Latest / The Lila Rose Show / E231: Homeless To Millions: A Creator's Journey of Faith w/Ariel Fitzpatrick | Lila Rose Show

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E231: Homeless To Millions: A Creator's Journey of Faith w/Ariel Fitzpatrick | Lila Rose Show · The Lila Rose Show

0:00
This God that my parents are talking about, I renounced him.
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I know what it is to be depressed.
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I know what it is to have Satan literally talking in your ear.
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I know what it is to be starving.
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And that's why I could tell people you can.
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I became a student of TikTok, pick up patterns and see OK,
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what was working, whatever I'm like, I'm going to do my part.
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And I said this is the deal. If I do not hit 100,000
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followers in one month, not one day later, I'm done.
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I'm done. That's it.
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You could take me up to heaven. I am.
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Recently on the Lila Roche Show, we've been exploring how TikTok
0:30
has a negative effect on family dynamics and young people and
0:33
some of the disadvantages that come with the Wild West of the
0:37
Internet. But did you know there's a lot
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of good happening online? Today I'm sitting down with
0:41
Ariel Fitzpatrick, who is a digital content creator with
0:44
millions and millions of followers, as well as a musician
0:46
and songwriter. But what is most fascinating
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about her and her story is the deep spiritual life from which
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her content comes and the stories and struggles that she
0:54
has gone through. As you know, on this show, we
0:56
talk about really tough topics, controversial topics, things
0:59
relating to spirituality and health and relationships, so
1:02
much more. But I also like showcasing the
1:05
incredible work of God that is happening all over our world,
1:09
including in people like Ariel. Now, if you're watching here on
1:13
YouTube, did you know that 76% of you all are not yet
1:17
subscribed to the show? You're watching videos, but you
1:20
haven't clicked the subscribe button.
1:21
So make sure that you hit that subscribe button, ring the
1:24
notification bell. Don't miss future episodes.
1:27
And also, if you're listening on podcast app, please, please
1:30
leave us five stars and leave us a review that helps the show
1:33
reach more people. Ariel Fitzpatrick, welcome to
1:36
the podcast. Thank you so much.
1:37
It's so fun having you here. It's really fun to be here.
1:40
Yeah, I was just weird. I was just watching your content
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or showing you your own content and enjoying it.
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So I'm so excited to get to see some of it.
1:47
But it's such a pleasure to have you here because you're such a
1:50
beautiful soul inside and out. Thank you.
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And you're just creating beautiful things for God.
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Thank you on the crazy Internet. So the crazy Internet, yeah.
1:59
Thanks for doing that. Thanks.
2:01
For like having me here, honestly, it's it's an honor.
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Of course, of course. And I first kind of came across
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you through our Young Leaders Summit over at Live Action and
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just seeing you there and knowing that you are on this
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journey to obviously share the faith, but also to grow in your
2:19
own faith and be more and more committed to our Lord.
2:21
It's just a very beautiful thing because I think people approach
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content creation and you know, can go viral online.
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But the people that are really serious about I'm doing this for
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purpose that's bigger than myself, which is the purpose
2:33
that you have, which is so beautiful, is an inspiration.
2:35
Thank you. Thank you so much.
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So I'm excited to talk about your content, how you approach
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content. You're a super viral, A Tik
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Toker, you're a musician. You are also on this journey, I
2:45
think, to create more beautiful things using all of the talents
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you've been given. Your personal story is pretty
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crazy though, like how you got into all of this.
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And then also your upbringing. You've had a lot of struggles
2:58
like trials that you've had to overcome even in your own
3:00
upbringing. So I thought we'd start all the
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way back. I know you're Canadian, yes.
3:04
So tell us about where you where you're from and your upbringing.
3:07
Yes, so I'm born and raised in Montreal, Canada, been there my
3:11
whole life. My parents, they migrated their
3:15
when they were quite young. My mom was about 18 when she
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left her country, which is Trinidad and Tobago, and my dad
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around the same age. When he came, he was, I think he
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was in his 20s, his early 20s. He came from Saint Vincent and
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the Grenadines. So they're both Caribbean, both
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Christians. Since they were back home, they
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met in Montreal at a church where my dad was a youth pastor.
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My mom was a worship leader. They met and they got married
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and then came me, my oldest sister, and my 3 younger
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siblings. And yeah, I've just been.
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They raised us very strictly in the ways of God, but very
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lovingly. I love my parents.
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They're like my biggest inspiration.
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I love my siblings as well. They're like my best friends.
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And they really just raised us because not too long after I was
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born, probably the same year or a few months after I was born,
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my dad started his own ministry. So I grew up singing in church,
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doing everything basically that, you know, you just learn how to
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do everything. You learn how to do sound, you
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learn how to do how to clean, You learn how to do accounting.
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I was a assistant for my mom at one point with, you know,
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accounting for the, the money and the finances of the church.
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And yeah, so it was just that's how I was, how I was raised.
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Oh and also my dad had a school so he he never wanted to send us
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to public school so he decided to open his own Christian
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private school. So he was my teacher, my
4:38
principal, my. Pastor, I'm not going to
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homeschool. It's too much work.
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So I'm going to start a school and be your teacher and your
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principal and help a bunch of other kids too.
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Yeah, yeah. And honestly, the reason why he
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did it because first we started off with homeschooling, OK, But
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then at our church there were a lot of immigrant parents who had
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children. And at the time, yeah, I think
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it was only in Quebec specifically, if you didn't have
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your papers, your children couldn't go to school.
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I know it's different in different provinces, but Quebec
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specifically, like your child could not go to school.
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So my dad was witnessing a lot of children just staying home.
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A lot of them didn't know how to read.
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And some of them were even up to 18 years old, couldn't read and
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stuff like that. And my dad, he his specialty is
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in education. So he was like, you know,
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instead of me just homeschooling my kids, let me just.
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That's amazing. Taking everybody.
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What a guy. Yeah, he's a great guy.
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And we were talking before and I I always not that, not that you
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can't have amazing parents. And some children might fall
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from the faith because that's the world, right?
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Yeah. You can do the best as a parent
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and your child might still fall from the faith because the world
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is the world and sin has its pull and the the world's ways
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has the world's ways. But I do think it's especially
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powerful and inspiring when there's a set of parents and
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their children are all practicing faith.
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So you were just sharing your one of five kids and the
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youngest is 16 and you guys are all pursuing faith?
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Yeah, all of us are fully involved.
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All of us have our own journeys, obviously our own stories.
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But at the end, and it's something I really prayed for,
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even for my younger siblings, it's so beautiful to see that
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they have their own personal relationship with Christ now and
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they they're fully involved in church and fully involved in
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telling their friends about God. So it's just, it's a blessing,
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it really is, to see all of us like that.
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Did you ever think growing up that you would end up doing
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basically acting? You're also creating, you're
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producing, you're directing yourself.
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And then, of course, you're now on this music career, which is
6:33
exploding. Did you have any sense that you
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would get into all of this creative work growing up, or did
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you have a different vision for your future?
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Yeah, since I was a child, I always wanted to always envision
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myself being a singer and an actor, an actress.
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And I never knew how it would happen because in Montreal
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that's not really what happens to people.
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It's like it's not a thing. But I always envisioned myself
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doing it one day. I didn't envision myself doing
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was writing my own, like what you call it, scripts, I guess
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you could say, and creating films.
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That's a passion that I developed a little bit later or
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a desire to do it eventually. But I always knew deep down that
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I was going to be a singer and that I was going to be an
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actress or just be involved with media.
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I was always fascinated with the camera.
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Anytime I remember the first time I saw a camera, the first
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camera I had, I was so excited. I was like, yeah, this is, this
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is me. When did you first do anything
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kind of in the creative realm? I mean, you said you sung in
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church, right? Did you ever do kind of like
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early acting work or writing your own songs?
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When did that start for you? Very young, so again in churches
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where I learned how to do everything.
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So I started I would say with that acting with like, you know,
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those skits that you would do in church, church plays.
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I love like that was like the highlight of my year Christmas
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program. Yes, I love those.
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And our youth pastor, he would be the one who wrote the OR he
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if he didn't write it, he would like buy it and then give it to
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us. That was like literally the
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highlight of my year. Every Christmas or Easter, or if
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there was like just a random something in between.
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That's where I developed my love for acting.
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I didn't even think of it as acting.
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I just thought of it as a place. It's a church play.
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I loved it. And I eventually, because of
8:22
music, when I discovered that theater was a thing and that
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Broadway was a thing, I was like, Oh my goodness, I want to
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do something like that. And writing, I remember I wrote
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my first song when I was 12, and that was kind of really inspired
8:37
by my dad because my dad wrote a lot of songs and sometimes he
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would have like the worship team learn his song.
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So we would like have our praise and worship songs would be
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written by him. So that's something I always saw
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growing up. So I kind of just flowed into
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that as well. What was the song at 12?
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I remember. I'm so mad at myself.
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I was thinking about that recently.
8:56
I told myself to never forget it and I forgot it.
9:00
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10:01
All right, at one time when you were in your early or preteen
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years, your you and your family experienced homelessness.
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Can you share about what happened with that?
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Yes. So I was 12 years old and I
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always knew. Well, by that time I knew that,
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you know, our family didn't have the most money in the world, but
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my parents did a really good job at shielding us from that.
10:24
We knew we can get like the nicest shoes or the nicest
10:27
clothes or, you know, the favorite snacks everybody got.
10:30
But I felt like we were OK. And then I remember one day my
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mom, she sat us down, me and my older sister at the time, So she
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was 13. And she told us, look, she's
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like, you guys going to see some changes.
10:42
You know, we're struggling a bit financially, but you know, we're
10:45
going to get through it and we're probably going to sell the
10:47
house. But she's like, no worries
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because she was pregnant at the time with my little sister.
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And she's like, it's OK. We're going to move to a house
10:53
that could fit all of us. And so I was very optimistic
10:55
about it. And Long story short, eventually
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when it came time to sell the house, I discovered that, you
11:04
know, we got this, the house sold from under us like the
11:09
agent that my parents were working with at the time.
11:12
Like I was telling you before, it was like a, it just seemed
11:14
like it was a thing. Around that time, there was a
11:15
lot of scamming going on in the real estate area.
11:20
Even the government had to, you know, enter it like the scene to
11:23
kind of quell it down. But basically what happened was
11:28
my parents signed the documents, you know, get the house sold.
11:31
And then they realized that the contract was set up in a way
11:35
where the real estate agent, they got their profit and we got
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absolutely nothing. So there was literally nothing
11:43
left for the house to be paid off.
11:46
The current mortgage could not be paid off.
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And there was nothing extra to be able to put down a down
11:51
payment on a new house, which was literally the plan.
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Like that's what everybody does. You sell your house, you pay off
11:56
your mortgage and then the extra that you take, you know, to get
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a new house. There was absolutely nothing,
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not a dollar. And then when it was time to
12:03
locate the real estate agent, we couldn't get in contact with
12:06
her. She was gone.
