Set your soul free with Stefanie
My name is Rev. Stefanie M. Rogers and my podcast is called "Set your soul free with Stefanie" It deals with freedom, motivation, inspiration, peace of mind and things to make you think. I pray you experience positive feelings, that take over the negative ones, and knowing you can do it while having someone, me, supporting you along the way. To learn more, subscribe to either this channel or https://
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Set your soul free with Stefanie
What To Do
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Today's Topic: What To Do
Scripture: Romans 12:15
When you praise, I praise. When you weep, I weep. Just as God intended.
Hello one and all, it is me, Stephanie. And before we start to set our soul free, I want to remind you to don't forget to subscribe to the channel, click the like, and leave a comment. Also, don't forget to hit the little notification bell so you know when new videos post. As always, I know we won't always agree, and that's okay. Man wasn't meant to always agree with one another. That's what makes our world that God created unique because everyone has a difference of opinion, and I'm okay with it. Leave your comments so we can keep the conversation going. Remember, it's not about me, it's about you. It's about our youth, it's about setting our souls free with me. Stephanie. So let's get into it. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Wherever you are, in whatever part of the country you may live in, I greet you and say thank you for blessing me with your presence. It is time to set your soul free with me, Stephanie. So let's see what we can be blessed with today. It's good to be back. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Wherever you are and whatever part of the country you are in, I greet you. It is your girl again, and today what we're gonna talk about is what to do. And it's a just plain and simple, just what to do. But the scripture for it is coming from Romans 12 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. So anyone who knows me, I mean who really knows me, even though some of you all that's been on here for a while have gotten to know that you know this this shit crazy, but she speaks truth. Knows if you got a reason to praise, I'm praising right along with you. I don't need to know what we're praising for. I don't care. If you happy, I'm happy. If you gonna dance all over the parking lot, I'm gonna take the right, you take the left, we'll meet in the middle. I don't have to know why you're happy. If you're happy, I'm happy. So some, and I'll and this is true, some have even made me bring out my tambourines. And I'm dancing around along with them. As they're giving God the glory for bringing them out of whatever the circumstance was. And when I say they bring, I keep tambourines in my van. Trust and believe, because you never know where you're gonna be, where there may be a praise break. You don't know, especially when it comes to churches when we go off and sing somewhere and I sing somewhere. I got different tambourines for different things. I got a bass one, I got a quiet one, I got, I am a tambourinologist. So if somebody's getting their praise on, oh, I'm gonna, we're gonna praise break, we're gonna just tear that whole parking lot of pieces. When you're happy, I'm happy. Why? For the same reason that the verse says, rejoice with them that rejoice. When someone is rejoicing for whatever the reason, we should be praising right along with them. Just like you see at graduations where everybody's happy, you may not know who the child is, but you're clapping right along with them, or a coworker gets recognized for something. You may not know them from whatever, but you're happy right along with them. The verse says, Rejoice with them that rejoice. So when someone is rejoicing, it does not matter what the reason is. Well, okay, let me let me back up on that one. Because some people are rejoicing because they did something evil and conniving. So we're gonna rethink that. But then if you know who your inner circle is, that shouldn't apply. So when someone else is rejoicing, you rejoice with them. To see people rejoicing should tell you that your breakthrough is coming. So go ahead and celebrate with them. I tell people that all the time that when you see people rejoicing, your breakthrough is coming. They probably finally did something that they were supposed to do and they got the reward. You've heard me say it over and over again. When I was growing up, they always say, You do good deeds, you get your rewards in heaven. As I got older, God showed me, no, if you do good deeds, I'll reward you while you can still be here on earth to receive them. Which is why I'm always quick to give a person a compliment. I don't got to know you from anything. That doesn't mean that if you don't look nice or you said something nice or you done something, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna sit there and compliment you for it. I want to give people their flowers while they're still here to enjoy it so I can see the expression, so I can see that the little action I did put a smile on their face. You know, so it doesn't matter what somebody's going through, if they're happy and they're shouting and they're crying, I'm gonna be shouting and crying right along with them because we've all been through situations where we thought we would never get out of it, and when we did, you couldn't you couldn't tell me to shut up. You couldn't. There ain't enough duct tape