Matthew Wingo Ep 55

David W Ebel: Welcome to the God Says Yes Podcast. You are welcome here. Welcome to another episode of God Says Yes. My name is David Ebel, and after fifty plus years of ministry, I still have a passion to encourage, to restore, renew, rebuild, and reinspire people who have been worn down by life. Regardless of how you got there, no matter what's been done to you or you've done, no matter how many times you've been hurt, God still loves you just the way you are, and He has an incredible plan for your life. And that's what we want to make sure we we cover today. is how how who we were, who we are, and who what God would want us to be. So we have we're excited about our our chances to hear the good news. And I brought a a friend of mine, a brother in the Lord named Matthew Wingo. Matthew's ⁓ he he's a pretty impressive guy. God's done some beautiful things in his life, particularly in his later years. And so we want to hear the whole story. So Matthew, welcome. Thank you, David. Great to be here. Had a great early conversation before starting, and I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, we're we're excited about it too. So tell us a little bit about you personally. Personally, I grew up in Florida. ⁓ I grew up ⁓ actually in the church, but there's there's more to that story ⁓ of how I came to faith at a later time. Started off actually as a as a musician and ⁓ found found got my first guitar and that became a passion for me along with all things on the water in Florida. ⁓ grew up doing water sports, but when I found guitar I got the bug and so I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, was gonna do the whole music thing. and then I decided to g ⁓ in college maybe music wasn't for me, that I needed to get a real degree and that led to a great ⁓ a great career in the technology field. in corporate America, working globally, internationally, living internationally for a time. I'm the father of two wonderful children, grown children, who I'm very proud of. ⁓ you know, I I love all things music, I love travel, I love I actually love dealing with people. And that's what's led to where I'm at today is is really it's always been about the people. ⁓ I've done some really cool things technology-wise throughout my career and been very blessed to have such a long career that I had. And yet it was always the people, it was the relationships I made along the way that made me the most emboldened and impassioned about: hey, this is great. I I love the interaction with the people and getting to know people, working with people from different cultures. that excites me. And I think that's led to where I'm at today of stepping out into ministry. Thank thank you, Matthew. I think we'll leave a little bit for the questions that are coming. Sure. And ⁓ so the first one is who were you before Jesus? Untamed is is probably the best word to describe me growing up. I was the youngest of three children. I was the one that Can't and don't were challenges to accept. They were never advice or rules to follow. So if I was told don't do this or you can't do that, that that was actually a challenge to me that I would say, I'm gonna go out and I wanna see what's across that line, because that's suddenly exciting to me to push those boundaries and and see what's on the other side. So untamed kind of guided me through even going into say middle school and high school when I started Living a more rock and roll lifestyle, ⁓ even at a young age. And though I grew up in the church, ⁓ I always believed the things of God. I always I never doubted what the Bible said. I never doubted the stories I heard in church. But I never had a personal relationship with Christ. And so that untamed, kind of wild side in me was unfiltered and just did what I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it. It took until right before my senior year of high school that the Lord captured my attention and brought me to Him. ⁓ but that was a progress of going through a very wild season, even at young age, and getting there, believing but never receiving salvation. I would say it's a very accurate statement. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And and then ⁓ how did you meet Jesus? So funny story, it actually came through ⁓ my love of guitar. I saw some friends of mine that had been in the youth group and they made the the local town paper that ⁓ they were they were part of a band that was part of this youth group. And I was like, well, I want to play guitar, that'd be really cool to go play guitar with them. Maybe I can go join. And so I showed up kind of with selfish motives to a a week-long intensive at the church. And I noticed over the course of the week that everyone there had a something that I didn't have. They knew all the same Bible stories. They they had the same head knowledge I had about the Bible. And yet I I kept asking myself, what they're different. They're different. They have this like, is it joy? Is this peace? What is it they have inside them? Whatever that is, I want that. And it over the course of the week, the Lord revealed to me that what you