Heather Obrien

David W Ebel: Yeah. Welcome to the God Says Yes podcast. You are welcome. Welcome to another episode of God Says Yes. My name is David Ebel, and I have been in ministry for over fifty years. And ⁓ my my purpose in life has always been to reach people where they are, to love them the way they are, the way God loves them. You see, God created us individually, one at a time, ever before we were a twinkle in anyone's eye. He created us to be loved by Him. You can't not get His love, you can't unearn His love. You can't do anything wrong enough that his love is going to end. You can't even fire him. He's going to love you even when you're not receiving it. Because he created you from the inside out. See, you people misunderstand and think that i if we're if if God created us like him, why do we look so different? Well, that's because he didn't create us from the outside in. He created us from the inside out. And that inside piece was there from the beginning. Faith, hope. They're they're wired into our DNA. On top of that, God created us with the availability for talents and gifts and the ability to be someone beautiful once we give our heart to Him so He can act He can activate all the things He's had in place waiting for that opportunity. So whether you've been hurt, cheated, betrayed, belittled, you've been ⁓ someone's not paid you back and you can't or they said something mean and you have trouble for forgiving them. If you're bitter, whatever the reason you are where you are, if you're stuck, this is a place for you. Because God wants you to know that man goofs up, man fails miserably. Matter of fact, sometimes get church hurt seems worse than any any of it. But you're y we forget that the church was is the emergency room of the body of Christ. And if you've ever sat in the lobby of an emergency room, people are not thrilled to be there, and a lot of them are kicking and screaming and being ugly because they're miserable. And when people come to church for the first time, many of them are on inside of themselves are kicking and screaming. They don't know what's going on. And and they end up kind of barfing out some of the ugly that they feel onto the now innocent hearts of the believers. But see, man, God didn't fail, man acted out. And God wants to heal that. He wants to restore you and renew you and rebuild you and cause you to be free of all that. He'll give you the ability to forgive. So that as he forgives you, you can forgive them for your benefit, so you don't have to carry that ugly with you the rest of your life. God loves you, and that's why we're here, and we want God's incredible best for you. And I have with me ⁓ my my friend and he and and sister in the Lord Heather, Heather O'Brien, and Heather is here as ⁓ as another story to tell c tell about her story. So, Heather, welcome. Thank you. I'm so looking forward to this conversation. I know it's gonna be so good. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah, I'm a wife. I've been a wife for about twenty something years. I lose track. I've got three boys, so I'm a boy mom. I am homeschooling the last two. I already graduated the first. And I'm an author. I've written about five books and I'm a podcast host, spirit led healing coach. The simplest way to say what I do now is I help Christians who love Jesus but they feel stuck. They feel stuck and they don't know exactly how to move forward. They've been praying, they've been looking for answers, they've been looking for the breakthrough, but they don't know how to get the the breakthrough that they're looking for. And my heart's desire is to help them hear God's voice to uncover the root behind the thing that they're looking to get freedom from. And so I that was me for a long time. I was A person who believed in God. I went to church. From a young age, I think I was saved when I was seven. I I went to church every week. I prayed prayers, but I still felt weighed down by anxiety, depression, panic attacks. And I literally had weight, physical weight that was on me. And I knew that the Bible was true. So all this time I was a Christian. I loved Jesus. However, I didn't actually know I could hear God. I didn't actually have a relationship with Jesus. I loved him, but I didn't know what it was like to have communication with him. And so ⁓ that's kind of what I'm passionate about because when I was 30 years old I realized I could hear God's voice and then everything changed. And I don't want to go too deep into my story. So interrupt me. Th thank you. That's that's that's a gr a a great start. And actually you're a perfect match to our podcast because we're we're we're reaching for the same people. Yeah. And I'm grateful that you're there. And we have we ⁓ you know, God has a single mind about loving people. And he he reaches us, uses lots of us to reach those that are that are that are struggling. And I'm glad you're here so you can do that. ⁓ you know, when you were talking about the ⁓ you know, you had Jesus here when you started, you loved him to death, but that trip from six in that six million miles, six-inch trip when Jesus comes into your heart. Heart is a profound difference. Uh-huh. Because this is the snapshot of the Grand Canyon. And this is standing on the edge of it and experiencing it and realizing how how empty that was compared to how full this is. And that doesn't diminish this. This is just like not seeing it on television. This is like living it in real life. That's a really good way to put it. And and that's so fantastic that we can experience this love with God. That w in and if we goof up, he says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, not just to strangers, but the believers too. If we'll confess it, he'll forgive it. Yeah. That's why Jesus shed his blood