One80: Testimonies of Transformation
Be inspired by stories of Christian transformation from around the world--and next door! Hear miraculous coming-to-Jesus stories from all walks of life and be amazed at how God writes a story in all of us. One80 is a production of OneWay Ministries.
One80: Testimonies of Transformation
Episode 1: Ruth R., Teen Rebel to Jesus Ambassador
Ruth was a teen with a plan — to cause as much trouble as possible. Hear how she went from skipping class, lying, even shaving her head in protest, to her amazing restoration to life in Christ and her dramatic One80 from rebel to evangelist.
Stay for the Sendoff, where Blind Tony shares an inspirational poem.
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Hey there, friends! I am Ryan Henry, and welcome to 180, where we get to share absolutely amazing stories of Christian transformation from around the world. I'm talking every stage, every age, every region, from a homecoming to a witch doctor. I mean, these stories are just so, so exciting. We're also encouraging our listeners to share their stories. And you can find us at 180podcast.com. That's o-ne-80 podcast.com. And please would you just press that share your story button? And maybe you'll even be able to be a guest on the show.
SPEAKER_02:And I was in so much pain that I guess I prayed. Like I said to God, I get it, you're there. But I won't follow you because you're not good.
SPEAKER_05:Ruth was a teen with a plan to go against the grain and frankly to cause as much trouble as possible. But God had another plan and got a hold of her in high school to completely change her life. So much that the people who knew the old Ruth and the new don't realize they're even talking about the same person. This is 180 with your host Ryan Henry. Welcome to Ruth's 180.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks for being here. So happy to have you. And uh to start off, I we just want to turn to our trusty random question generator. So are you ready?
SPEAKER_02:I'm so ready.
SPEAKER_03:Are you nervous?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, that's good. All right. So are you a board gamer or do you prefer card games?
SPEAKER_02:Definitely card games. Board games are like not exciting enough for me, and I'm not competitive like at all. So all I try to do in board games is try to like mess other people up. Um, but card games I get really into.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So you're like the sabotage, um the sabotage board gamer like me. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, then you're so you're not so much a Monopoly fan, then? Oh no, no. Yeah, it just takes too long. Yeah, way too long. I'd rather just lose quickly. Yeah. That's awesome. So uh so let's get into your story. If you're okay, let's just go back all the way to your childhood for a moment. And I I just was wondering what was it like growing up?
SPEAKER_02:I grew up in kind of like a the Bible hub of the United States. So there's Bibles on every corner. I mean the churches, there's churches on every corner. Wow, and everyone, it's very like culturally, culturally Christian. Um, and so I ended up going to a private Christian middle school, which I hated.
unknown:I hated it.
SPEAKER_02:I like believed what they were saying, I just they didn't really care because all the kids at school seemed to have these like perfect lives, perfect families, and I didn't have that. And so I was just like, why would I follow this thing they're telling me to follow when I'm hurting so much? They don't they clearly don't understand it. So I felt m really misunderstood. I was really rebellious. I dye my hair, so I shaved half my head.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02:Like just out of rebellion.
SPEAKER_03:Wow, no way.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I really did that. I had that like I don't know, like half of my head buzz, but at like the part, so if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, thought it was really cool. My dad did it for me when I was 12.
SPEAKER_03:Your dad actually did it for you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, my dad did it for me, and then he like kept it up every two weeks.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, wow, okay, all right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I had it till I was 15.
SPEAKER_03:You didn't bring a picture, did you?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, well, I had to see when it picks. Okay, all right. Wow. How did that go over?
SPEAKER_02:Um it was okay. I think they didn't have like a written rule about it, but they actually made a rule like when I graduated that other people couldn't do it. So there was nothing they could do about it because it it the deed was done. Like I shaved it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It wasn't gonna grow back. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So they kind of just accepted it.
