Unexpected Testing, Steadfast Faith | Kristine Brown

In this episode:

If you know God is real and that he is faithful, why do you keep imagining the worst? Kristine Brown was living frazzled, stumbling through the same pattern of defeat week after week. When she came face-to-face with her worst-case-scenario, a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, she knew something had to change. Through her journey with cancer, God taught her how to trust him like she means it.

About Kristine Brown:

Kristine Brown is a communicator at heart, ministry wife, mom, stepmom, and Mimi. She is a former chronic worrier who loves connecting with women today and teaching about women of the Bible. You’ll find encouragement to help you “become more than yourself through God’s Word” at her website, morethanyourself.com. Any given day you can find her texting her young adult kids, checking on neighbors, or searching for a new way to cook broccoli.

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Discussion Highlights from Unexpected Testing, Steadfast Faith

  • This week I talked with my guest Kristine Brown about how she has discovered that God is still there in the middle of the worry, even with a difficult diagnosis. And she shares a little bit of her story and some of the wisdom that she learned as she walked through a diagnosis of cancer. And then she also shares how she's turned that into an opportunity to help other people discover God's goodness. And to learn more about how other people's stories intersect with our own and teach us something. She has specifically applied that to the story of Rahab from the Bible.
  • Kristine talked about worry and how it sometimes overwhelms her.
  • It was a busy time for Kristine and her husband, and she found herself defaulting to the mode of needing a vacation. And it was on this vacation that a terrible pain in her lower back started.
  • She shared about receiving a diagnosis of colorectal cancer and how it set off her thought patterns of all of the worst-case scenario outcomes.
  • Hard things caused her to be completely undone because she couldn’t find a way to give it to God and let him handle it.
  • She knew she needed to learn to get to a new level of trust with God. She talked about how she refocused through a study she was doing of Rahab in the Bible. She wanted to have the same certainty that Rahab had in choosing to believe what God was able to do for her.
  • Kristine learned to identify her triggers and times when she was more vulnerable. She prepared some go-to verses to have ready. She was more susceptible to doubt and worry first thing in the morning.
  • Going through this health challenge is making Kristine more aware of becoming a better listener.
  • Kristine talked about how she has to discern what is from the Lord and which words from someone else she wants to latch onto that aren’t from God.
  • She shared how she found God’s presence in the middle of an MRI.
  • Kristine says she is thankful for the journey and talked about how she got to that point. It was after treatments and she went to the surgeon that he said, “It still doesn’t look great. I’m not sure I like what I see.” She realized she was living by what she saw around her. She lived by the verse from 2 Corinthians 5:7 that we walk by faith and not by sight. In the NLT it says, “We live by believing and not by seeing.”
  • Now she realizes that she needed this transformation. God was repurposing in her.
  • Kristine learned to trust God in a way that showed she really believed in the God she knows.

Quotes to Remember from Kristine Brown

  • Trusting in God and his promises for us doesn’t always change our circumstances…But I have no doubt that it will change us.
  • I knew that God was faithful. And that was where I needed to change because I needed to be able to trust him, like I knew was possible.
  • I realized that there was a certain time of day that I was more susceptible to doubts and worry.
  • I believe a devastating diagnosis changes our perspective about what is right in front of us and being very in the moment.
  • It was in those moments of solitude, just me and the Lord, that I could come to an understanding, a deeper understanding of how much I could trust him to be there with me when I felt isolated when I felt alone, when I felt like things may not work out the way I hope. His presence brought me that comfort and peace.
  • The more we practice, the easier it becomes. And I love that God gives me chances to continue to keep trusting him day after day after day.
  • We like to be in control. And to know that when we are feeling like we're spinning out of control that God has us on firm footing, and he will keep us there. It's a wonderful feeling.
  • I become more aware that others are reading my words, and looking for some encouragement, they're in it, it helps me to truly connect with other people. And pray that the Holy Spirit is speaking through those words, and that it's, it's so much more of the Lord and not me.
  • Trusting God and trusting in his promises for us doesn't always change our circumstances. Sometimes we still have to walk through those hard things, but I have no doubt that it will change us.
  • I feel like even when we're not feeling it, even when we are afraid to get up and face the day, we can hold on to that hope without wavering because he is faithful.

