Oluwole Babatunde

David W Ebel: you Welcome to the God Says Yes Podcast. You are welcome here. Welcome to another issue of God Says Yes. My name is David Ebel. I'm your host. And after 50 plus years of ministry, I still have a passion to reach people with the love of God. And I'm grateful that you're here with us so that you can share in that love together with us. ⁓ I'm excited because God is good and He created us to love. I think to me, one of the most amazing things when I discovered it was that God created us individually. We weren't a rubber stamp issue. We were made from the inside out to be like God. So though the outsides are different, the insides are just like Him if we allow them to be. If we're willing to allow Him to have freedom in our lives, He will heal, He will deliver, He will set free, He will bring joy, He will bring peace. He'll make a difference in the life of anyone who wants it and is willing. And that's why we do this program, because God says yes to healing and victory. to, no matter, you can be betrayed, can be belittled, you can be disappointed, you can even have church hurt where someone acts out in church and hurts feelings. But that doesn't mean that God has changed or Jesus has changed. It just means man is still needing a savior. Man is still needing the, the church is supposed to be the emergency room of the body of Christ. And sometimes we turn it into a social club and when people act like they're in the emergency room, we don't know what to do with it because we've gotten out of the habit of being there for the love of God to be there to restore and rebuild. And that's why we want to do this. We want people to know that wherever you are, whatever situation you've been through, today can be the beginning of the next chapter of the rest of your life. I have with me ⁓ my good friend Wally. Babatunde and ⁓ he is an amazing brother and he's got a wonderful story to tell. I'm going to invite him to ⁓ introduce himself a little bit and then we'll go back into talking. Thank you so much, David. It's a wonderful time to be with you today. I'm excited. ⁓ Happy to be on your show today to talk about the love of Jesus Christ. I've been a Christian all my life and I've also been through some very dramatic challenges including the loss of mom at age of seven, the loss of my dad at age 13 and many other challenges at that time and now. But with the love of Christ, with the help of Christ, I've pushed through. And today I'm currently a psychiatrist. ⁓ Still serving God in my new activity. And I'm excited to share with you the love of Christ and how Christ has carried me through different stages of life. Well, I'm really glad you're here. This is exciting that you that that we were able to get together and share. It's to me is one of the greatest things we can do is is to take time to share with each other. And ⁓ so. ⁓ See, I know from from meeting with you before that you're you're married with family and that that is one of the joys of your life. Definitely. So I have two boys. ⁓ instead of twins, computing high school now and going to college this year. So the family is really excited about that. I'm really grateful to God for what he has helped us with. My marriage is going on 19 years to here, and my boys are 18 in August this year. I'm grateful to God for what he knows to be as a family. That's amazing. 19 is a good number. When you look at the statistics of the marriages in America, that's a good number. Now, I got your beat a little bit. We're at 51. Wow. But we have a head start. That's good. That's good. Yeah. I'm in my 70s while you're still a young boy. Yeah, I'm getting slow. I look forward to being like you someday, Well... take it one day at a time don't be in a hurry you'll be old soon enough cool but ⁓ so i think i think that it would be helpful to people to know about some of your struggles before you know why you needed jesus what what makes it what you know who you were who when you when you fell in love with jesus to surrender and what's done for you would you have to would you be able to tell us a little about that ⁓ definitely Yeah, so I was born into a Christian family, going to church was part of my normal life, very young, even before I lost my mom. ⁓ But the very first time I had a hunger for Jesus was in middle school. And at that time, I attended the College Fellowship of Christian Students. We're students. meet together to discuss and we had somebody preach and I felt it need higher than just going to church with my parents and I raised up my hand to accept Jesus into my life and ever since then to now there's been lot of ups down ups down but God has been faithful through it all There was a second time at about the age of 20 when I had the hunger to seek for God in a very definite way. And at that time, God led me to the past of my church in Nigeria at that time, or a church where I started reading the Bible more. I started doing more. of reading books by authors or a Christian. And that was when I the principle of reading of one book every week. And since then to now, God has been a tool. He has helped me to rename in Him. I read the Bible through the Holy Alley. And He has given me solid foundation in Him. That's a good beginning. But with the loss of your parents, how did you cope? ⁓ Thank you so much for that question. That's a hard one, but it's important because you're not the only one to lose people they loved. I would say ⁓ I always tell people it's