75. Faith, Community, and the Power of Personal Stories with Gabriela Gonzalez

Have you ever wondered how personal narratives shape our connections and build resilient communities? In this deeply moving episode, we sit down with Gabriela, a scrappy and empathetic attorney whose journey of faith and determination will leave you inspired. Gabriela opens up about the pivotal role of community and storytelling in her life, sharing how her faith has been a beacon of hope during challenging times. Together, we explore the intricacies of maintaining faith in community after experiencing hurt and the imperative of perseverance.

Our conversation delves into the nuanced dynamics of community and connection, highlighting the dual nature of hurt and healing. We reflect on the teachings of Jesus on setting boundaries and finding balance between solitude and social engagement.  We also celebrate the ministry "Modern Witnesses," which honors the impactful stories of faith-driven women, moving beyond superficial content to showcase their significant contributions.

We discuss the authenticity and resonance of individual stories, emphasizing the importance of living a simple, gospel-centered life amidst modern distractions. The episode wraps up with reflections on gratitude, faith, and generosity, celebrating the joys of new beginnings and the transformative power of collective prayer and community support. Join us for a conversation filled with wisdom, courage, and the enduring presence of God.

Be inspired with Gabriela @ https://modernwitnesses.com

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Stories shared by guests may not always be shared views of OPET.
Being a guest does not mean OPET approves of every decision or action in the guests' life.

We all have a story, all of us, share your story. You don't have to have the perfect answer or the perfect life - share what Jesus is doing in your life. This is an easy, real way to witness & share your testimony.

Transcript

Nancy Bruscher: 0:01

Welcome to Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things. I'm so glad you're here. You are in for a treat. We have a wonderful guest and we're going to hear all about faith and hope. If you find this episode helpful, please share it with a friend. Welcome to Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things. I'm here with Gabriella. Thank you for being on. Thank you, I'm so with Gabriela.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 0:25

Thank you for being on. Thank you, I'm so honored to be here, nancy.

Nancy Bruscher: 0:28

I'm so excited we just started chatting via email and so gracious that you said yes to being on the show.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 0:36

Yeah, I'm honored to be invited. Thank you, and I'm so excited to feature you on the site.

Nancy Bruscher: 0:42

So, yes, yes, I get to be on your site, modern Witnesses, and could you tell that we just have so much in common? I feel like, just from from your information on your website, I'm like, oh my goodness, I feel like we have the same goals and we're just kind of doing that in different ways, which is really cool. Yeah, well, before we get into that, I do want to ask if there's three words or phrases that describe you.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 1:10

Three words or phrases that describe me.

Nancy Bruscher: 1:15

I'd say scrappy bold and I'd say empathetic, oh wow, yeah, so scrappy and bold and you have empathetic. That's. That's probably a good, a good mixture. Can you give like an example of why you, why you would say that yeah, I mean scrappy.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 1:41

I'm someone who, if something needs to get done, I will figure it out. Like I will find a way. Even if it's like the most unconventional thing, it will happen. I feel like that's something that you know faith has played a big role in, because I feel like when you know that God is with you, you're just like I can do this, like he's, he's right here, like he's got my back, we're, we're doing this together, um, so I think that faith really emboldens us, and so I think that's also part of the boldness. Um, I'm a very direct person. I work in a very like what would be considered a masculine environment. I'm an attorney, um, and so I feel like there's a certain assertiveness that you have to have in that field that I understand that not everyone has, and so I recognize that in myself, for better or for worse, and empathetic, I care about people, I love people. It's all about people.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 2:39

I'm such a big believer that God created us for community and that we need each other a big believer that God created us for community and that we need each other. We change each other, our stories change. You know each other, so it's like I. I I've also had my own journey, um, just like everyone else, and so I love stories and I love hearing people's stories. And it was someone really wise when it said that you know, when we tell a story, when we're trying to connect with someone, it's not so much about us, but it's about whether that person can connect with the elements of our story. And I feel like that's the power of story, and so I I love looking for that in people and hearing about their experiences and thinking spiritually about how my faith can connect to that or how I can connect to that and vice versa.

