Soul Food
Soul Food
Broken Beyond Repair (Part 4)
What if society deems you beyond redemption but your heart believes otherwise? Meet Ashley and Anthony, two inspiring individuals who defy the odds by rewriting the narrative of their lives. They faced harrowing challenges, from addiction to tumultuous family dynamics, yet found hope and healing in the most unexpected of places. Their journey is a powerful reminder that transformation is possible through faith in God, even when the world seems stacked against you.
Their partnership illustrates how love and faith can serve as catalysts for profound change, encouraging us all to reconsider what it means to be "Broken Beyond Repair." As they navigated the rocky terrain of addiction and broken relationships, the sanctuary of help at the Universal Church became pivotal. Through forgiveness and openness, they rebuilt family bonds and discovered unexpected personal growth. Their story is a beacon of hope for anyone who has ever felt judged or marginalized, proving that faith, acceptance, and determination can lead to a fulfilling and peaceful life.
It's time for Soul Food Podcast.
Speaker 2:Broken Beyond Repair. The untold stories of those who were once broken.
Speaker 3:Today's episode will shock you Because, bishop David, when we see people that have problems, they still have strength to solve. I mean natural problems, because just like the sun shines for everybody, the rain falls for everybody. Everybody in life faces problems. However, there are situations that even the human being, like the doctors, the counselors, physicians they say no way this person cannot recover. Doctors say he cannot make it. Parents say no way to change my children. These are the ones that are considered to be broken beyond repair.
Speaker 4:And you know, there are people, some people, who've been to prison, been involved in gangs, involved in drugs. It's like they've been given many chances to change. They keep going back to the same thing. There are certain people that that it's like they receive a label of hopeless. You know the this person is never going to change. They've been given chances, they, they. They don't take those chances, they're not trying to change their life and in a situation like this, only God can change this person.
Speaker 3:Only he can change and he is the one that is going to change. If you feel like you are broken beyond repair, you are watching me and you say no ways. My life can never change. I have tried again and again changed. I have tried again and again. Nothing changed. Let me prove it to you through the story of Ashley and Anthony.
Speaker 5:How are you Now? You are okay. Yes, now we're fine, but in the beginning we had a very difficult relationship. You know, we both came from broken homes and we had generational curses where we both were addicted. I can speak for myself, bishop as a very young age I had suffered from addiction. My mother, she was addicted my grandfather and so Let me ask you something.
Speaker 3:So when you met Anthony, your, your life, your family was already broken it was completely broken.
Speaker 5:Yes, okay.
Speaker 3:So, anthony, you, you met a broken girl broken boy met broken girl so you could, could not repair her, she could not repair you.
Speaker 6:No, we were both beyond repairable. You know, bishop, it was a yeah, I was a mess, she was a mess and it was just. We were just, all you know, lost in our addiction, and that's how we met. Actually, it was in our addiction.
Speaker 3:Okay, let me do something. Bishop david, you are going to speak to the broken boy okay broken girl. You are saying that your family, parents, grandparents, the family was completely broken correct bishop what happened?
Speaker 5:So my grandfather had an affair. He cheated on my grandmother. That led to problems similar with my mother. So my mother, she had problems with my father. They separated, she got really addicted to drugs, along with my uncles and also my grandfather, so they were really heavily into the drugs, and also my grandfather, so they were really heavily into the drugs.
Speaker 5:And so whenever you know as growing up in that type of environment, I had became addicted very young, at the age of nine, I had an addiction marijuana addiction and so then you know, I was already going through a lot of problems and I had gotten into a relationship at a very young age, already going through a lot of problems and I had gotten into a relationship at a very young age. I was about, I'd say, 15. I thought that going getting into a relationship, bishop, that was going to help me. I had so much anger, so much hate, resentment, because of the addicted, the addiction that consumed my family, my mother. She was never home, she left us with our grandparents. You know, it was just a lot of fighting. Everybody was in and out of the home, so I was already used to that type of lifestyle.
Speaker 3:So you were born, you grew up in that lifestyle. Did you want to be different from?
Speaker 5:your mom. I did Bishop I wanted. I hated the thought of like I hated drugs. I hated Bishop I wanted. I hated the thought of like I hated drugs. I hated that environment. I promised myself that whenever I had children, that I was going to be nothing like that Bishop.