SPEAKER_03:Uh yeah. Wow, firecracker.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. Yeah. Very rebellious. I started like skipping school in middle school, and my dad thought that school ended at 4 p.m. because school ended at 3 30, but detention was until 4. I would just lie about being sick, and then my I don't know if my parents just didn't know. Or I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Wow. Okay, all right. Well, so I I was if we could just back up a little bit. I was wondering when you said, like, you know, looking around, it seemed like everybody had perfect lives. Like, can you elaborate on that? Was there a specific thing that really irked you or just yeah?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, my parents had a really hard marriage that was out in the open, super obvious. I knew the first time my parents told me they were gonna get a divorce was when I was in second grade. And it was kind of like they lived together but separately, because they never actually went through the divorce, but they told us they would. And so um our family was really divided. It was kind of like me and my dad versus my brother and my mom, and like not a lot of interaction between the two. And so um, when I went to public elementary school, I thought that was normal, and I just thought like everything I was going through was normal. I started getting being really depressed when I was 10. 10 years old. 10 years old.
SPEAKER_04:Wow, wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, really started struggling with depression in elementary school, my fifth grade year, and kind of tried to like tell someone and get help, and nothing happened.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and then I was diagnosed with ADHD. They diagnosed me with depression, anxiety, put me on all these medicines, and I didn't take them. I like refused to take any of them. They like gave them to me and I like started to take them, and then I just wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03:Like your parents would give them to you?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, like they prescribed me them and I had them in my room, and I just wouldn't. Okay, I didn't really take them.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Because I didn't like them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and I just like thought all this was super normal in public school because I think other kids were kind of going through the same thing. But then when I went to a Christian school um for middle school, it was like all these really preppy kids, we had to wear collars every day. Um, and everyone just seemed to there was a lot of like family involvement in the school, like the parents were super involved, um, the moms were super involved, and I didn't really have that. They would just always talk about honoring your family and family culture. And I was like, what are these people talking about? And then I kind of became like this, like kind of like a problem child, um, because I kind of wasn't like all the other kids. Sure. Clearly, I didn't have like a perfect cookie cutter family that everyone else had. And I think all the teachers could see that. So they gave me a lot of grace. My teachers were really sweet.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But I felt really alone and isolated, and that kind of just like led to me portraying those views onto God and saying, like, oh, maybe God's like just for those people.
SPEAKER_03:Talk to me about the like the rock bottom. Like, was there a point where things got worse, like one particular moment that you thought was like breaking point?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So I'd say all this continued into high school, um, me just being really apathetic. Um, and then my freshman year or my sophomore year, I was 15. It was kind of this like traumatic event in my family um in the midst of this divorce that my dad had told me about on the way to school. And I remember that day, like not knowing what to do with myself. And so then I went to my Bible class and they were talking about Jesus, and I was in so much pain that I guess I prayed. Like I said to God, I get it, you're there, but I won't follow you because you're not good.
SPEAKER_03:Whoa.
SPEAKER_02:And then after that, I kind of just left that there, forgot I ever did that, and then for the next year, just pursued anything that would give me life. So I pursued like fun, I went to concerts every night, I didn't really go to school, I would try to travel, I would um try to go to just all these like fun things that would like give you a thrill or like anything like that. Like I was really into like trespassing, just like anything that would give me a thrill.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I was like seeking or I was seeking it in friendships. I was trying to like put my what like um come into other people's families, seeing if that would really help. And I had a lot of people kind of like take me under their wing, and then I would kind of like find that that wouldn't really do anything and leave and like never really see them again. And so I was just like for the next year from like 15 to 16, just like searching for fulfillment, searching for people that would give me life. I ended up actually becoming friends with some Christian people at my high school that I actually really liked and I was good friends with them, and their family loved me. I knew they had been praying for me.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um but I ended up like again, just like stopping being friends with them. I don't know why. I just stopped being friends with them. Um, because I had no like it's like I had no moral compass, like I had no shame about leaving people, about not I felt no guilt about anything. I was like, there's no consequences for anything I do, so why would I like do something good?
SPEAKER_04:Right, right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so yeah, everything just kind of like started falling apart in my life. I was losing friends because I was a horrible friend. I wasn't was not finding fulfillment in anything. Um, I was living alone with my dad at this point, so I was just kind of rejecting any family and just saying it was too hard to go there. So I just like didn't want to see anyone.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for tuning in to 180, brought to you by One Way. Make sure to follow, like, and share our show with your people. Now, back to the show.
