Chapter 3: Episode 2: Elizabeth's Leap of Faith: Embracing the Miraculous

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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We are now in Chapter 3, Episode 2 of Embracing the Miraculous and Believing the Impossible.

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This time we're talking about Elizabeth, Elizabeth's belief in the impossible.

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So, we are a podcast dedicated to exploring profound biblical stories and their

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practical applications in our lives.

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I am your host, Connie Morris, and I am so glad that you are back with me.

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In this series, we will dive into the lives of the key biblical features.

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Oh, I am stuttering. Let's start over. in this series, we will dive into the

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lives of key biblical features,

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uncovering the depth of their faith and the lessons we can apply to our own spiritual journeys.

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In today's episode, we will explore the story of Elizabeth,

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focusing on her belief in the impossible, as depicted in Luke 1,

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chapter 1, 39 through 45.

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Elizabeth's story is compelling because she.

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She was advancing years when she conceived John the Baptist.

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So believing in the impossible, embracing the miraculous.

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We will discuss the role of her husband, Zachariah. Of course, it takes two.

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And how his faith journey intertwines with Elizabeth, her wife.

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It takes two. Stay tuned as we uncover the incredible journey of Elizabeth and

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how her story can inspire us to believe in the impossible in our lives.

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And so our foundational scripture takes place in Luke chapter 1, verses 39 through 45.

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And I want to read the whole story from the message translation,

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and then we will take it verse by verse.

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So let's go. I'm going to read it from the message.

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And it reads, Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town

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in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.

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When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.

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She was filled with the Holy Spirit and sang out exuberantly.

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You're so blessed among women and the babe in your womb also blessed.

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And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me?

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The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, the babe in my womb skipped

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like a lamb for cheer joy.

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Blessed woman who believe what God said, believe every word will come true.

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Amen. Blessed woman who believe what God said, believe every word will come true.

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Wouldn't that be you? Wouldn't that be me? That if we believed every word that

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God said, that it will come true in our lives.

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So our main points, it will be the divine encounter, Elizabeth initial reaction,

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Elizabeth blessing, Elizabeth faithful declaration, and the role of Zachariah.

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We will also cover, you know, Elizabeth thoughts and feelings,

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and then we will go over those practical applications, and we will end this

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lesson with declarations and decrees.

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So let's just kind of just walk through just a little background about Elizabeth.

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We know Elizabeth was advanced in age.

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She was married to Zechariah. Zechariah was a priest, and so we know they were

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married, she was barren.

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And so when we remember from the last episode that Mary had an encounter with

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the angels and the angel confirmed that Elizabeth was with child.

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And so the first time, once the angel has completed his encounter with Mary,

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Mary just ran off to confirm her encounter with the angel.

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And so now in this episode, Mary and Elizabeth, they are meeting.

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So let they have this encounter.

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So let's go back to verse 39 and 40. And I'm going to read from the NLT translation.

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We're just going to take it verse by verse and just take our time with it.

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And let's enjoy this story because we have a young lady who's pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

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And then we We have an older lady who's also pregnant, but she's pregnant with

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by her husband, but she's advanced in age.

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And so both has a miraculous experience and an impossible experience.

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How fun. God is up to something right now in the lives of these two women.

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So let's go to Luke chapter one. I'm in chapter two, verse thirty nine.

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And let's just see, let's read it and let's take our time and let's walk through

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the excitement that's happening with these two women.

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39 and verses 39 and 40.

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A few days later, Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea to the town where Zechariah lived.

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She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.

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At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her.

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And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Elizabeth gave, that's verse 40. Okay. Oh, I went too far. Let's start over.

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A few days later, Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea to the town,

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Judea to the town where Zachariah lived.

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She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.

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So this is a greeting. Mary visits Elizabeth, who is now pregnant in her old age.

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This encounter highlights the

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joy and mutual support between Mary and Elizabeth, despite her old age.

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Elizabeth's faith in God's promise is unwavering.

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We see here that that relationship just confirms how God was working in the both of them.

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And think about that. You have a miraculous birth, then you have an an impossible

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birth and they meet in the Holy Spirit, just the baby in both of their wombs,

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just kind of springing life,

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especially in Elizabeth's womb saying, yes, you're pregnant.

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She was probably six months pregnant.

