Faith Talks host: with Christ.

Hello there, I’m Jana Faith.

And I’m Anna Faith, and welcome to episode 15 of Faith

Faith Talks host: Talks.

Wow, we’re already at 15?

I know, it’s crazy.

That is very crazy.

I feel like we should be famous by now.

What happened?

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I guess we’ll keep going.

Well, we are very excited to have with us today, Mrs.

Reed.

And if you look outside in the parking lot, there are two trailers.

Well, there were the Boslers and then the Reeds have both been here for a couple of days.

And I think the Boslers headed out.

Did they already head out this morning?

Okay.

So they’re, they hit the road, but the Reeds are here for a couple of days.

And so we grabbed her and we’re going to do a Faith Talks episode just hearing a little bit more of her story and her journey of faith.

But first of all, could you just tell us a little bit about yourself for those

Guest: of them out there who don’t know?

Yes, my name is Emma Reed, as she said.

I am married to Caleb Reed.

He is an evangelist and we travel wherever God leads us, mainly United States and then on the East Coast.

We’ve been to quite a lot.

We have two children.

One of them is Gilbert.

He’s two and a half.

And then Ginger, and she’s five months old.

And we are really enjoying being on the road.

Faith Talks host: That’s really great.

As we were thinking through who to ask for our next podcast, I thought of Caleb and Emma.

And just recently, I think in the last year, 2021, just what God’s been doing through their lives and specifically just their journey of how God led them to their truck and trailer.

I know that’s been a big journey that our church family’s been in part with them on.

And so we just asked Emma to come and just share that with you all today and just even the steps of faith that God led you to leading up to that journey.

Yes, it didn’t start

Guest: necessarily with the truck and trailer.

It started a long time ago individually for both Caleb and I on different fronts, but together it started in 2019 when we were traveling with Dr.

Jim Van Gelderen, and the Lord led us very clearly through the Bible and through just men of God that we were supposed to launch out into evangelism.

So 2020 was our launching year, and as you all know, that was COVID.

So that was a bit of a, in and of itself was a bit of a step of faith.

And the Lord, though, provided for us.

And we had a couple of meetings scattered throughout that year.

But then in 2021 is when meetings started to come in and the Lord was leading us to really go full time and in a sense not turn back and so the Lord had impressed upon our hearts to close our apartment and just trust him that he was going to provide housing for us so in 2021 in May we closed our apartment and before that the Lord had brought in some money there was a pastor that had asked for a PayPal account and he said I want to send you a couple thousand dollars for whatever you need.

So it seemed that the Lord was starting to do something.

And then a church that we were at, they gave us a couple thousand dollars love offering.

And they called us back after we had left and said some people had missed the offering and wanted to give us some more money.

And all in all, they gave us like $8,000.

And we could sense that the Lord was doing something.

And we wanted to be right with him through what he was leading us in.

And so we really sought the Lord and wanted his fingerprints over this whole journey.

And we had gotten counsel from different people that when you buy a truck and trailer, don’t go into debt for it.

Because if you have debt, then you’re always needing to have meetings so that you can pay off the truck and trailer.

So we really wanted to do that and felt like the Lord was leading us to do that.

So that was our goal was not to have debt.

Faith Talks host: I think that also like they depreciate so fast when you get a truck and trailer that you are almost at sometimes you have more left to pay than it’s even worth if you get into debt with that.

Yeah, that’s exactly right.

Guest: And so we sought the Lord and the Lord gave us Psalms 40.

Really, my husband in his devotions, the Lord had led him to Psalms 40 verses 16 and 17.

It says, And then he went to Psalm 70, just because that’s how his Bible reading was going.

And it was almost the exact same verses in those verses.

And it was like the Lord was speaking to us.

I’m going to take care of you.

I’m going to deliver you.

And the phrase that stood out was make no tearing.

And the Lord impressed upon him that it wasn’t going to take a long time.

Now to us, it seemed like a long time from that time to when he actually did provide.

But through it all, God was teaching us on how to just trust him, even when you don’t see the end result.