in the world that would have kept my mouth closed. Nope. Nope. But to see other people rejoice should let you know that if God did it for them, he's gonna do it for me. Then if you want to sit up and think about what's the difference between them and me, well, because maybe they did what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. Like I said before, we all know what we're supposed to do, but for certain reasons we don't do it, and that's why our blessings are still sitting on hold, getting backed up, because we haven't done what we're supposed to do. Once we do what we're supposed to do, then we're gonna be just as blessed as the next person. So the verse also says to weep with them that weep when people are rejoicing, rejoice with them, but when they are sad, be sad with them as well. Words are just words. You've always heard me say your actions need to match your words, which means it's easy to say you're gonna do this, this, this, and the other. It's your actions that call you out or not. It's your actions that whether people can trust you or not, because you say this all the time. Like somebody says, if you ever need me, just call me. You call them two or three times, and you either don't get an answer or something's always going on that they can't be there. Your actions have to match your words, which is why I keep stressing how our young people are falling by the wayside because so many adults say one thing, but we don't do it. And the young people of today are different from when we grew up, when the adults are but like, ah, that's just such and such and so and so. Young people ain't going for that. If they ask you something and you and you're not forthcoming and you're not truthful, you've lost them. They're done, they're done with you. They're not like how we were. We give you two, three, four, five, six chances. You may get one good one, and that's that's it. Trust is gone. And you got to understand the young people are what's gonna be taking over when we're gone. And if they can't trust us, they're gonna rearrange everything. There'll be no history left, there'll be no good old days, there'll be nothing because they would have rearranged everything because of how we treated them. So it goes back to your words need to match your actions. Words are just words. Sometimes people need someone who will cry with them. Again, I'll do it with you too. I've done that. Just like I said, if they're dancing and shouting, I'm dancing, shouting too. I don't know what they're shouting for, but trust me, something in my life is gonna come back to the forefront. I'm gonna shout along with you. When we both calm down and take my green meds and clear our nose from being congested from all the snotting and crying we've been doing, then I'm gonna ask you, knock on what we're praising for. Until then, you go, I go. But at the same time, when they are sad, I'm sad right along with them. I may not know what it is that got them so discombarulated. Whatever it is that got them so upset that they've excluded. I don't know what it is. But if they start crying, doggone, I'm finished to cry with you because my soul is hurting. I may not know why it's hurting, and I don't need to know why. I see somebody in pain, you in pain, I'm in pain. We're gonna be hurting together. Because sometimes all it takes is just another person to genuinely feel just as bad as that person for that person to get up and you know do whatever else they need to do. Sometimes that's all it takes. Just like somebody being happy, you happy along with them, you're congratulating them. When somebody is sad, sometimes they need somebody just to be sad with them. You don't have to know what you're sad for. That's not your business. If they want you to know, they'll tell you. But a true child of the king, a true human being, if you see somebody upset, you're gonna be upset with them because you're looking at them and there's something that made them so upset that my soul starts to cry out. I don't know why, but I'm feeling just as bad as they are. And if you look at both of us, you don't know who's actually having the issue, them and me, because I'm hauling just as loud as they are. But that's how I am. You know, and it's not fake tears either. Some people can, I've seen people do it. You know, somebody's going through something, this person comes up behind, and they can just call tears off. I'm like, you need to teach some Hollywood actors how to do that because you just did that on the drop of a hat. And I'm sitting up there looking at them like you don't mean that one drop of water to come out your eye. So when I'm sitting up there and you're upset and my soul is crying with you, there ain't no fake tears about it. Oh, they real. Because once again, you're gonna make me dig in my bank to know what it was like to be in your situation where I didn't cry out like I should have to release some things. It's gonna come flooding back. I'm crying right along with you. I may outdo you because I done brought up too much stuff at one time that I should have taken care of and I didn't. And now I'm bawling louder than you. Well, you're sitting up there comforting me, and I'm supposed to be comforting you. But sometimes that's all it takes. Just somebody, you know, that that understands, you know, that you're not just saying words because it's the right thing to say. You know, like when there's a death in the family, I'm sorry for your loss. That's just an automatic response that people say. I don't say that anymore because once I got older and it