SPEAKER_02:All right, we get into my junior year. I'm 16 at this point, and um I'm partying a lot, drinking a lot, and um just rebelling terrible grades. It's like the first two months I already have terrible grades in school. And um, I go to this one party and things kind of go wrong. Um, and then I end up going to my best friend's house who's a Christian who doesn't come with me to these things. Wow. And we were becoming really, really good friends. And we had been friends my entire high school. So we had kind of like constantly stayed friends, but she didn't join with me in any of this stuff. Um, so I went to her house, slept over. I stayed up all night thinking, like, what is life? Like, what am I doing? Like, what is happening? Like just starting to like question things, and then um the next day she started taking me to church. She asked me if I wanted to go to church, and I was like, Okay, you guys give me lunch afterwards, like sure and then um she brought with her her friend who was 26. Her name is Mari. And um, she was awesome. She came to church with us, she was on fire. She brought her Bible, she had this hope I had never really seen. I was so confused because she's 26, she doesn't go to a private Christian school, she's not an adult, like a parent, and she loves God and she loves Jesus and she's finding fulfillment in the faith. And I was like, What? Like, why do you read your Bible?
SPEAKER_03:Like, wait, really read your Bible? Yeah, right. Yeah, and you want and you want you what you want to?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I was asking you to what?
SPEAKER_03:Like, wow, wow.
SPEAKER_02:Who are you? Why are you so happy?
SPEAKER_03:Like, oh wow.
SPEAKER_02:Why are you so great? Like, why do I really want to be your friend?
SPEAKER_03:Wow, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_02:I became friends with her for about a month, so that was October. We like kind of went to concerts, she started hanging out with us, and then um, I'd say the third time they brought me to church, I went to this church. It's kind of funny a story this day. Um, I go to church in the morning, they're talking about false prophets, and for some reason I'm listening, and I start to become like a little bit scared about false prophets, which is so funny because like, why would I care? And so then I'm like taking notes, and I go back, we go back home on the drive home. I'm like asking them all these questions about like false prophets, and they're like, Why is she like they're probably so confused, but they probably know, like in their spirits, like what's about to happen. Yeah, so I get home, I'm asking these questions, and I ask this question. I'm like, Do I have to read the whole Bible to be able to like fight against these false prophets and not be confused? Wow, and they're like, No, like they're just like, you don't need to read the whole Bible, just like start reading the Bible. And I was like, Okay. And then I ended up just like sobbing, and like just like the love that they were giving me was like so crazy, and they really cared about me. And I started opening up to them about everything like my anxiety, my depression, my family. Wow, and um they were just so faithful to sit with me all day, and then I left, and then um Mari, she calls me and she's like, You're going to youth group, and I'm like, Heck no, I'm not going to youth group. Wow. She's like, Yes, you are. You're going to youth group.
SPEAKER_04:And I'm like, no.
SPEAKER_02:So she ends up convincing me to go to youth group with my best friend's older sister. We go, and we're sitting in the sermon, and I'm like flipping through her Bible, looking at all these verses, like kind of connecting the dots of like, oh, I've heard these verses before. Like, I go to Christian school, I've heard these before.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But they were like hitting me in a new way. I'm not listening to the sermon whatsoever. I'm just like looking through the Bible. And then I start listening. I remember it very clearly. Wow. And the day before there was a shooting in Colorado, and the pastor, the youth pastor, is starting to say, like, you don't know. He's talking about the shooting, and he's like, You don't know if you're guaranteed tomorrow, if you're guaranteed the next day. Like, you need to hear the gospel. And so he starts to preach the gospel, the like classic, like probably five-minute gospel that I've never heard all pieced together from creation to Jesus coming to the cross to him like resurrecting to giving his Holy Spirit, like, never heard it all together, which is unbelievable. Right. And so I'm listening and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, what is happening to me?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and I just, he's like, everyone close your eyes. Classic youth group thing. Everyone close your eyes and like raise your hand if you like want to accept Jesus. And I it goes silent, and I like let out this like weird sound because I couldn't help like the feeling I was under it. Like, I like, I don't know, it must have like, you know, when you start to cry and you like are trying to hold it in, you kind of make a sound. Yeah, that was like the sound I made. Yeah, and everyone could hear it. I like raise my hand, I look up, I'm sobbing.