Scriptures Referenced

Hebrews 10:23

Lamentations 3:22­–23

2 Corinthians 5:7

Romans 15:13

Resources

Free digital download “100 of God's Promises for Your Unraveled Heart” can be found at kristinebrown.net.

Book: Cinched: Living with Unwavering Trust in an Unfailing God

Episode Sponsor: Classic Marriage Book

Is your marriage ready for the long haul? In a marriage there will be hours of maintenance work tinkering, breakdowns, meltdowns, blow ups, cute photo UPS wear and tear overhauls, memories, vacation celebrations and repairs. There will be moments where you haul yourself back to the garage for work. Like a trusty old truck. A classic marriage isn't perfect, but who can put a price tag on it. In this book, you'll find inspiration, honesty and self-deprecating humor from the front seat of adventure with Michelle and Phil. Tips to get under the hood and keep your marriage on the road to a long future. Tune-up questions in every chapter to work on your communication tools to cool overheated emotions and repair broken hearts. You can find more at Classicmarriagebook.com and find out how to get your copy of Classic Marriage: Staying in Love as Your Odometer Climbs and the downloadable discussion questions that you can do together.

 

Transcript

Michelle Rayburn 0:01
Do you find yourself struggling with worry? Is it hard for you to trust that God might have a bigger plan in the middle of a hard thing? Well, this week I talked with my guest Kristine Brown about how she has discovered that God is still there in the middle of the worry, even with a difficult diagnosis. And she shares a little bit of her story and some of the wisdom that she learned as she walked through a diagnosis of cancer. And then she also shares how she's turned that into an opportunity to help other people discover God's goodness. And to learn more about how other people's stories intersect with our own and teach us something. She has specifically applied that to the story of Rahab from the Bible. So I hope you appreciate her insight and the resources that she shares in this episode.

Michelle Rayburn 1:01
You're listening to Life Repurposed, where you'll find practical biblical wisdom for everyday living, creative inspiration, and helpful resources. Grow your faith, improve your relationships, discover your purpose and reach your goals with topics to encourage you to find hope amid the trashy stuff of life. Thanks for joining me today. I'm your host Michelle Rayburn.

Michelle Rayburn 1:26
Let me tell you a little bit about Kristine Brown. She is a communicator at heart, a ministry wife, a mom, a stepmom, and Mimi. She's a former chronic worrier who loves connecting with women today, and teaching about women to the Bible. You'll find encouragement to help you become more than yourself through God's Word at her website www.morethanyourself.com, and I'll mention that the resources at the end again as well. Any given day, you can find Kristine texting her young adult kids, checking on neighbors, or searching for a new way to cook broccoli. Here's my interview with my guest, Kristine Brown.

Michelle Rayburn 2:06
Welcome, Kristine. Thank you so much for joining me for life repurposed.

Kristine Brown 2:10
Hi, Michelle. I'm so glad to be here with you and your listeners.

Michelle Rayburn 2:13
So we met I think on social media. Yes. Um, yeah. Oh, you responded to an email that I had sent out. And then I realized, "Oh, we're connected on social media." So I Facebook, stalked you and stalked you on Instagram a little bit.

Kristine Brown 2:28
Yes, I love social media, things like that. I was a subscriber to your email list and enjoy getting those little reminders. So I would know when new podcast episodes came out and things like that, and was glad that you reached out.

Michelle Rayburn 2:44
Yeah, looking at your story, I realized that you have a lot of threads that go with the life repurposed audience. But as we sat down today, I realized I don't really know that much about you, because we're not friends in real life. So tell me a little bit about where you live and what you love to do for fun.

Kristine Brown 3:01
I live in East Texas. I am a former school teacher turned stay-at-home writer. And recently my husband retired from pastoral ministry. He also works in the corporate world. So he is still working with that. But we are just enjoying a little bit of empty nest time together, doing some traveling when we can. And just we enjoy getting out in nature. And I also, as it says, in my bio, enjoy attempting a new recipe now and then it always doesn't turn out the way I'd hoped. But I still like to try.

Michelle Rayburn 3:42
Yeah, it's sometimes more fun to cook for people who appreciate it. And I raised boys, so they weren't really as into my recipes as I am. I know the feeling exactly. Then you mentioned broccoli. And that's like, yeah, I don't know that I could find a way to cook broccoli for them that they didn't discover it was there.

