Reflection Is the Key: Guest Author Marjorie Flanders

Welcome to Reflective Hour with Tammy Toney-Butler. I'm your Host and Evangelist, but we all know who the host of this show is, and that's Christ by way of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, just come and have Your way in this time that we have together. May they see You and not me, hear You and not me. May they glean from Your field of knowledge. May any veil be removed so that they can hear clearly and see clearly. May they have spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear. It is all about you, Jesus, and not about us. Father God, I just call for Your peace. I call for Your peace, Father God. And I just thank you for this opportunity to come and share Your Word, to share Your love and Your heart with Your people. Glory be to Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Abba Father. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray and declare all things. Amen. Well, today we have a very, very special guest. And I'm excited to introduce her and introduce her book. And so let's look at our guests. This is part of our author series, special guest Marjorie Flanders. And her book, you can see down on the bottom right is Marjorie's Firm Foundation Devotions, Building Your Life on the Unshakable Word of God. And I will make sure that I have a barcode up on the screen in a few minutes so that you can scan it. And it takes you directly to the Amazon website where you can purchase this book. And I do recommend it. It is a great companion copy. with my last two books that the Lord has had me do, The Rest of God and also The Olive Press of Affliction. This is going to end up being a companion in some capacity in our healing curriculum because it is just a wonderful book. So I don't know what God's doing, but He's all that in a bag of chips. So we're going to bring Marjorie onto the stage with me here. Let me add her in. and welcome welcome marjorie i want to thank you for coming on reflective hour and just you know sharing a conversation uh with us and guys i do want to apologize i am not in my normal studio the air conditioning is out and i'm in southwest florida and i was sweating bullets and i said this is not going to do so i had to go to another um office on our land where we typically do bible studies and group or those things. So bear with me. But I have a trusty pillow for comfort here, which I love. And it says all you need is love So get cozy, get comfortable, grab you some coffee, grab you some tea, and we're just going to dive in. And Marjorie, this is going to be a conversation, but why don't you just open and just tell us a little bit about yourself, what God's laid on your heart, the why behind the book, whatever part of your testimony you want to share. You just have the floor, so you just take it over. First, I want to thank you for having me on your podcast. Like I said, this is totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to let the Holy Spirit have his way and lead me, guide me and give me the words that can encourage someone else and touch someone's heart. Well, my name is Marjorie Flanders. I'm fifty five years old. I have two children and four grandchildren. And I went through a traumatic experience in twenty twenty three of August, August the sixth, twenty twenty three. I had a multilevel laminectomy from my L-two to my S-one. And prior to that, I had thought I had it all together. I mean, I was going to the dam and I was walking six miles a day. I had my, the doors are open for me to go back to school, to get my nursing degree. I mean, I was doing every, I was at my happiest point. Then one morning I just started falling. And I was like, huh? So I stood up and then I wouldn't fall again for another week. So I figured because I was walking so much, my legs were cramping. It just, I just fell. till July the thirty first. I got real sick. I felt real bad. I couldn't even move. I had to have people to help me. So I went to the hospital and they did an MRI, but they wanted to do another one. But the machine that they needed was not available. So they told me to follow up with my PCP. And so when I went there, she looked at the results that they sent her and she she just cried. But she never told me what was going on. And she said, I'm gonna call my friend. And this was July, this is August the sixth. She said, I'm gonna call my friend and I want you to go back to the ER and they're gonna take you right back. And I said, okay, now mind you, I'm still driving during all this. God is keeping me through all this I should not have been driving, but I didn't know what was going on, but I was still going on. Cause I always praise God every morning before I walked and after I walked. So I was driving to the ER and then they said, we're going to rush you down to Erlanger downtown. Still nobody has told me anything. So I go back in there and then we, you know, they prepped me for surgery. When, when I come out out of surgery, the nurse comes up to me and she says, you know what? You were blessed. I said, why? She said, because the neurologist that you had, It's a month long waiting list for him. And you got him. See, God favored me from the beginning to end. And then when I talked to the doctor, he said, you know what? One more day. you would have been completely paralyzed. See, God stopped me from being paralyzed. And then, you know, that wasn't the darkest time because I was in the hospital. They had this thing in my back and it was pulling the blood out of my, where they had the surgery, but it began to pull too much. So it was pulling spinal fluid. And so I started getting these real bad headaches and they were like, I said, I got a headache. I said, well, let me give you some medicine. I don't want any more medicine. i want the headache to stop so i'm believing i'm praying i'm trusting god i'm crying because everything is going on but yet still i'm still believing god after all that was resolved they put me in a nursing home then i that was the i feel like that was the darkest moment i said god my independence has been snatched now i've been snatched from my home and you put me in a place that i loathe One thing I do not like is nursing homes because I've seen how the