0:01

Welcome back to the On Purpose Christian

0:04

Dating Podcast . We are so excited

0:06

that you're here . We're really glad to have

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you here today as a listener . So

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today in the studio quote

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unquote studio we have me

0:15

, maya Sanchez , and my husband

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.

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Michael Sanchez .

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And we also have Lydia Marie here with us

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. She's sitting here just kind of staring

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at Mommy and daddy . She's just glad to be in the room

0:28

. And I'd love to open

0:30

up this podcast with a word of prayer for you

0:32

, the listener . So if you'll join

0:34

me , you don't have to close your eyes , especially if you're driving

0:37

. But I would love to just start off with a

0:39

word of prayer for you . Start off with a word of prayer

0:41

for you . Heavenly

0:43

Father , thank you so much for the listener . Pray

0:53

that whoever is listening has eyes to see what you are showing them and

0:55

ears to hear what you're saying . I pray the same thing for Michael , myself

0:58

and Lydia , and I'm asking that you'll

1:00

just be able to move and have

1:02

your way with us , us praying

1:04

that the words that come out

1:06

will be your words , not just our own

1:08

. And I pray also , lord , that we're able

1:10

to have some fun with whoever's listening . Father

1:13

, we pray that we're able

1:15

to live on purpose and that we're able

1:17

to inspire other people to also

1:20

live on purpose . Live

1:28

on purpose , and we just thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to have a moment

1:30

with the person on the other side of the podcast right now , and so we

1:32

thank you so much and we praise you . It's in

1:34

Jesus name that I pray . Amen , all

1:36

right , baby . So what are we going to talk about on today's

1:38

podcast ?

1:40

All right . So we have a list of talking

1:43

points and we actually , mai and I , spoke right before

1:45

this and we were like , well , how cool

1:47

would it be if we just like ask each other questions . You

1:49

know , we felt like just to mix it up

1:51

and just have , you know , a really good dialogue , a conversation

1:54

. So , yeah , our first

1:56

point that I'd like to ask you , maya

1:58

, is what did

2:00

Purpose Driven mean to you at

2:02

the moment we were on those dating apps

2:05

?

2:06

So the title of today's podcast is

2:08

why On Purpose , and

2:11

we basically just wanted to have an opportunity

2:13

to tell you

2:15

why we decided to name the

2:17

podcast On Purpose . Christian

2:20

Dating Purpose

2:22

Driven is just such a huge part of our story . That

2:25

was something that we shared in the last

2:27

episode and we were able to

2:29

just basically

2:31

I don't know , it was kind of like the launch

2:34

pad or the diving board of our relationship

2:36

. So , for those of

2:38

you who don't know , we may have said

2:40

it in the last few podcasts , but Michael and I met online

2:44

. We , you know , when you're dating online

2:46

some of you have experience with that , some of you probably don't

2:48

, but when you're dating online , you have a little profile

2:51

and on your profile

2:53

you can have prompts , you can have all different

2:56

kinds of things . We we met

2:58

each other on hinge and my

3:01

profile essentially said

3:03

um , the green

3:05

flags that I look for are . So

3:07

that was the prompt that I , that was one of the six prompts

3:10

that I chose to respond to , and

3:12

I'm trying to remember everything in vivid

3:14

detail .

3:16

All I know is I remember saying amen . Exclamation

3:18

mark .

3:19

Yeah , so I noticed that I received

3:22

a like from Michael , and the

3:24

way that Hinge works is you

3:26

have six pictures and then you have six prompts

3:28

and a person can respond

3:31

or react to any of those things . A

3:33

lot of the times on the app like somebody

3:35

is usually just making a comment about your pictures , so

3:38

it kind of goes based off of appearance

3:40

. But in the case of

3:42

Michael , he actually reacted

3:44

to one of my prompts , and

3:46

one of my six prompts was what

3:49

are the five green flags that I'm looking for are

3:51

? So my response to

3:53

that prompt was faith

3:56

, purpose-driven

3:59

, family-oriented

4:01

, good sense of humor

4:04

and cares

4:07

about community . I think that's what it was .

4:14

I have a picture of it . I took screenshots of my profile , so I'll share that at some point . This

4:16

is an example how women remember way more than men do . I cannot even

4:18

believe that she remembers all that .