Nancy Bruscher: 3:27

Wow, I love that. Yeah, Well, the boldness and the scrappy kind of like oh, an attorney, that makes sense, why you'd have to not have to, but that would. That would be good for for your career. You know, to be able to, to be bold for someone, yeah yeah, it's just like my wiring. So right, right, that's awesome and then what would you say to someone that's like you're saying we're built for community, that maybe they've been hurt? I mean, well, we've all been hurt, like yeah, but that that kind of want to give up on community.

Nancy Bruscher: 4:01

Do you have any thoughts or what you might say to them?

Gabriela Gonzalez: 4:06

I mean it's tough, right.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 4:08

We've , we've all been been hurt and , anyone who works with people , anyone people are difficult , and we are difficult too , thinking about who we are in community , and I guess , cs Lewis has this quote where he says something along the lines of you know , but the person we forgive over and over again is ourselves . And so it's like this idea of sometimes there's two things , like we're better than others and and we deserve better and , right , the scripture says all have fallen short of the glory of god , right , we're all in the same canoe . And then the other side of the coin can be like genuine hurt and fear .

Gabriela Gonzalez: 5:34

Um, I was on a coaching call not long ago.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 5:38

I'm part of the arena, which is a coaching program that, um, erwin McManus leads out. He's a minister, and it was interesting because someone was asking about this concept and he said I would be wary of someone who has no one in their circle, because that means you are not fulfilling god's will for you, like there there is, . And so I see it. You know it's not optional, it's almost like a command, it's like tithing. You know it's. It's not optional, it's almost, it's like a command, it's like tithing. You know it's like there's things that just are because because God is God and you are who you are, and and I think that it's important to always remember that God, when he commands us or, like, tells us to do something, it's because he knows how we're wired. He wired us.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 6:45

And so he knows what's best for us, and so I think that even in the midst of pain or difficult seasons, it's just important to remember that God has a plan through that, and it may not be evident there then and there. And you know, I've been hurt by community too, but I've also been totally rescued by community. Where community has come through for me in in wild ways, and so it's, it's the idea of. There's a saying that you can't numb one emotion without losing another. They say you can't have joy without pain, and so I think it's the same thing in here, where it's like we can have bad experiences, we can also have good experiences, and so if you shut it out completely, you're gonna have neither um, and so you have to remain open to this idea of community and also have grace for the fact that we are all so imperfect that's good, that's really good.

Nancy Bruscher: 7:41

I keep on kind of coming back whenever I, as I, am an introvert, so sometimes I'd rather just kind of shrink in, though I do have a lot of community. Sometimes you're like, oh, I just want to be by myself for a while. I just think about how Jesus put himself into community and he was hurt in community and he knew he would be and you know, but he, he always went towards it and so, yeah, that's something that I always kind of think of when I'm, I don't know, struggling, maybe, with it.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 8:14

I love the idea of Jesus, though, because I think that sometimes we have concepts of what community looked like that may not be the most healthy, or they may lack boundaries or you know, but Jesus was someone who you know. Jesus was so wise, I mean, he was discerning right, and he teaches us how to engage. Jesus also took time alone. Like you said, he was hurt by someone from his inner circle. I mean he. He's an example in so many ways, and so I I love the idea of looking to jesus. It's not about what culture tells you or what a church tells you to do. Um, sometimes we do need to have discernment. Sometimes there's people who are not that well-intentioned around us, you know, and and like you said also, sometimes we're wired differently. Some of us are extroverts and some of us have a social battery that you know. We have our limits and we have other giftings, and that's important to take into consideration too. Absolutely.

Nancy Bruscher: 9:10

Well, that wasn't even on our list, but that was awesome, absolutely.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 9:13

Well, that wasn't even on our list, but that was awesome. Nothing looks one way right. There's no recipe.