staff is. So I'm in there and I'm laying there in this nursing home. Can't do anything for myself. And so when you call them, you know, you have to wait. And I had to have some I said, can you help me to the bathroom? And one of the tech said, we're not trained on doing this. So we'll have to put a brief on you. I said, oh, no, no, no, God. I said, God, I draw the line there. I said, we're not doing that. We're not putting a brief on me. So I set up. I said, forget it. I set up. I said, God, you have got to show me. Show me. Give me the wisdom to show me how to get up. First, I got to sit up in this bed, get in the chair. And then go to the bathroom, then figure out how to get to the toilet. I said, God, you got to show me this. I said, because I can't. I said, that I can't do. I can't have no brief on me. So God did it. So like I said, God never left me nor forsook me. All I had to do was listen to him. So God showed me how to do that. And it was such, and then it got to the point where I got, I would stand up with my walker, I'd pivot to my wheelchair, and I'd make up my own bed. Everybody in the nursing home called me Miss Independent because they would say, hey, No, I got it. As far as a shower, they told me I could only take a shower a certain day of the week. I said, wait a minute. And this is the attitude I have. I'm a grown woman. You don't tell me when I can take a shower. So I said, God, you got to show me how I can get from the bed to the wheelchair to the shower. God showed me. Like I said, he never left me nor forsook me. He was right there with me, leading, guiding me. But one thing he was showing me is the trust. through all that I had to trust so I ended up taking my shower and the PT would come and say hey we're gonna do shower therapy and I was like I've already taken it he said well you just don't need anybody I'm thinking God I need you know and so the best physical therapist in the place came by and saw me on a Sunday he said I want to see this woman that everybody's raving about Miss Independent So we talked and then he would take me to physical therapy and he would do some things to me that I'm like, my God, don't you know that I'm injured? What are you doing? And I used to call him the Tin Man because I had a heart. I was like, you're just heartless. Because he'd take me outside and make me walk forward, make me walk backwards. He put me in the PT room, make me do all this stuff. And then I remember one day when he showed me that he wasn't a Tin Man, I failed. They were weighing me because they were concerned about me losing so much weight. And he weighed me and I fell on the scale and I went through him and I just cried because I said, God, am I setting myself back? I said, God, I don't want to set back. I'm progressing and I don't want to set myself back. And he came in and he said, This is not your portion. He said, God did not intend this for you. He said, it's up to you if you want to walk or you want to stay in this chair. He said, do you know why I do you like I do you? I said, no. He said, because you don't give up and I'm not going to give up. When you have God on your side, you don't give up. But you know, the one thing I didn't mention is I was mad when I say I was mad at God. But the crazy thing is, how are you mad at God? But every time somebody asks you about God, all you can do is talk about the goodness of God. You know, so I was mad and I was praising. I was crying and I was singing. And I was like, God, I can't believe that you let this happen to me. I said, God, when I walked at the dam for six miles, I praised you before I walked. I praised you after I walked. I praised you when I went in Walmart. i praised you when i came out of walmart because i didn't take walking for granted god how did you let me i let this happen to me but you know what i wasn't doing what i realized my apostle flan is my brother he said margie the lord said be still and know that i am god see if you know me i'm the woman i'm the fix it girl i'm gonna fix it if you call me i'm gonna fix it well margie got to the point where she couldn't fix it she had to be still and the very thing that she was telling everybody else she had to stand on it on her own so that's why i was like god okay god i'm okay i'm learning i said well god how much so sarcasm comes in god how much stealer can i be i can't walk that's what i said to god and so But I realized that everything that I was doing, running for people, doing for people, not one time did I slow down and have my time with God. So I need to be still so I can get my relationship and start spending time with him. And that is one of the reasons, one of the reasons, I wrote this book for two reasons. The first reason is when I had my laminectomy, I was Googling stuff. I saw where people had their disc diffused in their L four or their L five, but I couldn't find nobody who had a laminectomy from L two to S one. So I'm like, I don't know if I'm progressing or regressing. I don't know what to feel because my neurologist saw me walking on the cane. He was like, man, you're doing good in such a short time. You don't need to come back. okay, but I need to know what's going on with my body. So, you know, they gave me the physiological explanation of the nerves. I know all that, but I need to know, am I progressing when I'm telling you this? So I wrote this book because I didn't, like I said, being out there, not knowing I felt alone because I didn't know. And I don't want anybody to feel alone. And even during my recovery, there were times there was in the morning that I would cry because I would get up. My legs were hurt so bad. I was fast and I was cramping. but I'm trying to make it because I'm trying to stand on God's word. But I'm saying, God, I'm tired. I don't think I can do this. So I don't want anyone out there to feel like what they're going through, that there's not an answer. You may not be going through what I'm going through, but I can lead you to victory. i can tell you how to stand on god's word i can tell you how to speak over your situation i can tell you to see what listen to what god says and keep confessing it until you see it i can tell you hey you're almost there don't give up because everybody knows that when you get