12:08
So we were literally we had and we had to move out.
12:12
There was a deadline. I think it was like March
12:15
something. I told myself to remember that
12:17
day too. I think it was like March 10th
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or something like that. And we had to, it was spring and
12:20
we had to pack up everything in a rush.
12:22
We had to get out the house because the new tenants were
12:25
coming in, our home owners were coming in.
12:28
So yeah, so we get out there and then we have absolutely nowhere
12:33
to go. And there was one lady in the
12:36
church. We have a very small church.
12:38
And she was the one lady that we trusted at the time.
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And my mom told her what happened and she said, you know,
12:45
actually y'all could come stay with me.
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So her and her husband. And she was pregnant at the
12:49
time, so it was seven of us about to join two of them.
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Well. My mom had the baby.
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She had already had the baby. She had the.
12:56
Baby. When she sat us down, she was
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pregnant. But yeah, my mom already had the
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baby. My little sister was very tiny.
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I don't think she was a year yet.
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So we'd move over to the small apartment that this lady was so,
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you know, generous to let us stay in.
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And we slept on the floor. And I was like, you know, it's
13:16
fine. It's temporary.
13:17
My parents like, it's temporary. We're going to figure this out.
13:19
I had no idea the gravity of the, you know, situation.
13:23
So months are passing by, and it's like, oh, we're still,
13:27
we're still here. And then it was time for the
13:29
lady to have her baby. And obviously, we couldn't stay
13:32
there because it was our first child.
13:34
You don't want to invade on people's face.
13:36
So we had to leave. And again, we had nowhere to go
13:39
and my parents wanted to keep us together, you know, because a
13:42
lot of times if you're that big of a family and you need to be
13:45
stay like staying somewhere, you're probably going to get
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separated, you know, like maybe me and my sister would have had
13:50
to go on some go somewhere and my parents somewhere else.
13:52
And my younger sibling and my parents did not want that.
13:55
And I would have hated that. I feel like that would have sent
13:57
me crazy because I, we're, I'm a huge family girl.
13:59
We're all family people. So sticking together was what
14:02
honestly kept us sane during that time.
14:04
So we decided to stay in the a tiny back office in our church.
14:11
At the time, it was like a small church, smaller office.
14:15
But you know, we all squished in this tiny room in the back.
14:17
And my dad slept on the ground, my mom, myself and my little
14:21
sister, we slept on like a little couch.
14:23
And my other siblings slept on the ground somewhere else.
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And that was our life for about two years.
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We were going back and forth trying to find a place to stay.
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And it was around that time I realized there's not that much
14:37
help for people who were in that situation where you're not
14:41
completely destitute, but you're also not OK.
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So it was kind of hard to find even help around that time.
14:49
And my parents aren't totally into the Internet around then.
14:52
He goes to Google and see like what's available.
14:54
So it was really, really tough. And we ended up moving off to
14:58
the South Shore in the temporary place, but it was still
15:00
temporary. We had to leave there.
15:03
We got threatened with losing all of our stuff in storage
15:06
because we couldn't afford it anymore.
15:07
So all the things that we had to rush to storage when we moved
15:09
out, yeah, they were like, we're going to auction all your stuff.
15:13
So like everything we had to, our name was like about to be
15:16
gone, they said. And honestly, they were.
15:18
I think God was gracious in that area itself because it was
15:22
months, it was years and the storage unit was like they were
15:26
being quite kind. You know, they were doing their
15:28
job telling us they're going to auction it, but they really,
15:31
they didn't do it. They threatened a lot of times,
15:34
but they something about them. They were like, I don't know
15:37
about what what it is with y'all, but fine.
15:39
We'll wait a little bit. Longer I know you're good.
15:41
People, yeah, so and so eventually after 2 long and some
15:46
of the hardest years of my life, because even during that time I
15:49
was going through, me and my sister especially, we're going
15:51
through like bullying and because we're hopping around
15:54
from school to school. And in the beginning we couldn't
15:57
even go to school because we didn't have a an address.
16:00
So if you don't have an address, you can't register to school.
16:02
And they weren't allowing us to use the church's address because
16:04
it's a commercial building. So eventually gets into school
16:08
and now we're forced to go to French school because I don't
16:11
know if you're familiar with Montreal, QC, it's like a
16:13
language war that's very annoying back home.
16:17
So we weren't allowed to go to English school anymore.
16:19
We had to go to French school. I didn't understand why anything
16:22
because the law. So there's a law that came in
16:25
that said if you're, if your parents did not go to English
16:30
elementary school in the country, in the province, your
16:35
children are forced to go to French school, which was like
16:38
annoying because we went to English school our whole lives
16:41
and they knew what they were doing.
16:42
That literally excludes every immigrant.
16:44
They know that every immigrant doesn't fall into that, into
16:49
that criteria. The immigrants are not allowed
16:51
to learn English. Yes, it's literally that.
16:54
So even if it's your first language and even if.
16:56
We. Were born there, you know what I
16:58
mean? So they treated us as if like we
17:01
didn't. This wasn't our heritage.
17:04
So we get into French the. Reasoning behind that, did you?
17:06
Did they ever explain it? Yeah.
17:08
So like it's, it's just a, it's a political thing.
17:11
It's just, it's just politics. It's like about getting rid of
17:14
the English and letting French be the number one language.
17:17
It's just. War it's like, but I don't like
17:19
English exactly. Did you grow up speaking any
17:22
French or? No, I was completely in the
17:24
Caribbean diaspora. Because, Oh my gosh, the time.
17:27
That it's, it's crazy, yeah. Do you speak any French now?
17:30
Yeah, I do now that's kind. Of cool you're bilingual.
17:33
Yeah, but. It was not cool at the time.
17:36
That sound that does sound not fun.
17:38
No, it wasn't it. Was especially you're in high
17:40
school, right? You're trying to.
17:42
Yeah. Complete high school.
17:43
Yeah, and I was very serious about my grades.
17:45
I took school very seriously. So it was driving me nuts that I
17:47
was failing and I was being told that I had a mental or learning
17:53
disability. But I was like, I don't have a
17:55
learning disability. I just don't understand what
17:58
you're saying. And that's it.
17:59
So it was, it was tough like kids are always like some of the
18:02
kids were really mean. The teachers were meaner.
18:04
The vice principal was even meaner.
18:07
That was telling us like, oh, y'all don't belong here.
18:08
You should go back to your country.
18:10
I'm born here. I don't know what country I'm
18:11
supposed to go back to. But you know, it was it was a
18:14
very hard, hard time. Those two years were like hell,
18:18
but we pulled through. You totally pulled through and.
18:22
God, God miraculously got us into a beautiful house that I
18:27
remember when we moved in, neighbors would literally come
18:29
and ring the doorbell and be like, you know, welcome to the
18:31
neighborhood. But also, how on earth did you
18:33
get this house? Because apparently there was
18:36
like a bidding war and we didn't have money like that.
18:39
And somehow God worked it out where they accepted our bid,
18:42
which was not the highest, and we were able to move into that
18:45
house. And then we got what has never,
18:48
almost never been done before. We got English eligibility.
18:51
A few months later. I was able to go to English
18:53
school and all my teachers in the English school were like,
18:56
how did you get here? Like, how did you do that?
18:58
I've been trying to get my daughter to, but it's illegal.
19:00
How did you do it? I was like.
19:02
Oh God, it. Was God.
19:05
And yeah, my life started to oh man, I was able to breathe.
19:09
I remember that year I prayed to God.
19:10
I was like, God, can you please give me a Sweet 16?
19:12
I'm like, the past two years have been hell.
19:14
I'm like, I just want a Sweet 16.
19:15
I didn't mean a birthday party. I just wanted a sweet 16th year
19:19
and he gave that to me. I remember that was the best.
19:21
I felt like that was the best year of my life.
19:23
It was a great time. What was that experience like
19:27
you like for you in learning your relationship with God?
19:30
Because I think some people say, well, I pray for next thing and
19:35
God doesn't give it, right? And then there's other children
19:38
of God who say, well, I pray for X thing and God doesn't give it,
19:40
but I still trust him because he has another plan and then he
19:44
reveals himself at another way, right?
19:46
And it sounds like the whole time you were praying and I'm
19:48
sure your parents were praying like we, we need to get this
19:50
figured out. We've got five kids to shelter
19:54
and feed and care for. Was there a conversation in the
19:57
family about the dynamic with God and how you were asking for
20:01
God's provision? And then what?
20:02
What did that look like for you personally?
20:05
So personally, that was where I learned God.
20:07
That was where all of this began.
20:10
I knew of Him before, but that situation taught me who He was.
20:15
I renounced Him. I was angry, I was so bitter, I
20:21
was frustrated, I was sad. And at 14 years old, I remember
20:26
I got to my, I just got to my end point because like you said
20:31
with the conversations, yes, throughout the entire process,
20:33
my parents, my mom said that one of her biggest fears or even my
20:36
dad said it as well, was that we would lose our trust in God
20:39
because of what we were going through.
20:41
So they constantly reminded us guys, it's just keep praying God
20:45
will not abandon us. Like they were always, always
20:48
feel that in our heads. But then I was 14 and I'm like
20:51
looking around and I'm like, my parents have been serving God my
20:55
whole life. They, they haven't wronged
20:57
people. I've watched them because, you
20:58
know, sometimes I've had friends in church say their parents are
21:01
two different people, one in the church and one at home.
21:04
So I grew up hearing that and I was able to see the contrast
21:07
with my parents. I'm like the same people they
21:09
were in the pulpit, the same people they were at home.
21:12
And I was just mad. I was mad.
21:13
I was like, God, they're they, they give to the poor.
21:16
They literally would take sometimes when we needed
21:17
something, they would take that money and give it to someone
21:19
else. And I knew that about them.
21:22
And I was just like, we're praying, we're fasting, we're
21:25
reading the scripture, we're at church every Sunday.
21:28
By the way, we didn't miss one Sunday.
21:29
We didn't miss a Bible study. We were there, yet our lives
21:33
were falling apart. And then you have people
21:35
actually literally saying they're, they're jealous of you
21:37
thinking that you have a nice house and whatever.
21:39
They had absolutely no idea what we were going through.
21:42
They thought like, oh, he's because he's a pastor.
21:44
They go home to their house. They didn't know we lost our
21:46
house. They had no idea and we had to
21:48
deal with negativity from people that we were caring for as well.
21:53
So I'm like, everything was just spiraling literally out of
21:56
control. And I'm supposed to trust this
21:59
God that my parents are talking about.
22:01
So I remember at 14, I, I was, I was so angry.
22:04
I, I was like, I told God, I'm like, which is funny because I
22:08
was acknowledging his presence and his reality, but I was
22:11
telling him you do not exist. I was like, God does not exist.
22:13
I'm like, there's no way. That's not the Bible.