4:19

Yeah , yeah , I remember that Well . The reason why

4:21

I remember it so much is because , I mean

4:23

, we we talked about this babe , but

4:26

I was listening to a bunch

4:28

of dating coaches . You were listening to a bunch

4:30

of dating coaches . I was reading books about dating

4:32

. I had a lot of anxiety about dating . That's

4:34

another reason why we really wanted to start this

4:36

podcast is because I

4:38

remember how it felt trying

4:41

to date and it was not a good feeling , even

4:44

though I felt like I had , you know , worked on myself

4:47

and everything . The actual logistics

4:49

of it all was nerve wracking for me . So

4:51

one of the tips that the dating coach had

4:53

said was you

4:56

have to have like five

4:58

things not 20 things , not 30

5:00

things , but like five non-negotiables

5:03

, and you kind of have to spend some time

5:06

figuring out what those non-negotiables are . And

5:08

so I knew that faith was a huge deal breaker

5:10

for me . But purpose-driven

5:13

was just like equally

5:15

as important to me . It's

5:19

just one of those things where it's like you're

5:21

at an impasse if you don't have those . Lydia

5:24

just punched the mic , so she feels

5:27

exactly the same way as I do about

5:29

this . She wants to emphasize how

5:31

important it is . So faith was a

5:33

. You know it's a non-starter for me . Purpose-driven

5:35

is a non-starter for me . That's essentially what

5:37

I was saying . So my

5:40

green flags were , you know , if you are a

5:42

person of faith and you're purpose-driven , those

5:44

were basically , you know , like the top , top , top

5:46

, my top things . So

5:48

, but the interesting thing is that purpose-driven

5:50

for me meant something . Now I'm finally getting around

5:52

to answering your question . Sorry

5:55

, babe , but the purpose-driven

5:58

for me meant something totally different . For you it

6:00

was like different but the same . So

6:07

I grew up , my mom has always been a huge fan of the book written by Rick Warren

6:09

, the Purpose Driven Life , and so much

6:11

so that this was a book that was always

6:14

inside . You know , there's different

6:16

kinds of books . There's books you leave at your bedside

6:18

, there's books that you leave on the coffee table , and there's

6:20

books that you leave in your bathroom . The books that

6:22

get read are the books that are in the bathroom

6:24

. I'm just going to say that it's the truth

6:27

. It's the truth , I don't care what anyone says . So

6:29

my mom always had the purpose-driven

6:32

life in her bathroom , always because

6:34

this was a book she liked to read and reread

6:36

and just so you guys know , I've never heard this before

6:38

.

6:38

This is the first time I've heard any of this . It's

6:40

amazing how you learn things later on in marriage

6:43

. Okay , go ahead Continue .

6:44

By the way , yeah , so we're kind of all

6:46

over the place right now , but Michael and

6:48

I are celebrating a year of marriage . I forgot

6:51

to open up with that . We're celebrating

6:53

a year of marriage on Monday , april

6:55

8th , so we're really excited about that . So

6:58

if you can't tell , yeah , we're still newlyweds , we're

7:00

still learning things about one another . Anyway

7:03

, squirrel back to the topic . So

7:06

my mom always had the book Purpose Driven

7:08

Life and when she read it it had impacted

7:10

her so profoundly that she would

7:12

tell anybody who would listen about that book . She'd

7:28

be like she would buy that person a book , you know , because that's how powerful

