Journey of Faith: Resilience in Adversity (Part 1) w/Randi Mendez-Parra

Tune in as Garrett talks with Randi Mendez-Parra out in Nevada! The conversation covers topics such as overcoming perfectionism, the challenges of public speaking, the journey of faith, and the impact of personal experiences on one's relationship with God. It also delves into the themes of family, real estate, and the importance of community support. The story of resilience and faith in the face of adversity is a central theme throughout the conversation. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including faith, family, health, and resilience. It delves into the challenges faced by the speaker, her family, and her community, and the role of faith in overcoming these challenges. The speaker's journey is a testament to the power of faith, hope, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Takeaways

• Overcoming perfectionism and embracing authenticity
• The impact of personal experiences on one's faith journey
• The importance of community support and resilience in the face of adversity
• The intersection of family, real estate, and faith in the context of personal and professional life The power of faith and surrender in overcoming life's challenges.
• The importance of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity.
• The role of community and family in providing support during difficult times.
• The transformative impact of faith on personal growth and healing.

Chapters

00:00
Embracing Authenticity: Overcoming Perfectionism

03:18
Journey of Faith: Resilience in Adversity

06:19
Family, Real Estate, and Faith: A Holistic Perspective

09:14
Community Support: Navigating Challenges with Resilience

14:38
The Power of Faith and Surrender in Overcoming Adversity

27:06
The Transformative Impact of Faith on Personal Growth and Healing

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Transcript

0:04

Ever feel the pressure to be perfect? But guess, wait, let me start that again, because you said same girl same and I am going to say that. Okay. Ever feel the pressure to be perfect? Same girl same. But guess what? There's only one perfect person and it ain't us. That's why Jesus came and died for our imperfections. So I'm letting go of the impossible and focusing on doing my best. Perfection's exhausting. Anyone else a recovering perfectionist? Let's chat about surrendering our burdens and living authentically I can't talk today, but hey everybody welcome back to another episode of the faithful agent That is a post that I love from our guest today, Randy Mendez -Para. We are glad that you're here What's up, Randy? Say hello to the people I'm so excited to be here. I feel so excited. I can't believe I got to meet you in person and now I get to be on the podcast. I feel so just so extra special. your life. The five people that are going to listen are going to love you. And three of them live in my house. No, that's not true. But go ahead. getting aside, Garrett, when I first started a podcast, it was like my own podcast back in 2020. And we also live stream as a morning show. And I'm not even kidding for the first year and a half, my mom was my biggest champion. So like every day when the comments were popping up, you know, I never wanted to ignore her. I mean, she's my mom, right? But every day I was like, Yes, mom, we did do that. Every day during the morning show and I'm like, you know, mom, this audio goes to the podcast. So every day I'm talking to my one viewer, which is my mom. That's fantastic. I remember when COVID hit and I started to do online like virtual trainings on my 36 touch program. And the first one I did, there was like no one there. And so you just feel awkward when you get to the part of the presentation, like any questions you're like, wait, nobody's here. And so I finally just started having both my assistants get on and be like, hey, I see a question just came in. What an excellent question. Yeah, let me answer that. You know, like, you know, I don't know, is that lying? Maybe we just confessed a bunch of sin on the podcast, but. Yes, maybe, but you know, you got to do what you got to do. Fake it till you make it now. Actually, I wonder, like, is that a biblical concept? I don't know. wow. Nice. Wow. Wow, guys, go follow Randy. Get those quips. into fruition. Like, hey, this is what potential attendees would ask. So I'm just helping out a little bit. anyone was here, I think this is what they might wonder about. Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. And why is no one here? Yeah, many times presenting to basically no one. That will humble you. That's for sure. did a virtual summit and it was so reassuring, I was so thankful because I said it in my presentation. I was like, all right ladies, this is a virtual presentation, so we're not here, so please, if this brings you value, if this is helpful for you, resourceful, let me hear from you please. And I got an email that was like, Randy, your presentation was my favorite. And I was like, thank you God, seriously, thank you because I was like, I have no idea how this is gonna be received. And so I was so thankful for that feedback. awesome. Yeah, no doubt. I mean the times when like, you know, I've had people say, can you zoom in and you know, share your talk or whatever. And so they're muted, right? And you're not looking at them because you're sharing and you're just like, bringing energy for 45 