The Beyond Adversity Podcast is all about affirming that every person has a God-given promised life of peace, wealth, and purpose, and that you must implement a plan with the right people to quickly overcome life's problems in order to obtain that promised life.

Dr. Brad shares a viewpoint to offer a good word in his listeners' life to grow through their difficulties in this episode.

He discusses his part career of being a pastor for 42 years in local churches, where he experienced some joyous occasions but also much pressure, which eventually led to depression.

Dr. Brad describes his way of recovering from depression through God, family and friends, and journaling.

The Beyond Adversity Podcast Episode 237 is a must-listen for anyone setting new goals. It may appear to be a big undertaking, but it will allow you to consider your future self and how we want them to be. The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people "Grow Through What They Go Through" as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.

Https://Dr. Bradbaader.com | 

Https://www.powerofoneframework.com | 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/uciieqgljcy02yahbiprqkxw

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Dr. Bradbaader/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Dr. Bradbaader/

[00:03:05] Dr. Brad Miller: And, often, it's a joyous occasion. Many times it's a wonderful thing, especially if I know the couple and get to know them. It's a great thing. I love it. Other times it shoots a weekend. It shoots a Friday night on a Saturday if it's something I do not feel that good about, especially if there was a bride, Zillow or a Momzilla involved, you know what I mean by that?

[00:03:59] Dr. Brad Miller: It sometimes happened, and I remember having one bride who was totally consumed with her dress and how she looked in it that she paid no attention to anything else. And I remember another mom wanting to deal with every little minute thing and calling me all the time, and it was not much fun.

[00:04:51] Dr. Brad Miller: i've been going with my fiance for a long time, and I'd like you to attend the wedding. I'd like you to have the wedding and not only that, dad, but I want you to walk me down the aisle and have my first dance at the wedding reception. Now many dads would be thrilled about that.

[00:05:39] Dr. Brad Miller: When she asked me about nine, 10 months prior to the wedding date was going to be in the summertime, and this was in the fall. And I felt, of course, agreed to it and was thrilled in one level, but I had this fear and it was unnatural based on some of my past experiences. God, I'm going to do something to screw this up.

[00:06:23] Dr. Brad Miller: At least I felt. And the pressure was that I didn't feel ready on many different levels to do this, to participate in the wedding, because it involved not only doing the vows. And also, doing the vows and helping with that and doing those vows, which is the most important thing, meant walking her down the aisle.

[00:07:02] with that, there's also the matter, there was some family dynamics. My daughter was from a prior marriage, and there were some family dynamics I had to consider, which I was uneasy about. And then there was also a matter of a toast of the bride speech from the father of the bride speech, which I felt like, i've got to kill that, i've got to knock that thing out of the park.

[00:07:55] Dr. Brad Miller: I was truly fearful, almost paralyzed with fear that I was going to step on her dress, fall down, or do something stupid. Basically, the whole thing I'm using is pretty cool and commonly collected about most things. Most things don't face me, but the fact of doing my daughter's wedding got to me, and I fell into a state of depression.

[00:08:45] Dr. Brad Miller: And so about five months before the wedding in February of the year, before she got married in June, I just had a little talk to myself. I went to God. I had a little prayer time. I had a little come to Jesus moment and come to myself moment, and I said, okay, we've got to do this. We've got to change. We got to change now.

[00:09:34] Dr. Brad Miller: And I got in shape and lost a bunch of weight before the wedding.

[00:09:54] Dr. Brad Miller: That helped my emotional state. I got prepared on a spiritual state. I met with a spiritual director and a spiritual counsellor who helped me with that process a little bit. I had a lot more time in the Bible. I'm going to tell you about another story from the Bible here in just a minute. I got that going.

[00:10:40] Dr. Brad Miller: And I practiced the dance myself. This was a four-minute choreographed dance we did with a mashup of several songs, and I practiced that dance probably well over a thousand times on my own. And I had lessons; I took action. Okay, here's the thing, I became determined to change my life to kill dad Zillow and make this my daughter's best day.

[00:11:22] Dr. Brad Miller: I lost 50 pounds in about four months. I felt I looked good and felt good physically. He had good. I walked her down the aisle, didn't trip. It was an outdoor wedding. Had a great time. It was a beautiful June day. Flowers and trees everywhere. Walked her down the aisle and saw the family members of all the family and friends who were there.

[00:12:08] Dr. Brad Miller: And that went great. We walked her out the aisle, and when it came time for the father of the bride toast and speech, I have to say i've given a lot of, i've given a lot of sermons, a lot of public speeches in my life, but that was probably one of the most important ones. And I nailed it without sounding too big, little big head.

[00:12:51] Dr. Brad Miller: It w was just amazing. It was great. And here is the thing, everybody, here's what I want you to get. At the end of the day, the payoff was this when my daughter said to me after the dance was over. She looked at me and said, dad, this is the greatest day of my life. And that was my payoff.

[00:13:53] Dr. Brad Miller: And I want to lift up a biblical story that I think applies here because we're talking today about storytelling. And about the power of a transformative story. I want to call it an Exodus story, A story that caused you to move, that take a to, to move out of your place where you're imprisoned or in slavery, to a place your promised life, your exodus story, and the story about a wedding.

[00:14:37] Dr. Brad Miller: This is a big deal. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, Dave, number wine. And Jesus said, woman, why do you bother? My hour has not yet come. And his mother said to the servants around there, do whatever he tells you to do. And nearby, there were six stones, and Jesus said to fill up those six stones with water.