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And then you have Mary who was just probably just a couple weeks pregnant or so.

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And she walked that journey, probably meditating on what's just just happened

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in her life. So let's go to Genesis.

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Did this happen before in the Bible? So we see, I want to put up a scripture

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here, Genesis 21 verses one and two.

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It says, now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did

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for Sarah what he had promised.

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Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.

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And at the very time God had promised him, So another lady that was of old age was Sarah.

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I think she was 99 and 90.

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I think she was 90. And she gave birth to Isaac at an old age.

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So when we say we're too old for something, God says, I'm just getting started.

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And so they both had a divine encounter, Elizabeth, Mary, and now we have Sarah.

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And they both have children.

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In their womb. They were born by, you know, scripture, but they were both given

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something that made them happy, a baby, right?

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How powerful is that? So Mary Elizabeth, who is now pregnant,

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Elizabeth was now pregnant in her old age.

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So this encounter highlights the joy and mutual support between Mary and Elizabeth.

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Despite her old age, Elizabeth's faith in God's promise is unwavering.

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And so even as Elizabeth was growing older, because this story is not about

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Mary, not about Sarah, it's about Elizabeth's story.

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As she continued to trust in God, as she grew older, God has never, never failed her.

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She wanted a baby and it was never too late for God to show up.

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Let's talk about Elizabeth's initial reaction.

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Let's read verses 41 and 42. too.

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Right here it says, at the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped

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within her and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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So Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all

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women and your child is blessed.

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When Elizabeth hears Mary's greeting, the baby leaps in her womb and she is

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filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Elizabeth's reaction is one of joy and recognition of the miraculous.

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She is filled with the Holy Spirit, affirming the divine nature of both her pregnancy and Mary.

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So the Holy Spirit is at work in this family here.

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Mary was conceived by the the Holy Spirit.

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Mary's presence shows up. Elizabeth is now filled with the Holy Spirit.

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And the baby in Elizabeth's womb, John the Baptist, is now filled with the Holy Spirit.

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Elizabeth's reaction is one of joy and recognition of miraculous.

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She is filled with the Holy Spirit, affirming the divine nature of both her

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pregnancies and Mary's.

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Let's look at Psalms 113.9.

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And it says, he settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of child.

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Praise the Lord. So nothing is too hard for the Lord.

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Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

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You know, we, a lot of times we, you know, in the Bible time,

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they lived for a long time.

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So they said Mary was old, but at that time, I don't think that was too old

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to have a child because we know what it takes to have children.

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But we see here, the reaction was with joy.

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The reaction was with joy that it was a confirmation because,

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you know, Mary, Mary just had an experience,

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but the confirmation was when

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she walked into that room and everybody was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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That was her confirmation that she too was pregnant.

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Even though she knew something happened, that just confirms it.

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Let's talk about Elizabeth's blessing. Let's go to verses 43 and 44.

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It says here, this is 43.

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Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?

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When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.

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Elizabeth acknowledged Mary's blessedness and significance of her child.

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The person that said that she was blessed and honored was the angel Gabriel said it first.

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And then now we hear it a second time through Elizabeth.

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So that does something in Mary's heart to hear that twice.

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So Elizabeth's recognition of Mary's blessed state and her own miraculous Reckless

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pregnancy exemplifies the joy and faith in God's power to do the impossible.

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Romans 4, 19 to 20 reads, Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact

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that his body, this Abraham,

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was good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and that Sarai womb was also dead.

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Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God,

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but he was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded

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that God had the power to do what he has promised.

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I love that, that Abraham, even though he was old and Sarah was old and God

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promised, said that you will have a child.

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He said, I'm going to believe the promise.

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And so he did what the male and female do to have children. And guess what? They had a child.

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He said he was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he has promised.

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How many of us have us believe that God has the power to do what he has promised?

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Let's go on. Elizabeth Faith Declaration. Let's read verse 45.

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Verse 45 reads, you are blessed because you believe that the Lord would do what he said.

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Oh my goodness. in this. We see here that Abraham believed.

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We saw that Mary believed.

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We see that Elizabeth believed. What does it take to have a miraculous and an

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impossible in your life?

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Belief plus faith equals miraculous plus equals the impossible.

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We see here that Elizabeth declares Mary is blessed because she believed that

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the Lord would fulfill his promise to her.