a process. And even till now it's been many years but I would still say I'm still learning to cope every single day without them. Even till now there are times I still remember them and still move me to tears. Not because like you know I'm grown, I have my wife and kids now but you know at times we just miss them. And for me now that I have kids It makes more sense to miss them more because I can feel the pain of a parent now because I also have my own children. So can imagine what it means, I know not to be able to be there for your kids when you really want to be there for them. Not because you don't want to be, but know life happens. So yeah. Amen. God uses us to be a model so our kids know what a godly man is. And because you're there to be that role model, your kids have a much better chance of becoming the same kind of godly man that you are striving to be. Yeah, thank you so much. You're not perfect, but who is? That's why you need a Savior. Yeah, yeah So coping was I would say the best thing that helped me to was firstly Jesus Christ The fact that I knew him at the point of the loss of my mom. I remember When my dad was still alive, we always prayed together as a family at night There was a time we prayed good night and morning So we all focused on God we trusted God And after he left that died, you know I always went back to God in prayers, when things got tough and I don't know where to turn, I always turned to God. I learned to hang on to Him. I learned to read my Bible in times of difficult times. I learned to hold on to God. Till now I still have some tough, verses in my head that, you know, sees me through difficult times. One of them is Romans 8.8. Now we know all things work together for the good of those who trust God, of those who are called according to God's purpose. So those are things I heard very strongly, like I knew things were going to come out well no matter what you call them, at the moment. So that was one Bible. Another one that came in... around it was Matthew 6.33 which says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the other things that others are looking for will be added unto you. So for me, that tells me if I were connected to God and I make issues of God's condom my priority. then God is going to come to me in other things that I want even without me asking for them. It's one of the first Bible verses that got me grounded by the age of 20 until now it's my number one favorite Bible verse because I know when I'm connected to God things will work out well. Amen. Help me out. I don't remember what country you started out in. Will you help me catch me up, please? Yes. So I was born in Nigeria in Africa. ⁓ And I think the church I attended lastly for about 14 years before I left Nigeria was the Holy Monastery. And that was where I got to start reading the Lord. got more committed. I served God in very specific ways. got the principles of giving my 10 % as tithes to God's kingdom. And I also give the 10 % of my time too, like in serving God too. So I got more committed to God and honestly God has always gone through. Of course there are challenges, are troubles, not the type. But despite those challenges, God found true and kind of like carries us through at every stage. So during the time you were there in Nigeria, were there political uprisings and things going on? There has always been one thing or the other at every stage ⁓ and even till now. I don't know if it's getting really worse, but of course there's more attention internationally. Things are up there right now. Because things are not new. I left Nigeria in 2014, that's 12 years ago. Before I left, of those things had already started. But slowly, because they've not been well managed, they are still there. And it's getting more international attention right now. I have a couple Nigerian friends who were telling me their stories and so I remember from that that it was not always a smooth place to live. Some places specifically are more challenging than others. I come from the west part of Nigeria so which is relatively more quiet and peaceful but the northern part has a lot of crisis. ⁓ going on. It's been on for a long time. Yeah, and some religious crises and stuff that's been on. Well, I'm grateful that God opened the door so you could come and live a fruitful life here in the U.S. and be an investor in your community and the Kingdom. Thank you so much. Great sports of God too. Tell us, we haven't talked about your career. What do do? I studied medicine as a medical doctor in Nigeria, so I worked a little bit in Nigeria before I came in. But I came in primarily for my PhD in the US, finished my PhD, did residency, and currently, so currently I'm PhD, MD, mainly I'm a doctor who also does some research. ⁓ Primarily a psychiatrist. I see, I work in an inpatient setting. Where I have the opportunity to see people who are mentally ill, who are sick enough to meet hospitalization, inpatient hospitalization. I see people there regularly. My job is to help them stabilize and return them back to the community. ⁓ you're an MD but you're also a psychiatrist? Yes. then sometimes people don't understand the difference between them. So I was clarifying so that if I understood it, then we can understand it. That's why I'm. Yeah. So MD means you're a doctor, medical doctor. Psychiatrists mean you've done residency in psychiatry. So there are multiple specialties in medicine. ⁓ We have family medicine, for example. the