[00:15:20] Dr. Brad Miller: Most times, that would've, often, it would've been the bride's father, okay? And they did so, and the master of the banquet tasted of the water that he'd been turned into wine, and he did not realize where I had come from, although the servants had drawn the water, and then they called the bride groomer site and said, everyone, brings out the choice wine.

[00:16:03] Dr. Brad Miller: But what did Jesus do? He kept the party going and changed the party's direction, which saved the best for last. Now, here are a few lessons I want you to learn. When you heard Scott Johnson this week on Beyond Adversity, in episodes 235 and 236, he talked about being a good listener. And how Paris power and compelling story and how a great story when he talks to these people helps often moves them from one direction to another.

[00:17:00] Dr. Brad Miller: I believe that. But I believe often this comes when we define. Our Exodus story, our life change story, and apply that story to the things we do. For me, my dad, Zilla Killing Godzilla's story indicates power. I believe you can change if you focus and are part of the reason. Now I do.

[00:17:47] Dr. Brad Miller: Her wedding day, I was going to hold myself to that promise. Even though I was going through depression, self-doubt, body image, and emotional and spiritual stuff, I determined I would do it. So here are some of the five. Here are some of the points I think we can learn from what Scott Johnson taught us this week on what was like podcast episodes that we have from my story about dead Zillow.

[00:18:32] Dr. Brad Miller: What's your issue? Consider it, think about it. Consider your issue. For me, it was the wedding of my daughter. And that was when I knew I had to step up for Jesus wedding candidate was the wedding he was at. What is it for you? Maybe it's a health issue. Maybe it's a relationship issue.

[00:19:07] Dr. Brad Miller: So that's the second. So first, C is considered the story. The second C is compelling. What is compelling about the story to draw you? To draw you in From my story. It's about getting Godzilla and all the things I had to do that this or this terrible feeling I had, that I wanted to kill Godzilla and didn't want to be the guy who ruined my daughter's wedding for the Jesus of the wedding.

[00:19:50] Dr. Brad Miller: Have a compelling story to tell. The third thing is to be compassionate. What is the emotional element? What draws you in? What is the empathy and sympathy of the moment? My story was about the empathy of not wanting a dad to ruin his daughter's wedding, and a daughter who wanted a great wedding, and he wanted her dad involved.

[00:20:25] Dr. Brad Miller: Your story should be well thought out. My mother's English teacher taught me about being composed. And when you write and do something, have a plan, think out, and have a beginning, a middle, and an end to your story. Don't let it drag on. One of the things I've learned from years of preaching is, you know, when the horse is dead, dismount.

[00:21:02] Dr. Brad Miller: And my daughter at the Cana's wedding, you had the problem. You had the water. The wine was running out of the crisis, the actions that were taken changed, the fell water jugs up and then at the end of the story, the master said, this is a great wine. Thanks for bringing the bring out the best for our last.

[00:21:38] Dr. Brad Miller: So what kind of bullet points? One to three, maybe as five points, but usually, three is a magic number. What are the points you want to get across? For me, it was about the points I wanted people to consider: the acts plan, the A C T S plan. Taking action is the A, the C, to connect with a higher power.

[00:22:16] Dr. Brad Miller: The mother, the mom, said to the servant, be obedient to Jesus. And then there is saving the best for last. There are these three points in what Jesus talked and taught about. Then there is the last sea of what I want to share with you today: connect to action. This is your call to action or your connection to action.

[00:23:01] Dr. Brad Miller: And it goes on to say that this was the first of signs through which Jesus's glory was revealed. So I share these things with you to give you a little teaching moment here to understand that you can also do some cool things in your life. I know that you. I know you can do that, and I'm here to help you at the Beyond Adversity Podcast.

[00:23:51] Dr. Brad Miller: The adversity that people call the five Ds of adversity. And people have almost all of these. The five Ds are depression, mental health-related things, divorce related to relationships, and disease related to health-related. Debt, financial-related matters and death, end of life issues are grief.

[00:24:32] Dr. Brad Miller: I wasn't going to go. But it can happen. So I'm committed to helping you get through things. In fact, through our years of ministry, I was able to be helped by many people, and many people helped me. And then, I also went and got a doctoral degree. My, I have a doctor of ministry in transformational leadership.

[00:25:09] Dr. Brad Miller: Plan the G to take action. The sea of the word acts is to connect with a higher power that your spiritual life. The T in the word action is to think with discipline. What's your process itself? And the S is to serve others with love. That's what I'm seeking to do here, friends, to show my love for you by offering you this process.

[00:25:47] Dr. Brad Miller: So your action today is this, and here is what I want you to do. I want you to think about your compelling exodus. , what is the thing that you need to overcome? What is the adversity that you are facing that you need to overcome? And if you have a story that you've dealt with, great. If you're living the story right now, get on with it.

[00:26:36] Dr. Brad Miller: How do you put it together, and what's the content? What do people need to learn from you, and what can you do? The Bible talks about, the children of Israel, or in slavery In Egypt, Moses saw the burning bush. That was his moment. Then they went on to the promised land through the Exodus, their.

[00:27:13] Dr. Brad Miller: My heart's soared. Like it's almost never soared before. It's like when Jesus turned the water into wine, and the master said, you saved the best for last. Let's work on this together. It's going to be much fun. You can always do the dr brad miller.com for more information on what I'm all about. If you've got a story to share with me, I'd love to.

[00:28:00] Dr. Brad Miller: And we're all. Helping you grow through what you go through and transform your life to help you achieve peace, prosperity, and purpose. I'm here to be helpful to you. I love you, and I'll see you on The Beyond Adversity Podcast next time. Until next time, good people. This is Dr.