Transcript

Jennifer: Straight Paths
Season 1: Episode 4

Carol: 0:13

Welcome to the God is good podcast, where we share stories of those who have reignited their faith in Jesus and experienced remarkable life transformations. My name is Carol O'Brien, and I'm your host for this podcast. If our episodes touch your heart and you would like to get involved and help us on our mission of moving hearts toward Jesus, please listen to the end of this episode to learn how.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. On your own intelligence do not rely. In all your ways, be mindful of Him and He will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6.

Dear friends in Christ, it is with a heart full of reflection and gratitude that I welcome you to this episode. Every story we share here touches me deeply. I hope they do the same for you. That you find something within each story that moves your heart closer to Jesus. If so, I think you'll find that this episode is just as powerful. It resonated with me profoundly, shaking me to my core, and serving as a poignant reminder of the times when my own paths were not straight. Through this journey, I found strength and guidance in faith, and it is my hope that this episode will inspire you in a similar way. Before we get to her story, I'd like to tell you about our guest, Jennifer. Soft spoken and passionate, she has a beautiful and supportive family, including her husband and two daughters. Jennifer is an active member of a dynamic church community, full of faith-filled friends. And if that doesn't keep her busy enough, she wrote a chapter in the new book, Before She Knew Jesus. This book so aptly releases on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025. It is about forgiveness in the face of betrayal and devastating hardships. I am honored to introduce Jennifer, whose powerful testimony and unwavering faith have been a beacon of hope and inspiration. Her story is one of resilience, redemption, and the transformative power of God's love. Join me as we welcome Jennifer and hear her remarkable journey. Hi, Jennifer.

Jennifer: 2:40

Hey, Carol. So nice to be here. Thank you for this opportunity.

Carol: 2:44

It's so wonderful to speak with you. Before we get into your story, please tell me about the method for writing the chapter of your book. Was it a healing process or do you feel like you were already through the trauma and so this was just a joyful retelling of a story?

Jennifer: 3:00

This particular chapter is a retelling, so this is something that I had healed from and lived through several years after reflecting upon this moment, and being able to retell it and see where the story's gone since then. And just really understanding when we're told in the Bible to count it all joy. This I can now count as joy.

Carol: 3:24

That's fantastic that you're through it enough that you can look back on it and find all the God moments in it. So, this does bring us to your story. It's a hard story. The unfairness of this situation is really heartbreaking. Can you share what happened?

Jennifer: 3:42

Absolutely. So when we come into this story, I was 30 at the time. God had been in my life But I just really wasn't listening. I was doing what I wanted to do, or what I knew to do, mostly out of survival mode. So what I had decided is that we were going to pack up my soon to be husband, our new baby, and move from one side of the country to the other so that I could fulfill my desires of being part of a sea turtle rescue. When we got to the other side of the country, we made a stop at my husband's mom's house because she happens to live in the area. And we went out to look for a place to live and we found a place. It was perfect. It was this upcoming little neighborhood with the playground and a community garden. The landlords were Christian. And so we picked out the trailer that we wanted. Everything in it was in the process of being rebuilt and they told us that it would be about two weeks. We're like, okay, we could do two weeks. So fast forward. It had been two weeks and we hadn't heard anything. Texts and emails went unresponded to. And we went back down to check on progress. It was about two and a half hours away. When we arrive, the trailer that we had chosen was in worse shape than where we had seen it in the first place. So we find them and they're like,"you know, I'm really sorry. It's taking longer than we thought. We didn't respond because it wasn't ready. Give us two more weeks. But, can we have a little bit more money to cover costs?" I was very naive at the time coming to that stuff, and so we ended up giving them our deposit, first month's rent, and half of another month's rent in total. And then we went back for two more weeks. And we finally get a text."It's moving day, you can move in, come get your new home," and we're like, yes, because this would fulfill a dream. I would be living by the beach, in the country, not in a city, have a community, like, it hit all the boxes. And so we show up, and there's another family... living in our home. It was very apparent that they had been there at least a couple of weeks, because everything was moved in, you know, kind of walking around the place, trying not to be too nosy, but really kind of wondering, did they just move in? Was it an accident? Something like that. We found nobody around and so we went across the street, which is another part of their property. We're asking people,"where are these landlords? Where are they? We need to talk to them. There's somebody in our house." And then we were informed by one of the maintenance men,"Oh, they did that to you, too?" And we were like,"Whoa, what do you mean you, too?" And they're like,"Oh yeah, they've done that before." It was shortly after that, that a gentleman comes around the corner and he was one of their managers and tells us that we need to leave the property because we are considered trespassing and that the law would be called if we didn't leave. So that left us in a new city, homeless with a baby and a cat. We could not go back to his mom's place. Because her landlord said we can't go back because we'd already been there a month. And everything that we were supposed to be doing was in this city two and a half hours away.

