S2S Sisters: "Born Crucified: The Secret to Finding Our Way" by Mariel Frost

Our prayer is that you will be filled with the knowledge of His will, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power. Okay, ladies, welcome to Strength to Strength Sisters. We are very glad to have you here today.

The vision of Strength to Strength Sisters is to encourage women to be catalysts in advancing the Kingdom through biblical teaching, testimonies of faithful women, and thought-provoking discussion. This talk is intended for our sisters, and at the end, we will have an interactive question-and-answer session, and we would love for you to participate in this. If you're comfortable, you can turn on your camera so that we can see you when you speak.

If not, if you are uncomfortable doing that, feel free to put your question in the chat box, and the moderator will read your question, and Marielle can give her input to that.

We are so excited to have Marielle here with us today. I have been acquainted with her for about two years. We met first at Kingdom Fellowship in Roxbury Camp, Pennsylvania, when we had the weekend there. Maybe some of you saw the information about that in the dropdown on the Strength to Strength Sisters website. If you haven't, that might be something that would interest you.

Okay, Marielle, I will pray with you before you start, and then you can take it from there. Father, thank you for what you have done for us. Thank you for making this a possibility. Lord, we ask that you would continue to guide and direct the work of Strength to Strength Sisters.

And right now, we are especially asking, Lord, for Your Spirit to descend on Marielle. We ask You for Your grace to be poured out on her as she speaks. Give her clarity, Lord. I pray that it would be Your Spirit influencing her in everything she says and that Satan would have no place to get his foot in the door with this talk. Lord, we ask for each woman who will be listening and participating today that You would meet the needs of every heart, of every woman that listens to this talk.

Please bless her now, Lord, and we ask all these things in the name of Your Son who is so worthy. Amen. Okay, Marielle, you can take it from there. Thank you very much, Doreen, and thank you, Christina, for getting that all arranged. And I suspect that all of those technical glitches are maybe for my benefit. I feel like it's been just a little bit of a battle the last couple of days.

The last two days, I just had a real death of a vision for this talk and had to climb back out of that. And then I was feeling great all day today. I was at such peace. And then my heart started racing when I couldn't get on the meeting here, and time was ticking on. And then with Doreen and all, I just feel like God must be trying to teach me something. So I'm sorry you all had to wait while I got taught the lesson.

But if it's okay, I know it's not the normal format, but I just feel like I need to pray myself here as well. So why don't you join me in praying? Father in heaven, O merciful Father, I just want to come before You right now and just give You this time, Lord. Give You myself as a channel, Lord.

It's a temptation at a time like this to say, "Lord, help me to do a good job," but really, I don't want You to help me at all. I want You to just get me out of the way, Lord. I pray that You would just deliver the message that You have for these dear ladies.

And Father, that it would not be muddied by me or my self-consciousness at all. So Lord, we just pause. Time is of absolutely no essence to You, Lord. You live beyond time. We just give You the time that we have, and we ask, Lord, that You would use it to Your glory and to Your honor in Jesus' name. Amen.

Okay, well, I will just jump in. And I'll start with a story. On a day in November, almost 26 years ago, I was in my bedroom in the midst of hard transition labor. It was my first home birth. The pain was intense, and I began to whimper. And then I began to say things like, "I can't do this anymore. I can't do this."

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my chin, and my midwife's face just stared intently into my eyes. "Marielle," she said, "you don't have a choice." It snapped me out of my self-pity. It brought me back to the importance of the moment. And it called for something purposeful and intentional in me that was acutely needed.

And God has been doing that same thing for me spiritually. He keeps asking me, "Where can you go? Who else has the words of eternal life?" I also learned something that day during the pangs of childbirth, something that is key to understanding the lesson that's before us today.

I learned that there are two very distinct kinds of pain. There's a pain that says, "Stop. Don't go there." This is the pain that tells us not to touch a hot stove. It's the kind of pain that protects us, the kind of pain that leprosy doctor Paul Brand calls a gift. When we feel this kind of pain, God intends for us to draw back or to run away. It's the pain of physical harm, and it's also the pain of conviction.