ready to get a breakthrough everything comes at you because i remember i walked in Walmart. And usually I walk in Walmart, I grab a buggy because I'm holding it as a crutch. One day I walked in Walmart, I looked at the buggy and walked right past it and grabbed me a handheld basket and walked around Walmart and shopped and came back home and gave God glory. You know what happened right after that? Everything went backwards. My legs started going contrary to the word of God. And I'm thinking, God, I praised you. What is going on? And it just seemed like it was getting worse. And I told him, I said, God, I don't think I can do it again. I said, God, I can't do it again. But he showed me, yes, you can. Because all you got to do is trust God. Trust God and lean not to your understanding. Acknowledge him and he'll direct your path. And that is the hardest thing to do is to trust God when your legs are going against you or when you fall down the steps. When you think everything's good and you've fallen down the steps, you're like, God, You knew that was going to happen and you let that happen or you fall in the bathroom, but you got to stand and you got to trust God. So that's why I wrote this book. I want people to know that it doesn't matter what it looks like. God is working it out, but you got to look at the subtleties. You got to look at the small thing, notice the small things that are happening. So that is the That is the reason behind my book. I just want to help somebody. I don't want nobody to feel alone, feel like they're walking alone because at times I felt like I was walking alone. So I would always tell people on my life, if God give it to me to bless me, I'm giving it to you to bless you because we're going to walk this thing together. Like I said, I may not be going through what you're going through, but I can lead you to victory. I can tell you how to get to a victory, the victorious point. That's right. That's right. Wow. So much to unpack there. What an amazing testimony. You know, I was an ER nurse for almost thirty years and a sexual assault nurse examiner. And then the Lord called me out of all that. And, you know, I'm into evangelism and anti-trafficking and this stuff. And, you know, it's so important. Several things that you said. The one thing that really struck me, obviously, because I'm about to do my Healing is Your Portion tour. And the first stop or first meeting is October the seventh. So make sure you go to my Facebook page and you can find the links there. And you guys can sign up for anybody watching that RSVP that wants to come. If you're in Fort Myers, it's free. It's gonna be at the Bell Tower, Hilton Hotel. And it is healing is your portion. And when you said that with such... firm and firm, you know, when you were repeating what the physical therapist, the tin man had said that, that, and I love that, that, that it, this isn't your portion. Sickness is not our portion. We are not under the condemnation of the law. Christ died so that we could be set free and have eternal life and have, have healing now, have heaven on earth now. Right. The curse was nailed, you know, to the execution stake, to the old wooden cross. And so we don't have to be sick. We get to stand on the word of God and the firm foundation of the rock and the truth. And so that's powerful. And the fact that you wanted to bless someone and help someone else. And often, you know, we try to pray away storms and we can't. pray away the storm. Sometimes we're to step into the fiery furnace or to get in the boat, but it's not the size. It's not the size of the storm. It's who's in our boat with us and who's with us in the fiery furnace. Like I know The size of my God and, you know, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our precious Lord Jesus. So when we turn our problems over to him, he really is the burden bearer and he is our healer. He's everything. And so it's very powerful for us to understand that and rest on that. And I also love what you said, you know, about walking this out in community and not being alone. And, you know, it is hard to go into a nursing home and they are so overwhelmed and they need so much more staff and they try to do the right thing. But they have limited resources. Like when I left the emergency department, you know, we had so many patients and so much. so little staff and folks want to do the right thing. And so it's really hard. But for you to take charge of your recovery, for you to say no, and for you to grab the cane and say, I'm not going to accept this. God's got this. I'm not partnering up with the devil's word. I'm not grabbing that shopping cart. I'm grabbing Jesus's hand and I'm walking in that store and I'm going. And those are the things that we have to do. We have to embrace our recovery. We have to embrace our healing. And so that is so important. And also when you said that you were angry, I looked a long time ago. God's okay with us being angry because at least we're still in relationship with Him. You know what I'm saying? We're talking to Him. And He wants us to be real. And it's all about relationship and not about religion. And I know I had a beef with God for a lot of years, you know, as a survivor of child sex trafficking. I used to beg God to save me when I was a little kid and I'd hide my Bible around the toilet in the bathroom, but I'd have to come out and do unspeakable things And I was upset with God, but I realized that God was with me and he never left me nor forsake me. I, you know, I, he took care of me in so many ways. And it's only through his strength and his healing that I have overcome and that you've overcome. And I think that that's the essence behind this podcast. This episode is to let people know that you can overcome, but you do it in the strength of God and in his power and not in your power. You do it in his power. And so there was some things he led me to in your book that were just really, really powerful. And let me put up while I'm looking at it, let me put up the barcode. Let me go here and put up the barcode to your book. Yes, that's the right one. Okay, now let me get back to comments. And there are some folks watching. We see you. We see you watching from all over the world, from Africa, from