Kristine Brown 4:04
Which is kind of humorous, because I actually have broccoli sitting out in the kitchen right now ready to cook it this evening. So here we go.

Michelle Rayburn 4:12
For the listeners that are listening in on the podcast, a lot of them are still in those years of raising their kids. And so they might be trying to figure out what's for dinner tonight with kids running around.

Michelle Rayburn 4:24
We're going to be talking about what God's done in your life journey. And I hope that that inspires somebody who's listening today to just find hope in the midst of their own journey.

Kristine Brown 4:34
Absolutely. I would say to those moms enjoy every moment. And don't worry so much about what you're putting on the table just be in the moment because they do fly by.

Michelle Rayburn 4:44
They really do. So one of the things that I have read in the information about you is that one of the struggles you've had in the past has been with worry. I have a feeling that there's at least one listener, if not a whole lot of listeners out there, who can relate to a struggle with worry. So tell me a little bit more about that.

Kristine Brown 5:05
Yes, not too long ago, my husband and I were going through a season where it just seemed like it was one thing after another. I don't know if you've had those times where you feel like as soon as you find resolve in one thing that's happening, another problem pops up. And I was carrying this heaviness this weight around, and we were getting close to our emptiness season. On top of that, it was a very busy time for us. But I just couldn't seem to get relief, I wanted to just get past it and be able to live, live and enjoy life again.

Kristine Brown 5:42
So I defaulted to what I usually would do in these situations. And that is to think I need a vacation, I need a break, I just need to get away. And so we did, we planned a vacation. And on the way to vacation here I was just healthy, active woman, loved being busy love getting out and doing things. And I was experiencing suddenly out of nowhere, a very unusual pain in my lower back. And by the time vacation had ended, and we were actually driving home, the pain had escalated to the point where it was so excruciating. I was sweating, I'd never had pain so bad that I was sweating. So with some serious coaxing from my husband, I went to the doctor and came face to face with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, which was nothing I would have ever expected to happen.

Michelle Rayburn 6:44
So how did you respond to that? What was your what was your initial response when you receive that diagnosis?

Kristine Brown 6:51
Usually, Michelle, and these situations and really in anything that I would go through from the smallest of life's daily demands to the really hard things in life, my default reaction was to go to the worst case scenario. I would think of the worst possible thing that could happen. And I think that that's why when these really hard things happened, I would be completely undone. And I was overcome with worry, because I couldn't see a way out and I just couldn't figure out a way to give it to God and allow him to handle it. So here I was thinking this could be my worst case scenario. How am I going to do this? Because I knew if I didn't do something differently now I wouldn't survive it. I needed to learn how to move to a new level of trust. And the one who I knew was faithful. I just needed to figure out how to do that.

Michelle Rayburn 7:51
Okay, so I know there has to be somebody listening who's been in those shoes who received that news, who goes to the worst case scenario and is not sure what to do next. So how did you refocus and get to that place to the one you trust?

Kristine Brown 8:06
Well, it just so happened at the time that I was diving into the story of a woman in Scripture, who is named Rahab. And some of the listeners might be familiar with that name. But just to give a little background about who she is in Scripture, she was the woman who, when Joshua was leading the Israelites into the promised land after they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they were finally going to get to go into conquer the land. He sent two spies into Jericho and Rahab was the one who hid the spies. And she made a deal with them that if she helped them, that they would spare her and her family. And as I was reading Rahab story, I came across a line where she was talking to these two Israelites spies. And she said, "I know the Lord has given you this land." And I thought, How does she know? I want to know, I want to be that certain. I just can't believe she was so certain because she didn't grow up around it.

Kristine Brown 9:07
She didn't. She wasn't an Israelite, she lived in this other place. So she goes on then to say, we have heard the stories of what your God has done for your people. And she chose to believe what God was able to do for her. And her actions walked that out. And I wanted to be able to hold on to that type of certainty. So I found a scripture, as I was studying in Hebrews 10 and 23. And it says, "Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." And I realized that the way I had been living I had been living, wavering back and forth based on what my circumstances were, and I needed to learn how to hold on to hope without wavering come what may. Whatever I was about to walk into, and that started a real change for me, in my life, and this was right at the beginning of this journey. So I knew as God walked with me through this, I would see some transformation if I would just learn to trust him.