There is, however, another kind of pain. It's a productive pain. It's meant to bring something forth. This is the kind of pain God does not want us to draw away from. If we tighten up or resist this type of pain, it slows down the process. But if we relax into it, if we breathe, if we trust, then something amazing happens. It brings forth a child. This is the pain of birth, but it's also the pain of crucifixion.

The very heart of the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And the way to become a Christian is to identify with Jesus' death in such a way that we are born crucified. In other words, the way to enter into life in the Christian sense is to die.

And the way to advance in the Kingdom is not to pull back from pain as we're used to doing with a hot stove, but to press into the pain and embrace it. And as we women have learned, we do that in childbirth.

So let me just start by reading a familiar passage from Romans 6. It's Romans 6:3-8. "Know ye not that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this: that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him."

It's stated even more succinctly in one of my favorite verses, Galatians 2:20, which is the one that says, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

So our topic today is about transitioning from one culture to another. It's about what it takes to leave the lifestyle of our birth and adopt a Kingdom lifestyle. And I believe there's a secret to making this transition. The secret is to die to self, die to my reputation, die to the desire to please others, die to offenses, die to praise, die to temptation, die to ambition. The secret is to be born crucified.

I was first introduced to this phrase in a book called Born Crucified. It's by L.E. Maxwell. And I found it very helpful. It's all about the role of the cross in the life of the believer. Maybe some of you have heard of it. And I'm just going to read a quote from the foreword.

"Born Crucified declares that the cross was far more than a means of capital punishment in the Roman Empire and a way to satisfy those who wish to terminate the life of Christ. It is representative of that which needs to happen in the life of every believer on a continual basis.

Dying to self in order to live through Christ is more than a philosophy. It is the only way of life for every Christian who wants to overcome the sin that so easily entangles them. No true believer can ignore the cross if they want to be a follower of Christ.

The cross is not a burden we must bear. It is a life we must surrender unreservedly. To avoid the cross is to forfeit victory before the battle ever begins."

This then is how we can live a Kingdom lifestyle and maintain it for the long haul. This is how we can help others adopt a biblical lifestyle. This is how we can change diapers, wipe noses, teach children, and can green beans without growing weary. This is how we can disciple our teens and face rejection and deal with disappointment without giving in to self-pity. This is how we can build bridges and work alongside other Christians, talking about the important stuff on which we disagree and yet not becoming cynical or compromised.

But before I go on, let me back up. The reason I've been asked to share today is because of my background and because God has taken me from being a worldling to being a Kingdom Christian. I was born in New York City to loving parents. My mom had been a nun, and my dad was raised an atheist. We never attended church at all.

When I was seven, my parents divorced, and my world turned upside down. My mom moved us to New Hampshire, and I grew up very fast in order to be her confidant and her support. School was where I excelled. I graduated from the University of New Hampshire with high honors, and I was well on my way to a career in academia or corporate America. I was smart, self-confident, sarcastic, and cynical. I was also flirtatious and sexually active at a young age. I lived with a man who was twice my age, and when I got pregnant at 15, I aborted my first child.

Some of you are trying to reach people like me. You see, I've been the agnostic student some of you are trying to witness to in your college towns. And I've been like the cool sophisticate some of you are trying to connect with in your cafes.

I've been like the irreverent know-it-all sitting in your living room because you read Rosario Butterfield's book and you invited her into your home. And I've also been the new believer who's attending your fellowship and has no foundation at all when it comes to conservative Christianity. Because a year after getting married, Mike and I heard the gospel. We repented and we believed.

For 10 years, we grew in the Lord, moving through various churches, wondering if we were charismatics or Baptists or just confused. Finally, in 2001, we moved to North Carolina and experienced like-minded fellowship for the first time. So I've been like the eager newbie who doesn't know how to sew or how to cook or how to reverence her husband. I've been the zealous young mom with six children under the age of seven who desperately needs help and your friendship.

Lastly, I've been the sister who put on the clothes, planted the garden, and looked like everything was going great until the children grew up and the challenges began to surface. Because we've been the problem family at church. Some of you are wondering how to avoid driving people like me away while still protecting the integrity of your fellowship.

