Flourishing in Freedom: Overcoming Strongholds with Special Guest Windy Green

In this episode of the Flourish podcast, Amanda Trojan welcomes her dear friend Wendy Green to discuss their shared experiences as older moms, grappling with perimenopause, and navigating the challenges of depression and anxiety. Wendy shares her personal journey, detailing the transformative impact of joining a Freedom Group at her church. They delve into the depths of depression, strongholds, and the power of vulnerability and repentance. Wendy also highlights the crucial role of community, mentorship, and God's word in achieving true freedom. This heartfelt conversation is filled with compassion, hope, and practical insights for anyone struggling with emotional or mental health challenges.

00:00 Welcome to the Flourish Podcast
00:23 Meet Wendy Green: A Decade of Friendship
01:56 Wendy's Journey: From Detroit to West Michigan
03:11 Battling Depression: Wendy's Story
05:49 Finding Freedom Through Faith
09:24 Understanding Strongholds and Seeking Help
12:44 The Power of Vulnerability and Repentance
17:07 God's Compassion and the Path to Healing
23:56 Finding Purpose in Dark Moments
24:34 Trusting God's Plan
25:00 Overcoming Inner Struggles
25:47 Seeking Guidance and Support
26:12 Leading Freedom Groups
27:21 Battling Depression and Anxiety
27:52 Renewing Your Mind
29:53 Identity in Christ
39:30 The Power of Vulnerability
42:14 A Prayer for Strength and Guidance

Resources from this episode (These contain affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.):

Dark Clouds Deep Mercy by Mark Vroegop
When People are Big and God is Small by Edward T Welch
Learn more about Freedom Groups at https://www.soulcareconsulting.com

Transcript

Welcome back souls to the flourish podcast with Amanda Trojan. I am so freaking excited that you are here. Thank you for trusting me to come in and bust some goodness in your eardrums this week. And this week I am totally  honored to have my friend Wendy Green come on today. And just a little short backstory about Wendy.

We met.  It's been over 10 years. That's all I know. The first time that we met, we actually met at the Detroit Fireworks through a mutual friend. Oh yeah, I remember. And we have had it's so crazy how our lives have just been interwoven and just things that have been going on throughout the last 10 years that we've known each other.

We do have some similar stories when it comes to being older moms, having, young kids, we are now walking through the beautiful experience of perimenopause together. So we get to be like, Yeah, good times. Good times. And so it's just so exciting to have her here. And we saw each other just probably was it this past weekend?

I don't know. Time goes so fast. Just this past weekend at a bridal shower and she was sharing. Some of the things that have been going on in her life because she is no longer living locally. She moved I'll let her share a little bit about that, but just reconnecting with her and just seeing what God has been doing in her life I was like you have to come in and share this because I think it will really help to Help other women to flourish.

So Wendy, welcome my friend. Thank you. Thanks for having me. You're so amazing. Will you tell everybody a little bit about you? Who is Wendy? Tell us about your life, family, all that fun stuff. Yeah. So I am from the Detroit area and grew up over there on the East coast. Now I'm on West coast, Michigan and Yeah we were at Metro with Amanda for quite a long time and met my husband there just like Amanda did, God brings it  together for us women when we give our lives to him, and so I met my husband at the church and we got married and, we've had a good road.

The hard road like every Christian we have had we have two beautiful kids Seven and four Jude and Gwen and we had a little rough road getting to our family But we're here and God carried us through it. So we're thankful for that and just in the last three years, we made a transition to move to the West Coast of Michigan.

And that was an awesome experience, but also hard. Everything awesome has some hard stuff with it. And so God's been moving in that. But also, pulling you away from your comfort zone gives you a big eye on the areas you need to work and maybe just, Areas that God is just working in your spirit.

So that, that's been a big thing that I'm going through and God's carried me through. So I was sharing with Amanda, just, really wrestling through depression of, just life circumstances and family, just. Things that you your heart breaks for and relationships that are maybe broken and just the distance that we have from our family now, it's hard for us.