happened to me, when my father got his mansion, I heard just how empty those words actually are. And so there's a lot of things you don't know about until it happens to you. So when I became the receiving end of those words of comfort, I just realized how hollow those words are because at that moment that did not make me feel any better. Not at all. So now when something happens to people, I sit up and tell them my soul is screaming no with you. Because I know what it's like. You're screaming no because your loved one is gone. You're screaming to God why. So now I tell people, my soul is screaming with you because it is. Because once again, it puts me back to when it happened to my father, how I felt, how I was screaming, how I was so upset, why I was asking my questions, why that's what we do. You rejoice with those that rejoice, and you weep with those that weep. Like I said, there's no fake tears. When I see people, whether I know and or love are in pain, I'm in pain. And that's how it's supposed to be as children of God. If your fellow man is hurting, you're hurting. If they're crying, you are crying. You should not get too big, or we should not get too big in our lives not to feel when someone else is in serious need of a shoulder to cry on, literally. And I do mean literally, cry on. While I'm sitting right there, their head is on my shoulders, and it look like I just came out of a wet t-shirt contest because they was bawling. I'm like, you know what? Fine. Cry until you just dehydrated. Just I got a bottle of water, just let it out. And that's what we should do. That's just being that's like when I told you once before that sometimes people just want somebody to listen. They don't want you to talk, they don't need your opinion. Sometimes they just want someone to listen. And depending on how sad they are, sometimes they just want their shoulder to cry on. You know, they just want to feel the truth in somebody that somebody understands me. They may not understand what my situation is, but they're hurting along with me. They may not know why, but I can feel in their soul that they're just as upset as me. And sometimes that's all it takes. Is for somebody to have another person to cry with, for them to, you know, get it all out their system. And then maybe they'll want to talk, depending on who you are, because remember what I said. Be mindful of the circle you keep and the circle that keeps you. Be mindful. So they may want to talk to you, they may just use you for that purpose and find somebody else they could talk to, they could probably trust. But either way it goes, they had a moment to where they could let stuff go. Because remember what I told you when we're upset, you know, God is speaking to us, but we can't hear him because the human part of us is like, what I'm gonna do? How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna do that? Da da da da da. Our mind is so clouded, we give ourselves headaches, but the answer was always there, but we couldn't hear because we were so frustrated because we were trying to find the answer ourselves when God was giving us the answer the whole time. And like I told you, he's not fenced to yell. Why should he? He's not gonna do that. So when they're hurting, you're hurting, or you should. Now, like I said, now everybody can't do that. You know, some people do good with just word of prayer, because I've seen people that are good when it comes to the power of prayer, just praying for people is what they do. So it works with whatever gift you have. You know, for you, it could be just sitting there and letting them cry on you until they get it out of your system, saying a couple of words here and there to make sure you know they don't go too far into the depression stage. Then there's some they do the power of prayer. Somebody can sing somebody out there saying it's now they're shouting for a whole different reason. There are different ways we have people have different gifts, and it's whatever is called upon when they come to you. That's what you use to you know to help them, you know, so they don't stay depressed too long, which is another thing I keep telling people. Can't nobody tell you how long you can mourn. Don't ever let someone tell you how long you can mourn. They're not living your life, they don't know your story, they cannot tell you how long you can mourn. The only side note to that is don't stay down too long. Because when we stay down too long, that's where the the demon of doubt, the demon of confusion, the demon of anger all comes into play because we stayed down there too long that we're questioning too many things that we already know the answer to. But because we stayed down too long, we're letting things get into our mind that we knew we that we knew we wouldn't have if we was had all of our faculties. So don't let nobody tell you how long you need to mourn, but don't stay down there too long. I'm not telling you what I heard, I'm telling you what I know. Nine years depression, which is gonna be 10 come July 13th. Since my father got his mansion, I have been depressed. But I'm not that book depressed that everybody that the psychiatrist wants you to believe, and that's the part that bothers me. You know, when you're gonna start doing studies on people who can go around functioning. There was a story I saw not too long ago about a family who said that the friend committed suicide, but there was nothing wrong with him. He wasn't withdrawn, which is what they say in the books, he wasn't neglecting, you know, his physical appearance, like