7:30

she just felt like that book was . So I remember being a kid

7:32

when all this went down . So I was not reading Purpose

7:35

Driven Life , but I remember seeing it and I remember

7:37

it having this huge impact on her . Now

7:39

, for me , the way that God

7:42

had worked on me was he

7:44

gave me a calling . He gave

7:46

me a calling when I was 18 years old . It's

7:52

been such a huge part of my testimony

7:54

understanding how God

7:57

was going to instill a sense of

7:59

purpose into my life that

8:02

I just felt like man

8:04

. I want to be able to be with

8:06

someone whom I can run

8:08

in the same direction with and chase

8:10

after the same thing that I know that

8:12

God has called me to do and

8:14

I also need to be . I knew that for me

8:16

, purpose meant I need to be

8:18

with someone who isn't

8:21

going to try to deter

8:23

me from my purpose either . It kind of goes

8:25

. It's both of those things . It's

8:27

someone who is going to encourage

8:30

you and inspire you and

8:32

run alongside you as you chase after

8:34

God and chase after the assignment

8:37

that God has instilled in you to

8:39

complete . And it's also

8:41

being with somebody who is not going

8:43

to try to suck up all

8:46

the energy in the room as you pursue

8:48

that specific task

8:51

that God has assigned you with

8:53

. So in my case , I

8:55

knew exactly what it was that God had called

8:58

me to do since I was 18

9:00

, because God spoke to me in

9:02

a very specific way and

9:04

I wanted to be with somebody who was

9:07

able to understand that . And

9:09

Michael , it was like as

9:11

soon as he saw the words purpose-driven

9:14

on my profile , it was like a lightning

9:16

bolt went through him . He was just kind of like wow

9:18

, like I've seen a lot of dating profiles

9:20

but I've never seen one where

9:22

somebody would have the words

9:25

. It was one thing to have purpose , but it's

9:27

another thing to have purpose driven , because

9:29

purpose driven like my purpose

9:31

isn't just something that I put on the shelf and

9:33

I don't really . It's like I know my calling but

9:36

I'm not really going after it every day . It's

9:38

I know my calling and I'm pursuing

9:40

it with the full strength

9:43

that I have , knowing that I have this one life and

9:45

so I think that that's what it was for

9:47

Michael was . To be able to see those words

9:50

side by side was just

9:52

a huge motivator for him to pursue

9:54

me . So I'll

9:56

talk a little bit more about my purpose in a minute

9:59

. But now , babe , I want to pose that question

10:01

to you what

10:03

did purpose driven mean

10:05

to you at the time ? When I

10:08

saw your profile and you saw

10:10

my profile , this was what ? November of 22?

10:12

. So , yeah , what did purpose driven

10:14

mean to you then ?

10:17

Thank you , thank you , yeah

10:22

, so yeah , that was excellent . Yeah

10:24

, as you're talking , honey , I was thinking just about

10:27

you know , my journey , you know

10:29

, and right after I got divorced and you

10:31

know , you guys have heard some of my story probably

10:33

, if you've , you know , heard any of the previous podcasts

10:35

, um , or checked out our website but

10:38

basically I went

10:40

through a really bad divorce and I

10:42

was really at a point where I was trying to find like , okay

10:45

, what happened , like what happened to

10:47

make that happen

10:49

to me ? And you know , what can I do better to

10:52

have , you know , success potentially

10:54

in the next marriage or the next relationship ? So I started

10:56

, really I followed a lot of dating coaches I

10:59

won't mention names , but they were very , you

11:02

know , stuck on the concept of masculinity

11:05

versus femininity , right , so that

11:07

was like a main focus and that's like a lot

11:09

of coaches , like all of them , like

11:11

really emphasize , like you got

11:14

to be the strong man , you got a divorce . Well

11:16

, it's because the woman thought you were this

11:18

, you know this kind of

11:20

feminine personality and all this stuff

11:22

. And so I really started to think , like

11:24

I wasn't listening at that time , like right after the divorce

11:26

, I wasn't listening to Rick Warren at all . Like I was just

11:28

kind of like in that mode of , okay , I'm going

11:31

to follow some dating coaches , I'm going to learn some stuff , I'm

11:33

going to try to like get as much information as I

11:35

can , and it kind of led

11:37

me in the wrong direction . It really did

11:39

, because it kind of wanted

11:42

me to change my personality and

11:44

had nothing to do with faith , right

11:46

. So it was just like become this strong

11:48

man and lead everything

11:50

and like some of it has

11:53

some good knowledge and good tips

11:55

, but a lot of it just isn't strong , faithful

11:57

.

11:58

It's toxic .

11:58

It's toxic , yeah , I mean

12:01

it's toxic . So

12:03

my journey was okay . I started

12:05

like applying some of that knowledge and starting to

12:07

, like you know , the way I was setting

12:10

up my profile , the way I was talking to women

12:12

, like I was kind of like this different guy

12:14

that wasn't really me , you know , like I was , I

12:16

was lost , I was confused and I think , like women really

12:18

saw through that they saw that this isn't

12:20

the real Michael , like Michael's

12:22

, this different guy . Like you

12:25

know , and to the core , like you know , we're at our

12:27

most natural selves and we're following Christ

12:29

, like when we have God in our hearts , like

12:31

we are the way we are supposed to be

12:33

if we truly follow the Bible . And

12:36

I at the time I wasn't doing that

12:38

. So I was just kind of this , this weird guy

12:40

, you know , like I'm sorry , babe , I

12:42

sorry to cut you off .

12:44

Do you have an example of ?

12:46

do you have an example of like yeah

12:49

, so I mean , it starts like with how you set up your

12:52

profile , like what you're saying like nothing's

12:54

about faith , Right , and it was like . It was like just

12:56

the strong masculine guy

12:58

, you know , and it's funny to you because

13:00

you know me now , so I know that's why you're laughing

13:03

.

13:04

It's funny . It's not funny because you're it's

13:06

like you're

13:12

a masculine man , you're you're manly . But it's funny to me because I remember it's just so fresh

13:14

. I remember being there and everything you're talking about masculinity and feminine energy

13:17

. I remember that so vividly

13:19

, like that is something that I feel

13:21

like people guys would always bring up and

13:23

it would be such a turnoff , like , as

13:25

a woman of God , it was just such

13:27

a turnoff for somebody to be like I'm the

13:29

guy and you're the girl .