But, um, God placed some awesome people in my life over here. And so I was telling Amanda about freedom groups. That's what I've been doing. And yeah, so that's really good. And it's just something that God's helped me to find freedom and, depression and some things. Battles that I was fighting on my own in secrecy.

And so when I brought it to the light and sought help from the church He just worked really well. And so God is faithful and that's where we are. So I love that. So  Talking about your battle with depression. I have the suspicion that there are lots of women who struggle with that battle as well Oh, yeah.

How did you know  that you were walking through a season or walking through a battle with depression?  Yeah. What did that look like? Yeah, for sure. It's just, I think I battled it for a long time. And highs and lows. And so it just feels like a loneliness, emptiness, a sadness, almost despair that you can't pull yourself out of.

You can't, you know that God is there, you know that there's blessings, that you should be grateful, that but, you just, mind gets so focused on the sadness of life, I think, and just the heartache of everything we go through with sin very much alive in the world and broken relationships and just you know, wounds and, things like that to keep us stuck, our minds stuck on the wrong things and in dark places.

And so I I was battling that and I thought, man, I know God is so good and I'm blessed and like, why can't I pull myself out of these negative thoughts in my own mind, I love that. I don't love the fact that you were walking through depression, but I love that you're so vulnerable and sharing that when you were, because you had mentioned that as you were walking through that, you kept thinking thoughts like, I shouldn't be depressed.

I should be blessed. Yeah, what were some of the things that you tried to do on your own? Yeah, apart from God were there things that you tried to do or were you automatically like I'm gonna give this to God What was that process? No, I think there were strongholds I didn't realize I had that I needed support from leaders in the church And I had done therapy like with a therapist for quite a long time I knew that I had issues like coming into marriage like I trust and things like that I struggled with so I Was doing therapy and that was helpful, but I still had sadness.

I still had depression Despair. I still had, depression or negative thoughts that I couldn't pull myself out of on my own. So I called them no strongholds. And so my church over here, we have an amazing care pastor  named Brett who rallied around us when we came over and he launched a new program called Freedom Groups.

And it was people that are stuck in different dynamics like despair or foolish behavior or like fear was one and the other one was like anger. Okay, so I have notes I wrote down. So when you're struggling through those, It's those feelings that just overpower you and you can't get a grip on them.

We this group is for that, to like just go and get some help and let's dig into God's word. There's one scripture of Galatians 5, 1, that it's based on where true freedom is found only in Christ. And the scripture is, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

So this program is geared towards just helping you overcome those strongholds, any stronghold that you have. And for me, it was depression. And I said, wow, like I can't pull myself out of this alone. And I think when we shine our light on the darkness in our life and we share with other Christians. Yeah.

God allows us to get the support that we need to go to the scriptures and let him use that to You know shine truth into our life which is exactly what happened for me where I was able to recognize even that my sin of  Despair, which I found out was a sin and I didn't realize came from idols that I had.

And so just looking to the world for certain comforts and even acceptance that I thought I needed. And so it reshifted my focus. Back on Jesus and who my identity in him and who am in Christ And so and also just other lies that I was believing that shined truth on that for me And so I was able to repent for that and say Lord forgive me and so with repentance comes change And then God just lifted those dark thoughts From my mind and it was a seat, you know I think it's 12 to 16 weeks.

I can't remember how many weeks, but it's, it's a course that you're taking, like a study that you're doing. And there's a small group of people. There's a couple leaders. I happen to have some really amazing leaders that just helped to, hold my hand through the process and allow me to be very vulnerable and truthful about what I was wrestling through.

And they just used God's word to shine truth. And helped me to stand on that. And so it just was a breakthrough that I haven't been able to find in my life, even through many years of therapy. And so I just fully believe in the scripture. True freedom is only found in Christ. So good friend. Okay.

There's so many things that I want to unpack here. Okay. The first thing I want to unpack is for. The listeners  looking through the freedom groups, how would you define a stronghold? Sure. Yeah. There's so many strongholds, but whether you're dealing with anger, for me, it was sadness, like despair.