22:15
That's not the God in the Bible. That's not the guy my parents
22:18
talked about. He wouldn't let us go through
22:20
this. So I was just like, I'm done.
22:22
And I was your. Parents No.
22:24
No, no. Like, but I'm not telling my
22:26
parents because then they'd be done with me.
22:30
No, I never told them that. I knew that was something that
22:33
was like, that was not a conversation I knew how to have.
22:35
With them, I mean, understandably, but that was the
22:37
internal monologue at the time, yeah.
22:38
And I honestly, it didn't last long because I remember in that
22:41
moment it was probably the first supernatural experience I had
22:45
right after I said it. It was like now looking back I
22:48
understand it was God allowing me to feel something physical in
22:52
order to make a connection what was happening spiritually to me
22:56
but it's hard to explain. But as soon as I had that whole
23:00
vent it was as if like a cold patch was like placed in my
23:05
chest and I could physically feel it for days.
23:09
It was like a cold. I don't like a bag of ice or
23:12
something just in my in my chest and it like I physically I could
23:16
feel it and it was very uncomfortable.
23:18
It was like an uncomfortable feeling, but I had a feeling it
23:22
had to do with what I just said. But I was like, Nah, I'm still
23:25
mad, whatever. And I lived with that for a few
23:29
days and then one day, and during those days, I was
23:33
fighting not to talk to God because prayer became such a
23:35
normal thing of my life that every time I was about to pray,
23:39
I was like, no, we don't do that anymore or whatever.
23:41
And it just got colder and colder.
23:43
And I felt the joy leave me. I felt angry.
23:46
I didn't even feel like myself, to be very honest.
23:48
And right before that time, I was dealing with some like,
23:52
serious depression. So it was an accumulation.
23:55
And then one day I couldn't handle it anymore and I
23:58
literally broke down and I repented.
24:00
And I said, God, I'm so sorry. I didn't even mean what I said.
24:03
I was like, I was just, I was just angry.
24:05
And I literally broke down just like tears.
24:08
I was like on the ground just bawling my eyes out.
24:11
And in that moment, it was as if Jesus literally came into the
24:15
room. And I had never felt anything
24:18
like that, like that cold patch. I felt like a warm, it felt just
24:23
like a, like a warm hug just came in and filled that patch.
24:27
And I've never felt that patch again.
24:29
And it just came in and then I felt like, as if God, I felt
24:32
like Jesus gave me a hug. Like I remember I asked him.
24:34
I was like, I want to hug. And I felt like he came in the
24:37
room and he gave me a hug. I felt just so every time I
24:42
think about it I get like goosebumps because I remember.
24:44
Getting goosebumps and crying. I remember it so vividly and I
24:49
just knew in that moment he was telling me it's going to be OK.
24:52
It's like it's just just a little while longer.
24:54
It's going to be OK. And yeah, during that time, I
24:59
never, ever, ever turned back. Since then, I've had my
25:01
challenges. I've had, you know, moments
25:04
where I ask God why, but I never, ever, ever again doubted
25:08
his reality or his realness, you know, And I just dove into the
25:12
scriptures and he literally supernaturally pulled me out of
25:17
depression. No one came.
25:18
I didn't speak to a therapist. No, I came out of depression and
25:22
my mom watched it happen and she was like just so thankful
25:25
because she was praying to God to heal me because I was just
25:28
broken. I was angry.
25:29
I was just, I wasn't myself. So yeah, that's where my
25:33
relationship. Would you like after that day,
25:35
I'm like, me and Jesus, we locked in like there is no
25:38
unlocking that. We locked in forever.
25:41
And yeah, from there I've just been learning different depths
25:45
of him, you know, because every time, every year or every so
25:48
often, you learn more and more about who he is.
25:51
But that was the foundation, I feel, of my personal
25:55
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27:03
Do you talk about it now with your family at all about why
27:07
looking at your life and the sort of the spiritual journey of
27:10
your lives, you know, and the conversion journey of your
27:12
lives, like why the Lord allowed that trial?
27:16
Is that a conversation you guys have as a?
27:17
Family and what are the? Answers that you guys might
27:20
find. Yeah, we've had that many times.
27:23
And I always like my answer is well for our first collective
27:28
answer is that it bound us together as a family like never
27:33
before. We were close before, but that
27:36
situation made us almost like, like anything could blow against
27:41
us. And we're still locked in
27:42
together. We've seen families fall apart
27:45
for less, you know, But we became so close and not just as
27:51
a family, as blood, but as a spiritual, almost like an army,
27:58
where it's like whatever God puts in our hands to do, we're
28:01
stuck in together and God can count on us to get it done.
28:05
You know, like where it's like each and every one of us have
28:08
made the decision that we believe in God and we're going
28:13
to do whatever mission he gives to us.
28:16
And I believe that's why we're able to move in the way that we
28:20
can. We have to get through that
28:23
rough patch and not deny him. Why I did deny him, but you
28:26
know, make sure you don't deny him again.
28:28
Like I think we proved to God that he could trust us.
28:31
And from me personally, it was that situation that taught me
28:37
whatever I face now, I faced tough things after that.
28:41
But because of that, I know that I know that I I witnessed too
28:45
much miraculous things during that time or even just getting
28:49
out of that time for me to deny him.
28:51
And I think God allowed us to get through that so that, for
28:54
one, would be stronger. For two, we have a testimony
28:58
because it's easier to speak to people who are going through
29:00
something when you've been through it.
29:02
It's harder to convince them that God is going to get them
29:04
out if you've been living a nice posh life your whole life.
29:07
I could tell people, sometimes people like, no, you don't
29:09
understand. I don't have this.
29:10
And I was like, yeah, I do understand.
29:12
I'm like, I've been there. And they're like, really?
29:15
You don't look like it. I'm like, I know, but I've been
29:17
there and I know what it is to be depressed.
29:20
I know what it is to have Satan literally talking in your ear.
29:23
I know what it is to be like to want to kill yourself.
29:25
I know what it is to not want to live anymore.
29:27
I know what it is to have to be starving.
29:29
I know what it is to be hungry. Like hunger could make you
29:32
angry. I understand the emotions of
29:34
what it is when you have to work, go to school, and you
29:37
literally have nothing to eat. I know what that is, and that's
29:40
why I could tell people you can trust that God will get you
29:44
through it because I've experienced that.
29:47
So I think that's just a few reasons why He allowed us to go
29:51
through it. And so we learned how to pray.
29:54
I learned how to pray and I learned about spiritual attacks.
29:58
I understood that situation taught me because there's so
30:02
many other things that happened. It taught me that we are not
30:04
just fighting against flesh and blood.
30:06
Amen. Some things that were happening
30:08
that was not just a physical person.
30:10
I spoke to some people, seen some people react.
30:12
I was like you, you must be a spawn of Satan because like, why
30:15
are you attacking us like that? He's like, what is that?
30:18
So I learned and my parent, there was a teaching moment for
30:21
all of us too. Our parents were teaching us
30:23
this is what you call spiritual warfare.
30:25
Even some things my younger brother went through, he went
30:27
through some serious like he was terrorized by fear.
30:30
During that time, my parents marriage was attacked.
30:34
My like my mental was attacked. I felt like I was losing my
30:37
mind, like my brother literally experienced moments and he was
30:41
so young and that's how I know he's telling the truth.
30:43
He remembers it to this day where he he saw things like he
30:47
felt presents. He saw like sometimes he would
30:49
just be walking in the house and he's like, it would just go
30:51
pitch black. He would hear something or
30:53
whatever. And I'm like, it was me learning
30:56
that what they were talking about in church was real.
30:58
Spiritual wickedness in high places is real.
31:01
And as a Christian or as a believer, you cannot, and I've
31:05
met a lot of Christians who do, but you cannot live this life,
31:08
say you following Christ and don't believe that the enemy is
31:11
going to attack you. He is going to attack you, but
31:13
you have to be prepared and you have to know how to pray.
31:15
So that was one of the big lessons for sure.
31:18
What's so beautiful, Ariel, thank you for sharing that.
31:21
It's really, it's like, I know people listening are encouraged.
31:24
I know because praise God. And it's, it's just what you
31:27
said that maybe God allowed this.
31:30
I mean, it sounds like you believe that he allowed this
31:33
because of in part. Now you have this testimony and
31:36
people can be so incredibly encouraged.
31:40
I mean, that's what it is, encouragement.
31:43
And I don't regret it. And it's funny because like in
31:46
the moment, I remember people used to say, or I think more my
31:50
mom, be like, you know, one day we're going to look back at this
31:52
and be thankful we went through this.
31:53
And I would be like, absolutely not.
31:55
I can never be thankful for this.
31:56
I can sincerely say I am very grateful.
31:59
I don't want to live it again, but I am very grateful that I
32:02
experienced it because my life wouldn't be the same.
32:05
My testimony wouldn't be the same.
32:06
My faith wouldn't be the same. So I'm like, you know what, God,
32:09
I know I didn't like it and I don't want to go through it
32:11
again. But thank you for allowing me to
32:13
get through it by your grace. I think another area that
32:17
there's a lot of confusion and when it comes to even when it
32:20
means to follow God is the moral law because there's Christians
32:24
who are saying and, and, and I wouldn't even say Christians,
32:27
people would say they're very spiritual.
32:29
They're in the new age and they feel like they're connected to
32:31
the spirit realm. We've talked to some on the
32:33
show, like Jennifer Nizza, who was a former psychic, right?
32:37
And some very good intentioned people like you see, you see
32:40
that they have good intentions and they're trying to maybe get
32:43
in touch with the good, you know, spirits and they're kind
32:46
of trying to do spiritual battle, but they're not within
32:49
the realm of God's truth. So there's a lot of unfortunate,
32:53
unfortunate going astray in that space.
32:56
I think one thing we were talking about earlier about your
32:58
parents is it sounds like your parents, you know, they've been
33:01
married 30 years and they raised you with a moral code that is
33:04
God's moral code. And this is, this is what it
33:07
means to be a Christian. You don't do the XY and Z
33:09
behaviors. That's not what Christ like.
33:11
If you make a mistake, fall, you fall down, you get up again,
33:13
repent, keep going. What was your kind of moral
33:16
education like from your parents growing up, and how has that
33:21
brought to come with you into your now your own ministry and
33:24
into adulthood? That foundation is everything
33:27
and it's one thing my dad was very keen on was making sure we
33:32
understood what we were following.
33:34
So he would always say these are the fundamental truths that we
33:37
believe. So every so often he would,
33:39
every so often he would just repeat it.
33:41
And he's like, we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.
33:44
We believe that he is the only way to salvation to the Father.
33:48
We believe that the word of God is true and we believe every
33:52
word in the word of God. We believe that our opinions
33:55
don't outweigh what the word of God says.
33:58
We believe that the world's opinions do not outweigh what
34:01
the word of God says. And boldness is another thing.
34:04
My dad always, he was like, listen, you guys got to be bold.