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Mary's Elizabeth, sorry, Elizabeth's faith is profound.

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She believed in the fulfillment of God's promises, despite her old age and past barrenness.

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Her faith encouraged us to believe in God's promises, no matter how impossible they may seem.

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Let's go to Hebrews 11, 11. We're still talking about Sarah in the Hebrews.

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Hebrews is the Hall of Fame book, right?

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And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,

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was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had the promise. Wow.

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My faith is being built up. It's like if God said it, he will do it.

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Elizabeth declared Mary's blessed.

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Elizabeth's faith is profound because she believed that God promised.

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We see Abraham believed and Sarah believed because they both married.

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They have to believe together.

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And then they both bear a child. What was the role of Zechariah?

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Let's go to, I'm not going to read all of that, Luke 5. You get a chance to

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read Luke 1, chapter 1, 5 through 25.

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That's a great story about Zechariah's encounter with Gabriel while he was serving the Lord.

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So Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband, also played a crucial role in this story.

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As a priest, he received a vision from the angel Gabriel announcing Elizabeth's pregnancy.

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Initially, he doubted the promise and is rendered mute until John's birth.

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So when you read that story, I mean, it was so much for him to handle that,

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you know, those words are so powerful

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that the angel says, don't you say anything until that baby is born.

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Cause I don't need you to mess up this whole process, you know?

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So he, he had a moment, he was serving the Lord in the temple.

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The angel said, you will have a child because you have this lady,

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Elizabeth praying to her God saying, I want a baby.

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And he wasn't going to go send Gabriel and do the Holy Ghost inception thing.

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He said, no, you got a husband. And so we're going to work it through your husband.

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And so Zachariah was rendered mute. Mute mean he couldn't say a word.

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That didn't mean he couldn't do anything. He just couldn't talk about it.

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He says, okay, you're going to have a child, but all you got to do is just do

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your due and let's get this thing done.

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Think about this. So Zachariah had to go from the temple, knowing what the angel

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of the Lord had told him that you're gonna have a child, but you gotta go do

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what husband and wives do to make this thing happen.

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You got the wife at home going, I'm ready to do what husband and wives do to

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make this happen. And so here we go.

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So Zachariah journey from doubt to faith is essential. His initial disbelief

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contrasts with Elizabeth's unwavering faith.

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Yet this eventual acceptance and obedience demonstrated the transformative power of God's promise.

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God can do the impossible, but he needs that husband and wife to join together

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on what God said to make it happen.

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So what happened? they had a baby, John the Baptist, not just a baby,

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John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus.

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Wow. Wow. You had the angel intercepting this thing. This is going to happen.

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I need you to do one, two, three. You do one, two, three. This is all in the play of how God works.

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Amen. And then Luke 1.13 reads, but the angel said to him, do not be afraid,

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Zachariah, your prayers have been heard.

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Oh, your wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son and you are to call him John.

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How powerful is that? When you have prayed, you and your wife have prayed.

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You and your husband have prayed, and then you get an answer,

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a direct answer from the Lord that he has heard your prayers.

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Now, now you, your body doesn't look like it's going to bear a child,

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but we're in chapter three, embracing the miraculous and believing the impossible.

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Impossible, that means things are going to have to work for this promise of God to come to pass.

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And remember, it's never too late for what God has for you.

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It's never too late. And so this message is really for my husbands and my wives.

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What has God told you as a couple? It doesn't really have to be a child,

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but it starts out as a baby.

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Every new beginning is a seed, right? And you baby that seed and that seed begins

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to walk and talk, whatever it is. It can be a new business.

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It starts small and it works up, but it takes two. It takes a husband. It takes a wife.

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What has God said to the wife? That the husband's not listening.

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What he said to the husband? That the wife is not listening, right?

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Come on now. Yep. And so it says here that in Luke 1, 13, it says,

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but the angel said to him, do not be afraid. Put your name here.

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Your prayers have been heard. Your wife, put your name here.

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Will bear a blank and you are to call him blank or you call this business name blank.

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Fill it in, fill in the blank because it takes two in a marriage that you have

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to believe. But the story's about Elizabeth.

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And so Elizabeth and Zachariah was focused on what God, Elizabeth was praying,

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Zachariah was believing with his wife and what happened?

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They had a child.