don't have is surrender to me and a personal relationship with me. And it was kind of the final night of that week. We had a chapel night and I just felt the Lord calling me home saying, It's time. It's it's time to it's time to change who you are. Surrender yourself to me. And so I I did that. I I Went up to the front, I knelt in this little chapel we were hosting something in that night. And that's the moment of salvation where I surrendered to Christ and said, Yes, please, please, I I need this. I'm a sinner and I'm in need of of what everybody else has. I want that. And how did it change your life? How did it change my life? Wow. I I would a lot of the things I was doing the the lifestyle I was living, that was instantly over. My desire to do many of those things went away. ⁓ I equate it to though I surrendered to Christ, but I held on and there were a few things I had in my hand here. And I I kind of gave gave the Lord a few of these things here. But I there were a couple of them that were these were really important to me. And I said, the Lord, I'm gonna I'm gonna hang on to these. These this part of my life is is important and I've got this part. I didn't realize what that could lead to down the road by not going fully empty hands to him and full surrender. But that's part of my my future story that that would lead to. But it was those things I held back and kept closest that I would not surrender in that moment, ⁓ that eventually would lead to a a future that included a prodigal season. ⁓ but overall I was I definitely felt the peace. I started understanding the joy of the Lord. My My desire to learn more about the Lord grew, to be part of community, to serve in the church. All of those things became true. And that was the most immediate impact. I I changed who I hung out with. I I changed the places I went. I changed the things I did. All of that was immediate. And yet the process of sanctification had only just begun. Wow, you you had a really good experience. That's good. I'm glad you I'm glad you did because it's it's important that we at some point we say, Today I gave my heart to Jesus. Not just, I've always loved God. There's gotta be a point at some point where you say, I got this, but I'm gonna give him this. Yes. Yes. And and and that's be you th if this doesn't change, it's all it's it's like looking at the Grand Canyon in a photograph. Stunning. Then you stand at the edge of it and you look at it and you go, That picture means nothing compared to how how rich and full this is. And when we have to get the God picture out of our head and get the God experience through Jesus in our heart, we g we've di we discover how rich and beautiful and warm and loving it can be. Now it doesn't mean it's all gonna be all all rosy and perfect. No, it it there's and there's no scripture that says it's ever gonna be easy. If anyone who tells you, come to Jesus, it's gonna be great. They should be selling used cars. Really, really should, because they're not telling the truth. The reality is we come to Jesus so he forgives us. We come to Jesus so he can change us. We come to Jesus so we can have a new life. And then he says he'll never leave us or forsake us, he'll be with us always. So no matter what happens in our life, he doesn't let go. He still loves us and he created us to love, and now he's going to get a chance to love us because we're finally letting him. So that means we have we've got a good start. But you mentioned you mentioned that after the good start, some of the things you didn't let go of kind of ⁓ spoke up and stuck their their heads up. Why tell us a little bit about what happened next? Sure. So ⁓ I got I ended up getting married, so I was seventeen when I came to Christ. I ⁓ about a year later I I met a lady and we ⁓ a gal and we started dating and we we got married. I was twenty-one years old. We got married. ⁓ and you know, I I will say we were both plugged into the church. We we love the Lord. ⁓ we were we were living life as we should. And I was I was really good at kind of keeping the untamed side of me pressed down, kind of hidden. and I was able to do that and some that obviously was the Lord and the Spirit in me giving me strength to do that in many cases. But there were these little spots in my mind that still allowed allowed that little untamed thing to just entertain thoughts sometimes and not taking every thought captive. And ten years into marriage, so we had two small kids, ⁓ I learned some very painful truths in my marriage ⁓ that really broke me. It it Gosh, I just it hit me so hard. I was I was so hurt. And yet I didn't know I didn't know what to do with it. And a fear of failure has been something that I've I guess I've struggled with in I always wanted to be excellent. I always wanted to do my best and and be excellent and succeed in everything. And to admit that my marriage was in trouble ⁓ was to admit failure. And that was something I was not willing to to seed and and acknowledge. And there were maybe a handful of people that actually knew what had gone on in my marriage. I bury I buried that deep within. And on the outside the