Nancy Bruscher: 9:19

So, yeah, so is it your boldness and, obviously, your faith and your empathy and your stories. I hear all those things when I look at your website, modern Witnesses, like we were talking about what made you want to start this ministry.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 9:36

I mean, I, like I said, I love people and I'm someone who has always um gravitated toward writing. Uh, growing up, I was part of, you know, I'm a millennial, so I was part of that culture that was really into magazines and then that came in like as we were becoming young adults.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 9:56

And you know, I guess internet became really big when I was in high school, I guess going into college and so I loved reading interviews with people, I loved features. I studied journalism so again, I was so into this idea of storytelling and I also recognize that there were so many amazing women around me that were doing things for God and God was doing things through them. And while it's cool to read about you know, someone's favorite lipstick, I was like there's way more important stuff that people are doing and I feel like, you know, in the secular sphere there's nowhere that I see that featured and I wanted to provide a space for for that woman who's a woman of faith, who's who's doing things, and and it started out really with my friends, so the first interviews are all folks that I know very well and it then branched off to friends of friends and then I started cold emailing and messaging people that I saw on websites or social media that I really liked and they started accepting.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 11:07

And then I would ask them like do you know a woman of faith who would be interested, and so it just kept like growing into this big ripple effect and I've been so blessed. We featured people from around the world, wildly different lives, you know. We have women who are in ministry, we have women who are stay-at-home moms and are, you know, happy to do that. We have people who go to fashion week and they're happy to do that, you know, and it's just like such a diverse group of women and I thought it was really important to show that.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 11:40

I think sometimes, like Christian culture can sort of tell us that a woman of faith looks a certain way and when you're not maybe wired for that, you can feel really out of place or like god, am I making a mistake? Is this really my calling? Is this really what life looks like for me? And so it was, and I believe that, yes, like god calls us to wildly different adventures, and so I wanted a place that showcased that and showed, like, the beauty of just every adventure, you know, and and made women feel affirmed in what God was calling them in and made them feel celebrated. We try to celebrate, you know. We do shout outs for birthdays, graduations, new jobs, bought my own apartment, had a baby, you know, got engaged, like all these things, and it's been beautiful. And then we've been really fortunate to have publicists find the site and that's how we started featuring authors and we started featuring author interviews, excerpts and supporting book launches, and it's been a really fun adventure. So I've I loved every minute of it.

Nancy Bruscher: 12:52

That is so cool. Yeah, like I said, the thing that drew me to your website the first time well, I thought someone that was on it and I was like whoa, what's this, you know? And fun checking it out. And I just see all of these words that just really drive at me like hope and stories and like everyone has a story, and I was like, oh my, my goodness, we're speaking the same language yeah, no, I mean it's, and I'm grateful, you know, like I'm so glad that you have the ministry that you have.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 13:25

It's important, like we need more of this, I think, especially coming out of the pandemic. We we have experienced isolation in many ways, sometimes even outside of the pandemic. We we have experienced isolation in many ways, sometimes even outside of the pandemic. You know, sometimes there's times where we feel alone and it's so important to remind the army of women out there who are serving God that you're not alone, like there's a whole, like army and cohort of us out here praying and keeping faith and praying for each other and just wanting God to transform us and have him reflect his image to the world through us.

Nancy Bruscher: 14:01

Yeah, I know that one thing that made me kind of start the podcast was is that I felt like a lot of the podcasts that I was Christian podcasts I was listening to featured the same people over and, over and over and over. You know, like your your big Christians, right?

Nancy Bruscher: 14:20

And not that I don't love hearing their story, but I was just like, is no one else doing anything like for God? Like there's got to be more stories out there of like just normal people doing great things for God. And so I just felt like God was saying, yep, do it, yep, you do it. And I and I tried to get away from it for a while. You know, it's like God, I got too much going on and, um, honestly, like the thing behind it and I think you you said the word before was fear. You know like thing behind it and I think you said the word before was fear. You know like what? If I start this and no one, no one cares, if no one listens, I put myself out there, right?