We've had the children who failed and rebelled and rejected all that we taught them. We've been the family you tell your children to avoid, the ones who resist the mold and don't want to be put in a box. You want to know why we can't just settle down and fit in.

I really can't speak to every situation, but maybe, just maybe, I can share some thoughts that might increase understanding.

As I thought about what to share today, I really wanted to give you something with feet on it. More than my story, I want to give you a few practical suggestions that I hope you can take and apply to where you live.

So forgive me for going into teacher mode, but I've got some bullet points. And if you're a note taker, this is when you should get out your pen and your pencil and your paper. So first of all, I'm going to share some notes on thoughts regarding evangelism or how to reach out to somebody like me.

Number one, don't be put off by someone who doesn't seem interested. I remember sitting on the campus at the University of New Hampshire, and I was very organized, and I had my zippered day planner, and it kind of looked like a Bible cover. And this sincere young man, a Christian, came up to me and said, "Oh, are you a believer?" And I just looked at him with this look and said, "A believer in what?" And he just walked away all apologetic and faint-hearted, I'm sure, feeling like a failure. But I've remembered that story all these years because what he did put a stone in my shoe and made me ask the question, "Well, what do I really believe in?"

Number two, speak the word of God. On another occasion, I was sitting with a young woman, and I was sharing something of my cynical view of religion. And she spoke the word of God. She just looked at me with wide eyes and she said, "But surely you believe I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me." And I not only didn't believe that, I'd never even heard it before.

But what was really special is that she spoke the word of God, and it was planted like a seed into my heart. And it was years before I was born again. But when I did come to know the Lord, I never had to memorize that verse. It was planted in my heart already.

Number three, don't be discouraged if you don't see any fruit. Again, here, there were so many people who gave me tracks or Bibles or talked to me. And especially with Campus Crusade for Christ, they were very active both at UMass and UNH. And none of them had the satisfaction of knowing that I accepted Christ as my Savior. But I really hope to be able to tell them someday.

Number four, believe that there are people all around you who are crying out for answers. Sometimes when we go out in the world, everybody looks like they've got their life together. And so we tend to go for the real down and outers, and that's good to reach out to them. But sometimes the ones that are at home and are on their knees saying things like, "God, if you're really out there, then send someone to talk to me." Sometimes those people are the ones that really look the most self-confident. And you can be an answer to their prayer if you will ask the Lord to show you who to speak to and who to reach out to.

And number five, listen carefully to what people say, and then use feel, felt, found. This is a really good tool that I learned from somebody that was in YWAM. And it's a way to segue from a regular conversation into a spiritual conversation. And this is how it works. You listen to them, and then you say, "I know how you feel. I've felt the same way.

Let me tell you what I found."

Okay. Now, some notes on transitioning or helping somebody transition into your fellowship. Number one, sincerely appreciate a person right where they're at. During those early years in North Carolina, I was surrounded by some really exceptional and mature sisters who just never made me feel less for where I was at. They just were very helpful and appreciated the virtues that I was working on and also appreciated the things that my background had given me that were different than theirs.

Number two, help them out. There were so many sisters that did things for me, like bringing over food, saying that they just made too much. Wasn't it amazing how they just so consistently made too much food? Or inviting me over to help them sew the maternity dress that they just happened to have already cut out, and they just weren't getting to. Or come over to visit and then just insist on leaving with some of my laundry. I was just so blessed by that and so honestly helped.

Number three, seek first the Kingdom of God with them. I had a dear sister who was 10 years my junior, and she would come over when she was single and help me out with housework once a week. But she was so much more than a maid to me. We would spend time every week in prayer, as much time in prayer as we did working. And it became the foundation for a mutually edifying relationship that has lasted until this day.

So seek first the Kingdom of God. Make that the priority. And number four, value the important things. My neighbor at that stage of life was a woman from a conservative background. Her children were grown. Her house was absolutely immaculate. Her garden was a showplace. And I remember one time she stopped in unannounced into the midst of my very busy, noisy, messy house.

And instead of just kind of smugly ignoring what we both noticed was embarrassing me, she just praised me for having the right priorities, and she blessed me for spending time with my children and with my Lord rather than fussing with my house.

