About God’s Timing And The Mission Heart with Annie Ward

Prayer can feel like the smallest thing we do, right up until you realize it’s the biggest. We sit down with Annie Ward, a worship leader and missions-minded mom of four, to talk honestly about what it looks like to pray first, serve second, and trust God when your plans keep getting rewritten. From organizing church missions to seeing God move through ordinary acts of support, we keep coming back to one steady truth: God opens doors, gives wisdom, and changes hearts when we actually ask.

Annie shares stories from the European mission field that still shape her faith today, including teaching English in Hungary and returning to a Hungarian-speaking region of northern Serbia. We talk about the spiritual reality of places where people know the name of Jesus culturally but don’t know Him personally, and why the global church matters so much. If you care about Christian missions, discipleship, and learning how to be a light without performing, you’ll find a lot to sit with here.

Then the conversation turns personal fast: a relationship that starts right as Annie is preparing to move overseas, a proposal on the fourth date, a long-distance engagement, and an elopement in Gibraltar. We unpack what it means to wait without losing hope, to be “planted” when you’d rather be sent, and to see purpose in seasons that look smaller than your calling. We close with a strong reminder for every woman of faith: don’t walk alone, build real community, and ask God for the right people.

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s in a waiting season, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. What part of your story needs trust and prayer right now?

Transcript

Meet Annie And Her Story

SPEAKER_01 0:30

I am so happy. You know I get excited with every guest, but this is a very good friend. Um, I have known her a long time, taught her husband in high school. I know it's just wild. Um, because I don't feel that old, by the way. Um, but this is Annie Ward, and I'm so thankful to have her. She is uh part of our praise and worship team at Celbers Creek, where I go to church, and I love worship, so she blesses my life so much every single week. And now she's here to tell her stories, tell us a little bit about herself, and we're gonna have a conversation uh just again about the goodness of God in the land of the living girls, and that he's not a respecter of persons. So whatever he would do for us, he's gonna do for you. So I hope this blesses you today. Hey Annie. Hello, hello, thanks for having me here.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Oh, you're very welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, um I grew up in Midland in West Texas, um, very far from um where I'm living now. And um I went to school and I studied history and English, and I um got to live in some fun places. I got to live in Hungary for a year after I graduated college. I taught English there and um did some mission work. And then I'm also a mom. I'm a mom of four and married to Josh, my husband Josh. And we have four kids. And I was a teacher for 10 years, and now I actually also work at our church as an administrative assistant.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Which means she organizes all of the missions we go on, and thankfully she organized ours when we went to Mexico because it was all perfect. So good. Well, then okay, so see, I didn't see any behind the scenes for me. It's perfect.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

That's really, really good. Yes, I would say that. So I also am uh the missions lead that's a more newer position. Yes, I was. Um, I started that in January, so I get to wear a lot of hats at um the church that we attend. And you're getting ready to go on mission. And my husband and I took a team to Serbia last summer, and we're gonna take a team to Serbia this summer, and my two oldest boys are gonna get to go with us as well.