Speaker 5:And so what happened was I had gotten in a relationship, I had children, and in the beginning it was okay. It was okay, I was in that relationship. We started to have problems. We started to have fights, started to have problems, we started to have fights. I didn't understand why we couldn't even be in the same room with each other, but yet when we were far apart, you know, we would, you know, call each other, check up on each other. It was really difficult. Bishop and I, you know, we tried to make it work. 14 years in a relationship, five children, and we tried throughout all that time. It was very difficult. I had developed into even a stronger addiction during that time, but it was just hard. So when I developed into that, I started using crystal meth. And when I started using that drug, bishop, I realized that I had become just like my mother Everything that I hated about her, everything that I disliked about the family I had brought it to my home.
Speaker 3:So you did not want to be like her. You hated the way your mother was. She was never there for the family, for you, correct? Now that you had five kids, you found yourself in your mom's shoes, exactly in her shoes, doing the same thing, exactly. And you know, many people say curses are not real, curses do not exist. This is fiction. But what shall we say about this situation? She just became her mom.
Speaker 4:She was doing something that she hated. Why would you do that? Why would you repeat a behavior that you hated as you were growing up? You despised it, but, ash, because she was under a curse, she couldn't help it. It was stronger than her.
Speaker 3:Can I ask?
Speaker 4:Anthony, anthony, so how was your childhood?
Speaker 6:So my childhood was similar to hers. You know I was raised in a broken home. You know my mom, my dad, was in and out of prison. You know, addicted to drugs also. And uh, I remember, you know, growing up as a kid I used to say the same thing. You know, like ashley, you know I didn't want to be like my dad. I I, you know, I despised my dad growing up as a kid. I needed my dad. He wasn't there, he was in and out of prison. I used to tell people up until maybe a couple years ago, I would always say it's not a curse, like Bishop said, it doesn't exist. So I always used to say well, the things that I did growing up was because I wanted to do it. The choices I made as a kid to where I'm at now is because I wanted to do it. I chose to do drugs. I chose to go in.
Speaker 4:What did you do? What did you get involved in?
Speaker 6:uh, I was involved, you have you have a number of tattoos yeah, I've been uh, in and out of prison. You know um ran around the streets running around gang members and you know like it just in and out of drugs and carrying how many times in prison? Uh, yeah, man bishop, maybe about five times, five times yeah, what was the longest sentence?
Speaker 6:uh, it was three years, three years, three years, yeah, and just up until recently too. You know, I just came home in 2019, 19, and I was looking at a long stretch, and god also helped us out through that situation too. So, but, yeah, every uh, I remember telling you know, like everything that I did, I wanted to do and that's what you said, yeah. Yeah, you know, like you know, I didn't want to be like my dad, and yet here I was, exactly like my dad.
Speaker 4:Exactly, and so I wouldn't.
Speaker 6:The drugs, the prison not being there for your kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so we see that it's something stronger than a person. It's like somebody that has this addiction of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes. A person wakes up and says, no, last night was the last time. Right, I'm not going to use it anymore. It is harming myself, my family, right?
Speaker 6:Yes.
Speaker 3:I want to stop. It's early in the morning, before 12 noon, he's already drinking. He's already using another drug, marijuana. He also has crystal meth, yes, so it's something stronger than you.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I lost a lot to the drug. I was in a 10-year relationship as well my first, my three oldest and it was so bad, bishop, that I chose the drug over my child, over my children. You know, I'm barely starting a a relationship with my oldest son, who's 22 now, and so, like I'm you know you never saw him growing up.
Speaker 6:No, I was no, um, I was, I said, in and out of prison through his life and even when I was given the opportunity to see him, I chose to go and get high. You know, there was a time where he came over to his aunt's house and I was there and you know the aunt, we were in addiction together as well. And so he came over and and you know he wanted to play football. You know he had the ball and everything and I was in the room just getting high, getting high, and time just went by to where it was daytime. When I finally come out of the room, it's nighttime. You know, my son's nowhere to be found and at that point, like, honestly, I, I did what didn't matter, I just wanted to get high. That's how.
Speaker 3:So you were indeed broken beyond repair.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I was one of the ones.
Speaker 3:You used everything.
Speaker 6:My addiction when I was younger started out with drinking and marijuana, and then it got into meth and that was just my drug of choice. After that there was nothing else.
Speaker 4:I just just crystal a lot of people who who get hooked on crystal meth. They say it's just like a monster, it just takes over your life.