Pakistan, from Tennessee. Oh, Audrey, we see you. Amen. That's good. Always trust God in them. Wow. Hi from Tennessee. Thank you guys all so much for watching and supporting. I see you, Francis. You guys are amazing. And so let's, the Lord really put on me and I'm trying to figure out where to start. So let me start in the beginning and you just chime in however you want to chime. Okay. But when I was reading your page nine, my little, my little tag says, wow, it's talking about power in your words. Yes. Words are spiritual seeds. And then you go on to quote scripture, Galatians six, seven out of the King James version. Whatsoever a man. So if that shall he also read. Um, words are spiritual seeds, and this is where you go into your devotional thought. Words are spiritual seeds. They always grow the fruit of whatever nature you gave them. If you want a harvest of peace, health, and stability in your household, stop planting the weeds of panic and worry. Wow. Now. It's your book. And you know why you wrote that. And God is guiding you in the Holy Spirit. And he knows who's watching and what they need to hear. So how would you elaborate on that page on page nine of your book? What I was referring to is like when you're like you said, when you want peace and you want stability and you want health, you can't you cannot say these things. Oh, God, I thank you for your peace. And then at the very next second, start speaking doubt against your peace. Those are the weeds. If you have a garden and you're growing things, you pull out the weeds because the weeds can kill the harvest. So when you start speaking words, when you start speaking stuff of peace and God, I thank you for healing me. God, I thank you for providing for me. You can't sit there and say, God, I don't have enough. I don't have anything. You got to stay away from all those weeds because they don't go together. You got to stand firm and believe what you want from God. If you ask God for it, if you plant that seed of faith, then you expect god to do something you don't plant a seed of faith and then plant a seed of doubt that weed is going to kill the faith so that's the reason why i did that because number one there was times where god told me in to put my crutches on the altar i walked in he said plain as day Margie, leave them at the altar. This is your new beginning. And I did. And I did. So I'm using my faith because I was still limping around, but I'm using my faith. God, you told me to do it. So I'm going to put these crutches down. But things start acting different. different. But I didn't grab those things because I started cramping more. I started hurting more. And, you know, I turned it into a praise instead of me saying, God, you told me to leave the crutches on the altar. And I started saying, God, I thank you for the cramps because I remember when I couldn't heal. So, God, I thank you that I can heal. I can feel. So that's what I meant. Don't don't say you have faith and then plant doubt. They don't go together. That's right. And I call that stinking thinking. Yes. Stinking thinking. And it gets, you know, and that's part of, and that's part of the work we do on the ranch. And I, and I don't do anything. It's all God, but in the Holy spirit, but with, with the survivors and us, you know, folks that have gone through some stuff, you know, this podcast and everything we do is for people that's gone through some stuff. Cause some of you going through some stuff and you got some stinking thinking and it's time to say no, no, Put that up to the word of God and what the word of God says and rely on the word of God. It is your sword. And it is just that's just powerful. And the devil wants to come in to kill, steal and destroy and plant doubt and despair. And that is not our portion. Fear is not our portion. We have the spirit of faith. We don't have fear. We have power, love and a sound mind and we don't have doubt. And so I thought that was very, very powerful. And then the next page that I was on was thirteen. And this one I wrote another wow wow. This one I just love again. And it says be a thermostat, not a thermometer. And you did scripture Mark, the King James version. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say into this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, he shall have whatsoever he sayeth. And your devotional thought, your mouth was never intended to be a thermometer that merely reads the temperature of your problems. I feel that in my spirit. It was designed to be a thermostat that shifts the atmosphere towards heaven's peace. A thermometer simply reports what already exists. It reacts to the environment around it. A thermostat, however, changes the environment. As believers, God has given us authority to speak his word into situations and create an atmosphere of faith rather than fear wow y'all gotta buy this book because just that's just one of the hunk of good nuggets that's in this thing on amazon scan it you guys scan that barcode and and buy this book because it it's it's amazing i'm not kidding this is this is something you just keep you it's like a go-to guide um anyway so how would you elaborate on that be a thermostat not a thermometer where were you oh thank you holy spirit thank you holy spirit where were you at in your head space when you wrote that because he's saying to me that you were in a space and not a very good space when you penned or wrote uh that or it you know, we can write things on our heart, right? And on our head, and then later, or we can write them down and later they surface. And so where were you in your space, in your head and in your heart when you wrote that? When I wrote this, I was, again, the mobility is, The thing that I'm going through. When I wrote this, I was thinking about my knees. After the spinal injury, then the knees started acting up and I'm like, God, come on. Every morning, every morning I confess, I anoint my knees and I confess that every tendon, every ligament, every nerve, every cartilage, the joints, the fluid that's supposed to be there is restored in the name of Jesus. But every morning I get up, I see that the knees hurt. So what I meant was, instead of me accepting what's going on, I'm gonna set it. I'm gonna be that thermostat