34:08
He's like you don't ever be afraid of what someone else is
34:10
going to say. Don't ever be afraid of what the
34:13
world is going to say about you because he would always say the
34:16
the scripture that you know is in the Bible where it says if
34:19
you deny God, he's going to deny you.
34:22
And I never liked that. So I was like.
34:25
Happy, yeah. I'm not going to deny him
34:27
because God is not going to. Jesus is not about to deny me
34:30
before his Father. So I will, I will proclaim to
34:33
the ends of the world that I love Jesus and I and he said,
34:36
don't say you don't love me unless you follow my
34:38
commandments. So I say, Lord, I'm going to
34:40
follow your commandments. And when I mess up, which I do
34:42
sometimes, I run back to him and say, Lord, I'm sorry, get me
34:46
back in your good graces. Forgive me, I repent, I change
34:49
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35:42
There was. There are some, even certainly a
35:44
few Christians, not a lot, but some today who say that, oh,
35:48
don't judge, you know, abortions, okay, in some
35:51
circumstances, or, you know, we shouldn't be so upset about
35:54
premarital sex. It's fine.
35:56
It's not a big deal. God loves us no matter what.
35:58
It's not like don't make a big deal out of these things.
36:01
They don't matter that much. Or marriage.
36:03
It's yes, but it doesn't need to be between one man and one
36:06
woman. It can be between two men or two
36:09
women or divorced. Not a big deal.
36:11
That's kind of the current cultural state both in the US
36:15
and certainly in Canada and I think a lot of the Western world
36:17
today. And I'm sure even in your
36:19
content today, and I know we're going to get to like your even
36:22
the impetus for you creating your content, but I'm sure
36:24
you're running into there's young people who are in that
36:26
space. They're they're believing those
36:28
lies about God, about identity, about morality.
36:32
How did you shape your understanding of those things?
36:35
It sounds like your dad obviously played a big role.
36:37
And then how do you approach that in your content creation if
36:40
those issues come up? Yeah, it's just, again, like you
36:44
said, it's, it's it's a cultural thing and we are not fighting
36:49
against flesh and blood. And I think if you keep that as
36:53
a believer as the forefront of your battles, you would
36:57
understand it's not about feelings.
37:01
It's not about, oh, I know, but I just, we don't want anyone to
37:04
get mad and think we're mean people.
37:06
We are up against an enemy, an enemy who is here to distort
37:12
God's original vision and purpose for our lives in the
37:16
earth. So if you understand that moving
37:19
away from God's Word is not just to make few people feel better,
37:22
but it's actually distorting exactly what He intended when he
37:27
created this planet, when he created us as his children.
37:30
So if I understand, OK, it's not just that people are in their
37:34
feelings, it's that there's an enemy that is actually
37:37
intentionally creating these lies to hurt us.
37:42
That's when you actually move in compassion and you realize a
37:46
little girl saying, oh, you know what my teacher said I could be
37:49
a boy if I want to and telling her, no baby girl, that's not
37:52
true. You realize that's compassion,
37:56
that's not being mean, because then you realize it's not just
38:01
it's not just human beings telling her that that is the
38:03
devil trying to corrupt God's perfect design.
38:07
She was perfectly designed and the devil hates her for it
38:10
because when he sees her, he sees God.
38:12
We're made in his image. So if I understand that all of
38:16
these wars that we're going in, so these battles that, you know,
38:20
we're being told to be nice about isn't beyond that.
38:23
It's about literally the Kingdom of darkness fighting the Kingdom
38:28
of light. Then you realize, Oh no, I got
38:29
to stand 10 toes down on this. Obviously I'm going to do it in
38:32
love and I'm going to do it with respect, but I am not about to
38:35
conform to a liar. That is not that.
38:39
We're not helping anybody in the end.
38:41
You may feel nice about yourself in a moment.
38:43
Well, at least I made them feel nice.
38:45
OK, But you just literally pushed the agenda of Satan.
38:49
That's what it is. If we're being for real.
38:52
You're so right. It is the agenda of a state.
38:54
And so many of these, even the moral issues, I was like kind of
38:57
listing off like the issue of abortion.
39:00
It's God's child. This is God's creation and the
39:03
devil is telling ultimately the lie is to women, to mothers that
39:07
it's better to kill God's creation.
39:09
You're going to be better off if you do this.
39:12
And then they choose that many women and it's become so
39:16
devastating spiritually, of course, and in other ways too.
39:19
But then the culture keeps saying, Oh no, it's empowering.
39:21
Oh no, it's good. And it and also Satan hates that
39:24
we exist, like you said. So the idea of like erasing a
39:27
new baby, like destroying a new baby, that's like the devil's
39:30
favorite thing to do, Yeah. Because you just get rid of a no
39:33
human life made in God's image. Yeah, And I think even you
39:37
saying that reminds me of one of the ladies, I forgot her name,
39:39
one of the speakers at your event that when I first was
39:42
introduced to y'all, she said something.
39:44
And I was like, that is so true. She was like, think about it.
39:48
I'm just paraphrasing what she said.
39:50
She's like, naturally a woman's instincts or she even talks
39:54
about animals. She's like, have you ever seen a
39:56
Mama bear or a Mama wolf? If anyone even comes in a close
40:01
proximity of her baby And she thinks, she's not even sure.
40:06
She just thinks it's a threat. She's ready to bite your head
40:09
off. You're not going to touch her
40:10
child. You're not going to hurt her
40:11
child, and you're most certainly not going to kill it.
40:13
And as humans, we're naturally like that too.
40:16
And she's like, imagine, watch how we are being reengineered.
40:19
Our minds are being reengineered where we're not just not letting
40:23
someone else attack our child. We are attacking our child.
40:26
And when she said that, I was like, Oh my gosh.
40:29
It's, it's so true that that's crazy.
40:31
We are being brainwashed to believe that attacking our own
40:36
and hurting our own child that we usually you see pregnant
40:39
women, the first thing they do is they put their hand on their
40:41
stomach, even if they don't have a belly yet.
40:42
It's a natural instinct because you're protecting it.
40:45
But that that instinct's being ripped out from us.
40:47
And I was like, Oh my gosh, yeah, this is, this is, this is
40:49
demonic. This is not normal.
40:51
That's not God like at all. So even when I even going
40:54
through high school and college, I try to be under, I try to be
40:58
an understanding person. So I'd always like to hear the
41:01
other person's argument. I try not to be like, Oh, that's
41:03
not what I believe. And then I try to listen, you
41:05
know, so even at some points when people are bringing up
41:08
topics, that's why I'm so thankful for your, your summit,
41:10
honestly, because it really even helped clarify and make me feel
41:14
more confident in my stance because, you know, going through
41:17
college, university and hearing people's arguments, like, well,
41:20
how can you say that if she's been through this or she's been
41:22
through that? And then I'd be like, oh, shoot,
41:25
maybe they're right. Because you want to be if if
41:29
that person sound like sounds like they're being the
41:30
compassionate 1, you want to be the compassionate one.
41:33
But then you realize, actually this is not compassion.
41:34
Exactly, exactly. So it's it's important that the
41:37
truth is being told to be very honest because it's easy to, you
41:41
know, believe those lies if you're not careful.
41:43
Yes, and there's so many everywhere.
41:45
Like you said, it's a spiritual battle and so the lies are
41:48
everywhere. OK, I want to hear how you made
41:51
the decision to start doing TikTok content.
41:55
Yes, social media. So that was a whole thing, so.
41:58
You finally have a house, you're in the English school.
42:01
Life is starting to settle a little bit.
42:03
Yes. And now I graduated high school,
42:06
I have a normal, I had two years left.
42:09
I had a beautiful two years of high school time to go to
42:12
college. And during that those two years,
42:16
I started feeling deep down inside because I had a plan to
42:19
be a doctor my whole life because, you know, that's what
42:21
was going to make the money so we would never be poor again.
42:24
And put the two years I felt it slowly coming up with me like
42:28
that's not what you're supposed to be doing.
42:30
But I kept pushing it down. And now it's time to go to
42:32
college. I get accepted into Health
42:34
Science and I'm like, I don't think I'm going to like this
42:39
program. So let me do something that I do
42:40
like. And at that time, YouTube was
42:43
the closest thing to it. So I started a channel with my
42:45
sister because I was too scared to do it by myself.
42:47
I didn't tell my dad because my dad was totally anti social
42:49
media. He was like he was from the old
42:50
school where they were like that's demonic type thing it.
42:53
Mostly is, but that's why we need people like you on it.
42:56
Exactly. I'm like you got a point?
42:58
I shouldn't say mostly there is demonic stuff on YouTube, on
43:01
social media. Yeah, So I understood his point,
43:03
but at the same time, I'm like, well, I'm not demonic, so I
43:05
could, you know, bring some light to it.
43:07
So I started the YouTube channel.
43:08
I did hair. I did that for a few years, and
43:10
I started doing pretty well. And that's what made me realize,
43:13
OK, yeah, this is what I want to do.
43:15
And. So the YouTube channel is just
43:17
hair. Just hair.
43:17
It was like fun. It was not really about like
43:20
spiritual content. It was more not at all trying to
43:22
do my hair. And here's how to do it.
43:24
Exactly. Because you know, that was like
43:25
a trend, like the Youtubers and the beauty bloggers.
43:28
So I wanted to be like that. And there was like none in
43:30
Montreal at the time. So I wanted to be, you know,
43:32
like the first one, or at least the first black one or whatever.
43:36
And I did that for a few years and then coming around to 2019,
43:41
I'm like, I'm getting that same. I feel like God encouraged me
43:45
and then he really helped me like in it to build it because
43:48
it actually did very well. But then that same feeling came
43:51
where I was like, it's not just hair.
43:52
It's not just hair. You have more to give.
43:54
And I would tell my mom all the time, like I feel like I have
43:56
more to give, but I don't know what.
43:58
And she was like, well, pray about it.
44:00
So 2019 comes, I'm like just tired of the hair.
44:04
So I decided to start a whole new channel and I'm like, I
44:06
don't know what I'm going to do. So then I tried reaction videos
44:10
and that started growing. And that's actually the channel
44:12
I have now that converted to what it is today.
44:15
And I started getting success in that.
44:17
And I was like, OK, maybe this is it.
44:18
But then God was like, no. And then?
44:22
How do you know by the way? Because you share a few little
44:25
insights into your the way you relate to God, the way you hear
44:28
God's voice when you say you felt like God said Nope, not,
44:31
not, not the time. How did you get that sense that
44:33
that was what the Lord was prompting you?
44:37
Like so for me, it's kind of like I've, I've learned it's
44:39
like this nagging or persistent feeling on the inside.
44:44
And I also just have this way of like, I kind of just like see
44:48
what I'm supposed to do in a way, right?
44:50
Like I call it daydreaming because like that's the only way
44:53
I could explain it. Like I just be chilling and I
44:55
would just constantly see this persistent image or consistent
44:59
image of me doing something and I don't know how I'm going to
45:03
get there. I don't know how it's even
45:04
possible, but I just see myself doing it.