general doctors that people go to see, we call them family medicine. We have internist, which is more of the core internal medicine doctors. We have O &J, obstetrics and gynecologists who deliver kids and take care of women. We have pediatricians who take care of children. So we have psychiatrists who take care of mental health. So all of us do residency in those areas. In psychiatry with residency for four years after you become a doctor, then you become a psychiatrist. Yeah. So that's a lot of school. Of course. How many years before they can actually, you can actually go practice. So after high school, using the US model, after high school you go to college for four years, then you do medical school for four years. Then residency, depending on your specialty, the number of years is different. For me, psychiatry is one year. So that's 12 years after high school. So we high school at 18. If everything goes smooth and you do not take any break, then you will be able to practice fully at 30, 31-ish. That's a lot of investment. You've really got to want to do that, to be in school that long. Plus it's really, really busy, it's intense, and you've just got to your best. if you don't like it, going to be a very difficult thing to continue to do. No vacation, just study, study, study. Not that bad. You can still have a little bit of vacation here and there, of course it's busy. anything that you're going to do and invest your life in is going to take a committed investment. And even living for God, if you want a lot out of it, you got to be willing to put a lot into it. Trusting Him, forgiveness for sin is free. The new life that He gives when we trust Him is free. But to live for Him costs everything else. You know, the bad choices, the choice of where you live. who you hang with, even what you drink and what you eat, all those kind of things, those are choices that if you live for God, you choose to do it to please Him, and the end result is by pleasing Him, you protect yourself, and you grow, and you thrive. I love the way you put it. ⁓ The way I put it, which is similar to yours, is salvation is free. You don't pay God to become saved. Jesus already died on the cross so to receive Christ into your life is completely free. You don't have to do anything and we don't have to add anything to it. But to grow unto maturity, it's a lot of work and is expensive. And you know, it's like having a child. When you give birth to a small baby, that's just the same way with getting saved or salvation. It's just free. But you and I know that. Having a baby and letting that baby grow to an adult where can stand on its own, it's a lot of work on the parents, on the baby itself as it continues to grow and explore life. So that's where I describe it to people. Like being safe itself is free. But for you to grow, maturity, be a sound person, to understand spirituals, who knows what to do at different stage and everything. of life, to deal with challenges, to be matured. It's a lot of work. But it's good work. Of course. Of Of course. But we have to understand that as Christians, salvation is real. But for me to grow to maturity, I have to be willing to put in the work. But I agree with you, it's very, very good work. I have friends that are very sports oriented. I was never healthy enough to be the sport guy. But they were... And they were exercising constantly and lifting weights all the time. And they were working. And I just looked at it and I got exhausted just watching them do it. And yet they got great joy out of it because when they got to play, they were prepared for it. And if you will parallel spiritual muscle, when you give your life to God and you start out as a baby, you crawl to you walk, you walk until you run. And then as you grow up, You gain more knowledge, more exercise, more everything, and you apply that and then you flourish. And as a believer, the first part is the baby Christian. And we all start as baby Christians no matter when we start. There's no other way to do it. When you start, you're going to start with training wheels on, if you will. It's just working your way up, figuring your way how to do it. And as you apply it, it gets so exciting because it's no longer just about You know work work work. It's about look at what God is doing. I was there and he used me me He could be anybody but it's good. He used me and what a joy that is to realize that You got to love him back and he loved it. He enjoyed he was he got joy out of what you did So yeah, you know reading your Bible applying it to your life. That's not burden You know and even when people misbehave and it in it, it's uncomfortable. It hurts you It disappoints you. That's not the end of you. That's just the end of that moment. You change chapters. The same book continues. And now you write your next chapter based on who you are, who God is, and how you want to apply it. And that's, love the way you describe it. It's so beautiful. And I call it the spiritual disciplines, you know, that we all work with, studying the Bible, spending time in prayer. Spending time to even know God. It's like, you we just talked about babies. It's not difficult for a baby to know the voice of their caretakers or parents because you spend time with them. The babies grow up spending time with God. The same way when we spend time with God, it's easy to know when God is speaking because we have spent quality time praying, studying the Bible, being in His presence. So