069 Jenni Grunig Testimony

Do you know the Bible is God's Holy Word? Do you know it is

inspired, in errant, and infallible? If so, like, share,

subscribe and support this podcast. So we are Maranatha Ministries and now Reduction Draweth

Nigh. Welcome, Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the program. I am

your host, Matthew. Tonight we're doing another testimony with another sister of ours,

Jennifer. So we're doing a series of these for a very important reason

because I've been getting a lot of messages with people that they are very confused.

They don't know if they're a Christian or not. Now they've been going

to church their whole life, but they really don't know if they're a Christian

or not because they've just done this just to be doing it. They have

done it well for their parents, and then they've done it for their siblings,

and then they've done it for their spouses, and they're doing it for

their children. But if you try to ask them when did you become a

Christian? They can't tell you. So Jennifer is going to share with us

her testimony, and I'm just going to give her the mic and let her

just flow right along, because no one is better at giving their testimony than

the person proclaiming what Christ has done for them. So I first came into

contact with Jennifer probably in the neighborhood of twelve or thirteen years ago. Is

quite familiar with this ministry. She's a main integral part of this ministry.

She does participate in this ministry. She is a minister in this ministry because

is she that bears the burden of the weekly prayer meeting that we have.

So, Jennifer, I'm just I'm just gonna hand it over to you and

tell us your testimony. Well, hello, everybody. My name is Jenny.

I live in Iowa. I have four children. I have a husband

named Cody. And excuse me ahead of time, guys, but I have

a cold, so if I have to call for anything, I'm sorry.

But I have always lived essentially in the exact same spot that I live right

now. I have not really moved. I've just been pretty much in the

same location. My parents and my grandparents they all went to church. They've

been church goers essentially as long as I know. So once I was born,

my mom started taking me to church. So I have been going for

most of my life. One of my earliest memories is when I was about

three, I remember asking my mom, telling her I was just terrified of

going to hell, and I wanted to know what I needed to do to

not go to hell, and so she told me I needed to pray and

ask ask God to be my savior. And so I did that, and

I did that many times throughout my childhood repetitively, but that was one of

the first things I remember as a child, was that particular moment. But

my childhood was a little bit difficult. I think about the age of five,

my dad got into trouble the law, and we had already we were

selling our house to move and when he got into trouble, it caused us

to lose all of the money we had when we were selling the house,

so we ended up having to live in a house that had like no running

water and no anything, which is fine. We made we made it by,

but it was also, like I said, my dad had some issues.

He was drinking and different things which sort of he'd been dealing with since

he was in Vietnam. He had a lot of problems from ever since he

came back from there. So it was just very volatile situation. We were

always afraid of what would happen when he would show up, and he would

he was pretty abusive with our family, our my mom, And so that

went on for a long time, many years, like eight eight or so

years before my mom finally moved moved us out to a new house. My

parents did not get divorced right away, but they did eventually get divorced.

So I I think a lot of my problems sort of stemmed from a lot

of that. But I don't know, but uh, we continued going to

church through all of that, mm hmm. And then, and I guess,

I mean, my childhood after that was pretty normal. I did okay

in school, nothing too out of the ordinary. Then when I was sixteen,

I got a job and I started working. When I was working,

I met my the father of my my oldest child, and we dated for

I don't know, three three years or so, all the way through my

high school. So and of course, all this time I thought I was

a Christian. I thought that I was doing just what everybody else does.

I went to church, and you know, I had I had no reason

to believe otherwise, I guess because everybody that I talked to said that as

long as you prayed that prayer to God, than you were good to go.

That was that was it. So anyway, as a senior in high

school, this is pretty relevant. I suppose I was. I was a

bigger girl in high school, and as a senior, I decided I was

going to try and lose some weight. So I lost a fair amount of

weight then, and that that just went went on. But then when I

was nineteen, I got married to my oldest child's father, and so we

were married for I don't know, gosh five years or so. But after

I had had my son, I was twenty one at the time, I

lost more weight to the point where I was actually like attractive, which I'd

never been for my whole life, which sort of threw me for a loop.