Prayer First Then We Serve

Letting Go Of Expectations

SPEAKER_01 2:54

So it's gonna become more and more a family affair. That's awesome. So that's awesome. I love that our church is so focused on mission and mission locally. I mean, we do a lot for our own community and have gone through a lot with our own community through through some big disasters um over the years that I've lived here. And I think that's important. Like God puts us, plants us where we are so that we can make a difference in the lives of the people that we are around every day, and not just in church, but out in the streets and the people who have needs, right? Absolutely. But I love that we go out into the world. I just love it. And um we have 10 different missions, at least 10 that we pray for. Right. I think maybe 12, 10 to 12. And now I'm I really should know that. Yeah, but that's okay. That's okay. Um the that's important because we pray for them, and that is the you know, some people say, well, the least I could do is pray. And I want you girls to know the most we can do is pray. And when we pray, we open doors that no man can shut. We bring favor, God's favor, into the situations we're praying about. We bring wisdom, open the doors for wisdom because when the word comes out of our mouth, it's so mighty and it really changes so many things. So we pray and then we go and we serve. And you you think of, oh, I don't know if I'd want to serve there. And all I can tell you, girls, is like I went to Mexico in a wonderful church, a wonderful church where we were just partnering with them to encourage and to teach, and and so what our job was was just to be behind them, um, cleaning things up and helping them to lift some heavy burdens, to paint and to uh help with the uh vacation Bible school, prepping for that, and then just be there for the teachers and do all of these things. And I just thought this is really what ministry is. It's not going in and being the big shots, it's going in and just supporting the visions of the plate people that are already like there. We were just extra hands and feet, and it was really awesome. I just want to say it was awesome. So if you've ever thought about being on the mission field, um you'll be blessed. You'll just be blessed. And there's so many opportunities in your own communities, I believe, to do that. Okay. Yeah, so that's really good. So talk to me just about some of the times, like maybe even on that mission trip. Were there times when you first went out that you had some maybe other ideas about what it would be like and God just moved and changed your heart?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Or no, you were already ready? I don't know about ready, but um I think this is not necessarily something that I do particularly well all the time. But one thing that has been a common thread through my life personally is to is God repeating the phrase over and over again to not have Annie's expectations. And that's been something he's been working on with me uh for as long as I can remember. Um, of letting go of what I a scenario that I think it might be. And so I think missions was a big part of him teaching me that. Um, the first time I went on a on a trip was most of the places that I've been to, and God's really called me to. I really believe this. I know that that's true because I've heard, you know, I've I've heard it over and over again, is that I very much feel called. If I'm going to be somewhere else, it would be anywhere in the continent of Europe. And and Europeans in particular, they are familiar with the name of Jesus because culturally there's so many churches and such a history of of the formal church. But so many people who live in the European continent do not know Jesus personally.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

That's just a an amazing thing to me. I lived in, well, worked in the UK, but I was there like nine weeks out of, and then I'd be back in Toronto and then back home for two weeks. Um and I was just shocked to find that there were so many that uh said they did not believe in God or Jesus or any of that. They they're very intellectuals. And I I think I've heard that that's changing back again, but but it was really strong in the uh early 2000s when I was traveling out there. And it was shocking to me. Yeah, I didn't know what to expect. But then what we did was we just told them all these stories, you know, so that they can know that God's real. And Price God, I think it changed somewhat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yeah. So that's good. Yeah, I have no doubt that that's true. Um, but I I really have always had this um desire um for the European continent to come to know Christ.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, price got though for revival there.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