Like my thoughts were geared towards the negative things that like I had no control over. That's a bit, despair is a lot for people. Cause we do have sadness and it's not that it's sad. It's not okay to have sadness. It's what you do with the sadness, just like what you do with your anger.

Hold on my thing here. And it's like taking it to the Lord and lamenting and letting him nurture you and in those wounds and letting him carry you to where he's calling you because he grieves with us. It's not that you're sinful for grieving. Sin becomes when you let it overpower you and overpower your thoughts.

And so you got to refocus your thoughts back on the promises of God and how he is with us in these trials and storms of life. And so that's when you need to go and reevaluate your own heart and  maybe do some repenting for yourself. Letting your focus stay focused on the wrong things and letting people come alongside you too, I think is the big one for me.

The other strongholds I think there's addictions people numb these things with addictions. That's a big one It goes along in the foolish like behavior category of sin where we can't get a grip on it, you know because we're just stuck there using these things instead of going to God. And then there's fear.

Some people just live in extreme fear or even just fears that kind of dominate our thoughts without trusting God. And so with all these strongholds, there's usually a root. It's a root that you that's buried in you that's Sometimes you can't pull out on your own. So having people and leaders that can understand the depth of it and go, okay, here's, they have a diagnostic chart.

So if you go, this is what I'm wrestling with. Okay, I'm wrestling with anger.  And so if you're wrestling with anger,  There's a fruit to root diagnostic chart that they used, and so they, they then get it down to okay, what you're wrestling with then would be foolish behavior, pleasure, seeking attention, or lust, right?

So then they help tie you to the scriptures of Jesus. This is where you need to focus on God's word and how he will help you overcome these strongholds through his word. For me, with despair, I was seeking comfort from the wrong places affirmation from people, escape, or I just want to hide or withdraw from people.

There's scriptures that they use, and the scriptures are just so powerful oh, wow, God's truth is, this is the truth, I've been believing lies, another one is anger. Like people want to control dynamics and they want to be in authority or have power fear, they're seeking security, acceptance, peace.

So with all that, it ends up when it comes to overpowering us becoming our own sin.  And so with that sin, it separates you from God. And so you're not able to see what God's trying to do because your sin is now dominating your thought processes.  Wow, so that's it's really because I've known you for a long time and to look at you from the outside.

Yeah, you would be like, when do you so put together?  You know what I mean? You'd be like, you wouldn't look at you and go.  She's struggling with depression, or she has these strongholds, or there's these deep roots and wounds. It speaks to, I think, really, for us as Christians, just understanding and going.

First of all, if you're a Christian and you are facing strongholds, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. No. And there's probably a ton of Christians. Yeah. Yeah.  Yeah, and you're, we're in a sinful world. We all struggle with sin. We all have the disease of sin. And so whether you came from a super solid family or even some dysfunction, we have things that God is trying to redeem us from and trying to heal us from.

And so I could keep. An image of, to other people, but I think a lot of people just keep it to themselves because it doesn't feel for maybe there's some shame involved or pride involved, and I feel like when I came over to the West coast and God showed me, being away from family and everything, I knew it was just like a new light shined on yourself.

I felt like God wanted me to share deeper parts of myself that I wasn't able to share before. And so he just provided the avenues. For me to share and finally start to face certain things that I thought I'm okay, I'm good, you can pretend like everything's okay, or just put your, your big girl pants on and keep moving on, but I think God's our Redeemer and He loves us and He wants us to live in freedom.

Yeah,  absolutely. When you said that, my mind immediately went to, I don't remember where in the Bible it is, but it's like, where the Lord is, there's freedom. Yeah, exactly. And it's so easy, and I think the world bombards us. With different things we should do or try, or we should seek this and seek that, and I think that you would agree with this too.

If you have, if you are struggling with depression, anxiety, a mental health diagnosis, please see a professional. Yeah, and  there is healing for you in God's word that you don't have to be separate. And I think a lot of times we believe if I'm going to see a therapist, that's going to solve all my issues and I don't really need God or we're like, Here I am and I have God, but I'm not willing to open up and to really seek the help that I need in tandem.