And lastly, here's some notes on how to relate to those who come from a non-plain background. Number one, pray for them. There were some really hard years that we went through. And all during that time, different brothers and sisters in the Lord would tell us that they were praying for us. I remember one brother who told us after the fact he caught wind that there was going to be a meeting the next day that leadership was going to be confronting us. And he said he stayed up a good part of the night praying for us. What a difference that made for us. So don't gossip and don't take sides, but just pray.

Number two, realize that every family is unique. This is maybe a small thing, but not everybody who's from an English background has the same background. At the time that we were moving into these circles, there were a lot of other families coming from other parts of the United States. And for example, there was one family that came from the Deep South, and they came from generations of Christians. They were raised in the church. And here, my husband and I were coming from New England, and we had absolutely no church background to speak of at all. And yet, we were all lumped in the same category. So realize that every family is unique.

Number three, beware of club mentality.

So we were once at a church at a campground having a church camp out. And some other campers walked down past us on the road, and this one sister turned and said, "Oh, I just feel so sorry for worldly people because they just don't have community like we do."

I was kind of shocked. Ooh, that light is getting really bright. Hold on.

Sorry, it's a little better.

Yeah, I was really shocked by her comment because I thought, you know, human beings are social by nature, and we know how to group ourselves according to our interests. There's all kinds of community in the world, only we call it a club. There are golf clubs, there are philosophical clubs, there are music fans, there are political activists. There are all kinds of ways that we group ourselves. We know how to foster a sense of belonging by dressing the same way or supporting the same cause.

So if we aren't careful, our church can wind up being just one more club to choose from. If what makes a person feel like they belong in our midst is that they dress right, or they homeschool, or they have the same pet doctrine, then we have to wonder if we're just another club. It has always been most edifying to us when others make the focal point of fellowship what we have in common in Christ.

Number four, rally around biblical principles, not a culture.

This is related to the last point a little bit, and I just want to broach it very gently. I'm not Mennonite, and I never have been. But if you are Mennonite, don't take this personally because I'm not rejecting you or your background. It's just that I've never attended a Mennonite church, and I wasn't born into a Mennonite family, and so I don't really feel like I could take that label.

The areas that, well, let me back up. So we have a lot in common with Mennonites, and we're often mistaken for Mennonite. And that doesn't bother me at all because we have so much in common. The reason that we have chosen to affiliate with Anabaptists is because we believe they're a group of people that have held on to doing what Jesus preached, and we're so glad for that. But we also have a whole bunch in common with Baptists, and we have things in common with Methodists and with Pentecostals, and we even have some things in common with Catholics.

The extent to which we have things in common with any of these Christian groups is the extent to which we and they are following the Bible. We left all that was comfortable and familiar in our culture to follow Christ. We didn't leave our culture just to join another one.

Number five, draw your lines where God does. Sometimes you reach out to someone, and they sojourn with you for a time, and then they walk away. They might have been somebody you led to the Lord, somebody you discipled, someone you poured into, and then you turn around, and they're gone.

I think it's really important at a time like that to try and discern if they are actually rejecting essential doctrines. If they are, then pray for them and try to keep the door open and reach out to them as you would to a stranger.

But if the differences are on secondary or tertiary issues, then bless them as they go. Every local congregation must decide where they will draw lines, but only God can define what it takes to be a part of His family.

If they meet God's standards, then who are we to think less of them because they don't meet ours? There are actually a lot of right ways to do Christianity. And that does not mean that we should be wimpy or waffle on the things that the Lord has shown us to do. We really need to be obedient in those areas where He has called us out and given us puzzle pieces.

But if somebody walks away and they are still following the Lord, I just believe that we should keep that door open and bless them. A book that's really been helpful to me recently is a book maybe some of you have heard of.

It's called Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage by Gavin Ortland. And what do I do with my glasses? Let me just read a quote from this one as well. I really like the last part of this book because he talks a lot about humility and its importance.

When someone approaches theological disagreement with a self-assured, haughty spirit that has only answers and no questions, conflict becomes virtually inevitable. It's easy to admit in principle that you have blind spots, but humility will cause this recognition to make a noticeable difference in your actual interactions with people. It will lead to more clarifying questions, more pursuit of common ground, more appreciation of rival concerns, more delay in arriving at judgments.

