Exchanging the Occult for Jesus; A Fresh Start

Episode 12. Carries shells with Cindy Redond du Priya, exchanging the occult for Jesus, a fresh start. And then I went to the bishop, and as the bishop placed his hands on me, and he blessed me, I just. I didn't actually say anything to myself. I think I just took it on completely. And then as I walked away from the bishop, I just heard the screaming in my head of, "No!" Like, that's really horrific screaming of, "No!" And then I went and I sat down, and I just burst into tears, and the girl who was sitting next to me, she looked at me, she said, "Cindy, are you okay?" And I said, "Actually, yes. I am. I'm okay." Hello, and welcome back to Carries shells. My name is Catherine Grimes, and I'm very excited to be with you again today. Thank you so much for listening in. This is your special space for women of faith, where we get to connect with one another, encourage one another, and empower one another in our pursuit of Jesus. And here today with me in the studio is the lovely Cindy Redond du Priya. Now, did I pronounce that correctly Cindy? It was a good attempt. Oh, shut up. I was trying really hard on that. Redond du Priya? Anyway, there we go. She is an absolutely lovely lady. As you can tell, she has quite an exotic background to her name. I have known Cindy for a number of years now through our local church, which has been a pleasure getting to know her. Cindy works in accountancy. She's been married now for seven years. She lives in the UK here, and she's got a lovely little boy who's just about to turn five. So welcome Cindy. Thank you very much, Catherine. Now, to give us a bit more understanding of your particularly foreign background, shall we say, can you start off Cindy by telling us a bit about how and where you grew up? Well, I actually grew up in South Africa, which explains my accent. There it is. Yeah. However, both my parents are Belgian. They were both born in Belgium. They then, at different times, moved to South Africa and met in South Africa. Hence my very strange surname of Redond. There we go. Then I met my husband in South Africa, who is a proper South African, and he's a du Priya. Oh, I see. And that's where the du Priya comes in. It's lovely that you have a double barrowed surname, bring the two nationalities together. I like that. I was sort of forced to do that because in Belgium you don't change your surname. So, really is that one of the traditions? Yeah. Well, it's very expensive to change your surname in Belgium. So I just, most women don't do it. I see. And coming into the UK, I had to come in on my Belgian passport. So I came in as Redond, or Redond. Yeah. But obviously, when my son was born, I wanted to make sure that I had the same surname as him. So medically and socially, I go by du Priya. Okay. Well, there we go. I've learnt something new today. So let's go straight into your childhood, then. What's good part of your childhood growing up in South Africa with your parents? Did you have an awareness of him? I always knew that there was a god. I grew up Catholic. Okay. My mom was quite pro at going to church every single Sunday, or, you know, with our churches in South Africa, we could sometimes go on a Saturday evening. Okay. Was that a mass, just to. Yes, right. Okay, correct. Yeah. And I went through the whole confirmation classes, first Holy Communion, which was a big party. And then when you hit your teenage years, you go through confirmation classes, and I got confirmed at the age of 16. Oh, wow. So you had a very definite colourful Catholic upbringing there. That's really interesting to hear, because I actually, my husband, is from Northern Ireland, and so he comes from a Catholic heritage as well. But I'm very firmly standing up and saying, "Do you know what? If in the church there's any prejudice towards Catholicism and a sense of saying, "Actually, it's not of God and God isn't at the centre of it." And I kind of go, "Hang on a minute. Let's look at individuals here, you know?" And I think it's so important to do that, isn't it? Did you feel when you were going through confirmation and Holy Communion and things? Did you feel like there was some antagonism towards you? Not really. I didn't really publicise what I was going through. Okay. First-timely communion, you did quite a young age. Yes. So it wasn't something that we spoke about. Okay. I had some reborn Christian friends, and they were there for my first Holy Communion. Oh, that's really cool. I still have the little cross that they gave me. I actually think it's the one that's around my neck. And yes, so there wasn't any, or at least I didn't sense it. I did have some odd comments from the random child in the class that said, "Oh, you're Catholic, so you're evil." And I just said, "No, we're not evil. There's nothing evil about Catholics." But I have noticed there's a lot of prejudice