Speaker 6:Yeah it's uh, it's pretty crazy, like you don't have no feeling. You don't have no feeling, you don't have no emotion, and to me that's what made it kind of dangerous. And now I look back, you know to where, like using, like I know that if I ever like there's no if I ever, because I'm done. But, it's just so scary because of things that a person can do when you're addicted. There's no emotion? There's no. You know, you can commit, do anything.
Speaker 4:Bishop, there are a lot of people who say you know, in these rehab centers and so forth, they say that you can never be free from an addiction. You're always a recovering addict. But we don't believe that Because if God heals, you can make per a person into a new person, so that you're no longer an addict anymore. You don't have to be afraid to go back. You don't fall back.
Speaker 3:There is no relapsing, because if the son of god sets you free, you are free. Indeed, you are not recovering, you are free. He does not take the substances away from you, friendship gangs and leave the crave in your system. No, the first place where god works is inside of a person. Once you are free, completely free in your mind, that means your spirit. So then you are going to be free.
Speaker 3:Indeed, it's like somebody that wants to lose weight and this person is in a diet program. What's the point to avoid the food that you like if you are not doing the diet here in your brain? So God works inside of you, your spirit. Before you do the diet program, you have to conceive the thought that you want to lose weight and you are going to do it, but the person has no strength to do so. There the power of god comes. Like he knew his son was waiting for him, but he wasn't inside of the room, getting high, using drugs, destroying the family, yes, but why did he stop for a person that never had this problem? He is going to charge you and he said no, you don't want, you don't want, you don't change, because you don't want right can I?
Speaker 5:yes, I'm gonna add to that, pastor, bishop, excuse me, um, so that's what I used to say before. I would always tell my mother and I would always tell my family, like I said, I have uncles, um, now my, you know nieces, nephews, because my whole family, from the oldest to the very not the very, but the teenage, very, but the teenage they're addicted and so, and I would always say that I would say, oh, a person, you know, they only do what they want to do. If you know and I would tell, express that to my mother you know you choose the drug over us. You know you never want to spend time with us, it's always the drug. And you can decide to be with us, but you don't. So, and you can decide to be with us, but you don't.
Speaker 5:So there was a lot of hate and resentment as I experienced that addiction. Bishop, I also had that. I understood. I understood because as much as I wanted to quit, I could not. I would tell myself today is going to be the last day, I'm not going to do this anymore. And I couldn't. You know, I couldn't overcome it until, you know, until I came to the church.
Speaker 3:Okay, In a few, they are going to tell us more about their story. In a few, you are going to hear more about their story, but I want you to understand understand something they were broken, but now God repaired their lives. Their lives are completely restored. Stay tuned, watch us. The episode today is very deep, is very strong.
Speaker 2:Do you feel broken and helpless? Join now the Broken Beyond Repair Challenge and begin to see great changes in your life. Repair challenge and begin to see great changes in your life. Call now at 1-888-332-4141 or text the word challenge to 1-888-312-4141.
Speaker 1:Have you listened to our new podcast called Soul Food? Are you ready to fill your soul with what it needs? Look no further. Bishop Barrett Joshua's Soul Food Podcast is here to satisfy your spiritual hunger, no matter your age or background. This podcast is for everyone, no matter where you are at home, at work or on the go. You can listen anytime to these engaging messages of faith, from testimonies and real-life stories to musical entertainment. Feed your soul with more than just physical sustenance, but with solid spiritual food. Tune in today on our platforms like Spotify, apple Podcasts, google Podcasts and much more. It's time for some soul food. Tune in today.
Speaker 3:You can send me a text message if you want to do the challenge. Broken Beyond Repair. It's a challenge, an episode that brings you real story, real people. But also we challenge you to change the situation. If you say I am broken beyond repair and you do not believe that there is a way out, you don't believe that your life can change, you are going to call this number or you are going to send the text, the number for the call 1-888-332-4141. If you accept, you take the challenge, I, you, god, is going to change and repair your life. For the text it is there 1-888-312-4141. One day, ashley and Anthony, they did accept the challenge to change their lives. Anthony, I have a question for you. Yes, bishop, you said that your father was in and out of jail.
Speaker 6:Yes.
Speaker 3:As a kid. Did you ever go to prison to visit?
Speaker 6:him. Yeah, I remember going one time when I was a little kid, yeah, to visit him.
Speaker 3:So then you saw your father in prison. Did you ever imagine one day he was going to be on the bus?