Nancy Bruscher: 14:58

I've been so drawn to stories for years and years and years and and it seems like you are too and I've just been so passionate that everyone has a story and just really trying to get that out of people is like you don't have to have like this huge conversion story. You don't have to maybe be doing this huge ministry, but are you going out and you know loving on people? Are you going? And you know taking time to go into a nursing home, like everyone has something they're doing and kind of seeing. That I think can build people up a little bit more than like this person that has a huge platform that you're like I can't even live up to. That I can't relate to that.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 15:40

Absolutely. I agree with you 100%. I'm so glad that you accept the call. That's beautiful and I know that God is going to grow it and use it wildly. That's a blessing and it's again, it's so important. Like you said, you're like is there no one else? Like yeah, but for some reason no one's paying attention to them. Well, not no one. Obviously we are, but sometimes it feels like that and you're like why? So I'm so glad that you were like nope, this ends here like why so?

Nancy Bruscher: 16:17

I'm so glad that you were like nope, this ends here. Well, well, do you?

Gabriela Gonzalez: 16:18

do you believe everyone has a has a story? Oh, absolutely, I think everyone has a story and also this is controversial I think everyone has something they can teach us, even if it's how not to be. Yeah, but I I think so absolutely. And, like you said, I think that there's this pressure of like it being something big or whatever that means to people you know, but it's like, no, like God uses everyone in such different ways and it may seem small to you, but to someone else it may be like something big, it may be a light bulb moment, it may be like something big. It may be a light bulb moment. It may be encouragement to go after what God has been whispering to them. I mean, you don't know, like again, god uses so much in ways that we have no idea and probably won't have any idea on the side of heaven. And so, absolutely I believe that God has a purpose for each one of us. I mean, like he knew us, he formed us in the womb.

Nancy Bruscher: 17:12

I mean 100, 100, yeah well, the other word that I see on your website that really kind of spoke to me was the word witness. Yeah, could you, could you explain, maybe in your word, what you think witness means? I feel like it's this kind of scary word or a word that we know in christianity but we don't know what it means. It's like, okay, witness, and then we don't do it because we don't know what they mean, or they automatically think you're like jehovah witness or something.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 17:49

Yeah, I mean it's interesting because there's like it has like two meanings to me, right. Like the first meaning that stood out to me was it's really coming out of that verse where where Jesus says, you'll be my witnesses and act right where he's like I will send you, you know, jerusalem, judea, like Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And so I think that's beautiful and the instruction is beautiful because it reminds us that you know Jerusalem was home, right. And so it's like everything starts in our personal sphere, and the idea of the website is that it will not only reach your personal sphere of folks who are Christians and encourage them on their walk but we're also hoping people share it with their sphere of influence, those who aren't people of faith, you know, and the reason why is because of the other meaning that that has to.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 18:37

You know, being an attorney and I'm a litigator, so I do trials, and when you're preparing a trial, you prepare your witnesses, right. They're people who have firsthand knowledge of what has happened, and it's something important that makes a case for something, and so I think that people's stories, right, are a testimony, to give it another name, it's. It's something that's so extremely powerful. When I was growing up, I was really into apologetics, you know, which is this idea of forming arguments right to defend your faith, and but what's interesting about a testimony is that no one can tell you it didn't happen to you, because you know it did. You know, no one can be like, no, you weren't healed. It's like, no, actually I was. You know, no one can really confront you with that, and that's the power of a personal testimony. And so I remember one year we did what was called trial month on modern witnesses and it was all about witnessing and and really that's what it is. It's like trying to equip, you know, anyone who runs into the site, but our target audience is women, right On how to share their stories and why it's so important. Like you have been a witness to something.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 19:57

We've all been witnesses to God in different ways, like his, how he's manifested, his power, intervened for us, blessed us, and so the idea is that we can do that, and do it without shame, like do it in a bold way that really impacts those around us. You know, scripture says that they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the power right Of their testimony. So it's like I think it's just it's so important, so that's really why I chose the word. It's like this acknowledgement that we have all seen something right. Like it's like the disciples used to say we we cannot speak of anything other than what we have seen, and the hope is that we can all be inspired to to be that way and tell others and be like listen. I don't know what you've been through and what your journey has been, but all I can share is what I have seen right, which is what God has done for me. And, like I said, there's, there's just there's power in that, because it's your story, um, and it's real.