45:06
So I always saw myself, like for example, when I was a kid, I saw
45:09
myself on a stage singing or I always saw myself on TV or any
45:15
around that time. I saw like I saw my page, I saw
45:19
a social, I don't know what page it was.
45:21
I just saw the social media page and it had millions of
45:24
followers, which seemed impossible, but I kept seeing
45:27
it. I wouldn't tell anybody because
45:28
it was embarrassing to tell people because they'd be like,
45:30
ha, how are you going to do that?
45:32
You know, even just telling some people I wanted to be a YouTube
45:34
was already, you know, so I didn't want to tell them when I
45:37
saw, but I saw it clearly, so I knew it was something.
45:41
And when you say to God, like, is this from you?
45:44
Because have you ever wrestled with what?
45:46
Is this from God or is this from me?
45:49
I honestly credit that to Doctor Miles Monroe.
45:53
I, I always say I became his student, even though he died,
45:58
his sermons really helped me through a tough time and helped
46:02
me develop my, a stronger relationship with God.
46:05
That was not just religious, but it was actually from based on
46:07
understanding the scriptures. And one of the things that he
46:10
said, because it was my big thing around that time, I didn't
46:13
know my purpose. And that's how I got into his
46:15
sermons because he had a lot of sermons on purpose and he was
46:18
like, a lot of y'all want to know how God speaks to you?
46:21
And I was like, yes, you know, like an infomercial like, yes.
46:24
And he was like, well, I'm sad to tell you that he's not going
46:28
to come down from the sky and be like, don't do this.
46:30
Da da, da, da, da. He's like, it's going to be that
46:33
consistent, persistent idea or dream or vision that you keep
46:39
getting. And he's like, the way you can
46:41
test it, you have to test it to know if it's God.
46:43
You have to align it with God's word.
46:44
He's like, you have to do the work.
46:46
Sometimes we just want things to be easy and be like, oh, that
46:48
was God. Clearly you have to do the work.
46:50
God is like you have to seek me. He doesn't just give you things.
46:53
That's why he kind of gives us like flashes of or sometimes
46:57
just little. He doesn't really give you like
46:58
the full kind of like Joseph. He didn't give him the full
47:02
story. He told him, you know, you're
47:03
going to be ruling over your brothers, but he didn't tell him
47:05
where he didn't tell him when he didn't tell him how he was going
47:08
to get there. He knew he probably couldn't
47:10
tell him how he was going to get there.
47:11
He probably would have denied it.
47:12
He didn't tell him he I'm not going.
47:14
Down into that pit, yeah, he. Didn't tell me.
47:16
Another way guys. So, but at least now that we
47:20
have, you know, the story of Joseph or whatever, we can now
47:23
look at what we're seeing, because sometimes you do have
47:26
thoughts and desires that are not of God, but the way to know
47:29
it is you have to seek him. You have to study the word.
47:32
You have to pray. I always, I strongly believe in
47:35
fasting. You have to really seclude
47:37
yourself. Get yourself in that closet and
47:40
and seek him and ask him, Is this what you want me to do?
47:43
And that's exactly what I did before I got on TikTok because
47:46
I, I heard about it, because it was 2020 by that time and I
47:50
heard about TikTok and I was, I didn't take it seriously at all
47:52
for like all of 2020. I was like, ah, it's for kids.
47:55
And then in the, in October, my life was just, I had nothing
48:00
going on for myself. I was like 20.
48:03
How old was I at the time? I think I was like 25.
48:05
And I was like, I need to do something with my life because
48:09
I'm still at home with my parents and all that stuff.
48:11
And you're still doing the YouTube channel?
48:13
I stopped. Oh, you stopped.
48:14
I stopped. Why did you stop?
48:16
I got sick of it. It became.
48:17
Like this wasn't it wasn't life giving anymore.
48:19
No. Or you didn't feel like you were
48:21
doing your purpose with it. It was exactly.
48:23
That, but you weren't sure what your purpose was.
48:25
No, no. And that's how I kind of dove
48:27
into those teachings. I literally stopped posting and
48:30
I just went into a quiet place. I locked myself in the God.
48:33
I was like, OK, I'm going to find out my purpose.
48:35
I'm like, I'm going to figure this out, but I'm not going to
48:37
figure it out there. I just knew I was going to
48:39
figure it out there. So I stopped YouTube.
48:41
I stopped working. I literally quit my job.
48:44
I quit school. I was just, I literally went
48:47
before God. I said Lord, I dropped my job, I
48:51
dropped school and I dropped channel.
48:53
I worked at Zara at the clothing store.
48:55
I was doing that full time. And I was your paycheck and
48:58
you're like, I'm not getting that anymore.
48:59
What am I? Supposed to do.
49:01
Yeah. And also no more free, no more
49:03
30%. What is the discount there?
49:06
Yeah, yeah. I think it was 30% at least.
49:08
Probably. Yeah, yeah.
49:09
Yeah, they're great clothes. Too, I think they are that
49:11
hurts. I have to let all of that go
49:14
because I realized I'm like I need to find God.
49:16
I couldn't I felt like I couldn't find him, but I was
49:18
like, I'm not seeking him and I guess my way was kind of
49:21
dramatic. I don't tell everybody to do it
49:22
that way, right? I'm not saying quit everything
49:24
and but that was just what I felt led to do.
49:27
And yeah, I went before God. I said, Lord, I have literally
49:30
let go of every single thing that I have been taught is my
49:34
source. You're my only source now help
49:38
me. I was like, help me please.
49:41
I locked myself in in my bedroom.
49:43
I was fasting, I was praying and I was just study.
49:45
I became a student of the word literally.
49:48
And I got the impression with TikTok, I kept thinking, because
49:53
I really didn't take it seriously, like sincerely, I did
49:55
not take TikTok seriously. I didn't have an account,
49:57
nothing. And it just kept ringing in my
50:00
head. It kept ringing.
50:02
And then I would get that flash of like these millions of
50:04
followers that I was like, I don't even care for a million
50:06
followers. I'm like, that's not what I
50:07
want. I'm like, I want to be like in
50:10
my purpose, I'm like, God, I want to serve you.
50:13
I couldn't necessarily see how it was going to happen with
50:15
social media, but I was like, whatever.
50:17
So I went before him. I remember I was crying.
50:20
I was like, God, I'm, I'm trying everything like I was being
50:23
consistent with YouTube because I let it go and I wrote out a
50:27
plan because my mom, she sat me down not too long before that
50:30
and she said, this is the word God has given me for you.
50:33
And she said it's the one in Psalms where it says commit your
50:38
plans into the hands of God and he will establish them.
50:41
He's like, she was like, that's the word for you.
50:44
And I was like, OK, but I don't really have plans.
50:46
She's like, make one. Yeah, write it out.
50:50
Yeah, she said literally, she's like, write it down, commit it
50:53
into God's hands. She's like, he will establish
50:55
them. She's like, that's what he's
50:56
telling me for you. And she told me that for a few
50:58
weeks, same words. She's like, it's just the same
51:00
words. Like that Scripture is for you.
51:02
She's like, I want you to memorize it and read it and ask
51:04
God why he's giving that to you. So a little bit, maybe a few
51:09
weeks after that, I get down on my knees and I'm like, OK, Lord,
51:12
here's the thing. I was like, here's the deal.
51:17
I heard of this thing called TikTok.
51:19
I don't know what it's really about, but because I was never
51:23
really huge into like Instagram, TikTok like or in what you call
51:27
it, Snapchat. So like, I don't fully know what
51:29
it's about, but something's telling me to give it a shot.
51:32
So I'm going to do this. And I wrote down, I still have
51:35
the notebook. I wrote down exactly what I was
51:38
going to do. I was like, I'm going to be
51:39
consistent. I'm going to post 4 times a day.
51:42
I'm going to purchase, I'm going to spend my last diamond.
51:46
I'm going to purchase a TikTok course.
51:49
Did I believe the TikTok course was really teaching anything
51:51
more than was saying on YouTube? No, because I I bought enough
51:54
courses in the past to know a lot of them are not really
51:56
legit. But I knew if I put my money
51:58
where my mouth was I was going to take it seriously.
52:00
So I emptied my account. I purchased the TikTok course
52:05
and I said I'm going to do every single thing this person says to
52:07
do and I'm going to, I'm going to.
52:11
I became a student of TikTok too.
52:12
I stayed on it for hours, not posting anything.
52:15
I would just watch it and just pick up patterns and see, OK,
52:18
what was working, whatever. I'm like, I'm going to do my
52:20
part. I'm like, well, here's the
52:22
thing. I'm reading comments and there's
52:23
a lot of people doing this too and they're failing.
52:27
So I'm like, I'm going to need the extra sauce.
52:29
I'm going to need the Holy Spirit's help because clearly
52:32
following the rules isn't always pay off.
52:35
And I said this is the deal if I do not hit 100,000 followers in
52:42
one month starting from a specific, I wrote down the date
52:46
from this date, exactly one month.
52:48
I said not one day later if I don't hit 100,000 followers, I'm
52:53
done. I was like I'm done.
52:55
That's it. You could take me up to heaven.
52:57
I am over this. I've tried everything because I
52:59
tried a lot of business ventures and stuff on my own too, like
53:02
side hustles, and nothing worked.
53:04
And I was like, if this doesn't work, I'm done.
53:06
I'm like, I'm finished. I've studied your word like this
53:09
is what your your word says. I'm supposed to be, you know,
53:12
prosperous and all these things. So that was it.
53:15
And then I took my notebook and I was like, like your word says
53:18
committed into your hands. And I pretended like his hands
53:20
were in front of me and I dropped it like that.
53:22
It dropped on the bed, but in my head it dropped in his hands.
53:25
And I said, Amen. I ended my fast that day.
53:29
And just to be clear, you are not saying to the Lord I will
53:32
walk away from you if you don't get me $100,000.
53:35
No, you're just saying this seems to be the last thing that
53:37
you might be calling me to. It sounds crazy, but I'm going
53:40
to give it a shot. And if it doesn't work, I don't
53:42
care if I go to heaven and die afterwards because like, I'm not
53:45
really sure what I'm supposed to be doing.
53:46
Exactly. But you loved him either way.
53:48
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it was. It was complete surrender either
53:51
way. Yeah.
53:51
It was it was like I was like, God, you know, me and you we
53:53
locked in. I love you like, but I just
53:56
didn't know. I was like, what?
53:57
What am I doing here? Like what?
53:58
Why am I here? I couldn't figure it out and it
54:00
was like getting me upset. But I wasn't angry with him.
54:03
I was just like, I knew it was, I'm like, it's clearly a me
54:05
problem. But so yeah, I was just, it was
54:09
more of a, a purpose thing. I just wanted my purpose.
54:12
And after all those teachings, I was gassed up.
