Nikki Humphrey (00:00)
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Hope Mangiafico (00:14)
Huh.
you are. ⁓
Nikki Humphrey (00:21)
So you go, huh, and in my head I was thinking, well, I'll be. Like, I don't really have words.
Hope Mangiafico (00:30)
No, you know, I don't have words, but I felt like, because I was talking about the retreat, I wanted to share someone's story because it just made me think about kind of what progress looks like. And someone showed up to the retreat having no idea what to expect. He booked the retreat two days beforehand, and it was suggested by his divorce lawyer.
He had just got hacked, Was contemplating ending his life. Winds up at this retreat.
had no clue what he was doing. my mom and I happened to be the first people to meet him. And it was just a really cool story. But I say all that because it makes me think about your story, Nikki. You're saying like the enemy takes everything, right? He's trying to take his marriage. He just got hacked He started a business that was stressing the living daylights out of him as part of the problem to the marriage, right? Developed all these bad habits. And he goes through the week.
learning a lot about like what self-pity is, know, accusation and all this stuff that wreaks havoc on your life. And Thursday night they offer a baptism. And you everyone's like, you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? He's like, I don't know, I don't know. And he waited till the last minute. And part of his testimony, you go into the baptismal water and you speak for a little bit.
At the end he said, I've taken so much pride on self-reliance and I don't want to do it anymore. And under the water, out of the water, I'm like, you're a new man, dude, I just know it. Like you came with so much heaviness. And you realize by the end of the week being completely washed with truth and it's scripture and who God is that you're like,
I don't want to be self-reliant anymore. And that's at the end of the day, because we talk about Satan's the kingdom of self, that's the resisting.
Nikki Humphrey (02:38)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (02:40)
And that's where progress is made. And man, when he said that, I just felt it. And I felt like that was a great story to share because by that heart surrender after all this bad stuff came up for him, I have no doubt it's not gonna be easy and it's also not gonna be a straight line, right, to progress and to, we don't even know if his story is, excuse me, his marriage will be restored. Like we don't know, but the hope doesn't lie in that. The hope lies in that he takes responsibility.
He had crazy cool encounters with the Lord where God was just loving on him so much that week. And he's like, I don't want to be independent away from my father anymore.
Nikki Humphrey (03:22)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (03:24)
That's progress.
Nikki Humphrey (03:27)
Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (03:29)
And so that's what I wanted to share. In that specific sentence, I had pride in self-sufficiency. Boy, don't we all.
Nikki Humphrey (03:40)
Yes, and that's why it's so detrimental to compare your progress with somebody else, which we talk about all the time because if we're a study of one, nobody's progress should look similar or the same or have the same outcome.
Hope Mangiafico (03:49)
Yeah.
You know, there is a young girl that also spoke at the retreat. She's like young 20s and she was giving a talk on envy and jealousy and she was like, if you just keep your eyes on God, she's like, you won't know what the Joneses are doing because your eyes aren't over there. And I was like, girl, you right. That throws that saying out the door. It don't matter because you're not looking at them. And so it all comes with like basically a retraining, you know, once you come
Nikki Humphrey (04:19)
Right. Yes.
Hope Mangiafico (04:29)
to give your life to Jesus and you're like, are my heavenly father and I'm following you through Jesus. We're in a retraining and redefining. And even now, right, we're not new on this walk and we're still struggling with like, what is progress? What does it look like?
Nikki Humphrey (04:51)
Well, you were talking about redefining and I heard refining.
Hope Mangiafico (04:57)
Good old refiner's fire. ⁓
Nikki Humphrey (05:01)
That's not easy. That's not, that's a painful process sometimes. But you have to be open to it because what you give up will be that holy exchange. When you give up those things and you refine those things, you don't know what God has waiting for you in that exchange.
Hope Mangiafico (05:07)
It is, but we...
Absolutely, and we've talked about the refiner's fire briefly before and I remember sharing that like I heard something right of like the goldsmith or whatever has to be the one holding it in the fire. So that's God holding us homeboy is right there with us getting his hand on fire, you know, and so he's.
Because he's the creator, so he is there with us. ⁓ And it's worth it. It is worth it. And we can be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and we can be in the fire and come out not even smelling like the smoke. Won't he do it though? He will. We just have to remind ourselves of that. And I mean, I've said it, I feel like, I don't know if I've said it on the podcast or not, I know I've said it a million times in general.
Nikki Humphrey (06:05)
Yeah.
Hope Mangiafico (06:14)
Like this podcast, I pray it blesses people, but Nikki, when you and I are in the tough spots and we're struggling, us communicating about our father, speaking real time about our struggles on here, it helps me with my progress.
Nikki Humphrey (06:32)
Yes, same.
Hope Mangiafico (06:35)
selfishly, it keeps my eyes on what matters and it's a place to just be reminded.
Nikki Humphrey (06:45)
And it's also a good reminder, like if we struggle this much, how much everybody else struggles too.
Hope Mangiafico (06:54)
Exactly.
Nikki Humphrey (06:55)
and that we're all here for one another to help through those times. And that was another purpose for this podcast to help people who are struggling so they don't have to do it alone.
Hope Mangiafico (07:01)
Absolutely.
the truth.
Nikki Humphrey (07:11)
to
constantly reconnect them to their father God in heaven.
Hope Mangiafico (07:17)
Yeah, that's the most important thing. And you know, I think as we continue on this journey with the podcast, ⁓ you talk about the body, like the body of Christ. I was listening to one of the teachings from the retreat when I was coming back and ⁓ he was talking about like, got to figure out what body part you are. And I was like, that's really interesting. Like you hear the body of Christ, but he was like, I'm the intestines where I, I,
I make sure the crap you've eaten gets out of you kind of thing. And it just got me thinking of like, it started reframing my mindset of starting to ask the Lord, like, what is my role in the body? Like actually, like if we view it as a body, which he clearly refers to it as a body for a reason, it's like, what is my role, God? Like, you you and I, Nikki say like, we're here to direct people to the Lord and that's so true. But now I'm like, okay, making progress is also still understanding more of.
What is my role within the body? Is it a hand to reach out? Is it a foot so people can stand? Is it a nervous system, for example, to bring them comfort? You know, like it's just, it got kind of exciting as you were saying that of like, every once in while I need a little exciting conversations with the Lord, you know? Like, it's probably shallow. It's probably rooted in something that's not great, I'll be honest.
but it's like, ooh God, okay, so what is my role in the body? And I don't know the answer, but I feel like our podcast, I say that to say this podcast will continue to unfold where my prayer is like, will each, including you and I and the listeners, understand what our roles are in the body so we propel everyone forward together and be the most beautiful demonstration, I pray, of.
Jesus.
Hope Mangiafico (09:21)
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