I didn't really know how to deal with it. And I think essentially

some of the stuff that had happened in my childhood egged me on a little

bit too, because anytime any men or guys would show me any attention,

it just I didn't know how to deal with it. And so essentially that

was probably sort of a pivot point for me of just starting to as as

Jonie said, being very rebellious and just sort of I ended up our marriage

just sort of broke apart. I ended up just sort of, uh,

having a boyfriend for a few months, and another one and then another one,

and and drinking and just a variety of things that all sort of correspond

with those things. And uh then after after that, that went on for

a few years and then and toron to two thousand and seven ish point I

started to come to my senses and realize that I was just Nothing I was

doing was advantageous, it wasn't beneficial, so that I started to calm down.

I had a job at the time at a newspaper, and then I

applied for another job at a casino, which sounds exciting, but I got

that job at the casino, and around that same time, I met my

husband, Cody, and we started dating. I dated him for gosh for

years or so, and I get I guess, I don't know. I

feel like I'm forgetting things now that I'm actually setting here explaining all this.

But well, let me break in here. Okay, he was married to

your first husband for about five years. So when was your first child born?

In there, we had been married a year? Okay, so at

the time that you married Cody. How old was the oldest boy when I

married Cody? He was ten? Okay, that's that that corresponds because I

would have put it at nine. So so you're you're you're following those thoughts

really well. So I find it amazing that you say you have a pivot

point at two thousand and seven. I think that's when God started to work

in my life heavily. That that would be my best way to explain it,

but just sort of weeding out some of this stuff in my life that

wasn't useful or beneficial that I had been doing. But I mean, some

of it doesn't even seem maybe like a a big deal, you know,

like there was outside of the fact I was shacked up with Cody. A

lot of the things I was doing are just the normal things that most people

think are just acceptable. You know, like we would we would go out

on the weekends with our friends, and you know, that's not something that

I do now, but at the time it was. That was the kind

of stuff I was involved with, stuff that you know, most people think

is just fine. But in retrospect, I would have never been doing if

I was a Christian like that would not have been a lifestyle choice. So

anyway, we, like I said, we were together from two thousand and

eight to twenty twelve. I started sort of sort of my dad had I

guess maybe that's part of the reason why things started to change, was that

my dad had been doing all of these bad things for his whole life,

and in his fifties he started to change, and he started to read his

Bible, and he started to do things. He started to go to church,

and at that point it's sort of I think he was provoking me to

do those similar things too, So I started to just lightly read my Bible

and just lightly like listen to teachings and stuff, which is where eventually on

it was like December seventh of twenty twelve, I was driving to work and

I was listening to this podcast and I ran across this guy named Matthew that

I'd never heard in my whole life, and he said a bunch of stuff

that I just could not I just blew my mind. And at that point

I realized that I was a horrible sinner and that I was never a Christian

all this time ever, and that I needed to repent like right away and

So at that point, I went home that day and told Cody, we're

getting married asap. And so we went and got married like the next week

because I told him we weren't going to keep living this way. And so

all of the things that I had remaining in my life that were sinful,

I just got rid of them. They all sort of fell to the wayside.

So any any music or any just anything that was just my life,

I just got rid of it. Like I used to cuss really bad,

I just all of those things just gone. I just stopped doing them right

at them that essentially that day. So anyway, that, of course,

people at my workplace at the casino started to notice my abrupt changes of lifestyle

and everything. So I suppose that's why God allowed me to stay there for

some time, because I did stay working there for a while, despite the

fact it was not exactly the most godly of places. But you know,

it was came to the point, after you know, years, that people

would be around me and they would apologize for cassing in front of me because

they knew that I didn't do that, or they would apologize for you know,

they'd say, I We're sorry, we're saying this in front of you

or whatever, because they had seen such a profound change in my life that

they knew that I wasn't like that anymore, if that makes any sense.

So anyway that that I stayed working there for quite some time, like four

years. I did not like it because I felt like I was aiding other

people in in a sinning or doing doing something they shouldn't. So we had

concerts and stuff there, and one of which was this It was like a

male review type thing, and I had to work all of these things because

I was in marketing. And I remember being there that night and thinking,

this is disgusting. And I remember praying that night and asking God that he

would get me out of there, get me out of this place, please.

