SPEAKER_02 0:07

Cynthia Stewart guides executive leaders to create healthy, effective corporate cultures. She brings the skills and experience from a successful 24-year career to her private consultancy Evermore Services. In partnership with her belated husband, Dr. Jeff Stewart, they continue to help leaders and teams achieve breakthrough at pivotal times. Her current focus is guiding leaders and incorporating strengths-based principles and human development for them and their teams. In 2023, Cynthia stepped up to her life mission by expanding her role for businesses as corporate chaplain and C-suite for women.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Welcome to the Pursuing Redemption Podcast with Heather Short.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Well, Cynthia, thank you so much for coming on the Pursuing Redemption Podcast. We're excited to have you today.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Thank you for asking me.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

We would love to hear a little bit about your journey and how you came to know Jesus as your Lord.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Well, that's a that's a something I love to talk about. So first of all, I will say that I am a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and I believe He is the Son of God, and He is my Savior and my King. And by His grace I have life. And by His grace alone, actually. And maybe as you hear my story, you'll understand why I would say those things. So my first real encounter with God's grace came when I was just about 14, and I was lying in a hospital bed after a terrible motorcycle accident. And doctors said there was only about a 1% chance of saving my leg. And I truly thought that I was gonna die. And in that dark and painful place, many, many nights, actually 10 weeks, of the first time I was in the hospital, I cried out to God and basically surrendered my life to Him. And instead of taking my life, He saved it and He saved my leg too. And that was really the beginning of my deep faith. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loved me and that He was real and that I belonged to Him. And then two years later, I actually lost my father. And my father struggled with alcoholism. Um and we'd already lost him in many ways before he actually passed. So God had to help me work walk through that pain of losing my dad and then teaching me to forgive him and to have compassion on him and to trust love, to trust love. So then in my 30s, I faced another test. I became pregnant as a single woman and I wrestled with shame, but the Holy Spirit actually counseled me from having an abortion. I considered it, but the Holy Spirit counseled me, and by his grace, I chose life, had my daughter, and I discovered unconditional love in a way that I never I never had before, and it changed me, you know, that love of a child. Um, and that opened my heart to receive more love, including my husband and the two sons God gave us that added to our family. And then later, when my husband Jeff was diagnosed with ALS, um, it's a disease that's incurable. Doctors gave him six months to live, and um Jesus healed him completely, the same way he later healed me of rheumatoid arthritis, and then years later, Jeff went home to be with the Lord suddenly in 2021, and that loss was devastating. But God, God's carried me through it and surrounded me with his comfort, giving me hope for a future. Um, and those are just a few of God's encounters where his hand is unmistakable. I often say I see his fingerprints everywhere in my life, and prayer has been my saving grace through it all. And so every challenge, every loss, every blessing has really drawn me closer to Jesus, and I've learned to see him everywhere in the big miracles, in the daily moments of grace. So, my my journey has been one of redemption and healing and hope, and I'm eternally grateful for his presence and his promise of life everlasting.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