to wash away our disobedience, to wash away our our stubbornness, to wash away our bitterness, all those things, you know when you know what right is and you do the wrong thing, that's a sin. Yeah. And those sins have to be paid for somehow. So Jesus shed his blood. So that those sins don't distract us, destroy us, or or or dis disable us so much that we can't be of any value to anyone, particularly to God. So I'm so glad you're here. So tell us what happened when you met Jesus. So I guess okay, when I met Jesus when I was seven, is that what you mean? Start start there and then and then the transition. I had the knowledge of it. I remember from a young age, I'm thinking I was seven years old. I remember coming home from church. sitting in front of my window seal crying and thinking, well, Jesus, I don't know if I've ever asked you into my heart. So if I haven't, I'm asking now. It was just a simple prayer because I had gone to church my whole life. I was born in it, if you will. And so I came to the realization that I don't know if I've ever actually done the official thing. I guess they had preached it that morning so well that it was heavy on my heart. So that's that's my starting point. And I don't I remember the moment. It's a it's a visual moment, so I know it was real. And from I mean, we still kept going to church. We still kept living on Jesus living with Jesus. And I would pick up my Bible here and there. I had we have Bibles all over the house. I would pick them up and I would read it every once in a while on my in my own free will. But I was never taught, hey, let's do this every day. Hey, let's do this. as a as a routine. Well let's pray to God. I I was never taught how to pray. I was never taught how to read the Bible. And I and frankly I felt when I this is hindsight. I felt like even though I went to church all that time, I still didn't know I didn't know the Bible and I didn't know the stories everybody talk about. And I kept thinking, I wish there was a easy way to learn all this stuff. And part of my story is that I I did have remedial reading It was hard for me to comprehend as a young child and I didn't I didn't understand. I when I would read, I really just didn't understand what I was reading. So I just didn't like to read. Even though I would pick up the Bible, I would just I didn't know what to do with it, honestly. but I I know from ⁓ when I if if you fast forward to I'm 30 years old, I'm having panic attacks, anxiety, depression. I'm seeking help. Some some way, and God starts bringing me books. And for some reason I started devouring them. I started understanding them. I started I'm like, what is this? I'm I'm the church girl that goes to church every Sunday, but there were messages in these books I had never heard before. Maybe that had I it's there's nothing as my pastor or anything like that. I love them to death, but it was just a different message. It came and hit me differently, and then I learned about podcasts and I I learned that there was a way to hear messages from other churches. And so God started teaching me and training me how to learn the word of God in a different way. And so that's part of my meeting Jesus in in the new revelation of in my heart, deep in my heart. Then you met him. Yeah. Now here's the good part. What happened next? Well, I started getting healing, massive healing. So I I mean, I had Love encounters. So the way that I started healing was by hearing his voice. And that might sound funny. Maybe I'll use a different word. I just started discerning his voice. I didn't know that I could have a communication with him all this time. And I started discerning his voice. ⁓ I had a friend just randomly say, Yeah, I can hear God, can't you? And I was like, What how? What are we talking about here? And so she started teaching me. It's a it's a thing, and we started praying together and we would pause. We'd ask God a question and we would pause and listen. And I would hear something. Now the first thing I heard that radically changed everything was on repeat. This is what I heard over and over for quite a while. It was just three words. I love you. And so it sounds so remedial, but I would hear him say, I love you. And I would start crying and boo-hooing. And my friend's like, What's happening? And I'm like, I had so much fear in my life. Every time he said it, it just was melting another layer off. Fear of abandonment, fear of rejection, fear of not being chosen, fear of not being worthy, fear of what you could name a million of them. They were melting off. So I hearing those three words, I love you, and it just melting the fear away every time I would hear it. That was my d starting point of ⁓ meeting the personhood of Jesus, because he is a person. And ⁓ Yeah, it just got better from there. I think every day it gets a little bit better. And we as I realize there's more. There's still more available, more to get to know about him, more of his love available for me. And ⁓ he's still healing me. It's ⁓ it's not like a destination point. There's a it's a ongoing relationship. Absolutely. Now it's it's changing your life. So as a result of the this life change, how are you productive? Mm-hmm. Yeah, because if our viewers gonna want to say, okay, I gave my heart to Jesus, now what? Mm-hmm. Yeah, now what? Well, for me it turned into a spark that couldn't be put out. The passion got hot. The fire got hot. I I I d I don't know that why this isn't for everyone else, but for me it just I just got hotter and hotter for Jesus. My passion for wanting to share the gospel with other people has never ended. It has had minor breaks as I was going through another, you know, more healing or or different things like that. But really it the trajectory for me, you know, once you get free of