Yeah. So we're not saying like just blow off what you're doing. Stop taking these things they can go hand in hand. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And I can say, my therapy was good. It was a Christian counselor, a very good therapist. Christian counselor who is a college, professor of psychology and, has a Ph.

D. She's a Christian. She works at a Christian college. She owns her own practice. Really amazing lady. I saw her for quite a long time and she helped me to untangle a lot of my life. But, I think it wasn't geared the scriptures that I needed were the next phase of my healing and so the that was a good season for me to try to understand everything, but then I was stuck in man, this is sad, and so trying to figure out, like, how do you cope with these hard things in life?

How do you, yeah. Get yourself to a place of like joy, like all the fruits of the spirit, and so that, study for me was an avenue that God used to really just take scripture and bring it to life and say, these are the tools that God has given us to carry us through these burdens in life.

And helped me to refocus like my attention on him instead of being stuck in the dark places of the sadness of the world and the, brokenness.  Wow. It's so good. And it's so beautiful that God steps into the middle of that mess alongside of us.  And he has compassion for us. That's one thing that God has really just been revealing to me over the last few months is God's I have compassion  for you and I am here in it with you.

And I'm here to help you move through it.  And when we make the choice, it's almost like we have to make that choice to really let go and let God, we always laugh. Cause you're like, Oh, let go and let God. That's so it's so trite, but it's it's a cliche for a reason.  Because we can only do certain things in our own strength before things just don't work anymore.

And we need. God to step in and intervene for us supernaturally. Yeah. And the word is our power. It's our tool. It's a transforming tool that takes us through that process of, we all know the churchy word sanctification where he is changing us. And changing our hearts to be more like Jesus. And that's, if we're not, we can all read scripture, but to learn it in the ways that God wants us to, walking along people, maybe leaders that God's equipped to help you learn and grow, I think is a really wise tool that I've learned because I did some leadership stuff at the church, as and that was fun and a good season, but I had to come into a season where I had leaders.

And I have people where they can help me in the areas that I really don't want to talk about before. And honestly, like, when I was younger, I didn't even, I didn't even see that I was struggling in those areas. I just coped. You know what I mean? I was just coping. And some, a lot of them were healthy coping skills and a lot of them were negative.

And so just really digging deeper into my own spirit to say, this is my truth. This is what I'm going to start facing and ask God to carry me through it. Only by his grace that he actually put these steps in front of me. And I was obedient and willing to like, okay, God, I'm going to walk with you in this.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh yeah. Because how many times, I know that you've probably been through it before. I know I've been through it where God is challenging us to grow or to change. And we're like, no,  but when we're like, yes, when we say yes, he needs us right there. And it is in those moments of obedience where we've been Find that blessing.

Oh yeah. Cause sharing my story, even I just felt God really nudging me to share certain parts of my story that I have not been able to share with people. And so being able to share that, it was very freeing, vulnerable. Like you feel very vulnerable, but then you also find freedom in shining a light on the darkness and also just your own vulnerability, like letting go of your pride and saying, Hey, we're all human.

We all have things that we battle and things that we don't know how to overcome, even if it's just a matter of like anger, like you're just angry all the time. Why are you angry? What is the get some help. Find the leaders to help walk you through it in God's word, cause there's lots of different opinions out there about that kind of stuff.

But for me being a Christ follower, just going deep in his word and letting him show me where my  issues were and honestly where my sin was because sin, once you, there's one scripture I'm going to show you that really helped me. Once you tackle your own sin and really deal with it, that's when the change happens, so I didn't realize Oh, this isn't my sin. And this is something that I need to repent and go before the Lord. So it says because when you say that, do you think it was because you were at a point where you were like somebody else?  Did this, and it was almost like you were assigning blame to someone else for what they did to you, instead of saying, I'm accepting the responsibility for my own sin, or what was that like?

Yeah, no, it was more sad things that happened in my life. Okay. And even like sad things that I saw, people that I knew that were stuck in addiction. Yeah. Friendships that failed, because maybe I started walking with the Lord and the other person just really had no interest in that.