they say in the books. He wasn't there, there was a lot of things he wasn't doing that they say in the books are signs of depression. He was fine. He was still communicating, he still made plans, he still went on about his daily life. Nothing about him gave anybody any indication that something was wrong until he took his life by suicide. So don't stay down too long because that's when things come into your head. That's when you start thinking things that you know you wouldn't have had you been stronger. But don't let nobody tell you how long you need to mourn. We need to mourn as long as we need to get everything out, and like I tell people, you can fuss at God, you can cuss at God, He's not gonna take it personally, he's a father, just like fathers are with children, just like parents are in general with your children, they're not gonna always understand the things that we do, and they're gonna get mad. They're gonna get mad. That's fine, we expect that, but that's part of the healing process to get your frustrations out, to get your cries, to get your cussing, to get your fussing. If you're one of those people that gotta throw something, as long as you're not hitting nobody and you're not damaging yourself, whatever you gotta do, to move on so you can start the healing. Go ahead. Like I said, there's been many times I've taken people out of work. We work together, they ticked off, I shank them and we go outside. I let them cuss me. I ain't never heard so many constants put together to make a word in my life, and I don't think some of them words were real, but I let them do it to me because I'd rather you cuss me out than you go in that job, do something, lose your job, and now you got a whole new set of problems you got to worry about. Take it out on me. Because I don't take it personally, because I know it's not directed to me, but I'd rather them use me than to go in there and mess up their job, and you don't know how free people are once they can just get it out. And once they get it out, they can think, they can think clearly because I every time somebody did that, they already knew the answer to the problem. So they knew it was an issue, they got caught off guard, it ticked them off. We went outside, we walked around, we talked, we let I let them cuss, we cried, we both got frustrated, and when it was all said and done, when they could not cry another tear, the light bulb went off on what they need to do, and they fixed the problem. Sometimes that's all it takes. Like I said, sometimes you need to say something, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you just let you just let just let them cuss you out. Don't take it personally because you know it's not towards you directly. But like I said, not everybody can do that. You know, they may say words and you forget that they're not talking to you, and now you cussing them out for something totally different. It happens too. I've seen that too. And I'm sitting up there like, really? You told them to do this, but now you get mad and you know doggone good one, they weren't even talking to you. It's it becomes the biggest mess. So if you can do it, that's uh yet again yet again, that's another gift. Not everybody can have somebody just cuss them out, knowing that they're not really talking to them, but forget that they're not talking to them and can take it. That's something else a lot of people can't do. But it goes back to when they're happy, you're happy. When they're sad, you're sad. When they're angry, you're angry, but not angry to the point where y'all both go off and do a thumb and Louise. Just y'all both angry together. But that's it. Nobody gets hurt, nothing, y'all don't do nothing ignorant. You just both angry. It helps the healing process for that person if they see that you actually care about how they're feeling. Let's talk about my babies again. A lot of babies who stopped what they were going to do. A lot of them who got up that morning and said, This is it, I'm sucking everybody. A lot of them wouldn't have done it if somebody even showed that they cared. I am a true believer, yes. Sometimes your young people do stuff because they're wanting attention, which means that parents today really don't pay attention to the kids. The kids are going off all willy-nilly. You don't know what they're doing, where they been, who they with, you don't know nothing. So a lot of them, and I've seen it, get into trouble just to get some kind of reaction from the parent. It don't matter if they get their butt be from here to Jerusalem. At least the parent knows that they exist. And a lot of that happens, and that goes with adults as well. You know, a lot of adults, some of your co-workers, you know, are sitting to themselves, you know, sitting there just thinking, or they do something that's just off-the-wall foolishness, or they're the the office clown, or whatever the case may be, because nobody's acknowledging them. And you like I tell my young people, you never know what that person's going through. That y'all could be talking back and forth to each other one day, but then the next day it's not funny to them, and here they come, shooting up the place, or beating people up, or whatever that young people do these days. You never know what somebody is going through, and sometimes all it takes is just acknowledging that they exist, you know, to feel like they belong. And when people are going through a healing process, to have someone that actually cares stops them from doing something, either to themselves or to a loved one. You