something, you want to help others get free. And I I have a a teacher's heart. I didn't realize that till, you know, recently I guess, but I realize now from a young age, I always had a teacher's heart. I want to replicate. So everything that God would do with me, I would say, Well, what just happened? And I would wanna articulate it, not formulate it, but I wanted to be able to replicate it. Like if he did it for me, he wants to do it for you. I don't exactly know what happened yet, but I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna learn what well what did happen. And that's a lot of my experience. So the my last book that I wrote, Heal with God. Well, a funny part of it is ⁓ I tell a lot of my stories and healing stories in there, but as I was writing, The Lord revealed more to me that needed to be healed. He revealed ⁓ deeper layers. And I and I think back now, it took me years. There's one of the s the stories, part of my biggest testimony I can share with you is I was uncovering while I was writing the book. You know, when you write and you or verbal process or whatever, sometimes you understand more. That's kind of what happened with with the book. Is so part of my testimony w is meeting Jesus, I'm getting to hear his voice and I'm wanting to okay, I've quit smoking for 10 years. I used to sick smoke cigarettes. Not very many, but I still did. And I didn't want to anymore, so I quit. I just quit. I quit. I had kids. I went on about my life. But I realized one day, part of my healing journey, that I still wanted one every day. I still enjoyed secondhand smoke. I still thought about it. I wasn't doing it, hadn't had one in my body for 10 years, but I still wanted one. And I thought, this still, this is a chain that needs to be broke. I'm still in bondage, even though I don't physically do it anymore. And so I had this whole encounter with God and with the love of God, where I mean, it was a prayer encounter. It it was a divine moment. He showed me a million reasons why I still wanted it. Agreements, identity, belonging. There was it was all tied up in this. I didn't know those words in the moment. All I knew is I was crying and I was seeing a million memories and I was crying and I was crying some more. And then I took a deep breath and I never wanted one again. And I wanted to replicate that. For years I was like, what happened? What was all those memories? What just happened? And so as I'm writing the Heel with God book, I'm I'm able now to articulate, ⁓ he showed me a memory from a very young age. When I saw a family member smoke, and I thought, that looks good. I'll do that when I'm older. So I had made an agreement to myself in the spirit, whatever you want to say. And I didn't even know that. So I was literally writing the book. And God was like, Hey, remember that? You need to break that agreement too. And so it was more that's what it looked like to meet Jesus. And that's what it looked like to what's next is disciples making disciples. ⁓ I'll when people smoke, you know, I my mom started smoking your during World War II with c because everybody smoked. Everybody, everybody, everybody. The the government gave them to the military for free. So it was, you know, it just became normal. And ⁓ they didn't do it for spiritual things. They didn't they did it because everybody did it. But along the way, ⁓ you know, spiritual things happen when we become addicted to anything. you know, it it it doesn't matter what you're addicted to. I mean, if y if you watch too much TV, you're become addicted to television. Whatever that whatever runs your life becomes your God. Yeah. And and you can stop the behavior, but if you don't stop the underlying factor, it's like an alcoholic who stops drinking, it's now a dry drunk. Yeah. They ⁓ they they they are no longer consuming alcohol. But some of their behaviors are the same. Some of their attitudes are the same. Some of the jumping to conclusions that actually are played back voices from someone saying something terrible come popping up. And those are the things you're talking about is those early scars from our addictions. Yeah. And you know, I I'm not anti smoking. I'm anti I'm anti ad addicted to anything but Jesus. Exactly. Because you know, tobacco s in itself isn't a sin. What it does to mankind As a result of us opening ourselves up, that's what becomes the sin and the problem. Yeah. Because if something else is running our life besides God. That's exactly right. You know, I I know someone who the reason why they're not loving God is because someone hurt them and they're bitter. And they can't seem to get rid of the bitterness. And I brought it up. I said, Why don't you forgive ⁓ I'll never forgive them. I and I and do they even know you're upset? Well, no. Yeah. So let's see, you're you're letting them live rent-free in your house your head, in your heart. And as a result, you don't have money for your your spiritual groceries because you're spending all that on something they don't even know about. So you're destroying you because you just don't want to let go of it. But it hurts, yes, it does. But it hurt Jesus to to be crucified so that he we could be healed and forgiven. Yes right. And when we let go of these things, it hurts for a moment. But as God forgives us, he gives us the power to forgive them for our own healing, for our own betterment. So it's it's huge. The i the tobacco thing is a big deal because it's not the tobacco, it's the it's the realization that something else is being a puppet master over us. Yep. Yep. And worry is one of those. ⁓ fear is one of those. Phobias can be one of those. I mean the the list goes on and on and on. Does it and in God is a gentle God. He doesn't just say you will do these things or else. He loves us the way we are, we come the