So all that to say that in May of 2021, we closed our apartment, not having a truck and trailer, not having a house, but just trusting that the Lord was going to provide something for us. right before we hit the road, I think it was June of that year, we looked at a truck and trailer in Wisconsin, and it seemed kind of nice.

It seemed like it could work, and we took another evangelist with us, and it just didn’t seem like it was the right thing, and we prayed about it, and the guy wouldn’t take what we had offered, so we just took that from the Lord, like, okay, we’re going to just trust him.

He’s going to provide something better for us, so we went on our way and traveled in our minivan that we had.

At this point, we only had Gilbert, so a little bit easier, but going in and out of homes and hotels and prophets chambers was getting a little bit more tough with Gilbert getting a little bit older.

So we were seeking the Lord, Lord, when is it that you’re going to allow us to get our own place to take with us?

But in June, we were in Pennsylvania, and there was, Actually, we didn’t know.

We were at a camp.

And at that moment, we were there.

Caleb had been spending some time with the Lord, and it seemed that we were supposed to look online for a trailer.

So Caleb got online, started looking for a trailer, and there was a place an hour north of where we were that had a trailer for sale.

It was a 2016, at least that’s what it was listed at, Sandpiper.

So one day we went up there to look at it, And it was really more than we even thought we needed or better than we would have imagined we could have had.

And so we really wondered if this was what the Lord wanted us to have.

So we went back to the camp, prayed about it, and it seemed like this was the right thing.

The only thing was that it was the guy still had a loan on it.

So we would have to pay off his loan and then get the title from the bank.

And so it was a little bit more tricky than what we were hoping for.

And at one point we thought, this is too hard to do.

It’s not just easy, you know, and doesn’t God lead us to do, I guess we know that he doesn’t lead us always to do easy things, but it was just like, this seems too hard to do, and we don’t want to go through all this work to get what maybe God has for us.

So we didn’t stop it or anything, but there was that moment of like, are we sure we’re doing the right thing?

And so we got some counsel, even just how to handle that financial thing. we bought the trailer from the guy.

He was asking about $10,000 under what the market value.

He could have asked for it, and so we got it for just what he needed to pay off the loan and purchased it, and someone was able to drive it to the camp that we were at.

Obviously, we didn’t have a truck at this point, so it just sat there at the camp, and it was exciting, though, to see it pull into the camp and know that God had provided this trailer for us.

And we got to spend, I think, one night in it.

And that was neat to see.

We got to spend a night in what God had provided.

So July, we started telling pastors, I think we’re going to, we don’t need a place to stay, you know, in the fall, different pastors that we had scheduled.

We don’t need places to stay because we’ll have our truck and trailer.

And we really believed that we would have it at that point, but we didn’t get it, and I think it was, there was, my husband was reading in Psalms 37, and that was such an encouraging psalm for him, where just waiting on the Lord, trusting him, and nothing, we couldn’t see anything happening with a truck.

We tried to pursue things, there was like trucks in Connecticut that maybe we thought would work, in Virginia, West Virginia, or different places over there and nothing seemed to work out and yet we had God’s promises that he was going to provide and it was going to be good.

So there’s no nothing visible that we could see but yet reassurances from God’s word that this is God is doing something and will provide for you.

So we continued traveling and then in September of that year my husband traveled down to South Carolina to do a meeting for Dr.

Jim because Dr.

Jim wasn’t able to do it and while he was there, the pastor had suggested buying a new truck.

And if you know anything about my husband and his family, that was the last thing that he would consider just because buying new seemed way too extravagant and rich people do that and spiritual people drive junk, you know.

So he really didn’t think about, hadn’t thought about it.

And yet when that pastor suggested it, it was like the Lord maybe turned on a light, like maybe this is something that

Faith Talks host: God is in.

I remember him coming in.

I was actually traveling at that point.

And I remember him saying something about maybe a new truck would be a better actually option, even financially.

And I remember that floored my mind too, like just thinking like, what?

Like, cause you hear like, you know, don’t get it new.

Cause I’m, but because of the market, it’s crazy how like the tables have turned.

