Cynthia Garrett / Prodigal Daughter, Actress, Film/TV Producer & Speaker

five Ryan Reese this is live with Ryan Reese calm down 180 day five sixty four sixty one seventy three or post your questions using the hashtag live Brian Reese on his Instagram Twitter or Facebook what's up family good to be here on Saturday night I got one of my good friends and quote one of my new good friends in studio Cynthia Garrett ministries and Roger how you doin sir her husband great good to see you guys so you so thank you for coming in um I've heard a lot of good things about you and actually I got to watch your story today and Wow it was incredible hmm and I'll tell you this you know there was a lot of things that were coming off that stage when you were speaking at that church in Australia that really resonated with a lot of the things that we say on the show yeah you know the identity of this this it's there's an identity crisis in the world and I believe that you do have a major heart to to speak into not not only men's and women's lives but you really want to focus on an impacting the women yeah I do I do yeah you know it's interesting Ryan I I think that the greatest journey of my life has been the one to my identity in Christ and you know my my first book is called prodigal daughter a journey home to identity because I think the reason you know we can all get lost in the world easily enough but there's this sort of focused attack I think on identity from the day that we're born and if you're not careful you end up at sort of adulthood being this person who has no idea really and truly of you know who you are what you were created for why God created you what purpose you have for being alive and you know the enemy jumps on the back of that and all of a sudden a whole lot of statements and phrases and behavior to define your identity and none of it has anything to do with God things that are said over you situations you encounter at your growing up all these things start building up these walls oh yeah words are powerful you know I love that you mentioned things that are said over you yeah I mean I often say to people you know you you've got to erase the soundtrack of your life that other people have given you you know the songs sung over you the words spoken over you the even the projections you know that people have even well-meaning parents can sometimes you know shape your identity in the wrong way you know it hey you know you are such a bad kid or oh my gosh it's so stupid when you do that or these words and I mean you know from people who love us they're powerful words are powerful ya know they are there's I mean I was just at a high school this couple days ago talking to this girl and she was just saying how how she she's so sad because people are talking about her in school and she's part of this Bible Club and these are fellow christians and they should love and but because of these words that have been spoken over her she's like totally wants to quit the club she wants to leave the school just powerful words and then she starts living in this identity yeah because these things so words are super powerful you know your story is super amazing and gnarly so I want to get into it because did we yet you have a lot to to talk about so now where exactly did you grow up well I grew up mostly here yeah Los Angeles yeah I mean I was born in San Francisco and then by high school we were living here we lived it we lived in the Bahamas for a while when I was a young girl my dad was an entrepreneur so his business pursuits took us a lot of places but by high school my parents had gotten a divorce and we were living here in Los Angeles I was going to high school here now you said that your dad I think has light skin or your mom no my mom my mom's my mom is from New Orleans New Orleans she's half Creole and half Italian she's real fair yeah she can I mean she's got a little bit of lack in her it's funny she feels like French right yeah Creole is the French in Spanish and a little bit of black usually from down that way yeah yeah and and then her mother was full-blooded Italian Cecilia okay okay oh I'm actually fluent in Italian okay crazy and then your dad where is he from my dad was from Texas half black half Native American half Cherokee Indian actually and his mom my grandmother died in childbirth my dad was an amazing character lived an amazing life you know we were kind of talking about that a little bit before the before we started with all of you guys out there listening yeah you're saying you're your daddy's girl when you're growing up yeah I was actually you know my I was always my father's kind of his little sidekick you know I liked hanging out with my dad my dad was a big dreamer he taught me to dream big you know and and he he also taught me never to be a victim you know he one of the greatest lessons my father ever gave me which it makes sense when you understand the context of who my dad was my dad became the first black man in America to ever own banks and he did that in the early 60s by disguising himself as a chauffeur or a janitor to get into his own board meetings and then he would use my mom's white face or the faces of a couple of his friends who worked with him in sort of being the front kind of the faces of these banks that were actually seven white banks and savings and loans in the state of Texas that he bought in the early 60s when there was still hardcore segregation and radical yeah like I mean blacks couldn't even drink out of the same water fountains or right in the front of the bus at that point yeah but my mom and dad had this crazy amazing life it marched on Washington with Martin Luther King together and and yeah it's it's it's it's interesting there's there's a couple I I just found out some interesting information recently about a movie being made unauthorized about my dad so yeah I may be back here another time to talk about that yeah that movie will be pretty insane now your dad did your dad give you he gave you two quotes and I wrote him down and he said something I'm you never become the victim mm-hmm talk about that Wow he's well you know before my father died I spent I spent the last few years of my dad's life with him asking questions you know identity search Who am I dad who are you you know what was your life about and so I asked him really and truly I asked him what what's the meaning of life you know and he said well you know life is about people honey you need people you can't do anything without people and then I asked him at that point in the year 2000 before my father died I had gotten my first big show on NBC and it was called later with Cynthia Garrett and I became the first woman of color to ever have a network late-night show and so I was feeling a lot of a lot of pulls a lot of pressure you know I and also I wanted