and I'm gonna say my knees are healed and I don't care what the devil tries to show me, I'm standing on, my knees are healed. I don't care how many times they buckle, my knees are healed and I am not going to give up on that. So, you know, and it's times where sometimes I don't even feel like getting out of bed, But I have to stand on God. My knee is here. And this is what I say to people. I say this to a lot of people. Some people look at him like I'm crazy. I'll say, if God can call Lazarus from the dead, he can restore everything in my knees. So that's how I am the thermostat. I'm sitting in the environment. I'm not adapting to it. I'm not. I'm saying it. I'm telling the devil. hey this mountain the knee problem you gotta go my God isn't healer so that's where i was and everything that God i'm going through I have to stand i'm not giving into anything i'm not giving into uh compromising my relationship with God. I'm the thermostat. I'm not the thermometer. I'm the head and not the tail. I am victorious. So that's where I was when I wrote this. I want people to know you don't have to accept that. Change your environment. Change the situation. Start speaking life into your situation. So that's why I wrote that part. That's right. And line up your situation and your current circumstances with the word of God. What does God say? By his stripes, ye were healed. It's past tense. It's already been done. The work's already been done. You just have to believe it to receive it, to become it. Believe it, receive it, become it. And you have to walk in the knowing that God's got the situation. And sometimes we have to go through stuff. And sometimes we try to pray away things that God is using to cultivate us, to prune us, to move us, to get the weeds out of our spiritual garden. And sometimes we have to walk through certain things and certain seasons and certain crushing seasons. But it's because we, so we can be awakened to who our God is. Our God is the God of the storm. Our God is the God of peace. Our God is the healer. Our God sent his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. We have a father that loved us so much he gave his only son to die for us. A sinner like me. and so when we look at our god and we know what god's done and what he's already brought us through then we realize he will never leave us he will never forsake us he is with us but do we see him do we see him in the small details you know do we look for him do we get alone to be with him or do we let our storm speak louder than god's voice Do we let our afflicted state speak louder than what God says? Whose truth are you going to believe? Are you going to believe the devil's truth or are you going to believe God's truth? It's time today for those of you that are listening that you lay that cancer at the altar, that you lay that depression and that addiction at the altar and you say, heal me, God. I know I've been healed. It's already been done. And today's the day you believe it and you receive it and you walk in it. And you got, and also you have to, stand firm and command your situation to come in line with the word of God. Like you said, cancer, if you have cancer, stand firm and let the devil know that the Bible says that the word says that by your stripes, you are healed. Stand firm and tell him to come in line with the word of God. If it's going contrary to the word of God, then you got to correct it. Yes. Yes. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. And today we, Let me see. I got my paper clip and I'm trying to remember what side my paper clip was on. I grabbed this this morning. This was what he highlighted to me this morning. It says the bridge to your miracle, the bridge to your miracle. Scripture again, Mark eleven twenty three. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and shall not doubt in his heart. He shall have whatsoever he sayeth. Now, of course, a caveat to that is always you can't stand an unforgiveness. So make sure that you're forgiving yourselves and you're forgiving others. And we don't do that in our own strength. The Holy Spirit has to help us. Let me tell you, because there's some people it's hard. to let go of what was done to us. And so we have to ask for the strength to forgive others in the strength of God by way of the Holy spirit. And you go on to say the final bridge between an invisible promise and a visible miracle is your unwavering confession. Keep declaring what he whispered to your soul until the physical realm is forced to to echo the rhythm of heaven. Every promise from God begins in the unseen realm before it becomes visible in the natural. Faith builds a bridge between those two realities. That bridge is strengthened every time you choose to agree with God's word instead of your fears. Wow, wow, wow. That's another reason you got to grab this book, Scan the Barcode, because it's awesome. what does that bring to you now as you reflect, thank you, Holy spirit on your journey, where you were when you were sitting, knowing something was wrong. You knew it in your body. Cause I know when I herniated and I had to have back surgery, I knew something was immediately wrong. And from going to that place, um, to walking through the stages of healing, stages of grieving, grieving your old self. Thank you, Spirit. He's doing something here. Grieving your old self, yet embracing your new self. This, I don't know what this is. This is for somebody. Grieving your old self, where you were, what you'd lost, what was never, you were never going to get back. Moving to acceptance, the reality of the situation now and moving towards complete freedom and restoration. How did you transition through those stages? I tell you, I had to lean, definitely had to lean on God because Like I said, I was Miss Independent. I didn't I didn't have to depend. I didn't depend on anyone. So when I got to a point where I had to ask people to take me to the store because I couldn't drive, ask people to do this for me because I couldn't do that, that it was. It was a teaching point. It was a learning thing, because, like I said, show me that you're not by yourself. And I was always trying to do it by myself. You're not by yourself. I put people in your life for you to call on and you