Speaker 6:No, no, like I said, I didn't want to be like that. I didn't want to. You know like my dad wasn't the best dad. You know Like he struggled with addiction as well, and so I remember, just like Ashley. You know like I didn't want to be like that and I ended up just like that first time on chains, go inside of prison.
Speaker 3:What came to your mind?
Speaker 6:uh, the first time before I actually went to prison I've been to jail you know, probably about two or three times.
Speaker 6:So I was kind of used to like, okay, I knew how it kind of was, I thought I had a an idea of it. But when I got there I was like, okay, it's different. I'm a small person, you know everybody's big and you know you just, uh, you go to reception first and so, like it's, it was different. You know, like it kind of nervousness and then, um, you know that just for a couple of days and then that was over, you know when you left prison for the first time, did you promise yourself I'll never go back.
Speaker 6:I'll never go back, even to county jail, bishop I, it was the same. I'll never go back. Nope, you know, that's where a lot of people actually read the bible, you know, and a lot of people, you know. You got a lot of people prayer circles and you know like and I was right there too you know, in the prayers, man, god, I'm never coming back.
Speaker 6:Just let everything go good, I'll never come back. I couldn't last out without doing a violation. I mean I wouldn't even go to check in to parole or probation violations that you committed in order to be arrested they were all gun charges.
Speaker 6:Gun charges, uh, three of them three. Three of them drug charges. Uh, my violations are like back back then, before you would go back to prison for a violation which now you just go, you can do them in county jail, but back then I would. I would, because I would never go check in with parole right when I got home I would go straight back to drugs, straight back and just run them up until I didn't see your parole officer.
Speaker 6:No, no, uh, there was one time actually that I had just hit rock bottom and I remember going in and telling them like look at, um, that was actually the first time that I had went to check in. Uh, and I did all right, for a month, you know, I went to check in. I had, within 24 hours, went to check in, gave me a whole, you know, two weeks because I was on high control so I had to go and see him every two weeks. Didn't do that.
Speaker 4:I, um, I just checked was evilly.
Speaker 6:Everyone in your family the same as you uh, I have cousins, yeah, that, um that brothers, sisters my yeah, well, both of my sisters, yeah, how they're gonna kill me for this they, they they've been arrested and yeah, we kind of follow the same foot so did your family look at you as, as as a loser?
Speaker 6:uh, honestly like now troublemaker yeah, and like I, I worried my parents the most. You know, like I mean now you know my dad, you know he's my hero. My dad is also a believer in god, he's christian, goes to church, um, you know. And so, like my mom, you know she's she's, I love my mom and they, they worried about me the most. You know. Uh, there was times, you know, my mom would tell me, you know, like even tell ashley, oh thank you know.
Speaker 6:Thank god that you know he met you and you know he's serving god now and doing this because my mom was so worried to answer the phone when the area code calling her was a fresno area code. She was afraid. Like you know, I'm gonna get the news. My son is dead, you know, or just it was bad. So yeah, it was.
Speaker 3:It was pretty bad actually the worst moment you're going to. You're going to say the whole life the worst moment so, if I may ask, the worst moment of your life, so every moment in your life the worst moment in my life, bishop, was when I had already established a relationship with anthony.
Speaker 5:I was. I met him. I was already at my my lowest point. I got in a relationship with him not intentionally, but it was met him. I was already at my my lowest point. I got in a relationship with him, not intentionally, but it was just. You know, I had already gotten out of relationship for 14 years. I had my children, as I explained earlier. I was broken. I was broken, um, I had nothing, and so we would get high together and we developed a relationship.
Speaker 5:Um, that was the lowest point of my life, because I had wanted to quit. I couldn't. You know, I already had this depression, this anxieties. I had all this anger, suicidal thoughts, because I would think that if my life was this bad, that obviously God wasn't hearing my prayers, I would pray and I would say please take me. I don't want to live this life, no more. I'm tired. You know, I'm tired. If this is how I have to live, live, then let my kids go with their father, because this is not what I want anymore. I'm just like my mother. I am trying everything I can, with all the strength that I have and I cannot move forward. I explained that to him that I was. You know, that eventually I was going to quit doing drugs.
Speaker 5:We started to get in this relationship. He started to. I would hear things, you know, I would see. People would tell me that I was high, you know, that I needed to go to sleep. He would think that I was lying and you know, it was just all of this chaos.
