Ignite with Barry Meguiar Podcast

00:03
We have a very special lady with us right now, Ann Marie. She, she has a story. You’re not going to believe this. This is, this is outside the walls. This is revival outside the walls. You epitomize what that phrase means so much. So let’s go back 10 years ago. Okay, tell us where you were 10 years ago. My husband and I lived in San Diego. He was a police officer. We had two little children, five and eight years old, and he suffered a back injury and had to be retired, and we just started seeking God. What did he want next? What did he want us to do? And he told us that he wanted us to sell out and go to a place he would show us. So it felt a little bit like Abraham that was setting out somewhere unknown. And we did exactly that. We sold out of our house, got in a little, not knowing where God was, not knowing. I have no idea this is, this is like Abraham

00:57
stepping out. So we put our family and very little, with a five year old and an eight year old.

01:04
So you set out. We set out a little 21 foot travel trailer, put our kids in there, and just literally started driving across country. Wow, we didn’t know where we prayed each day, turned to the right, turned to the left, really. And thought, God, wherever you want us to go today, whoever you want us to talk to today, wherever you want to direct us. And he started speaking to our hearts. And he showed me in my heart what I had always wanted, a little house in the country where I could raise my kids, you know, do the canning and the whole, you know, a little town bit. And God said you could have this, but if you come with me, you could have more

01:48
in resort as you got your place in the country, though,

01:54
we’ll get there yet. So we eventually,

02:00
God called us to go overseas. So we thought, all right, we can do that too. We can do this wherever you want us to go, where did so we will. Maybe I should go with the timing. 9/11 hit, and people were very afraid. This was right after 9/11 Yeah, wow. People were, in fact, we were in our trailer 9/11 in Canada, and they were calling for help in New York, and Stan was retired police officer, so we went. We were there on 9/12

02:28
and stood in that devastation in New York. Oh, my man, and Stan had seen enough. He had seen enough as a police officer and worked southeast San Diego.

02:38
We stood there in New York and saw basically the carnage that had happened. And everybody was so afraid of the Middle East and Muslims, and we just thought,

02:52
God, let us go and love on those people. So how does a family from San Diego get established in this Islamic country, how to tell give us a little, you know, peek into what happened in those early days. It’s easier than you think, and easier than I thought, and I didn’t know. I mean, we do stand out. We are very fair, you know, obviously tall, and so you just stand above and it’s just, you’re not gonna blend. But we just decided, hey, we’re just gonna pray about where we land, and start praying about those people and see what doors God opens. And we just, from the first person we met, started making friends. So give us some practical things. You land on the street. Do you think we need cell phones? Walk down to the shop and meet somebody that is loving and kind and says, Hey, would you like a cup of tea? And you start sitting and talking and sharing, and you get your home, and people start knocking women are lovely, especially, you know, there’s that instant connection as a woman, that they feel like, okay, you’re one of us. And they’ll come and knock and ask for tea, and you just start sitting and sharing life. No special you know, requirements, no special training needed. You just go in to sit down and have tea. And we can all, we can all be kind, we can all be loving. If you tend to take special training to do that, life is life everywhere. The basics and the fundamentals are the same everywhere, whether it’s you have a roof over your head, you have food for your kids. Those are shared by every family across the loving young people. You call it lifestyle. Is that your term? Lifestyle? Evangelist, lifestyle evangelist. I love this term. You know, we

04:42
witnessing. There’s all these terms, has baggage, but lifestyle, just lifestyle, ministry and but you just, you’re just opening up your life. You’re just opening up your life and loving on people and being transparent. You don’t Bible thump, you don’t go out in the corner and shout, you know.

05:00
Yeah, how do you show the love of Christ that way? I love a pastor that’s a friend of ours that always said it’s easier to speak into someone’s life when you have permission. Wait for that. Wait till there’s a relationship.

05:14
Yeah, and it is. It’s so much easier. Our actions don’t speak louder than our words, but our actions speak before our words. If they’re seeing your life, if your life does not have something that’s compelling them, yes, you need to go back and start again.

05:31
What? What can how better can I love someone? How better can my life, you know, express the love of God and just having people in our home, you know.

05:42
And to whom, much is given, much is required. We, we have this. We’re indebted to them, aren’t we, to share the love of God, and you’ve done that so well. We have to close this segment, but within the next segment, we’ll talk more about this, this wonderful people group that you’re ministering to, Isn’t She Great? Her name is Ann Marie. We’ll leave it at that. Okay? Thank you, Ann, for joining us. Thank you.