to represent well I what does that mean you know so I remember asking my dad like you know dad what do I do with this platform like what am I supposed to be what do you think about black people in America today you know and himself being a black man who done so much an african-american man yeah and my father said to me he goes you know what baby girl he said the one thing you have to do is is not he said you got a you got to not play victim ever he said you know life is going to be filled with things that go wrong and bad things and he said and this is where people of color often make a mistake he said you know you can't stretch out the negative narrative he said you know at some point life is gonna deal you a harm take your hand be upset you stomp your feet get it out of your system but do it for about 20 minutes because after 20 minutes you're a dang fool because that's just life you got to take the hand that you get and you got to play it and you got to play the best hand you can you know I love that part when he said 20 minutes let's go deal with it and then move on move on you see a lot of people that life is crazy it's it's it's a it's a rollercoaster there's a bunch of ups and downs you know amazing success and then failures you know that's just that's just life and that's these are these things that happen to you that show you who you are and and make you and you know even with following god that makes you that spiritual giant God tests our faith through these different situations I could talks about but um there's a lot I would see a lot of people nowadays and probably forever as they get caught up and they get hung up in in their their past and they they become the victim how did how's that applied to your life growing up in situations that you hit because I know that you ran into some situations of you being at your house and and yeah getting sexually molested her oh yeah I mean I was I was this is part part of it part of the drama that surrounds the movie being made about my dad's life now is that the the relative who sexually molested my sister and I both repeatedly for years kind of ran off and ran rogue with the rights to my dad's story against without any authorization from the family and it's well it's like a whole thing I'm like wait a minute in the age of me too does the does the child molester get to profit that's not right like you know Holly what's got a woo they have to be accountable for this kind of thing but you know it's crazy because I went through my childhood and if it weren't for the fact thing Jesus used to talk to me as a little girl after this would happen to me III think I would have lost my mind because I literally I mean I knew God was real from the from day one because I literally would lay there crying at night you know God why's why is this happening to me and as early as I could remember I remember the Lord saying to me it's spiritual warfare the bad things the bad spirits are gonna try to kill your good spirit and that was years before I would have any theology to go with that statement I want you to explain what that is because there's there's a lot of like high school students that are listening and they just got introduced to Jesus maybe at a high school recently yeah and they just had their good news of the Cross but they don't understand this but this could be some situations that they're going through Oh Matt this is Ephesians you know this is an understanding that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities and spiritual forces and the way that we win is to put on the armor of God right so I love that Paul when he's talking about the armor of God literally talk what he does is he dressed as a Roman soldier you know we put on but for us we put on the breastplate of righteousness the helmet of salvation you know the sword of our spirit is the spoken word of God you know for years when you know when after I was sexually abused as a child I got raped as a teenage girl so by the time I hit my 20s I had horrible self-esteem and and you know I was abusing myself in a lot of ways because I felt unloved unworthy of love I died you know I just didn't feel any sense of identity really what would I like depression suicide or like cutting or anything like that or did never went through cutting probably just because I didn't know what it was what it was I was coming up but you know I I mean certainly I began understand that there was some war that was going on against my spirit yeah by about that point and so I began God by the time I guess I got into high school college you know some after college really got bad you know you start experimenting with drugs you know you start and then you start feeling like oh I can numb the voices in my head right with the drugs yeah kill the pain you know if I have another drink if I if I smoke this or if i snort that you know and then what happens is you fall into a group of people and everyone around you is doing it and thinks it's cool so it's socially acceptable so you know you you can you can lose years of your life and you can really numb those voices for a long time but what happens is and what happened with me is wherever you go there you are the voices don't really stop and eventually you know no matter how high you go you you you can't get high enough to escape the fact that you're probably just in a lot of pain and I would like to add something to that maybe I'm going through those kind of situations as far as getting into drugs and alcohol you lose your identity through that you think you're finding yourself in a sense if you're like oh we're gonna do LSD here oh we're gonna we're going to raves and doing these things and I'm finding myself you lose yourself of who you were created to be through that process so if you're already trying to deal with these issues from like your your life you know that you know these things you're going through and then you add all this stuff you're just you losing it it's so true it's so true I mean by the time I ran off when I was in my early 20s you know I I mean by the time I got to my early 20s I was just you know I had graduated Law School grad you know graduated college on the outside everything looked so bright and rosy but on the inside it was just dark and I was hurting and I didn't know what to do with the reality of really and truly what was my sexual abuse it was haunting me and causing me to act out in a lot of ways with guys you know so you think the drugs oh it's helping me you know I'm hanging out with my friends and I'm cool and everybody's doing it and it's okay but in reality I felt so lonely and it's funny I just said to someone recently I used to be surrounded by a thousand people and felt so alone you know and and and I I wanted help and I didn't even know that what I wanted was Jesus you know and I I