So all of that aside, I want to come back to the real backbone of what the Lord has laid on my heart for all of us today. I want to return to this thought of being born crucified. In spite of all the things that people have done right by us, and in spite of all the things that people may have done wrong, the reason I'm still walking with the Lord today is because my heavenly Father is teaching me to be dead in Christ.

And this is relevant for all of us because I'm not the only one who's left my culture. Some of you left a worldly culture like I did. Some of you left a formal religious culture. Some of you left a religious culture that was lukewarm and compromised.

Either way, leaving our cultural moorings makes us vulnerable. It makes us wonder, "Who are my people? Where do I belong?" It makes it harder to know where to serve or who to marry. But it also helps us discover what really matters. It forces us to define our beliefs. It exposes our carnality. It reveals our blind spots. It helps us remember that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and we serve a king whose kingdom is not of this world.

Ultimately, if we are truly Christians, then we have all left the culture that we were born into because we were born into a culture of self. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Not long ago, I heard John D. Martin say that when he takes calls for the Cam billboard, he's often asked to define sin. He tells them, "Sin is selfishness," and no one has ever argued the point. I wholeheartedly agree. I have noticed in my own life that as soon as I start feeling overwhelmed or confused or depressed, I can trace it back to when I started coddling myself.

But self dies hard. When I look over my life, I see my merciful Father convincing me over and over again to die on a new level and in a new way. He keeps taking my chin in my chin in his hands and looking straight into my eyes and saying, "Marielle, you don't have a choice."

He started this process of dying with Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding." Lean not on my own understanding? This was such a foreign thought to me. Learning not to lean on my understanding was like cutting me off at the knees. It was a major opportunity for me to die.

Becoming a stay-at-home mom, allowing the Lord to plan our family, trusting my husband to manage our finances, these were all crosses upon which to die. In some of the really hard times, when I was barely keeping my head above water, failing to adequately meet the needs of the children I had, only to discover that I was expecting another, when my teens struggled with sin or worse, utterly rejected our values, when the church looked on not knowing how to help, when we were confused and alone, at these times, I've wondered if God might be looking down and laughing at me.

Is this what I left a career for? Is this the fruit of leaving our culture? Is this what Jesus had in mind when he said, "Come, follow me?" It felt like a cruel joke. But the Lord, in His wisdom, was just offering me more opportunities to die.

God has been so incredibly kind to me. His patience has been so sweet, and His grace has indeed been sufficient. And yet, I find that this dying is an ongoing process. I haven't arrived yet. He's still giving me more than I can handle on my own so that I am forced to depend more completely on Him.

Let me just give you an example from where I'm at right now. I have the privilege of caring for some dear older people in my home. My 90-year-old mother-in-law has lived with us for eight years. She's lost all use of her legs and requires a great deal of care. My stepmother-in-law also lives with us. She has Alzheimer's.

My sweet husband, 16 years my senior, was diagnosed with Parkinson's four years ago. These needs have been my daily cross, not because I don't love them all dearly, but because I'm selfish by nature. Sometimes when grandma's bell rings for the fourth time in the middle of the night, it is so hard to pull myself out of bed and thud down the stairs. Sometimes I'm so tempted to feel sorry for myself.

Haven't I done enough of this, Lord? I went from colicky babies to grandmas that can't sleep. I went from diapers to bedpans. Couldn't we switch to something more rewarding? Couldn't we do something more meaningful than dementia? No, he says.

There's still way too much of you left. Amen. How can I argue with him? He's right.

So just in case you can relate, I have some practical suggestions of dying on dying to self as well. So let me read this.

Number one, it's a work only God can do. Self cannot crucify self. Really, the best thing you can do is have a heart posture of humility and just agree with God. I think of the woman, the Syrophoenician woman who agreed with Jesus that she was a dog, but even the dog eats of the crumbs. And we just can ask God for crumbs and then wait patiently.

Number two, you can do nothing to speed up the process, but you can do so much to slow it down. Again, we can complain, we can drag our feet, but we really can't speed up the process at all. All we can do is slow it down.