I can't wait to hear more about each one of those things. So tell us a little bit about your corporate career because you did have a business career and how the Lord really made you successful for through all of that.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Well, my corporate career span several decades. Two decades of those were in the electric utility industry, and um, I think that's pretty funny because it's all engineers, and uh it was interesting that I even got the job there. But I ended up after you know growing my reputation and my skills and my leadership inside the company. I actually ended up advising top executives and engineers on major change initiatives, and by God's grace, um, the work I led contributed to perpetual cost savings of over 150 million a year. So over time it totaled over 2 billion, and we achieved those improvements in safety, customer satisfaction, and operational excellence without loss of jobs. So the savings was really just in the way that we operated the business and saved, you know, safety. Safety was a big expense, of course, and then just customer satisfaction. So the ways that we were able to serve really helped us save a lot of money. Um, and I loved doing that job. And then upon my husband's miraculous healing from ALS, I left the job I love to help him recover his life again. And so then in 2011, we launched Evermore Services, and that's I continue that business where I coach and consult with business leaders and owners. And again, I've seen God's hand in helping clients achieve remarkable results, bring startups to multimillion dollar businesses, turning around struggling organizations, and even winning major major grants that helped them flourish. I've always kind of been amazed at how God leads me, but I just go to him in prayer and he gives me all these ideas, and I just kind of follow along and pursue the ideas. Um, in fact, um, my the vice president at the electric company that I worked for for so many years and kept track of the savings, and he's the one that reported my savings to the company when I left the company. He said, We we can you can figure out how to do anything, and it's really not me, it's God, just me going to God and He shows me how to do things. Um, I want to stress that because my success has really never been about me. The Lord gave me wisdom to see strength in people and the courage to lead change, and I found favor with executives and clients, and I've always believed that everyone is uniquely gifted by God, and when you align those strengths with purpose and it uh well or extraordinary things happen. So I said we're just I always would say we're ordinary people doing extraordinary things, but my teams and they loved me, and I really we had a good time, we always had a good time. Um, and I was those contributions. I actually was honored to receive all kinds of recognitions. One one that I really treasure is the Small Business Administration's Women in Business Champion Award. And as one of my friends said, Well, you've championed people, I was like, Yeah, I do, but I really like having um, I really liked of all awards that I could achieve to be a business champion, uh, a champion of people, I really love that. Um, and the the real reward really is that God has used my work to bring life and growth and hope into organizations and into the lives of people I've served. And I see my corporate career is really the training ground for the ministry I do now with C-Suite for Women, where I equip faith-driven women to live their divine design and lead with clarity and courage.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yeah, yeah, and you help so many women across Oklahoma, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Well, I want to help thousands, but I, you know, it's like the it's like the one throwing the one shell. Well, I I helped that one, I helped that one, I helped that one.

unknown 9:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

So tell us a little bit of your testimony, because I think that would just give so many single women out their hope about meeting your husband, because when you met him, you already had a daughter. And just the wonderful story of how you said he just treasured her as his own. I would love for the audience to hear that.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

That was really beautiful. I um so it's really one of God's redemption stories, too. I was an unwed mother. I moved back home to Texas. I'd never been married, I was a single mom. And um, my mother welcomed me with open arms back in my hometown, Texas, in Texas. And she wanted, she and I wanted my daughter to grow up surrounded by family. And I was just in, I was in California alone with her. So in that season, I was searching really for a job, for work, for stability, and really for the future God had for us. And as part of my job search, I began to call on chief information officers in different companies. Um, and one CIO invited me to serve on a committee that was organizing a student conference to connect students with employers. And on that committee was Dr. Jeff Stewart, and he had actually conceived of the whole conference, and that's how Jeff and I met, and we worked side by side, we got to know each other, and um he soon asked me out, and I found him just absolutely fascinating. I really he was so intelligent and so smart and such a gentleman, and of course very interested in me, and I became very interested in him, and we ended up falling in love, and um he I always say that he fell in love with my daughter first. He had been married but never had children, and he absolutely adored her. She captured his heart in full. Um, so as our relationship grew, he proposed, that's a great story, and after we were married, he formally adopted my daughter as his own. And to him, she wasn't his stepchild. She was really his first child. He loved children but never had any, and always wanted to be a father. And so, in fact, um, just recently, a friend, just this past week, a friend told me she had never even known that my daughter wasn't his biological child until I told her after his passing. And so that's how he completely treasured her and embraced her as his. So, really, it's a testimony of God's redeeming love. He took a difficult, lonely season in my life and gave me a family and a husband who loved me and a father for my daughter who treasured her completely. And by the way, um we met when I was yeah, I guess I had just turned, yeah, I know. I I was 34 when we met, and I we went out on my birthday on when I was 20, 35, and we married in that next year just before I turned 36. So later in life. It was later in life.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, I mean, it's happening now all the time, later and later.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Yeah, um, and I had continued, I mean, after 30, so at 36, and then 36 and 38, I had we had two sons, so we had a really nice family. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