13:32

Yeah , and that's everywhere . I mean for the guys

13:34

watching right now , like I'm sure you've heard of coaches

13:36

that are like emphasizing that and pushing

13:38

that and it's all manipulation . It's

13:41

all manipulation . So you have to really understand

13:43

that . You know a lot of people can lead you

13:45

astray . You know they

13:53

can try to give you advice . That just is . It's more about like manipulation than it is

13:55

about true core values in finding who you are as a man in Christ Right

13:57

. So so at that time I was kind

13:59

of like doing things the wrong way

14:01

. Like right after divorce I mean really after

14:03

any divorce you're , you're going through shambles Like you're

14:05

you're mentally , not , you know , technically

14:08

you didn't go through divorce . I personally

14:10

like I don't believe anybody

14:12

can go through that pain and like be just normal

14:14

and ready to date . Like I highly

14:16

recommend anybody out there that's gone

14:19

through a divorce . Take some time to work on

14:21

yourself . Go ahead , ani .

14:22

Yeah , yeah , I

14:26

think it's so spot on that you're saying that . The only thing I wanted to say

14:28

not to cut you off , just to interject a little

14:30

bit is that also

14:33

, you don't have to go

14:35

through a divorce or be going through a divorce

14:37

to be a hot mess , like I'm kind of

14:39

an example of someone who , like I , was

14:41

a hot mess and I have not experienced divorce

14:43

, but I was definitely a hot mess so

14:47

at one point in my dating journey .

14:49

So , yeah , yeah , there's definitely a lot of ways to be hot messes

14:51

. I mean , there's people that maybe have never

14:53

been married , that are older , that just haven't gone

14:55

through you know anything biblical

14:58

and you know you can be a child

15:00

mentally at you know age 60 . I

15:02

mean , really , I know people like that

15:05

just are , are , are still boys in

15:07

a sense , but um , but

15:09

yeah , you

15:14

know , bringing all that up , you know it's , it's all pointing towards the question which

15:16

is like , what do I see as sort of you know the vision and

15:18

the reason for on purpose dating and

15:23

okay . So I started doing some of these things and they weren't working

15:25

right , like seeing like bad

15:27

results , like women would kind of like you

15:29

know what's this guy like , what are you like ? Like

15:31

you know , like ghosting , you know I'd get ghosted

15:34

, you know . Like you know I was like what's

15:36

going on , you know . So , like I

15:38

got to a point where I was like , okay , I'm a

15:40

Christian , I need to just really

15:43

decide that , okay , I'm

15:45

going to allow myself to just start

15:47

listening to some sermons or do something like go

15:49

to church , start trying to connect

15:51

with God and trying to figure this out . So

15:53

I started traveling

15:55

and I started going across the country

15:58

doing Airbnbs , doing my

16:00

thing , and I would stay at different places

16:02

. And I was just , it was just like me and God

16:04

, like just me and God were just , you

16:06

know , in the room and

16:08

I stumbled upon Rick Warren and

16:13

I just started listening to his sermons and I was like , wow , like this guy is like really

16:15

practical and really easy to understand

16:17

, you know .

16:20

Do you remember how you stumbled across him ? Was it just like

16:22

a like a YouTube search

16:24

, or ?

16:25

how did that ? Yeah , I've done a lot of my training and sort

16:27

of knowledge base on YouTube , so , like a lot

16:29

of the dating coaches I found were on YouTube

16:32

, so , yeah , I stumbled upon Rick

16:34

Warren . I probably put a search in like you

16:36

know how to get healed spiritually or you

16:38

know something like that , and then he came up . So

16:41

. So then I started listening to him and I remember

16:43

the first sermon I listened to was Rick Warren's

16:46

self-destruction , and

16:48

I listened to that and I was like wow , like this totally

16:51

applies to me , like I have shame , I

16:53

have bitterness , I have all these things

16:55

probably because of the divorce , probably because of the divorce

16:57

, and I was like , okay , this makes total sense

16:59

, like I'm actually dealing with these things

17:02

. And I listened to that sermon over

17:04

and over again and I remember I didn't even listen to

17:06

another sermon until I watched that one like 10 times

17:08

. Like I was so like just engulfed

17:11

in that knowledge . But then I started going into

17:13

other things . Like you know , how

17:15

does God see the mind ? And one of the

17:17

big breakthroughs for me was that

17:19

I actually have the choice to decide

17:21

if I don't want to think a thought like actually decide

17:23

and act on a thought and that was huge for

17:25

me because there's all these things constantly

17:28

going through our minds . We have

17:30

the choice to say no , that

17:32

we're not going to act on that thought , had

17:40

all these thoughts of craziness , you know , because you know we still do

17:42

, we never , it never ends . But like we have a choice , so like I started to understand