started to you know kind of further medicate with relationships you know how'd you do how did you if you were sexually abused how did you continue to sleep with guys or how do you separate all that oh man I think well for me and this is what the world kind of does to you you know the secular lie is that and it's the big lie for girls today like you're the one in control and you're cool so if you're the one picking and choosing who you sleep with and you say yes and then it's not anyone forcing me anymore so I was the one in control well in reality what are you in control of you're in control of further damaging yourself mm-hmm like there's no logic in it yeah you know but you you be you believe this lie but also women aren't really created like that also it's like I've heard I've heard they said you know every time they would sleep with someone you could talk to any girl on the planet every time you sleep with someone it seems like they take a piece of complete with your heart so the whole lie that the enemy are back to those words and the stuff that you're hearing off music you know these lies are through social media and lyrics and all this stuff you know song scope just go get yours and that's it yeah but what's happening is it's it's you're not in control oh I was this song today because I'm in the middle of writing a script and so I'm like you know I'm and the character she's a young girl who thinks the world is just so cool and she just has such a lust for the world and all the things that the world tells her is cool and she's gonna actually discover that what's cool about her is the depth that she has because she's been rooted in Christ and has a firm foundation and an understanding of right and wrong but so I'm like researching stuff today right so I asked my son I said what's a song I like asked by 26 year old son what's a song that like young girls would be listening to today that you think is selling them the lie of the world and he's like oh seven rings Ariana Grande uh-huh so I'm like I'm listening to this song and I'm like oh my goodness that's it I want it I got it I take it if I see it it's mine I buy it I like if I want to sleep with it I I I'm like wait a minute are you kidding me like what kind of Lies are we pre-packaging and and and it's just going into their heads and it's just brainwashing yeah yeah sisters hear me you're giving away pieces of yourself and then you're on social media and you're like oh so I'm gonna not say names but so-and-so is half naked here oh okay that's what you got to do this is what's hot this is what this is what everyone wants this is this is the standard right you know what I mean I mean you're basically giving yourself away completely just they half-naked on social media it's like complete identity crisis that's your value your value is you basically in a g-string and topless in in on its rim that's your value right that's crazy and if and and that's and look and the reality is guys don't marry a picture and because men are visual you know I always say men fall in love with women they're attracted to this is how they were wired but women become attracted to men that they fall in love with now imagine the wreckage Satan can do with that so women are hard-wired to fall in love when we give our body to somebody yeah I right or wrong so no matter what girls say no matter what I said no matter how cool I could act after the act I still felt like I'd given a piece of myself away and you feel like less and less and less and you know so guys men guys exploit that you know I love it when girls say to me well you know I don't want to submit to a guy and bla bla bla bla bla you know and when you're talking about marriage or these kinds of things and I'm like well why would you submit to a guy that isn't submitted to the Lord because a guy who submitted to the Lord isn't gonna be trying to sleep with you anyway he's gonna be trying to honor God and make sure he keeps his hands off God's daughter because that's God's girl and unless God says that's my wife and I'm ready to wife you yeah I shouldn't be touching you yeah but no but girls today don't you know I love look I love talking about purity and I know talk about it I mean I I do because because my life got I have so much junk thrown on me you know and but I never I don't blame even my sexual abuse for for the there was brokenness there yeah and then I began to make choices and sure the enemy is fueling those choices yeah and I would eventually run off and marry the wrong guy and end up in a nightmare situation I got saved in prison because I really could let's talk about this cuz so this guy that you met he was he looked like he looked good on paper right oh he just looked good I was just good there's no on paper he just looked good he was and I'd never you know I was fresh out of school I'd never dated anybody like that but my college boyfriend who I was engaged to just need it on me mm-hmm you know my heart was broken and I you know I I rebounded I went looking for love in all the wrong places trying to deal with the pain of my breakup and the pain of my sexual abuse and I arrived to my mid-20s and I I mean I just didn't know who I was now is this the guy the Italian guy yeah okay he was half Italian and half Serbian but break this down the story a little bit they need to hear it Oh God so I mean III in a moment of boredom one night my brother goes the recording studio I'm supposed to meet him for dinner he ends up working late I get bored I go to a grocery store to you know to buy some stuff to make dinner and just for the record your brother's Lenny Kravitz thank you don't know yeah that's cool yeah and and so I'm I'm in the grocery store I notice a couple of guys trailing me around the grocery store all of my warning signals go off and I just kind of try to pay and get out of the store and the guy follows me to the car gives me his phone number on a piece of paper and it's like hey you know we're just gonna meet for coffee me and a bunch of friends if you want to come out and join us I just saw you I thought I'd talked to you blah blah blah you know whatever the line was and I went home and to be honest with you a few hours later because we were I wasn't meeting my brother for dinner Lenny and I weren't gonna hang so I was like well I'm bored I'll go meet this guy well I end up going to meet this guy and I'm in a relationship with him in 24 hours you know it's just instant relationship you know and and there were no boundaries for me in terms of even sex it was like I was really secularized in my thinking well most people think that you know you just get together and have sex immediately I mean that's that's what I used to think yeah that's normal yeah exactly that's not what God's called you do no it's not and you know that behavior for me cost me a pretty