And you're getting ready to be a grandma.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yes, I am. It's right around the corner, um, October 30th.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Oh, it's so exciting. So, can you tell us a little bit? I mean, you referenced it a little, just sort of the caretaking career that you had after having a corporate career. You know, sometimes we go into those seasons of helping others. And I know that you helped your husband and you helped your mom, and would love to hear some of that and how that all worked out.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

So, my caregiving years were very extended, by the way, um, across my husband's illness, recovery, and then my mother's illness, and both of their deaths. So they were some of the most difficult, but believe it or not, it's when I came up with the term radical grace. Um, they were some of the most sacred seasons of my life. So when my husband Jeff became very ill with back problems, the surgery revealed his lumbar vertebrae were shattered and had to be rebuilt. It's likely they thought that maybe it had been that he'd had actually a broken back for 10 years. Oh, his he was a swimmer and a dancer throughout his lifetime and was very good about keeping his body um healthy and strong. And they said that his his um spinal column, the nerves around it and the muscles around it were so strong they kept him upright. Uh, but they were amazed. It was a long surgery and they had to dig out all this bone matter. Anyway, not long after that, he was actually diagnosed with ALS and they gave him less than six months to live. So we called in hospice and um I became his full-time caregiver, attending him day and night, and it was exhausting and really heartbreaking. Um during that period, I was just so fortunate because AEP, once he was diagnosed with ALS, and I told the company, AEP, let me have time off, and um employees actually donated their vacation time for me to be able to take six weeks off after we heard about the diagnosis. And you know, it was it was real intense. It was yeah, it was very intense. Um, he was very sick, he was in a lot of pain, but he forced himself to move and get out of bed, and he sat in a chair, and we converted my our um master suite into a hospital room, and I just slept wherever there was a bed available in the home. And so I took six weeks off to kind of get my arms around the fact that he was on his way out and we had lots to take care of. And um then about six months into this, like something like that. I mean, really, he had been sick almost for three years. Um, so we had gone through all kinds of things, the surgery and all the backbuilding, and then seeing him decline and go through all of that and go through hospice, and then finally, um our hospice nurse said that because he hadn't died, they needed to see him again. He should have died, like he should have died by now, so we need to see him again in the in the we need to have it re-examine him. And the doctors came back and said through some medical mystery, though he had ALS, he no longer had it any longer. And we knew that Jesus had healed him. And it took more than a year for his body to re to recover and actually be able to move, you know, it was devastated. Um, but we knew it was a miracle, and God gave us 12 more beautiful years together before he finally went home to be with the Lord one afternoon, sitting there doing his daily round of communications. Um, he took his last breath and and passed on. And then not long after his recovery, so this is after his recovery years before, my mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia and uh moved to Tulsa. She called and said she was moving to Tulsa and just after she got here, she suffered a stroke of the occipital nerve, which took her right field division, and missed her home for three weeks, cared for her, and then we eventually were able to get her moved into an assisted living um area where she was staying. And um really my mother, it was she lived five years even through all of that. She lived six months past Jeff's death, and then she passed on too. And really, um, these two were my greatest role models in life, just there it does so much about their lives, give me courage today and um encourage me, you know, to step into this space that I didn't expect to be in without my husband, without my mom, you know. I remember there was a time when I said, I can't imagine living in a world without my mother. She was so precious to me. Um, and her final words really still echo in my heart. Jesus came to see me. He loves us, he loves us, he loves us, and we love him. And she just kept repeating that. So these are this was in the last her last days when she woke up and said that. And it just gave me such courage. And also, Jeff had said that the night that he was healed, he remembered very well. He'd gone to bed really believing and never talking about it, that he wouldn't make it through the night. ALS causes the um spontaneous muscles to seize, and so it's when it hits the lungs, they can't, they you know, water fills their lungs. And he knew he knew that he was, he felt like that was his last night. But Jesus came to him and gave him the option to come back and work hard on his body to bring it back and to be with us, and he chose that um to come back. And and he he always said, Well, remember, Cynthia, um, everything in the Bible is true. You can trust Jesus' word. Number one, and number two, it's all about love, it's all about love, and that's that's really when I launched the the C-suite for women, the gatherings. All if you if you look at my website, I don't do them monthly anymore, but everyone that came to speak, I would say you have to talk about love, and um, because it's all about love, and we have to learn more about love and loving, and loving when it's hard and loving through everything. Um, but that was really encouraging to me. And also he said you never give up choice, and I see it as a kingdom principle how God has really given us freedom of choice, and even though he pursues us like crazy, he he loves us so much and he um gives us choice, even when we make bad choices. But he he usually has a safety net there for us. So um losing them both in close succession was incredibly painful, but God has been faithful to renew me, still renewing me. And after that year of loss, he called me to rede rededicate myself to the work he placed on my heart, in my hands, C suite for women, and that C plus suite for women, plus recognizing that really it's Jesus that's our CEO. And out of grief has come a deeper purpose, really, to help women find strength and clarity and redemption in Christ, just as he's carried me.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, that's so good. That's such a powerful testimony to both of their lives and the impact that they had on others.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah, they had um, they had a Jeff Jeff had such a tremendous impact. He was such a he was s seven years ahead of the rest of us intellectually, had three doctorate um degrees, and um he loved the Lord so much and he was so knowledgeable in the Bible. It was always fun to talk to him. There was and he he um he constantly communicated with other people, um almost over-communicated, some would feel, but he was just always thinking about people if he came across, he was a voracious reader, if he came across something, he'd send it. Then he'd you know, my precious memories are standing in the he'd stand in the church, we'd go to first press, he'd stand in the church, in the atrium, and greet everyone and uplift everyone. So I there's so many stories of how he spoke into people's lives. After he died, I recognized I saw his spirit like all over the place. I just saw the spirit of him, of Jesus of Jeff, of Jeff, and the spirit of the Holy Spirit in him. It's really encouraging. Um, it's hard to live without them, but their lives spoke so much into my life and impacted my life so much that I'm just so grateful for that.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Absolutely. Well, you hinted at it a little bit. Tell us about C Suite for Women and the ministry that God has called you to build.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