we know when our Father is speaking, we know where He wants us to go. Nothing beats that divine direction that we have because we can move in the direction where he wants us to move and when we are right in the center of God's will, things will work. Not that there won't be challenges, there will be, but when those challenges come, if we are right in the center of his will, we see God come through again and again and again and again that's really exciting. So when we do these facial exercises, it's for our own good. Exactly. when you deal with someone in counseling who is struggling, though you need to be compassionate with them because they're struggling, ⁓ you're not doing them a favor by wrapping them in bubble wrap and trying to encourage them too much. You know, every effort in our life is going to cost something. So Being a good doctor means that you have to love them enough to tell them the truth gently, but still tell them the truth and help them get past where they are onto the next chapter. Because there is a good chapter waiting. We just have to wait our way through the uncomfortable times. agree 100%. You know, reaching out to people every day. Of course, you have to do it with empathy, with love. understanding that at times it's hard, it's difficult, you know. I always let people understand that this is tough, you know. Most of the patients I get to see are going through one stress or the other in their life. So firstly, I want them to understand that this is a difficult situation, which is the principle of ADAPT and ADVANCE. Accepting that this is a difficult situation on one hand, but I always tell them you don't have to smoke on their step-down. You have to be willing to continue to go forward irrespective of the difficulties that you are going through. Those difficulties are not there to stop you. Those difficulties are supposed to be stepping stones to move you to the next level if you are able to see it that way. The challenge most times is people don't see it that way. People see the problems as the end of the road. Some people say the problem is like, ⁓ there's no way forward for me. But I have to always let people understand like those problems are not there to help you. They are there for you to use as a stepping stone to the best of God or the next thing that God has for you. And at times I use the analogy of taking exams. You know, I've been in school for so long, taking so many exams. And I said one way to get promoted from one class to the next is to pass exams. So when people pass exams, they go to the next level. But it's not always easy preparing for that exam. It's not always easy breaking that exam. It's always hard. ⁓ When you pass exams were never fun for me. Same way in life is the only difference is in school. You know the date you take an exam, you know the exam you will take. But in life, in real life, you don't know the next exam that will come. You don't know when you will take it. So things just happen and you've just got to respond. And that's where the spiritual disciplines come to play a lot. If you have been somebody who spend daily time praying, you spend some time daily studying God's Word, you spend some time hearing the voice of your heavenly father. When those things happen, you are ready because the voice of your father is not going to you. You can hear his voice in the midst of the biggest trouble or in the midst of the biggest turbulence. But if you do not spend time to mature in those spiritual disciplines, it's difficult to hear God's voice because you've not trained yourself. And in that case, might make it more difficult to manage the situation. So that's why I believe that it's important for us to develop spiritually so that when the crisis of life comes, we are able to, we have the strength, just like you describe your friends who have the muscles to do the exercises. When it's time for them to like do the real game, because they've practiced over and over and over, it's easy for them to do it. ⁓ day at that point. Exactly. that is in every chapter of life. ⁓ so many times when things don't go well, it is easier in our microwave society where everything can be done in 30 seconds and bing. We want the resolve to be instant too. But life isn't always instant. As a matter of fact, it is seldom instant. Yeah. Some exams are one day, some are one year and some are even a whole lifetime. know, there are things, there are some challenges that are just there 10 years, five years, you just got to deal with it for a long period of time. And there are some challenges that like the entire life time, you've got to deal with those issues and those situations. And that's why we have got to develop those muscles so that we can. carry through those tough seasons whenever they do come. Whether it's death or death, for a month, a week, a year, or even for an entire lifetime, we are well prepared to handle it. And we don't let that stop us. We are still able to fulfill God's purpose, even in the middle of those challenges. So if someone is struggling... And right now it feels like they're hitting a brick wall. A good analogy, a good word picture would be to realize that that wall has a door in the middle of it. We just are so busy with seeing the wall that we're not focusing on the details. All we can see is the impossibility of getting through that wall. We're not visually calmed down enough. to see the door handle. Yes, I with you. if we stay committed to the process