world saw the smiles. They saw the success. The picture perfect family, the wife and the two kids and the successful corporate career and you know getting to travel and and work internationally and and all of these things that are going on. And on the outside it looked so good. And on the inside, it's what I call my hidden orchard. ⁓ I was watering seeds inside that nobody could see in the dark. So I kept it hidden. I didn't seek help. I didn't seek the help of other believers or counselors to say, hey, this hurts and this happened and I don't know how to handle this. I foolishly believed I could do this on my own and I would just get over it. But I had a lot of anger in that too. I had I was angry at God. How could you allow this to happen? I was angry at my spouse and anger was probably the one emotion that would seep to the surface the most because it was this bitterness. And I say, you know, when you water seeds, you're gonna reap the harvest of what you're watering. And when you bad things grow in the dark. And so I was watering these seeds in this silence and this darkness that no one saw because I wasn't letting anything out of what was going on. And we've all heard, you know, secrets keep us sick. Well, part of that is if you're growing a hidden orchard and no one knows it's in there, but you're watering those seeds of hurt and bitterness and unforgiveness in there, that eventually led to I stayed for nine years in that marriage. And I ev and ⁓ I thought, ⁓ my kids are young, you know, I guess I won't leave. I'll stay because the kids are young. But I planted a seed in my mind there that one day I'm probably gonna get out of this. probably gonna get out of this marriage because there's just this is unforgivable what's happened. And I was living in another country and I had the chance to move to Texas and start a new job. And I was alone for the first time in nearly 20 years. I was I was alone now. I I didn't have a spouse with me. I didn't have I didn't have ⁓ my kids with me at that moment. And I felt this freedom. I felt like I could breathe after pain and all of that, felt like, ⁓ I can breathe again. And it's in that moment though that those parts of my life I had never s surrendered to Jesus. The the parts I held back all the way back at 17 years old, it's when those started to take not only had they taken root, but now they were in full bloom. My hidden orchard was in full bloom. And that actually led to me making some very bad Tragic decisions and which included a divorce and started what for me was very much a seven-year prodigal season. Ooh. Yes. Ooh is right. one thing the Lord revealed to me in this: the prodigal son is not a story of someone coming to Christ for the first time and becoming part of the family. This is someone that is in the family that has an inheritance. When we're in Christ, we're given an inheritance. That's what the son was squandering. And that's where I took those seven years. I was taking this inheritance of being a child of the living God and the freedom I had been granted in that and saying, Lord, I want my inheritance now because I'm owed this life. I'm owed more. I'm owed better. And I went off in that seven-year period to pursue the life that I felt I deserved and that I was owed. ⁓ that included many failed relationships. It included a second and failed marriage that I probably had no business getting into in the first place. ⁓ 'cause I thought, hey, I know what'll fix this. I just need to get married again and do it right this time. And ⁓ second marriage is not the antidote to a broken and flawed heart. Yeah. Nor is the way I was living, nor is the way that the things I was pursuing, the the the places I was going, the the alcohol, the sex, the the lifestyle I was living, the lavish spending, you know, having means and good jobs and all this. And I poured myself into work over this time and I I was getting promoted and ⁓ you know, just doing all the things the world was doing that was saying, Hey, he's so successful and really embracing that and yet at the same time wanting to deep down knowing I want to live a as a good Christian. But I was fully embracing this new life and living for myself ⁓ and ignorant to the damage and destruction I was causing myself and those I had left behind. Then what happened? Then what happened? I finally reached a point. ⁓ so the Lord always has the Lord always has an amazing sense of timing. near the end of that seven year period, the Lord broke through to me where I was starting to kind of come out of that stupor, if you will, and and look at the mud all over myself and go, gosh, I just want to go home. I'm I'm covered in mud and and grime and all this from this prodigal living. and the Lord got started to get my attention. And you know when Solomon was given, he had a dream, and the Lord came to him and said, Ask me for anything and and it's yours. And Solomon asked for a discerning mind. He asked for wisdom. And I always thought, what would I do if the Lord asked me that? And I I didn't have that dream. But I had a moment in a quiet time. And this is right at the end of that prodigal season