penny because I ended up you know knowing this guy and being together with him for like a month in Los Angeles then he left to go to Europe because he was a quote/unquote model now I should have put together a lot of things there were a lot of things that weren't adding up but I didn't because I was a love blind you yeah love blinds you lost yeah yeah been caught up in lust yeah lust blinds you completely know I like to say love blinds you lust Crippler it does you yeah I can't do any no you don't true you're not thinking you're thinking with the wrong part of your Anatomy and your brain turns off and all of a sudden you know you make stupid decisions like run off and marry a guy you've known two and a half months you know you run to Iran to Paris got married convinced my family that it was gonna be like a really cool thing to do and the next thing I know I find out that the guy that I married has an assumed identity and his trafficking cocaine in the car on our honey you know I take the car run off on the side of the road throw everything out of the car while he's off meeting somebody he comes back to the hotel room literally tries to kill me and I'm trying to call for help you know in this hotel room no one speaks English I'm in Italy at that point I mean it was an explosion so so yes no this is a huge explosion so this is my question was he like moving like big dollars of cocaine I mean what did he was he using you first or was it I think he married me for a passport eventually I think your US passport ago yeah it turned out over the course of you know I I ended up being arrested with him because the police who were following him in Italy apparently he was partly they had been following him and expecting him and when they see me throw you know I'm there's this erratic girl throwing drugs out of the bail watching you yeah they're watching so I throw the stuff out sighs I move it yeah totally right you got you guys the prodigal daughter a journey home to identity you've gotta you gotta just by the book I'm making a long story short yeah yeah but I know I am where do they find the book is they Amazon Amazon Amazon doctrine yeah amazon.com but um I mean we're we're surrounded by police like he comes to get me in the hotel room you know kind of knocks me around and then takes me out on the road to find his drugs was a kilo of cocaine in these leather packages takes me out on the road to find his drugs and the police show up and were surrounded by armed military police in Italy that was the beginning of the night anymore yeah the honeymoon okay so date n by the way of being married okay sounds pretty exciting marriage so then you get end up locked up locked up yeah I end up locked up I end up actually in prison for three months and by it was crazy but I got to tell you everything I was looking for I found in that prison which was essentially freedom in Jesus Christ my third night being locked up I was heavily sedated you know they started kind of doping me up cuz I went into shock and I was locked up in isolation okay I just like keep you chill yeah keep chill but on night number three I went to sleep I had asked for a pen and I was writing on the backs of napkins you know I graduated law school the year before all of this happen at USC you blew that all that yeah and then now here you are yeah I must have been tripping oh I was that's how I was none of my none of my Beverly Hills High School or USC Law School pedigree meant anything nothing nothing at this point nothing playing field level I'm in jail in Italy and I remember just thinking well god if this is where it ends I just need you to speak to me I don't even know what my faith is about so I got a question so did you have faith growing up when you were young was it in the in the house at all hey you know some roots to it Catholic school okay Catholics all right yeah that's enough yeah my mom knew one thing to send us a Catholic school okay so that we'd have roots yeah and you know she's it's the Italian in her she's Roman Catholic you know good Catholic girl and made all the seven sacraments and but none of that mattered in that prison cell and I I realized there like I didn't even know God like I used to talk to him as a little girl and he would get me through the sexual abuse and I always carried him with me yeah but I just he was in there inside of me and a lot of pain and the boyfriend that broke my heart we were kind of starting to seek the Lord together so when he broke my heart my relationship with Jesus I forgive that so girls make your own relationships with Christ don't wrap it up in a guy because they are not one in the same and if there's a guy out there who was introduced you to the Lord take the introduction and make it into a lifelong commitment but the guy may or may not be the one that's for the Lord today that's true he might god I just used him to introduce you absolutely absolutely because this guy's parents who broke my heart they discipled me after this whole marriage blew up and I end up in prison and I I get released because I'm pregnant that was the miracle that saved my life really yeah I ended up finding I was pregnant when I was in prison yeah and so um his parents discipled me like it's crazy you know God had a whole other plan going but but I gotta tell you you know where I really where I had my encounter with Christ in all of this on day three I'm locked up I go to sleep I have a dream and in this dream and an angel appears to me on a cloud she's dressed all in white like a nun with big blue eyes first thing I noticed is she looks exactly like my grandmother my grandma had brown hair and big blue eyes the Italian yeah and I'm like it's so cinematic this dream it went and and I I always tell people I don't even know if it wasn't open heaven I don't know what happened I I all I know is it was as real to me vision um yeah and so she has something in her hands it's a book and she holds it out to me and she says do you know what this is and I said no and I look at the book and it says good news on it and she goes this is God's Word he's gonna send it to you I'm gonna bring it and if you read it he'll save you and it'll change your life and I in this dream I'm just like grandma like I so I drift back to sleep I get a knock on my cell door I'm day three I've been locked up I don't know if anybody knows I'm alive or dead because I you know I spent I mean I'm married now to a crazy man and I don't know what's going on yeah I get a knock on the door on my cell door and this woman who caught my tu chests and your MIT huge' she ran the women's side of the prison the Brigadier she knocks on the door and she gets the girl from the cell next door Rita who I would later find out was in prison with her sister for robbing a bank they got seven years there in the cell next door eventually