53. WISDOM OF MOTHERS EVE & TERESA

Yeti X: 00:00:06

Welcome Franz to a journey.

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The creative spiritual journey life is

calling you each day, calling you to step

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out your front door and onto the path.

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that leads through the wilderness.

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Beyond the horizon to

stand on mountain tops.

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My name is Judy Cooley, along

with my sister-in-law Ghia Cooley.

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We are your host for the creative

spiritual journey podcast.

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But we'd rather you consider us

more like your high-key buddies.

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Together for a brief moment

as we walk this path.

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We will share what's in our hearts.

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Our love for the savior.

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And his beautiful creations.

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As well as the joys and the lessons

where you're discovering along the way.

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So will you shake the dust off

those hiking boots, pick up your

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backpacks and join us on the trail

and incredible journey awaits us.

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Let's go.

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Sonny Bunani from the

motherland of South Africa.

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It's here that my husband and I are

serving a mission for the church of

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Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

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Today is day 413.

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I've been numbering the days

nd,: 2024

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When we embarked on this mission

to go and serve with all our

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heart, might mind and strength.

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Okay.

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My sisters.

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I'm going to approach this

episode a little differently.

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Yeti X-1: You see, I had.

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A whole episode written out about

conversation hearts But I'm just

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going to speak from my heart.

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I'm not even going to write a script.

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So it might sound a little rough.

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But stay with me.

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Yeti X-4: I hope to share with you.

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Some of the feelings of my heart and soul.

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As I.

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Work here amongst the people of South

Africa, the women, especially that.

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I see.

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As we drive through the townships and.

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I see little vignettes.

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Yeti X-2: It's a very common

scene the older women.

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Carrying heavy loads.

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balancing on their head.

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While they in their arms, they have.

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Maybe a bag.

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And on their backs.

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Is strapped a baby.

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And they're holding the

hand of another child.

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Yeti X-1: It's hard to hold onto hope.

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There's a lot that are Gogos.

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That's the word for grandmas?

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That are raising.

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Their grandchildren and even some

of their great grandchildren and.

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They're tired.

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The women amaze me they.

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Are very strong, beautiful souls.

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Yeti X: back when G and I.

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We're.

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Trying to decide whether to do.

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creative coaching.

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A podcast and how to.

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teach And bring expression to the

things that are important to our hearts.

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We recognize the need for the women.

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Our age.

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In our wisdom years.

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And we send out a survey.

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To everyone we knew.

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To understand.

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To understand your needs and the

number one need that came back to us.

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Was.

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A lot of women dealing with.

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Entering this wisdom, years,

this age, where our children.

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Are growing up and leaving home.

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And we are struggling with our identity.

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Our purpose.

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And so we created the

creative, spiritual journey.

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For you.

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For those that fit into this.

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Over what should we say?

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50.

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Category.

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Um, I have been thinking about

this, but like the first 20, 25

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years of our life, we spanned.

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Growing and developing and creating

I, our identity of who we are.

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As daughters of God.

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And, you know, we were a lot of

different hats during that time and

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we're just experimenting and trying

to figure out where we fit in life.

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Then.

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The next 20, 25 years to.

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You know, 20 to 50.

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We are.

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growing and developing

and creating a marriage.

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Searching out that, help meet.

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That eternal companion.

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And, you know, That can be tricky.

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And then we are bringing children into the

world and creating and growing a family.

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And what happens if you get the

beautiful blessing of being a mother,

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all of a sudden this little life.

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This little soul depends.

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Completely.

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Completely on you.

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And you do your very best because this

little soul did not come with a manual.

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Okay.

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How to operate.

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And I don't know how many times I

would say who said I could be the

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mother because I was just figuring

it out, doing the best I could.

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So you spend those next years,

growing the nucleus of your family.

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And your heart expands, You become more

and you also become more vulnerable.

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And of course mortality.

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Things hit.

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Challenges.

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And how you expected this journey to go.

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Starts turning out a little

different than you anticipated.

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We should have figured that out the day

you gave birth, because I don't know

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if you, but I went to birthing classes.

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And when the actual day

came and delivery, it was.

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So different than what I

had planned and expected.

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So then the next 20 to 25 years.