Carol: 7:08

Oh my gosh, that's really hard. I can't imagine what you were feeling at that time. I mean, not having a home and having to care for a young child. And then all the financial implications of having paid them already. And so, how did you feel? Did you lose your faith in people?

Jennifer: 7:27

At that time I was, I was very angry, very angry. But there was a brief moment where I just felt like God was very firm, very kind, but saying, forgive them. And I was not having it. That was not going to happen at that moment. At that point it was just, it was really hard. To say, you know what? I'm in the right. I didn't do anything wrong And if they've done this to me, they've done this to other people. And so what that did is that left us completely, nearly completely broke. I did take it to the point where I took it to the court Just in full transparency. I took them to court and I sued them. And while I was going through every step of that process, God was telling me, forgive them, forgive them. I still, even hearing him and knowing it was him, I still did the wrong thing. I walked out of that courtroom and went to collect the money because we won because they didn't show up and the clerk tells me no, they have to pay us and then we pay you. But it was over the next few weeks where having conversations with God that I hadn't had in a very long time and there was just a softening in my heart towards the landlord. I called the courts. I asked them to stop. I'm not going to pursue her for this. Once I did that, I saw them for the humans they are and not for the things that they did, and I had never seen anybody like that before.

Carol: 9:02

That's incredible. One of the things that I've learned doing this podcast is that, you know, we're really all broken in some way. I think we all think,"Oh, my gosh, I'm the broken one. And these other people have it all together." We don't know what was broken with those landlords. They certainly didn't act with integrity, but God knows what was going on for them. This may have been an opportunity to bless you because he gave you the peace and comfort with this. And I really love that. So you did say that God was whispering to you and making your path straight. Did this change the way that you approach different situations?

Jennifer: 9:41

Absolutely. It changed. I never look at people the same way. I always wonder what's underneath. This brought up the realization that there was something in me that couldn't let it go. There was some brokenness inside of me that was clinging to the need to be right. So it was bringing up things that I needed to work on. I see behaviors differently. I see choices differently. And so going forward for the rest of my life, I don't look at people the same way. I look at them as humans and we are all just trying to figure it out with whatever we've experienced and knowing that I can give more grace. I can extend mercy. I can reflect Jesus' character more intentionally through interactions with others. Just the constant reminder of, How much have I forgiven you?"

Carol: 10:33

How God has forgiven you? Right. Yes. Yes. And I think about the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says, If someone takes your cloak, give them your tunic as well. And that's a hard lesson. So what happened after this experience, this terrible story of betrayal?

Jennifer: 10:53

So, after that, once I had forgiven her, and I had asked for her forgiveness, we were searching for a new home. And we had bad credit history. So we were looking in all the places we thought we would be accepted and we could afford. The place that we found in the meantime was a trailer that did not have any heat. There were ants in the walls, out of the walls. We had a crawling toddler and so it was this daily battle of trying to wash our clothes because we couldn't afford a washer and dryer. And we couldn't afford to go to a laundry mat. So we were doing everything by hand, including cloth diapers. And we were driving around and I saw these apartments off to the side. They were by the beach and they were beautiful in the kind that you look at it and you're like, that would be nice. I felt that Holy nudge and it was the nudge of, you need to go do this. And there's like a surety of success when you get that nudge. There's something successful on that side. And so my husband questioned me and he was like, those are really, those are not, we're not going to be able to afford that. And I was like, just go. So we go in and talk to the manager and we tell them our story. And they're like, well, let's run your credit. So we run credit. And she's like, oh, good news. You were approved. And we're like, that's great. And she's like, well, you need first month and the deposit is also first month's rent. And that's where we said, Thank you, but have a great day. We don't have that." And so we go to leave and we're getting in our truck and the manager comes from running out of the office and she waves us down and she's like, you need to come back inside."You know, we don't have the funds to move in." And she stops me. She looks me dead in the eye and she says,"When God tells you to do something, you do it. And he told me you need to live here and we're going to make it work. We're going to work it out." So we go back inside and we sign all the papers. We gave her everything we have. My husband hadn't even started his job yet. He was going to start the next Monday. And they were like, just bring us what you got. This is what you'll owe and we'll work on it. We had a new apartment. We had a washer and dryer, we were right by the beach, and places to play with our daughter, and it was a safe neighborhood. And that was something that was just incredibly important to us is that we had the safety and we just felt so protected. We became very close friends with the agents in the office. And the beautiful part about it is that the forgiveness didn't stop at that point. Once we were there for a few months, we found out that we were going to be expecting again. My first pregnancy was a very difficult pregnancy. It was very high risk and we knew we would need help and there was nobody there to help us. So here we were packing up everything we own back in our truck and having to go back across the country to go with my mom, because I know she could help us. That meant that we had to break a lease that meant there were fees and rent. And through the kindness of the Lord and nothing else we were forgiven that debt as well. And there were things that happened after that, with the management of the property that we were just leaving that we could have never foreseen. And through it all within a couple of years, it was less than two years, that debt had fallen off of our credit and it's gone. Like we even went to look for it to pay everything off later. It was gone. It was forgiveness after forgiveness after forgiveness. So when you forgive a little, God just multiplies that.