17:44

that I can manage my mind . So

17:46

I highly recommend Rick Warren Mind and

17:49

that kind of goes into the concept of temptation

17:52

, and temptation is huge

17:54

. You know , if you struggle with sexual sin , you're

17:56

going to have a hard time connecting with God

17:58

unless you're managing that aspect of your life

18:00

. So for the guys out there , and even women struggle with pornography

18:03

. If you're constantly

18:05

looking at pornography you're

18:08

going to have a hard time connecting with God

18:10

. It's a block . So

18:12

to me , I had to manage that part of my life . I had to get

18:14

rid of that . I had to throw that garbage out

18:17

before I started being successful in the dating

18:19

scene . Because if you're not connecting

18:21

with your creator and you're looking

18:23

at pornography like you're , you're in a totally

18:25

different mindset where you're going to have a hard time

18:27

. So so to me , like managing

18:30

the garbage in my life and getting all of

18:32

rid of all of that junk was huge

18:34

. And then sort of , the

18:36

next step was Rick Warren

18:38

started talking to me about purpose and

18:41

that , okay , even though you've been through

18:43

a divorce , you can actually

18:45

use that pain and suffering to

18:47

help other people . I was like what ? Like

18:49

why would anybody want to know about my divorce

18:51

? Why would anybody want to know , like

18:54

, what I've been through or struggles I've been through ? But

18:56

then it started making sense . I was like , yeah

18:59

, it makes sense that you can relate

19:01

to other people that have gone through struggles

19:03

more than anybody else , somebody

19:06

that's been through a divorce . You're

19:08

going to be able to relate to them more than somebody that hasn't

19:10

been through a divorce , people that have been through

19:13

any sort of struggle . So I

19:15

was like this suffering

19:19

and pain differently to

19:21

where that really was , the core of

19:24

the purpose is okay

19:26

, if I'm going to start

19:28

going this direction of being a Christian

19:30

and really following God

19:32

and wanting to date

19:34

a Christian , what's more attractive

19:37

than having a core purpose

19:39

, having a reason why I'm here

19:41

and being able to communicate that ? So that was

19:43

like for me and Maya like I

19:45

I actually sent her a video like kind of explaining

19:47

like what I've really felt that was and

19:50

, and you , you , you tell the audience on you , like , how

19:52

did that make you feel ? Like that I was able to really

19:55

communicate and alliterate that , you know , in

19:57

a five minute video , like to where ? Yeah

19:59

, like , how did that make you feel ?

20:01

Yeah , at that point we were , we had

20:03

been talking , you know how , in

20:05

the apps . I love to say it goes

20:07

down in the DMS , but it , once

20:09

you're in the apps and you , you establish

20:11

that you like one another . And yeah , michael sent

20:14

me a message that said amen to

20:16

my , to my green flags

20:18

, um , prompt

20:20

. So we started talking

20:22

, we're , we're in the DMs with each other , and then

20:24

it was basically time

20:26

to get out of the DMs . But

20:29

we hadn't got to that point yet . We hadn't got to

20:31

the point where we exchanged phone numbers and

20:34

wanted to talk

20:37

, speak to one another on our own terms outside

20:39

of the app . Yet and

20:41

Michael created this video for me

20:43

and it made him stand out , so

20:46

he sent me a video

20:48

. You were sitting in your car , you were wearing your

20:50

this jacket , your black leather jacket .

20:52

You don't even remember what I was wearing . Are you serious , honey

20:54

?

20:54

Yeah , I have a vivid memory and

20:57

it was really cold . That's

20:59

why I remember that , because I'm a Florida girl

21:01

, michael's a Michigan man , and

21:03

you were wearing this jacket right here recording

21:06

this podcast .

21:08

And , and some of you guys might not know , but we

21:10

, we actually were doing all of this in Michigan and

21:13

we moved to Florida . We did kind of everything at one

21:15

. Tell them , honey , like everything we did in like a year . It's

21:17

kind of crazy .