And we have a church in England.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Okay, so there that's where my my personal mission story began is that the church that we attend had a church plant in Wolverhampton, England. Wolverhampton. Um, for a handful of years, I would say um about seven or eight years, we were um helping a church plant there, and we had a team from Cyprus who went to participate in this church plant. And so as a college student, I my very first mission trip was with our church to go to Wolverhampton, England. Oh and I remember that specifically was really whenever God showed me in my heart that missions uh and really it's just life because as believers in the church. He's displaying life in people. That's right. He's just putting you in a different spot. Exactly. Exactly. As believers in Christ, we're you know, charged with um sharing the good news of Jesus wherever we might be. And um, at that time, for that week, I was in Wolverhampton. So that's where we were doing that. Seriously, I remember going in and being like, I have no idea what's gonna happen. I don't really know what I'm doing, I don't know, you know, where we're going. You know, the only difference is that there's plenty to see. You know, there are plenty of people to see. And I think what I have what I have experienced them besides the power of the gospel, absolutely being the biggest piece of each of these trips, is also the power of the global church. And to meet my brothers and sisters in Christ who are um experiencing the Holy Spirit and sharing the gospel with their neighbors uh in a totally different place. Yeah. And for us to encourage one another from across the world.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah, to see that we're more alike, that we are different. Yes, and that we can stand. And I love too, because when I've met the people that execute that lead the missions in these different places, now they're my friends and I want them to succeed. So it's relationship, you know, and love when we build, and not just with Christians, I mean, you know, our job is to be light in lives. And it's it's hard for anybody to see Christ if they can't see Christ in us. And so, as we're the light out there in the world, um, I believe that people notice that and and not that we have to preach it, we just have to love them, serve them, and they're gonna ask. And they did that with Jesus too. You know, they would just follow him and ask, what is it about you? Absolutely. And now he lives with us and in us through the Holy Spirit, and they see it in us too, and it just makes mission wherever we are, in Wimberley on the streets or in Wolverhampton, England, or Serbia. I was gonna say Siberia. You know, we get it alive. Serbia, Serbia, Serbia. Um, it's it's just such a a real gift that God gives us to be able to go and to talk about what we love, which is Jesus and the father Abba, who loves his girls. That's really good. So Paisley, my granddaughter, is missionary with Y Lam, and um when she went to the training, it was great, you know, and it's in Hawaii. Okay, that's really basic. And so um, you know, they they tried to train them like with they they had very bland food, but you know, just and that's what they ate. But I was talking to her before she went on mission and said, Okay, you're going to Burundi and maybe the Congo. You're gonna eat some different things. She was like, No, I'm not. I said, Well, what's your plan? Are you taking ramen noodles with you? Like, you have to live. So, what are you gonna do? Peanut butter crackers. Could you take something? She goes, No, I don't think so. God will just supply the meat. And she said, But I'm not eating any weird stuff. So then I asked her that question when she came back. Yeah, and she was all giddy. Oh, it's gonna be so wonderful. We're gonna see that man eating alligator that's giant, like 270 pounds. And I was like, that is not fun. But you know, it takes special people to be called into places that are so difficult. And she went and she got malaria while she was there too, but she came back like ready to go again and ready to go again, which is just, I just think, you know, sometimes God builds some of us, it's true. Yes in places like that. So anyway, her expectations were not.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I can understand that why. Well, that's so interesting is like I really do have to recognize too that the places that I have been have all been in the West. Yeah, they have all had many English speakers if needed. Um, even if it's not English, it's still a language that's similar enough that it's not, you know, like even virtually far for me. Absolutely, absolutely. But the alphabet is the same. Yes, so you know that's so even like going to like uh Greek or um, you know, even on the other side of the world and Asian on the Asian continent, you know, so there's some familiarity. And I can understand how like um but again, God calls us, he grows our heart. At least this has been my experience. He's grown my heart to continue to love the people groups that he's um connecting me to. Yes. And what's so interesting is that on repeat it is it is Hungarians, which is very interesting. That is interesting. Yes, yes. Whenever I went first went to Serbia, which is interesting about where we go, our mission partner in Serbia is in northern Serbia. I also went to the same place in college with the with the group. This is my second mission trip. First Wolverhampton and then to Serbia. And this part of Serbia used to belong to the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Oh wow. So they actually speak Hungarian. Oh wow. So we're going to a place that speaks Hungarian. My first so I I went to Serbia as a sophomore junior in college, and I learned a few Hungarian words, and I just fell in love with the place. A few years later, the missions organization I was working with asked if I could be placed in Hungary, and I agreed. So now I went back to the Hungarian-speaking world, and I fell even more in love with the language and the culture and that area, particularly Eastern Europe.

A Fast Proposal And Long Distance Faith

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Are you do you are you learning Hungarian? I know some Hungarians. Yeah, that's how I said about Spanish. I still felt lost, but it was but you know, it is important to get to know people through their language. And so I've loved, I've been studying now for uh a lot of days in a row, uh, 1,300 days in a row, Spanish every single day because I really do feel like God is calling me to the Spanish into the Spanish-speaking uh countries. And um, you know, I'm I'm about to be 68, so like when I say that, I'm like, okay, you got this. But but I but I'm learning, I'm learning this language and becoming more and more able to communicate with it. And what I love is that I can, because I'm not a listener, I'm a hard, I'm hard, it's hard for me to listen, you know. I talk a lot, but I'm learning to listen deeply to Spanish because that's the only way I can understand it. So it's meant, you know, God gives us these amazing gifts as He calls us out. He's not calling you out to frustrate you, he's calling you out to empower you, yes, and give you so much more in your life. Yeah, okay. I'm changing our direction now. Let's go. I had no idea we were gonna be talking about missions for half our podcast, but yay! I hope if you're interested, you'll reach out to your local church, find out what they're doing, and get involved. It would be great. Okay, so you went off to Hungary the second time, and how where in there did you meet Josh?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Okay, I'm gonna try to to uh not go into too much detail. I graduated college, I was living what'd you get your degree in history and literature of double major.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I love those. I got it in business. What was I thinking? I don't like that. But God, yeah, God said to me.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Same, yeah, same. And so uh I graduated, I was living in San Marcus, Texas, which is where I went to school, and I was working and had all these part-time jobs, and I really knew that God was calling me specifically to the European continent. And I it was just an undeniable pull. And so I started going talking to this missions organization that I had been talking to previously. And um, so at the beginning of May of 2010, like May 5th, uh, I officially get placed at uh a school in Hungary, and I accept the position. So May 5th. And you're gonna teach English. I'm going to teach English. Oh, I'm with a missions organization. They're gonna equip us to research.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

