There's Purpose in all You've Been Through

Do you ever wonder what good could come out of the things you've been through? Have you ever stopped to look back at all that God has brought you through? He takes all of it and makes something so beautiful out of it. This week Dez & Carlos talk about this and more. 

Transcript

Dez: [00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome to Walk the Talk with Dez and Carlos. Hey everyone. Hope everybody has had a great week so far. We, uh, have had a pretty good week. We just celebrated a pretty actually awesome day for us. It's kind of our second anniversary. It's July 11th. It's, it's basically the day that we first officially were going out way back in like 1994.

Yeah, it's been like 29 years. It's just crazy, crazy bonkers to look back at that. But we had a good day. We took the day and hung out together and went to the beach and just spent the whole day, took the day off of everything, which is really good to do because we don't get to do that too often. So that was a fun day.

It was. Yeah. So here we are recording and getting ready for this. And we just wanted to jump in and share some of our thoughts and the things [00:01:00] that we've been really kind of meditating on and God has been talking to us about and teaching us and reminding us, which is kind of like what we like to do on here.

So. Uh, if it's okay, I'm going to start. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Cool. So I was sharing with Carlos a little bit earlier today that, um, the other day I was kind of meditating and I don't know if you guys do this, but I sometimes have moments where I just, I look back, but not in a bad way. I think I used to do it in a negative way, but I've learned to look back in a positive way.

And what I mean by that is, you know, we all have different stories and there's things that all of us have been through. And sometimes. You can look back and yes, if you have to be careful because you don't want to obviously be always looking back That's not my that's not where I'm trying to get to is but occasionally when you look back look back with a positive Look like [00:02:00] what I mean by this is okay.

There's things that I've been through. There's things that Carlos has been through and Everybody who's listening. We all have different things that we've been through but when you look at it And look at the fact that God brought you through those things. And look at the fact that you learned through it.

Hopefully you learned through it. If not, most likely you'll keep going around circles until you do. It's kind of how God is, right? But everything we go through gives us an opportunity to grow. Everything we go through gives us an opportunity to learn and to. Do better and I'm learning to look back in that way and realize that wow because I'm seeing so many things unfold in my life at this point and It's amazing because I realized that had I not gone through a lot of the things that I went through and allowed God To bring me through those Times and to heal me.

I wouldn't be the [00:03:00] person that I am today and I wouldn't be able to help people through the things that I'm able to help them through today. Yeah. And yes, maybe in some ways I might have been able to, but ultimately it's like it's, it's different. It's different when you're walking somebody through something that you have actually been through.

You know, and that's, that's the awesome thing. I love, I love, love, love the fact that I can look and I can see that. Yeah. You know, it's pretty awesome. 

Carlos: Yeah, I think, um, a good, I think I talked about this in one of our episodes recently and it was about how David would Reflect back at the things that the Lord had done, and he would encourage himself.

Mm 

Dez: hmm. Yeah, I 

Carlos: remember that. And, and that's, that's a healthy thing to do. That's, that's a very healthy spiritual practice, [00:04:00] is to reflect back at what the Lord has done in your life, especially when you're going through those hard moments. Mm hmm. Because you realize that. But if you made it through that, God is going to help you through where you're going through now.

Exactly. 

Dez: And I think that's important to remember when you're, especially if you're going through really like something really overwhelming. Yeah. I know all of us, when we've gone through things either personally or even in our marriage, there's been times where it's felt like this is never going to end.

We are never gonna get through this. This is too big. When you look back at, like you said, when you do, when you look back at it that way, it makes you realize that God brought me through that. So God's gonna bring us through all of this. Mm-hmm. , right? Yep. And it's, it is, it's a, it's a good thing to, um, it's a good thing to remember.

And talking about, um, in our, in church, in our church, we've been talking [00:05:00] about Well, last month we were talking about unity, about one body, and this month we're talking about the meeting place. But there's something that I wanted to read, actually, I think you mentioned this verse a little bit earlier, and I'm trying to find where it is.

But it's, basically we were talking about, I'll look, I'll find the verse that goes with what I'm trying to say here. Yeah, I've got another 

Carlos: verse. Okay, go ahead. That kind of goes with what? You started out with and it's Romans chapter 8 verse 28 when Paul said and we know that all things Work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose and that is such an encouraging verse because we don't We usually tend to think of the negative things we go through in life as good things.

That's true. We tend to look at the negative and we say to ourselves, I mean, what good could come out of that? Or what good [00:06:00] could come out of my past? Mmm. You know, what good can come out of all of those terrible things I went through? But Paul reminds us that All things work together for good to those who love God.