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I'm going to read this again. Zachariah journey from doubt to faith is essential.

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His initial disbelief, it was disbelief because he was looking at what he can see.

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He says, this body, we're going to do what? And have a baby?

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Elizabeth like this body, we're going to have a baby? Yet,

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when they actually accepted it and obeyed what God said,

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God began to transform that old body into a body that can actually birth a child.

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Hmm. Birth it, a child.

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So let's talk about, I think we did that, but let's go again.

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Let's explore how Elizabeth was feeling.

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Joy and gratitude. Elizabeth likely felt immense joy and gratitude for her pregnancy,

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a long awaited blessing that came despite her age.

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So think about what the, you know, we always worry about this,

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what the people say. I'm like, They're like, wait a minute, Elizabeth pregnant.

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So her name changed, you know, people saying like, wait a minute,

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she's pregnant in her old age.

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So they know that only God could have did that. So now God gets to glory.

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God gets to praise faith and perseverance.

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Her story is a Testament to faith and perseverance showing that God's timing

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is perfect and his promises are true.

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So no matter how long it took, that God showed up and God gave them not just a baby.

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He gave them John the Baptist.

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A recognition and affirmation. Elizabeth's recognition of Mary's blessing and

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her own miraculous experience provided mutual affirmation and support,

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strengthening both women's faith.

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So they both probably sat there. Think about it. Mary had an individual experience.

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Elizabeth had an individual experience. They came together.

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And I guarantee you, the Bible kind of kept it kind of, you know,

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like they just jumped in the spirit and the spirit of God showed up.

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I bet there was, it said that Elizabeth cried.

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There was a lot of crying going You know, us women, we're crying and holding

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on to each other, you know, and Mary stayed there for about three months until the baby was born.

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So they was cooking and storytelling and, you know, we stand up late and just

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talking about the experience of God and we just having this,

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you know, the Holy Spirit is there.

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So we're having some Holy Spirit moments and we're just having this recognition

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and affirmation of who God is.

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The story just keep going on and on, affirming and affirming and affirming,

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affirming, just sharpening iron with each other, building each other's faith up.

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And we need that. And that age difference, it matters because it just prepared us.

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You know, Mary for the birth. Mary's birth was in a barn.

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And so she was there for the birth of John. So she learned a lot just watching

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the birth of John be born.

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I mean, we've got to understand there was some practicality in this process too.

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And then what Elizabeth learned, the trust in her husband.

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Elizabeth had to trust Zachariah's experience and support him through his period of muteness.

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Yes, because he couldn't talk. It was probably quiet in the home, right?

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Illustrating the importance of mutual faith and support in a marriage.

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And so that probably made that marriage a little bit more closer because he couldn't speak.

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So he had to probably write some things down and learn how to communicate with maybe sign language.

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And husbands and wives, they've been married a while. So probably learned how

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to communicate just some non-verbals, right? Just made that relationship closer.

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God knows how to work some things out. And so they had a baby boy, John the Baptist.

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So how do we apply this experience between Elizabeth and Zachariah to our lives?

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Number one, we believe in God's promises.

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When faced with seemingly impossible possible situations, remember Elizabeth's

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example of unwavering faith.

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Action step, identify areas in your life where you need to believe God and God's promises.

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Pray for the faith to trust in his timing and power.

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You know, faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God.

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And so you can pray for faith, but God's going to tell you faith comes from what?

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Hearing and hearing the word of God, get into your Bible and see how God works.

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How does God work? And so how did God work in Elizabeth's life?

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How does he work in Mary's life? And there's other characters throughout the Bible.

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And, you know, even the past characters that we have read in chapter one and

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in chapter two, how does he work in their life?

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Faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God. Put the word of God in

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you and see how God works.

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Practical tips, I'm always telling you to write down what God's promises from

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the Bible and apply situations and meditate on them daily.

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What do you believe in God for in your life? So believing on God's promises.

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What do you believe on God's? How do you believe on God's promises?

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One, you find them in the Bible. Two, you write them down.

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Three, what is it that you're believing? and write down if it's,

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what is it, sickness, disease, you know, would you be leaving for finances?

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Find out what God says about those promises in his Bible, because he says it's just an amen, right?

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Find out what he says and then begin to write them down.