way we are. And then he gently says, Now would you you know what it would feel like if you did that without that? If you had opened up that one more little room and let me in so I could remove that that's making you miserable and fill it with love. Then later, how do you like that? Would you like to feel freer? I got another one. And he gently just changes us from the inside out. But he does it one surrender at a time, that we choose to surrender. He doesn't make us anything. He loves us in, and if you really love him, you want to please him. That's right. When I met my wife, I every time I met her, she and she'd write me a note, I'd memorize that thing. I could lose the paper, but I didn't lose the memory. When I fell in love with Jesus and I found out that the the the Bible, particularly the New Testament at the beginning, ⁓ that was God's love letter to me. If I was gonna please a girl, how much more am I gonna want to please the God who forgave me and delivered me and healed me and and loves me now and has a plan for my life? How much more would I want that than what I had what I'm willing to give a girl? Not that she wasn't an amazing girl. We've been married fifty two years and ⁓ No gr no regrets, but I still love Jesus more than her and she loves Jesus more than me. Yeah. Because he's the reason why we we came together and he's the reason why we stay together. And he's the one who keeps us help keeps us going together and independently. He's he's the centerpiece of our lives. And that's why we have joy. Yeah. So now having said all of that, what would you is there something you'd like to a golden nugget, if you will, something that you'd like people to mull over even after this is done, ⁓ whether they pray it with it, they they they they meditate about it, they share it with a friend, however, something they can they they can they can continue to think about even weeks after this. What would the golden nugget be? You know, if I could give you one step. One step if you feel stuck right now. Go for it. It would be stop shaming yourself for being stuck. That sounds simple, but it really matters because instead of saying what's wrong with me, what about you ask God, What are you showing me? What is this showing me? You could take the one symptom to God, one symptom, and bring it to God with some questions. Don't bring your whole mess. Okay, so think about maybe a procrastination, anxiety, depression. Intrusive thoughts, bring one symptom to God. And I know some of those even seem kind of big. So even consider breaking it down a little bit. Anxiety about what? Do you have anxiety about finances? Okay, let's take that one thing to God, just one, and start asking God some questions. And it would look like asking God to help you assess the situation. God, when did this start? What was I thinking about? What was happening? When does this show up? And then Ask him what's true. So if you take your one symptom to God and start asking him questions. So this is my this is my heart's desire is that you would hear God's voice and have a relationship with him to get down to the root of why you're stuck. I know you're stuck. Don't stay in shame. Start asking God some questions about what's at the bottom of it. Write that down, compare it with scripture. You know, God's never going to contradict his word, his voice is going to lead you to truth. And hearing his voice is everything. It's gonna help you get unstuck if you bring it to God and ask him more questions. Instead of praying at the stuckness, the thing that you want to go away, instead of praying at it, pray and ask God some questions about it. Why is it there? Why do I want this? Instead of saying, God, take this away from me, can't take this desire away from me, say, God, why do I desire this? So start asking him different questions and then pause and listen. And remember that God speaks to us in many different ways. Sometimes it's a little tiny voice. Sometimes it's it's like a ⁓ a mighty rushing wind. In my case, it's usually like a two by four. God has to get my attention. And it's not that he's gonna say, David, you're gonna do that. It's when I ask and I'm and I'm praying and I'm open, sometimes I'm reading the Bible and the answer is right there in the Bible. I've looked at it a hundred times at least, but right now, in that moment, because it's the living word of God. It comes alive to me. Yeah. And through the Holy Spirit he shows me that I here's my here's your answer right here in front of you. And all I have to do is just receive it. That's right. And apply it. And that's such a a simple thing, but it seems so so stinking hard for a lot of people. It's it's like you're asking him to swallow the ru ⁓ r Mount Rushmore. It's just it seems so big that you can't it's in unmanageable when actually God didn't ever ask us to do anything we can't do. He prepares us before he sends us. He equips us before he assigns us. So right now, he may be using, if you will, the sandpaper of his love. He may be gently rubbing off rough edges that need to go so that you can be free. So that you can grow and you can thrive. But it all starts at the same place we're talking about. With wanting to know God and wanting to talk to us. And I've had people say, Well, God don't talk to me. Well, that's because you've not chosen to be available. Therefore, God has not chosen to speak. Not because he doesn't want to. But he's n he's not this og Ogliart thing that comes out of the sky with lightning bolts. He reaches us, he created us, he knows every fibre of us. It's a personal relationship with God. So he's going to relate with you independently personally. So how he he he works with you is maybe different than how he works with me as David. Or in or or Sue or Joel or Tom or whoever, everybody's