Michelle Rayburn 10:15
Did you grow up in a faith family? Or did you have a background of faith like from early on in life?

Kristine Brown 10:21
I did. My family and I went to church. I stopped going to church when I was a teenager. And then so it was kind of a surprise when I met my future husband, who was a preacher, and married him. And we didn't serve in pastoral ministry at first for quite a while in our marriage. But then I like to say we stumbled back into it. But I know that the Lord opened the doors for us to serve in a very special way. And as interim pastors at different churches and get to meet new people that way, so I did have a foundation, but hid, stepped away from the Lord for a while.

Michelle Rayburn 11:04
And then when you received the diagnosis, did you have times where you could look back and see where God had brought you through? Other challenges, other difficulties? Was there anything in your own story like you mentioned, Rahab's story? Was there anything in your story where you could point back and go, "I saw God show up there"?

Kristine Brown 11:21
I knew that God was faithful. And that was where I needed to change because I needed to be able to trust him, like I knew was possible. I read my devotions. I even memorized a verse now and then. So when I thought of myself, I thought, surely I know God is trustworthy, someone like me should definitely trust God to be able to handle this. So I needed to come up with some strategies for myself, to be able to identify those triggers in those times when I was more vulnerable to worry, and fear and panic, coming into my situation, so that I could do something about it. One thing that I learned in my time is to have God's promises readily available. So that way, instead of going to the worst case scenario, I could have a go to verse ready for me. And I think that sometimes, we struggle in certain areas. And it might not be the same as what someone else struggles with. So we have to identify that for ourselves.

Kristine Brown 12:33
For me, I realized that there was a certain time of day that I was more susceptible to doubts and worry. And that was first thing in the morning, before I ever drank my first cup of coffee, before I turn on the light, before I even open my eyes, I would start thinking about the same problem that I just prayed about the night before. And even though I'd prayed about it the night before, and then I'd slept well. I'd wake up thinking about it again and again and trying to figure out what happens if I do this. What happens if I do that? So I had to identify a promise from God's Word that would go with that.

Kristine Brown 13:15
And when I identified that trigger, and I could, you know, start into that worry first thing in the morning, then I would immediately switch to that verse. So for me since it was morning, I chose the familiar verse. I believe it's Lamentations 3:22–23. This is a paraphrase, but it's "His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness." And that was a quick and easy one for me to remember that as soon as I started the worry, I could switch to that. And it completely changed the way I started my day.

Michelle Rayburn 13:49
So you identify triggers, and you knew I have this trigger. Have you talked to other people who have had different triggers that, you know, cause them to worry more?

Kristine Brown 14:00
Yes, it's a very personal thing. And those things that the circumstances that God walks us through. He knows he knows exactly what we need. He knows exactly the word that we need for that season. And for that time. And I think that it depends too on not only our personal circumstances and situation, but a certain time in our life. Just as you mentioned before, if we have small kids at home, or school aged children are empty nest or if we're single, whatever the case, God has that promise available to us. And the more we have it readily available, the more we seek his Word and look to his promises. The more we have those that we can hold on to in those difficult times.

Michelle Rayburn 14:49
One of the things I've discovered is when I walk through something, it helps me to minister in a different way to others. So I'm wondering how having cancer has changed your ministry to other women, other people that you come across.

Kristine Brown 15:03
It definitely gives us more of an empathy and an understanding people. God puts people in our path for that time, I truly believe, and helps us. Through all of this, I learned to be able to minister more one on one and those face-to-face interactions and being very present for the people in our lives and the people in our circles is important to me. So that's something that it changes more. I believe a devastating diagnosis changes our perspective about what is right in front of us and being very in the moment. I've never considered myself a good listener. And that has been one of my goals through all of this is to be able to be present for my people and be a better listener. And if the whole if I've asked the Holy Spirit to guide me, to trust that he's doing it and to grab those opportunities when he put someone in my path for me to have a relationship with and to be able to minister to.

