Kari Tavella

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Every Sunday is a special Sunday at Eastside because we never know how God will show up and show off. And then there are some Sundays that we just plan a big Sunday that says, okay, God, we invite you to come in and show up in a big way and show off in a big way. This is one of those Sundays that we’ve been praying for like crazy over the last couple of months. And today we have in the house Kari Tavella. So can we give it up for Kari? Yeah. I want to say the 9:00 service put you guys to shame, but that’s okay. You can be secure in the love of Christ and still be second. Okay. But no, we’ll give her big applause in a moment. But some of you may be wondering who Kari Tavella is. She’s going to introduce herself. But let me say this is that Kari has lived the life that all of you maybe dream about. She’s been featured in magazines and billboards. Movies and television shows, and talk shows. And even though she had reached the pinnacle of what most of us would consider fame and success, she walked away from all of that because in the midst of that, there was no joy, There’s no happiness, no contentment, but just brokenness. And she hit rock bottom, walked away from all of that, found Jesus found the love of her life named Dustin, and started a journey of Kari living out her purpose of helping other people who are broken, other people who are struggling to find purpose, to find their purpose. And so Kari is coming today and sharing her story. And in the story, I just want you to hear and listen for the goodness of God that is found all throughout her story. So let’s give a Big Eastside community. Welcome to Kari Tavella. Yeah, give it up for Kari.

So welcome, Kari. Thank you so much. I’m going to pray for you, and then it’s all yours. Father, in the name of Jesus. We declare your power and your presence in this place today. And, Father, we want the Holy Spirit to have complete freedom to do what he needs to do, to speak, and to prompt hearts that are in this place and this watching online. Father continues just to give Kari the freedom that she needs, help her to recall what she needs to recall. And Father, give her boldness as she speaks. And, Father, we pray that in all of this, you receive the glory and the honor, and we pray these things in the name of Jesus. And everyone agreed and said together. Amen. Thank you.

Hi, guys. I don’t know who was here when my husband came. Was anyone here? Awesome. Who saw him on America’s Got Talent? Who’d never watched an episode like me before him? That was the first time I watched it once he got on. But yeah, I’m so happy to be here. It’s been a wild, wild journey. Man, God has been so faithful to our family, and it’s not been easy. It’s so crazy, like in this season. I would definitely call this a mountaintop season of our life. But there’s been a lot of hard choices that have brought us to this place. I would say we were in a lot of crazy transitions and in the valley for probably, I mean, the first five and a half years of our marriage, it was hard. It was fruitful but really hard. And so, a little bit about my story. I’m from a small town in Ohio. By the way, I’m not used to this weather. I’ve lived on the West Coast for like 20 years now, and it is frigid. But I’m from Ohio. I’m super passionate about the power of prayer. Thankfully, those who had a praying grandma or mom should thank the young ones. My grandma knew that I was just going down a really bad path in high school. I had all the wrong friends and made horrible choices, and she was praying for me, and at the time, in high school, I was getting a lot of scholarships to play volleyball, and I had my heart set on going to like a big D1 school. I wanted to get away from the small town, and I had no desire to go visit this little school in Tennessee. But the coach really wanted me to come out there, so I went just to appease him, and I basically went there, partied with the volleyball team, saw a bunch of cute boys, and that’s how I picked my college. Thankfully, Grandma was praying and that’s how I picked my school. I’ve signed up for four years at a Christian college. Didn’t know anything about the school, but it was a Christian school, and it was in a dry county. And that’s kind of where my journey began. And I had a volleyball coach who I didn’t understand. I’m like, Why the rules? Why do we have to go to Bible studies? Like why I just had so many questions, and she was just so patient with me and so kind to me and so gentle, so loving. She could have easily looked at me like this girl is a disaster and there’s no hope. But thank God she didn’t. She would just call me into her office and be just like, God put you on my heart again. Are you okay? Inside I’m like, in turmoil. I’m crumbling like I’m lost. I’m lonely, I’m insecure. I don’t know who I am. I’m angry at the choices I would make. But she knew God always put me on her heart, and she would just pray for me. And that was kind of that. And I just would always get everyone, like not liking her, even though she was an amazing human being.