where I said, Lord, I I want faith. If I could ask you for one thing, I want faith. And not faith like the faith of a mustard seed or just generic faith. I actually wanted the faith of Elisha, the prophet Elisha in Second Kings, when he's awoken by his servant and an army has come and surrounded him. And they're there to take him, right? And to to kill Elisha. And his servants Freaking out. And I always I picture Elisha's response. He goes, don't worry, those who are with us are are more than those who are against us. And he o has, he prays, and the servant's eyes are open to see the the heavenly army surrounding. And that's that's the prayer that I had in that moment was, Lord, I want faith like Elisha had in that moment, to do a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders. Hey, there's an army at the doorstep ready to. To take me out. So what? That's it's kind of how I picture Elisha. He's like, ⁓ who, who cares? Yeah, an army, whatever, no big deal. That's the faith I wanted. And you we all we've all heard be careful praying for patience because the Lord's not going to give you patience. He is going to give you the opportunity to learn patience and practice patience. And so I made a prayer of faith. Few weeks later, ⁓ I'm sitting in church and the Lord prompts me to go to a recovery ministry called Regeneration. And I'm like, ⁓ okay, they had made an announcement about it and the Lord's like, You need to go to that. And I'm like, ⁓ okay. I I didn't know what my you know, I didn't have like a addiction or anything like that. I'm like, Why do I need a recovery program? Okay. But so I'm sitting there thinking it, ⁓ And again, this is what two weeks after my my prayer for faith, two, three weeks after my prayer for faith. Five days later, my second marriage ended abruptly. Like in in one moment, in one evening, it was just gone. And I was it was just over. And you know, I just prayed for faith. And then this happens, and I'm I'm left, I was shell-shocked. You know, I I I lost a spouse and a family and ⁓ a house and everything and just such a in quick moment. And I didn't know what to do. And I didn't know how did I get to this point in my life. But I knew the Lord had prompted me to go to regeneration recovery. So I did the first time. That's I walked into regeneration for the first time. And I didn't know why I was there. But each week was a progression and in figuring out it's in regeneration I learned that I had a fear of failure. It's I learned that I was discontent with blessings. ⁓ and discontent all the time. I wanted more, I wanted better. Everything could be better for me. And I felt owed more and this sense of entitlement. A lot of pride. I a lot of pride. but it was through that process the Lord started to shape me in regeneration. Well, meanwhile I'm I'm going through everything in the aftermath of a second marriage. I'm going through ⁓ now job loss, now health problems. I walked right out of a prodigal season. made a prayer for faith and walked right into a job season. And if it happened to Job, it happened to me pretty much in that season with one clear distinction. Job never brought it on himself. And I was reaping the harvest that I had planted the seeds of for the last seven years. And and probably further back into the bitterness and unforgiveness I had, I was now going through a Job season of my own making. And the Lord has used that season to shape it and bring me closer to Him. ⁓ as I shared with you earlier, it is the Job season has been the most challenging, most difficult season of my life. It's also been one of the most beautiful seasons of my life because I've I've had through the loss of every single thing from health to finances to jobs. to family, spouse, all of that, I've actually had to learn to rely on Jesus. When there's nothing left and you're standing in a empty field, guess who's standing there with you? It's Jesus. And he can make all things new. And that's why I say it's the beautiful part of it. ⁓ there are certain events I wish I could take back or change along the way, but I wouldn't change the lessons learned and the trials because that's That's what shaped me into who I am today. And that is what has allowed me to be where I am today with with this new hope, this this new peace, this new joy I've discovered. And a faith I I never could have had the faith that I wanted without going through this. And again, it goes back to you pray for faith. The Lord gave me plenty of opportunities to put faith in him. And it's not always easy. But I can look back at his faithfulness himself through all of it, even in my worst moments. Not once did he ever leave me. And he always kept me from being my worst and going down much worse paths I could have descended upon. His grace sustained me. And he never endorsed it, never endorsed the things I was doing. But he always sustained me and he's always been there. And that's that's what makes it so beautiful. That's what makes the message so powerful. And and makes him so very real to me. When you want faith, walking through that and seeing that he's been there and and gently guided me through