Michelle Rayburn 16:15
This episode is sponsored by classicmarriagebook.com Is your marriage ready for the long haul? In a marriage there will be hours of maintenance work tinkering, breakdowns, meltdowns, blow ups, cute photo ups, wear and tear overhauls, memories, vacations, celebrations and repairs, there will be moments where you haul yourself back to the garage for work. Like a trusty old truck, a classic marriage isn't perfect, but who can put a price tag on it? In this book, you'll find inspiration, honesty and self deprecating humor from the front seat of adventure with Michelle infill tips to get under the hood and keep your marriage on the road to a long future. Tune-up questions in every chapter to work on your communication tools to cool overheated emotions and repair broken hearts. You can find more at ClassicMarriageBook.com. And find out how to get your copy of Classic Marriage: Staying in Love as Your Odometer Climbs. And the downloadable discussion questions that you can do together.

Michelle Rayburn 17:23
One of the things that I've seen happen probably experienced some myself, too, is when you have something that you're going through, sometimes Christians have pat answers that they give you. So you know, like everything's gonna be fine, or God has it all under control. Have you found any of those that were especially challenging for you when you were right in the middle of really wrestling with the worry?

Kristine Brown 17:47
Michelle, that I struggle with taking in too much information. And because I love people, I love my people. And I want to hear what they have to say, I can sometimes allow a lot of different opinions to affect my heart and also to affect my decision making. And so through this, I really had to turn everything off right from the beginning, my husband and I decided that we would go to God's word first, we would only tell close family, about what we were walking through until I felt truly grounded in what God's word said about me about my situation and about His faithfulness in my life. Because we do want to help each other. And I think in the goodness of wanting to do that, like you said, we say things. And I've been known in the past to really let those things attached to me and to sink into my heart and put my trust and time and hope to those words instead of God's Word. So that was something I had to make very clear for myself, and I had to spend a lot of time just me and the Lord.

Kristine Brown 19:00
As a matter of fact, there was a time when I was preparing to get an MRI test done. And if your listeners are not familiar with that, it's an imaging where they would look to see a better picture of the cancer inside. In for an MRI, you have to go through a very small tube and it's not a pleasant experience. But it was in that moment that the technician who was administering the test said to me, "Do you have a fear of confined spaces?"

Kristine Brown 19:34
Well, just him asking that question sent my heart into a panic. But then immediately, I began to pray and I just said, "Lord, no one else is going to fit in here. But you and I. So here we go." And I just smiled at thinking that God would smile at my attempt at humor that sometimes people don't get but immediately I was able to create an image in my mind that he was right there with me. And it was in those moments of solitude, just me in the Lord, that I could come to an understanding, a deeper understanding of how much I could trust him to be there with me when I felt isolated when I felt alone, when I felt like things may not work out the way I hope, his presence brought me that comfort and peace.

Michelle Rayburn 20:31
So I know that my listeners are gonna want to know where you at with that health journey now.

Kristine Brown 20:37
At the time of our recording, I am almost three years in remission. It has been a long journey of healing and restoration. And God continues to restore me a little bit each day. And I'm, I'm thankful for that journey. And I'm thankful that I still need to look to Him, because we have a tendency to think, if I'm not trusting God, if I'm giving into worry that I'm doing something wrong, or I'm not strong enough to do this. And it's not that, that those things go away instantly, but that we learn how to stand firm in that faith and address it, it becomes easier. The more we practice, the easier it becomes. And I love that God gives me chances to continue to keep trusting him day after day after day.

Michelle Rayburn 21:32
You said you're thankful for that journey. So how long did it take for you to get to the gratitude point? Oh,

Kristine Brown 21:38
That is such a good question. I look back and I think about all the journaling all the writing down, I did because I knew there was a message in this, I wanted to write a book at some point, as a writer, I wanted to share it. But through it, it was so personal, so deeply personal that I really didn't feel ready to share. So I just wrote down everything God had done. And I think it was after treatments. When I went to the surgeon, and he looked, and he said something that really, I think helped me feel that gratitude that you were asking about, he said, "It still doesn't look great. I'm not really sure I like what I see."