and we do one day at a time and apply ourselves every day, we're not only going to see the door and the door handle, but we're going to see the solution through that wall. it may not happen instantly, but it will happen. It will. It will. I agree. I agree it's real. And another way I look at it is, you know, I always say your story is still being written and you hold the pain. So one thing I always tell people, what patients and people I see going through stuffs is your story, what you are still alive, your story is still being written and you hold the pain and you can decide how it ends, especially as girls to drain. And we know that Romans 8.28 tells us, all things work together for my good. So you can use the pain to keep writing your story in a way where everything continues to work together for your good. And where you can see God's purpose at the end of it. So we are not defined by our pain. We're not defined by our difficulties. No. We're not defined by our failures either, are we? No, no. The way I describe it is you interpret pain as preparation, not punishment. So pain prepares us. It doesn't define us. So I define pain as preparing you for something, not trying to destroy you or trying to punish you. Yeah, so one of the things we have to have to live is no matter what it is, no matter what the pain is, it's preparing us for something bigger, for something greater, which I define as meaning making in my book. The first section of my book, at that, advance, I talked about meaning making and there are three ways to make meaning. Number one of it, you know, is to use our pain to be a blessing to other people. So even in the middle of the pain, We are thinking of who else can I bless with my story in a way for them to understand. There's a Bible verse that says that the same pain through which we have gone through and paraphrasing them, we can use it to comfort others who are going through similar pain. So that's number one. Creating something to be a blessing to others. Number one, the only way we can make money is to experience something or someone. It could be music, know, could be the love of a family member or whatever. And then number three is our attitude towards the problem. There's this former US president who always said, this too shall pass. So that's one way to go through and have an attitude that is great towards whatever we are going through. And from what word we are able to say that tells us a man. ⁓ Well, I'm glad that you're clarifying because it sometimes, I don't know about other people, but my mind runs toward a conclusion, sometimes faster than the details. And if I'm not paying attention, I'll go, I want to go from A to C and skip B. And the step in between those may mean how victorious I will be when I get to C and D and E. because I need those steps, even if they hurt, even if they're inconvenient, even if they're a little humiliating at times, and sometimes very frustrating. Those don't define me for who I am as a life. They define me in the chapter I'm in, for the moment I'm in, but they're not who I will always be. By living for God and letting God live through me, I can reflect Him. So people don't just see my struggles, they see my victories as God shines through me. So I can bring hope to others even though I'm still struggling. That's very, very right. Very, very right. So even in the midst of our struggles, you know, we can always bring hope to people. I remember even as a teenager, you know, I was still, despite the loss of both parents then, was still leading like small fellowships in my church. We call them house fellowships of about 20 people, 25 people. And I always use my story to encourage other people. And even then, early 20s, I used to have seminars for young people. I talked about some of this in my book, to encourage people. Despite I was still going through all of it at that time, I let people realize that there's always a way out. For every single day, every week, every month, every year, even at night, I could see the hand of God carrying me through. Of course, where I am now, I didn't just get there suddenly. Every single day, I saw God's help carrying me through every day and every season of life. And that's what I people now is no matter how bad things are right now, with God's help, you can continue to move on. One day at a time. though you may not take the entire, you know, staircase, just take one step a day. One step at a time. There was a story I heard that was told to me as truth. was a guy who had been starving. He had been hungry for the longest time and he was hitchhiking and his friends pushed him out and left him. And he had been 10 days without much besides water and from puddles on the side of the road. And he went up to this house and knocked on the door and said, ma'am, I don't want to be a bother, but I'm starving. And she said, well, that's okay, honey. I'm going to Sunday school. I'm to leave the door open, go inside and eat what you need. Eat whatever you need. Just don't waste. But you can have all you want as long as you eat it. Just put it to use in your body. and I'll come home and make you lunch when I get back from church." He was so excited. First thing he did is he got on the phone and called a couple of his friends and said, I've got food, I've got food. And they said, what do you got? And he started going through the freezer and telling them about the steak and the chicken and all the different kinds of food that were in