Yes. God can take those things and make something so beautiful out of tragic situation. It's true. Out of the difficulties we go through in life, out of the abusive situations. Mm hmm. You know, I think about, and I mentioned this before one time, Joyce Meyer is a perfect example. Yeah. The terrible abuse she, she went through and how the Lord took that and look at how many books she's written.

And how many 

Dez: millions of her.

Yeah, because of what she went through and what she learned through it and how she saw God bring her through it. Exactly. 

Carlos: And through it all, she put her trust in God. [00:07:00] Mm hmm. You know, she kept putting her trust in the Lord regardless of whether she understood what she was experiencing or not. She would always trust the Lord and know that this was going to amount to something good.

Eventually, and the Lord had given her that promise. 

Dez: Yeah, that's awesome. I think the other person I think of actually I was talking about on the other day that we were talking about after watching the Sound of Freedom movie, this guy Victor Marks. His story is phenomenal. He's another one who his whole ministry is in rescuing people from trafficking.

Yeah. And his story is crazy. He was like a little boy and I think he was beaten by his stepfather, I believe. for dead. Wow. And he was also, I believe sexually abused as well. Wow. And so many other things. There was a one thing he was sharing in a video the other day about, um, a memory that [00:08:00] he has from, I think it was his stepfather as well.

He was seven years old and he, his stepfather, had him kill a man. He put the gun in his hand and made him pull the trigger and then bury the body and then told him if you tell anybody I'm just going to tell them that it was you. So imagine a seven year old little boy living with that. That is crazy. I mean he went through some horrific things as a child.

Who was this? Victor Marks. Oh my goodness. Yeah, if anybody's listening and wants to learn, I mean the guy, his ministry, him and his wife are amazing. Yeah. And, um, there's a story on YouTube, the Victor Mark story. And it's actually like a movie. It's like an hour and a half. And it tells his 

Carlos: story. I did watch that.

You did? I don't remember 

Dez: hearing that part. I don't know if he taught, he says he didn't talk about everything in that because there's a lot of stuff that like later in life that God is really bringing up and helping him to kind of walk through even now. Things that he's just it's been too painful and hard to [00:09:00] talk about and I was just like blown away.

I'm like, yeah 

Carlos: His story 

Dez: is inspiring. Oh, it is. He was like an ex marine. He's like done so many things, but he had he still has a lot Of trauma he's working through but look at the lives that he's been able to 

Carlos: help I know he now helps people out of human sex trafficking. 

Dez: Yep But he, his story is just his story.

It's another one. And there's so many people like that. He himself, he's, he was talking recently about how he's obviously back then it was like, why am I going through this? Like, what good could, what good could come out of any of this? Exactly. But now he looks at it in the same way that, wow, had he not been through that, he wouldn't have had the same passion that he does and compassion.

Because now you watch him and he's like, he has such a love for people and for children and for helping these victims. Because he knows what it's like to go through such horrific things. [00:10:00] Wow. So you look at that and it's just such a good example that, like you said, even the tragic things. Because we've all been through things and there's been tragedy in our lives.

Maybe people who have passed away or people have done horrible things to us or hurt us so badly. But God... can turn those things around. Even when we don't understand it, which we usually don't, usually it takes time and you have to allow God to heal you in those areas and you have to allow yourself to grieve, you know, in a healthy way.

But once you really let God into those areas and heal you, it's like you learn from it. And it's not something that you can really explain. And it's not something that. Obviously, yeah, you can't really say something like that to somebody who's it's like raw and fresh, you know Give yourself time to heal give yourself time to go through the your process Yeah but I can guarantee at the end [00:11:00] of everything if you allow God to he can use Anything and everything in your life to teach you something and to bring something beautiful out of it.

That is so true. You know, and, and the thing that, that I think about is that every one of us, this is something I wanted to get to and I did find the verse, but every one of us has a different story. There's not one of us that has the same exact story as another, and it's funny because it's something, an analogy that you've heard, everybody has probably heard, but I think about this so much that it's just like snowflakes.

That always fascinated me as a child, that there is no two snowflakes exactly like blows my mind because you look at them, it's like, how could they be so different? Like how there's gotta be another one that looks just like this one, you know, how many designs could there be? But. That's the guy that we serve.

He's so perfectly artistic and creative. [00:12:00] Yeah. And so when you think about that, that's how he made us. There are no two people, even identical twins. They are not exactly alike. They might have similarities, but there's things about them that are different. And it's amazing because when you look at. Each of us, each of us does have different stories and every one of our stories is needed.