And then about three weeks later, I found out I was pregnant with

my daughter, my oldest daughter, and I said, thank you Lord,

You've answered my prayers. So so once I found out that I was expecting

her, I talked it over with my husband and we decided that once she

was born, I would just stay home with her. So so God got

me out of that place and allowed me to also still be a good witness

while I was there, because I was able to everyone that was there saw

the change in my lifestyle and the change in my personality and the change in

my vocabulary and the change and everything about me. But not only that,

I was able to stay there and train a new person to take my job,

and I left on good terms. They threw a party for me when

I left, So I mean it was they. You know, some people

leave when you know, they just barge out or don't put in their two

weeks notice. But everything just worked perfectly. It was very smooth, and

I was able to leave on a good note where people could could be blessed

buy me as So anyway, after that, I was staying at home with

my oldest daughter, and subsequently we have had two additional children since then,

so now I am able to my homeschool them. And I never never would

have thought that I would be doing this, but I am very grateful that

I am, and I'm very grateful that God has allowed me to do this.

There's so many things throughout my life where I can see where He worked

and made a way for this to even happen. So it's just a blessing.

So if you have any questions, let me know, because I feel

like I probably left a lot of things out. Well, yes, you

you you left some very big holes there. So you have this experience that

that's all we can describe it as God has touched you there. There is

no other explanation for this. Your your life has changed, and everybody,

your employer knows you are existentially a different individual. I mean, for all

intents and purposes, you should have to go through the re hiring process.

You're you're a different individual. You didn't say a single thing about how Cody

took this. I think it was a little shocked, but he was accepting

of it. I don't really know. He didn't argue, but yeah,

I think it was initially a big change for him because I went I mean

I don't know, Yeah, I pivoted essentially overnight. I changed, and

a lot of the things that I had been participating and just things he had

known me to be I was not anymore. Did he continue to do those

things? No, he he started on once all of that occurred. He

started going to church with me, and he started, I mean some of

the things he was I don't know, I would say all of those things

were falling off of him sort of simultaneously through time, because he's really changed

as a person through the course of time. So you realize how exceptional that

is. Yeah, No, it's it's a blessing. So that is to

say, your daughters, now, they should have had a pretty rough approximation

of Cody as you did to your father. I mean, you were going

out, you were drinking. These are the same things you described of your

father, and these are the things that Cody was doing. Sure, so

is this description that you've given about this this father figure, would your daughters

apply them to your husband or not at all? Oh, he's nothing like

what I my childhood was like. He's he's very very good dad. So

so so they've never witnessed him going out and drinking. And no, they

don't even know that Cody exist. Yeah, they don't know anything of that.

That's all washed away. Well that's I mean, I hope you appreciate

how miraculous that is. No, I do. I was thinking about all

these things today, and I mean there's things I didn't even remember to say

about it. Yeah, there's lots of lots of miracles, Like I did

mention the one with Abigail when I found out I was pregnant with her.

Like that was definitely a miracle. I mean so, but yeah, there's

there's lots of lots of intercession. I can see in retrospect where God was

working and moving moving us through the way that he wished for us to end

up. So do you have any explanation for this? Was there somebody praying

for you? I've always assumed that it had to have been like a grandparent,

one of my grandmas or grandpa had to have been praying for me at

some point, because I cannot rationalize what else would have would have happened.

Or maybe my dad once he actually started getting reading his Bible and getting back

into church, maybe it was him. But somebody had to have been praying

for me, because I cannot make any sense about what else would have would

have happened. So you were listening to podcasts and you happened to stumble across

hours. Yes, so my forte has always been the Bible. So you

were listening to Bible podcast? Yeah, you were. You specifically were listening

to Prophecy podcast. I was just looking for understanding because I remember reading in

like twenty eleven. I remember reading through some of the Bible and thinking everything

that I've been told is not lining up with what this is saying. It

just does not match it. And so I had been trying to figure out

what was going on. So I had that's what had sort of led me

into listening to different different people. But they weren't of really any assistance either.

So and that's another thing. Go ahead, well, listen, let's

ask this. You're insinuating that when you did go to church, you weren't

quite getting it. Things weren't lining up with what was going on in the

Bible. So we're going to have to cross this threshold. So were your

mainline church or Evangelical or Catholic? It was just a non denominational Protestant church.