this and carried me when necessary, that is a faith builder. That that will build faith unlike anything else we could walk through. Amen. Well you've you've been through the ringer. And God has been with you through the whole thing and now you're facing the new plan, God's plan. You've you've ⁓ you've c you've come you've had revelation as to understanding what God wants to do with your life. So what's he gonna do? What ha what happens next in in the in the Matthew Matthew Wingo story? ⁓ if if you know, please tell me. I would love I would I would love if he's given you a vision exactly what's next. ⁓ you know, I had a pastor and I I I I love this statement, but he said Generally the Lord speaks to us in sentences, not paragraphs. We get one word, one sentence at a time. You know, when he when he called the disciples, it was follow me. He didn't give them all the a play by play of what was about to happen. No job description. No job description. Peter probably never would have left the nets in the boat if he knew what was gonna happen and how his life was gonna end up. Yeah, he might have never gotten out of the boat. ⁓ but he got follow me. And he was obedient in that step. And really that's where I'm at now. It's just it's one step at a time. I ⁓ the Lord made it very clear that I wasn't going back to the the technology world, the corporate world that I had been a part of for so long and had been in my life. ⁓ I wasn't going back to that. ⁓ and that's a hard lesson learned because I I resisted that for a while, but he's he's made that very clear. He's he put in me the desire to write a book. And again, sometimes a single sentence, in this case a single word. ⁓ a little over a year ago, he gave me one word, he said, write. And I had tried so many times to write a book and it just the words would never come. The words would never come. He said one word to me, he said, write. And sixty days later the book was done. I mean it's gone through editing and all that since then, but the core of the book was done in sixty days after he gave me one word. And through that, he's shown me that he's call called me to ministry full time. And so that's the book is now out. And along with that, so too is the launch of this ministry, Turn Right Ministries, ⁓ which is directly tied into the book. And I say they all go together, right? The the mission for all of us is to go and make disciples. Turn right ministries, the mission. And my role in that is to challenge and encourage men to be men of noble character, to give men hope. And I like to say that, you know, when we are in Christ, we already are nobles, right? We're we're sons and daughters of the King of Kings. That makes us nobles. But it's time we step up and live like the nobility that we are, live according to our identity in Christ. And our calling is none other than to be Christ-like. Right? To be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5 48. You are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And that's now my mission is to go out and encourage and challenge others to walk the noble path as I do it myself. I I'm by no means an expert in noble things, but the Lord has shown me so many lessons through these trials, through these seasons. ⁓ and that's why I have a message to share now. That's why. I want to bring the story of hope to others and encourage them and teach them along the way. Hey, the Lord has shown me this, and if this lesson helps you and gives you hope for your future, then that's exactly where I want to be and where the Lord is leading me now. So out of the ashes of your dreams and plans, God has has rebuilt you from the inside out and given you hope and promise and vision and a plan. And with and with those things in mind, to our to the our viewers and listeners, no matter how how how you thought things were going to be, there's your way and then there's the way that God had planned for you. And ⁓ one of the things I learned, and you mentioned as you were talking earlier about ⁓ you know, having the plan, the vision, ⁓ I believe that there's the birth of a vision, that's something that we we know that God wants us to do someday. Then there's the death of the vision when we try to do it ourselves. like your book and it crashes and burns and and we no matter how hard we try nothing happens and then we finally say, God, I can't do this, I need you. And then then there's the rebirth of the vision and the fulfillment of the vision, where God then says, Okay, now that you've given me room, I gave you the talent before I gave you the job. So you you the book is in there. I'm saying now write it and I'm going to anoint the writing and the book comes out. That works in your whole life. That works in my life, that works in everybody's life. If you just give him room so he can speak to you. You see, well, God doesn't speak. Well, maybe not like, hey, listen to God. But it's according to scripture, he can speak in an audible voice. He has to me. But it's not an it's usually the answer is God speaks in the way he will listen. God is a personal relationship, God. And if the only way to get your attention is