she and I would become friends because she wanted to learn English and I needed to learn Italian fluently so with the help of the English Italian dictionary that they brought to my cell door that morning I would teach her English with by using the lyrics to Beatles songs and she would teach me Italian she loved the Beatles so the two of them come to my cell door and they basically translate with the diction the English Italian dictionary that there's a woman who's coming to see me so as they say this I look to my left and walking down the hall this corridor in this prison is this little lady she's dressed all in white from head to toe she has big blue eyes and looks exactly like my grandmother all right hold that as we're we're going to break in a few seconds hey this is great so check this out Cynthia is actually going to be doing a conference in San Clemente on May 11th at 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. it's at Vista Del Mar School in San Clemente you could go to wws they're rising calm to get more information is this thing free or does it cost it costs yeah and you can also get information at Cynthia Garrett org Cynthia Garrett org for more information it's going down may 11 9 a.m. to see now 180 days 5 6 461 73 or post your questions using the hashtag live Ryan riess on his Instagram Twitter or Facebook I think I speak for the entire administration when I say [Music] now back to live with Ryan Ruiz we are back in studio with Cynthia Garrett in the first half has been insane if you want to catch them this past show you could download the whosoever's app and get it there or on youtube but the first half has been crazy so check this out Cynthia right before the break you were talking about you had this dream and you were locked up in jail your boy actually your husband at this time yeah was drug smuggler you had no idea yeah you're in Italy the cops chase you down you end up locked up on your 10th day yeah of your honeymoon yep I don't suggest this for you listeners yeah no but then you have a dream and are you pray to God you have a dream and you see this say what you saw day three I'm locked up I go to sleep at night begging God to reveal himself to me you know like God and it was sad because I was I really I was like you know what Lord I don't even know how to pray like you're like the best friend that I don't even talk to like I don't know you and if I'm gonna be here for 25 years which is what they were telling me at the time then I need to know you if this is where my life is gonna end I want to know you that's all I wanted how long were you facing um 25 to 27 years yeah and yeah you're just like this this could be it yeah and you know I run off and marry a guy you don't know and wake up in a nightmare and yeah you might end up in some gnarly or stuff than that but it's crazy you know so I go to sleep at night I have a dream and in that dream I was saying before the break this woman appears to me and she looks like an angel so I'm like okay I'll go with that it's an angel but she was dressed all in white like a nun but I figured out Catholic school and you have Catholic backgrounds out because you went to Catholic school life so Jesus speaks to people the way they can relate right totally and she's like appears on this cloud I'm very visual in cinematic so it was very visual in cinema yeah it's got this book she holds out a book to me I look at the book it says good news on it and she says do you know what this is this is God's Word and if you read it when he sends it to you it's gonna change your life and he's gonna say you and I'm like oh my gosh and I in the dream I'm crying and I'm interfacing with this woman who looks just like my grandmother by the way who was Italian and I drift off to sleep I wake up in the morning the woman who runs a woman side of the prison and the girl from the cell next door have come over and they have this English Italian dictionary and there's like someone's coming to see you and so as they're translating this to me walking down the hall comes the person who's coming to see me and I look and it's this little woman who's dressed all in white with these big blue eyes and looks just like my grandmother and just like the angel from the dream and when she approaches me she holds out her hand and she pulls her hand from under her her nun's habit right she's a nun yeah yeah and and she holds out a book to me and she says in Italian do you know what this is this is God's Word he sent it to you I'm bringing it to you and if you read it he'll save you and it'll change your life and I look at the book in your hand and it says the good news Bible and I flipped out I just flipped flipped and I needless to say got on the top bunk in isolation in that cell and I spent every day reading it from cover to cover from page one I didn't know how to read I didn't know where to start so I started at Matthew from page one Matthew Mark Luke John asked and I went all the way through the book of Revelation and God became alive to me for the first time in my life and where was the point that you are like all right Jesus forgive me and come into my life or were you just reading the Bible or oh it was the moment when you were like okay I'm his daughter that well the moment that I that this happened and I passed that I mean I literally fainted when you pick me up off the floor I was crying I I was just I mean yeah God sent the angel from my dream yeah with the Bible like yeah it was so out there to me and I never felt more loved you know like he sees me yeah you know it's like when someone has a word a prophetic word for you or something it's like God sees me that's crazy right he sees me knows me and then as I read the Bible I realized he really knows me and his plans for me are good and he he he has a whole life for me and and and and and hope and a foundation and all these things that we read about but it's true and the more that I realize it was true the more I began to understand that my identity from day one really was as his daughter and that's why all the things that didn't make sense the sexual abuse me being raped as a teenage girl the emotional brokenness and the pain that I was in all of it made sense when you start to realize that you're God's son or daughter you begin to understand that the things that do come against you are quite possibly the enemy attacking you to keep you from understanding how important the calling on your life is because we're all called for a plan and that purpose and there's only one of you and there's only ever gonna be one of you and God has a mission for you individually and that's every person yeah amen every person there's glory in your story you know that's the thing we all have a story and there is if we give God our mess I always say he loves to take our messes and make a