So I left college, and then I moved to L.A., and I got into the whole industry for about seven years. I met a guy. We had got engaged. I met him in Vegas at a pool party and moved in with him. We lived on the beach. He bought me everything I wanted. He’d want me a $50,000 engagement ring. We traveled all over, but I was so empty and so depressed. And it’s so funny because everyone on my Facebook thought I was living the dream, and moms would even reach out to me like, Oh my gosh, I wish I would have, like, you know, lived it up more before I got married and had kids. And that’s why I call it a fake book because it’s not real. I was so empty, so insecure. And so I was in that industry for about seven years. When I finally hit rock bottom, I was standing on the 10th floor of our balcony. I was trying to jump off and just hated who I was, hated who I had become. And so, yeah, I didn’t jump. Thank God I’m here. I passed out on the balcony and woke up the next morning, I hit up my brother, who was an atheist our whole life, and now he’s been going to church for three months at this point. And so, yeah, praise God. I tried to flake the first two times because I was just uncomfortable, and he was like, Can you keep a commitment for the first time in your life? So I went to church. I mean, that’s when everything just radically changed. I never felt the presence of God like that. And I knew that everything I experienced, everything that people were praising me for like nothing felt like that. Like that, that void was finally filled.

As I was growing up with the Lord, my ex-fiancee at the time was not, and he was not in the same place as me. And I was growing. I wanted more. I was meeting the pastors and liked having conversations with couples who the first time I ever saw Christ-centered love in my whole life. And so I had to make a lot of hard choices. Basically, I started feeling really convicted for the first time in my life. That was my first big act of obedience, moving out of that condo where it was very comfortable and very safe, even though I was very insecure. It was just all I knew. And so I, like, moved into the unknown. I ended up then, months later, meeting my husband, who is now my husband. Dustin was the worship leader at our church, and I just, you know, meeting him was amazing. But of course, like my past, I just couldn’t, like, share with him any of that because he took the straight and narrow path. Like, my husband is amazing. And as I got to know him, and the fact that he just never drank and didn’t do any drugs, he didn’t even want to because his family was a complete mess when he was little. Like he remembers his parents being on the porch arguing with a shotgun about who was going to kill themselves and who would just take care of the kids like it was a complete shambles. His parents met on a drug run. They were the big partiers in their hometown. And God got a hold of mom and then dad and just restored everything. And they’re the most loving family I’ve ever been around. And so my husband just never went down that path. He just learns from their mistakes.

So as I’m getting to know him, I’m just like, the shame is like covering me and I’m literally being so mean to him at one point because I want him to just break up with me because I couldn’t tell him about my past. I couldn’t tell him that the things I had done there were like even words I just couldn’t say out loud to him. And I remember sitting in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot just crying, and he was like, What is going on? And previously, like eight years before that, when I was living in New York after college, I ended up getting herpes. And I share this to say, like, if I couldn’t say the word out loud, I was so I felt so disgusting, even though it was like I was in a situation where something was done to me. I had so much shame, so much guilt was like, I’m never going to get married. I’m never going to have kids. Who could ever love me like this? And thank God I didn’t walk in that fear. And I got the courage to just tell him that. And I thought for sure, like, this guy is going to run like he’s too good to be true if he is 29 and waiting till marriage to have sex. I had never even heard that before. And he was so special. And so I ended up telling him, and he was just like you. First of all, you don’t get to make that decision if I won’t be with you or not. Second of all, you’ve been made new. Like that wasn’t even you. You’re a new person. Like God has completely made you new. And so, we are not defined by the choices we make.