Every one of us has a place in the body and every one of us, if we are willing to let God take those things and heal us and bring us through those things, you can be a help to somebody else. You can be a help to other people in the body. I look at us now. And we're older, getting older in our age. We've been at this for a long time, but when we first started, I remember when we first started on the journey of healing and restoration, we were, it was weird because I felt like we were [00:13:00] kind of in a boat by ourselves because we weren't surrounded by people who were, had the same thing.

We had this drive that it was like. We have to overcome these things. We have to overcome the things that maybe our parents did never have faced. We have to break the generational curses. 

Carlos: We know, we knew that we had a calling and a purpose. And it was, it was like a fire inside of us because we actually answered the call.

We were seeking the Lord in that area and, and allowing him to lead us and he would show us stuff. He would show us, well, you have to go this direction and you have to, you can't do the same thing that these people are doing. No matter who they were. Yeah. 

Dez: And it was.

Carlos: So many things so many things like that where we it came to the point where there were some people we had to cut off Yeah, because they were not going in the same direction as we were and they were a dead weight. Yeah, [00:14:00] and so Yeah, it's so it was so important to be sensitive to his leading in in those times.

And 

Dez: obedient. Yeah. Obedience is everything. Yeah. Because we had the choice. I'm sure that if we had chosen to not go down that road, we would be doing something else. But it would have been different because it's like you said, I like that you said that you said that that's the perfect description. It's there was a fire in us.

Mhm. And a drive to go down this road even though it was hard. Yeah. And I remember that when we both started to really see all of our crap, it was like we had some moments that it was like, Oh my gosh, like this, we didn't even know what we were doing. Thank God for people like Joyce Meyer and all these other authors and preachers and teachers.

John Bavier was, yeah, he was another big one. There was so many of them along the way, but when we look at. Back and God would allow us to to either hear the right [00:15:00] thing or he would lead us to certain books or People to listen to you and to help us to work through all of those things And it's so important, I know I probably sound like a broken record when I tell people this because it's literally like my, I feel like it's like my life anthem, but I tell everybody, it is so worth it to let yourself be healed, to let yourself go through this stuff and to let yourself come out the other end and not stay stuck.

Carlos: Yeah. Because you have purpose. Exactly. You have purpose. And the enemy would like to make you think that you do not. Exactly. But you do. You have a purpose. Yep. Every, every one of us is born with a purpose. 

Dez: Yeah. And it's all, it all has to do with, with your, your life, with the stuff that you've been through, with the stuff that God brings you through and that he heals you from.

God takes all of that stuff. And allows you to be a help to [00:16:00] another person. Yeah. That's ministry. Yeah. That's literally ministry. That's, that's what it is. It's not, it's not necessarily a big, huge stage or this or that. And that's something I remember we had to unlearn years ago. You know, because growing up it was like, that's all that, that's what it appeared like, that's what they made it like, like, like you were somebody when you had a platform and that's something that we had to unlearn that it's, that's not ministry.

That's just a little, little part of it. Real ministry is every day is sitting down and having that cup of coffee with that person that just.

Yeah. You know, it's, it's doing all those little things and the verse, I want to read the verse really quick, but it was talking about one body. And the reason I'm reading this is because, like I said, I want to stress that. [00:17:00] There's a purpose in everything that you're going through, but there's also a place for you in the body.

There's a place that only you can fill. There's a space that only I can fill. And when we really get that and have the understanding, it helps us to.

It says, it's one body, many parts. And I believe this is, yes, it's first Corinthians chapter 12, starting with verse 12. And it says, just as the human body is one, though it has many parts that together form one body, so too is Christ. For by one spirit, we all were immersed and mingled into one single body.

And no matter our status, whether we are Jews or non Jews, oppressed or free, we are all one.[00:18:00] 

So if the foot were to say, since I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body, it's forgetting that it's still a vital part of the body. And if the ear were to say, since I'm not an eye, I'm not really a part of the body, it's forgetting that it is still an important part of the body. Think of it this way.

If the whole body were just an eyeball, how could it hear sounds? And if the whole body were just an ear, how could it smell different fragrances? But God has carefully designed each member and placed it in the body to function as he desires. I love, love, love that passage. It says it so perfectly. Like we need the eyes, we need the ears, we need the toes, we need that pinky toe.

We do. We need all of the parts and every part has its own function. And I think in the body, if people were to really grasp that and really get the [00:19:00] understanding that it's okay to be you and to do what God has put in you to do. You don't have to be anybody else. It frees you. It sets you free in such an amazing way.

Carlos: And it gives you, it gives you a sense of purpose. 