minutes, whatever. And you're like, I have no idea if this is good. I don't know if they like it. I don't know if they like left in one wind got coffee, you know, like you have no idea because For us, right, I want the, like, I need engagement. I need someone to be talking back. I need to see a face and they're like, yeah, yeah, that's, that's helpful. Cause otherwise, I don't know if it's just like, I'm just so emotionally needy that way. Right. But it's like, I just need to know that you actually, this is actually helping you. Or I'll just stop talking. you know, which is fine. I don't know that I'd stop talking, Randy, let's be honest. I would just keep talking until there was value eventually. that same vice. I'm always praying and asking God to help me remember that I have two ears and one mouth because I definitely am capable of talking so much. Well, our mutual friend and we'll get into the good stuff, but our mutual friend Ashley Edges, who introduced us and then Randy came to our last conference in North Carolina. But the way Ashley said, she said, you need to meet my friend Randy. And this is what she said, Garrett, it's the only person I know shorter and more energetic than you. And I'm like, that's fantastic. So Randy and I hopped on a call and I remember, I think I refer to myself as an Oopa Loopa. And you're like, that's fantastic. Because I call myself that all the time. Like kindred spirits here. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Randy, I want you to introduce yourself in a second, but I got to start. Well, semi start because we're a couple of minutes in with this chat GPT Christian story because the audience, the five people want it right now. I don't want your mom to come ask me why it's not why it's not there. So a Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother, she asked, is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters? Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, thou shalt not kill. That's pretty good, actually. Yeah, yeah. Shatch EBT is doing okay. that one. My oldest granddaughter, she has like, we've been working, I've been teaching her to pause and to ask God to help her to be responsive and not reactive because she has like that. zero to 100 level of like, that our family has. And so like her little brother will make her mad. And then she's like, you know, she's like, I think she could kill him. So, so I think we need to take that to her and be like, remember it is in the commandment that you should not kill your brothers. Yeah. I love that. Well, Randy, introduce yourself real quick. And then I just want to hear your story like the Lord's working in your life. One of the coolest things about the testimony is, yes, we're telling someone's story, but it's also just us proclaiming the Lord's goodness. through someone's life, right? But introduce yourself to us real quick and then I'd love to hear your story. Okay, awesome. Well, I mean, I have to say like that excites me to try to begin to shed light on the goodness God has given in my life. But man, that's a tall tale. But bottom line is I am a broker, broker salesperson in Nevada. I've been in real estate since 2002. Actually got my license with my mom, talked to my mom to go in with me and like get our tests together. So we are a family team, mom, daughter, my mom, she's pretty much semi -retired, pretty retired. And then my daughter and I. So my daughter and I, we run kind of a micro team. Absolutely have done everything you can imagine. So I've been a property manager. I've been a franchise broker, a boutique broker. I've had a bigger team. I've led, you know, mega teams. I've led small teams. So I've kind of been all over the spectrum, but really have found my passion and my heart helping people escape the suburbs. And so obviously I still service any and all clients, but the thing that really just fills my soul is helping to people to find a simpler lifestyle, larger acres, family compounds. So that's the other fun fact about me. I can pretty much really be summarized in Faith Family Real Estate. That summarizes me. But we do have a family compound. And so we have goats, we have chickens, and we have I think 12 or 13 of us on the property. And so we sit down at a table, you know, there's like 16 of us every night at the dinner table. I am the mom who went, as soon as my kids were getting older and bought a bigger house, and I do everything in my power to keep them as close as possible. So, very tight family. Been with my husband almost 30 years. It'll be 30 years in October that we've been married or together. And we have three biological children together. So we have, you know, our kids, Triple J. And then over the years, God has presented different opportunities for us to get to love on and raise other children. And so we have also raised and adopted three others. Yeah. great. That's so cool. Yeah, I mean, I get I really want to get into your story because I think it's just that you've done so many cool things and we've had time to have conversations and you've been so encouraging and inspiring and given such wisdom to me as well. And, you know, the cool thing is none of that comes from you and none of that comes from me, right? That's from the Lord 100%. So, yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, yeah. him. