Lysa TerKeurst and Sheila Walsh: When Life Falls Apart (LIFE Today complete program)

[Music] the following program is sponsored by friends of Life outreach international next on life today Lisa turkeys and Sheila Walsh discuss God's faithfulness even in the most painful of times I don't want to make it more tidy than it is trust me I mean there have been years of me laying in my bed by myself weeping and at 2:00 a.m. in the morning feeling like Jesus today would be a really good day this minute would be a really good minute few just come on back you know what I'm saying [Music] [Music] they're doing nothing like today I'm Betty and this is Jason we have two wonderful guests I'm telling you and they are great guests and they're great writers and they're great speakers and communicators Lisa Turco's is here Sheila Walsh is here this book it's not supposed to be this way if you could see the picture up close she's upside down not supposed to be that way and Sheila is saying it's okay not to be okay I think she was in it's okay please talk to us would you welcome Lisa and Sheila to life today the last guest we'd had Sheeler in the week and you were telling everybody what happened physically when you just - you know if it hadn't been for pain you're dead pain saves your life and it was the most horrific indescribable and we won't want the details of everything they removed but you did say probably a lot of everybody be better off if they had everything removed you had a lot of the wrong storage department anyway the point is that you have been found out she had cancer but in the midst of all this while all this is happening your husband has been unfaithful yes and he allows you to tell your journey which it was terrible starting to have some repair then backed up again and then you basically said you'd had it fed up right well I didn't use those words that was the jest the situation yeah yeah and then in the middle of all of that I found out that I had breast cancer and you know I think my first reaction when I found out I had breast cancer in the midst of all of the other hard things happening honestly my first reaction was god there's going to be a lot of people that are real upset that you've now allowed this to happen and he and and you know I I just I felt in my heart that that God was going to give me a perspective that would that would give me a sense of his strength in the journey I just didn't know how it would come and and and it came in such a strange way because we had been working on our marriage and I thought we were at the place where we're about to renew our vows and then the addictions that he had been struggling with cycled back in and things fell apart again and and that was that was the point at which I knew the story was going to come out it was becoming more and more apparent to me that though I had kept our story private for 18 months that this story was going to come out and I had the hard choice to either react to someone else telling the story or for me to be the one to ask people for prayer wrap it in that kind of tone and get out in front and let me share my own story and so I posted a blog telling the world what was going on and it was the hardest thing that I have ever ever done now if art were here today he here on the program today he would say it was actually the best thing that ever happened to him because it forced him to face some things that before that he just hadn't faced and that'll be his story to tell one day but can I ask you what was the response when it went out coming back to you what was the feedback well I feared that it would be a lot of condemnation criticism I just had this this notion in my head of what the response would be and and it was quite the opposite the church did what the church should do and they rallied and they prayed that needs to become the consistent practice yeah and you just threw me but see to me what you and your husband are going through is the supernatural work of God and then the supernatural effect of that even taking effect and then that coming back because it's going to take this kind of exchange to heal all the ills in our nation the ills in the church but but once you shift to that the healing is quite remarkable and miraculous isn't it actually I don't want to make it more tidy than it is trust me I mean there have been years of me laying in my bed by myself weeping and at 2:00 a.m. in the morning feeling like Jesus today would be a really good day this meant it would be a really good minute for you just come on back you know what I'm saying and so I don't want to make it seem so hyper spiritual all the time or super tidy because it wasn't but I can trace God's hand of faithfulness and every identification of his faithfulness big and small that became me trading my fledgling strength for an acceptance of history and the miraculous thing that happened with the cancer though is when when I finally posted that blog I took a sabbatical and I my intention was to rest completely and I'm such a hyper person that lasted about three weeks and then I was like peeling the paint off my wall you know just I couldn't stand it so I decided to make all those appointments you never have time to make and it wasn't time for me to have another mammogram because I've had so many clear mammograms but I went ahead and did it anyways and that was the mammogram that came back I never had a tumor it was not detectable in any way it was a flat line of cancer that they found but because they found it right then they were able to do a double mastectomy surgery I