So C Plus Suite for Women was born out of both my corporate experience and my personal walk with God. And after decades in executive leadership and consulting, I saw how many women were searching for clarity, confidence, and community, not just to succeed in business, but to live fully into who God creates them to be. And God made it clear to me that my calling is to equip faith-driven women to live their divine design. That's what I call it. That means discovering their authentic identity in Christ, strengthening their inner life, and then leading boldly in their home in their homes, in their workplaces, in their communities. So C-Suite for Women is more than a program. It's really a movement. I'd like to see it as a movement. It's definitely a ministry. So through books like The Authentic You and Your Inner Game, through courses and journals and life plans, and through community gatherings like mugs and hugs is what I do now, meetups, and then advisory circles. We create spaces where women can grow in clarity and courage and Christ-centered leadership. That's the important thing about C-suite, Christ-centered leadership. And the heart of the ministry is simple to see women walk in freedom and purpose and power and not striving but aligning with God's blueprint, their divine design is what I call it, their blueprint for their lives. And when women are clear on who they are in Christ, they can lead with confidence and transform the culture around them, which is so important.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Do you feel like we can in general women lead well and that they lead well in multiple areas of life?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Well, sure, I think God equips us to lead. And I think I never was called a leader, even though here I was leading these multi-million dollar. I never saw myself as a leader, but my covenant with my husband was to grow leaders. Can you believe that? So here I'm not seeing myself as a leader, and I'm a leader. So I I think women often don't see themselves as leaders, but they're called to the front in so many ways, whether it's volunteer, whether it's into the classrooms their children are in, whether it's, you know, they do lead all over the place, and they can lead with such power and grace when they um walk in the ways of Christ. And he, you know, I'm giving a class on the Lord's Prayer. We were talking about forgiveness and how hard some things are to forgive, like murdering, murdering a child or hurting a child, or you know, how hard it is. And it's like that too. Um you can't forgive without Christ in you to forgive. It's really Christ forgiving. Um, but you also, I think you lead and lead stronger and lead better with Christ in you.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