See, Lee and I can go to anywhere in the world and teach English because we know that. Yes, you can. Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Yes, and they want you and they need it. Oh, they need it, they're craving it. Um, so uh this is May 5th. At the very, very end of May, I'm out with some friends and we're hanging out, and I sit down at a table for dinner, and there are a couple of people at this table that I know as acquaintances, but I don't know personally. And one of them is this guy who goes to my church named Josh Ward. And so it's like May, you know, May 28th, let's say. And we sit and we have a nice conversation, and then it's time for me to go. I get up and leave, and he follows me out and he asks me on a date. And and I tell him very kindly, it's super, I really appreciate it, and and I I would normally be interested, but I'm about to move to Hungary, you know, in about a month I'm leaving. And and he was very kind about it. And so um that night he sends me a Facebook message because he didn't have my phone number. So he sends me a Facebook message and asks me out again.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

And yeah, it's full disclosure. I mean, he knows you're leaving. Yeah, exactly. You know I'm leaving.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

He's just like, I'd really like to take you to dinner. He was very, very like not pressuring me, but he just really wanted to make sure that he knew that I knew that he really wanted to take me to dinner. So um, one more time on Facebook, I'm like, I really don't think that this is a great idea for me. So I talked to some friends and I spent some time in prayer, and I'm like, woohoo, whoa. And uh one more time he finds my phone number, and we're kind of still I I give him my phone number, he texts me and calls me. No, he calls me and he asks me to dinner one more time, and I finally said yes. So that's he asked me three times to go on a date. So he was persistent, he was persistent in the best way. Yes, and I wasn't saying and he knew I wasn't saying no because I wasn't interested. It really felt like just the wrong timing. Yes. And so um, we went on the first date, we went on the second date, we went on the third date, and this was in about a week and a half span. On our fourth date, he takes me to his best friend's property in in the hill country. There's hills and there's sunsets and at the sunset, he proposes.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

What? On your fourth date? That boy, he was impetuous in high school too. I don't even remember that. I'm sure he wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

I'm sure he was a totally total gentleman. So he was quietly in the court.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Well, that's so funny. Um, I have to tell you about Paisley again. Okay, she came in in January of this last year and said, So I don't think I'm gonna get married. You know, God's called me in the mission field. I feel like that's what I need to do. And I said, Cool, well, okay, I feel like you're gonna get married, but um, but you know, that's me. You might not, and God knows what you need to do. And he so I was like, Cool. So she comes back the next month with this group of friends, like 15 friends, and she introduces me to all these people, and they're gonna eat, and then we're gonna they're gonna go to the river. And um, then she says, Can you come help me with these tubes, niece? And I said, Sure. We go outside and she goes, Chris is pursuing me. And I was like, Chris, which one is Chris? Which one are these? Yeah. And and she explained who he was, and I said, Well, do you want to be pursued? And she goes, Yes. So anyway, Chris, she's left to go back to Hawaii for another training, and now she's in Japan. Um, and in between they've gotten to see each other. But when she gets back from Japan, and he's a pastor, he's a youth pastor at Shoreline, Christopher. Oh, yeah. So um, she was all worried about that. Like, well, he wants to be a youth pastor, but I'm called a mission field. And so finally she she said, so I don't know if it's gonna work out. And I said, You should talk to him about it. So she did, and he was like, No, I feel like I'm called a mission field. So, anyway, I just think that's so cool how how God brings these men, mighty men, because Josh, he's part of praise of worship too. Yeah, and um he's a mighty man of God.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

He really is. Yeah, yeah. That's so cool. Okay, so so he proposes, and the only thing I can tell you is that the Holy Spirit was working in Josh's heart, and the Holy Spirit was working in my heart, and there were just things that happened that week and that month leading up to me leaving, that was confirmation after confirmation that this was really our path, the the quick engagement. And for me to still go to Hungary and to teach was our path. And so I went to Hungary. We were a long distance engaged for a year. He came over at Christmas time, uh, my mom came over at Christmas time, so we had like a Christmas together. Uh, and then at the end of my school year in Hungary, which I was fully in Hungary, you know, like we that's what your your passion was.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