SPEAKER_03:Oh man, I accept Jesus.
SPEAKER_02:I repent, and I accept Jesus. Oh, and I'm just like feeling like love for the first time ever. And I'm like, it was a crazy experience. Like the Holy Spirit just like encountered me. And um we went to a small group right after, and I was like, I just got saved. Yeah, like, hi, I'm here. I just got saved, and they're all like, Woo! Like, praise God, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. And I'm like talking to them, like sharing some of my story, and they're like telling me the basics, like random, basic things about being a Christian, what I need to do now. I go home and Mari gives me a Bible. Um, she gives me like one of her Bibles, and I was so grateful she could, I couldn't believe she gave me a Bible. And then um, I started reading it like all the time, like five hours a day. I would go home from school. I started going to school more. I would go home from school and read the Bible, read the Bible like all the time. Like I was like, if these kids at school know the Bible so well because they've been in K through 12 Bible school, I need to know it better than them. Like, I need to know my Bible so that I can actually talk to them about the real like Jesus, the real person, and I can actually talk to them and like get through it because I'm gonna know it too. Yeah, um wow, yeah. So I was like determined, and I was just like eating the word like all the time, like and God was just meeting me like where I was for the next month. I was going to church like four, five, six times a week, trying to get as many like mentors as I could, like getting people to pour into me. My best friend's family started pouring into me so much, they like basically took me in um and just started me like discipling me. And I am like just burning. Like, yeah, when it talked about in the Bible, like your first love for Jesus, like I it was all I talked about, and then like at school, like even a week after I got saved, people were like, What happened to you? Right, like who are you? Yeah, what happened? And I'm like, I got saved, yeah. And I'm I'm like running up to people at school, like, guess what? I got saved. And they're like, I've been praying for you. And I'm like, What? You've been praying for me, like, thanks.
SPEAKER_03:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Prayers answered, and I just like all the time started going to school, like, started praying all the time. Like, I would text almost everyone in my contact list, like, how can I pray for you? And then I would like stick it on my wall, like these sticky notes of how to pray for someone. And I was just like, Oh, like I know Jesus so well now, but sometimes I wish I could experience that first month again. Yeah, um, not really, because now like I really know the Lord and I've grown so much since. But it was so fun to just like I just loved God, like I just like loved this new thing that I experienced, and I just loved Jesus. It was like I had hope for the first time in my entire like 16 years of living. And instantly that day, like when I got saved, this is kind of crazy. I got healed from anxiety, depression. Wow. Instantly, like I never had to go through like a healing process. I instantly got saved from that and healed from that.
SPEAKER_04:That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02:A lot of stuff has taken a lot of healing since then, but I instantly got healed from that stuff, and I was just like joyful, hopeful. Um, and then I funny thing, I had prayed the night I got saved that. That Jesus would give me an exciting life because my life up until this point had like I if I was 16 right now, I would say it sucked. I wouldn't use that word now, but if I was 16, I would say my life sucked. So I prayed. I was like, Lord, I will follow you with my all, but I want an exciting life.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Kind of meeting. Meaning secretly I wanted to travel.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Which is funny.
SPEAKER_02:So about two months later, the Lord answered the prayer. I got to go to Iceland with my school, and I was just constantly, it was a photography trip, but for me it was an evangel evangelism trip. Um, because I was talking about Jesus all the time to everyone. Um, I got to like lead devotions for our group, uh-huh, and I brought um two people to the Lord, and then two people rededicated their lives to Jesus on that trip just to me like talking about it.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and just the testimony of like people had never really seen someone come through our school that was blatantly unsaved. Like, I would say, like my freshman sophomore year, I would be like, I'm not really a Christian. Yeah, and then to like the next year flip, completely flip. People have never seen it, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um, it's like a salt Paul.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, yeah, and people like never really seen that, so fun to talk about it all the time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, anyways, I got a mentor on that trip. This one of our leaders, she was from California, she flew out to lead our trip, and she started teaching me about the Holy Spirit, about healing. I opened up to her about my childhood, everything I was going through, and like she would just stay up, like discipling me and pouring into me like at night, and during the day, I would just like spill out everything she said to me to everyone else.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and then on the flight home, the Lord said, This is what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. I want you to be a missionary.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:And I was like, Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yes, Lord. And you said yes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I said yes.