relationship is different because we're accustomed one at a time to love. So he's going to deal with us independently. But the willingness to listen, the willingness to say, God, say something to me. Whether any way you want, I'll take it. You know, you want to do it like a feather? That's fine. You want to do it like a freight train, I'll take it. I I just want to know how to please you better. I just want to know how to live for you better. I just want more of you and less of me. That's what I want my life to be. And I'm sure you you you'll agree with that. Yeah, I yeah, hearing God's voice is unique. It's definitely unique to the person. It might not be a James Earl booming voice coming from the background, but you can find his voice in nature, in the scripture, in talking to another human, talking to another a friend, a counselor, a coach. You can find his voice in your dreams at night. That's where mine started. You can find his voice ⁓ talking to you while you're quiet. While you aren't talking, that's where you could find his voice. The it but it comes down to willing, open, and available. That's right. So man man Heather, I'm so grateful that that we got together. This is this has been a wonderful discussion. Yeah. And I hope that our our our friends and our viewing and and listening audience will will will receive something special from our discussion today. It's it's so beautiful and I'm grateful for you being available to be here to do that. Now tell us about your your books and your your ⁓ your webpage and all that good stuff. Yeah, so you know, I know it's discouraging when you're trying to do your best to follow God and you love Jesus, you've been praying, you've been declaring, you've been warring, but you feel stuck still. Maybe it's anxiety, intrusive thoughts, depression. I've had ⁓ all. I I know exactly what it feels like to go through those things. I just want to encourage the listener, hey, you're not crazy. You're not failing. You're not too far gone from God. Sometimes you just need to slow down. That's what we're talking about, hearing God's voice. And so I've provided a place where you can do that monthly at a Heal with God workshop. If you go to Heal WithGod Workshop.com, you can come and see the preview of what I call the Heal with God approach. It's hearing God's voice to get down to the root of your struggle so you know what to pray next. So it's a free live online workshop. Go to Heal with Godworkshop.com and you can sign up for it. It happens live every month online. And the same the Heal with God approach is available inside the Heal with God book or the Heal with God program. You can find out all of that and more at Heal with GodWorkshop.com. Okay. Say that address real slow so people who are writing can write have time to write it down. Yeah. Heal with Godworkshop.com. Awesome. And the books? The book is Heal With God. Yeah, the book is Heal with God and I ha also have a podcast. So if you love listening to podcasts, jump over and listen to the podcast Heal with God. So the ⁓ I have several other books, but you can find them all on the website if you're interested. And I understand that y if they're really interested, you can download those books and read them at no cost. That's right. It's a little sneaky ⁓ freebies on my website. If you go look at heatherobrien.net slash books, you can see all my books. And ⁓ there's always a free download of each of them. That's at Heather O'Brien.net slash books. Well, those things those things are going to pop up on on the on our podcast when it's done. Th those will be they'll be available in the show notes and on the screen. So ⁓ I I look forward to the opportunity to to see that happen. So let's let's do let's do this. We need to it's time for us to close in prayer and then for me to give a challenge. So let's pray. Heavenly Father we praise you and thank you for your mercy and your love. We're so grateful that you you love us more than life itself. We're grateful for this opportunity to share your love and To for you to do mighty things in our lives. We pray that you'll you'll touch each of those that are viewing and listening, that you'll that you'll take reach meet them where they are. Show them how you love them. And for those that are wounded and are holding back, that they'll realize that man is what hurt them, not God. And they'll trust God for what's going on in their life. Manifest your healing, your love, your blessing. Help them. Help them to see you for who you really are and get and help. Help them to understand that they can trust you, that you will heal, deliver, set free, that you'll do something to free them from all the stuff that's hurt them, so that they can be free to love others and to love you. Lord, anoint them, bless them, and and and bless Heather, particularly in her ministry and her family, so that you can use her and her family to bring glory to you and to make a difference in the lives of those who are seeking after hope. We pray that you'll do a mighty work of love through our ministry and hers. And Lord, we pray that her ministry on her podcast will change many lives as well. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Now we have always had the closing, and it's it's simple. It says, You want to know Jesus? Seek after him. You want to know him more? Jesus said, I am the way. So seek Jesus and He'll give you a deeper view of God in a more personal and in inner interaction with God. Seek after Jesus and He and God will be found. Seek after Jesus and you'll be amazed, absolutely amazed by the difference it'll make. This has been the God Says Yes podcast with David Ebel. To connect with David, email him at GodsaysYespodcast at gmail.com. You can get his latest book, When the Doctors Say No, God Says Yes, at Amazon.com.