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Where you hit the 50 plus

years, these women of wisdom

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years, we're talking about.

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You've had this experience

where your children.

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Have.

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Left and it is called emancipation.

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Hey, do you know what the

definition of emancipation is?

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Emancipation is the

process of being freed.

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And that's what it is.

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It's liberation for our children.

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And they all go through it.

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And.

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And it's rough on a

mother's heart and a dad's.

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I have to say it's been

hard on Eric's as well.

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But as part of the process, it is.

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The journey of becoming for them.

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As well as you, so there's

emancipation happens.

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And those children fly.

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They take wings.

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And you hope that you gave him

enough roots to come back home.

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And appreciate.

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Or even, maybe be a little bit

interested in your influence.

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So this.

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New.

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Stage of trying to find our purpose.

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This journey of becoming.

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And trying to have an influence

steel in these souls and

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then the grandchildren come.

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That's what I mean by the

nucleolus begins to expand and

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more souls, more vulnerability.

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And it's just so much joy.

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When I turned 50 children getting

married and going on missions

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and joining the Navy and.

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And I could see the things that I had

been spending the last 20, 25 years,

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my whole heart and soul put into

growing and developing these children

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and their family and this nucleus.

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And, and all of it changes.

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I would hear the song from Fleetwood Mac.

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Landslide and it would.

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Break me down into tears.

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It describes exactly.

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What we've gone through as

women in our wisdom years.

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I took my love, took it down.

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I climbed a mountain and I turned around.

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I saw my reflection in

the snow covered Hills.

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To the landslide brought me down.

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Oh, mirror in the sky.

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What is love?

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Can a child within my heart rise above.

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Can I sell through the

changing ocean tides?

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Can I handle the seasons of my life?

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Well, I've been afraid of changing.

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Because I've built my life around you.

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But time makes me bolder.

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Even children get older

and I'm getting older.

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Two.

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I love that part.

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I been afraid of changing.

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Cause I built my life around you.

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That's the part that

always brought me to tears.

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Now I understand that Stevie Nicks.

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I got curious of why she wrote this on.

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And let me.

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Find my notes here.

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She wrote it while she

was in Aspen, Colorado.

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she was inspired while

looking at the mountains.

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By the thought that

everything in her life.

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She had been building could

come crashing down at any time.

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this snowy mountain avalanche.

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It's not that my life comes crashing

down It's just that it changes.

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Everything changes.

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And we get older.

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And children get older too.

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I love the story.

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Of Adam and Eve.

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And.

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Thinking of her.

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As a mother.

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We read in Moses five.

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verse 10.

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And Adam bless God and was field

and began to prophesied concerning

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all the families of the earth

saying blessed, be the name of God.

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For because of my transgression,

my eyes are opened.

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And in this life, I shall have joy.

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and again, in the flesh, I shall see God.

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And Eve, his wife heard all these

things and she too was glad saying.

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Were it not for our transgressions.

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We never should have had seed and never

should have known good and evil and the

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joy of our redemption and the eternal

life, which God given to all the obedient.

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And Adam and Eve blessed

the name of God and

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They made all these things known

unto their sons and daughters.

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So they raised their children.

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Knowing about God.

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And this joy.

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Of the savior and the plan of salvation.

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That mortality works.

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But we go over to verse 27 after.

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The whole drama and

trauma of Cain and Abel.

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And we come to verse 27.

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And Adam and his wife

mourned before the Lord.

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And that right there, I

think describes what happens.

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We have this emancipation and

sometimes our children choose.

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Different paths than

what they were raised on.

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And it kind of confuses us.

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That use different lifestyles,

maybe even different faiths.

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And we began questioning,

whoa, what did I do wrong?

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And we take upon ourselves, this

burden, this unnecessary burden

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that it's all because I messed up.

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It's all my fault.

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When.

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Why not.

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I've had this thought,

why not have the attitude?

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Of Adam and Eve.

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That.

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Had we not have this mortal journey,

this beautiful agency, this ability to

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choose for ourselves, even our children.

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Have this beautiful gift to choose for

themselves to know the good and the evil.

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And to find out for themselves the joy.

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Of redemption.

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To me that has been the greatest lesson

in these wisdom years is allowing.

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Others.