So those things. We're hard for me because, you love in relationships, you want them to work out. So really failed relationships or just struggles that I've seen family or friends going through with a very hard things, they were very hard things that would make anybody sad. So I didn't realize it was like, My, my sin, because I thought these are really sad, hard things, right?

But it was because it's not that it's not sad to be, it's not a sin to be sad over it. Letting it overpower your thoughts  keeps you stuck in sadness and depression and isolating yourself. And then you just can't pull yourself out of it. That is the sin in it. So this Bible says he restores the center who repents and give those who seek true accountability freedom from sin.

Okay, so when I came he comforts the sufferer who mourns and sets the hurting free in the hope of Christ, and he anchors the saint who seeks refuge in their identity in Christ. So those three truths for me were like, okay. It's not a sin to feel sad for these dynamics in the world that are very hard for a lot of people.

The sin is that I am letting it overpower my thoughts, and I'm not taking it to the throne of God and saying, Lord, lament, lamenting, lamentations. There's a book called A Dark Cloud, Deep Mercy that I read during the process, and it talks about how God cares about your sin. suffering. He cares about the sadness.

He cares for you. And in how to refocus your thoughts on him so that you, he, you can stay focused on the end, which is getting to our maker, which is living our life to reflect Christ, which is, yeah.  Being the person that God is calling us to be to, so he can use us in his way. So all the things that he's calling us to do, regardless of everything that you've had to walk through in life, the hardships, you got to stay focused on God.

And he cares about your sin doesn't mean don't lament. It means to lament, to take it to him, to cry out to him, let him know your sadness. Don't pretend like you're okay. But also if you're letting it overpower your thoughts, that's where I need a repentance. And I said, Lord, I lost sight of the fact that you are the almighty, that you are sovereign, that my, that you have plans for my life, even the hard things.

And if I, and I wasn't focused on you enough, so that's where it changed for me. Do you know what I mean? I do. Yeah. It takes me back to Romans 8, 28, where God will use all things for our good. And for his glory, for his glory and our good. And it's yes even through those. Dark moments, even through the roots, right?

Where we talk about that deep root and we talk about the things that we've seen in our life the experiences, the things that shape and mold our lives and our experience of life, but just being like. If I look at it through the lens of Romans 8 28, that God's gonna use all things for his glory and my good.

Yep. It changes your perspective. Yeah. And you're able to trust's now it's a heavenly Yeah. You're able to trust. 'cause it's a heavenly perspective. It's not an earthly perspective where we know the earth is full of sin and doom and gloom. Yeah. The heavenly perspective is.  What is to come next? And it develops our faith, it does.

And I think when we get stuck in the sadness, we become very self focused instead of like mission focused or like Christ focused where it's okay, we all have hard things to walk through in life. We all have a story that God gave us. We all are trying to walk towards the Lord. Not everybody, if you're a Christian and you know that this is your faith and that you're trying to do your walk with the Lord, we all have things we have to recover that he's redeeming us from.

So it's focusing on your own inner battles and your own inner struggles. That's where you can get very tripped up instead of refocusing on the bigger picture. Like you said, God works everything for, our good and his glory, and that he has reasons for this and just really keeping yourself.

Send yourself centered on God's word and what he has for you. Staying in your word daily. And I'm just even seeking the right leaders that can maybe help you if you're stuck in a dynamic like I was, where I just felt grief and sadness and where it was turning to despair and depression, and.

Yeah, so just even going into understanding the depth of that and the roots behind that was like, okay, God just pulled those roots right out of there and allowed me to now refocus.  It's good, and Freedom Groups, I'm going to be leading at our church this year. They've asked me to step into some leadership roles with it.

That's awesome. I'm excited because I think it's such an amazing program and I really have a heart for helping lead especially people who have gone through hardships and who maybe don't know how to pull themselves out of these situations. Similar to me, who I, like you said, I've always been a go get a hard worker.