Dez: It does. It really does. And I remember, shoot, I remember when, when the Lord really started to show that to me. It was like, it was so freeing for me because like I said, growing up in a lot of the stuff and seeing a lot of what we did, there was this like unspoken pressure to be this or to be that or to be like this or to be like that.

Carlos: And not all of us are called to be certain things. 

Dez: Exactly. Yeah. And little did we know we were, yeah, we were called to be something we had no idea and honestly we didn't really want at one point in our life. But now I look back and I understand, [00:20:00] I understand so much more of the things that we've been through and that God has taught us because of where he was bringing us.

It was necessary. Yeah. And. Now I've learned to be okay and to accept it. Yeah. Like what God has called us to, I'm not gonna say no to it. And people might not understand it. People might not like it. And that's the other thing. You can't let people's opinions rule your life or affect you or affect your obedience.

If you know God has called you to something, if you know God has put something in you, do it. 

Carlos: Yeah, even if you think Well, I don't know if I can do that, but you got to realize that if God has called you to it, His grace is available for you to do that, whatever it is. Whether it's to evangelize or to prophesy or to be a prophet or whatever.

Exactly. Your, he, your grace is [00:21:00] right there. Your, your anointing is right there. Yeah. And so that's the area that God designed for you to walk in and you can do it regardless Yeah. Of whether or not you think you can. 

Dez: That's right. And one thing I like to tell people, like I've talked to some people who like, they're just starting maybe.

Starting down this journey, maybe even realizing what God has put in them and things that he's called them to do, and they might not see the full picture. I always say, it's, it's one step at a time. Yeah. I can remember years back, there was things that God was putting in front of us to do. Didn't make any sense.

And I was like, what does this have to do with anything? And now when I look back, I realize every step of obedience mattered. Yeah. Even the things we didn't understand, now I can look back and say, wow. And I tell people, it might seem like the smallest thing, [00:22:00] but be obedient. So true. You know, I was, there was a point, honest to God, and I've told people this before, there was a time, you know, this, I was actually thinking about this the other day and it's kind of funny.

Do you remember years back when we were like back in the Spanish churches and I had no confidence and no self esteem and I hid behind you? I always would push you in front and be like, nope, I don't want to say, don't give me that microphone. Nope. I don't want to do nothing. I don't want to speak. I don't want, if I sang, I would sing only if you were right next to me.

And I was so, I know, but I was so, I was so, I had no confidence. I was so shy. Yeah. It was so bad. And I look back now, I was actually laughing at that the other day. I was like, Lord, that's funny. Remember when I used to be that way? Like I was so shy and so no confidence and I know. And I was like, wow. And that [00:23:00] was a result of just, first of all, letting God heal all that stuff, take the fear out of me and teach me.

And, except the fact that I need, I had to have a microphone in my hand. I hated it. There was one point, there was so many times I was like, knees, knocking together, teeth chattering, and I was like, he would put it in front of me to do it, and I would do it. And I tell people, you know what, just do the thing that's in front of you.

And the amazing thing about God is every time you do whatever it is He's put in front of you. It's like the supernatural thing where then it's like you get clarity and you see what's coming next. Yeah. So you keep doing whatever it is, it could seem so simple. He might be telling you to, to write. He might be telling you to do a podcast.

He might be telling you to just record yourself and to practice your speech. That's something that, that I had to work on [00:24:00] myself was the Lord was. Pressing on me a while back to, to really work on my enunciation, to work on my speech, to work on all the ways that we S we have to talk because we're doing this and I got speaking things that I had to do.

And, and. Now I understand. Yeah, and it's just obedience and surrender That's literally everything and don't worry about what's coming later That's one thing that it's so easy to get caught up in but I tell people don't get caught up in what is coming down The road don't get stuck in the oh, I don't understand.

I don't know what my purpose is Your purpose is right where you are And it might be talking to the person that's right in front of you It might be being a friend to this person. It might be taking this person under your wing. It might be practicing your, your voice, you know, taking lessons or, or [00:25:00] doing things online, whatever it is, just do whatever God has put in front of you to do and be obedient and know that where you are is okay as long as you are surrendered and as long as you're letting God work in you and heal you.

That's good. And it's all for a purpose. Yeah. 

Carlos: So 

Dez: true. Did you have anything else? Nope. I think that was good though. So we are going to go ahead and cut it short and Just encourage you guys to embrace where you are and keep going, keep pressing, keep letting God heal you, keep letting God teach you through every moment in your life and everything that you go through and trust Him that everything you go through is for a reason and He makes something beautiful out of all of it.

Yes. So we pray for all of you guys and hope that you'll have a great rest of your week. God bless. Bye.