Number three, don't take a person off the cross. If there's someone you're discipling, for those of us that are moms, that's probably a son or a daughter. Maybe it's somebody you've led to the Lord or a sister at church. But if there's somebody that you're discipling and you see that there's a particular area that God is putting His finger on, do not take them off the cross. You can stand at the foot of the cross and you can weep and you can pray, but don't take them down.

Number four, don't grow weary. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not be weary in well-doing." This is a command, I believe. And the kind of weariness that it's talking about here, if you look it up in the Strongs, it's not growing tired. It's becoming discouraged. It's giving up in our minds.

And as Christians, I just don't think we ever have the luxury of giving in to that kind of weariness.

Number five, when tempted to grow weary and faint in your mind, consider Jesus and His sufferings. This is like the how-to. If the command is to not grow weary, then when we're tempted to grow weary and faint in our minds or to give up because the battle is in our mind, then what we need to do is consider Jesus. Read Hebrews 12 and do what it says. It says to lay aside every weight, run with patience, and look to Jesus.

Number six, beware of becoming too impressed with your own sacrifice and sanctification. This one is really a danger for Christians who are a little bit more mature, who have walked down this road of crucifixion a while. And it's really a temptation to start becoming just a little bit impressed with our own progress. Beware, this is just another manifestation of the self-life.

Number seven, remember that after crucifixion and death is resurrection and life. Matthew 10:39 says, "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." And life really is what this is all about. I hope I haven't been discouraging or morbid with all this talk about death and crucifixion because, on the contrary, I have found that embracing the cross has been a source of joy and strength and peace.

Hebrews 7 speaks of a new kind of priest who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. Isn't this exactly what we all want? To be made after the power of an endless life? Isn't this what we want for ourselves and for our children and for those we're discipling?

Then we must be born again. We must be born crucified. We must teach it, and we must live it. I don't know about you, but I don't have an endless life to give. I don't have any resurrection power to offer.

At best, all I can muster in my flesh is a carnal commandment or guardrails for the narrow way. But if I can die and allow the life I now live in the flesh to be His life and not my own, then I will truly have the power of an endless life coursing through my veins. And then I'll have something of value to pass on to others.

That's all I have.

Well, thank you so much, Marielle. And God bless you abundantly for what you've invested in this talk.

You're welcome. While you ladies are thinking about comments and questions to share, Christina, would you have Marielle's family picture available that we could show while the ladies think about what they would like to share? Yes, definitely. And I missed this in the introduction.

Marielle lives in Ohio with 11 of her 12 children and her mother-in-law and her stepmother-in-law. That gives you a picture of her family there.

Thank you, Christina. Okay, ladies. What has the Lord been wanting you to ask or comment on this talk?

Well, Marielle, I visited with you not that terribly long ago, but it was just a really good reminder again to me to hear that death to myself is the answer to life. And it made me think of that verse that says that, well, there's so many paradoxes, I guess, in Jesus' words.

And He says we have to die to live, but He also says He wants our life to—He's going to give us abundant life. And I just want to remember that today.

Yes, amen. That is what it's all about, is life. That's a very important way to end. Marielle, thank you very much for your talk. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed it. You talked about dying to yourself and dying to your flesh. And I know that personally, it's easier to do things like that when you're living a very spiritual life. You're praying a lot. You're in the word a lot and things like that. But as humans are, it's easy to fall off track sometimes.

And I'm just wondering, can you give me some practical ideas of things that you do to try to just keep your spiritual life strong?

Well, yeah. I mean, I guess I don't have anything new or earth-shattering. I do spend time with the Lord every day and make that a priority without making that a religious formula. I've never wanted to be the type of person that if I didn't have my prescribed quiet time, that the whole of my day fell apart as if it were some kind of a magic thing.

But on the other hand, it is a priority of my day. And waking up early in order to do that is easier now that I don't have any babies. My youngest is seven, but it was a real challenge years ago. And it seemed like the earlier I woke up, the earlier my children woke up. And they're all early risers, even today. But I would just say make that a priority. It really is.

Thank you.

Okay. Would there be any more questions? Christina, did you have any in the chat box today? Okay. Another thing that I had thought of, Marielle, that was just so good to hear was in interacting with friends who are finding their way just to value the important. And also what you mentioned about not taking them off the cross. I think I understood that right, what you were saying when you see God laying His finger on something.

