93. Intro to God's Goodness: Igniting Hope & Deepening Faith

When was the last time you felt utterly transformed by an experience? Today, we embark on a new journey of faith and inspiration. I'm Rebecca Twomey, and this episode of the Radiant Mission Podcast marks the beginning of a heartfelt series that revisits our spiritual roots. After wrapping up our discussions on "God's Design for Women's Health," we shift gears to focus on the extraordinary power of testimonies. I'll be sharing how these personal stories of faith can ignite hope and foster a deeper connection with God, much like how a memorable dining experience compels you to share it with everyone you know.

Join me as we dive into these transformative testimonies, including a special highlight on my husband's recent baptism and spiritual awakening. Through real-life stories from guests who have undergone profound changes, you'll discover the immense power of sharing faith and how it can inspire others. This episode promises not just to uplift but to encourage you in your spiritual journey, offering a reminder of God's incredible work in our lives. Tune in for a session filled with spiritual insights, heartfelt stories, and the undeniable power of God's word.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Being saved by Jesus has been the most impactful thing that has ever happened in my life, and not just the first saved moment, right, it's all of it. It's how he keeps saving me time and time again. Hello and welcome to the Radiant Mission Podcast. My name is Rebecca Toomey and we are on a mission to encourage and inspire you as you're navigating through this wildlife and with your relationship with Christ. Over the past few months, we have been in a series called God's Design for Women's Health. We discuss topics like birth control and fertility awareness, marketing strategies that were used and are used to undermine breastfeeding. We talked about feminism and abortion, diet, culture and gut health, body image and self-esteem, and then our last episode of the series was on our blood and I shared my experience with a blood product called Rogam. If you are new here, welcome. I want to invite you to listen back, tune into stories that resonate. There have been quite a number of series that we have been through, serieses that we have been through, but, yeah, best yet start from the beginning of this podcast, because we certainly build as we are going, and today we are going to be transitioning into another new series, and I'm extremely excited about this one, this podcast. If you have been listening, then you might've heard me say before that this podcast has been led entirely by the Lord. Every single episode and every single guest that has been on the show has come about so naturally and organically it almost sometimes seems impossible, but that's God. So this series is the same in that this is where God has led me and Rachel in our progression of this podcast and it's, you know, just amazing to see of this podcast and it's, you know, just amazing to see. So God has really put it on both of our hearts and I know Rachel's not here today but you'll be seeing her soon. But we really want to get back into some of the roots of this podcast, similar to how we kicked things off with the Spiritual Warfare series and where we really dove into the Bible. So, moving forward, we're going to be sharing more of his word and diving deep a bit more.

Speaker 1: 3:12

In a similar fashion, and as we have had these discussions, we have also come across and I personally have come across some really amazing testimonies of faith from others. They have just come out of nowhere and I've said that is amazing, will you come on the podcast? And they said, yeah, of course. So we're going to be sharing some testimonies and really digging into what God is doing in the lives of others, and I really hope that you find it inspirational and encouraging. And actually my own husband. He's had some pretty amazing things happening in his life lately too. You may have heard him in our birth story episode or in the marriage series, but he got baptized recently. So please be praying for him and maybe we'll get lucky and he'll join me to share more with you on what God has been doing in his life.

Speaker 1: 4:15

But first let's talk about testimonies. You might be wondering, you know, what does that even mean to share a testimony? Maybe you're not thinking that, but I'll share a little bit more and really why it matters and why I want us to share these testimonies. Okay, so I'm going to start with an example. So stick with me here.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Let's think about it simply. Let's say that you go to a new restaurant that you have never been to before. You go with your husband, and this restaurant just blows you away in every possible way. The ambiance is perfect, the food is delicious, the staff is so nice and goes above and beyond. They just really take care of you. You have an experience that you don't come by often. Maybe you've never come by an experience like this before and it's the very first time. So you leave that dinner and you are just raving about this experience that you had. What do you do next after that? Well, maybe it's simple. Maybe you mention it to a friend, maybe you post a picture of the food on your Instagram and say this food was so good. Or maybe you make a Facebook post that shares the details of your experience. Or, best yet, maybe you even go to the Google, my Business and Yelp pages for the restaurant and share your experience for everyone to read. You know, after all, it really impacted you that what I just described is a testimonial, except, of course, my example is about a restaurant experience experience, and so I want to ask you how much bigger and how much better has your experience with God been? It's a question to be had. I'll tell you a little bit about how much bigger he is and how much bigger he's been in my life than my single experience at a restaurant.

Speaker 1: 6:27

You might have heard some of the stories about how I lived in Florida and I moved to New York. When I first moved there, I moved without a job. I had some money saved up and I had planned to rebuild what was my side business in Florida, which was doing makeup for weddings, and I really wanted to figure out what was next. My career was in sales and marketing in Florida and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do yet Next, when it came to my professional career. You know I was figuring it out right. I was in my mid to late 20s, so I had that luxury at the time to still be figuring out, you know where I was being led, what I was to do. So I was living and paying rent, going out to eat, going to concerts. You know I had gotten pretty far from God up to that point and at that time I was really making a return to him.