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, for real. I feel that. I feel that personally. It's good. Hey, all the jokes are good, my sister. All of them are good. Let's be honest. It's a good thing Tyler's not here because he would be agreeing with you and he doesn't need to feel justified in his thoughts about me. But tell us your story. I mean, you start wherever you want to start, but I really love to hear. Yeah, real estate. That's cool. But just like. a story of the Lord's faithfulness in your life. How did you come to know the Lord? And let's just walk through that and I'll stop and ask questions. But like, I'd really love to just hear that story. Okay, well, let's unpack it. So first off, I've always known the Lord. My relationship has had, it's just grown in depth at different points. And so just without going too deep into previous, I was a survivor of a lot of things, including some sexual abuse as a child and as a young teenager. And so. I was really damaged in a lot of my perception as to, you know, just the role I played as a female, as a woman, you know, that men, that was something that was hard for me just as far as like, there were just so many things. And so all of that to say that I, you know, obviously had a lot to overcome. And then I went into my marriage very early. And so my husband and I, you know, we've been together since I was 14 years old and I kind of had never, And I say this with the utmost love and respect even for my father, but I had never experienced a healthy male relationship in my life, right? And so that was something that was hard as I took that into a marriage. And so fast forward, my husband and I had been together for years and I always say this, and this is a testament, and it's hard for me to say this, but I want to say it because it's important to speak to the goodness of God. So I always say that I've had two marriages, one husband, because the man I have and the man I'm married to today, I never even prayed big enough prayers to be married to the man I am today, but God is so good that he's transformed my husband into the man he is today. But with all of that said, really, you know, the first 10 to 15 years of our marriage was, you know, very, I was a stay at home mom. I was heavily involved in the PTA and the football and the sports and all the things. I was, we were very much, you know, all American family. with the exception of that, you know, we had a very traditional kind of marriage where, you know, if you're Hispanic, you'll kind of relate, but, you know, I kind of didn't speak to males unless my husband initiated me speaking to males and I stayed very much in the home and all these things. So I had got a real estate license because I don't know, one day, you know, a bunch of us PTA moms or moms at school were talking and it seemed cool. So I had got one in early 2002. And one of the things I've always battled with is pride. It's just been something that is my flesh that I've always just had to stay in a place of surrender with God. But back in 2002, my pride was in strong swing. And so I was like, well, I should be a broker too, because somehow, you know, a broker was better in my world. So I even got my broker's license in 2002. Had no idea what the heck I was going to do with this. And really, for the first probably six to eight years, I didn't sell anything unless it fell in my lap. And... Then 2010 came and this is where I will say that my relationship and I had had some other stuff and for the sake of the time of this podcast, I will say obviously I was going to church. I always had been in the church. There was a joke. I don't know if this is good or bad, Garrett, but this is just the truth. There was a joke like, what gang member is Randy gonna bring to church this week? That's awesome. a joke. So I definitely existed kind of in like different worlds, but my heart was always with God. So I was like, Hey, you look like you need church. And to this day, my current pastor will tell you I'm probably one of the biggest recruiters for the church to this day. They look a little different, but anyways. So here we sit in 2010 and my relationship was about to get significantly deeper with God, just significantly. So in 2010, I kind of call it my storm season year and To summarize, in the course of from spring to summer, we were losing our home and we were losing everything financially and we had been staying in our home for a while, foreclosure was coming, but I was kind of getting to the point where I was like, just because we can stay here doesn't mean we should. As far as like, you know, staying in the house without paying, I was like, I think it's time for us to go find somewhere to rent and we need to move. And a big portion I wanted to make that move was because my son was starting chemo. And so there had been that football season, the previous football season, my son had kept saying that his throat hurt and he thought he needed his tonsils out. So he was going into seventh grade, kept saying he thought he needed his tonsils out. And... through a series of events over many months, and again, this is a God thing, I actually put on Facebook, I was kind of updating on Facebook, I've always had a pretty strong community, and so I was kind of updating people what we were navigating, trying to figure out what was happening with them, he had been misdiagnosed with sinusitis and different things. Well, through a series of events, I ended up going to a clinic, I wanted to go to a clinic where I thought maybe they saw more things, and I got a