I don't know what I can't. I don't know that it had any

affiliation, to be honest with you, with anything, just sort of a

gospel chapel type of thing. So, but and what any was saying was

not well it was it wasn't. They weren't really saying. It was just

really a lot of milk, and in the milk itself was not always right.

So it was just it was not it was not helpful. There was

nobody offering any answers. Nobody knew the Bible well enough to answer any questions.

Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, nobody knew the Bible well enough

to offer answers. So, boy, I must have really been quite a

shock to your system. Yeah. I really didn't know what the heck you

were talking about, but I knew that I've never heard anybody talk in a

way that was so authoritative. That was that you knew what you were talking

about. So that was why I kept listening. I remember googling Primus numerous

and spending like two hours trying to figure out what that was. I figured

I sort of figured it out. I had to read some Greek websites to

finally get to the bottom of that. Anyway, Yeah, it was good,

it really, I mean, it really provoked a lot of study,

a huge change in what I was doing. My biggest hobby then became reading

the Bible and trying to learn everything that I knew was there. I just

needed to figure I just needed to find it. I needed to do sort

of what you said, you know, believe believe the Bible, and so

that was what I started trying to do, was just believe what it says,

so and that in itself creates quite an impact on the psyche because most

people don't realize that they don't believe it until they're challenged with it, that

they don't realize that they're not reading it like it's reference material. They're reading

it like it's just a novel, eating it like it's secondary information. So

that must have had quite an impact on you because you talk about information overload.

That's my main complaint that I get is that I can quickly overload people

with information and it sounds like that's exactly what you needed, Which is that

true? Does that bring true with you, that that's actually what you needed?

You needed meat and you didn't I mean, you'd had enough milk and

you needed meat. Yeah, I think so. I think I was.

I wanted to move on to something something else. I mean, like I

said, I had went to church, and the church that I went to

as a child had been I would say, a very good church. We

we I had a very good knowledge base of the Bible orly you know the

kids stories that you go through. I had, we read, we read.

I had a good knowledge base, but I needed to move on to

the next step, Like there is a next step, Like I know the

stories but what now? So yeah, so that you were the you were

the what now? So you moved me into that space. So so now

you know, after this much time, let's just say a decade, after

a decade of participating in this ministry, how can you connect with the level

that your husband is on? Are you on equal par with the Bible?

Can you have an intelligent conversation with Cody? He had never went to church

his whole life, so the first time he had went to church was when

we started going together in twenty twelve. So his understanding of the stories is

pretty much it was nothing. So yes, we can talk talk about it.

Though, like I said, his his knowledge base on the Bible is

less because he just was He wasn't taught that way as a child, so

he doesn't know all the stories as well as maybe you know. I He'll

we'll be reading the Bible at night together for the kids and he'll say a

name and I'm like, hey, it's pronounced this way. But he just

doesn't. He's never had anyone read it to him before where he heard how

it would be said. So we we you know, he's learning to,

but you know he's doing he's I think he's doing a good job. So

we spend every night we've freed with the kids and we pray together as a

family. So he's write in and on his heart with and we're all doing

the same thing together. So you know, that is absolutely amazing. Basically,

what you're saying is is that he's being trained up at the same time

that your children are being trained up. Anyway, Yeah, anyway, Yeah,

so that's pretty pretty cool. Let's come back to your oldest boy.

Now you're talking about a very critical time when all these changes take place.

You know, he's right at ten years old, so you know, you

give him a couple of years to get used to this. Now he's twelve,

and all of a sudden, his complete paradigm has changed. How did

he take it? How has he taken it? I mean, I don't

think he was a huge fan, and initially it was it was sort of

hard for him. But I mean he would he did humor me a lot.

We would sit down and we would study the Bible together, and he,

you know, he we read the whole Bible together. Me and him

sat down and read the whole thing together. I think it took us like

a year, maybe twenty twenty thirteen, we did that or something like that.

So and he, I mean, he did, he did a good

job. He's always been very respectful boy, so he did. He did

listen to his mom on that. So but yeah, some some of it

was hard for him, like having when I had my oldest daughter. He

that was a little bit of a struggle for him because he had been the

only child for a long time. So some of that kind of stuff was

hard. But overall, he has he's been he's been good. So so,

you know, this is pretty amazing that God reached out and touched one

individual and has literally taken that vortex and built an entire family around it.