Nancy Bruscher: 21:05

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

Nancy Bruscher: 21:07

And what I was hearing you say is that like, yeah, you can't.

Nancy Bruscher: 21:15

I feel like this is what I've come to know through doing this, for, you know, a couple of years now is that it's it's a little bit easier for someone to maybe listen to a podcast or read your stories that you have on there.

Nancy Bruscher: 21:29

Uh, because it's not you have on there, because it's not, it's not really mostly in your face, it's mostly more of a, like you said, it's just my story and like, whether you like it or not, it is my story and but people can relate to that maybe a little bit better. And I'm seeing more people that I that probably wouldn't call themselves Christians or just kind of like trying to figure out like what, what is this Jesus thing? But when it's just someone's story, it's it's much more like maybe relatable or easier to digest or, um, yeah, I just I remember the apologetics and I and I've gone to different witnessing or testimonying or like how do you, how do you evangelize, kind of things. You know, and I'm not saying that that might not work for some people, but in a way I think it's it's almost made it harder than it really needs to be right.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 22:29

Like all important and they have their place, but we have made this way more complicated than it needs to be, I think yeah, yeah, can you, can you share on that a little bit?

Gabriela Gonzalez: 22:45

no, I mean, I really, I really want to hear. The rest of your thoughts are interrupted. But I just like I, I fully agree that. I think that you know, we don't have to do everything. I think so much of our job spiritually is to really just introduce someone into just an inkling of who God is, to make them just want to see or experience or test that themselves. And I think sometimes in like church circles or just like we are thinking of like all the steps, like 20 steps right, like all the way to baptism, like and there's nothing wrong with that, all those things are important, but just thinking that, yeah, I think sometimes we underestimate what God can do, um, and that like it can also be a lot more organic.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 23:43

There doesn't need to be I hate to use the word agenda, but for lack of a better word, you feel like that sometimes, where you feel like right right and you're like, okay, relax, um, and so, yeah, I mean, I just think that life, a spirit-led life, where we are allowing God to to lead our walk and and who we cross paths with, and all these things, it lends itself to a lot of organic opportunities and and there's no need for 20 steps. All that's needed is just the courage to share.

Nancy Bruscher: 24:22

Yeah, and I like what you said is we've made it so much harder than it is when a testimony, a witness, is just saying what God's done in your life, and I feel like that takes the pressure off of someone trying to learn what to say, takes the pressure off of someone trying to, like, learn what to say, but then that doesn't seem like really, it seems like too boxed. You know, like do you say that to every single person you meet?

Nancy Bruscher: 24:51

you know, coming across as um, as someone, that someone can be like oh you, you want to hear from me, you, you care about me, you, you didn't just say this exact thing, rote thing to every, every person and and I don't know how much that that works, and I think that's why we're seeing a, I'm seeing a shift of like, a lot of people telling like we have to tell our story, we have to explain it in this way, because this might be the way that we can actually like impact the kingdom.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 25:27

Yeah, and I think that, going back to one of the first points we made, that's why community is so important. When you mentioned like oh, this person cares, they want to hear from me, I mean that's what Jesus said he wanted to see, right. I mean that's what Jesus said he wanted to see right. Like us taking care of widows, and like this has been oversaid and it sounds almost cliche, but it's true. Like Jesus met people's needs first right.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 26:04

And it's important that we can't have one without the other. And, to be honest, the meeting people's needs part takes work, it takes relation, it takes time, it takes being inconvenienced or whatever Convenience like that's. Those are the moments that life is actually made up of Right and those are the moments where, like looking back when I mentioned that I've also seen community come through for me in a wild way. It was inconvenient for someone else, it meant that person cared, like those. Those are the moments that become the highlights of the, of the testimony. It's.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 26:26