Carol: 14:37

God is so good. I love that story because it makes me think on one hand you had this one landlord who treated you so badly and then God gave you another landlord that treated you so kindly.

Jennifer: 14:52

And we're still friends today. So when we travel back that way, we can always pop in and say, Hey, and she wants to see the girls and catch up and everything. And so it was really just absolutely life changing.

Carol: 15:05

Is this what the chapter of your book is about?

Jennifer: 15:08

This is definitely what my chapter is about in this story. I had come together with several other authors to share their raw stories as well. My particular chapter is chapter three, and it's called,"When Forgiveness Feels Offensive."

Carol: 15:23

Oh, what a great title. That just says everything, doesn't it? I don't know if everyone listening caught it, but you said earlier that after you forgave the landlord, you asked for her forgiveness for taking her to court. At first I thought, No, she didn't do anything wrong. Why should she have to ask that landlord for forgiveness? But your story tells the reason, right? You were actually listening to God and doing what God's will was for your life. And he blessed you after the forgiveness that you were able to find in your heart to give to someone who had wronged you. It's an amazing story and it just really shows how on fire you are for Jesus. Do you have any suggestions for our listeners on how they too can become and stay on fire for Jesus?

Jennifer: 16:14

One of the things that has brought the most clarity when it comes to getting to know Jesus on a deep level is spending those quiet moments and inviting him in and just saying, just show me what it is. Whatever it is that you are working on with me, how can I partner with you? And then just saying thank you. Thank you for the stars. Thank you for the sun. Thank you for this world. Thank you for just anything that you can think of. And there's something really holy about being completely thankful. It is a constant conversation. Always. It's something that took me a long time to get used to because I was used to filling my head with lots of other thoughts. I'm always learning more about who Jesus was. And the more that I learn, the more on fire I get, the more excited I get, and the more I want to share because it's amazing. It's miraculous. It's so deep.

Carol: 17:10

I think this is an excellent point to re-read your favorite scripture, because I think it's very telling to who you are and how much you love Jesus."Trust in the Lord with all your heart. On your own intelligence do not rely. In all your ways be mindful of Him and He will make straight your paths." Proverbs 3 verses 5 through 6 Well, thank you for sharing your story, Jennifer. It's truly hard and maybe even impossible to walk with Jesus when you're carrying bitterness and anger. But you chose forgiveness and joy. Your call to live by faith enabled Jesus to guide your path. I know your story really impacted me. It made me think of the times when I knew I was right and instead of reacting with grace and kindness, I acted with justification for how angry I was. I counted the ways the person had wronged me, instead of counting the blessings that I had been given. I hope it inspires even one person to trust in God with all their heart. Thank you again, Jennifer. And please tell us how to get your book when it's released.

Jennifer: 18:21

Absolutely. You can find,"Before She Knew Jesus" on Amazon. It should be released the second week of February. If you're hearing this after that, you can go to my website, storiesofafaithbuilder.com, and you can order it from there as well.

Carol: 18:41

We'll make sure we put that information in the show notes. Thanks again, Jennifer. And thank you to all of our listeners for joining us on this movement by liking, sharing, and following our podcast. We welcome everyone who would like to become more involved and move more hearts towards Jesus and there are two really great ways. The first is by becoming one of our storytellers and sharing your story. And second, we humbly ask you to consider offering a small one-time or monthly donation. These funds will help us produce the podcast and even allow us to offer some spiritual retreat scholarships. You can do both of these things at GodIsGoodPodcast.com/joinus. All of your support, whether it's a donation, a like, a follow, or even sharing this podcast with a friend is so appreciated and helps us move as many hearts as possible toward Jesus. Until next time, friends, remember, God is good.