message you know because for me I realized that the power of this story and my testimony God now uses for me in my life today every tool everything I've been through every experience I've had is like a tool in my in a tool box and when I'm preaching and sharing the gospel which we are created for fellowship and to to share the gospel of Jesus Christ I mean we are created for that were created to live as a son or a daughter were created for all these promises and and were created to impact the world and to change the atmosphere when we walk in a room and to shift cultures and environments and it's like we're there's so much inside of us so much power because of Jesus Christ living in us and being alive in us and we often it's those negative words we were talking about at the beginning we listen to the negative words instead of listening to the promises and the and the words of God for our life and we've got to begin to substitute those for the other one and the only way you're gonna know what God says about you is to dig into that book you were talking about they're good it's called the good news it's the Bible the Holy Bible the good news is the DNA of Jesus Christ it's the Bible as we read that it's like I'm a skater so if I don't read the magazines or I don't know the tricks or I don't skateboard I'm a poser and then the same way us as Christians or musicians you know or if you if you write films or whatever if you're say you're a film you know a scriptwriter or whatever but you don't write opposing to be something in the same way Christians if we give our life to Christ we need to read the Bible so we know what we believe when we know what God says about us and who we are in Christ if not you can't just give your life to God and then not not seek Him yeah you know not nobody says about you because if you don't know what he says about you then you're gonna fall for the lies of all the garbage that people have said about you and what the culture says who you are and what you should be yeah that's the whole defining that's that's where you find your identity that's the real fake news news it's like I'm telling you man it's like for me getting to know myself and what God thought about me was just I mean it was life altering yeah changed my life and and honestly there's this other level of you know I came back from that experience I was there two years fighting to get home from Italy and ended up having to escape from the country and then it was ten years before I ended up getting a full absolution from Silvio Berlusconi who's the former president of Italy like crazy story yeah but when I look at my life today I realize like I came back God blessed me with all these childhood dreams I had you know I wanted to work on TV yeah you know I wanted to be famous I wanted famous brands I want to do all this stuff and and in a certain sense there was a point in the middle of all of that where I realized like God had given me this really cool car but I put him in the back seat again and I would sort of look behind me every now and then and go thank you for the blessings God thank you for saving me thank you for giving me my own TV shows thank you for giving me all this stuff okay here we go and I was about to hit you know run the car into a wall again and I started feeling like okay wait a minute Lord you saved me for way more than this and success can never fill the void that you filled in that prison cell in Italy so there was a point where I got on my face and I counted the cost and I counted it all as lost all I wanted was the excellencies of knowing Christ and I surrendered and I love to say that there are a whole lot of people listening who are saved but not surrendered yep and we live in a country this isn't the back seat yeah a lot and we live in a country that's really put Jesus in the back seat and guys if you don't wake up and pay attention Jesus isn't even gonna be in the car at all and we've got to stop being Sunday Christians we're not made for Sunday Christianity we're made for lifestyle surrendered Christianity and that's the only place that you get the promises of God that's it that's where the power is like you can't straddle the fence you know if you got one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom all you have is a pain in the grind it ain't gonna work true you gotta get off the fence yep you know yeah and yeah there's a there's a lot of people that um you know I've talked who I was talking to the other day buzz just talking about how there's a lot of Christians that say they're they're Christians but then you look at their life and they're still doing the same stuff they've been doing for the when they first gave their life to the Lord there's six years later and they're like then they wonder why I don't know if God's not really working in my life I'm like dude there's been like no surrender Jesus says the head to the cross tonight yourself in Lucas is daily pick up your cross and follow me it's not about the but the body appetites it's about surrendering every day am I gonna wake up and am I gonna surrender to God surrender the body appetites and the more you surrender the blessings come God wants to bless you you know he wants to bless you in all aspects with relationships you know when you say buddies people like to think money or something you know he could boss you with money - that's awesome - but he blesses you in so many different ways you were saying how like you know from a young age you've always wanted to do these great things you know you wanted to do scripts and television and brands and all these things God put those desires in your heart when you just like every listener God knit you together in your mother's room he created you with these desires but as you give your life to him and you surrender that's when he's gonna give you those heart's desires and more I always thought oh man I got the life I'm managing the number one skateboard team in the world I'm working with the biggest rock and and and hip hop bands on the planet what would God do with my life if I give my life to him I'm gonna lose all this dude I surrendered and I'm doing way more than I ever have a man but it comes down to a daily Oh true its I can't I tell you I walked away from my career in Hollywood for a season and I didn't I figured it was gonna be forever because I I you know God brought restoration into my life years after all of this in the form of a husband and a father for the son that I became and I got pregnant with from my first marriage and I mean the fact that's a whole other miracle the fact that I gave birth in the midst of this craziness and three months in jail and two years under house arrest and that would that still blows my mind because my son he I mean he shouldn't have survived I was I had so much pollution in my body from the