do got families who cannot deal with a death or an injury or an accident. You got people that can't deal with that, and they go off and do heinous things to themselves or to other people. Some they know, most they don't. All because somebody couldn't stop and say, wait, wait, wait, what's now? You don't look right. What's what's the problem? Talk to me. And it doesn't, they don't fight to make sure that they don't hurt themselves. You know, it's different when you ask somebody what's wrong and they say nothing and you look at them and like okay, and then you walk off. No, you're gonna tell me what's the problem. And I'm telling you, because I've done it. Because I'm used to that. I'm a face, I'm an eyes person. When I grew up, you look somebody in their eyes. You know, when you look them in the eyes, they know you speak truth, you know they speak truth. Now, granted, there are cultures where that's considered disrespectful, and I don't do it with those cultures. But for the most part, if I'm talking to you, I'm looking at you dead in your eyeballs, you looking me dead in your eyeballs. In mind. Now my eyes are gonna be going 50 million miles a minute, but look, I'm looking at you. Because I mean what I say and I say what I mean. And then when I and I get to know people that way, so I get to know what you're like every day. I know what you're like when you're happy, when you're sad, when you're confused, when you're mad, when you're upset, when you're on the verge of exploding. I get to learn people because that's how I learn. Because I'm looking at you. I get to know you. So when you walk in and something's not right, oh no, we finished to turn around, walk back out the door. Something ain't right. What happened? What's going on? And I've had a lot of people tell me nothing. You're lying. There's something wrong. And you're going and you're not finished to get past this Mac 20, not a MAC 10. You ain't getting past this Mac 20 until you tell me what's going on. Because you're not fence to go in that I'm too old and I'm too fluffy to be trying to hit the dirt because you done lost your mind and decide to take it out on the people in the office. Because I'll take you out by the kneecaps with a chair if I have to. What's going on? And that's how, first of all, they laugh at me, first of all, because I guess the picture of my fluffy tail trying to hit the dirt, I guess, is amusing to them. But it doesn't matter because for that split second, I broke whatever it is that was ticking them off, whatever they were thinking, I broke it because they busted out laughing. So for that split second, whatever they were thinking about doing is not is no more. And that's sometimes that's all it takes. Laughter. Because it makes you forget what it is that you're thinking, because for that moment you're happy. That's all, that's all I need to get my way in there, to figure out what's going on and to fix it. Cause I'm serious. I I can't no, I can't do that. I I can't be I can't be hitting the dirt because the ambulance for real got to come get me back off the floor. I can't do all that. So I'd rather stop it at the door than sit up and be them people on the TV. Well, I didn't think they were actually gonna do it. They seemed so happy. No, I knew when you walked in the door there was something wrong. When you actually show that you care, you don't know how many souls you could be saving, including your own. Because you don't know what that person was going through. You don't know whatever it was that was making them so upset that that was a day that was like, you know what, to heck with it all. I'm done. I'm gone. I'm gonna take as many people as I can with me. You don't know how many souls you save when you actually show somebody that you care, or that they even exist for that matter. So not only does your word show them that you're concerned, but your actions do too. Now, not everyone can just cry at the drop of a hat, and really, but you'd be surprised how a little affection to someone who was having a rough day goes to helping them feel better and for them to continue on what they needed to do. It does not take much. I'm telling you, it does not take much. Now I'm gonna say that to say this. Even though I'm probably a medical psychiatrist's dream because I am not in the books nowhere. So I would be the perfect subject for a psychiatrist to really rethink if this is the career they want to choose after they talk to me for probably five minutes. Even I got somebody I can talk to. Preachers, pastors, ministers, elders, clergy, whatever. Even we got to have somebody to talk to because we're listening to other people's problems all day long, being positive, giving them straightforward answers, making sure they're staying on the path. But after a while, all that compounds, and then we we got lives of our own too, that people don't know that are probably in shambles. You know, but we're trying to stay upbeat because you're coming to me because you really want or you really value my opinion and my advice, I'm gonna be straightforward with you. Little do I know in the background, I'm about on the verge of snapping. So even we got people that we need to talk to, and I do. And remember what I told you before that I have a relative that I greet them a certain way. That relative, I told them, if I do not greet you the way I've been greeting you for over 20, 30 years, if I do not greet you like that, check on me because it's something wrong. So even I got backup plans. You know, I can have an off day. You know, like I