referral to an ENT. And when I went to this ENT and I took him, the second he looked at my son's throat, he mentioned this disease. And he said he had a professor in college who had a son who had it. And that's how he recognized it because he made all of his students look at his son. So just the odds of that happening, right? So needless to say, I said to the doctor as we were leaving, can you tell me again what you thought that disease was? And he says, only if you promise not to Google it. Hmm. well, you know, I, I made the promise, but I would be lying if I said I kept the promise because by the time we got to the car, I was Googling it. And the first thing I read was five -year life expectancy. So obviously that was like just earth shattering. And that was when like my relationship, I just, I had remembered attending Bethel church and Reading years before. And I had remember a pastor sharing a story about. you know, Satan literally being present in his room and him having to just kind of like ignore him and him having to just surrender and just go through this. And I just, I realized I was going to have to surrender and battle this with God. Like I was going, I was going to have to just surrender at all. So all of that to say Luke 1 37 on my arm became my verse. And I just spent the next few days on my parents' floor as we went through the biopsies, I was staying at my parents' house with the kids and just kind of curled up and in prayer and just saying, you know, with God, nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is impossible. So to bring all of this together, it ended up coming back. He had this and he needed to become a dual patient at Stanford and football was passion and he was wanting to stay on the football team. Hence why I was wanting to go ahead and move into a different school zone and get him on the football team and keep some normalcy going in our life. So here I am starting dual patient between Stanford, which is about a three hour drive to get him treatment. I'm going to go ahead and leave the home, even though financially things are really, really tough. I'm just feeling like, okay, we need to move and get him on the football team over here. I had raised my dad's brother's daughter and she was now married and she called me and basically said, hey, my marriage is going to fall apart if I don't get my sister out of here who's an adult special needs, a special needs adult. And I said, okay, well, she can come stay with me. And my aunt, you're not going to believe this, Garrett. So then my aunt who had adopted my mom's brother's son who's autistic. would bring him to stay with me for summers. And she called me and she's like, what if he stays permanently this time? And I was like, okay. And then I had another nephew who was for one reason or another displaced from his mom's house. And then the school called me and I had always coached at risk youth. And they basically said, Hey, I know you really care about this kid. She's going down the wrong path. And I think maybe you should reach out. And when I tried to reach out and help the mom and her in the relationship, the mom basically said, well, you take her. So here I am 2010 Garrett. scene painted. Love my husband to death, but when I made the decision to go from our house to renting a house, he didn't come. All I can do is chuckle about it today because he says I didn't invite him, but I didn't really know that that was a thing. Like when your family moved, I didn't think like sending an invitation to my husband was something I was supposed to do. Another topic, right? So here I am kind of temporarily separated, living in this home with all of my... not just my own three kids, but now I got all these extra people and I have no idea how we're going to pay the bills, right? And all of that to say that I had been sharing my journey on Facebook and by God's grace, the way I got to Stanford was somebody said, hey, I think I know somebody with that same disease. And so God was so good that he gave me this shortcut, this cheat code where I got to meet somebody with inside of a week of my son's diagnosis who had actually walked this journey for seven years before us. And if you know the statistics, like this is a rare, middle -aged Caucasian disease. So just the fact that God got me in front of this person was huge. And then, you know, my son likes to do little fun things, but he was like, on the way there, he's like, I don't know if God wants us to meet this, you know, he's a kid, right? He's like 12 years old at the time. God wants us to meet this guy. And I'm like, well, buddy, I think he does. And he's like, we'll see. I'm going to ask him his favorite color. And if we have the same favorite color, maybe. And so through the whole course of the conversation, he waits till the very end and is like, let me ask you a question. What's your favorite color? And my son's side note at the time was red. And the guy says, well, buddy, I'm colorblind. So the only color I can see is red. And so it's just like all these little details, right? We're got it. And so, you know, again, for the sake of time in this, that was my first big storm. And it was a very, very, very big one because it was the marriage that I've always known since 14. It was my son's health. It was all these other people that were, you know, displaced and dependent on me. And I had to begin to build a career and that's when I began to build a career. And