Guest: Right.

Yes.

So we looked into it.

We looked into buying a new one and it would cost, you know, obviously quite a bit of money, but the Lord kept on providing money after money.

There was a lady that provided, gave us $10,000 towards it without us even trying to get money into marketing it or, you know, telling people our need.

They heard about it and they just, I think the Lord impressed them to give.

And so money kept on coming in.

And so we’re like, Lord, you’re providing for something, obviously.

We don’t know.

We still didn’t know at that point if this is really the way he wanted us to go.

But we pursued it as far as we could and got counsel from some people.

And it seemed that we should do that.

We were still about $10,000 short of what it would cost to buy it new.

And yet God gave us, before we ordered it, God gave us one last confirmation from his word.

Psalms 21, 2, it says, Thou hast given him his heart’s desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips.

And that was the verse the Lord used to say, okay, order it.

So we ordered it in October, and we still were about $10,000 short of paying cash for it.

And the truck was made, shipped, and delivered ahead of schedule, which in the market that we were in is kind of crazy.

And so we got it in November, and I think the day or the week we ordered it, we got a notification saying that someone paid for the $10,000.

Oh, wow.

So we were able to pay for the truck with cash that the Lord had provided and the trailer, obviously, we had bought as well.

So we got to travel in 2022.

We started traveling in our truck and trailer, and it’s super nice to have our own place and really be in something that God has provided and as a testimony to his goodness.

And at first when we had heard about buying a new truck, we didn’t think God could be that good to give us something like that.

But after seeing him do this, we know that God is, Obviously, we will still be learning and are still learning about who God is, but one of the lessons we have learned is just how good God is and how he provides for our needs that we do have.

Faith Talks host: And you hear different people talking about God doesn’t do things second rate, and that’s right there a physical picture of just the goodness of God and realizing that God has the best thing for us.

And when you’re surrendered to him, he even gives you those things that in the world’s eyes that’s the best, And to Christians, it’s like, well, normally we don’t focus on those physical things, but God blesses, you know, in those different ways.

Guest: Right.

And even a verse that has, I don’t know, marked maybe some of my life is God gives us the desires of our heart.

And sometimes we think we have to quench our desires.

And yet God, when you hand them over to God, God either will change your desires and then And he will give you really the desires that he wants you to have and then fulfill those desires.

Or he will just give you what you are desiring.

And that’s a verse that I know has meant a lot even through this journey of faith.

God gives us the desires of our heart.

Faith Talks host: Another verse I was thinking of was that he does abundantly above all we could ask or think.

And just God goes far above even what we can think up he can do.

Well, thank you so much for sharing that just journey of faith.

And let’s move on now to the Bible character.

And it was interesting.

We were actually discussing this about the Bible character, but I’ll let you share first.

Is there a Bible character that kind of stood out to you that had a similar journey of faith or just one that stood out in general?

Guest: The one that came to my mind was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how the angel had come to her and said, with God, nothing is impossible.

And this seems like a huge deal for Mary.

And she was fearful of that, but yet God had entrusted that journey of faith to her.

Faith Talks host: And I think we were talking about this before, but it’s funny how the Bible has the different characters.

Sometimes you see them at their pinnacle or they’re given this big step of faith.

And you don’t get a lot of the story before.

And I sometimes wonder with Mary, like what were the steps of faith, the little steps of faith, the ones she took every day that made her into the woman that God couldn’t trust with his son?

And I think sometimes we think, oh, like you might be out there listening and be like, well, I don’t have a truck and trailer to pray for, or I don’t have this big thing to trust God with.

Well, what about those small little things that maybe decisions he’s led you to or surrender, or just the small daily steps that the Holy Spirit don’t ever underestimate those, because those are what makes you and shapes you into who you are.

Faith Talks host: Yeah, I was also thinking about just Mary.

And sometimes I feel like a lie that we can believe is that, well, I’m not that woman of faith, like those women of faith in the Bible.

And I was actually reading a book for a paper that I was writing, and it was talking about Mary.

And it just brought out how she actually was just this poor peasant girl.