said, there's one relative, there's a certain way I call out her name every time I see her, whether it be on the phone, in public, wherever. When she hears that call and she knows who it is. So if I, and I told her, if I never greet you that way, and I've been doing this for like 30, 40 years. Yeah, that's about right. I've been doing it for over 40 years, how I've been greeting her. I told her, if if one time I do not greet you that way, you need to pull me aside because there's something wrong. And the first thing she said was, thank you for letting me know. So even I got a backup plan. I'm half off plum. I know that. The bounce left my bungee decades ago. But even still, I got backup plans out there to catch me. If something, if I do this, or if I don't do this, or if I'm not smiling, or if I'm not goofy, check on me because there's something wrong. That means there's something going on in my head that is overpowering what I would normally do. Check on me. We need to have that. You know how in the that world they have the safe words? You need to start having some with some friends and some relatives, people who know you. So even if y'all are talking or there's a Twitter or y'all texting, if something does not sound right, they need to they know they need to jump in the car and come check on you because it's something not right. Because sometimes we're doing stuff and we don't know that we're not ourselves because we're just going through the motions. It's and you know, we're doing one thing that people can see, but in the head, we're doing something else, and we're not paying attention that we're not acting the same, we don't look the same. So we need to have that safe word with some friends and some relatives. If you see that I'm doing this and da da da da, bring me back because that means my mind is wandering, and I need you to bring me back. So it goes along with you know, showing a little affection to someone who may be having a rough day, you know. Like I said, not everyone could cry at the drop of a hat. And really, you'd be surprised, like I said, how a little affection to someone who's having a rough day goes to helping them feel better. Just the little things, like I said, when I bust people up when they start laughing at me, I did my job. And after the time, I'm really not doing it on purpose. So I'm like, I don't know how I feel about that. I don't know if I should feel offended or just me just look funny. I don't know what it is, but if it makes them laugh, fine. Because that means whatever it was that you were thinking, whatever you thought the world was was weighing upon you for that split second that you laughed in my behind, you forgot what your problems were, and that's all God needed was that one little split second to jump into your head and like this is what I need you to do, and you'd be amazed at how many times once they bust out laughing and they calm down, they've actually calmed down, and now they're talking. Now I'm finding out what the problem is, and then we're going back to the beginning. Okay, this is what we need to do to fix this, and after time I'm helping them fix it. Research is what I do too. I heard a lot of people that needed help, and I jumped on the computer and started doing some research for them, gave them what they needed to help them out of the situation. It goes back to the resources. A lot of us have been blessed with things that people didn't know that were available. Well, God didn't bless you to keep that information to yourself. We're supposed to share that with somebody else. Again, you don't know whose soul you saving, including your own. Just by letting somebody know you're not going through this alone. This is who you need to call, or this is where you need to go. And when you do, don't just send them there, tell them what they need to do after that. When you do, tell them this. That's all somebody needs to get them on the right path to do what they need to do. That's all they need. So today, be that true friend, that colleague, that acquaintance, or whatever is needed for the situation. Sometimes people just need someone to be there for them to cry on, to talk out their situation. They don't expect you to answer them or offer a solution. Most times they just need someone to talk it out with. They got their own solution to the problem. It goes back to what I always said. Many people know what they need to do, they just need to get that human side out first, and that's all of us, me included. You we got to get that human side out when something happens and it, and I'm gonna say the word, pisses us off. Oh no, we got to cuss first. We got to cuss, we got to stomp, we got to throw some things, we got to let all that frustration out first because we can't do nothing else until we get that out. Because anything we do after that is just gonna add to it, it's gonna compound on top of it. Now we more ticked off than ever because we done made it worse. Because we went in there with the wrong attitude, which made this person mad, which did this, and it's just like a ripple effect. We have got to get all of this out first. Sometimes we gotta talk to somebody. I ain't got a problem talking to myself because when I talk to myself, I can't get mad at nobody but myself if I gave myself the wrong advice. That's how it is. Sometimes talking to yourself, talking it out works. I can't tell you how many times I done called myself a dingle lane. I said it twice, about no, I think I said about four or five times Friday alone, because of something I was doing, and my