I we rarely. You know, we really rarely talked because I wanted to give my full attention to what I was doing, to what I felt called to do. And and honestly, Josh was kind of my second priority. Yes. And I mean for life that's just true. Yeah. You know, Josh is my second priority. Well, that's right. So there in Hungary it was true, and now in marriage it's true. And um he came at the end of the year and we actually eloped in Gibraltar and um got married overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. And then we went home. And the interesting thing that's just maybe different than Paisley's story is that I really thought that I would go back to the mission field. I thought that was gonna be our path as a couple. And it was 15 years later, last summer, whenever Josh and I led a team to Serbia.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

That's what God does. Like God calls us in his time, you know. And now she's gonna she'll find out whether it's right away or maybe, you know, it may be something that they do together at first and then not for a while. Or God's got he orders our staff, that's right. And and I always have felt like I was supposed to be out in the world, but my husband has not felt that way. And when he does, then we'll go. That's right. I'm still in the mission field Halloween movie. Yeah, I am out here getting to interact with people all over the state and the country, and we lived in Europe basically, and uh had the chance to reach a lot of people. So it none of it is less than anything else, but God just knows where we're supposed to have the right time. So that's cool. So a year went by and you got back and you got and right away you planned a wedding, or no, we so no, we eloped.

Waiting Seasons And Purpose At Home

SPEAKER_00 24:15

So he flew over whenever at the very end of my school year, he flew into Hungary. I finished my last day of school, and the next day we left to go get married. So you got married in Europe? In Europe. Where did you get married? In Gibraltar. Oh, yeah, on the you know, the street of Gibraltar, yeah, right in front of the Rock of Gibraltar. Oh, that's awesome. We were that's awesome. Yeah. It was a whirlwind. And I think that now that you asked you asked me that question at the beginning about what I was expecting, maybe God doing something different. I was thinking inside the context of like missions and that particularly, but that really was something I struggled with for a long time. Was um I had this whirlwind experience of meeting Josh and marrying Josh, and but also living in Hungary and doing something I knew God called me to. And then whenever I came home and all of that had settled, there were many, many years where I was expecting something similar. And I was willing. I mean, I I told God many times, I'll go wherever you want, I will go anywhere you want. And he had me in Webberly, Texas. Yeah, and he had me here to have my kids, to have them plucked into the schools they're plugged in, to have the friends that they have, for me to be plugged, you know, like he had all of his reasons for him to do that. And I struggled with it because we I want to go we want to go.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

Yeah. But you're right, that's that's where the struggle comes in is waiting and being really willing to let it all be uh his way, not our way.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Especially if he gives us vision. Yeah. And he has, he gives us vision, and he wants us to run that race, but he doesn't want us to do it until we're ready, yeah. And he prepares us. You know, I feel like looking back, like I would have loved to have majored in literature. But I was a young mom when I finally went to college, and I needed to make a living.

unknown 26:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Very practical. And my husband told me, you need to be able to make a living. We have four kids. And uh, if anything happens to me, so I got a degree in accounting, but literature. I love I love literature, I love writing and reading and so yeah, but that wasn't the path that I took. And um God has it in his hand. And I just read today that stress is when you're doing something, that you're doing it, but but it's it's like not your purpose. You get stressed. But when you are doing things that are in your purpose, you have passion. I don't know if that's true. I just read it today, but I kind of think that's true. Uh, because in business, I I could get myself into little corners where I was feeling accountable for all the stuff that happened, no matter who did it, uh, then I was stressed. But when I was believing that God put me in that business for purpose, for his purpose, then I had joy. And and thankfully, most of the time I had joy. Because it would have been really sad to go through so many years and not realize that you know he had put me out there for purpose. Yeah. That's really good. So I don't know if that helps anybody. Yeah, there's so much purpose, nothing is then wasted. No, yeah, and then as I went along, like all these skills got built into me so that I ended up getting to have influence and responsibility for thousands of employees at one point, and I'm loved to them so much, and I could never have done that if he hadn't built those skills in me to be at that point. Right. And then I prayed for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah. It's great. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Um, another thing that I'm thinking about too that I found really interesting, and this may be uh, I I think that this is just reflected in God throughout his creation. Uh, is it it seems it's always backwards to the way that most of us look at the world, but like through my relationship and through the the things that God has done for me, he's actually done everything backwards, and that sounds similar to you as well. Like, for example, Josh and I were long distance engaged, so we didn't date until we were married. Yeah. So once we were first married, that's when we started dating because we could actually spend time together and get to know each other. But we also happened to be married too, so that's even better.