And so that really set me on the path of freedom. And so fast forward, we get married. We started a homeless ministry for four years, and it was wild. My husband has just crazy faith he’s given away two cars, but he’s never bought a car. Like, For God, would you speak specific things to him, and he would just do it. He was just so obedient, and I wanted that. And he would just tell me all these stories. And I’m a new Christian, just like, soaking this all up, like I want that. And so I just believed God. And so the first very uncomfortable transition was, we got married. I moved in with him in his apartment, and we were living in L.A., and his music manager was super believed in his message and what he was doing. He was making full-time music at the time, and he paid for the rent for six years for him in L.A., Which is not cheap, let me tell you. And so we were living rent-free in the mountains, which I love, right next door to Trader Joe’s, my favorite grocery store, right next to the gym, right next to our church. Everything was like, so convenient, and God never let us get comfortable for too long. We went out to Texas to visit Youth with the Mission where he had been a missionary for years. And I really felt like I was speaking for us to move there. And he’s like, What? That’s crazy. Like, what am I going to do in Texas? Am I making full-time music well while we go to Texas? And so we just prayed together. He got on the same page, we obeyed, and then we moved to Texas, not even knowing really where we were going to live. And it was very uncomfortable.

And I mean, we lived in like seven different places in the beginning. And so that was like the first one. And then we were living there, and then God was asking us to move into this house, that house of girls in crisis pregnancy. So all that I knew was going to be another very hard yes. But again, we prayed. God told us to do it, so we did it. And that’s where we met our first son, Zander. His birth mom was living there, and we got close to her, and she asked us to adopt her son. So we adopted our first child, which was so cool because I miscarried at four months. I was due on August 20th, and we adopted him on August 12th. So it was wild. I felt like God was like, Your baby’s with me. But this baby needs to be rescued because now Mom’s in prison, and he would have gone in the system. Thank God we obeyed and kept going where he was leading us, even when it was uncomfortable. And so then, from there on, we moved. We adopted our son. And then we were supposed to go to Virginia Beach, and we felt like we’re supposed to work with a ministry out there. And as we were about to move, the pandemic started, and my husband wasn’t working anymore. I wasn’t able to speak anywhere. So we had, again, had like no income. So we moved in with my in-laws, which I was like kicking and screaming about. And I love my in-laws, but I did not want to live with my in-laws, especially because we had just adopted this baby boy. I didn’t even have time to bond with him yet. He didn’t even really know. I don’t think that I was his mom. And so I’m like, How am I going to live with my in-laws, with my mother-in-law, who’s amazing? But I’m also feeling insecure that he’s going to, like, love her more and thinking of my sister-in-law being there, too. It was just so scary for me. That was probably the hardest one was moving there.

But that was it the most stretching time of my whole life? Because my in-laws are amazing, but they definitely could see all the character flaws in me, Like I was just exposed living there, like my selfishness, the way I wouldn’t pick up after myself, the integrity issues I had had, like just not thinking of the people I was living with and being mindful of them. And I, I this pastor was like speaking on Sunday, and he said, if you can change your circumstances, then do it. But if you can’t, you have to change your perspective. Oh, my goodness. It helped me so much because I was just like, Oh, you’re right. I have to have a good attitude. There’s something God wants to do here. Every time we make these hard and comfortable decisions, he always delivers. There’s always like, you know, you can connect the dots when you look back. And so those six months were really hard; then we were on vacation with my in-laws, and I was at the beach every morning getting up, watching the sunrise. And then, you know. We Dustin had gotten like some stimulus checks and stuff for, you know, they basically back paid him for all the gigs. He wasn’t able to work out. So we were able to change our circumstances. I felt like God spoke. You love the beach. Go, go, move to the beach. Now you can. And so we ended up moving to the beach, but nothing was like opening up yet. And then I really felt like I was like, You’re believing and praying for a new house, but you’re not even a good steward of your things. You’re not a good steward of your in-laws. Things like, Why would I give you that? Like I can’t even trust you with a little bit. How am I going to trust you with more?