And you impact the culture, like you were saying. We really impact culture.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Um the culture of it's a culture of grace, a culture of recognition of individual identity, um, how God has has made each person so unique and so beautifully as a unique aspect of him. So it's it it affects how we see other people and how we want really really empowering leadership. Leadership really is to lead others in a better way, to help them step forward in a better way. And um, that's what leadership is. So some people got into servant leadership. Really, leadership is service. It is service, it's serving others to find help them find who they are. Um, it called to be who they are at the highest of uh, you know, operating at their highest and their best. And I think I think uh I think sometimes we need men leading, and sometimes we need women leading for sure. I think the gender difference is very powerful and and God-given. Um men are such protectors, such defenders, and women can be too. Um, but I think they're also the nurturers, and they can nurture and help people help people see themselves in a better light.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Yeah. That was very well said. So tell us about the books that you've written, and you've written some on prayer and several other topics, then we can delve a little bit more into some of the visions you've had about politics.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Okay. Um so I've always believed in the power of words and uh especially in the power of God's word. And so writing and praying has been one of the ways God has called me to minister. Um, in fact, I minister a great deal through praying for others. Um, I text prayers to others daily. Somebody's always in need of a prayer, and when people ask for prayer, I I pray for them specifically to their needs. Um, and I simply love to pray for others, and the Holy Spirit encourages me greatly. When people report to me the prayers that are fulfilled, um it confirms God is listening. So I get very excited about that. It's like, yeah, God hears. Hey, and He does. Um, God's hearing us, He He listens to our prayers, He answers our prayers. Um, so my first major writing project was Praying Psalms for America, and it's a two-volume collection of over 300 prayers that I wrote and recorded over the years, and they were self-published in 21 and 2022 through Westbow Press. Um each prayer is rooted in scripture, so I I literally heard the prompting of the Holy Spirit, pray for America, pray Psalms for America, which is why I named it that. Pray Psalms for America. So each day for I I went three rounds, three rounds, almost four rounds, praying each day through the Psalms for America. And so I'd take a psalm and I'd I'd pray the psalm, and then I'd I'd know what prayers were needed for America. So one of my um reviewers said it was like she ripped news, you know, news off the off the uh, you know, off the front page, if you will, news off the front page into the prayers. Um so I was prompted in 2016 and then again in 2019, in December 1st, 2019, before we knew what was going to happen in 2020. So um I walked through praying and then posting those on Facebook. So it was just these were born out of years of sharing daily prayers on Facebook, and it's it's really a blessing to see how God has used them to encourage people because people really need hope. They, especially about America, they need a lot of hope. And these prayers, they get down and dirty, but they also um turn it all over to God, you know, everything that we're seeing. So from there, um, the Lord led me to write what is now my life's work, the C-Suite Signature Series. And the first book, The Authentic You, helps women align with God's blueprint, their divine design, and live from the beauty within. And then it comes with a journal and a life plan to help women not just read it, but to actively live out their divine design. And the second book is your inner game, it goes deeper into mindset, commitments, and spiritual strength, the things that help us thrive through the inside out. It's kind of that your inner game, the inside knowing using your your belief systems, using your um sacred practices and rhythms to help you live from the inside out. And the upcoming third book is your business by design, and it lays out a strategic Christ-centered foundation for business leadership. So those are available on my website, C Suite for Women. I actually, when Jeff and I kind of reconvened after I left uh my job and we were thinking about the future, we came up with evermore services and ever after publishing. So I am fulfilling the vision that Jeff and I had about publishing, writing and publishing, ever after publishing. So on C SuiteforWomen.com, ever after is a tab, and you can go there and see my work. I need to get my praying psalms up there. Um books, but yeah, that's where I'm going to be posting all of my work as it as it comes about. Um, it's a labor of love. I'll be honest with you, I'll never make money back on the hours, but it doesn't matter. It's a labor of love, and I love casting God's God's um word into action for us to see that's what he means by what does it mean for for um when God's when Christ says renewing of your mind, what does that mean? How do you renew your mind and what what are you renewing it for? So things like that. I I um use scripture to write these books, and my so I use my business experience and acumen mixed with my Bible study to write these books.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