that's when I began to really turn real estate into the ticket to survival, right? How was I going to pay for these people to survive? And I was able to kind of navigate it and I was able to kind of start doing it and through God's grace, you know, my son continued to defy odds and one of my proudest moments was when his rheumatologist looked at him. And he said, buddy, I mean, I love that you want to play football, but do you really think that you're going to be able to play all four quarters? And my son looked up at him and said, and over time. And so, and, and, and, and there's so many funny things to it because when I did tell my son Garrett that he was diagnosed, I, I basically was like, okay, buddy, you know, son, it is, you do have it. And I was telling them all these things. And I said, you know, one day we're going to, we're going to get matching tattoos because we got this and we like did a fist bump. And I was like, and we were all clinging onto Luke one 37. Well, all my kid heard was the tattoo. And so here's, here's, if you want to talk about a great Christian moment. So then my next chapter was finding Miami, no compromise on a tattoo artist who was willing to tattoo him and his mother while he was compromised. Needless to say, we got this tattoo, Luke 137 now sits on over 20 people. And it was, you know, a thing that was done each milestone, but by God, by God's grace, my son walked through that journey for a really long time. And at one point, Garrett, they told him he would need to be on the chemo meds forever. And my son looked at me and he said, mom, you taught me to love, you taught me to love and know God. And I'm going to tell you, I'm not going to live on these meds. And if God wants me to go home, then I'm going to go home. Otherwise I'm coming off the meds. And he actually stopped the meds way before I knew. But today we sit 10 year, almost 10 years in full, not clinical, but full remission. And so that was like, and again, I'm giving you a snippet of a very, very long journey of, you know, procedures and surgeries and ups and downs and roller coasters, but God was in all the details. And as we were beginning to come out of that one, Garrett, my mom, as we were, as we were navigating the, the kind of tail end of junior's journey, I had two different things happen, which one was, my daughter became pregnant and, and, you know, I'll never say that, you know, God, I'll never say that God, intended for my teenage daughter to become pregnant out of wedlock, right? But God does work in all things for good. And our family was going through a lot of hard chapters and, and, and, I was at this point, I had, and I'm kind of off on my timeline, because you caught me off guard on asking me to share this whole story. But I had come to the realization that I want, my husband and I had kind of always been off on timing when he wanted to work on my marriage, on our marriage, I didn't, when he did, I didn't. And God had really humbled my heart and he had showed me what marriage really was meant to look like and what sacrifice was meant to look like. And I really wanted my husband to understand the role he played in my brokenness. And one night I was praying to God, I was crying out to God. And he told me, I know, I know. And I realized that I had to learn to be comfortable with God knowing. And I learned that, you know, if I learned to go to bed at night with the right man, my life would be right and the right man was God, right? And so I just learned to surrender and I learned to stop finding my value in a worldly world based on my relationship with the male and to find it in my relationship with God, right? With my father. And so things really began to shift with me. And so I had decided that at this point I wanted to restore our marriage. And at one point, Garrett, hopefully you'll laugh at this. But at one point I was even like, okay, God, I know we're out of the baby season and I know I've had like all my tubes tied and, but maybe a baby would help us have a new chapter because it was just, it was hard. I was like, God, I need a break. I've been trying this for a year by myself. This guy is not really helping me fight for this marriage. I need some help here, right? And then needless to say, our daughter ends up pregnant. And I'm like, what? I say the wrong thing? That's not what I meant to say. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. you know, it was a new chapter. And simultaneously to that, you know, I also had to sit in some big heavy stuff that God walked me through with my daughter because I realized I had, I briefly, you know, mentioned this, that I had went through some trauma and some abuse. And so my goal, Garrett, as a parent was to get my kids through childhood without any type of loss of their innocence. And I kind of swung to the opposite side and probably failed to inform my daughter to where people thought it was a joke, but my daughter literally like opened up with me and shared like, hey, you know, mom, there was a situation. I'm never, I'm not ready for that. I'm not going to do that. And I was like, baby, we've already got another situation, right? So I had to sit in the realness of like my heart and my desire to protect my children also kind of sheltered them and uninformed her, right? So I'm navigating all of this. And my mom one day has excruciating stomach pains and I take her to the hospital and they don't just come back this time