54:14
I was excited. I learned about the Kingdom of
54:16
God. I learned about who he was as a
54:18
father. I understood our dominion on the
54:19
earth. Like I was gassed up.
54:21
I was excited. I just couldn't figure out what
54:24
to do with my life with that information and that was just a
54:27
sign for me. The 100,000 in one month because
54:29
I remember one of the last sermons I heard before I did
54:31
that he said ask God to prove something to you in a big.
54:35
Way get specific, yeah. Yeah, and specific, Yeah.
54:38
He's like, do it in a way where it almost scares you, where
54:41
you're like, there's no way that's paused for me. 100,000
54:43
followers in a month. That didn't sound that.
54:45
I was on YouTube for years and I didn't even hit 100,000
54:48
followers or subscribers. So I was like, I remember one
54:52
time I was like, OK, no, let me take it down to 10 and I to
54:54
10,000 and I heard, Nope, put it back up.
54:58
Put it back up. I was like God was saying try
55:00
me. Like I felt like he was saying
55:02
try me. I was like, all right, bet,
55:04
let's do it. And when I tell you in three
55:07
weeks, not even a month, that's just what God would do beyond
55:12
three weeks, I hit 100,000. I said, OK, it wasn't about the
55:17
followers. It was about, oh, you, you
55:20
actually OK, Like we're on the right path.
55:23
It was exciting. I was ecstatic.
55:26
I couldn't even believe it. I was like, I believed it
55:28
because when I wrote it, by the way, I did it with complete
55:30
faith because I knew God wasn't going to take me to heaven.
55:32
I was like, I know I'm not done here.
55:34
I know you're not going to kill me and I know I'm not going to
55:36
kill myself. So it has to be 100,000.
55:40
It's just that I had to, you know, make a condition and the
55:42
condition, it was like he'd have to take me to heaven, but I
55:44
didn't believe for a second he was going to take me to heaven.
55:45
I believed that it was going to happen.
55:47
What? Was that content you were
55:48
making? First it started off I remember
55:51
my first TikTok was a room tour. So your content which you're
55:56
going to watch some, it is beautiful spiritual content.
55:59
We're going to watch some. But are you telling me that the
56:01
first three weeks it was room tours, it wasn't even the
56:04
spiritual content yet? I didn't even it wasn't just the
56:07
first video was a room tour. OK, if they Scroll down to the
56:10
bottom, good luck. Then they Scroll down there it.
56:13
Was very. Small That wasn't the video that
56:16
did well, OK. It was the video with God and
56:19
Angel that did well. So it was.
56:21
It was his content. It was very.
56:23
Much on lock in. This is about God content.
56:25
Yeah, when I got to that 100,000.
56:27
Which video was that? The first one that went viral.
56:30
We're gonna watch some in a minute.
56:32
I'm just curious. I don't know if you remember.
56:34
I remember on my prep sheet on thing.
56:36
Let me see. It's so far down I don't think
56:38
you could find it. How many years ago was this?
56:40
Now that. Was in 2020.
56:41
Five years ago now. Yeah, and I'm post a lot so.
56:43
Yeah no, that's good. You're following the course.
56:46
You gotta do what you gotta do Yeah.
56:48
So when you hit we're gonna watch some of these videos cuz I
56:50
wanna share them with people listening, especially those that
56:52
are not on TikTok every day. I may not have seen your content
56:54
yet because it's just very encouraging, inspiring content,
56:57
which I love. And it's, I believe, I know God
57:01
has used it and you're going to share more about how God has
57:03
used it too. But when you hit that 300, that
57:05
100,000 followers in just three weeks, were you like, OK, I'm
57:09
locked in. I'm a Tik toker now.
57:11
Yeah, it wasn't so much about being a Tik Toker, but it was
57:13
just like, I was locked. I knew TikTok wasn't my end, of
57:16
course. So I was like, whatever this is,
57:18
it's blessed and I'm like, I'm gonna keep doing it.
57:20
I was like, I don't know what this I remember telling him
57:22
like, I don't know what this is. I don't know where you're taking
57:26
this, but it's working. Your hand is in it.
57:29
I'm going to keep because I had to keep my end of the deal.
57:32
My end of the deal was that I was going to work diligently and
57:36
that was the part that I had to stick to.
57:38
So I was like, wherever this goes, I'm down.
57:40
But I'm just, I just knew I had to like walk in and be serious.
57:43
And that's why eventually, in 2021, I started sharing it on
57:46
Instagram too. Amazing.
57:48
OK, let's watch a couple of these for people listening.
57:52
I was watching some with you earlier.
57:53
OK, well, we got, we got to do this one because this is this is
57:55
the story, right? Oh, I know.
57:58
Just the person for the job. Hey.
58:00
Hey, guys. I need you to do something for
58:01
me. Sure.
58:01
Anything. Remember that dream I gave you
58:03
as a kid? Yeah, of course.
58:04
Yeah. I need you to quit your job in
58:06
school to pursue that. I said you need to quit your job
58:09
in school to pursue that. Look, I have a perfect memory.
58:13
Except when it comes to forgiving sins.
58:14
I tend to forget those. But I remember very well when I
58:17
created you. I created you with two working
58:19
ears and a functioning brain. You heard what I said.
58:23
That's a hard ask. Aren't you just singing at
58:25
church? Lord, whatever you want me to
58:26
do, I'll do. What happened to that?
58:28
Do I have to? No, don't.
58:31
Do that. Don't do what?
58:32
You have a choice. You don't have to.
58:33
Yeah, but then if I don't do it, I'm gonna feel all stressed and
58:36
empty inside. Yeah, that sounds like a you
58:38
problem. I didn't call you to all that.
58:44
OK, fine. I'll do it.
58:46
Thank you. It's going to be great.
58:49
I'm going to see for myself. God, you're going to tell her
58:51
that It ain't always going to be easy.
58:53
My grace is sufficient. Too cute.
58:57
Have you had anyone been like Ariel?
58:59
You. You've inspired me to quit my
59:01
job and quit my. I'm scared of that.
59:03
I don't want anyone. To tell me what's the caveat on
59:06
this one? I know you already kind of gave
59:07
it earlier. Well, yeah, that was just I I
59:09
felt like it was time for me to recreate the moment I had with
59:12
God a little bit when he told me to, you know, walk away from the
59:17
program I was doing because it was not what I was meant to do
59:19
and my job as well and to pursue this.
59:22
Take a leap of faith. Yeah, I just had to believe him,
59:24
you know? I I just got to show this one
59:27
too. This one is so, so adorable.
59:29
Thanks for choosing God. How may I help you?
59:32
Yes, that sin is covered. Yes, that sin is covered.
59:40
I ain't never heard that one before, but I promise you that
59:43
sin is covered. You are still loved by God,
59:46
right? No problem my dear.
59:48
Now make good choices and don't go sing it for yourself because
59:51
Jesus already seen it all. Trust me.
59:53
Take care. I'm going to need a raise.
1:00:01
But I have to say that kind of reminds me of Catholic priests
1:00:04
because they have to hear the confessions.
1:00:06
I mean, they're, they're sitting for God, right?
1:00:08
So like they're, they're representing God.
1:00:10
They're not like God is there. So they're not God, right?
1:00:12
They're God's, you know, God's priest.
1:00:14
But then they have to hear all the junk and they're probably
1:00:17
like, where's my race? I never thought of it though
1:00:19
but. That's what it is.
1:00:20
That's what. And the Angel is there, the
1:00:22
guardian angels there like, you know, So I love that.
1:00:25
OK, let's do one more just because this is so fun.
1:00:30
He went on the date God told you not do.
1:00:32
Okay, that might be a good one. You're back early.
1:00:36
How was your date? It was a catastrophe.
1:00:39
Who could have possibly warned you that that would have
1:00:41
happened? All right, me.
1:00:43
You seem like such a nice Christian boy, but on our first
1:00:46
date you want to do the fucking thinking with me.
1:00:50
Don't act all surprise, Angel, you were there, you saw it and
1:00:52
no, it's just your delivery. So what did you do?
1:00:55
I told him to back up before I fight him.
1:00:56
And what did he say? You won't believe that boy had
1:00:59
the nerve to say that he would gladly tackle me to the you know
1:01:02
what, let me leave it right there because we are having a
1:01:04
holy conversation. So then what did you say?
1:01:08
This is my favorite part. I composed myself and I said
1:01:11
careful, I may not fight back but my Angel will tackle that
1:01:16
period. That was good, wasn't it?
1:01:17
I like that. Like that.
1:01:18
So now no more going on dates that I told you not to go on,
1:01:23
right? Huh.
1:01:24
I'm gonna see for myself. Shut up.
1:01:31
No, no, no. I'm just playing.
1:01:33
I'm playing. Was that based on something you
1:01:36
experienced? Yes.
1:01:38
Yes. Yes, not listening.
1:01:42
Meaning like you had a check in your spirit about a guy that
1:01:45
asked you out and you felt that the Lord might be prompting you
1:01:48
to just close the door, but you're like.
1:01:50
Yeah, I just don't wanna go see what, I'm just curious.
1:01:53
And then the guy was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:01:57
You got to listen to that little voice inside that's telling you
1:01:59
were that nudge like you said, tell you don't, don't do that.
1:02:01
What if your what does your mom think about that?
1:02:03
Did she know about that guy? No, I never spoke to my parents
1:02:07
about my dating life at all. All right, well, it's funny too,
1:02:11
because it's like if you've got a good mom and you're like, what
1:02:13
would my mom say? And they're like, yeah, she'd
1:02:15
definitely say don't go. And then you're like.
1:02:17
Exactly, Lord. Exactly.
1:02:19
A lot of your videos have this interplay with your Angel and it
1:02:24
sounds like you have a relationship with your guardian
1:02:26
Angel. I've always been My dad always
1:02:31
spoke to us about angels when I was younger and I was always
1:02:34
extremely fascinated with them. And even in the because he would
1:02:38
people wonder where I get like my Bible story telling things
1:02:41
from. It's from my dad when we were
1:02:42
kids, we would beg him. He would do, he was like the
1:02:44
best storyteller. He would like do sound effects
1:02:48
every night before he went to bed as a Bible story, he would
1:02:50
pick us up. If there was like a storm, he
1:02:52
would like throw us on the bed. All of that.
1:02:54
And one of the things he would always talk about is Angel.
1:02:56
And he'd be like, remember, wherever you are, you have an
1:02:59
Angel. The Bible says that is with you.
1:03:02
And I was like, like, right there.
1:03:04
And he's like, yes, he's like, you have an Angel.
1:03:06
He's like, you don't worship them, you don't praise them or
1:03:08
anything like that. But God situated them there to,
1:03:11
you know, to encamp around you. And I was always just like,
1:03:14
really? So my brain, the way my brain
1:03:17
works is I always picture it around me.
1:03:20
Sometimes I'll be doing something and I wonder, I wonder
1:03:23
what the angels doing. Like I wonder what they're
1:03:24
looking at me or stuff like that.
