(upbeat music)
- Back in 2015 I had recently resigned my position
working for my dad for 22 years to start my own ministry.
And I mean we needed everything,
it was the biggest step of faith I have ever done
leaving the security of a job as a CEO,
a good salary and amazing team to just start from scratch.
We moved an hour and a half away from Fort Worth, Texas,
to Rockwall, Texas to open our offices,
and like I said we needed it all.
We needed desks, computers, chairs, paper, pens,
I mean everything.
It's so exciting when God gives you a vision
and you just start taking steps towards it,
you're scared but you're trusting God stepping out in faith,
just knowing he's gonna provide.
I remember the night we moved in,
and moved all of our inventory over
and we had these shelves,
empty shelves,
and we were just so grateful for everything.
I walked into that big room going,
"We have shelves!"
I remember this lady Christie
who decorated everything for us,
she found this table on Craigslist for $75.
She chopped the legs off,
painted it and turned it into our logo.
It was our sign in the lobby for $75.
We remember the first time we heard the phone ring
and we're in the hall going,
"Someone's calling us! Go answer the phone!"
And some of my team members were going,
"Wait how do we answer this? What do we say?
How do we take orders?"
We were just rejoicing over everything and we still do.
In fact the first week we opened our offices,
we started a gratitude wall
where we write on little Post-its what we're grateful for,
and we still do it seven years later.
Here's the gratitude wall.
The reason I'm telling you this
is because a few months after we moved in
and we finally got the entire office decorated,
furnished, just beautiful.
All the desks, the rugs, pictures, the whole works.
The night before we were scheduled
to have our very first board meeting,
ready to show the board of directors
what God had blessed us with and give them reports.
The offices flooded,
I mean flooded water everywhere.
In fact, I was at home getting ready for the board meeting,
and my CEO called me and said,
"You might wanna put your rain boots on."
I was like, "What?"
He said, "We're not having the board meeting today,
the offices are flooded."
We showed up, saw all the damage,
the beautiful hardwood floors were underwater,
the carpet, some of our inventory.
And you know?
Right then and there I had to make a decision.
We could have complained, pouted, shouted,
gotten mad because it's not fair.
We're serving God, why did this have to happen to us?
We're just starting out in ministry,
believing for everything,
why did this have to happen to us?
I know that complaining opens the door for the enemy
and it shuts the door for God to move.
Did you hear me?
But the opposite is also true,
gratitude opens the door for God to move
and it shuts the door to the enemy.
So I said as I'm standing in water,
I said you know? My favorite preacher Jerry Savelle,
he wrote a book years ago,
about how when Satan comes against you,
if you choose,
it's a choice,
to not let him steal your joy,
then God said the thief has to pay you back
seven times what's been stolen from you.
So I said we're just gonna praise God
and just slap the devil in the face,
and watch what God will do to turn this around.
We just started splashing in the water,
this is an actual photo of that very moment.
Do you know that was on a Friday morning,
the next Tuesday about four days later,
we received a check in the mail
from a businessman up in Canada who said our ministry,
it impacted his wife's life so much he gave us $50,000.
That's 5-0-0-0-0. (Terri laughs)
50,000! What am I saying?
Gratitude opens the door for God to move.
Whatever you're dealing with today I'm telling you,
gratitude is a key from God's word to open the door
and restore everything that's been stolen from you.
I'm telling you gratitude brings restoration,
and I'm gonna prove it to you from God's word.
But first let me tell you about our free download this week,
because I know you're gonna love it.
I put together a list of scriptures
on what God will restore in your life,
everything from your health, your finances,
your relationships, your joy,
the years you've lost, everything.
I put this list together for myself,
I studied God's word, found scriptures,
because I was willing for restoration in my own life.
And God has truly restored what was stolen from me,
so I wanted you to have this list for yourself
to just read these out loud one by one.
I'm telling you, there is nothing more powerful
than just speaking God's word out of your mouth.
All you have to do is click the link in the description
and get your list of scriptures today.
And what I wanna ask you,
if these weekly videos are helping you at all?
I'm just curious,
because I've been doing this little podcast video
since 2008,
can you believe that?
And I would love to know if you enjoy them
and you want me to keep doing them,
so if you'll just push the subscribe button
that's my indication to keep going,
that you enjoy this, don't stop!
And I want you to know how much I truly appreciate you
more than I can even say because honestly,
that's why we do this.
I wish I could just give you a hug but I want you to know
how much I truly appreciate you subscribing.
Now real quick,
let me tell you this powerful story
about how vital your gratitude to God really is.
Did you know that you can get to a place in your life
where there are no signs you've ever lost anything?
No signs you've ever been through the pain
you've been through?
Let me explain I'll do this fast,
but there's a story in Luke 17
where 10 lepers were healed by Jesus,
you may remember that story.
It's important to note
that leprosy is a flesh eating disease.
In other words if you had that sickness,
it was obvious,
because manifestations would appear
by having pieces missing like your nose,
or parts of your elbow, your forehead, your ear.
Well, when Jesus healed the lepers,
the leprosy no longer destroyed their flesh,
it stopped.
However, whatever leprosy they had,
it was still recognizable,
they still had missing limbs.
So the leprosy stopped
but maybe their nose was still missing,
their ear was still missing but here's the thing.
The Bible records that as the 10 lepers went on their way,
there was one,
only one who just turned back to Jesus and he simply said,
here's a little thank you card.
He said, "Thank you Jesus, thank you so much."
His two simple words meant so much to Jesus
that he even said,
"Where's the other nine?"
In other words, are they not grateful?
Then Jesus went on to say to the one with a grateful heart.
He said,
"Get up go on your way, your faith has made you whole."
The amplified Bible says it like this,
your faith, your trust, your confidence
that comes from believing God has restored you.
Think about it,
his gratitude brought restoration.
Here's what I want you to know,
there is a big difference in healing and restoration.
Healing means the leprosy no longer ate away their flesh,
restoration means that whatever was missing,
it came back.
The ear came back, the nose came back,
the elbow grew back, it was restored to normality.
Now the words,
there were no signs this man had ever been a leper before.
Can you believe this?
You can get to a place in your life
where there are no signs you've ever lost anything.
You've never been through the abuse, the addiction,
the affair, the abortion, whatever it is to you.
God can restore everything that's been stolen from you
if you'll just have a grateful heart.
So remember the opposite of gratitude is complaining,
and when you refuse to complain
but instead you just start expressing gratitude,
get ready,
gratitude gives God an opportunity to show up in your life.
I wanna challenge you,
practice gratitude this week,
and read your list of restoration scriptures,
and just watch what God is gonna do in your life.
I'm telling you God restores everything.
So don't forget, I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.
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And remember! I'm cheering you on to live your dreams.