there. And as he's telling them, he's getting weaker, but he's even more excited. He gets so excited, he forgets to eat. ⁓ As a result, when she comes home, he's already gone. He's passed away. He starved to death. Well, he had a pantry full of food and freezers full of food because he didn't stop and consume it and apply it to his life. And many times we have tremendous potential. Freezers full, shelves full of great plans that God has for our life. He doesn't want us to starve or be without. He wants us to be with. with him. He wants to provide for us. But if we get so, our eyes so focused on the moment, we can't see all the other pieces to that puzzle. And we're starving when we could be in abundance, only because we've got, we get our focus on what's right around us instead of trusting God for the things that aren't easy for us to do right that moment. And that's a very wonderful way to explain it. And I would state this with the word that we have to care for ourselves. Body, soul and spirit. As the Bible says, wish that your body, your soul, your spirit is taken care of. And our bodies and physical body, it's important for us to care for it. Of course, eat the right food, exercise, all the things that we know about, all the that take care of our body. Then we have our school, which is the part of us that gets knowledge, and that's where the point reading. I will always encourage you, but there's one book every month, or some long, or whatever works, we all learn differently. We need to know how you learn, how you are able to get ⁓ knowledge into people. And then, spirit, that's the connection we have with our Heavenly Father. That's the part of us that says, ⁓ Jesus, I surrender to you. And that's the part of us that connects to the Holy Spirit. So we need to care for ourselves in all three areas, our body, our soul, and our spirit. Absolutely. the, you know, the spirit part is sometimes people are like the weightlifter all built up, but spiritually they're still on pablum. They haven't built up their spiritual person. So they're up, they're kind of oblong. You know, it's like a tire that's well rounded on every side, but the bottom where the, where the leak is, you know, you can be well rounded in your, in your body and even in your personality. and still be flat in the spiritual things that God had planned for you. But he created you from the inside out. So that spirit piece of you is a puzzle with a God-shaped hole in it. And the only thing that fits in that hole is God. Yes. When I was a little kid, my older brother thought it was the greatest fun in the world when I was making jigsaw puzzles, putting them together to seal a piece when I wasn't looking. And watch as I hunted everywhere. And when I get it all done, the 1500 piece puzzle almost done, I would get a piece of cardboard and markers and everything and try to create what I thought would fit in that hole to finish that picture. And it would keep me up nights and I would be upset. My digestion would be upset because I wanted that completed. And then when he finally saw that he had gone too far, then he'd hand it to me. But the God-shaped hole in our life, in that puzzle of our life, You can't use a marker. You can't fill it with something else. The only thing that fits in the God-shaped hole is God. And that's why Jesus was willing to live and then die and then rise again from the dead edge after shedding His blood so we could have forgiveness for our sins, healing for our body and our spirit and our soul, and that He could fill us through His Holy Spirit and lead us and guide us. So we don't have to do this alone. We don't have to do this on muscle alone. We don't have to do it on intellect alone. We can do it with all three parts of us actively involved, and God can allow us to be enriched and strengthened and built with hope. Perfectly. You just described it in a great way. So we need to pay attention to all three aspects of our lives so that we can grow to maturity both in our body, ⁓ in our soul, and also in our spirit man sharpening ourselves. reading the Bible, we ask all of God to do all things that help our spirit to be sharpened at all times, connected to God. Well, I think we've covered a lot of really good ground. if we were to, if I was to invite you to give a golden nugget, something that you would want people to take with them from this interview, and maybe mull over, polish a little bit, you know, contemplate over the week, what would you like to leave them with out of what we've talked about that would be of encouragement to help them to get away from the wounds, away from the sadness and the feeling of what's the use and move toward being who God always dreamed for them to be? Thanks for giving me the opportunity to say this. I will just give that short phrase I started with, which is the title of my book. and advance and I will say no matter what you are going through right now you have the potential right inside of you to adapt and to advance no matter what it is. Adapting means I accept this is a difficult situation. Advancing means despite the difficulties that I have right now I can continue to go forward. I will not let this grind me to a stop. I will not let this define me in negative way. Rather, I will let this be a stepping stone to where God wants me to be. So I want you to think about that and look at areas of your life where you have difficulties, where you have challenges, and tell yourself, I can adapt, I can