And that really is that really is exceptional that God obviously had this family in

mind and you just happened to be picked, because there's no way this set

of circumstances happened without someone along the line interjecting you in their prayers. There's

just no way. And it really is amazing that whoever was praying for you,

boy, did they receive a whopping answer to that prayer. I mean,

now we're talking about an entire, an entire core family here that's completely

completely changed. I mean, you know, going from working at a casino

to being a homeschooling mother that is training up her children and the way they

should go. That's a miracle in itself. That is a miracle in itself,

and I appreciate that, I really too. So maybe you wanted to

say something else, Oh, no, it is. It is a blessing.

And to hear you say that, this is as affirmation. So that's

that's good to hear. So yeah. The only other the only other things

I would maybe mention were that I sort of forgot to mention. Was just

some of the other things that God sort of took away from me were things

that maybe people don't think about, like not like your normal type of sins.

But some of the things the podcasts and stuff I was listening to at

the time were really like a prepper type of podcast that kind of vein of

stuff, and it was very almost fearful. I was almost fearful sometimes,

And once once I had this change of life event there, I quit listening

to those and it was such a freeing type of thing to not be fearful

of what the world can do to you anymore. Because I have literally not

been fearful about any of that kind of stuff ever since, and it's just

been that was one of the things that God really changed in my life.

And I'm really grateful for that because a lot of people, especially now,

you see a lot of people get really wound up about being fearful and being

afraid about what is coming. And God really saved me from that, And

I just wanted to at least mention that because that's not maybe something some people

have ever had in their life, but it was a great, a great

thing to be freed of fear being fearful. So well that's exceptional too,

because well, like I said, this ministry has always been prophecy based,

and these two things usually go hand in hand. When you go to most

podcasts and they're doing an end time ministry, they invariably have something to sell

and normally that's they usually have gold sponsors. They usually talk, you know,

about prepping and being ready and have your bug out bag. Right.

Yeah, So, I take it you didn't. I take it you did

not hear those things from this ministry. No, I did not, And

that was I needed. I needed somebody to shake shake me a little thing

with me going in the right direction. I didn't need that stuff and I

needed. Once I realized that it was, it was very, very wonderful

to be afraid of that, because it was it's almost like a has a

stranglehold on you to just being scared, being afraid, and it was it

was very wonderful to not have that to deal with anymore. So, well,

that's one thing I'm certainly not known for. I'm not known for instilling

fear in anybody, just the exact opposite. I'm known for instilling confidence in

what is to come. And once people know what the Bible has to say

and why God wrote it for us, once you know that there's absolutely no

reason on earth to be afraid, especially as we move into the end times,

because many people don't understand that we who are alive and remain at the

onset of all these things happening, we are more secure than the very people

that Jesus healed. We're more secure than the people that he fed on the

side of the sermon on the mount, those people that he fed. We

are more safe and secure than them. But it's amazing to me how you

don't hear that in other ministries, do you? No? No, So

I didn't just tell you what is to come. I obviously taught you how

to study the Bible correct, So why don't you describe that too? Is

how how it was that you went from fumbling around with the stories to where

you're at now, Because now you just said a little while ago you were

having to consult Greek websites, So that's a that's a catastrophic change there.

How did that happen? I don't really exactly remember, but I know that

I started a sort of assembling a library of sorts with you know, I

got a Hebrew interlinear Bible, and I started setting down with it and looking

at the words, and I started finding that some of them weren't lining up

with the Strong's numbers, or they weren't. It would say it was like

a strong's number, you know, that would maybe have three letters, and

then I'd go look at the inner linear and it'd be like six letters,

and I'm like, that's not that's not the same word. So that I

sort of forced my hand and I taught myself all the Hebrew alphabet because I

was like, I have to understand this. I need to know what I'm

looking at. So then I did that, and you know, just I

got I started getting a lot out of that because you just don't know that

it's there until you start looking. I guess you know, you don't know

what you're missing until you start looking, and I start. I would try

even sometimes I would try translating a verse or two. I would write it

out and I would try translating it myself, just just to see, you

know, what could this be saying? You know, this is what it

says in my Bible, but what could it also be saying? Because you

know, some of the strong numbers, they'll be like eight of the same

strongs, or you know, you'll have consecutive strongs numbers where it's the same

word Hebrew word, but it's it's it has a different meaning, like one

might be. I can't even think of one off the top of my head.