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And like I said, set up appointment with God and ask him, how can we work this out?

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Believe and get your believer, believer in order, you know, so identify area

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where you need to believe God.

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Believing, I mean, you got to do something, like you got to write it down,

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you got to do something, you know. Let's do number two, finding joy in God's work.

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Understanding that God's miracles bring joy and fulfillment,

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even if they take time to manifest.

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And the way you do that is reflect on past instances when God God has worked

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miraculously in your life and expressed gratitude.

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Gratitude and attitude always bring more miracles, right?

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So like I said before, keep a gratitude journey.

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It's always hard to see what the gratitude is when you're in the middle of the fight.

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But like I said, there's always a glory light that shows.

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Even when you can't see it, it's a light that shines. So keep a gratitude journal

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noting daily blessings and miraculous event, big or small.

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God is always at work. Sometimes he's behind the scenes. Sometimes he goes before

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you, but doesn't matter.

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He's always working things out for you.

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Even when you don't see it could be the littlest things you

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know like i almost got an accident you go oh that was

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miraculous because do you have the money to pay for that car damage

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you mean that saved you time you know just little things be gratitude be thankful

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for all things amen let's go to the next one supporting others in faith you

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know you get caught up in yours look at us like elizabeth and mary support and

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affirm others in their faith journeys.

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You're not the Holy Spirit. You can't tell them what to believe. Just support them.

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So action, you want to reach out to someone who needs encouragement and share

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your faith story with them.

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You know, like share your whole journey with them. Sometimes it takes a little

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longer, but you want to just be supportive of them.

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Maybe be an ear. And maybe if you can be a part of their story, that would be helpful.

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Join or form a faith support group where members can share and pray with each

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other over their prayer needs.

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You know, that can be helpful. Have a prayer group.

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Last one is trusting in marriage. Like Elizabeth and Zachariah,

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mutual trust and support in their marriage are crucial when facing divine promises and challenges.

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You know, communicate openly with your spouse about your faith journeys and

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support each other in prayer and action.

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Like in a marriage, you have your faith journey.

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He has his, but then you should have some together. Like, what are we believing

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for on our, what's our big picture, our big picture plan in our marriage,

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you know, and then pray for that together.

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And you have your, your individuals, right? Cause we are individuals,

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but yet you have a joint thing that you can believe for. And that's something

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that you can celebrate both individuals and then actually as a couple.

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And then be supportive of each other, you know, faith journeys,

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support each other in prayer and action. So how can I support?

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You know, you can look at each other's prayers, right? How can I help her out?

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How can I help him out? Bring that prayer into manifestation, right?

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That's what we're together. We're together to help each other, you know.

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Establish regular times for prayer and reflection together, focusing on God's

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promise for your family, you know. So you have your individual prayer time,

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and then you have your together prayer time.

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All right, let's do our decrees together. You know, I decree that like Elizabeth,

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I will believe in God's promises, trusting that he is faithful to fulfill them,

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no matter how impossible they may seem.

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I decree that I will find joy and gratitude in God's miraculous work,

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celebrating his power and love in my life.

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I decree that I will support and affirm others in their faith journeys,

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encouraging them to trust in God's promises.

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I decree that I will support and trust my spouse in our mutual faith journey,

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recognizing the power of shared belief and prayer.

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So good. So thank you. Thank you again for joining Diary of a Black Woman podcast

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on this exploration of Elizabeth's belief in the impossible.

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Her story reminds us that God,

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with God, nothing is impossible and his promises are always fulfilled.

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So as we conclude this episode, remember that believing in the impossible requires

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faith, trust, and a willingness to embrace God's timing and power.

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Stay tuned for our next episode as we dive into Daniel's commitment to adversity

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and persistence in prayer.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Embracing the Miraculous and Believing in the

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Impossible, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform.

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Your feedback helps us to reach more people with these inspiring stories of faith.

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Share this podcast with friends and families, family who might also be encouraged

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by these powerful biblical narrative.

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For more resources, like I said, there are free resources on my website,

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DiaryofBlackWomen, LLC.com.

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And always get a copy of whatever is being played on the podcast.

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Follow us on social media. And I want to thank you for listening.

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And remember to embrace the miraculous, believe in the impossible.

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Until next time, may your faith be strong and your spirit be unlifted. Bye-bye.