21:18

Yeah , yeah , I'm going to tell you everything we did in a

21:20

year . I have to stay on . I have to stay on topic

21:22

. I'm all over the place . I'm all

21:24

over the place right now . Yeah , so we , we did

21:26

we . We got married , we got engaged

21:29

, married , bought an RV , moved

21:31

across the country pregnant and had

21:33

a baby all in one year . It's just a lot

21:35

, um so . So

21:38

, just , you know , rewind back to

21:40

being um , you

21:42

sending me the video . You

21:49

were sitting in the front of your car and it was my first time being able to really , like , see you in motion because

21:51

it was a video , not a picture and see

21:53

, you know , put a voice , put your voice with the

21:55

, with your face and everything . And

21:57

you were explaining to me where

22:00

, what you were about to do , and

22:02

it was such a simple like . It was like , hey

22:04

, it's just a saturday and this is what I'm

22:06

up to , but I

22:09

could purpose was dripping

22:11

off of every word that you were saying in

22:13

the . It was just so clear that

22:15

you were who you said . You were in

22:18

everything that you were saying that you were going to do , from

22:20

the family members you were spending time with

22:22

, from your explanation of like why

22:25

you were spending time with them , what

22:27

you were going to do . It was also , um , it was the

22:29

holidays . It was about to be Christmas time . That

22:32

was when we met and , um , when

22:34

we actually like met in person . So

22:36

we met on the app in November , um

22:38

, on Thanksgiving day , and then a few weeks later

22:40

we're putting up the tree

22:43

and it's Christmas time and we were

22:45

so excited about seeing your niece and just

22:48

so many different things that were just kind of

22:50

like , oh man , like this man

22:52

is really

22:54

living out his

22:57

purpose , he's living , he's living

22:59

on purpose and I'm doing the same thing

23:01

. So what your video did

23:03

for me was it inspired me to react

23:05

the same way I wanted to me

23:10

to react the same way I wanted to . I was like you know what Nobody else on this app has

23:12

taken the time and the intention to do this to share with me what's on their

23:14

heart , what's what they feel like God

23:17

has called them to do , and

23:19

how that applies to their day-to-day life . So

23:22

it inspired me to want to do the same thing . So I got

23:24

on YouTube and I sent you a private

23:26

link to a video and

23:28

, um , well , you had asked me that

23:31

, you had asked me a question of like this is my

23:33

purpose . What's yours , you know ? And

23:35

that was when I told you about my

23:38

calling to Haiti and

23:40

my the , the

23:42

journey that God has put me on to be able

23:45

to bless me with a job

23:47

that allows me to be able to serve

23:49

the people of Haiti every single

23:51

day , and so it was like

23:53

I was sharing my heart with you

23:55

. That's the other thing about purpose I

23:58

think I'm just realizing , as we're talking

24:00

about it , is that purpose is very intimate

24:02

. It's a very intimate thing for

24:04

me to say to you this is

24:06

the thing that matters most to me , because

24:08

it's what God has assigned

24:11

me to and to say to

24:13

you um , here

24:16

, yeah , here it is Um

24:19

. And for us to be able

24:21

to say to one another God bless you . For

24:24

us to be able to say to one another , like knowing

24:26

what God has entrusted me with

24:29

and knowing what God has entrusted

24:31

you with , would you like

24:33

to continue to move forward ? It's a very

24:35

vulnerable moment and it's definitely

24:37

a very intimate moment , but

24:40

it was just the launching pad

24:42

for everything that happened next

24:45

, because I feel like it was

24:47

just such a giveaway . It

24:49

was such a giveaway of our

24:52

character , our values

24:54

, our intentions . There

24:57

was just so much that we were able to

24:59

gather and know about

25:02

one another because we were sharing our

25:04

purposes with one another .