I'm going to make it happen. And when you're stuck, it's what am I doing wrong? Like why I have every, everything to be grateful for. And then you feel bad about yourself, but God has a plan. He's got the resources. He's got the people to help you through it. And you just got to.

Pray and let him start laying out those steps for you, yeah 

It's just I just like I just feel like God is going to use you in such a big way through this Oh, and it makes me it just makes me think about  Everything that you went through is really going to help someone else I hope so. I hope so. Because I think there's a lot of people who are stuck in depression, and anxiety, anxiety is another one that I was just wrestling with just that.

And so depression and anxiety is a very big thing in the world today. And there are some real things to be worried about, and we know that there's a lot going on in the world today. So I think, yeah. If I can help in any way, people find freedom, God's helped me find freedom. And there are moments in my day that I will sink back into the negative thoughts or like the self loathing or the self pity and a little bit of self loathing too.

But it's more, and so I re center my focus back onto what God's teaching me. So I go into my prayer closet, which is where we are right now. And I go okay, Lord, I got to refocus on these scriptures. You showed me the truth already. I'm going to refocus my attention. I give myself a little break to, for my kiddos.

And I come in and I pray and I remember what he told me, so it's like just training your brain to continually go back to God and letting him give you the peace that he, that you need in those moments, you know? Yes. Constantly renewing your mind. Yeah. Constantly over and over again. 

While we're here on earth. . We will still stumble. Yeah. We will still have those moments, like you said, where we fall into that depression. Or that anxiety, or like you said, even the self pity and self-loathing. . I know, in my own life. What? The people pleasing. And the constant need for validation and the Yeah. Constant achieve achievement. Yeah. That was like my big, that's my root girl. Like we could, yeah. Freedom, group me up because that was like something that God really broke me off was like, why do I have to have this need to constantly achieve?

He's you don't have to constantly be achieving. Yeah. You're my daughter. Yeah. That's your worth. You don't have to prove that you're worthy. And sometimes still, like you can find the breakthrough and yet still fall back. You can still have that setback. But like you said, getting refocused, renewing your mind with God's word and his promises that will help you.

And I think, and could you attest to this more? I've seen in my own life, when I do fall back into those moments where I'm getting back into the achievement, people pleasing, doing the things that it's easier for me to get refocused because I'm constantly renewing my mind. Is that kind of how it's been going for you?

Yeah, these patterns develop over the length of your life, so these are not easy patterns to change, those thoughts of the people pleasing or the approval, the seeking approval, if that's something that you wrestle with I have, for sure, approval, and so you being able to say, okay identity in Christ who am I to God?

It doesn't matter the world if you're accepted by God. The whole world, if you're, a couple of people, it doesn't matter, like God, you're approved by God and who are you in Christ? And we all need to feel loved and accepted, but I think there's a boundary there. There's a fine line, so there's a book that I read for that during this too, that one of my leaders told me it's called when, People are big and God is small.  And that was so good because it was really, it really does help you to realize, wow, I am making people an idol, and that's another repentance of mine Hey, you're my Lord, you're my savior.

You're the one that I, that knows my heart, that knows who I am. And I'm going to, seek your approval. Not any, not everybody else's, you know what I mean?  So  there's a scripture that I meditate on daily. It's called, God is with her. She will not fall. God will help her at break of day.

You ever heard that one? Psalms 46, five, one of my leaders gave me this little stone with it on there. And so that's for me, I always have to hone in on that. God is with me. I will not fall. You know what I mean? God will help me at breakup day. So it's I'm just get up in the morning, spend time in my word.

No, God is my guide for the day and just give it to him, to lead us, lead me through it. Oh, so good. Oh, so good. Okay.  We know what life was like before freedom groups.  Can you share a little bit about how your life, like we know now that you're leading, you're going to be leading a group, but what would you say were like two major shifts that you noticed from before you were in a freedom group to where you are right now?

Yeah. At this  part and this point of your healing journey. Yeah. Major one is just this sadness that was lifted off me. Like I really was in a very hard state of mind, like a sad state of mind where it was like hard to get myself to function during my day. Like it was just so hard for me to do normal things.