And they're all amazing.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah, well, that's because Christ is right behind me.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

That's all right.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Holy Spirit's guiding me.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Yeah, absolutely. I do know that you have had, and I think this speaks a little bit to the prayers that you've had as well, but you've had some visions around like politics and things of that nature. Would you like to share what you've seen?

SPEAKER_01 32:26

I can talk about that. Um, it's you know, my love for America runs deep. My mother taught American government and she instilled in me a sense of patriotism. And my father fought in World War II as a Marine and carried the scars of that battle for the rest of his life. So he fought, you know, he was like so many of that generation fighting all generations fighting for our freedoms. So I grew up to be a proud American, and I was deeply shaped, of course, by my faith in Jesus and the truth of his word. And over the years I just became really troubled by the direction of our culture because I found out actually in my work in The Authentic You, we go into spiritual gifting. My spirit spiritual gifts are wisdom and discernment. And I uh if you've ever heard chords that were dissonant and like you know, you felt like somebody was scratching a blackboard, sure, you know, that's what happens to me when I hear lies. And I I just began to see more and more lies being spread through media and entertainment, um, breaking down morality, breaking causing racial divides and political corruption. And I often felt disappointed in our leaders, and um, in those moments, God began giving me visions. So during the Bush presidency, I was deep, deeply concerned about their ties to the central banks and their push for war. During Clinton, I was really concerned about um our nation being compromised internationally while Congress is over here working on trying to impeach him. He was over here doing deals that were not good for America. And then when Obama was elected, that's when the visions got super strong. I saw a vision of him, of um him entering the with hope and leaving with devastation behind him. I saw that. Um, and then in 2016, um the Lord prompted me to pray Psalms over America, and in that season he showed me that Trump was his chosen leader. Trump is his chosen leader. So I knew I knew like leading up to um the election, I knew that he would win because I knew that he was chosen by God. And then leading up to the Biden, I knew that things weren't going to go the same over Biden. But God re with Biden, I think God revealed that we as his people needed to wake up and to recognize the spiritual battle raging underneath all of politics. So these visions go, they just continue to go deeper and deeper. Um so I begin to see like my the name of my home is Angelscape, where angels can escape. And now I um and you know, during the period of my husband's illness, and I was sleeping around the house. There was I was sleeping on one bed where there was this water stain that was in the shape of a sword, a scabbard, and I always felt like there was an angel protecting me, guardian me. Um, probably Gabriel or Michael. Um so I I and I have I have visions of you know angels, not to the extent many people do, but God does speak to me through visions. Um so that's um that's the heart of it. So what really the way through this is really clear to me. It's through prayer. We're not really fighting as we learn, we're not fighting against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness and the it's it's authorities, uh, principalities and powers of darkness, as Paul says. And yet Jesus gives us the keys to the kingdom. He he went down when he went um at at his crucifixion, he went to hell and back, he claimed the keys of the kingdom. So we're not we're not called to sit passively on a cruise ship, we're called to man the battleship. We need to stand up, wake up, and pray up. And um, so the good news is I my visions for today are hopeful ones. The danger is real, y'all. I mean, this is we really are fighting. Um we are fighting the prince of the air, um, we're fighting principalities and authorities of darkness who are leading us astray, leading the culture astray, leading the world astray, uh, leading us into all kinds of bail worship and all, I mean, like just really bad things. But so the danger is real, but God's greater, and I believe he's really raising up prayer warriors in the nation to partner with him in pushing back the darkness and ushering in his kingdom, and we have the power to do that. He's given us the power to do that. So um, if you don't know how to pray, um get my books, pray with me. Praying Psalms for America. Um, it's read a prayer, just read out loud, a prayer a day. Um, because I call out the evil and that's going on, and then I I turn it over to God. And I'm seeing how God is working, working with us through all of this.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Absolutely. That's so good. So could you pray over the audience, or what is what has God been placing on your heart in the last season here?