So that was like my new thing was like, man, integrity is my word. Like I want to have good character. I want to be faithful to what he’s given me. And so we end up going to Virginia Beach to try to find a place to live at this point. And we’re living with our friends for like three weeks, staying at their house. And I was in the shower of my girlfriend’s shower and I she had like face wash. I used it without even thinking about it. And, like, not that she would care. She wouldn’t. I wouldn’t care, but I would just do that. I would just, like, use people’s stuff. I was so entitled, like not even thinking about it. She had like a scrub hairbrush thing in there. I use that too. Which is kind of weird, but I was like, I’ve never seen this. And then I asked her, when I got out, I’m like, What is that brush in there? She was like, Oh my gosh, it’s amazing. Did you use it? I’m like, No. And I immediately felt convicted, and I was just like. So the next morning, Oh, sorry, let me backtrack. I used it, told her no, lied, and felt bad about it. Then that night, her mom, who is the Holy Spirit-filled Christian, who I’ve never met in my life, comes over, and she tells me she was like, I was on my couch for like, you know, it’s bedtime for me. But I drove 30 minutes cause I wanted to give you this gift. And I was just like, You have a gift for me. Like, I don’t even know you. And she’s like, Yeah, I wanted to give you this. And it was like a $300 set of skincare and face wash. The same face wash that I use in the shower. And I was just sitting there thinking like, God, you’re so cool. Do you care about the things I want? Wow.

The next morning, during my quiet time, God was like, No, no, no, that I am. This is like a gentle rebuke. Like, you keep thinking I’m going to bless you with this next place, but you’re not faithful. Like you need to tell your friend. Like, humble yourself and go tell her that you lied and you used her stuff. And so I was just like, Oh gosh, I can’t. And I finally got enough courage to tell her I was like, This is so stupid. But when you asked me if I used a brush, I told you no, but I did, and I’m really sorry. And she was just like, I don’t care. But then it actually brought tears to her eyes cause she was like, I was telling her, I just want to be a faithful friend. I want to be a faithful person. Like, and I’m sorry that I did that. And it was so humbling. And then, like, not long after that, a spot opened up. God totally led us to this place on the beach that was just so healing for our family. It was such a great year, even during the pandemic, being to be on the beach and be outside. It was so much cheaper than anywhere else. It was just crazy. Favor God did a lot there.

But then the next transition was really hard because we were living in Virginia Beach, and that’s when Dustin got on America’s Got Talent. Which I wrote in my notes in 2018. He was going to win. I don’t know if he shared that the last time he was here. It was so cool. I was like on the run. This was in 2018. I was out running. My whole body got covered in chills, and I was like, I have to write this on my iPhone because you can’t make this up. Like it’s logged the date, and I wrote that he was going to win. And I just kept showing him. He tried out the first year, then the second year, then the third. I’m like, No, God’s forgotten you’re going to win. But anyways, we’re living in Virginia Beach. He books America’s Got Talent. And in the middle of that, we go out to L.A. We come back, and then we adopt the older brother, Silas. The grandma called, and so now the brothers are together. It was highly stressful. It’s just not the natural order. So that was a really hard time. And then we spent two months in a hotel in Hollywood and Highland. What do you do with two toddlers in a hotel in Hollywood Highland? It was just like the hardest time. I needed God more than ever. Like, he literally carried me through. And I really got a heart for single moms because I wasn’t even working. I was just being a mom of two toddlers, and yeah, That’s a whole nother sermon. But God broke me for single moms.

So in that time, though. Basically, the night that he won our lease was up in Virginia Beach. So now we’re homeless again, and we’re like praying, you know, about this next season. Do we take the Vegas offer? Do we go? Do we not? And we were really praying and felt like this is what we were supposed to do, even though, like along our journey, a lot of people don’t know this, but there were things we had to say no to that were very hard to say no to. Like we had, you know, at points where we were living on nothing. I mean, we had everything we needed, but it was not a lot. And in those times that God called us to be radically generous, like keep everything open-handed, like give even when it looks crazy, or even when people tell you you’re crazy. That’s irresponsible. I love obedience. That makes you look stupid. Like that’s my favorite thing. And so we, at one point, this was early on in our relationship. We had we were totally relying on God for everything because, during those four years of homeless ministry, He provided every month in the most supernatural ways. I have a whole book of just crazy, crazy-answered prayers. And we had $2 and $4 in our accounts.