1:03:26
So that was just my imagination since I was a kid.
1:03:29
And I always, you know, thank God for loving me so much that
1:03:33
he would station one of his angels with me.
1:03:36
I always felt like that's so cool.
1:03:38
Like I'm that special. I get my own or I don't know if
1:03:41
it's just one or two. I don't know what it is, but
1:03:42
like just thinking it's 1, you know, and I'm like, that's just
1:03:47
always been something that's been cool to me.
1:03:48
So I remember my first MSN. I don't know if you remember
1:03:51
MSN, my first MSN name was Arie Angel.
1:03:54
I always liked Angel like stuff. So I think it's like so full
1:03:57
circle that now it's one of my main characters and people
1:04:01
anytime they see me on the shoot, they're like, oh, tell
1:04:03
Angel. I say hi.
1:04:04
I'm like, it's, it was me acting like Angel, but I'm like.
1:04:08
No, it's me. So I'm like, yeah, so it's like
1:04:10
a cool, it's a really cool dynamic.
1:04:12
And it just honestly, anytime I think of my Angel, I just feel
1:04:15
gratitude where I'm like, oh God, thank you for like caring
1:04:18
for me that much that you stationed one of your like
1:04:21
mighty beings to be with me, you know?
1:04:23
I love that. That's an ancient church
1:04:25
teaching. Yeah.
1:04:26
I mean, that's something that Christians for 2000 years have
1:04:29
had the idea of an of a guardian Angel.
1:04:31
But I think we've lost it. A lot of Christians don't know
1:04:34
that today. A lot.
1:04:35
And it's sad because their angels are real and they're with
1:04:38
us and they're given to us to help us.
1:04:40
And we're, and I do believe we're each given a specific
1:04:43
Angel. We're given a guardian Angel to
1:04:45
help us. And there's the bedtime for
1:04:47
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love and trust me
1:04:51
here. And you pray to your Angel each
1:04:53
night to ask for just special support in doing God's will and
1:04:57
being God's child. And that's what the Angel does
1:04:58
for you. I never heard that prayer
1:05:00
before. I'm going to send that to you.
1:05:02
We pray with my we do evening prayers with my kids every
1:05:05
night. That's the last of all the
1:05:07
prayers. We do the Lord's Prayer.
1:05:08
We do obviously prayer, intercessory prayers, prayers,
1:05:11
praise prayers, all the different prayers.
1:05:12
And then we we always close with the.
1:05:15
Guardian Angel. Guardian prayer.
1:05:16
Yeah. I'm like, I'm so sure that it's
1:05:19
like they're. Real inviting in the angels.
1:05:20
Yeah. It's so beautiful.
1:05:22
All right, I want to do one of your.
1:05:25
This is such a treat for people. I want to do one of your Bible
1:05:29
character story ones so. We just not going to talk about
1:05:41
the fact that you were about to assassinate me.
1:05:44
Come on. Come on, though, man.
1:05:47
I knew God was going to save you.
1:05:48
No, you did not know that. Yes, I did.
1:05:50
And you knew it too. That's why you were so good with
1:05:53
going along with it. All right?
1:05:57
But you didn't think for a second that I was going to feel
1:05:59
that dagger in my body like that was going to hurt.
1:06:01
Man, That's tough. That's real tough.
1:06:04
You want to let it go? I'm all for the whole father of
1:06:06
faith thing you got going on, but that was that was that was
1:06:09
intense. Man got to see you through my
1:06:11
butt, man. Got to see you through.
1:06:14
I respect that though. Respect that.
1:06:17
Now we just got to figure out how we're going to explain this
1:06:18
to your mother. We, what do you speak of?
1:06:21
French? Me What?
1:06:23
2000 BC ain't no French in these parts, my man.
1:06:27
That's all you, bro. I guess I can see for myself.
1:06:29
That's right. That is, this was an early.
1:06:33
Was this an earlier one? Yes, that was actually one and
1:06:35
still is one of my favorite videos.
1:06:36
That is. That's too funny.
1:06:37
I. Really enjoyed writing that one
1:06:39
that is. Too funny.
1:06:41
OK, what has? So you've been now doing this
1:06:43
for five years. You have millions of followers.
1:06:46
Your accounts continue to grow. People continue to love this
1:06:50
content. More and more people want to
1:06:52
follow you. You've also gotten it now into
1:06:54
music and other things. We're going to talk about that
1:06:55
in a second. What has been the response like
1:06:57
over the years now to this content that gives you a sense
1:07:01
that, yes, God is in this and he's working through it to help
1:07:03
people? It's the response that keeps me
1:07:06
going. Like it's, it's kind of like the
1:07:10
fruit of it. Because I did always say I was
1:07:13
going to use the fruit as the barometer of whether or not I
1:07:16
should continue doing this. Because at the end of the day,
1:07:19
what I do, not everybody agrees with in the Christian realm,
1:07:22
right? So I'm especially when it comes
1:07:25
to God, I'm very careful and I don't want to ever do something
1:07:28
that's against what he wants done or how he wants to be
1:07:32
portrayed or anything like that. But it's the response of people,
1:07:37
the messages, the the stories, the testimonies.
1:07:41
I think one of like the craziest testimonies I ever received.
1:07:44
It was after that one that we didn't get to play the.
1:07:47
I remember now shoot it. Was right after that one, I got
1:07:50
a message from a lady and she tried to message me like on
1:07:52
every platform so that I could see her message.
1:07:54
And I think I eventually saw her e-mail and she was saying that
1:07:59
she's like Ariel. She's like, I don't, I know you
1:08:01
don't know who I am. And she's like, I barely know
1:08:03
who you are. But I was literally she's like,
1:08:06
I was about to overdose on a pill on pills.
1:08:10
She's like I was about, she's like I had them all laid out and
1:08:14
she was like, I was hearing a voice telling me to kill myself.
1:08:17
And she wasn't a Christian at all.
1:08:20
And she's like, I had everything laid out and just like, for
1:08:23
whatever reason, before she did it, she decided to open up
1:08:26
Facebook because I was reposting on Facebook as well.
1:08:29
And she's like, I don't know why, but your video popped up.
1:08:33
And it was that video of me like, like basically battling
1:08:37
against Satan. And she said when she saw that
1:08:40
video, she literally broke down crying and she realized that it
1:08:46
was the devil talking to her. And God was telling her through
1:08:49
that video, because God steps in and not at the end of that
1:08:52
video, I believe, and writes back to Satan and reminds him
1:08:54
who he is and that he has no right to talk to God's children.
1:08:59
And she said that part, it was as if God was literally telling
1:09:02
her, oh, I'm let me take care of this dude.
1:09:05
And like God was fighting for her and telling Satan back off
1:09:07
of her. And she said it was in that
1:09:10
moment she got rid of all the pills and she broke down and she
1:09:13
was just crying. She's like, and I felt, she's
1:09:15
like, I just felt free. And I literally started crying
1:09:19
when I was reading this and I messaged her back and I was
1:09:22
like, I don't know what to say. But all praise be to God.
1:09:26
And she was like, thank you. Don't ever, ever stop doing what
1:09:29
you're doing. She's like, I'm going to go look
1:09:31
for a church family. She's like, do you know of any
1:09:33
church? Like because she would lived in
1:09:34
the States and I was in Canada. I was like, I'm sorry, I don't
1:09:36
know of any, but I'm like, girl, if you need me to Google or I
1:09:39
was like, go on Google, try and find.
1:09:41
And she's like, as a matter of fact, I think I know of a woman.
1:09:44
I think it was like a social worker that she was working
1:09:46
with. When you have a church, she's
1:09:47
like, I'm going to ask her. And I was like, yes, please do.
1:09:50
And I remember I checked on her. Well, actually she followed up
1:09:53
with me, I think a few months later, almost a year later, and
1:09:56
she just wanted to say hi. And she was like, just wanted to
1:09:59
say hey, and, you know, continue doing what you're doing.
1:10:01
And that was like, Oh my gosh, I was like, a video could do that.
1:10:06
And I was like, Lord, thank you. Because I remember around that
1:10:08
time I was facing my own battles and I was doubting myself
1:10:12
because I remember I felt like I wasn't worthy of the comments.
1:10:16
I was going to like, oh, Harley, like you're such a good
1:10:17
Christian girl. You're doing.
1:10:19
And I and I and I slipped up sometimes and I made mistakes
1:10:21
and I felt like, Oh, I'm not, I can't do this because I can't
1:10:24
portray God and I'm making mistakes and I have my own
1:10:27
personal struggles. And I felt like I really wasn't
1:10:30
worthy of doing the videos anymore.
1:10:32
And that message came in and I was like, I felt like God told
1:10:37
me clearly he's like, it's not about you.
1:10:40
So he's like, stop. I felt like he was rebuking me
1:10:42
in a way where he's like, stop making it about you.
1:10:45
Yes, OK, you make your mistakes, you feel bad, but he's like, my
1:10:48
blood is sufficient to keep you going.
1:10:50
Like that's why he sent Christ in the 1st place.
1:10:52
That's why Jesus came because he's like we have a he has a
1:10:54
purpose for each of us. And if sin was always the
1:10:57
problem, he's like he put something in place to get rid of
1:11:00
that as the problem. So he's like, it's not about
1:11:02
you. He's like, look, this is the
1:11:04
woman that I needed you to help today through that video
1:11:08
thousands of miles away. And I was like, OK, so now even
1:11:12
today, if I ever feel lazy or discouraged or whatever, I
1:11:17
remember, Ariel, it's not about you.
1:11:19
You're a vessel. You ask God to use you.
1:11:21
He's using you. So get over yourself and like,
1:11:24
just do. What you need to.
1:11:25
Do make the video, write the song.
1:11:28
Exactly. So yeah.
1:11:30
And there's been many, many like stories just like I think I told
1:11:34
you, like one of my favorites is I get a lot of messages from
1:11:36
moms. I got to meet one recently just
1:11:39
here in LA. Well, no, it wasn't.
1:11:42
It's called the IEI believe. I went to the church there and
1:11:45
the mom literally started crying and she was telling me thank you
1:11:48
so much. She's like, I'm 50 years old and
1:11:50
thank you so much for what you do.
1:11:52
She's like my daughter watches you.
1:11:53
Thank you for encouraging my daughter.
1:11:55
She listens to your music. She's this is that I got
1:11:57
messages from other moms saying, you know, you're the reason my
1:12:00
daughter started going back to youth group or why she's
1:12:03
interested in the Bible again, or people just saying like,
1:12:05
thank you because your videos forced me to go read the story
1:12:08
because you've made it seem so funny.
1:12:11
I want to go see it. And so all that I'm just like,
1:12:13
Oh Lord, just all honestly, all glory and honor to God.
1:12:17
And I'm just thankful that I found my purpose, you know?