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Yeah, I I wanna um I want to pray for us and then we can talk some more. Let's go ahead. And um I will admit that this is a prayer that I wrote, but it's one that I love, and I talked about it's for radical grace. Remember that God's grace is radical, it's radical. Um, so let's let's just just let me uh just hear these words. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for your radical grace. Thank you for your mercies new every morning. Thank you for your majestic creation. Rise up on behalf of your beloved followers, overtake our souls with your Holy Spirit, penetrate our minds with your word, submerge us in your purifying love, and make us righteous before you. Then send us on your way to bring about your kingdom on earth for all to know you and praise your glory. I declare all your blessings and promises be fulfilled in and through our lives. In you we are made eternal. In Jesus' precious and holy name, amen.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Amen. That was beautiful. So if you were to tell someone to chase after Jesus and pursue redemption, what would you say?

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Well, if I could tell, if I can tell you one thing, it would be this chase after Jesus with everything you have, everything you have. Because the truth is he has already been chasing after you. So God creates us, he pursues us, he chases after us, he puts so many opportunities in our way to know him. And redemption doesn't mean life's easy. Um, I don't know anyone that's really had an easy life, to be honest with you. Um, I think the older we get, the more we've survived, to be honest. Like we're overcomers if we live into our 70s, 80s, 90s, 100. Um the scars will disappear. They but I mean the scars don't necessarily disappear, but it means that Jesus takes takes all those broken pieces, um, the shame, the failure, the losses, all the bad choices, makes them into something beautiful. Um my husband said the world breaks you, but it mends you together and you're stronger. And that was so that was always on his email. World breaks you and then you you're stronger. Um, I've seen in my own life um near death as a teenager, walking through single motherhood, um, miracle of my husband's healing, heartbreak of his passing and my mother's passing, my dad's passing early when I was young. Every season's been marked by his present and his presence in redeeming love. That's what I call radical grace. It's in those moments, like when I was living with my husband in ALS. It was amazing. The people at my door, I'd open the door. There's my yard filled with teenagers singing songs to us at Christmas, things like that. Just blessings at the door, so many blessings at the door. Um, so my encouragement is simple: don't wait until you feel worthy because you are, and don't wait until you got it all together. Um, because redemption isn't something you achieve, it's something you receive. Jesus already paid the price for you. You receive redemption. And I hope my story has spoken to that, how I received redemption. You know, not because I made the right choices or did the right thing, but just because God was just right there with me. So you need to open your heart to Him, pursue Him, trust Him, talk to Him in prayer, immerse yourself in the Word. I can't I can't tell you how important it is that we we read the Bible. And I can't tell you how many people don't read the Bible who claim to be Christian. You have to immerse yourself in His Word, the Old Testament included, y'all. It's so empowering to read how much he loves us. How much he loves us. And the more you do, the more you'll discover who you really are: beloved, chosen, and redeemed. And that really changes everything because when you know Jesus, you know hope and you know peace and you know love, and you know he'll never let you go.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

That was so good, Cynthia. Thank you so much for coming on today. We're excited to share you and your precious words with our audience.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Thank you for asking me. It was um it was very moving for me to go through and think through these questions and the periods of my life and to see Jesus again all over my life. So that's appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Here I am taking a better goes away in the straw. Here I am. Take a meow. In the straw. Here I am.