and say something like, hey, you've got, you know, heck of a road in front of you. They say, say goodbye. And they, the doctor says to me, you know, she's as sick as a human can be and still be alive. And I would say you have days at best. And I just remember vomiting outside of the hospital room, just. you know, just vomiting profusely. And I remember begging God and saying, God, you know, one more Christmas, God, one more Christmas, please, like, let us get through this with September. Let us get early September 2015. Let us get through the holidays. Please, God, like, give us these holidays, right? And I remember just begging and pleading. And I remember going back in and what did we already know, Garriott? We already knew that we got this, right? We knew because of Luke 1 .37, because with God, nothing is impossible. that we got this. And so we were bonded differently as a family, having gone through so many trials and tribulations and different things together. And my mom said to the doctor, I'll be out to watch that grandbaby, Jordy, my daughter's baby be born. And we were told my mom would die on September 2nd, 2015. My granddaughter was born on September 11th. I hope I'm not messing that up. It might be the 9th, but days later. days later and my mom was there, discharged from the hospital and happened to accidentally record the entire thing in slow motion. But nonetheless, she was there defying all odds, right? And my mom, it did get much worse after that. She went septic. She forgot who I was. She was not able to walk for months. She was diapered. And through that whole thing, I was still building my real estate business, learned one of the hardest lessons, some of the hardest lessons, but I was still building my business. And now here we sit today, Garrett, and my mom is dropped to the bottom of the transplant list, is never expected to need a transplant list, and my mom is now eight years on the side of that situation. And these are just a few snippets, and like I said, through all of that, my marriage was restored, it was redeemed, it was brought to something better than I could have ever dreamt of. I know, but I used to pray that, you know, one day my husband would just be the one who lead us to church because he didn't have, you know, he wasn't, he wasn't saved and he didn't have that. And now today he does lead us. He does. There's a joke at my church, Garrett, because this is a couple of weeks ago. I shared this with my church. He's like, well, I'm going to the early service. And I'm like, well, we are all volunteering at the second service and there's no child service. And he's like, well, I'm going to the first. So he goes without us. So I was like, I, ha ha! had to pray and I was like, okay, God, I need you to make me happy that he's going to church because right now I want to punch him in the face because he just left his whole family and went to church without us. But they're like, hey, when he comes to church, he gets here early and he sits up front. And they're like, you're always late and you're always in the back. Now there's just a joke because like not only is he walking into church by himself, but he sits right up front. But. Hmm. again, I could never I could never even begin to capture the moments, the dark moments, the heavy moments, the scary moments, the broken moments, the nights of tear, of fear, of the reality of ever thinking of like, you know, bearing a child, the reality of of thinking that you did your child a disservice and you just could potentially change the trajectory of their life. You know, I still have a younger son in all of this and thinking like, hey, did I just kind of, you know, mess up in the mess and miss out on parenting him the right way? And. You know, walking my mom through that in such a hard time and, you know, and watching somebody that you love. She was sent home on hospice also for context of who we serve as a God. She was sent home on hospice. Like, you know, I left her one time in the hospital, Garrett, one time to go do one meeting. And I came back and both of my parents were crying. And I said, what are you, what are you crying for? We're having a good day. Like, and they said the nurse, the doctor came in and they said, you know, tonight's night. And I went back out to the doctor and I said, what did you tell my mom? And she said, you know, you're such a cruel daughter to give her hope. And she says, you know, the science is the science. Like you're being cruel. She's going to die in the next 48 hours. And even if somehow by miraculous, by some miraculous way she lives, if she slips and falls, she's a bleed risk. She will bleed out. She will die. And I looked at her and I said, you know, you don't know the God that I serve. You don't know the God that I serve. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not cruel. I'm faithful. I stand in faith, right? And through this, you know, sometimes it's hard because sometimes it's scary to stand in that conviction because I've had to learn like, I have to stand in the conviction. And if he doesn't for one reason or another answer that prayer, then I have to trust why he didn't, but not stand in the conviction out of fear that if he doesn't answer it, I'm doing a disservice to his name. Does that make sense? You know, because sometimes I think we get fearful to stand out in that boldness because what if he doesn't deliver and then he looks bad? Well, he's never going to look bad, right? So we always have to stand in that boldness. And it had been a hard season because I also, you know, simultaneously life's going on and my son's best friend is, you know, 18 years old and gets stage four lung cancer. And we're walking the journey with his family side by side. And, you know, and he ended up passing and, you know, we sat bedside to him for 18 years old, stage four lung cancer. And we sat bedside in his final hours before he transitioned. And... It was just like, there was just so many moments, but also just seeing God's goodness even in that. Like, you know, he ended up getting married and having a daughter before passing. So a piece of him got to stay with his parents. And so there was just so much in this season from, in my entire life, Garrett, but from 2010 until really 2019 was just, I mean, if I'm being honest, I probably still have a little bit of, you know. post -traumatic stress disorder, because I'm still just waiting for that next huge thing. So even last week when you were checking on me so graciously when I was in the hospital with my husband, I had one night where I just had to like really get into prayer, get the Bible out, get my word going, get worship music going. And I needed to be surrounded because the enemy could, you know, the enemy could sense that that stress that I have, that stress reaction I have was coming. But I really got to just see God's work and I got to see his healing. And I got to sit in that goodness. And now, you know, once all of that happened, it's just been my heart to even further honor God. Like every day that I get to spend outside of a hospital room and make no mistake, even in the hospital room, I'm thankful for it. Right. I've always said I'm thankful for the battle because the battle in itself is a blessing. But now every single day that I get to live and I get to have all these grandbabies and see my daughter's marriage that's filled with, you know, such goodness and fruitfulness and I get to see her entire family at church and I get to see all these things and all the areas that God worked in, even though we live in a broken fallen world and some of our actions cause those things, I've got to see God's restoration. And so now I just, I really work in a way to empower people to just live faith first, right? To live faith first. And so again, I don't think I did any justice. but man, we serve a good God, a healing God, a capable God, a God who still does miracles today, right? A God who's still present and healing today. And so yeah, that's a little bit of my story. That's amazing. Here's what we're going to do. So audience, we're going to talk here for a second. Hang tight for next week because we're going to do part two of this because I think there's a lot here, Randy. I mean, there is. And like, I mean, I would just let you go for however long you feel like going because, you know, one of the things that I'm always just encouraged and amazed that the stories that all of us have and that all of us can tell and the Lord's faithfulness through it, it's not. He's not faithful just because he got your mom through it, right? Like my mom passed in October, 2022. She went septic and didn't come out of it. And the Lord was faithful in that, right? And he's good in that. And we talked about recently, like, or Tyler was sharing on Romans eight, like God works all things for the good of those who love him. We forget and we mislabel the word good as if that means prosperity and money and wealth and blah, blah. Good means made more like Christ. That's what that means. And so those things, yeah, that's what good is. And so your story is a reminder to us, not only of that truth, but also, and this is why I want to end today's episode. Again, hang on agents, we'll come back for part two next week, but is the reality of, and this is where the heart of the faithful agent came from. This is where my heart is, honestly. And. and the way we're trying to serve Christian agencies, y 'all are way more than just a real estate business. There is so much more going on in your life and so many more difficult things and quite honestly, so many more way important things, way more important things than your real estate business. And that all plays a role. And we happen to live and work in an industry as Randy attested to that we can take care of our family and still provide at the same time we we can be there and here. because this industry allows us that opportunity, what a blessing that is. But here's the point. We never are gonna show up as faithful agent community and say, you guys show up and you put on your face and show us how great everything is. And I don't really wanna hear anything else. How many deals did you do? Stop making excuses. Are you doing your calls? Blah, blah, blah. It's like, I wanna know what's going on in your heart, in your life, because it's a story that the Lord is intentionally telling. write a testimony. to you and your life, yep, and he's telling it to other people. And so we don't put those things under the rug. That's not the point. The point of the gospel is we're broken and we need him or else we would have nothing. And so the honesty, the vulnerability of those things is a gift. So, Randy, you're awesome. Hang tight with me. We're gonna record part two here in just a second. Faithful agents, we love you. Hang tight for next week. We will come back with part two. Alright, good job, Randy.