And and I was weepy a lot and just mourning a lot, it's. I joined the group and I was starting to have my realizations. It was like a complete shift in my mind Oh, Lord this is something that I recognize I'm doing. Oh, thank you. I was almost so grateful that like the scriptures and I felt like God showed me like, this is where you're stuck, and let's pull you out of this.

Like he, he doesn't, he, You want that for me. He didn't want that for me. He doesn't want that for his children. He wants you to recognize who he is and he mourns with you. It wasn't that he was condemning me for being sad It was a matter of bring this to me and let me nurture you and let me show you what you know My plans for it or even like his purposes and just stay focused on what I have for You know what I mean?

Not the things you can't change, not the things that are, pulling you into sad places, that's a huge shift. That's a huge shift. It was. And I think I also felt a sense of connection with some pretty important people there that could understand my walk or what I've had, what I've gone through.

And so I think just having that fellowship and having people to walk alongside me was just Pretty life changing for me that I was actually able to share certain parts of my heart that I could didn't feel comfortable sharing before. And just having some really amazing leaders there to encourage, to lift up, to pray with you and just help you even know who you are in Christ.

And for me, it's just solidifying my identity in Christ and the purposes, even going into a leadership role with this group is giving me a new sense of focus to use my hardships for good, yeah. Oh, that's incredible. I love that and I'm so happy for you and I'm thankful that God moved in your life  the way that he did because  they're it's hard.

It's hard when we struggle through those strongholds and it's Like you said, when you're trying to undo  decades and we're older, so we won't say how many decades, but when you are trying to undo decades of conditioning and programming and really getting into the thought process, it is deep. It is deep and intentional work and I applaud you for doing it because I think most people would look at that and go.

This is too scary.  I just don't even want to touch it. Yeah. And I think we try to hold it all together, and we, like I said feel like shame that you don't want to share, you don't want to be judged, based on you're supposed to, you can be a Christian and have it together. And like you said, you do different, people look at you in different ways, and you don't want to taint your image and say, Oh, I struggle with depression, or, anxiety. And so then people will look at you in a negative light, but I think when you actually realize so many people struggle with things that they're hiding at home.

That they're isolating themselves because it almost where I didn't really know where I needed to go within the church to receive help. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And so I think that's a little bit of a struggle today with people like, where do I go in the church to receive help like this? And I don't know that it's really fully there.

I know there's leadership that's doing ministry work and stuff like that and some good pastors, but pastors can't do this. Can't pour into everybody individually doing these sort of, counseling sessions or letting people share their deeper hearts like that. So this group, Freedom Group, I fully believe every church should have one because I think it's just something that people need to be able to go to a safe place and say, Hey, I'm struggling here.

I need you to walk me through this and I need to, go to the Lord to help me find freedom in this, because honestly, I don't know that was really there for me at certain, and maybe it wasn't, I didn't recognize it, I'm a big advocate for healing and for dealing with your internal struggles and things like that.

And I just, I didn't see that I, my therapist was outside of the church and she was amazing, but I think within the church, this is powerful because now you got God's word as your focus  that you're standing on and then he can just help you let that sink into your heart and become like your strong foundation, yeah. And you're around other believers who can stand in the gap alongside of you and pray for you and then you for them. So it takes. Some of the focus off you as well, because now you're intentionally partnering with someone else with their healing 100 percent and you're hearing their stories and I think hearing people's stories.

helps you to feel so not alone. It's almost like very healing and refreshing. Like you get that too. Like it's so thankful that somebody understands and has empathy and that there's a hope in this, so yeah, hearing people's testimonies and seeing how God moves very powerful part of it. Yeah.

And that builds up your faith too, because if you can look at someone and hear their testimony and go, okay, look at what God did in their life. Yeah. Then you're like, then if he could in their life, why couldn't he do it in mine? Absolutely. Yeah. So good. Yep. The validation of  just someone of hearing someone else say, I don't know exactly what you've walked through, but I have walked through this. 