This is before we married two and for six bucks. And so we were on our knees praying like, God, if we have to get jobs, just tell us because we want to be obedient. But we feel like we’re supposed to do full-time ministry. So we’re on our knees praying. We go to church. That night, the pastor randomly gave us a card with a $100 gift card in it. It was from someone in the community. It was anonymous and said, Keep doing what you’re doing. You guys are a blessing. So then, at that time, we were supposed to take our friend who hit one year of being sober from meth to all-you-can-eat sushi. We have the spot we loved. We wanted to treat him. He’s blind, you know. He was, like, offering to drive. But no, he said, if you guys drive, I’ll pay. We’re like, We want to pay for you. We’re celebrating you. But obviously, you were going to drive. You’re blind. Thanks, but no thanks. So that morning, after we got that gift card, the very next morning, I was in a quiet time. God clearly speaks to using the $100 gift card for sushi. And I’m just calculating in my head that because we have $20 left like we need food and gas for this week. That’s so irresponsible. I can’t, like, I’m just, you know, that’s Satan speaking. I’m like, thinking it’s not God. Like Satan would tell me to be generous. And so, I have my quiet time. Then my husband, this always happens. He comes up, he’s like, hey, I would just feel like we’re supposed to use that gift card for sushi. And so I’m like, okay, let’s do it. So we take the guy to sushi. It was amazing.

The very next morning, a family friend called us, and this was the most we’d been challenged to give with the least amount we’d ever had. A family friend calls us. She’s like, Hey, guys. So I’ve been supporting this ministry for two years. Like, I give them 1300 dollars a month, and I’ve been praying. I feel like the Lord said, I’m supposed to start giving it to you guys every month. So we’re like, what, that more than covers our bills. So the rent was already free at this point. So it was amazing that we could keep doing full-time ministry without having to worry. And she said I’m also going give you a $10,000 gift on top of that. And we were like, what? And so those moments where God has just asked us to be so open-handed, and it’ll be it no matter what. I mean, that’s not why we give, but it shows where our heart was, and we just did it, and he would just go above and beyond. And I always think of this picture. It’s like my life story is a picture of Jesus holding this huge bear. And there’s this little girl sitting in front of him, you’ve probably seen, and she’s like, gripping on her little bear like she doesn’t want to. He’s saying, like, trust me, give me whatever you’re holding on to, whatever it is that you value so much that you think is so important. I have so much more for you. But he doesn’t just get it. It takes us moving and acting in obedience over and over.

Okay, I’m kind of all over the place. But now, okay, we’re in L.A. Dustin wins. We move back in with my in-laws again. This time is very different. I was in a totally different headspace. And we left the boys with my in-laws. Then we went to Virginia Beach, packed up our place, and shipped our stuff to Pennsylvania to my in-laws. All of our stuff now is again in a big semi-truck, and we have to send it to Vegas because we decided he’s going to do the show in Vegas. We ship our stuff to Vegas without an address. God’s like, just ship it. Just send it because that’s where you’re going. And I couldn’t find a house like I was really searching for a house, and nothing was happening. It was, again, a very uncomfortable transition. But I knew that God was going to do something because, you know, we all get spiritual amnesia, like, oh gosh. I was like, Are you going to show up this time? Of course, he does. But I just kept judging by my past experiences, like, God’s going to do it. And but I still was, you know, getting discouraged, like, man, we can not find a house with a backyard. We need a backyard. I’ve got two toddler boys. They are wild. And I want them to have like an eighties kid experience. I want them outside a lot. And so we shipped our stuff to Vegas ish. We’re like, just head in that direction. It’s going to take two weeks. I’m sure we’ll find something by then.