Speaker 5:At that moment in time. It had just all came down, bishop, and even to the point where he would you know, he would black out and he wouldn't remember what he was doing. He would become aggressive. I would have bruises, I would have pieces of my skin, you know, torn off, chunks of hair, because it was like if I was fighting the spiritual battle, bishop, with this demonic force. But I didn't know at the time what it was that I was facing. So I was literally in my home, afraid to close my eyes to go to sleep. I was afraid to tell my family because when he would come from not being blacked out, you know he would come to, he wouldn't remember anything and I would just I didn't know what to do. So that was the lowest point in my life was that moment there, that dark place where I just felt like there was no way out.
Speaker 3:When you met Anthony, did you know his background?
Speaker 5:I, you know, I, like I explained earlier, bishop bishop, we come from the same background, so it at that point didn't really matter because I didn't know how, how much it would affect him later you know, this is what emotion does, because she came from a broken home and met somebody that was even worse than her.
Speaker 3:But when a person does not use the mind that is the spirit, the power of thinking just use the heart. They say this is life, this is my lifestyle, I am like this, he is also like this. So let us be together, not realizing that things always get worse.
Speaker 4:I think they started a relationship just because they were getting high together. Yes, and you know, you get to know someone and there's emotions and a lot of times people don't use their mind and they get into a relationship without thinking that's right, just in emotion.
Speaker 3:Yes, question question who came into church first?
Speaker 5:she did I came to church for special and it was around that time, that dark moment there, um, I couldn't seek help from anyone. I had an aunt who, um, who also I used to get high with and um, but she used to. She was clean for a certain amount of time and she always would tell me about this church, you know, always about the universal church, and they can help me. And I would always brush it off because I was so angry. You know, I was so angry, but I knew that I needed help. So she invited me and, because of everything I was going through, she's like, oh my goodness, you need to go to this or someone. You know they'll, they'll help you there, they'll get you the help that you need.
Speaker 5:And I was going through she's like, oh my goodness, you need to go to this or someone you know they'll, they'll help you there, they'll get you the help that you need. And I was like, well, nobody believes me, they're going to think that you know my boyfriend, he's abusing me, they're going to take away my children. You know, it was just so much chaos, bishop. So I decided, you know, to go, and I remember going and getting high before I went to church because I had this, this anxiety inside of me, like don't go, don't go, but a part of me needed to go. So I was fighting this battle, this struggle to go to the church. So she picked me up, she took me to the church, bishop, and when she did, I remember going into the church and my body immediately became hot. I was hot and I was trying to find a way to get out of the church. But during that time it had just barely the church had. The service had ended and people were coming out, and so I had gotten lost in the crowd and I was, like you know, so many doubts came to my mind. You know, nobody's going to understand me, all these things to make me leave.
Speaker 5:And on my way out, bishop, a pastor's wife came out and she it's like she noticed me out of the whole crowd. She noticed me that I needed help or something, bishop, and she came to me and she I remember her telling me you know, do you need prayer? Do you know? Let us help you. And I looked at her and I just broke down and cried, bishop, because, like she, if she wouldn't have stopped me at that moment, I would have walked out, but I, I didn't she. I went with her and I spoke with the pastor and he explained to me about this challenge. You know, he was telling me about this amazing God that can transform my life. And if I would, you know, um, if I believed and I would trust. At that point I was like you know what? What else do I have to lose? I've already lost everything. I've lost my dignity, I've lost myself, I've lost my family, I've lost everything. So if this God is real that you're talking about, then let's see in that moment, she, she made a challenge with you.
Speaker 3:Yes, that was the moment of the challenge. Yes, and you did accept the challenge. Yes, and you did accept that challenge. I did, bishop.
Speaker 5:I accept that challenge and I went with all of my strength. You know, as it was, there was days that I it was hard for me to get up, days that I mean it was a hundred and something degrees and I would walk and I would go because I had to do my. I gave my word and if that's what was going to change my life, you know, because there was nothing else that was, you know, the drugs wasn't, weren't doing it for me, the relationships that I was in wasn't helping me. You know, um, friends, family that were there that are trying to it, nothing was helping me. All the programs that they want to give to help, they don't help. At the end of the day, you still feel empty, you still feel angry, you still feel lost, and so if this is what it was going to take, then I was going to do everything that I could to, to see if it was going to work, and if it wasn't, well then I was going to die.