25:06

Yeah , one thing I want to share that was amazing

25:08

, honey . Just one

25:11

thing that Rick Warren said a lot that I I

25:14

didn't even consider until I heard him say

25:16

it . But I heard him say it over and over again and I

25:18

really believe it . And now I really believe it because

25:20

we're doing it . But it's basically

25:23

that there is nothing else in the world

25:25

that is more exciting

25:27

than doing purpose

25:29

with your husband or your wife . There's

25:33

nothing more impactful , because

25:35

that's what God wants us to do . He calls

25:38

us to help people

25:40

. To help people in whatever

25:42

state of life they're in , being

25:44

able to relate to them in whatever way

25:47

. So I really believe Rick Warren

25:49

when he says that there's no better

25:51

feeling than when

25:53

him and his wife are

25:55

doing purpose together and making a difference

25:58

. You know , in the state that we're in like we're

26:00

just starting this , so it hasn't grown

26:02

or we haven't even seen a lot of feedback yet but

26:05

I'm really feeling that presence of God , that

26:08

he's leading us towards

26:10

a goal which is it's

26:13

not doing something for our financial gain

26:15

, it's doing something that we

26:17

can put our hats down and say we've

26:20

helped other people , you know . And then when we

26:22

get to heaven someday , you know

26:24

we're going to have to answer that question , like

26:26

, what did we do with what we were given ? And

26:29

it's such an amazing feeling to know

26:31

that you're going to have a great answer to that , that

26:34

you're going to be able to say I know

26:36

that God , you

26:38

put me on earth to satisfy this

26:40

purpose and I accomplished

26:43

it with my wife . I feel that

26:45

I'm starting to feel that and I , you know , I I

26:47

really encourage you guys out there , you

26:49

know , if you haven't found that yet , you

26:52

know , just listening to this and thinking about

26:54

it , I think is a good first step . But

26:56

then seeing the vision that , okay

26:58

, if you find the right person and , by the

27:01

way , it's one of the most important decisions of your life

27:03

, finding the right person right but if

27:05

you find that right person , it's

27:08

an amazing thing to live

27:10

life on purpose .

27:13

Yeah , michael and I , you know we've gone on quite

27:15

a few tangents in this episode . It's just

27:17

, you know , it's our conversation with

27:19

one another and that's just kind of how we are

27:21

as people , as individuals , and

27:24

I hope that , I really hope that you

27:26

know , you , as the listener , are able to

27:28

to , you know , just stay with us

27:30

and track with us as we go on these different

27:32

tangents . But that's really just

27:34

the really the heart and soul of this podcast

27:37

, and the reason why we started it is

27:39

because , you know , before

27:41

getting , before attaching

27:44

yourself to another human being

27:46

, before attaching

27:49

yourself to another soul , it's

27:51

so important for you to really get clear

27:53

with God , with

27:56

being able to have a relationship

27:59

with him , being able to

28:01

put your trust and your faith

28:03

and to be able to rely on him

28:05

completely , and for

28:08

you to be able to be like okay , god , I'm

28:10

trusting you with my life . What

28:12

do you want me to do with

28:14

it ? What do you want me to do with my life

28:16

? What have you knit me

28:18

together for ? When you knit me

28:20

together , what did you have in mind for

28:23

me to achieve in this earth ? What do you

28:25

want me to accomplish for you ? Because

28:28

, because you again , you only get one life , you

28:30

, only you . You only get one shot , not to

28:32

not to go all Hamilton Hamilton on you guys , but

28:35

you , you only get one shot . That's

28:37

Eminem slash Hamilton . Actually

28:39

, eminem did it first , but but yeah , you

28:41

, you only get one shot , essentially . And it's not

28:44

. Life is not a dress rehearsal . And

28:46

you will , we will , we will be able to stand before

28:48

God and and he , you know he will

28:50

say , like , what did you do with those talents that

28:53

I gave you ? So being

28:55

able to get clear on

28:57

that first is going to be

28:59

a springboard for , uh

29:01

, the relationship that you're going to find yourself in

29:03

. And you know if , if

29:06

marriage is the desire of

29:08

your and let's

29:10

say you're already married and

29:12

you want your marriage to

29:14

really thrive purpose

29:16

is going to need to be one

29:19

of the centerpieces of your marriage . So

29:29

that's the whole reason why we chose On Purpose

29:31

as the name of the podcast , and

29:34

you know , if you have more questions about that , we would

29:36

love to just be in really engaged

29:38

with you . I know it's really it's kind of challenging

29:40

to engage in the podcast format

29:43

, because podcasts maybe Spotify

29:45

or Apple Music or wherever you're listening they don't necessarily

29:47

have a comment section , apple Music or wherever you're

29:49

listening . They don't necessarily have a comment section

29:52

, but

29:54

if you want to engage with us , if you want to be able to

29:56

write us a letter , feel free to send us an email . We would

29:58

love to be able to react to what you have to say . We have TikTok videos . We have

30:00

also an ebook

30:03

. We have Facebook groups and we would

30:05

love to actually extend

30:07

this conversation with you and be able

30:09

to . We want to make sure that we're

30:11

adding value to your life . So if

30:13

there's a specific question that you have

30:16

that you want us to address on

30:18

this podcast , feel free to pose it

30:20

to us . There's a lot of different ways that

30:22

you can share

30:25

your reactions with us .