drugs that I had done prior and so much abuse from this man that I ran off with and so much stress and drama that I my body tried to abort when I was in that prison cell I mean literally I started bleeding and God was talking to me on the pages of the Bible saying I've got this you will have this child and I stayed in bed and stayed in bed for like three months I mean the whole time I was there it's just a crazy story but years later when God brought a husband let's talk about that we have 14 minutes left and I know there's some details we need to go over in the studio yeah my testimony is in the studio so okay so all that to say and then God starts restoring you you're digging into the word you find out who you are in Christ and it's so much more freedom you're not caught up in the bondage of the lies and it's just freedom huh freedom yeah complete complete freedom and listen when you can feel complete freedom in a prison cell more than you've ever felt in your life you know it's God no it's God and when I surrendered it was like it's scary sometimes to surrender I hear it for people out there because you don't know what your life is gonna look like so like along comes a man of God yeah and I'm like and he's like let's get married and I have no idea how to be in a sec in an in a Christian marriage I mean I I just don't know I don't have any grid for it my parents got divorced when I was a kid I was I was divorced if my marriage was ever even a marriage and you know it's like what stood out to him stood out from him like how did you know his how did you know this guy was a real legit Christian dude because I could talk to him about the deep things of Christ and that blew my mind and all I wanted at that point in my life after full surrender was to know and be fully immersed in my relationship with God that was it and so I could ask him questions and he was able to answer my questions and teach me things about Christ right he wasn't a sunday Christian no not at all Roger Roger Charles is the real I actually know him yeah listeners and he is the real deal one hundred percent yeah yeah he's faithful twenty men died [Laughter] and I guess so honey we actually well pull the mic up to your mouth we actually met because of Cynthia's son Christian really so I was not the one that introduced you to me so oh that's right that's how we met him he saw the I am second film that I did the short film on my testimony and he's like you Ryan and I said yeah and that's because you got to meet my dad that's right and that's my baby from that crazy first marriage that I got pregnant with you unbelievable yeah he saved my life the only reason I was released for that prison cells because it turned out I was pregnant yeah that was the night god yeah God's grace that's why yeah yeah I was that woman saved in childbirth yeah you know I know it's a kind of a loose interpretation but for me it's really real God's judgment yeah and so Roger ended up coming into my life and I I knew after everything I've been through and that by point I'm a single mom and my son is 14 yeah and I was like there's no way I'm gonna ever let a guy mess this up this is my miracle baby yeah and it it was only because Roger was a real special man of God that could be the role model that I would want for my son and he we dated for four years celibate you know I didn't have that testimony but I have it now that is hardcore yeah yeah he stood with me I had a lot of inner healing to go through I had to break off all those paradigms like I was you know I grew up and learned how to be a girl on Sex in the City that's not right girls like if you want to be a wife if you want a husband you gotta be the wife you know you gotta like you have to be the person you want to attract and so I needed a lot of healing work and I needed forgot to change a lot of my paradigms and so he walked it out with me for four years and we walked it out celibate because I had tried it my way long enough so I was like I think I'm gonna try it God's Way yeah I think I'm gonna see how this works and if you want it then you should have put a ring on it like there's a reason why girls like get so crazy about that song it's because girls it's true we're Queens we're daughters of a king and he won't he wants the best he wants the whole fairytale for us and so God restored my home and gave my son a father and we through that child and my husband I found myself in ministry you know it started when my son went to college and I walked away from my career and was like I just want to teach the gospel yeah it's it I want to teach young people the gospel I want to love young people I like hanging out with kids I just want to teach them about Jesus mm-hmm I love it I like the way you're delivering it to there has to be a whole army of new generation of people rising up and speaking the truth and not sugar sugar coating it because that's not that's that's why there's someone that's why the kids aren't coming to church because there's no connection you know Oh our youth group kids are going through bull you want to bet go read the Barna Group book is Gen Z if you want to know what's really going on and you're you go start talking about these certain issues and you're gonna notice that every kid in your youth keeps going through one thing or another we have to come direct in love and let them know hey guess what struggles you're going through we've been through them and you're not alone and there has to be a whole army of people rising up to reach us this next generation and empower them and introduce them to that call that God's calling for the Great Commission our mission is the Great Commission once you find out that Great Commission it's great believe me and your whole life will transform I want I want to hit you up on a quote that you said that on your study I watched or your testimony you were talking about how there's all these young girls you know me my wife we're talking about this to a lot of young girls you see in the church like I want to get married I want to get married yeah tell me about that yeah I love it I like they didn't read proverbs 31 yeah figure out how to be that girl be happy by yourself and on your own delighting yourself in the Lord and then he can give you the desire of your heart because you know I think it's most that that I want to be I want I want to be married I want to be married and I I mean I find myself looking at a lot of these young girls saying that and I'm like well what about you should a guy marry like are you ready to be married what do you contribute you know what do you add and and there you know two halves don't make a hole we know this you want to have a whole guy and a whole you and and then you have a whole union and the two of you become one but it it it amazes me how many young Christian girls have this