didn't have to have chemo I didn't have to have radiation the prognosis was great and I've been declared cancer-free and I praise God for that right but here's what I don't want you to miss if my marriage would not have imploded for a second time I wouldn't have gone to get that mammogram and if I hadn't gone to get the mammogram I would probably be telling a different story today so I just again the faithfulness of even of God even in the midst of the heartbreak and the horrific I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to me again and yet even in that God used it for good and that's what it means but when I'm learning not to rely on my own strength it means identifying don't miss those places of God's faithfulness even in the midst of the hurt and the heartbreak and the horrific because that's where you can gain his strength to to help you Lisa has an incredible gift to communicate it's all of your hearing and your hearing and it's here in the book too it's there's an anointing that's equal on her pen and her writing it's supernatural so when she walks with you through this journey you'll find yourself literally in the presence of the Lord and I believe more sensitive to his voice and his will and he can have a transforming effect now see that you've been knowing her a long time you know this journey you know how shocking and what the effect has been and what's happened and your book it's okay not to be okay but when you listen to her you watch what's happening tell me what's going on in your mind and what you would want viewers and people to hear well honestly it was devastating because Lisa is one of the most she's one of the strongest women I know one of the best Bible teachers one of the most consistently faithful people someone who's always had a hunger to dive deeper into God's Word so when we first when I first heard of what was going on with with art and then with our health and then I'll never forget the night that Lisa I don't remember you called or texted to tell me about the breast cancer and it was like Lord you've got to be kidding you know what I mean how much more can this one person bear but I have to say God trusts you with a lot you know I think that God there's there's times when the amount of pain that she's gone through is an indication to me of the level that God trusts her with saying you know this isn't not gonna be easy and the thing I loved about everything you did during your journey when we would talk she never pretended like oh praise God this is all wonderful she was gut-level honest sure and I think that was such a beautiful thing to the Lord a gift to the Lord and honestly I'd say that to you no matter what you are in right now do not edit yourself don't think you have to say the right thing to God he is your father he loves you if you're in pain tell him you're in pain if you don't understand tell me to understand if you're disappointed with God be honest enough to tell him that and then I love what Psalm 34 says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit and I have to say the fragrance that has risen out of the crushing in Lisa's life is I cannot wait to see what God will do and the rest of the years of your life it will be beautiful how do you respond to what you just heard well first of all I think Sheila is one of those people you want in your life because I know when my faith gets shaky I can go and stand on hers and if you don't have a friend like that pray for a friend like that and here's how you can identify that there's a safe person like Sheila has been for me I know Sheila has prayed more words for me then she's talked about me or to me and that is how you know that's that friend that you can go stand on their faith when you can't find footing in your own faith and if you don't have a person like that in your life I would say get Sheila's book because that is I'm serious that's like you may not be able to call Sheila at 2 a.m. but you can pick up her book and you can get the same things the very same things that Sheila would say to me if I called her at 2:00 a.m. if that's what you're gonna find in the message of her book she's real she's honest she doesn't ever make you feel like you're not spiritual enough and I am just so thankful I'm thankful for the way that you communicate in person in your messages and and as a friend so cute Lisa because if we live very long we're gonna say it's not supposed to be this way I know I have in my life on my journey and it's okay not to be okay so as we walk on our journeys because they're all gonna have challenges we're gonna have tragedy possibly loss in our life but the one thing we know is God is true to his word and that he loves us he will walk through it with us and just like you said earlier on an earlier show God's ways our ways are not necessarily God's Way his plan is always better I found that true in my life and I think if you hang on cling to God we'll find that to be true in your life too you know one of the things I pray that all of you somehow look grasp and that is the importance of having a friend did you know that the number one call that comes to our our phone center and you know we always ask people to help others but nearly 90% always over 80% of the calls every day are not calls to our phone center to help somebody their calls for prayer and many of them are challenges physically but one of the main cries of the people who call in is I'm lonely who would you please share well you better believe we will and the people who are in our prayer center are people many of them who've been