So we sent our stuff, and I was at my in-law’s house, and I was sitting at the kitchen table so discouraged, kind of like, Man, nothing is happening. I’ve looked at all these houses on Zillow, and the thought pops into my head. I’m just praying that’s what I do. I just turn to prayer like I literally pray for everything. I mean everything. And I am praying, and I felt like I was supposed to call this church that my one friend that I have in Vegas told me about. And so I’m like, What am I going to tell them? I won’t even go there. We don’t even live there. Am I calling the church? And so I asked Dustin to call. He’s like, You call. You feel like you’re supposed to call. So I call the church. I’m just like, Hey, my husband and I are moving there. I tell them the story. And then she knew who I was talking about, and she’s like the magician. And I’m like, Yeah. And she was like, I’ll pray for you right now, which I love. She prayed for me right then. And then she tells me this story, how they have a realtor in their community who helped them get their house. And she tells me this short testimony, how they were living in this house. 30 minutes from the church, husband, and wife, both on staff driving, 30 minutes the church every day. And it was getting really old. And she said the Lord told them to start packing up their place. And she was just like, okay, out of obedience. We did it. They started packing for three weeks. They were packing. And then, the third week, they got an eviction notice on their door saying the owner was selling their house and they had to be out in a month. And she was like, I was freaking out because we couldn’t. There was no way we needed more time. But because they were obedient and started packing, they got out in the next two weeks. Then that realtor found them a house 5 minutes away.

So she puts me in touch with the realtor and who is hard to come by as an honest realtor. I was so thankful. I called there and I hit up the realtor that night. The next morning I’m on Zillow looking. It’s the same old houses, everything I’ve seen before, the same stuff. And for whatever reason, every house I would look at would Google it and see how far it was from this church called Hope Church. I was like, I want to be close to there. I felt like I was supposed to, and any time it was far from there, I felt this overwhelming, like isolation and loneliness. I can’t explain it, and I wouldn’t even consider it. And so I was on Zillow, and this one new house popped up, and it said, Big Backyard, Great for entertaining. There’s one photo. And I was like, Yes, and I Google it. It’s 5 minutes from the church. It’s 2 minutes from Trader Joe’s, my favorite grocery store. Like all these things, God knows I just love. And so then it was 13 minutes from Dustin’s work at the Luxor. It was the closest thing we’d found. It was so perfect. And I called the realtor, and I was like, Hey, there’s this house. And she was like, I’m on it. I’m driving there right now, all facetime. You through the whole property. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. So we’re in Pennsylvania. She’s facetiming me and showing me the entire house. It was perfect. It was everything we prayed for. And so she’s like, if you like it, like, apply now because houses are going so fast in Vegas. And so we applied. We waited the weekend, and Monday rolled around. We’re all sitting around the table. My husband’s about to sign his one-year contract at the Luxor. We’re all praying for him, thanking God for this next chapter, and like right when he signed it was like 10 minutes after he signed it, we get a call that we’re approved for the house.

And so it was just like all out of order, but just such a, and I say that because it’s all these times where it seems like, oh, gosh, it’s impossible. Like these situations are impossible, what is God going to do now? He’s always up to something. And I know you’ve heard it a million times, but I know he’s never early. He’s never let you never, ever early. He’s never, ever late. It’s always right on time. And so he pulled through once again. And yeah, so I think that’s why, like, in those times where it seems impossible, I am I want to encourage you to just press it and pray, and also in those seasons, don’t wish yourself out of the hard seasons because he’s doing something in you and he wants to show you the heart surgery that needs to happen. And it’s so uncomfortable. And obviously, it’s going to happen forever until we go to heaven. But I feel like, you know, Christine Cain always says, like, don’t wish your way out of these seasons because when you’re squeezed and pressed and shaken, like that’s when the anointing comes out. And she was like, talent never set the captives free ever. But it’s the anointing that sets captives free. And I’m so thankful for his timing and just the way that he orchestrates our lives when we can truly surrender.

We wanted it in our timing, even with the agt stuff like Dustin was like, you know, so discouraged the first two seasons, like, man, I felt like God was speaking this, and his timing is just so, so epic. And I also just want to talk about one more thing with the power of prayer. My when I first got saved, my life was an absolute mess. I was journaling a lot. And my volleyball coach, who I talked so poorly about and got everyone rallied against her because I was always sneaking out after curfew. I was sneaking boys into the dorm just doing stupid stuff. She was the very first person to whom I sent my journals. And, um, man, If I can just leave you with one thing, it’s like, don’t give up on people. And I’m so thankful she didn’t look at me like this hot mess. She fought for me, and she went to bat for me. And I think that’s why we’re so passionate about all situations. We just have to pray. We really do. It sounds cliche, but God has the answer for literally everything we need, whether it be financing, whether it be a house, you know, I mean, for your kids, like whatever it is. And just to not walk in that fear that the enemy wants to keep us in because God has literally every single answer for you.