I'm sure you can, but you know, I was like, what,

so this could mean this, but it could also mean this, and

it could also mean this, or it could mean this. So I would

just translate a verse with all of those different things, and I'm like,

this could mean all of these things, or it probably does mean all of

these things. And God is encoding this data set and it's just overlooked in

English. So, I mean, that's that's what I've been working on now

for you know, I don't know, probably eight or so years. Is

just that kind of stuff, trying trying to understand it, trying to get

to the bottom of what the Bible is actually saying. So, did you

learn that here from this ministry that there's multiple words for one? For one

Hebrew word, you might have eight to ten entries into strongs for that same

word. Did you learn that here or you found that yourself? You have

mentioned it, but I can't remember if I ran across that to such a

level. I may have run across that on my own accord, because I

bought a just I think that's how you say it lexicon, and I just

was sat there with that thing and I just see all of these words.

Yes, I think you had had said that, but I think I didn't

understand the extent of the bravity of it, how how extensive the words just

have so many different meanings until you actually sit down and look at it,

I don't think it makes a lot of sense, if that makes any sense.

Oh, that makes perfect sense. That makes perfect sense. But I'm

glad that we relay that information to you. That God meant something, and

whatever's coming out of his mouth is the dead bang truth. It's the dead

bank truth. And you better figure out what it means because you have spouses,

you have children, you have your parents. Dead bang better figure out

what God was saying. And you come to this realization that God is trying

to say something. I need to figure out what it is. And you

realize the marvelous thing He's done with Hebrew by taking the vows from it.

It makes it an extremely prophetic language. And don't you love how he loves

to do with this with volves. He'll just take the valves and move them

around in the word and will just leave you completely confused. You're like,

not, no, wait a minute, you can't do that. You can't

just shove a volve in a word. And you look into strongs and they

will give no indication to it at all. Why it's done, how it's

done. It can't be done in any other language. You just don't rearrange

the letters and say, hey, this is the same word. So that

must have been quite a learning curve for you in itself, because you had

to realize that, oh my go goodness, what I've got here in English.

It is partially what God is saying, but it certainly isn't the entire

thing He's trying to relay to me. So that was probably pretty shocking to

you. How long did you continue down this path before you even tried the

Greek. I don't. I never. I did loosely try to train myself

with the Greek, but I had a lot harder time trying to memorize all

of those letters. So to be honest with you, I am not.

I have not learned those ones yet. I need to, I want to,

but I have not learned them. I feel like there's still way too

much ahead of me just in the Hebrew that I thought that I should just

go with what I have for now and try to try to get through the

Bible very well with just the Hebrew for now. So I don't know if

I'm ready for the Greek, but I do certain do Greek searches because I

do find the Greek offers a whole different take on things. I can't remember

exactly what it was, but I remember messaging you maybe five or six years

ago regarding Jeremiah. I was reading Jeremiah and the Greek, and I was

like, what is going on here, And I read one time in the

Greek and it was in a different place than the Hebrew one was, and

I read both chapters at the same time, and I thought, oh,

my gosh, this is telling the same story from a different vantage point,

or at least that's what I took it as. And so, yes,

I do incorporate the Greek, but I don't do it quite to the extent

of the Hebrew. Yes, I do appreciate it greatly. So well,

you know, the biggest can of worms that a newcomer to God's Word learns

is that wait a minute, you mean we have a Hebrew New Testament,

and unfortunately that's not been keyed to strongs. So have you tried tackling that

yet, Yes, But usually I end up having to go find a word

in the Old Testament and find what it's keyed to there, or I'll find

sometimes that doesn't work, and sometimes I'll have to use the Greek and then

take the Greek to the Old Testament and find enough of the verses that I

can make sense of what the word might be, and then I can finally

sort of figure it out. But it takes a little while. It's not

the it takes a little No, it's certainly not the fastest way. But

I do cheat for you a lot sometimes, if you know, if I

have time, I will make those schematics up for you and show you.