a lightning bolt, then he's not above using one. But if he can use a a a a light wind and just whisper it to your ear, that g brings you more joy because you're listening. But if he can just lead you and guide you and you and you d learn to hear what he's trying to get you to do, your life is going to be so fulfilled. It's going to be rich. In spite of your challenges, your life is going to be rich. Your life is going to be wonderful compared to who you would have been without him. So well said. That's that's so well said and well spoken. You know, for for me, in the midst of the storms and and the you could call chaos of the world, ⁓ the chaos we create ourselves, right? In the midst of all of that, it's always in those still small moments that the Lord has spoken to me. When I quiet down, when I'm willing to listen and I slow down and stop trying. myself. You know, we we know be still and know that I'm God. NASB says cease striving and know that I am God. And I love that. When I cease striving, ⁓ when I r rest and return to him, that's when I find him. And quietness and trust is my strength. And th that's all from Isaiah 30 verse 15. in quietness and trust is your strength. I find strength when I'm quiet, let my mind go at ease and pause and just trust that he's gonna guide my steps and it may be one step at a time. And very different than the way the world calls us to be, right, David? We're told, Hey, plan your next twenty steps and have your five year plan and enact it and and build everything out and go do it. And you know, one of the things the Lord Showed me is Proverbs 1921. Many are the plans of a man's heart, but the Lord's purposes prevail. And I've had to learn that the hard way, that I can plan all day long. ⁓ but things go better when I'm quiet, I'm still, and I take a breather for a moment and allow him space to work. Allow the Lord to fight for me and to do the things for me. And one of the breakthrough moments for me is remember back earlier where I said, I kept those things that were so dear to me. I kept them very close and I never surrendered those to the Lord. Mm-hmm. It was through the process that I was finally able to go like this and open my hands and those last things that I held so close and said, Lord, I've got these. Surrender. I I realized, Lord, I no longer can do these. And when when I went to that surrender posture and I just started focus on just be obedient to his word. Let him worry about the outcome. I just have to be faithful to what he's called me, take the step he's called me, and let him worry about the outcome of it. It is it is the joy that Paul found when he said, I found I can have joy regardless of the circumstances, as he's shackled to a r a Roman soldier in a prison and he's like, I can have joy regardless of of the circumstances. I understand what that means now. I understand what it means to even when it's hard. And I don't understand. He doesn't call me to always understand everything, but he does call me to trust him and to be obedient to him. And I can do what I know to do right in front of me. The people he puts in my path, I can be a light to them. The opportunities I have to do good, I can do that. That's right in front of me today. And let him lead the bigger things. Let him guide and lead me. And there are so many God moments. If I will just allow him the space to work and stop striving in my own power to do it all myself. I remember so well ⁓ having s my one of my children would say, Me help, me help, me help, when we were trying to cake the groceries out of the car. And one day one of ⁓ grabbed a big watermelon and it was almost as big as he was. And he got it out of the car and it hit the ground and cracked. And he says, Me help, you fix. ⁓ And that and that's where we're at. When we help God out, things crash. Because we don't have the answers. We don't have the strength. We don't have the power. So when we stop helping God, he doesn't have to fix all the things we break. Yes. He can just build and rebuild and res and do do beautiful things in place. We have to come to a place where we don't say, Here, God, let me tell you how to think. Here, God, let me give you the words you I think you want to do. Here, God, I got this plan for my life. Why don't you bless it? Those are those are ⁓ those are potholes in the road of life. God doesn't He doesn't erase the path, but you can't get past it till you deal with the potholes. You've got to deal with the things that are not surrendered to God. So God's got free reign to work in your life. And he's not gonna make you a robot. He's it's not like he's gonna brainwash you. Matter of fact, he he gave you that mind to use for him. And he wants you to use it to underst first off, to understand him, and second to understand what he wants you to do and then do it. The talent you have, that came from God. Yes. The skills you have, that came from God. The plan for your life, it comes from God. And that's why we do this podcast, because we want to see people's lives changed as God does his beautiful thing in our lives. So, Matthew. Our final thing we always ask is for a golden