SPEAKER_03:So you have this amazing turnaround. How did your friends? I mean, I know I know you said you had some awesome experiences, like leading people to the Lord and stuff. Did you have pushback? Did you have people who just didn't get it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um, I remember also the day I got saved, I called one of my friends who also was like really into partying partying at the time, but he his family said he was Christian. So when I got saved, I called him and told him I got saved, and I was so excited and I thought that he was gonna be like awesome because he said he was Christian. So I was like, of course he's gonna understand what I'm saying and be so happy for me. Right. Like he's a Christian, he should know what I'm feeling. Yeah, and so I told him that I got saved, and he was like, Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And then we like, and when we kind of like stopped being friends, yeah, yeah, and I was confused. Did you see that? And so wow, so did you see that happen on a any type of scale? I mean, that was one person. Did you see that with a couple people at all?
SPEAKER_02:Or no, because I would say my other friends that also weren't following the Lord, I was still friends with them, and I had stopped doing all the things, like I immediately stopped drinking, of course, and stopped like doing everything we were doing, and I wouldn't go to any of like the parties or like anything like that. Um, and I think I was still friends with them, and I think I really influenced them as well because they sort and confused them.
SPEAKER_04:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02:So they were interested and would ask me questions and be like, What is happening to you? Like, and then I would just like kind of share the gospel. Um, I did end up slowly kind of stopping being friends with them just because I wouldn't go to any of the like social hangouts.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and I actually was really praying for Christian friends, and I got a whole group of Christian friends at church, which is awesome for me to hang out with.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Like the moment the Lord told you that you were gonna be called to missions, can you talk about that? Like, what has that opened up for you? What's the plan?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so about a few weeks later, I signed up two years early for a gap year program called a DTS, a discipleship training school with YWAM.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I had heard of this a month before I got saved, and then when I got a call to missions, I was like, okay, connecting the dots. Um, so I called them and signed up two years early, and they were super confused as to why I signed up two years early, which was funny. So I like decided to go. Um, and then for the rest of my high school, I was kind of just like waiting to go to the mission field, like itching to get out of my hometown and go to the mission field and like go to missions. Um, and so before my DTS, after my senior year, after I graduated, I started hearing the Lord say Himalayas, and I had no idea what like what that was. Or if that was like a city, um, it's a mountain range. I did not know that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and then I went to my DTS, which was in Kona, Hawaii. Super fun. And I got there. There's 400 students there, and they give you the first two days to pray about out of like the 35 to 40 locations, your top three. Um, so I put send me anywhere because I was like, Lord, like, I just want to go where you want to send me.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so I put send me anywhere, and they sent me to the Himalayas, and I remember them telling me that and my jaw dropping. Like, I was like, Oh my gosh, I heard the Lord say Himalayas, like this is confirmed. Wow. Um, which is awesome. And then just in the next three months, being with my team, learning about how people in the Himalayas, most of them are unreached. They meaning they don't have a Bible, they've never heard the name of Jesus, they're very hard to get to. My heart broke. Um, and I committed to move there before I even went because I knew that the Lord said mission, missions. Um, I thought that you needed a four-year degree to do missions, so I was gonna go study missions, which is you don't and then I learned you don't have to do that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_02:So I committed just in my heart um to moving to the Himalayas, just I was in prayer, just like I would weep over the Himalayas just in prayer, um, all before I got there. And then I got there, I landed, started sobbing, knew it was home.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02:Um, felt like myself there, like I really came alive. Um, we did evangelism every day. I loved it. Like I felt like I was like, this is like what I'm made to do. Like this is like the call.
SPEAKER_04:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so it's confirmed, and then we got to go on our two-week trek into the Himalayas doing Bible distribution um to people that have never had a Bible, which is the burn on my heart is that everyone would have a Bible because the Bible changed my life. Yeah, um, and so I got to do that and it was amazing. And um, I also found my husband there. Oh wow getting married in a month. Yeah, it's amazing because he's been there for three years, yeah. Um wow, which is unexpected twist. I committed to move there single, but the Lord had other plans, yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, and now I'm going back for for five years.