1:12:21
And I'm working in it and I'm still growing in it and learning
1:12:24
more and more what he wants me to do because he ain't through
1:12:27
with me yet. Not at all, not at all.
1:12:30
And your music is awesome too. Thank you.
1:12:33
And you're just in some ways getting started.
1:12:35
I mean, you've always been singing and even writing since
1:12:37
12 years old like you shared. But you have a lot of exciting
1:12:40
things on the horizon. Tell us a little bit about your
1:12:41
music. Yes.
1:12:42
So that was something I kind of abandoned a little bit after my
1:12:46
social media thing picked up because I felt more secure in
1:12:49
it, I guess. And I felt that pushed again.
1:12:52
It's like you need to get back to music.
1:12:54
And I wrote God Love out of a very, you know, painful time in
1:12:58
my life. And I sent it to someone and
1:13:01
they were like, this is a great song.
1:13:03
And it actually led to me being signed to my current label at
1:13:07
Motown and Capital CMG. And I'm seeing now I'm going
1:13:14
through the same process like I did with my social media where
1:13:17
it's like, get over yourself, trust the process, be
1:13:21
consistent, but committed into God's hands.
1:13:25
And don't make it about you, you know, just really make it about
1:13:29
the purpose. Like I've seen through my videos
1:13:32
how God can use that to reach people.
1:13:34
And now music. I'm like, Lord, if you give me a
1:13:36
gift, I have to use it. I realize, you know, we're
1:13:39
really supposed to use our gifts.
1:13:40
If we don't use them, we're it's so full.
1:13:43
Very The talent, Yeah, that's like, I mean, you talking.
1:13:48
It's like she's using her gifts and it's so beautiful and it
1:13:51
gives glory to God. Yeah.
1:13:53
And that's the parable of the talents.
1:13:54
Like the Lord wants us to invest the gift 10X the gift or his
1:13:58
glories. Yeah, it's so important.
1:14:01
So that's what I'm doing now with music and I I feel like a
1:14:03
baby in it, even though I've been doing it for so long.
1:14:05
It's just a different world. It's like a different aspect of
1:14:08
it. And I'm like, God, I need you to
1:14:09
manage me through this. I need you to guide me through
1:14:12
this because it's a it's an industry that you realize.
1:14:15
Oh Lord, yeah, the Satan got his hands all over this industry and
1:14:18
you just got to make sure that you're navigating it in the way
1:14:21
where you're the light. And I'm like, Lord, I want to
1:14:24
shake the boat, you know, like the same way of my content could
1:14:27
shake the boat of what was deemed to be social media
1:14:30
worthy. I want my music to do the same
1:14:32
thing in a in a unique way. So I'm just really trusting God
1:14:37
through this process. I'm not just writing songs or
1:14:39
just singing like I want my music to really.
1:14:41
I want it to shake the world in a good way, shake people back
1:14:44
into their senses or you know, whatever it is.
1:14:46
So it's a process. I'm trusting it and I'm enjoying
1:14:49
it so far. Can you?
1:14:52
Sing us a little bit of God love.
1:14:54
Oh. Forgotten.
1:14:55
Would that be OK? Sure.
1:14:58
OK I haven't sung this song in so long.
1:15:05
Lost abused tone So searching for love.
1:15:14
But I I don't see it here enough.
1:15:21
I'm getting tired of this fire. But first I got to know, is it
1:15:28
true that you calm the storms? And is it true you can heal
1:15:35
these scars from my heart? Lord if you can do it, please
1:15:43
get straight to it cuz nothing else matters at all this little
1:15:51
first one. So beautiful.
1:15:54
Thank you I. Love that.
1:15:55
It's like, can we just have her keep singing for the rest of the
1:15:59
episode and you have a new song out called Angels.
1:16:03
Yes, yes, I got angels and I also got under the Sun that just
1:16:06
dropped before I got here. And let me guess, Angels is
1:16:09
about your Angel? Yeah, and it was time that I did
1:16:13
a song talking about that character, you know?
1:16:15
Wow, Yes. So I really like this.
1:16:17
It's like it's close to me because of that.
1:16:19
I love that I was finally able to kind of bring my content into
1:16:23
my music and let people kind of relate to me in that aspect.
1:16:27
You're the light. You're the light when I am in
1:16:30
the dark. You can sing it.
1:16:34
I don't want to just make you signal if you don't want to.
1:16:36
But I mean, you're, you're amazing.
1:16:38
So thank you. OK.
1:16:39
I think I'll sing the chorus. OK, give us the chorus.
1:16:42
Watching and leading us home, I know you ended with a gentle
1:16:48
hand guiding, guiding my heart. Late at night I hear a subtle
1:16:54
whisper floating on you wings. I know you'll bring me comfort
1:16:59
telling me if there's no reason to there, because I know that I
1:17:04
got angels, angels, angels watching over me.
1:17:07
I love it. I love it, so beautiful, thank
1:17:10
you. Why do you think comedy can be
1:17:12
such a powerful medium to sharing spiritual truths online?
1:17:16
I think comedy is so powerful because the only thing that
1:17:21
makes comedy lovable, or at least funny, is that fact that
1:17:26
it's true. There has to be something about
1:17:28
what you're saying that's true in order to really like, the
1:17:32
best jokes are truthful. Like the jokes that tend to fall
1:17:35
flat are the ones that no one can relate to.
1:17:38
So. And comedy is like one of them.
1:17:40
Laughing is one of the favorite things of a human being.
1:17:44
So sometimes we want like, a very serious topic, but we're
1:17:46
not in the mood to, you know, be all solemn and rigid.
1:17:50
So I think comedy is like one of the most powerful ways to relay
1:17:54
a message. And I think it connects on every
1:17:57
level. Any culture.
1:17:58
I don't care who you are, you like to laugh, maybe not as much
1:18:01
as someone else, but I don't care who you are.
1:18:03
Laughter brings joy. And I think that's why it's like
1:18:07
the one of the most effective ways to to communicate a
1:18:12
message. What have you found to be the
1:18:15
secret to creating viral Tik Toks?
1:18:18
Relatability, for me at least, if you could get, if you could
1:18:23
create something that people can relate to, a large number of
1:18:26
people can relate to. That's the causes of the
1:18:29
virality that I've seen. At least it's because someone
1:18:32
could see it and be like, Oh my goodness, I got to show this to
1:18:34
my friend and they're like, Oh my goodness, I have to show that
1:18:36
to my friend. And this keeps going because
1:18:37
everybody could kind of everyone in that circle in that group can
1:18:41
relate to what you're saying. And I also think it's important
1:18:44
that you don't just present, at least from the Christian side,
1:18:47
you don't just present the relatable situation, you also
1:18:50
present the solution. So you're not just giving
1:18:53
someone a joke or a laugh or like, Oh my goodness, I see what
1:18:56
you're saying. You're also giving them a.
1:18:58
I didn't think of that. That could probably be what I
1:19:00
need to do. So it's like it's helpful, but
1:19:03
it's also comforting at the same time, you know what I mean?
1:19:06
That's. So good.
1:19:07
And it's providing the hope for that relatable situation that
1:19:10
might be tough or annoying or confusing.
1:19:12
It's like there's the here's the light.
1:19:14
Yes, and that's important, you know, that's the important part.
1:19:16
What's your big vision, Ariel? We were talking about this
1:19:18
before we sat down to do this, like on the podcast.
1:19:21
But like when you're talking about like just having a sense
1:19:25
of where God's calling you, like this little moments, this
1:19:28
little, like peek into where he's drawing you, where he's
1:19:31
leading you, what does it look like maybe five years for you
1:19:34
from now? Do you have a sense of what that
1:19:35
could be? Yes.
1:19:36
And that, like I was saying is like more recent or else feeling
1:19:39
a push for something else. And I keep seeing those flashes
1:19:42
and I really believe it's creating like epic films
1:19:48
relaying the story of the Bible, like epic, high quality, world
1:19:54
changing, shifting, soul saving films that reach behind the
1:20:02
doors of people that we wouldn't necessarily meet in church or,
1:20:06
you know, on the street. Like people who be locked up in
1:20:08
their house and just like to watch a good movie.
1:20:10
Those people like, you know, because like I was telling you,
1:20:12
I love adventures. I love those type of movies.
1:20:15
And every time, every single time I watch an Avenger movie or
1:20:18
something like that, I'm like, the Bible is so cool.
1:20:22
The stories are powerful and the way.
1:20:25
Movies like The Avengers draws like millions of people and it
1:20:29
and I believe the reason why that it does it.
1:20:31
And you know, when we watch those type of movies, we could
1:20:33
see a lot of biblical storylines in it.
1:20:37
There's a lot of biblical truths that are reflected.
1:20:39
You could see they're using it in in those type of movies with
1:20:43
superheroes. And it's because the human
1:20:45
being, we know that we're more than just flesh.
1:20:48
We know it. So we we love to see Superman
1:20:51
and we love to, but we got Superman like better than
1:20:54
Superman. We have Jesus Christ like that
1:20:57
man healed the sick, he raised the dead, like he he cast out
1:21:00
demons. He did amazing things.
1:21:02
And I feel like it's time for, or at least I feel like I'm
1:21:06
called to produce films and create music, even surrounding
1:21:11
those films that truly show people being a Christian is not
1:21:16
being weak. Well, we believe, we don't.
1:21:18
We don't believe in a weak gospel.
1:21:20
That's and what unfortunately, I mean, I know a lot of things
1:21:23
that has happened has caused it to seem like Christians are weak
1:21:27
or indecisive or we don't know what we believe.
1:21:30
And I'm like, no, we got to change the narrative on that
1:21:33
show. Like the creator of the
1:21:35
universe, what he really did when he brought all of this in
1:21:38
six days and all that stuff. So I feel like that's where I'm
1:21:41
being called to do again. I have absolutely no idea how to
1:21:44
get there. I have no idea, but that's what
1:21:47
I'm seeing. And I'm praying, thank God that
1:21:50
I'm like, Laura, you know, just send me the right people, send
1:21:53
me in the right places, Just make the way.
1:21:55
And I'm, I'm like, I'm going to be patient and I see the vision.
1:21:58
I don't know how long it's going to take for it to be
1:22:00
accomplished, but I'm going to do my best to be consistent in
1:22:03
what I do have now with whatever.
1:22:05
If I right now I have an iPhone and have me and have my friends,
1:22:09
that's what I'm gonna start with.
1:22:11
And then eventually I believe I'll be able to get to that
1:22:12
level. I think you're gonna get there.
1:22:14
Thank you. I love that.
1:22:16
I think it needs to happen. Yes.
1:22:18
That's so beautiful. Thank.
1:22:20
You. Thank you.
1:22:21
It's been amazing. Yes, so.
1:22:23
Encouraging and inspiring. Thank you so much, I enjoy this.
1:22:25
It's a beautiful light. Thank you.
1:22:28
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening
1:22:30
to this episode of the Lila Rose Show.
1:22:31
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1:22:34
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1:22:42
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