You know, I'll cheat for you and break it down. And I don't

have a lot of time to do that here lately, but I have done

it. But that's when you're really writing God's word on your heart. That's

when you're really coming to grips with what's come out of his mouth. Because

it's just not like hearing a preacher. It's not like hearing a teacher.

It's not like hearing your mother scream at you. When his voice reverberates off

of your ear drum, it has an effect on you. It changes you,

and your testimony to that. It's obviously had a serious effect on not

only your life, your entire family's life. And that begs the next question.

So how many siblings do you have? There's four of us total.

I have an older and then there's me and then two younger sisters. And

are they pretty close to where you're you're at or are they long distance from

me? Two of them live about three or four hours away, and one

of them lives about an hour away, so we're all I mean, we

could were in driving distance if we needed to go for something, but it's

not. We don't see each other all the time. So and how about

your dad? How how far is he? Like five hundred feet? Like

feet? So and you never mentioned your mother? What what is her status

now or how? She asked? All? No, she she as she

goes to church. She's I would say she's a very good Christian lady.

Obviously, some of the stuff is and my childhood was very hard on her

and hard on everybody. But but she I think she she is a blessing

to me. So, yes, she lives about an hour away from me

as well, so she's a little ways away but not super far. So

well, that's that makes me wonder. So what is the status of your

dad now? He's completely he's completely a different person. Yeah, he does

well because I got it prepared him, I guess for this. But he

does like a prison ministry now where he goes and talks to inmates and the

jail every week. And he's a member of the Gideons where they go hand

out bibles at the like the County Fair at schools or what you know,

whatever, whatever he can, they can hand bibles out, he does that.

So that's what he does. Oh my goodness. So this is,

oh my goodness. So now he participates in two different ministries. Now that

is saying a lot. That is saying a lot. Yeah. So you

know, you've obviously stuck around with this ministry for this long for reason,

and you obviously are getting fed here. But did you what you had learned

before in church? Did it pan out with any thing that you've actually found

out here this ministry? It's going to work out in the end as far

as what is to come. Well, to be honest with you, the

churches, the churches I went to as a child, we really just studied

the Bible stories, so we it was no like future events per se.

I mean, even though we know the Old Testament is future events as it

is also historical events. But that was a good, a good solid gospel

chapel. They taught the truth, but it was nothing regarding in times or

any of that, you know, that kind of a vantage point. I

didn't even really encounter anything different until I was a little older, and then

I started hearing people talk about different things. I guess probably around sixteen seventeen.

I started hearing people talk about different in times events and that kind of

stuff. And I did hear that through the church that we went to when

Cody and I first got married. That church sort of had that look of

like a rapture type of doctrine, So that was sort of the way they

looked at everything. So so where did you come upon preppers that didn't have

any association with an in time eschatology. You just got into people that were

into prepping. I think it was that, like I said, I had

been I read the Bible around twenty eleven, and I started seeing that the

Bible said that something other than the rapture was going to happen. It did

not. The rapture made zero sense. So, or at least, you

know, the rapture as people say it is now where Jesus comes back and

takes everybody and nobody has to deal with any sort of difficulties. It just

did not make any sense. Compared to you, if you read Matthew twenty

four, if you just said down and read it, it does not That's

not what it says. It doesn't say that. So I think the people

I was listening to were they sort of were leading to the prepper mindset that

in some level they were in agreement with the fact that the rapture wasn't necessarily

accurate, and so they were trying to prepare for the events they might have

to live through kind of thing, if that makes any sense. So the

other people you've encountered here at Merinova ministries, are you finding that they basically

tell the same story. Yeah, I mean that's one of the I mean,

you guys, there's there's consistency, like there's no going to the right

or to the left. It's just what the Bible says. And once you

realize the Bible is very clear there is no room for going to the right

or to the left. God is not confusing. He says flatly, what

is going to happen? And it's not real hard to see once you once

you understand that, it's not that hard to see. It's pretty much everywhere.