nugget. That's the thing you want us to remember as we pray and we read and over the next week or so, what is it that w what we should think about when we we w after we viewed this podcast? I always want to bring hope and a message of hope. And so for anyone that wonders if they are too far gone or they have wandered too far from the faith, or maybe you've never come to faith because you thought, nah, he'd never let me in the family. He'd never let me into the kingdom. That was how I felt. And and maybe like me, I was in the faith and then had a ⁓ prodigal season. I was squandering the inheritance that he gave me, grieving his spirit. And I look back at that, and I can tell you absolutely, not once did he leave me, even when he stood on that front porch weeping for his prodigal son to come home. Not once did he ever fully abandon me. And you are never too far gone, never too far out of his grace to return home, to come back and have a loving father run down Off those front porch steps, run down the road, throw his finest robe on you, put a ring on your finger and say, Welcome home, son or daughter. And that's what I would hope anybody listening to this would leave with is that he's waiting for you, he's looking down the road to come back home and b have a feast and celebrate your return. Amen. Now, Matthew, the one thing we didn't talk about was your book. You want to tell us a little bit about it, please? Sure. So the book is called Turn Right, The Pursuit of Noble Things. ⁓ the book really started as an idea of I I had kind of a heady academic idea in mind for a book of just years of knowledge of Bible study, ⁓ of of everything. And the Lord challenged me with Romans fifteen, eighteen, where the apostle Paul says, I will venture to speak of nothing but what Christ has accomplished through me. And that really became the turning point of what shaped the book and how it became what it is today. ⁓ what Christ has accomplished through me. So the book is very much it's an autobiography. It's my testimony, it's how the Lord has worked in my life. It's the lessons I've learned through the trial seasons I've gone through and that the Lord has shown me along the way to guide me on the noble path. So I put what I call my channel markers, my trail markers as I'm walking this noble path. These are the things the Lord has given to me. And by no means is it a comprehensive list of of everything and all things that are noble, but is what the Lord has personally shown me. Amen. journey. Now you're you have a website? I do. I do. So turnright ministry dot org is the overarching ministry website. ⁓ the book itself will shortly be available for sale through the website. It is currently available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Okay. Is there any other links or emails or things we should reach out to you with? ⁓ the best way to get a hold of me is just right through the website, the turnright ministry dot org. There's a contact us section at the bottom of the page and you can send that, it'll send it directly over to me. Sounds great. I look forward to ⁓ reading your book. I I'm excited about it. Thank you. Thank you. Now as we close this time together, ⁓ I'm we o we I I will pray and then we'll have a challenge. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful for this chance for Matthew and I to share your amazing love with with everybody. Lord, we know that you created us to love. Before we were even born, you had created us with hope and faith. And you've you've had the tools in place the whole time. So now as we are in a position to need to use that hope and faith to trust you. We pray that we will use that and discover how amazing you are. Matthew had to learn it ⁓ the way he eat the way he did, so he'd understand it and find it precious. Each of us is going to have a different way we discover your love. But Lord, open a we pray that you will help those to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit, and that they will be you will reveal yourself to them in the way that ⁓ will most speak to them, that will bless them the most, that will change their lives for the best. Lord, if they need healing, manifest it through your stripes that you bore on your back, Lord Jesus. If you need if they need deliverance, then set them free. Whatever it takes to help them to get past the wounds of their past, do it now. Be glorified through their lives so that they can trust you beyond all things. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. And the challenge for the day is simple. You want to know God? Seek after Him. You want to really know Him? Seek Jesus. He said He was the way to God. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. You want God to add into your life? Seek after Jesus. He'll get you to God and make sure the path is clear. But if you want to know God, get up, move forward, and trust him. Seek after God. He will be found, and he is waiting. This has been the God Says Yes Podcast with David Ebel. Connect with David, email him at GodsaysYespodcast at gmail. You can get his latest book, When the Doctors Say No, God Says Yes, at Amazon.com.