It's the really real, raw, unscripted moments, that where we really open our hearts and and take a beat and pause and see someone. Everyone wants to be seen and that magic Well, not magic in the literal sense, but that was the beauty of who. Jesus was right, like everyone who came into his presence was seen, and seen in a profound way, not in a judgmental way. He saw their hearts and he inspired them to more. And so I think that if Jesus is our example, that's what we should be doing Like we need to stop and we need to look around us.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 27:05

And that can be hard because we live in a world with so much distraction and it's just like go, go, go. You know and I say that fully acknowledging like you know, there's times where the train is delayed and you're like annoyed but you just never know what's behind that and what the opportunity is, and you have to stop, look up from your phone and look around you Like there's so many people who are hurting, we are hurting, and if we're hurting and we, we have faith and we have God, and there's a lot of anguish out there that we can try to. At least, even if we can't alleviate it, we can stand in solidarity with people through it yeah, I like what you said and all that is like.

Nancy Bruscher: 27:46

I think sometimes all someone needs to do is be seen and say, oh, you like you actually asked how I'm doing and you care, like I don't get alone. But that takes like looking at people and having more than two seconds to say hey, you know, and actually taking time for someone.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 28:09

Yeah, it's like it's simple but it's not given everything that's competing for our attention. It's like the most simple thing, but yet it's hard for us, and so that's the interesting thing and it's yeah, we've made life, just in general, more complicated. It needs to be. So it's like we're being called to return to the simple and it's like just look up, just look at that person in front of you, but that's right.

Nancy Bruscher: 28:33

I was just thinking isn't that what the kind of the gospel is? Is? It's actually very simple. Yeah, I know there's a lot of layers, but at the very core of it, love god, love others, yep, to actually live it out that's because all the simplicity goes against our nature.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 28:52

I was listening to a pastor the other day who was saying this, where he's like hope, despair, negativity, that's easy. That's easy because that's what we're wired for now, like being sinful beings. What's hard is love and hope, and, and again, it's so simple. But because it goes against our natural nature, it's hard. And so it's like, yeah, the gospel is so simple, but it's so hard because it goes against everything our nature wants to do. But that's, I guess, also the amazing thing is that we can't take credit for it, because then, when we do live it out, it's God in us.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 29:33

And what greater privilege, right, like there's there's so many phases where you go somewhere to pray and and what greater privilege that we have, god in us, like if we invite god in us, like, and that's the same power that you know we just had easterly, that rose jesus from the dead. Like it's god. And I think again, we don't realize what we have. We, we minimize it, we box it in, we, we I don't know out a script and and think about it in a certain way, but god is, is beyond anything we can imagine, and jesus did things in such an unconventional way. He was always what people didn't expect. He always did things in the way that people felt was backwards. And so, again, it simple, but it's not.

Nancy Bruscher: 30:22

Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking, and I told this to someone a while, not very long ago. As I was saying, I wonder how impactful community can be in our life if I feel like the world is telling us so badly not to be. And I was like, oh, I wonder, I wonder, you know like how, how much this really matters if it's so easy not to like you know? It's like, yeah, I don't know, go to that, I won't go to the Bible study, I won't go to that, I got something else to do today and it's like. It's like, ooh, I wonder if it's because it's really that life changing.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 31:05

I think that's true. I mean, we see that in everything. I think there's something to that. I think that we're always sort of there's a narrative trying to lead us away from what we need, and that's where discernment comes in. That's why we have to be so rooted and in truth and in knowing what god wants for us. Because there is so much noise and so many voices out there, it's really easy to get sidetracked, whether it's out of convenience, out of wanting social acceptance so much. Right, that appeals to our pride and just who we are as humans. But I think you're right. I think, yeah, every time we see something like that, I think we're onto something, when we're like, hmm, what is behind this? This is important, right?