SPEAKER_03:Wow, that's amazing. So cool. I'm so thankful to hear that too. I mean, praise God, you know, because you know, there's so many who you know want to go, some people who are fearful to go, you know, but the reality is that there is a need and that you've answered that call is amazing. And you know, again, you just track it back to that moment where you you you you were willing to let it let all go and just surrender, you know, that surrender moment and and the fruit and what can come out of that. I mean, it just speaks volumes to me. Your yes to Jesus uh can undo so many terrible things, you know, in your life and just bring about um so much blessing. So ah, man, it's so good.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Honestly, it's like my joy and honor to go and serve the Lord and be able to bring Bibles and bring his word is like my biggest honor that the Lord would choose and call me to do that. Like it is a sacrifice, but for me, it sometimes feels like it's not because I'm itching to go. I can't wait to go. And I feel like the Lord has said that the Himalayas is where Him and I are gonna get really close.
SPEAKER_04:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm kind of like holding on to that word, just knowing that I need to go to get closer with the Lord, and if I stay here, I'll get close and he'll honor that choice. But like to really know the Lord and give him my everything and know him closely, I have to go.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Beautiful.
SPEAKER_05:For the last question, Ryan asked Ruth what she would tell to her 15-year-old self, knowing what she knows now.
SPEAKER_02:Think about it. Like, try to discover who God is because he might not be what everyone says he is or what everyone acts like he is. So if you believe there's a God, like I would be like, why would you not explore that? Wow and ask him who he is. Like, I would probably just be like, ask God who he is.
SPEAKER_03:So good. Wow. Thank you so much for everything for just being invulnerable and sharing your heart. It's been so, so encouraging.
SPEAKER_02:Of course. Thank you for having me on the show.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, Ryan. How about your story? God wrote it, so it's already awesome. Why not share it? We want to hear your 180 testimony. Check out our website to see how at 180podcast.com. That's one80podcast.com. We'll help you put your story together so you can share it. We've got thought-provoking writing prompts that will get you started. And of course, we'd love your follow, review, and share of our show. This is Kate with the send-off. Stay tuned at the end of each show for a real treat. Today we have Blind Tony, our 180 poet. You can find Blind Tony, Anthony Horton, on YouTube. Take it away, Blind Tony.
SPEAKER_00:This morning I asked you my faith to renew, that my feet might stay glued to the path that is true. The wicked one seeking to kill and destroy the peace in my spirit, my faith and my joy. I gave you my heart, God, a long time ago. That more of your spirit I might come to know. And over the years it's continued to grow. And little by little it's starting to show. I want to thank you, my father, for all that you've done. The songbirds, the flowers, the grass, and the sun. For the gift of your word, your spirit, your son. Complete in me, Father, the work you've begun. For I'm thirsty, my father. For all that's like you. And each day I need you like the grass needs to do. Cover me gently, refresh and renew. Make me more Christ-like in all that I do. Let not the wicked ones create unbelief. That counterfeit lying, that liar and thief. Get thee behind me, below and beneath. And he gives me relief. He's the source of my power. He eases my pain. He teaches me all things like when to refrain, what to disdain, how and when to refrain, and above everything else that life's not in vain. He works in my heart as well as my brain. And it's keeping me sober, vigilant, stained. Speak to my heart, God. Show me a way. My spirit is willing. I want to obey. Disappointments are many. My feet sometimes stray. Like a tree in a hurricane, my heart starts to sway. But I don't come uprooted. I don't bend and I don't break. But I do feel a strain, God, and sometimes I ache. So this morning I ask you my faith to renew. That my feet might stay glued to the path that is true. The wicked one seeking to kill and destroy. The peace in my spirit, my faith and my joy. I love you, my father. And I know that you know. You know the end from the beginning. So help me to grow. Help me stay rooted and just like that tree, searching at all times for more life from thee. Let me not waver, for this two shall pass. Do not forsake me. That's all that I ask.
SPEAKER_01:180 is a production of One Way Ministries.