longing to be married and it it kind of makes me makes me pause because I'm like okay what are you running from what are you not dealing with because you don't need to long after being married you just need to be comfortable growing and being you for you God created you to be and then the right guy is gonna come alongside that and you're gonna realize that the two of you make a more powerful unit together but you don't need each other you know nothing should be born of need need Jesus yes not even good yes and that even goes for a lot of people that are dealing with all kinds junk in their life and they're like I just want to get married well you're gonna bring all that junk into your marriage and same goes with guys as well same thing you know I'm just want to get married but then you look at their life things that are going on you're like if you and those kind of the same people kind of attract each other as well there's many situations that I can tell you right now people that are in this have the same junk going on in their life no one's happy there's much of their hopeless alcoholics all the stuff and they're they're dating and they want to get married and all this stuff and yeah you're like are you kidding me you just want the bomb to be like Norfolk this is not gonna work what you just said you need Jesus yeah Jesus let him come in let the torrents of living water start manifesting in your life removing all that stuff in your life he'll show you who you are and then he'll bring that mr. mister on mr. right or mrs. right in his time yeah yeah you if not you're just attracting what you are yeah I mean I attracted a whole lot of what I was for a long time and it was all a broken wreck you know and sure I mean you know even the guy that I ran off and married who could have predicted that I would wake up in that nightmare married to someone with a completely new identity yeah but but I was selling myself short and taking my life for granted and you know really and truly trying to numb too much pain with drugs and alcohol to pay attention to the fact that I was jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire and so it's about getting present with the Lord I guess just get yourself clearer and present with the Lord we have four minutes left so what would you say to the listeners right now how do they get presents and clear with the Lord what would you suggest man just want it you know if you if you feel cloudy or you feel like you're searching for things in the wrong places or you feel unfulfilled you know like you're in a lot of relationships that aren't going anywhere I think all you really have to do is stop even now even now and just say god I want to know you you know I I surrender geez I hear what these guys are talking about and if and and and won't you just accept me you know come into my life take over take over my life come into my heart you know teach me to think and get a Bible man you know you guys I I read the good news Bible it was I call it the Bible for third-graders I need it yeah if it were for King James I'd never be saved I know you know God wants us to understand what he has to say I like the New Living Translation personal amen I can't I got it like a fourth grade reading level anywhere so I get a Bible know the word get some friends who love Jesus get into a church find any church you know calling the Ryan show do something but get yourself aligned with people you know are truly walking out the Word of God every day and go all the way in half way will get you nowhere you want all the promises go all the way in it's important too because the people that you're hanging out with you know the direction you're going by the people you're hanging out with that's that's the bottom line I mean you could tell by looking around who you're hanging out with what direction your life's gonna be going and that's for you guys listen just think about it I mean all my friends are still my friends but I've surrounded myself with people that love God and that want to do great things in life and we all inspire each other it's like we all get together we talk about ideas and we want to do things and we do things but and that's that's that's what you need to do is you need to give your life to God and it's so II this is awesome because it's Easter tomorrow and what did Jesus do he came on a rescue mission out of eternity to die for the sins of the world from anyone so whosoever anyone from bum's the president's that would believe in him by faith that he died on the cross and he raised from the third day shall live I mean Jesus Christ split time in half we had before the death of Christ and after the death of Christ he existed he came he died he raised from the dead and tomorrow we celebrate the resurrection and this is how you're gonna know he's real you asked for forgiveness ask him to send His Holy Spirit he's gonna encounter you with his presence right near where you're at so just do it it's that simple whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life you could do it today right now any last words tomorrow's Easter that's crazy yeah it is it's so my last words you know honestly I could take the last second and ask you guys to please support me at Sofia Garrett ministry Esther rising is the movement that I feel is a mandate on my life to call forth the Esther calling and young women you are special you are unique and this is our time you know women secular women are stepping in a position godly women need to step into position the doors are open and we need to be the ones leading a generation of young women for Christ because that's where the truth is and that's where that's where we will change our nation and so yeah just in closing plug your plug your website so they can find out about your conferences okay Cynthia Garrett dot-org Cyn thi HEA r r ett or you can check out Esther - rising calm I love you guys I love you thank you thank you we love you guys we'll talk to you guys next Saturday he's this has been live with Ryan race to connect or find out more about riots click on Ryan - Reese comm check us out next Saturday at 9:00 p.m. for live with Ryan Reese

Channel: Ryan Ries

Views: 2,425

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: The Whosoevers, K-WAVE, Ryan Ries, Calvary Chapel Golden Springs, Calvary Chapel, Holy Spirit, Live with Ryan Ries, Rape, Molested, African American, Italian, Drugs, Alcohol, Bank, American Indian, Identity, College, Sexual Abuse, Business, Entrepreneur, Lies, Esther-Rising, Cynthia Garrett, Purity, Model, Lenny Kravitz, Sex, Paris, Cocaine, Jail, USC, Beverly Hills, Discipleship, Book, Angel, Good News, Nun, Grandmother, Blue Eyes, Bible, Hope, Brokenness, Glory, Culture, Kill the Noise Tour, Freedom, Celibate

Id: fYxuvpMki1w

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019