Nancy Bruscher: 31:54

Yeah Well, I cannot believe that. Like 35 minutes has already gone by, so not fair. We'll have to do this again. But what is your favorite Bible verse or story?

Gabriela Gonzalez: 32:10

I would say I have like two favorite stories, one like Old Testament, one New Testament. I think in the Old Testament, my favorite is the story of the three Hebrew boys who get thrown into the fire because they refused to bow down. I think that there is something wildly courageous about what they did and just the way they said you know, even if God doesn't intervene like, we believe in this and this is our conviction and I think that this story illustrates. You know, everyone was there, all the people were there. And I think that when thinking about stories, I think sometimes, when we're going through very difficult moments, god sets up the story. In the same way, he sets up a platform where everyone is watching.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 32:57

And then, when you do something, where everyone is watching and then when you do something, even if you end up in the fire, it gives the opportunity for people to then look into the fire and be like I think I just saw God in there with them and I find that so powerful. I love that story. I love the faith, the conviction and, most of all, the promise that he stands with us in the fire. Um, and in the new testament, I would say the story of lazarus. I am obsessed with that story for many reasons. I obviously shows it's a foreshadowing of all that god plans to do when he restores all and makes things right, this promise of eternal life that he, you know it's only through him. But I also see it as a reminder to us, just in this moment, that God can redeem so much and resurrect so much, like there's nothing impossible.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 33:57

I think my favorite verse in that passage is when Jesus tells Martha did I not tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God? That, to me, is something that I often repeat to myself. I think life is full of twists and turns and don't get me wrong really dark moments. It gets dark and it gets bleak. But he is life and he tells us. If you believe, you will see the glory of god, and I don't know what that means in every single circumstance, but that's a promise and and I, I love it, and I love the beauty of that story um of dead, you know, coming to life, and so I'd say those two stories are ones that I always hold close to my heart.

Nancy Bruscher: 34:44

Oh, those are good. What are you grateful for?

Gabriela Gonzalez: 34:49

Oh, wow, so much, so much, like so many blessings, um and I mean not truly like, as someone who you know, again, I've had my own journey, um, I've I've experienced, you know, family, you know tearing apart parents, divorce, like housing, insecurity. You know, like we all have like this story and I I don't take things for granted like literally every time I pay my rent, I'm like thank you god, like for this roof over my head, like just everything. Time I pay my rent, I'm like thank you God, like for this roof over my head, like just everything. I recognize his provision.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 35:25

I feel so blessed beyond measure. Like I look around, I'm like I have more than I could ever, you know, have imagined in the past, and I think God gives to us so we can be generous and give to others, and so it's like like I'm just grateful for so much my health, my family, um, I just recently got married, so that was obviously a really big moment, um, and a beginning of a new chapter, just everything. And I'm also grateful for. You know, I live in a very difficult city. I move around and work here, um, it's not the safest place, and so, you know, I pray every time I leave my house and and just I have felt God's protection in so many ways.

Nancy Bruscher: 36:12

just I see it everywhere and so I'm just I'm grateful that I'm just still here and despite the New York's been good to me, and you know, family health can't ask for more you coming on and sharing your story and we will link modern witnesses because I know that people are going to want to look at that and find more stories and then hopefully tell their story.

Gabriela Gonzalez: 36:47

I would love that, and we have like a little tab where it says get noticed. So if you would like to share your story affirmatively like, please drop us a note there. Again, so excited to run your story and I've just been so honored. Thank you, this has been such a beautiful conversation. I've been blessed by it. So thank you so much for having me.

Nancy Bruscher: 37:06

It means a lot, thank you At Ordinary People Extraordinary Things. We would love your prayers and if you'd like to take it up a notch, would you consider being on our prayer team? Visit generations2generationscom and under the podcast tab you will find a place to join our prayer team. When you join our prayer team, you will get an email every other week on how you can specifically pray for ordinary people extraordinary things, where your story is His glory.