Kristine Brown 22:29
And I realized that I had kind of been living in that, that I was living by what I was seeing going on around me and I wanted to whatever was happening with my situation, be able to walk in faith, that familiar verse, we walk by faith, not by sight. The New Living Translation of that is "we live by believing not by seeing," so I wanted to be able to put those blinders on and live by believing. And at that point, I realized I needed this journey. E

Kristine Brown 23:03
ven though that may sound incredibly odd to say when I'm talking about cancer, I needed this transformation. God was repurposing me and repurposing my heart through this. So even though yes, I am a walking miracle and truly believe God has done a restoring work in me. The bigger work has been in my heart through the journey, the battle with cancer.

Michelle Rayburn 23:32
That's it's hard when we're going through something, and sometimes I have all the emotions, I'm angry at God, I'm, you know, fear, I worry all of those things. But then yeah, underneath, there's this knowledge that he's still in control, even when I'm completely out of control with my own emotions.

Kristine Brown 23:52
Yes. And that we have to have that we have to have that that's the missing piece when we start relying too much on our own ability. And as go getter. Girls, we like that. We like to be in control. And to know that when we are feeling like we're spinning out of control that God has us on firm footing, and he will keep us there. It's a wonderful feeling.

Michelle Rayburn 24:17
Yeah, were you writing before your cancer journey? Or did your writing and publishing start after?

Kristine Brown 24:23
No, I had been writing for several years, several years as a school teacher. I was writing and doing both. And I had written two books. So this most recent book is actually my third publication.

Michelle Rayburn 24:38
So how did your writing change as a result of going through cancer?

Kristine Brown 24:44
Oh, right, our writing changes with everything we experience. I truly believe that it's so evolving and we look back at things we've written before and realize that it was wonderful for that specific time and may still be speaking to someone because God uses us that the more we experience, the more we grow through those experiences. And I think it just becomes deeper and more. I become more aware that others are reading my words, and looking for some encouragement, they're in it, it helps me to truly connect with other people. And pray that the Holy Spirit is speaking through those words, and that it's, it's so much more of the Lord and not me.

Michelle Rayburn 25:33
Well, it gives you an opportunity to speak to somebody you might never meet. And thinking of that there's somebody listening on the other end here who is facing a diagnosis, they're waiting for the results. What word do you have for that person who's waiting and wondering what is going on with their own health?

Kristine Brown 25:51
I would say that trusting God, and trusting in his promises for us, doesn't always change our circumstances. Sometimes we still have to walk through those hard things, but I have no doubt that it will change us. And there's a verse that I love for that I think would be appropriate to share with them. And it's Romans 15:13. It promises us that God will fill us with his peace and joy. And that's a hard concept to grasp. When we're going through something difficult. How do I live? How do I accept this peace and joy, but the verse says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with competent hope."

Kristine Brown 26:40
So I feel like even when we're not feeling it, even when we are afraid to get up and face the day, we can hold on to that hope without wavering because he is faithful.

Michelle Rayburn 26:52
That reminds me of a phrase you use, I have to look here at it. You said God taught you how to trust him like you mean it. What does that mean?

Kristine Brown 27:03
That means what I discovered from Rahab was like I said before, that she every decision she made every step she took showed how much she trusted the Lord and I wanted to have that level of trust. I knew it was possible. Because I knew who the Lord was. I knew what his Word said, I even professed my trust. But I stopped short of that one important thing, and that was actively trusting in the God that I knew. So that's what I mean, when I say trust him like I mean, it is really actively living that out in my everyday life.

Michelle Rayburn 27:48
I always share resource with my listeners. And so I want to talk about two that you've told me about. I know you have other books, and I'll be linking to those in the show notes too. But I want to talk about cinched which is your book that explains how Rahab's story ministered to you, and then you're teaching others. And then also you have a free digital download. So let's talk about that. First, you have "100 of God's Promises for Your Unraveled Heart." And they can find that on your website at kristinebrown.net. Is that correct?

Kristine Brown 28:17
Yes, absolutely. It's very easy to find Kristine with a K. And they will see that bar that they can click on and easily get to that digital download. That's a list of encouraging verses from God's Word that have meant something to me during different parts different times in my life, from parenting small children until today in my recent cancer journey, I went back through my journals and found those verses that were special to me and wanted to provide that for my community at KristineBrown.net. And I feel it's important, like we talked about before that we have encouraging verses readily available to us. So it is a checklist of verses. And that list is also in the back of the book that you mentioned Cinched but in the book, the verses are written out. So the download for, you know, just being able to save space is the actual reference. And then those are written out in the back of the book and a glossary of God's promises.