dingleberry self knew. When somebody came back and said, Well, you know that I'm like, you big dummy. Yes, I knew that. And they just sit up and cracking up at me because I'm fussing at myself because I knew better. Sometimes you just gotta talk stuff out, and it's okay. Talk it out. Sometimes talking out with yourself is the best because you give your, you know, you you want expert opinion when you want over somebody you can trust. Who better than yourself? We may not always be right, but hey, it's a start. You know, because we once we talk it out, the solution is already there, and we know what the solution was. We were just so frustrated we weren't listening to ourselves. Be that listening ear. If they ask for your opinion or thoughts, give it thoughtfully and respectfully. Again, not a lot of people want to hear what you think, they just want to talk it out. They don't want you to say a word, just listen. If they want your opinion, they'll ask you for it. What do you think? Or what do you think I should have done? And if they do, be thoughtful and respectful. Don't make it worse by putting your personal opinion. We don't want your personal opinion because it wasn't your life that that that got into the situation, it was theirs. You don't know what the circumstances were, you don't know what the situation was for them to end up where they were. So don't put your personal opinion in there because you don't know all the facts. Don't do that. That's why when people come to me, I don't need to know all the facts. If you want to tell me, that's fine, but you don't have to tell me everything. Just tell me part A that got to part B that ended up in part C. Leave out the juicy parts of it. What did you do that got us to this point? That's all I need to know. So therefore, I know what I need to say and how I can help you get out of it. That's it. You don't have to, they don't have to tell you everything. And that's wrong. That's something else that's wrong with us humans. Mortals, I guess. We gotta know everything. When somebody says, I need you to pray for me, for what? Why? What's going on? That's no. They just want you to pray, God knows what the problem is. They just wanted you to pray for him. You don't have to know what for. You it's nothing you can do about it. Why you got to know what for? Or somebody comes to you with a problem that they're having at work and you want to know all the juicy tidbits. That's not your business. They just want you to tell you this part so you can tell them what they may need to do. That's why a lot of people don't talk to people anymore. Because too many people want to know everything, and they just need you to know just enough so you can probably help them. We got to stop that. We we've got to stop that. I remember the days when you can go into work and somebody can have a bad day. I don't have to worry about them going out to the gun, going out to the car and picking up a gun. Or I don't have to them using something within the building as a excuse me, as a weapon. I don't have to worry about that. Now I do. But back then I didn't. You don't know what people are going through, that they just need someone to talk to. Somebody that will not not not just to talk to, but somebody that will listen. You know, give them sound advice without judging. That's the other problem. Without judging. None of us have the right to judge anybody. Because if anybody look back on our life, we be sitting up in another country somewhere with a new identity. Because we know some of us have done some things that we shouldn't have been. Mm-mm. Don't even act like you're holier than now. Some of y'all done did some stuff that y'all knew y'all shouldn't have done. So you can't judge them because you don't want somebody to judge you, because somebody out there knows what you've done. That's the thing I keep telling my young people. Be mindful again of who you hang around and who hangs around you. Because somebody's gonna know something that you've done that you probably don't want nobody to know, and they'll hold on to it for 20 or 30 years when you at the pinnacle of your career and bring it up and bring it all tumbling down. Y'all seen social media, y'all seen the news. So many people have been doing great things, and it took one person to destroy it all. Be mindful of what you do, don't be judging somebody because somebody's waiting on you to say something because they got they got something on you. You may not even know they know it. So be mindful of what you say. Remember, you are there to help them through this particular situation, not solve it for them. That's the other thing. We want to solve it. We can't solve it. We're not the one that made the problem. We can't solve the problem for them. All we can do is give them the advice for them to figure it out how they can solve it on their own. Now, if along the way they need help, fine, but do not solve it for them. That's just like how we are as parents, how you are at work, how you are at school. The teachers and the your boss, and they're not gonna give you a thing and then tell you exactly how to do it every time you ask. How are you gonna learn? How do some of us get promoted from job to job to this to this? How do kids getting promoted from grade to grade if the teachers are giving them the answers every single time? We can't do that. You've got to learn how to figure it out on their own. So, as much as you may want to solve it for them, don't. Because then they can't learn from what they did, so they know not to do it again. So just