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Their journey of becoming

they're growing and developing

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and creating for themselves.

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So in preach my gospel, it's

been so fun to be a missionary.

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Because oh, Talk about growing,

developing, and creating

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and becoming all over again.

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In a.

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Different environment.

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But yet one that I feel so.

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Nourished.

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By the spirit.

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There's a section in preach my gospel.

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To rely on the spirit.

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And I'm going to read it from a.

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Parenting, uh, mothers Point of view.

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Some.

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Mothers.

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Feel confident in themselves.

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Others lack such confidence.

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Humbly put your confidence

and faith in Jesus Christ.

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Not in yourself.

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Relay on the spirit.

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Rather than your own talents.

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And abilities.

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The holy ghost will magnify your efforts.

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Uh, far beyond what you can do.

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On your own.

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So many times I find mothers who, are

having a hard time letting go and, relying

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on the redeeming love of the savior.

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And they think that it has to be

them who helps and corrects and

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Saves their children from whatever.

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Bad choices or stupid.

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Thinks they're doing.

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We are not through savior.

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And we need to rely on the savior

and the holy ghost, the spirit,

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rather than our own talents.

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You can be the most brilliant.

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Mother in the world.

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But you can't rely upon

your own brilliance.

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You need to allow the savior

work through that child.

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And the holy ghost will

magnify your efforts.

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Uh, far beyond what you can do.

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On your own.

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Yeti X-5: we just recently had

the opportunity to have our

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first visitors to South Africa.

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our friend.

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David melody web.

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And we were talking about this.

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stage of our life and being

grandmothers and mothers and.

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That.

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Hard expanding more

souls, more vulnerability.

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And the loads.

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Like the African women

carrying on their heads.

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The useless loads sometimes

that we carry around.

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And.

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She shared with me an insight from a.

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Poem written by.

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Mother Teresa and how she applied it.

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Too.

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Being a mother and a grandmother.

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And I thought it was such a beautiful

analogy that I want to share with you.

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Yeti X: People are often

unreasonable and self-centered.

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Forgive them anyway.

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If you are kind, people may

accuse you of all-terrain motives.

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Be kind.

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Anyway.

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If you were honest.

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People may cheat you.

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Be honest.

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Anyway.

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If you find happiness.

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People may be jealous.

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Be happy anyway.

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The good you do today, maybe forgotten.

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Tomorrow.

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Do good anyway.

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Give the world the best you have.

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And it may never.

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Be enough.

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Give your best.

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Anyway.

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For you see in the end,

it's between you and God.

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It has never been between you.

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And them.

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Anyway.

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Isn't that beautiful mother.

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Teresa was a very wise woman.

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And I believe she was.

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In her wisdom years.

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So my sisters, my friends.

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We're in this together.

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We're in these wisdom years.

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This journey of becoming.

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So that's it.

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That's the sweet little hope that I

want to give you today on your path.

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That.

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This mortality works.

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Eve was right.

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Joy.

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Comes.

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And we get older.

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And children get older too.

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And Give your best anyway.

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Because it's between you and God.

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I hope you can find joy in the journey.

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The joy in rediscovering yourself at

this age, rediscovering your purpose.

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And relying on the spirit.

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Rely on the spirit as you step out

the door each day and ask yourself.

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Where should I go?

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Who needs me?

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What can I do today?

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What can I say today?

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That can bring the light

of Christ to someone else.

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How can I take.

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The knowledge, the scriptures,

the things that are in my heart.

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And in my head.

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And lift.

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Another.

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How can I be more like my savior?

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Thanks.

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My friends for joining me for just

a moment on our journey together.

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You are amazing.

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You are exceptional.

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You are women in your wisdom

years, and I want you to.

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Own that and wear that proudly.

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Because you've done your best.

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I know you.

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You've done your very best.

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And now it's time.

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To just keep on.

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Keep on keeping on.

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DNI are so grateful that you spend

some time with us here on the

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creative, spiritual journey podcast.

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And if you know someone that's in her

wisdom years and could use a little.

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Light on her path.

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Please share this.

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Podcast.

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And.

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I testify.

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These things always in

the name of our savior.

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And Redeemer Jesus Christ.

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: 00:18:38

And I will see you on the trail.

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