need to utilize. And when I never did, because if I couldn't do it, I'm going to, I see that I, I'm going to figure out how to do it. But God got me to the point. That's why I say I grieved myself. I did grieve myself, but do I grieve the old me now? No. Because if I was still the old me, I wouldn't be where I am in God today. See, God is showing me things. See, it's easy. It was easy for me. If you call me and say, stand with me and believe, I can do that. Stand all day long. But I had to stand for myself. I had to believe for myself. I have to be sensitive to God. I had to listen to God. I had to depend on people that God put in my life. I had to put that pride down and do what God wanted me to do. So now the transition of me now, everything that i have that i thought i lost i got more back because i got a real relationship with god i got a point where i get i get up five o'clock in the morning and i enjoy my time me and god and my praise and worship i didn't do that the old me was so busy i didn't make time for God the new me The new me does. And yes, mobility ain't where it's supposed to be, but it's coming. So I'm not going to accept that it never will because it is, it is. I am healed. So I thank God. I thank God. I know this may sound crazy, but I thank God for taking me through what I went through. See, I mean, I went through, it means I'm coming out of it. I'm at the very end. I'm coming out. I thank God. First, I was so mad because you did this to me, but God, I praise you for doing it, for allowing it to happen. Because I am in a relationship with you and I'm not compromising my relationship. And as far as the bridge to your miracle, you got to realize when here's your miracle, here's you and your miracle in between is everything that you speak and you stand on. And you can't say something contrary because the minute you say something against your bridge, then it starts to crumble. But you got to walk from here to there to get to your miracle. So you lay in bricks of faith. Every time you speak, God, I am healed. God, I am walking in your favor. God, I am what? Because I confess this to everyone. I'm walking better than I've ever walked before. And I'm not just talking physically. I'm talking spiritually. Better than I walked back then. I'm walking spiritually with you everywhere. better than I ever walked before. There's another brick that I'm laying. So I'm going to cost my bridge to get to my miracle because I'm standing on God's word and the devil, he comes in and tried to show you different things, but you got to put the devil in his place, right? Then you can't play with him because if you let that one thought linger, he going to add another. Now you got to deal with two thoughts. So get rid of that first thought and keep laying your bricks to build your bridge to get to your miracle and start looking at the little things that happen along the way. Because that's what I did during my mobility. I would look at me, get up real fast. And this is what I was like, God, did you see that? I know you did because you did it. And I do this every day. Something happens and people may look, oh, that's just something small. It's small to you, but it's a great thing to me. yes keep speaking keep speaking what god told you when god told me put those crutches on the altar everything went backwards but do you think I went back and got those crutches no I left them there and i'm not picking up a crutch and I have people say well maybe you need to get a cane i said well god that's crazy why would i lay the crutches on the altar and go get a cane God i'm depending on you we walking this thing together i mean i can walk with fast but i'm gonna walk it slow with you so keep confessing and keep building that bridge and get to your miracle and look at the suddenly signs and praise god along the way like i'm doing i praise God for everything like today i got up and my legs felt a whole different i said God do you see that and i said i know you did because you did it and i said you just got to keep praising god you got to keep standing and believing god you cannot sway you cannot doubt you got to see things how god says them whatever god told you created in your mind and see it just as it is and do not take load to the devil when he tried to make you see something else fix your spiritual eyes to stay on god and quit looking at natural things God has healed you god has told you that you are healed you got to stand on that i don't care what the doctor says he is the thermos he's the thermometer you're the thermostat You correct that. You set the temperature of what he said. The doctor said you sick. Then you tell him, no, I'm not sick. I'm healed because Your Word says that. If you say that you don't have God, I have more than enough. And whatever he tries to put in your mind, whatever the people try to tell you, contrary to what God told you, you change it. Like I said, you're the thermometer. You build the bridge. You speak it. You stand on the word of God. You just stand and believe. No matter what, don't give up. Keep going because you're there. You're right at that point. Do not give up. Keep going. That's right. And, you know, those storms that we walk through, they truly build our faith and they bring us to the place of the faith like Abraham and Noah. And that in that moment that we truly are walking as ambassadors of of the kingdom of God. And remember that is our home. We are seated in heavenly places. We're just here walking this earth, but we aren't of the earth. And so we are in heaven. And when we take that authority as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as children, as daughters of the Lord, as daughters of the King and sons of the King, then we are positioned from a place of victory. Victory over every situation we face. Victory is ours, but we have to, again, believe it to receive it, to become it. And we can make our illness a crutch and we can talk about it and everything we do and share about it. And. I had to make a decision that day on a park bench in Ave Maria University. I'm not Catholic, but it's where the Lord led me to. And I had to let go of that little girl that all that stuff happened to where the shame, the guilt, the fear, the regret, the