advance. That's beautiful. ⁓ We'll pray that that that will sink into someone and that it'll it'll speak truth to them Like it has to you and let has to me, you know it because you don't you don't get to be You don't get to be where you are If you don't if you if you won't get out of the if you if you never leave the house You'll never make the trip. Mm-hmm If you if you want to go and do things with your life, you've got to get past where you're unstuck Yeah And like someone said, if you wait for all the lights to be green before you start the journey, you will never get going anywhere. So we just got to at times we just need to take that step and just move. You know, I take it one day at a time, trusting that God who sees the old picture, who sees the big picture is faithful and will see us through the temporary day to day setbacks that we have to do. Well, I'm in awe. has again been good. what I'm going to suggest is that, do you have a website first? Yes. Would you like to slowly tell us what it is so we can write it down? It's just walebabatunde.org. That's my first name, that last name at O-R-G. Okay, we will also have that pop up on the screen. Our engineer will put it on there so that if you're viewing it, you'll be able to see it and write it down that way. Also, ⁓ Wally is going to send us a copy of the picture of his book and we will add that to the podcast so you can see the cover. Where can they get the book? It's on Amazon. We just type in my name, my first name and last name, Oluwolebapertunde. It's going to pull it off. Or we just type Adapt and Advance. It looks like this. On Amazon, you see a man jumping and it's green. It's going to pull it off for you. So we have all the formats. We have the ebook for those who like to read on the phone. We have the paperback and ad copy. And we also have the audiobook. For those who are busy, most of my books now I listen to them and you know, it's just easier. love audiobooks. That's what I do all the time. The book that I've written, I'm trying to right now negotiate getting it turned into an audiobook because I have people asking all the time. That's cool. Well, this has been amazing and I'm grateful for you making time to share with us today. Thank you so much. ⁓ Your ministry continues. And people sometimes don't think that a doctor has a ministry. But actually, if we serve God, everything we do is a ministry. Whether we're a plumber or we're an auto mechanic or we're a doctor or a pastor like me. It doesn't matter what your job description is, it's about your relationship. If you have a relationship with God, the reflection of that is service. And that service is ministry. You praise You worship God and praise Him, and He then turns that into ministry as He flows through you to those in need. And everybody we know has someone who has a need. We all know someone's struggling. And one of the greatest things we can do is first live well enough that we can hold on to God even when it's tough, and then reach out to somebody with the empty hand and help them make it well. While we struggle, we help them struggle, and we both get stronger together. ⁓ So I'm going to invite us to pray, and then when we're done, Wally's going to hang on with me after we hit pause so that we have time for the podcast to ⁓ upload completely. But I'm just grateful that God has given us this opportunity. and I'm grateful for all of you who have been listening. hope that somehow this will speak to you and God will use it to make a difference in a life. You know somebody struggling, you can aim them at this podcast and invite them to listen along because God is the one who's doing the speaking. We're just the mailman delivering the message. Everything that's being delivered comes from God and speaks to the heart of those who are willing to receive it. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, are praising you and thanking you for this privilege to be together. We're grateful for the chance to talk about how good you are. And even in struggling times, how you're there with us, you never leave us or forsake us, you're with us always. You give us peace, you give us hope, you give us strength. You heal us when we need it. Even when we are upset and overwhelmed, we get mad at you. You're a big enough God that you... You understand and you don't get mad at his back. You just wait for us to calm and then you begin through your Holy Spirit to help us, to comfort us, to strengthen us so that we get past that and continue with the rest of our lives. God, I'm so grateful that we're not defined by the moment we're in, we're defined by the life we live from beginning to end. And Lord, we pray for everyone that they be drawn to you, that they get strength from you, that they get hope from you, and that you do a beautiful job of revealing everything in the rest of their lives and giving them the opportunity to reflect your love to the people around them. We ask these things in Jesus' and together we say, Amen. Now, my closing is always the same. Seek after God. He will be found. You want to know how to get to God? Jesus says He's the way. So get closer to Jesus and He will point you right to God and you will get the answers to your prayers. So trust God. Move forward. Let him do the rest. This has been the God Says Yes Podcast with David Ebel. you Connect with David, email him at godsaysyespodcast.gmail.com can get his latest book, When the Doctors Say No, God Says Yes at Amazon.com.