unknown 28:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Um you didn't even have to have the the okay, let's stay. Exactly. There were no boundary conversations happening. That was a fun time. Yeah. So we just we just got to be together. Um, but then I'm also thinking about my family life. You know, we have these four kids, and God really gave us this time to have four kids and to to grow our family. And now is the season where I really feel like he's working on both my and Josh's like career, like what what we're gonna do in our vocation, which I think those all blend together. Yeah, but it's been backwards. Most other, you know, most experiences are you start with your career and then you date someone.

Finding Community And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Like there is an order to things, I think, but but most people that I know didn't go through that. They didn't go for the order. And and like also their path wasn't, you know, our parents and the generations before my parents' age, they worked for a company, the same company, doing the same thing for their whole years, entire lives. Right. Lee and I didn't do that. We have worked in so many different areas and fields and used so many different skills and and you all have. Yeah, Josh has been in construction. You don't know how I always think because Lee's been in construction, like when we do go out, what can we do? That because we have a lot of different gifts, you know, and he's put those things into us. So if you're feeling like you're just wandering around, I I want you to trust that God is ordering your steps. Okay, um, so we're really at the end of this podcast, but I guarantee you she's coming back for another one. I want you, if you would, Annie, to just give a little advice to those girls that are out there, maybe that are walking through life not knowing. Maybe they have expectations.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

I don't know. You know what's really interesting is what God's what God's saying on my heart right now is is not necessarily um directly tied to what we've been talking about. Okay. But I do think that it's something that is just tied to our our well-being as believers and daughters. And um, I'm experiencing it now. Um, I've experienced it my whole life. And that is um, I would say to someone, be sure that you're surrounding yourself with other women in your daily life who also are believers and followers of Christ. That you can link arms tightly and move through life together. And sometimes it's just for a season, sometimes it's for a lifetime. I have friends that I I believe our lifetime brings. And uh I don't think that I would be able to have moved through the seasons of my life with clarity and wisdom. I could have with Christ. I know that I could have. But he's put them in your life for God. God has given me my friends, my godly friends, um, to help me navigate that. And I cannot imagine having done all of that alone. And I know that he has it for each of us. He has intended us to live in community. And if you find yourself not in a community of believers, go find one.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Well, and pray for it. Ask. And that's what he tells us. Yeah, that ask and it'll be given to you. Press down, running over more than you can ask or imagine. And when I was young, y'all, I didn't have friends because I was a pregnant teenager and I was 16 when I got married. So nobody wanted to be friends with me. And I went through a season of that, but then when I started praying for friends, then there were there there were. And, you know, those kinds of friends are not the friends that you have to perform for to be accepted. The friends that God brought me were these women that loved me right where I was and saw value in me. And that's what you need. You need that person, people in your life that are gonna build you up in the word, build you up uh according to what God's promised for your life, remind you of that, be loving in their truth telling to you. Like if you need to hear something, having the relationship that you can hear it from a friend and not feel like you're being condemned because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Okay, that's all we can do today. But boy, I just go on and on. Uh, I love you girls so much, and I know God is gonna be mighty in your lives, and we're expecting that for you. We're gonna pray for it right now. Okay, Father, I just thank you for Annie and for Josh and their family and their visions and their dreams. And I pray that you would give visions and dreams to each of these young women that are walking with you, these older women that are walking with you, that may be in a new season in their lives, Father. We are your daughters. I know that you want us sitting in your lap as we walk through the earth. We are seated in heavenly places because Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and we He He's in us. So there we are, seated with you. And I I ask that you would just continually give us that picture that even though we're walking through this earth right now, we are with you. Your arms are around us, you are holding us in the palm of your hand. Whatever we have gone through, whatever we, wherever we have fallen, you are able to pick us up and restore to us the joy of our salvation. So we we just ask that you would pour that out and send laborers to the harvest for every girl that needs you today in Jesus. Amen.