self-loathing, everything was attached to her. And I had to decide the past was not going to define me any longer. All that stuff was attached to what happened to me. if i stayed in that then they won but i said no because god is victorious and i knew when i chose god and when i let the holy spirit i truly surrendered and i said i let go of that little girl i let go of the past i let go of that diagnosis and i truly embrace the healing of god And speak healing over myself and truly embrace the Holy Spirit and surrender and say, Holy Spirit, fill me up. Holy Spirit, make me, you know, fresh and new by Jesus's work done on the cross. When I receive the spirit of Jesus, the almighty God living in me, then I get transformed and I was transformed in my mind and in my heart. and that's where we're getting to that place of freedom a lot of people leave egypt but egypt is still in them bondage is still in them and and they can walk through things they can they can sadly they you know bad things have happened to good people And we live in a fallen world and bad things happen and darkness is everywhere. But we get to embrace the truth of the kingdom of God because the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are in this world. And when his Holy Spirit lives inside of us. And so that's what we need to grasp hold of is the truth of the gospel, the healing truth of the gospel, the miracles of the acts of the apostles. And Marjorie, I am here today to tell you that God has healed you by the blood of Jesus. And right now the oil is going through your body. And right now you are being completely healed and restored by the power of the almighty God, by Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. And you just believe it and you receive it. Right now, you feel the tingling in your legs. You went up your spine. Completely restored. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Completely done. No more pain. No more needing a cane. No more needing anything. May need a pen to do a new book. Wow. What story? What testimony? And I hear you, Holy Spirit. I don't know why he laid on me this morning this scripture. And I'm going to read it out of the complete Jewish Bible. And it's Isaiah twelve. And I don't know if it means anything to you per se. But on that day, you will say, I thank you, Adonai, because although you were angry at me, your anger is now turned away and you are comforting me. See, God is my salvation. I am confident and unafraid for your Adonai is my strength and my song. And he has become my salvation. Then you will joyfully draw water from the spring. springs of salvation on that day you will say give thanks to Adonai call on his name make his deeds known among the peoples declare how exalted is his name sing to Adonai for he has triumphed this is being made known throughout the earth shout and sing for joy you who live in Zion for the holy one of Israel is with you in his greatness and he put that on me this morning And you're smiling. I don't know if that has a special meaning for you, if that resonates with you. I'm not sure, but that's the scripture he gave me this morning in my download when I asked him how to prepare for this podcast. Does that mean something to you? You know, I was listening to the scripture and like I said, the old me was so busy that I neglected God. I only gave God what I wanted to give him. Instead of giving him, he gave his all. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He gave his best and I gave him mediocrity. That's why I smiled about that scripture because I'm like, God, I am so sorry that I did it. You gave your best and I gave you only what I wanted to give you when I wanted to give it to you. Yes, I showed up at church every Sunday, but was my heart really in it? No, because I had other agendas that I had to go. I wanted to do. But now, I thank you, God, that you have forgiven me and that I'm on the right track and I have a relationship with you. And I know that you love me. I've always known that you love me, but I'm taking it serious because he means everything to me. And like I said, I'm not compromising my relationship with God for nobody. If that means that you have to leave me and never talk to me again, oh, well, so be it. I'm not compromising because God has done everything Too much for me. He done things for me that I didn't even deserve, but he did it. He kept me when I was still giving him mediocre. He kept me from wrecking my car when I was going to Chattanooga State, when I was falling and getting up and running around for air. He kept me and I still didn't give him what he deserved. So, yeah, that scripture right there is it. I'm glad you read that because I realized that God, like I said, I'm sorry. Forgive me. I have it together now. And it's not because of what happened to me. It's because I'm good now, but I still want my relationship with God. It's not that I'm getting better and I'm going to slack off from God. No, I'm getting stronger with God because I love the Lord and I'm not turning my back on him ever again. And I'm not allowing people to make me turn my back on him. And I'm not allowing people to make me compromise what I say and how I feel. Because God has done too much for me. He's done too much for my family. He's done too much for my children. And I will not take low of that. I will not put him on the back burner when he's done so much. He is so powerful. The scripture that allows me says that at the name of Jesus, everything in heaven and on earth and above the earth, below the earth has to bow. Yes. That's a powerful name. Why would I trade that name, the name Jesus for a person? i'm not doing it that's right so i thank you for reading that scripture i i really thank you for reading that scripture well that's him he gets all that glory and and i'm like okay lord um now um as we we go to conclude um the interview there is a question my husband always likes for me to ask um and i'm not in my office to cheat to look at it but it it says he is there anything After the book was published, us as authors can go, well, I should have put that in or maybe I should have done that differently. Is there anything that you wanted to put in the book that you didn't put in the book? Or in hindsight, is there anything