I mean, it might take you some digging, and you might have

to look and study a chapter for a while, and you might have to

pray about it, but God will eventually help you understand. So anyway,

So is that what the other people that participate in this ministry, Say,

do they say the same thing that eventually you do get it? Yes,

the Holy Spirit will lead you to all understanding. I mean, yes,

that's that's pretty much what everyone you guys say, is that God will teach

you. You just have to start writing it on your heart. You know.

That brings me to my final question. There's people out there that are

right where you were at They're right there that they are right there where you

were at, same same set of circumstances, same situation. You obviously knew

the Bible stories, and you'd obviously been to church read the Bible. What

would you suggest they do to take that next step? Because you're obviously an

expert at this. You were there and God touched you. So what would

you suggest these people do that are right there where you were at? Pray

and ask God for help. He will answer you. But beyond that,

sit down with your Bible and start reading it and just really try. I

mean I do have some level of difficulty sometimes comprehending, but just really sit

down and go slow if you have to, and just try to read your

Bible and read it to the point where you can remember, oh, I

remember reading that you know, seven chapters ago or you know, you have

to get to the point where you can start remembering what God said in other

places. And I think that is just a super big benefit, because God

can really talk to you when you start writing His word on your heart like

he says to do. Do you find listening to the audio Bible? Do

you find that of any benefit? If I'm by myself, yes, it's

beneficial. But if I'm with the kids, which i am the majority of

the time, I have a really hard time being able to give my full

attention to it because I've always got somebody asking me for a bowl of something,

so well, of something that's good? I like how you put that?

A bowl of something? Amen to that, preferably ice cream. Amen.

Yes, we did buy some. Well, Jenny, it's been a

pleasure having you on, and you truly have been a blessing to everyone in

this ministry. Everybody sent me private messages at one time or another, and

usually multiple times, about well Jenny found this. So what does this mean

if you found this out from Jenny? Why don't you ask Jenny? So

I get a kick out of that. So you have truly been blessed by

the Lord our God. He truly obviously plucked you from the fire. And

not only did he do that, I find it completely amazing that at the

same time he decided to go ahead and pluck Cody out of the fire too.

And not only that, in this maelstrum, in this crucible was your

firstborn son that was somewhere in the middle and somewhere nowhere at all. And

on top of that, your dad, I hope that you appreciate that that

the Lord, your God, has chosen you. He has chosen you to

do a thing and be a thing, and you are and you are.

The only way I can put it is you and your family are miraculous.

You are and that is a good thing. That is a very hopeful thing

that God still is in the miracle business, and he still is in the

business of taking people that are called and choosing them. It's amazing how a

little bit of prayer will turn the tide for someone that is lost. I

mean, it's amazing that your dad now is ministering to the lost in both

the prison and the Gideon ministry with handing out bibles. Oh my goodness,

what what the Lord has done for you is amazing. And I do want

to mention this because it's it's really curious. Did you listen to Joni's testimony?

M hm? Yes? Do you find it curious that she had this

event in two thousand and seven? Yes? I do, And I'm sure

there's some rationale that God has for that. I just don't know what it

is. But yes, I'm sure that I already sat down with my with

some of the dates in my life and added some different numbers together to see

what I could come up with. I'm like, well, what if I

add twelve hundred and ninety to this? Where does it take me? What

if I do this here? What does it get me? Where do I

end up? And? So, yeah, I'm sure God has some something

that he was up to there. So indeed, I'm sure he I'm sure

he was. I'm sure he was up to something he obviously was. Now,

wouldn't everybody like to know what I was doing in two thousand and seven?

Bye, But we're not going to go there. We are out of

time. Why don't you pray us out of here? Jenny? All right,

our father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, that

kingdom come, They will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

Give us a stay, our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as

we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us non too temptation, but

deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the

glory forever and ever. Amen, Amen and Amen, until next time,

ladies and gentlemen, God bless God speed. Thank you for listening to Marinath

the Ministries with Matthew Miller. I appreciate you tuning in for more information and

stop by and visit us at patreon dot com backslash Matthew Miller, or you

can correspond to us via snail mail by writing to PO Box zero two four

reader, North Dakota five eight six four nine. Now, if you are

a God fearing, Bible believing, Gospel preaching Christian, please repeat after me,

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's Holy Word. I will make

it a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path. It's your

words. Will I hide in my heart that I might not sin against God