30:29

Absolutely . We would love to connect with you guys . We

30:32

encourage you to visit violingospelcom

30:35

. As Maya mentioned , we

30:37

have some Facebook groups

30:39

, actually four different groups

30:41

. Each one has a specific purpose

30:43

. One is just for single guys . I'm

30:47

basically managing that group and trying to encourage

30:49

guys out there that are single going through that stage

30:51

of their life . Maya has a group

30:53

that's for single ladies Obviously

30:56

same thing , but her managing the ladies

30:58

portion . We also have a group

31:01

for couples , so it's basically people

31:03

that are not married yet but are

31:06

at a point where they're trying to

31:08

prepare themselves , sort

31:10

of the premarital stage . We would

31:12

love for you guys to join that group . And

31:15

then , finally , we have a group for marrieds , so

31:18

people that are already married . Maybe even if

31:20

you're struggling with marriage , like you're going

31:22

through a hard time and you really need some advice

31:24

or some ways to

31:26

connect with us , you know , I think

31:28

nothing's better than community and

31:30

if you're seeing other people in a group and

31:32

you're getting to know other people , that is a positive

31:34

thing to healing . And you

31:36

know , so it's not necessarily just for people

31:38

that are in this happy stage

31:41

, it's also for people that are struggling , that

31:43

are needing advice or just

31:45

to give us maybe their testimony

31:48

and where we can reach out to them . So

31:50

the way to find

31:52

these groups violengospelcom

31:54

, and you'll see a navigation

31:56

bar and you'll see resources

31:58

. You'll be able to find groups

32:01

, click on that and then you'll be able to see these

32:03

four groups .

32:04

Absolutely . We want to see you there , we want to interact

32:06

with you . Just so you know , michael

32:09

and I I think I've said this many times and

32:11

I probably will continue to say it we

32:13

are just one of many resources

32:16

, and we want to be able to put

32:18

in front of you a diversity of resources

32:20

. We want to share books with you that have

32:22

helped us . It's not like On

32:24

Purpose Christian Dating is the only

32:27

podcast and the only resource that is going

32:29

to help you in your life . We want to be

32:31

able to share with you all the people who have blessed

32:33

us , all the different books that have blessed

32:35

us , and we want you to be able to , within

32:38

the context of a group or

32:40

a community , to be able to say hey

32:43

, this is what's worked for me , this is a book that I've

32:45

read , and those

32:48

groups can basically become a life of their own . So

32:51

, please , please . We want to see you there and

32:53

we want to connect with you .

32:56

Absolutely , and the most important

32:58

thing that you guys can be doing is

33:01

immersing yourself in the Bible . You

33:04

know the Bible is healing . It has healing power

33:06

. It has healing power . So you know our podcast

33:08

, a lot of our resources . I just want you to

33:11

know our hearts that we love

33:13

hearing that you're just more

33:15

in the word of God . You know , because the

33:17

word of God is healing in so many

33:20

ways , no matter what you're going through , that

33:23

ultimately is going to prepare you for dating , for

33:25

relationships , for life , for everything

33:27

. So that's the ultimate resource

33:30

, wouldn't you agree , honey ? The

33:32

Bible , so okay . Well

33:34

, we really appreciate you guys listening to this podcast

33:36

. We're really enjoying this and just

33:38

you know , with Lydia here , she's

33:41

been on every episode and

33:43

it's just a really it's

33:45

a joy to just look at my daughter

33:47

and my wife as we're doing this and

33:50

knowing that someday she'll be listening maybe to this

33:52

, and knowing she was here too . So I think

33:54

that's pretty cool . Lady , do you have anything to say ?

34:00

All right , great Goo goo ga ga .

34:04

She's almost four months old . So

34:06

this weekend , right , she'll

34:09

be our one year anniversary and she'll be four

34:11

months old , so we're excited , all

34:14

right . Well , I'm going to close in a word of prayer Dear

34:16

God , just thank you for this day , lord

34:19

, where we can just do this podcast

34:21

and just connect with anybody out there

34:26

, whoever's listening , whatever they might

34:28

be going through , that you know they're

34:31

thinking of you , that they're connecting in

34:33

some way with you , lord , and that they'll continue

34:36

trying to heal and work on themselves

34:39

. Just

34:42

that

34:45

we'll continue to lead it in such a

34:47

way that we can

34:49

say that we're helping

34:52

others , that we're trying to just

34:54

connect with other people , lord , and we just ask

34:56

that you help others

34:58

out there that are struggling to find their purposes

35:01

, that are just not sure of it

35:03

yet they're

35:12

starting to consider it , Lord , just help , speak to them in their daily life and just help them to just

35:14

get those little nuggets of influence in their minds of things

35:16

that they could be doing to help other people , you

35:18

know , and not limiting it to

35:20

things that maybe they've done wrong

35:22

or have gone wrong in their lives , but

35:24

to see it as actually a way to connect to

35:26

other people , and

35:29

then they have the ability to have impact

35:31

and also helping others

35:33

. And , lord , we just thank

35:35

you for sending your son to die on the cross

35:37

, for giving us life , giving

35:40

us the ability just to live this amazing

35:42

life that we can connect and

35:44

get to know you better and get to know others

35:46

. We ask

35:48

this in your name . We pray Amen .

35:50

Amen .