Speaker 3:But at that point, what did I have to lose? Okay, anthony, yes, how? How long after she came, you also came, uh it was about a week about a week.
Speaker 2:She didn't let me maybe yeah, about two weeks.
Speaker 6:Uh, I wanted to see her and she was like nope, you know, you can't see me and you know, I was just like man. So one day she called and she came over to her aunt's that which the one that led her to and, um, she's like oh, if you know, I'm over here. So I came over there and immediately like, and I remember I was just like there was something about her that looked different. Remember, I was just like there was something about her that looked different, like she was just like I don't know her. Everything just looked different. I knew like she was different, you know. And uh, she was telling me about the church and like, if you know, if you wanted to continue to see me, then you know, you got to come to church, bishop, I was a mess. I, you know, I would run the streets house to house.
Speaker 6:I, you know, didn't shower yeah, and I didn't shower, and so you know I ended up going to the church, like you said, god says come as you are. So I went as I was and uh, you know yeah, so then I started going, but it wasn't up until not too long We've been in the church for what's going on seven years Going on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Well, when you came the way you were, we see the tattoos. Yes, If you can, please close your eyes you have tattoos Even on his eyelids. Yes, the eyelids. We see eyelids tattoos over there, so that was the smile for for me, for me yeah, okay, close your eyes again.
Speaker 3:Let me read this mile for me. See the tattoos over there your neck as well. Yeah, so, so your body covered with tattoos. Yeah, you had many days without showering when you came. Question did anybody criticize you or charge you for these tattoos for days? Because you were smelling when you came? No, in the church no like not in the church oh, out in the you know when you first came, when you first came to church, the first day you came to church, did anybody george, you could?
Speaker 6:no, no, no one judged me, no one criticized me. Uh, the pastors were nice. Um, we even had the helpers, you know, they would come in because they could relate. So it was pretty good that I went, because at that time the assistant, you know, he had been through what I had been through, and so I got to, you know, speaking with him.
Speaker 3:I'm asking this question, bishop David, because in many churches people like him cannot come, cannot go.
Speaker 4:There are churches that will tell people you know, go home and you know, change your clothes. You can't come in like this. You know that's not appropriate.
Speaker 6:Yeah, well, you know it's funny because during the time when we started remember, we actually went to this church.
Speaker 5:We tried one church and we went the way we were. It was the best that we had at the time, bishop Right, and it was not appropriate maybe, but it was the best that we had. And we went, really trying to go, and we were criticized so bad yeah, we walked in. They looked at us like if we were disgusting and they went amongst themselves the congregation and they neglected us. They totally made us feel uncomfortable and I was like, wow, if this is what church is you know, then we don't need this, because it was awful.
Speaker 6:The way they made us feel was like and just like how they looked at me, and just you know.
Speaker 5:It just made us feel so. We were feeling bad already, you know. And then for someone to make us feel that way, it was just so a little, it was a little bit harder, but we had to go through.
Speaker 3:We went through in order for us to be open okay, you are watching me right now and you say I want to go to your church. Can I come? That's my answer come as you are. There is no dress cold in this church. Come as you are, with the clothing, the outfit that you have. Come as you are and the lord will transform your life, because the way you see them uh, well dressed, a beautiful couple today was not the way they came. But we believe in change, we believe that god can repair. Did God repair your lives? Oh, beyond repair, bishop.
Speaker 5:Where I'm at today I could have never imagined. If you would have told me, you know, six, seven years ago, this is where I would be. I would never believe you. I would ask you how is that possible? And he has, he has. I am not the person that I am before.
Speaker 5:Our marriage is actually better. We can communicate. You know it's a work in progress. It's not perfect. You know. We all have our issues, but, you know, even with my kids, even Bishop, so much God has restored our life that we, the father of my children, I could not stand him, Bishop. I cursed him. I could not stand this man. But along the way we now I forgave him and we have like the best relationship we co-parent we have. We can speak to our you know, the exes in our lives, openly, have conversations with them. They're involved in, you know, in our family. So it's not just my husband and I and our children, but the parents of the children also. So that was a blessing to be able to have them involved in our lives. You know our families, um, god's just done so many amazing things.
Speaker 6:Bishop, I would keep you here all day if I had to explain I don't know how much time you got anthony, your turn did god repair your life yes, from where I was to where I'm at now, like yes, by far, I mean I'm not perfect, you know like, but uh, I'm get not getting there, but I'm doing a lot way better.