you would change? Anything that you want to add in closing about the book? You know, I look at the book, everything I want in this book. It's what I was going through. I shared everything I was going through, how I was going through it. So everything that is in this book, I put in this book. Now, am I going to do another book? That's up to God. Because there's a lot of things that I still, I'm still doing. And I'm still, you know, God is still showing me things. I even had, there was a book that I thought about writing. He kept me one day from paralysis. I'm throwing that up there, but Everything I wanted in this Marjory's Fire Foundation devotion is what I needed to have in at this moment. So I don't, I looked through it. I saw my testimony. I want to show people that God is real. I want to connect them to a real story. I mean, you read the stories in the Bible, but it's something when you can read a real testimony or a real story about a person that's here and now. So I put my testimony and let you know that this is what I went through. And this is what God did. And this is what God is doing. And this is how God can do you the same way. So I have everything I want in this book. Yes. Yes, that's powerful. And I think people do forget that the Bible. is written by you know it's about real people and things that they went through and calling out to God I mean it it's the you know uh breath of God the inspired Word of God and it's living and it's everything and of course we know Jesus was the Living Word but it's real people like like go that went through stuff and You know, look at David in the Psalms crying out to God. And there's so much of that in the Psalms of people during their darkest times crying out to God. Help me, God. Help me, God. And I think that sometimes we walk through situations like there's parents that come to me and I've heard other evangelists and folks speak of this. And they'll say that, you know, can you pray that my child doesn't go to jail? And I say, well, how about we pray God's will? Because if God's will is for that child to go to jail to keep them from, you know, dying on the street, then that may be God's will. So we just want God's will in this situation. And a lot of times I think that we try to pray away God's will or not accept his will. Or are we, like you said, the God of self, the eyes, you know, We can be very selfish and put ourselves on the throne instead of us letting go and letting God and getting ourselves off the throne and putting God on the throne. And so those are things that I just keep thinking about with this book. And again, scan the barcode. It takes you right to Marjorie's book. And Marjorie, I just want to thank you so much for your time, for the nuggets of wisdom gleaned. I want to thank you for your yes and everything that you're doing for the kingdom of God. And may God continue to bless you. May he continue to keep you. May he continue to watch over you. And may he continue to speak into your situation and breathe life into new books and new endeavors that he has for you. And I just thank you. I thank you so much again. I thank you for your family. I thank you for your covering, you know, from Apostle Flanders covering and our ministry and everything that we do. And I just, I just thank you, mighty woman of God. And, and again, scan the barcode, purchase Marjorie's book, Marjorie, take care and God bless. God bless you. wow wow wow let me put this back up again this is part of our author uh series there you can scan that barcode that'll take you to her book again um this is part of our Reflective Hour and that is Marjorie Flanders and wow what a story what a testimony And we just thank you. I thank you for watching this program, this interview. I thank you for sharing it, liking, subscribing. Follow us on our various YouTube channels, Reflective Hour with Tammy Toney-Butler and the Reflective Spaces Ministry Podcast. I also want to invite you, if you're in the Fort Myers area or if you are... um you know close and you want to come we are having i'm having a free healing ministry um a healing meeting as part of uh the healing is your portion tour um that god has placed on my heart to do it is free for those that want to attend we are capping at at sixty because it needs to stay uh uh, an intimate circle. It is a prophetic, uh, uh, move of God. It is a prophetic healing moment. It's a time of fellowship. It is a time of declaration. It is a time of healing. It is a time of restoration and you may come one way, but I'm telling you what you're going to leave different. And so make sure that you, you RSVP and register for that. It is going to be at the, uh, bell tower, um, October the seventh in Fort Myers, Florida. And so make sure that you tune in, make sure that you come and be a part of that healing meeting, healing service. It is a dinner. It's going to start around five p.m. And we have to be out of there by ten p.m. So so we'll we'll go. And I also have a wonderful worship leader that is going to be with us. And that is Michelle. Many of you know her from OGMM Ministries. And she is going to be leading worship. And I thank you for all of the Lions Park crew who are going to be helping and volunteering. And remember, if you're in the Fort Myers area and you want to serve, every Tuesday, Faith Defenders with Angelica, they're out there feeding folks in the park. Ocean's Church and them do it, I think, on Fridays in that group. And Angelica and them are out there with Steve and the gang, Buffalo and all the gang, Abby and everybody. I know I'm missing some folks, but they are all out there serving up love, serving up God's word and just really, really taking care of, I call it the church in Lyons Park. And that is in Fort Myers, Florida. And that's on Tuesdays at three thirty. So if you want to come out and you want to serve, we always can use help. So make sure you do that. Again, I just want to thank everybody for tuning in. God bless you. God keep you. May his light shine upon you and go. And remember, you've been healed. You've been restored. Believe it, receive it, and become it. Believe it, receive it, and become it. And that's Reflective Hour. I'm Tammy Toney-Butler, Evangelist and your Host. God bless you. God keep you.