through unbelievable journeys of pain and I've seen the miraculous work of God and here's one of the things I say to our viewers overall and I want you to hear this if you're someone who is saying I'd have trouble finding a shoulder to lean on or someone to talk to well I've asked everyone watching us pray God will make you a shoulder for someone to lean on and I promise you this if you'll start saying God make me someone's friend you'll be surprised how many friends will show up who need you to be a friend but who will ultimately become your friend could you two ladies say that you've observed that actually happening when people do decide I'm gonna be would it embarrass somebody's load then a lot of times doors open for absolutely and I think it's one of the great gifts of being a community the body of Christ that you know it days when I'm maybe not feeling so strong you know knowing that that I have a friend like Lisa R and like you Betty I've watched you walk through unthinkable pain I cannot I don't even want to go there I don't want to think of what it's like to lose a child but I've watched that in the midst of that that you stand strong and you still love Jesus and you keep walking forward and I just want to thank you for the tremendous witness you are to the world that you can suffer the worst thing a mother could imagine and still walk on faith I want to thank all of you who pray for us because you've held us up you know we're giving you a Peter Pretorius book death defying faith then I think that one of the greatest things that I'm you know you ladies know that you've been here a lot you're now part of the life outreach life today staff mission team has seen but you've been here a lot wouldn't you agree our viewers are the most unbelievable people in the world about wanting to help phenomenal and I've walked with Peter by those gravesites were children are buried in angola and seen the desperation the peter always showed me the hope this the first bowl of food reverses a cycle from death to life that we can we can make update i've seen it with my own eyes the difference it can be made we'll see the thing i'd like for you all to know is that you are a safe place for our guests to come and share their heart you're a wonderful place to come and share their message their witness because they believe you'll carry and when you take the mission outreaches like Peter Potamus inspired when he just cried out because we were so moved we said I think we'll just move over here and help you and he said don't he wasn't he didn't like us when he said don't move over here he said James please don't don't please go back and ask people to help us so we can stay here and do the work and let me tell you something you became miracle workers you became answer not only the missionaries prayers but a lot of Mom's prayers for their children and we praise God for that now I want to say this to you these two ladies appreciate your love and your prayers you pray for them and the challenges that they face you pray for their ministries you pray for everything God's call both of them to do and just know that they're also praying for you would you join Betty me saying thanks and their book selling the book stores seeds and Lisa's and I'm telling you you're not going to be bored you're gonna be inspired and moved and I want to do something that I know both of you want us to do I want to show our viewers where they can put loving arms around children and give them life now and life eternal because we lead these people to the Lord when you show them love and you give them life they can hardly wait to experience personally the source of that life it's beautiful watch closely another sunrise in Angola getting ready for a long week in the bush as Randy Robinson and the mission team traveled deeper into remote areas thoughts come to mind about what lies ahead in the next few days when we come into an area like this we're coming here and first thing we heard was singing why because of this this is the mission feeding program in action and we were putting a smile on their faces there you go let's see how it as the mission team travels further they enter villages where there is no joy no singing because they don't have a feeding program crops have failed because of drought and mothers are struggling to just keep their children alive this is Cecilia she just buried her four-year-old son Pedro unfortunately that's not uncommon around here just in the two days we've been here we've seen five deaths things turn from bad to worse as the team made their way to a malnutrition clinic a day Randi will never forget he arrived to the sound of mothers wailing over the loss of their children who had just died what do you do what do you say to a mother has just lost a child I can't imagine all I could do was hold her hand and pray just pray that God would comfort her Angola has one of the highest mortality rates in the world for children under the age of five due to the effects of malnutrition graves like these echo the heartache of countless families devastated by this silent killer they have dug these graves because they know they are expecting death but I am expecting life because I know the mission feeding saves lives we can stop all of this death by putting food into a bowl [Music] you know our children have been to mission fields grandchildren have been there and every time they say it changes their lives Betty when you watch course you see our son there you've watched our family you've seen how it has impacted their lives but when you see the need and