Speaker 1: 7:32

And as time went on, I started my own consulting business, which that's all God 100%, and I was continuing to live pretty well. But I was really struggling with the fact that with my consulting job I had to travel a lot and I had moved to New York to be in New York, not to travel. So I started to seek out other opportunities and this was as I was seeking God to. Started to seek out other opportunities. And this was as I was seeking God to well, when I was down to my last $500, the last dollars I had in my bank account to pay my bills, which was not enough to pay my bills. Let me just say I was offered a job and it was the job I really wanted and I started that job. It was so perfect for me.

Speaker 1: 8:19

At that time in my life I learned so much and grew immensely. But something interesting happened after I started that job. After taxes and insurance health insurance I somehow ended up with a $500 deficit when it came to my bills every month. So I wasn't making enough to pay for my expenses. So I really prayed for peace on what to do. And then, boom, someone that I know reached out to me about an opportunity for a side gig. To guess what Cover that 500 bucks? I really felt so deeply that God was looking out for me. He was seeking me as much as I was seeking him.

Speaker 1: 9:04

During that time, and as much as I loved that job, I really felt very deep in my heart that that New York City was not the place that he meant for me to live and to be in. But it's all God's timing right. So I started praying that God would lead me to the right opportunity, to what's next for my life, that he would just guide me there. But I was very specific too, that I prayed that God please the employer be a believer. It was very specific Lord, lead me to a job with a boss or owner that is a believer. So a year goes by, maybe a little bit more, a couple months, and all of a sudden, within a week period of time, three job opportunities just fell into my lap, and one out of those three opportunities the owner of the business was a believer, and a very proud believer at that. He spoke openly. He spoke openly and very clearly about his love for God and I knew that the Lord was guiding this opportunity. So it was amazing how he showed up.

Speaker 1: 10:29

Mike's job came next and then our move to Tennessee and our house hunt was probably the smoothest house hunt that you could imagine no-transcript, and we rolled into town on the same day as our closing closed on our house and it really sincerely felt like God was with us every step. Through both jobs, through the move, all of it, the Lord has also brought Mike and I closer in our marriage. He's brought us into community with amazing neighbors and believers. He's blessed us with three children, as y'all know, in the last four years and he's also walked with us through some fires. You know the birth trauma experience that I had, some deaths in our family and even pornography. You know you're gonna have to tune into episodes eight, nine and 67 for all the T on that one.

Speaker 1: 11:36

But I have come out of the past decade with an intense, intense desire to talk about God, because he's awesome and what he has done for me is more than amazing. He's taught me love and forgiveness and he's still working on me. But if I can leave a testimonial about a restaurant or a face cream or a pair of pajamas, I can most certainly definitely leave a testimonial about God. Most certainly definitely leave a testimonial about God. I'm actually reminded of a verse, psalm 145.3, that says you are wonderful Lord and you deserve all the praise because you are much greater than anyone can understand. Can I get an amen on that one? Can I get an amen on that one?

Speaker 1: 12:31

Being saved by Jesus has been the most impactful thing that has ever happened in my life, and not just the first saved moment, right, it's all of it. It's how he keeps saving me time and time again. I was actually saved at the age of four, saved at the age of four, so you can bet that life has not been a perfect symphony of flowers and rainbows and cupcakes. It has been hard and I've gone through a lot of trials and tribulations, many of which I did to myself, but God has always been there for me and he is so much bigger than any of the nonsense that I have wasted my time on.

Speaker 1: 13:15

There's this kid's version of that song, praise Ye the Lord, and in it it says praise what's that? It's a yippee, yahoo way to go, god, and that really resonates with me. I want to shine a light on how awesome God is. Yippee, yahoo way to go God. He's awesome, all of his goodness and all of the good that he has done and continues to do. And if you're asking why which I hope you're not asking why at this point my pastor actually recently shared something that's called the Roman Road and it was really impactful to me, so I'm going to share it with you guys.

Speaker 1: 13:56

It starts with Romans 3 23, which says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And then in six, verse 23, we read, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Next, we're reminded in 5, verse 8, but God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, christ died for us. Then we're given the really good news in 10, verse 9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Lastly, in 10, verse 13, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So that's it, my friend. If you haven't already yet, call on the name of Jesus or Yeshua, or Yeshua and the name of God, which is Yahweh. By the way, he's ready for you and he is calling you, and he will change your whole entire life.

Speaker 1: 15:04

If you have a testimony that you'd like to share, reach out to me. You can reach me at theradiantmission at gmailcom, and be sure to stay tuned for more testimonies to hear about the goodness of God. We can't wait to really dig into this. Thank you for tuning in and for being on this journey with us. If you'd like to follow along outside this podcast, join the mission on Instagram, facebook and YouTube. And today I'm going to close with Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 7. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places. In Jesus Christ, wishing you a radiant week and I'll see you next time. Bye.