Were you saying almost like we need to intercede and not try to take away the pain of dying? Did I understand that right?

Yes. You understood that perfectly. Yeah. We need to allow God to put the ones we love through hard times sometimes. And it takes discernment. I think it takes listening to the Holy Spirit to know when comfort is needed and when our comfort is carnal. I mean, comfort is always needed. Spiritual comfort is always needed. But sometimes we can give kind of carnal comfort that helps a person get away from what God is trying to do in their lives. And that's what I meant by not to take them off the cross. Allow God to fully do what He's trying to do in their lives.

Thank you, Marielle. You say your name Marielle was that? Marielle. Yep. Okay. Marielle. Okay. I am not able to turn my video on because it's not working properly. But I just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing that. I was moved to tears, especially when you talked about aborting a baby. I'm sure that continues to just—I don't know how that would be, but a bit of a hole in your heart maybe, or just always a pain.

And God bless you for sharing so openly, so frankly. And yeah, it was just—it was a tremendous blessing to me to hear you speaking. I was raised a Mennonite, and I feel like I will always be a Mennonite. It's such a cultural thing.

And I'm enjoying so much. I'm not in as Mennonite of a setting at this point, but I'm enjoying so much learning the perspectives of people that are raised non-Mennonite. And it's just been so enriching to me to realize that God is working everywhere.

It is just exciting. Sometimes it fills me with such a fire and excitement, especially to hear you speaking, that God is working everywhere. He doesn't actually need me, but He will use me if I'm available and if I'm, like you said, your heart in a posture of readiness. Was that how you said that?

And I was so blessed by that. And God bless you, and thank you for sharing.

Thank you so much. Those are kind words. And yes, having aborted a child is my deepest regret, for sure.

But what's wonderful about that is it's completely under the blood. And I mention it not to glory in my sin, but just to give you a picture of where I came from. So thank you.

We had a couple of comments come in on the chat box. Mary says, "I appreciate the statement, is that we can do—" sorry, "that we cannot do anything to speed up the process, only slow it down." She's unable to use her microphone right now, which is why she sent a message. She said she's really been able to connect with your message. Thank you for it. And the other message was from Michelle. She says, "Thank you so much for your shared. It was a very amazing thing to hear parts of your story and what those stories taught. You have so much to offer and share. Please continue to find ways to help others of us who are striving to follow our King.

May God richly bless you. May He continue to work in your life and family and use you to glorify Him."

Thank you for both of those comments. Amen. My prayer is that He will just continue to use all of us as channels. And we all bring something so unique to the table. That's such a blessing. We do, all of our different backgrounds, I think, have something special and different to offer. There's different people that we can connect to and different gifts that we bring that are tools for God to use. It's a blessing to be a part of the kingdom of God and the family of God.

Thank you for your participation today. I would like to announce a few details about our December talk. We plan to have a panel discussion in December. And in that discussion, we'll be talking about ways sisters can serve the church. We will have one panelist presenting ways we can serve members on the foreign field. Another single sister will be speaking about the important role that our single sisters have in the kingdom. And the third panelist is yet to be determined.

So we look forward to having you join us again at this same time in December. And if you are part of our Telegram or WhatsApp groups, you'll be getting a reminder about that. So thank you so much for joining us. We had a nice large group today.

And thank you again, Marielle, for all that you invested in your talk today.

Marielle, Marielle, would you pray for us yet before we close this time together?

Yes, absolutely. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you so much. Thank you for the privilege that we can serve you, that we can be your daughters, that we have this fellowship, these sisters in the Lord, that we can share with and be sharpened by. Thank you so much, Lord, for meeting our needs. Father, I do pray that you would use this meeting, Lord, to speak to the needs that are in our midst, Lord, and just bless each sister, Lord, as we go back to the field that you have given us, Lord, as we run with patience the race that you've set before us. Help us, Lord, to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We ask it in Jesus' name and for His sake.

Amen.

Amen. All right, sisters, thank you for joining. Have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Marielle. Thank you. Bye-bye. Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work.