Michelle Rayburn 29:28
So people can use their favorite Bible app or their their print Bible and they can look up the verses and mark them in their own resource based on the list that you gave them. . Yeah, so tell us about Cinched, the book about Rahab.

Kristine Brown 29:43
The book follows the journey of Rahab. From the very beginning. It takes readers through how she showed moving from knowing God is able to saying that he is able and then actively living out that trust in her life and how that affected My personal journey as well. The title Cinched, of course, is in reference to the red cord that Rahab tied to her window to show that she trusted that God was going to come through for her and her family in their time of need.

Michelle Rayburn 30:14
What I love about her story is that it shows that we don't have to have, first we don't have to have grown up in a Christian family. We don't have to have like mountains of faith, we just need to start with that basic stuff. So what else did you learn about our faith journey as you studied her story?

Kristine Brown 30:34
Oh, there's so much to share so much to share about Rahab she has such a wonderful story. One thing that I love is that when I saw how Rahab asked the spies for a guarantee, she said, "Give me some guarantee." Then they gave her some things that she needed to do in return, she had to tie the rope to her window and leave it there and make sure that her family stayed in the home. And she did those things. She walked in obedience, according to what was required of her. And through that, she was able to wait well, not knowing the time or the day, or when her prayer would be answered. But it was Joshua remembered her, and she lived with the Israelites. So her story has a wonderful ending and a wonderful message for us all to walk in obedience and to continue to trust.

Michelle Rayburn 31:34
And Kristine, you might have said this when you were first talking about her, but for those listening, she, everybody in that city was going to be destroyed with the city. And so she was rescued through this promise by tying the cord she identified which window was hers. And so her family was rescued. This is not just a it's not a fairy tale. This is this is a real story and account of a life that was saved by trusting in God. Yes. And amazing, amazing story of God's faithfulness and provision. Is this a book that people would do like read on their own? Or is it a group study, or both?

Kristine Brown 32:14
Well, there is a companion workbook available. And the companion workbook is a personal look at where we are, in our own trust walk with the Lord. And so that's also available in would be appropriate for a personal study or a group study. Each chapter has a lesson, a foundational lesson from Rahab story. And then those lessons are also available in the workbook. And then readers are encouraged to go deeper into that there's a quiz and some thought questions and places to journal and write out prayers and things like that in the workbook.

Michelle Rayburn 32:57
This is a great opportunity for listeners who want to go deeper themselves and to see how Rahab story intersects with their own. So listener, I encourage you to pick up that book and go through that. One of the ways that we can encourage each other is through materials like what Kristine has written here, where it's a way for us to get deeper into a Bible story and apply it to life. Kristine, what would you like to leave with my listeners as we wrap up today?

Kristine Brown 33:27
Well, thanks again, Michelle, for allowing me to be here with your listeners. And I would just say one of my favorite things is looking at stories of women in Scripture, and being able to say, Wow, God was faithful for her. And he is faithful to us today as well. So I think that that would be the thought that I would want to leave your listeners with. He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and we can trust him.

Michelle Rayburn 33:55
Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing a little piece of your journey.I'm sure we only touched the tip of the iceberg in our 30-minute conversation.

Kristine Brown 34:04
That's right. There is so many so many good things that God has done just like we all have those stories, and I think it's important for us to share those and I appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to share and brag on God a little bit and all that he has done.

Michelle Rayburn 34:22
You're welcome. I hope we get to meet in real life sometime soon.

Kristine Brown 34:25
Yes, absolutely. Me too.

Michelle Rayburn 34:30
You've been listening to Life Repurposed with Michelle Rayburn. Check out tips, resources and inspiration at Michellerayburn.com. To get the show notes for this episode. Each week I share links to everything mentioned in the episode, graphics you can share and guest quotes. I also invite you to join the Life Repurposed Facebook community for weekly conversation with others on the journey of discovering the repurpose life before you go. Which friend needs to hear this episode. share a link with a note to invite them to listen. And thank you for listening.

 

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