I think it's, like you said, it's huge because.  We do walk around everybody's got it all together. You would never think this, and I should never talk about this. And  it, that shame and that isolation, I think that's what the enemy wants to do, because if he can get us isolated and get us in that shame and that guilt, I feel guilty for feeling this way.

I think that he uses it to pull us far from God and far from others. Oh yeah. Which. Which we can't get our healing. Yeah. It completely stumps your process of growth with the Lord. And those are the strongholds that we talked about. When you have a stronghold that Satan has over you, that you feel trapped in, that you feel like, I can't talk about it because it's, People will look down on me or I can't share it because I'm ashamed of this that you do start getting to a place of trap entrapment with the enemy where you're, you don't feel safe talking.

And that's where you can go down some dark roads or some different roads. If you don't seek help from God and the right leaders to help you to go okay, let me. walk through this with you and let me help you with what God says about this and just get you back on the right track of your walk with the Lord, yeah. Yeah. That's so good. My mentor said once he was like Vulnerability  erases shame  because you're like, when you're able to be vulnerable, shame actually has no hold on you because you've said it. You've done it. It's out there. And now it's like, when you say it and you realize, like you said earlier, God's not condemning me for having this thought.

In fact, he has compassion for me  and he wants more for me, but we keep it so tight and we're ashamed of how we feel being like, I am struggling with this and I think what you're doing, I think the freedom groups are amazing.  Please, I know you're going to give me all the information I'm going to link up everything in the show notes, the books that Wendy was talking about.

And, if you're listening. And you're like,  I have strongholds. First of all, you're human. We all have strongholds. We all do. We all have strongholds. We don't want you to feel like you're alone. We want you to know that God loves you, that he sees you, and he wants to help you break free of these strongholds so that you can find freedom.

You can find freedom in him. And so  Maybe your church has a freedom group, and maybe you've heard of this before. Maybe you have never heard of a freedom group, but I'll provide the info in the show notes. Maybe this is your sign where God is calling you to ask about starting. Freedom. Freedom your church.

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And Brett, our care pastor, he is more than willing to come along alongside other leaders who are wanting to implement this in hi on their churches because I told him about our old church, which we love and adore, Metro City Church, and we're a part of almost 10 years.

And he's, he said he would be willing to even, go down there and help the pastors.  So it's a really good program. And I'll, like I said I'll give you all the information whenever you're ready. So I think it's an amazing tool that people can use to help them along these paths of finding freedom and redemption from these things.

Yes, Jesus. Wendy, will you pray over the women listening right now? Will you just pray, especially to the woman who has been hit hard by this episode, who finds herself in your shoes? Will you just pray over her and give her encouragement and hope today? Sure, yep, I'd be honored to. Father God, we just thank you so much for this day.

Lord, thank you for being with us. Thank you that we can call on you in our times of darkness, Lord. Thank you that you lead us through these situations. Thank you that you have compassion for us. You are our caregiver. You are our provider, Lord, and that you have plans for our life, Lord. And thank you for just the leaders that you raise up to be in these positions, to help people when they step forward, to share their vulnerability and just their hardships that keep them stuck in just very dark and lonely places, Lord, we just, thank you so much that we can count on you and depend on you for those things and that your word is so powerful to lead us through that you.

You've thought of everything that we need, Lord, and you're so faithful to lead us through this. And I pray specifically for the listeners who hear this, who are struggling, who are struck by this, who recognize what you're trying to speak to them, Lord, and I pray that they would have the courage that they need to step forward and to find a group, find a freedom group of leaders that they can walk and walk with them and they can help them through this process.

It's the same way that you've helped me, Lord, and I just pray that more leaders will step up in churches all over the world just to help people in these dynamics as we all are living in just hard, dark times, Lord, that you are merciful to us and you provide for us. And Lord, I pray that you would use Just this ministry and Amanda and her heart to lead women and even myself in the church.

Just use us in your ways, Lord. We just thank you so much that we can have this time together to speak your truth. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.  Amen, friend. Thanks again for coming on. You have been a huge blessing and we'll put everything in the show notes. And until then, my friends, we will see you next week for the Flourish with Amanda Trojan podcast.