the heartache and then you know what feeding does what's going on in your mind you know as I was watching that and I saw the smiles on their faces whenever they got their bowls with some food in it it wasn't a frown because that's not what I wanted I wanted a hamburger I wanted something different they were so grateful just to have some something to feed the children something to give them and those children were smiling like that had a steak put before them or anything just what we would consider gourmet or something like that no it was just a bowl of nutritious Paresh James that would help them help them to survive help them to live help those mothers not have to bury their babies what a difference we can make we have made that difference before but here's another need and I know you're gonna step up and you're gonna join with us let's put some food in the bowls for those children let's look for the smiles you know as you were trying to describe it it is a porridge it's almost like an oatmeal base but in each area the scientists and nutritionists work with our missionaries and they analyze the nutritional needs in that particular area that region for what is lacking and then they mix it in to the nutritious mix our mix is so effective that the United Nations asked us if we would make food for them the UN did USAID and NASA's can yet we can't we can't keep up with what we've got our hands on but it is so effective and it's effective because of the love of God flowing through these missionaries and then the very fact that we can do it and continue it is because viewers of life today and this was the shocking thing I mean Peter Pretoria said if you could just give us some help so we can stay here and do the work and when I came home and asked I had no idea nearly thirty years ago what you would do but what you have done is you're now approaching fifteen million lives saved by the feeding program alone not even counting all of the well-drilling and all the beautiful water wells over 6,000 of those you have reached down in love and work miracles would you right now take your bank card please go get it go online the website or dial that number and would you make the best gift you can 30 50 or $100 we can feed three five or ten children for the next month's if there's any way you could help us feed ten please do four hundred thousands a lot of kids and we have a limited time in which to raise the money to cover these months would you please would you right now get that card would you make the gift no if you want to send the check in make it to life but please call us and tell us you're sending it would you do that we have some gifts to send you Peter Peters has wonderful life story some beautiful beautiful pens that you were loved and also the wonderful painting by Thomas Kincade please follow the leadership of God and reach out and touch someone with his love please do it thank you so much in impoverished and drought stricken areas of Africa children are suffering the need is great and without food they face severe malnutrition even death through life's mission feeding outreach you can save lives by feeding and caring for children currently suffering in parts of Angola Mozambique and South Sudan with previous reserves gone and mission feeding helping in areas with severe crop failure we urgently need your support to replenish food supplies to reach the 400,000 children who are counting on us you're a life-saving gift of 30 50 or 100 dollars will help feed and care for three five or ten children for three full months with your gift of any amount we'll send you death defying faith the extraordinary life of miracle man Peter Pretorius this autobiography completed just days before his unexpected death chronicles the thrill-seeking adventures of missionary Peter Pretorius you will love reading how God took this ordinary man and performed extraordinary miracles throughout all of Africa with your gift of $100 or more request a beautiful faith and hope pen set - beautifully crafted pens featuring the key words of Hebrews 11:1 a key verse for every believer especially when facing adversity trials and challenges finally with your gift of $1,000 or more to help feed and care for 100 children be sure to request a bridge of faith framed canvas bread by Thomas Kincade please call write or make the gift online today well Betty and I say in behalf of just you know 400,000 children and their families that are gonna be grateful thank you the book death-defying faith I promise you you'll find this is a very inspirational book and remember releases book is in the bookstores and so is Sheila's and I promise you they will be a blessing to you join me and Betty thank all the people watch them thanks so much for your help encourage the Prince to watch life today every day and share life today [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 45 minutes later I stepped on a 60-pound mine bloom is several feet into the air sergeant Tim leave next week life today is made possible by the supporters of Life outreach international your gift will be used exclusively for the exempt purposes of life the ministry features specific outreaches as examples of the programs it supports and conducts gifts are considered to be without restriction as to use unless explicitly stipulated by the donor the ministry is a member of the EC FA

Channel: lifetodaytv

Views: 66,912

Keywords: life today, james, robison, christian, television, tv, interview

Id: GghQ3PBwoIE

Length: 28min 30sec (1710 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 06 2018