And I’m like, really?

Like Mary, we never talk about her in those terms.

But just realizing how she must have felt so weak.

You know, she was just, you know, a human just like you and me.

And she had, you know, all these.

Well, when the angel came to her, I’m sure that was overwhelming.

But yet she had, like Jane was saying, she had been taking those steps of faith.

And yet at the same time, she was just a weak human, just like you and me.

And so just realizing that God can use any person if you just take that the step that you see.

And I think we’ve talked about this in previous podcasts, but just when you see the light for that next small step, whatever it may be, then just taking that step.

And pretty soon, you know, God’s going to bring something really big into your life.

And it’ll just be like, oh, well, this is what I’m supposed to do.

This is the light for this next step.

And it won’t be so overwhelming like an angel coming to you and you being like, whoa. but it will be the next right thing that God has for you.

Faith Talks host: Now, moving on to application, I feel like we’re kind of already there in the application, but any other application points you wanted to bring out?

Guest: Just that this journey of faith for us didn’t start with a truck and trailer.

It started when we were in high school, when we were in college, God giving us a step to take, and then as we took it, God giving us faith, and our faith was built until we came to this, you know, a big step of faith for us.

But we had seen God do it in the past, and we knew that he would deliver us as we trusted him.

So just even thinking about, you know, your story or your life, what step has God directed you to take, or what step do you know God wants you to take?

And as you take that step, God will show you more steps to take, and that’s how we really do build our faith.

Faith Talks host: I think that’s so good.

And it’s, it’s not, it’s so specific that it’s not specific.

You know what I mean?

And everybody who’s out there listening, like, you know, what God’s showing you right in your heart.

And that’s the step you need to take.

And just thinking of the zero 100 truth too, it’s not just jumping out by yourself, and anything of yourself taking that stuff, step, but saying, okay, God, I’m trusting you that you’re going to be the supplier of that. help to be able to even take that step.

That was really, really helpful.

Thank you so much for coming to share that story.

I know it really impacted my heart, even just different steps God showed me even during the podcast that I need to take.

Just steps of faith.

And thank you so much for coming and sharing that with us today.

And one thought I just had in just application,

Faith Talks host: closing thought.

This last week, I’ve been in some major brain educational training, and it’s actually been really helpful, but I just was thinking in light of our just applying it to your life and just thinking one thing that they did with us one of the days that was super helpful.

She’s all about the trainer that was teaching us throughout the week.

She’s us do was just took five minutes and she said start I can’t remember do you remember what she

Faith Talks host: said to start journaling when we were journaling give me one second it was I am beginning to realize that yes so that was the beginning of that’s all she gave us the journaling time beginning to realize

Faith Talks host: that and then you finish it and she said it can be anything that you’re thinking of but just doing that exercise and actually just taking that time thinking through my thoughts you know and in a lot of times you have so many different thoughts that come to your mind and just writing those things out it became a lot more concrete like what I was thinking whether I was thinking lies if I was discouraged or thinking truth just through different things and so even concluding this podcast and if there’s a step of faith I just encourage you to just write it out and she also is talking about how when you talk out loud when you talk out loud to God specifically it comes it becomes a lot more concrete to you or when you write a prayer out or just different things like that.

That was just

Faith Talks host: really helpful to me.

I liked how she said she writes or talks because she said when you stop writing, you realize you stopped writing.

And when you stop talking, you realize you stop talking.

But sometimes if you’re praying and you might be a little more groggy, you don’t know like, was I praying?

Was I sleeping?

Like what was I?

So it’s just helpful to even write it out or say, which I found that really helpful.

So just even thinking with that step of faith that you know,

Faith Talks host: God wants you to take.

How about just take five minutes and maybe start with I’m beginning to realize and just write out the step of faith that you know that God wants you to take.

And I think that would be really helpful to you as it was to me and Jana as well.

And just launch out into the deep and trust God for that next step.

And he will do it as we’ve seen with this truck and trailer.

You can take that as a token from God that he’s going to do his best for you in your life.

So just this week, faith doesn’t just talk, faith walks.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the