be there to help them, you know, talk through them what they could do. You know, what are your options? What can you do? Because you and them can be going through the same thing, but they might not have the same options that you did. They may not be able to have the use the same resources that you did. So you need to figure out what they can do to get them out of their own situation and just help them do it. Don't do it for them, but you know, make sure that they stay on the path to they can get out of themselves. Pray with them and for them. That God will step in and lead them in the way. You know, we can pray for somebody all day long, but it's like I tell people when people call me and say, pray for me. Some of them I do say why. And I'm not saying why as in trying to find out their information. I'm saying why, and they know why I'm saying why. Why am I gonna pray for you when you ain't even done what you need to do first? That's a thing that people keep forgetting. When somebody asks you to pray for them, what have they done first? Because we can pray until the four horsemen come back to earth. It's not gonna do no good if the person themselves hadn't even done it themselves. I mean, I can pray for you all day long, but if you ain't gone to God in prayer, my prayer ain't gonna get through. Because you ain't done what you're supposed to do. You should have prayed to him first, then ask for accessory prayer to help. Sometimes it takes more than that. So, like I said, you know, be mindful of the people you asked to pray for you, and I tell that to people too. Be mindful who you ask the people you asked to pray for you because they're not praying for you, they're praying against you. Be mindful of who you ask. All God wants to do is, you know, help them so they can rejoice in how they got over. Blessings are abound. He is omnipotent, he is everywhere. All he's waiting is for us to come and ask him for help. One of the things I said before that I tell people all the time, which was told to me, which taught me how to be humble, was a closed mouth can't get fed. I can look at you all day and kind of guess what you need, but until you open up your mouth and tell me, how can I help you? I can guess all day long. But until you specifically tell me what it is that you need, I can't help you. Now, for those who are saying, but you just said you don't have to enough. No, I don't. But if you're coming to me asking me for help with food or clothes or shoes, well, what kind of food? Because not everybody, you know, some people are vegan, some people would depend on the culture, have certain things. Well, when you come and ask me, well, what exactly kind of food do you need? Because I know you don't eat this and this and this and this. So, what exactly kind of food do you need help with? I can't help if I don't know specifically what you need. You need help with clothes. Well, what size are we talking about? Because I got a clothing pantry, you know, where people have donated clothes to the ministry. Well, what size do you need? Just because you're telling me I need clothes for who? You, the kids? I need specifics so I know exactly how to help you. So there's a difference between wanting to know something because you're just doggone nosy, and needing to know something because they're coming to you asking for something specific. You know, again, I can't help you if I don't know specifically what you want. If you're coming to me needing some shoes, well, what size? For a boy, girl, man, woman, baby, who? You know, because I may have what you need, but I know I need to know what size. So, you know, that there's a difference. So, again, the topic today was what to do. And it's basically you gotta know what to do when the situation presents itself. But we also gotta start with ourselves first because we can't help nobody if our soul isn't right. What does that look like? The what they say, the blind leading the blind. How can I help you clean up what you messed up when I got a trash heap over here that I ain't even looked at yet? We got to be mindful on what we do, how we talk, what we say to people, how we treat people. Because again, the soul you could be saving could be your own. Amen. Let us pray. Father God, we come here today to say thank you. Thank you, Father, for everything that you have done. Father, thank you for the things that are coming down the pike. Father, we just want to give you glory, we want to give you honor. Father, we just want to say thank you because we know we are not worthy. Father, I pray for those under the sound of my voice, Father, that they know what they need to do. And Father, I pray that they come to you so they can get it done. Father, I pray that they can find that one true person that they can trust that can help them get through what it is that is burdening them, what it is that is holding them back, whatever it is that's causing confusion, that's causing doubt, that's causing anger, that's causing them to maybe want to hurt themselves or someone else. Father, I pray that they get released right now in the name of Jesus. Father, you are there. All they have to do is call out your name. Father, I thank you for being that vessel, for letting me use the gift that you gave me to reach as many souls as I can, giving them your word from a different perspective. Father, I thank you, I praise you, I give you all the honor, all the glory, in your son Jesus' name. I pray, amen, and remember to always, always be that light in someone else's darkness until we meet again. Stay blessed.