those very

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thoughts that every FedEx truck

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is not a sign. Every cardinal is

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not a sign. Every hawk is not

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God leading, speaking, meeting me

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where I am. Here's my one

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question. Is

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there anything that God is not

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in? Is

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there anything that God

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is not in? Is there?

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Is there anything he's not in? Is

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there a place he doesn't go? Is

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there a single thing that he doesn't have complete

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authority and dominion over? Is there any

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good thing that did not already come from him? Is

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there a world and things and numbers and

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animals and trucks that have their existence apart

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from him? Do we take a

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single breath on our own? Psalm 24, 1 and 2

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says, The earth is

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the Lord and everything in it, the

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world and all who live in it,

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for he founded it on the seas

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and established it on the waters. The

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earth is the Lord and

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everything in it. I

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believe it is absolutely

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impossible to over-spiritualize anything.

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The spiritual world is bigger and more dominant

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and more powerful than anything we can see

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or touch or feel or experience here on

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this earth. My God is

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big and I am small. Heaven is big

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and earth is small. How arrogant of

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us to ever think that we have

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or do or see or create anything

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apart from God that spoke the universe

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into existence. How

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ridiculous. So I

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see God in FedEx trucks. All

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of them. Every single one. And

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the more that I look for my God,

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guess what? The more that

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I find Him. You will

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always find what you're looking for. So

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if you're looking for only what you

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can see and only what you can

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understand and logic and comprehend and prove

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scientifically or only what you can understand

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the why of or only what makes

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sense to you, your

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world will be very small. Your

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understanding of God will be

12:48

very small. He exists

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outside of time and space

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and way outside of our

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understanding of Him. As

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we have seen from the beginning of time,

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if you want to see God more, guess what?

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All you have to do is start looking for Him

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more because you always

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find what you're looking for. All

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right, y'all. Thank you so much for joining me for

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Get Your Hope Stuck. I love hanging out with you

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every Monday to help you get to know God, get

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closer to Him and get your hopes up again. Be

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sure to share this episode on social media and tag

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me after to be right on Instagram

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so other people can get their hopes up

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as well and then follow the Chrissy Wright podcast channel

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so you never miss a new show. And I'll see

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you next Monday for another new episode of Get Your

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Hope Stuck.