Speaker 4:Like there's no, I got meat you know, uh, you know, before you were really skinny oh man, you like you touched me here.
Speaker 6:You're just immediately touching my rib. You know, you slap me in my face, you're gonna break my cheek you know, like I just it was, it was bad, yeah, so yeah, I mean I'm to. Where I'm at now is just that's only God. Yeah, that yeah yeah, there's some other bad ones yeah, I had glue.
Speaker 3:You were really broken.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I was man, I had glue holding me together see, that's you hit me in my cheek and yeah, there that went so, but now god did repair.
Speaker 3:How do you feel inside?
Speaker 6:you know, honestly, bishop, um, it took me a long. Like I said, we've been in the church for a while, but I never decided to make the choice to, like you know what I gotta just let go and let god, I uh, recently we had went through something. And you know, now, just to get here, I flying is not my thing, I'm. I was so afraid of it. And, um, you know, like I said, we just recently went through something and God, I mean, he did something amazing. You know to where. I just thought I was gonna lose my mom, I was gonna not, you know, make it either. And, uh, I decided, like God, if you can get me through this, get my mama through this, I have nothing else to go on. I have to trust you.
Speaker 2:So magnify yourself. Yeah, I just put everything.
Speaker 6:And he just it, just yeah, and I'm here, my mom's home, you know, and just getting on the plane I didn't have no fear.
Speaker 3:I feel great. I feel great. I feel great. I feel you are talking about your relationship with god.
Speaker 6:Yes, it's different, because before you did not have this no distrust no I, I, I wanted to do what I wanted to do and that's what messed up everything you know. But now it's like I don't, I just I'm I, you know. I told her like, whatever we do here, I hope that it can help people you know the way god helped me and I, I you know, like everybody that's watching this like we were broken beyond repair.
Speaker 6:So you know, don't think that you're there's no help, there's's help, god will help you. You just got to let him, you got to trust him and do your part. And that's where I'm at now, like I feel so good inside, like I'm ready to just see what else you know. But give me some more time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will Ashley.
Speaker 5:Who is?
Speaker 3:Ashley today.
Speaker 5:Oh, bishop, today I'm free, bishop, I'm free. I'm free, I'm myself. You know, I'm a person I never thought I would be. I've come so far. You know, I have all this joy, this happiness, this love, this love, bishop, that I've never had before, this love that I have for people you know, and and mercy, and it's just. I want to help so many people, bishop, and I never had that before before I would. I didn't even want you to look at me because you know I it was just awful, I had, it was just awful Bishop. But I am NOT that person anymore and I just want to do God's will and I just want him to, to use me and to you know, to help other people that are going through the same thing I want you to challenge this person.
Speaker 3:The other ashley's over there are the antonys over there that are having the same exact lifestyle you had. I remember you saying that that wife of the pastor challenged you when you were leaving the church. You did take the challenge. Now you are here. What do you say to others over there?
Speaker 5:Bishop, what I say to others is you who are out there, who are suffering, who think that there's no hope, who's lost and broken and think that the whole world, you know, don't understand you and nobody else is going through what you're going through and you feel alone and hopeless. I just want to let you know that there's people out there that are willing to help you. There's, you know. You just have to take that chance, that decision. You know life is, it's going to give you what it gives you, but it's up to you to make the best out of it. And the best thing that you can make is a decision.
Speaker 5:God, he's never going to fail you. You know people will fail you multiple times and continue to fail you, but God never fails you, and I'm here as a living example that if you trust and believe in Him, if you do your part because it's not so much about believing and praying, but you have to take action and do your part. So I challenge you, who are out there right now, to come to the Universal Church, call this number here and find a church near you and call to get that help that you need and to take that challenge and I guarantee you, without a doubt, 100%, that the God that I serve, he will do great things in your life.
Speaker 3:Yes, she said it all Great things in your life. That was one more episode of Broken Beyond Repair. What else shall I say? What else shall I add? Take the challenge and you are going to see your life transformed.
Speaker 2:Do you feel broken and helpless? Join now the Broken Beyond Repair Challenge and begin to see great changes in your life. Call now at 1-888-332-4141 or text the word CHALLENGE to 1-888-312-4141. Thank you for listening to Soul Food. Stay tuned tomorrow for more. Make sure to turn on your notifications and share this food with others. Thank you.