But also one little funny thing I wanted to add. Um, it’s just so funny when we can. I didn’t know I wasn’t planning on sharing this, but. Another thing is that God has challenged us to be so abandoned by the world that we’re not supposed to look like the world. Like I don’t want to look like the world. We’re supposed to be set apart and not look like everyone else. And so when we moved into our new house, I was like going to Marketplace. And by the way, the thrift stores in Vegas are outrageous. Like people get rid of brand new, I mean, amazing items. I don’t even understand if you’re in L.A. That would happen all the time. We would pick up kitchen tables off the sidewalk like it’s in perfect condition. Who’s getting rid of this? We lived in a kind of like a wealthier neighborhood, and, like, this is insane. So anyways, when we moved in, we were just like, you know, we’re not going to. Even though, like, my husband’s experiencing this top mountain season with finances, like, we’ve lived on a little and, you know, we have more now, but that’s challenging us to give even more. And like Joyce Meyer always says, if you use your resources to be a blessing, you’ll never run out of resources. And we really try to live like that. And so we love just finding deals. And I furnish our whole place for, like, I’m talking, like $30 couches in perfect condition. And my husband’s friend was visiting. He’s like helping us move stuff. He’s like, Bro, you just won America’s Got Talent, and I’m carrying furniture out of goodwill for you. Really? What? What is happening?

I say that because we really try to make it the goal to even just live off the 10%. Like, I just want to be radically obedient, radically generous, and I just challenge you to do the same thing. And it’s unbelievable where God will take you, and he can trust you with anything that he gives you because it’s all from him anyways. So it’s none of it’s ours. And I just it’s just been such a wild ride and such a full circle. Man. Just the things that have happened have come full circle in our life has been absolutely wild from, you know, even people praying prayers over us like that. God was going to take me back to the places that were dark times in my life. Someone said that to me. He said God is going to take you back to the places that were a dark time that sucked the life out of you with a new mission. You’re fully protected and safe. He’s going to give you a favor to go into places where highly oppressed children and women are. You have nothing to fear. And that was Vegas. And so I look at all the things I walked away from and what he’s restored and given me a family and amazing in-laws like just true family. And I’m just so blessed and thankful to be here. And maybe I’ll share some of that with you. There’s so much more. But I just think that’s like a tiny snippet of our life right now. And just to embrace the uncomfortable stuff and to actually run towards it because that’s where he grows us and changes us. But thank you, guys, so much.

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, We’ll give it up. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can be seated. You know. Here’s the thing. I love what Kari said about if you can’t change your circumstances. Change your perspective. And some of you. Your circumstances. You cannot change. And some of you are here today, and you’re hanging on by a thread for whatever reason. Some of you. You’re on a mountaintop. Some of you are relationally broken. Some of you. You found love, and you have hope. Some of you are here, and. And you’re living an obedient life. You’re being radically obedient. Some of you are. White knuckle about things in your life. And God is prompting you to let go. Here’s the thing that you need to understand, regardless of the circumstances that you find yourself in. God never changes. There’s nothing that’s changed about his love for you. He understands completely the circumstances that you’re in. He understands everything that’s going on in your life. His love, his gentleness, his faithfulness, his kindness, none of that. Has changed, and nor will it ever change. And the thing that I loved about Kari’s story. It’s, first of all, the joy that she had in telling the story. Did you just see the pure radiance of joy just oozing out and then the goodness of God that just was? Filling every chapter of their story. And regardless of your circumstances, regardless of where you’re at right now, don’t ever question the goodness of God because of his goodness and his love. They never change. Our perspective may change. But God’s goodness and grace don’t change. And so I just want to encourage you. Just want to encourage you to lean into the goodness of God. Lean into the gentleness of God. Lean into the favor of God. Don’t ever allow Satan to cause you to question. The goodness and the love of God. Let’s stand as we sing together.