towards Catholics because people just assume that Catholics are not Christian, which is completely false. You can be Catholic and you can be Christian. Absolutely. Yes. I mean, what would you say is the key? Indeed for any denomination. What is the key for you? Jesus. Absolutely. Yes, there we go. I is someone carrying the Holy Spirit. Are they demonstrating their love for Jesus? Then surely yes. They are born again, and the Lord knows their heart, doesn't he? Absolutely. So yeah, I totally agree with you. I don't think there should be any prejudice towards Catholicism or any denomination ultimately. So then in that Catholic environment, when did you start to know God for yourself? You said that at 16 you chose to become confirmed. What were the circumstances that led up to that for you? So just being a 16-year-old, I endured a lot of hardship as a teenager. So? I was very different compared to everyone, being a Belgian in South Africa. I wasn't South African enough for anyone. I'm all of a said that I was a bit of an old soul, so the way I did things, the way I spoke, the way I held my knife and fork, for example, was all as very different. And so I got teased a lot, and I got bullied a lot all the way from pre-school all the way through to college. I got bullied a lot. I'm sorry. So in my teenagers, I decided to find something that would make me get through that. And unfortunately, I fell in with the wrong crowd. And not your traditional wrong crowd of sex, drugs and alcohol, but the one of the occult, which is possibly one of the more dangerous ones because it's so subtle. Yes. And I got very involved with a very small group at school. We went strictly emo, the jet black hair. We were like proper emo when you looked at us. And initially it was just, it was interesting, it was fun. It felt, you know, feeling a bit more powerful. You know, these kids that are teasing us and bullying us and being horrible to us. Suddenly, you know, we've got a power over them because we've got the spiritual side. We've got the spiritual world on our side. So enticing then, a real world. Oh, the power was, you know, you had this thirst for power and it was given to you on a silver platter. And it was one day that in a conversation, we had a teacher who was trying to steer us away from us who had experience with the occult. And he was trying to, you know, very without, you know, saying, don't do it because you tell a teenager, don't do it, they're going to do it even more. So he was trying to, in a very gentle way, guide us away from it, which never really worked with any of us. But then the one day in a conversation, one of my circled friends said, oh, last night, Cindy sent a demon after me and the teacher said, no, but what are you talking about? I said, what's going on? He said, no, you sent a demon after me. I said, no, I haven't. I haven't done this. And it was in this conversation that I realized, oh, okay, this is not funny anymore. This is not a game. This is not a game. This is actually, this is serious. This is not some board game like a Ouija board because, you know, this is getting really, really serious. Yeah. Okay. So that must have been a real turning point for you then, in having, I suppose, grappled and experimented with the spiritual world as such, you know, that allure of this power, there's something supernatural here. What happened next for you to draw you back towards God? So I always knew that in the event that there's evil, there's all is good. So my mom had been saying, oh, you're going to have confirmation. We can do a nice big party again like you did for your first holy communion. And I still remember I said to my mom, no, I don't want a big party. I'm not doing this for anyone else. I'm doing it for me. And I made the decision to go and get confirmed. And clearly the enemy was at work because I was supposed to get confirmed at St. John's Catholic Church in North Riding, which some listeners who are from South Africa might know. And the day that I was supposed to get confirmed, something happened, I can't even remember. And I landed up having to go back to the church where I was baptized. Oh, wow. And I landed. But it's as a child. So sorry, just trying to. In the Catholic religion, you get baptized as a baby. Yes, that's what I meant. So yeah, as I went back to that church. and I had actually initially grown up in that church until we had moved to the one in North Riding. And I said to my mom, "We're not having a party. If you want to go out for a meal afterwards, that's absolutely fine." So we just did this little confirmation and I went with this group of people that I barely knew. I didn't know any of them. I did two classes with the group and that was it. And on the day of the confirmation, I remember saying, "Okay, this is it. I need to cleanse myself of the occult that I've been following." And I need to get rid of this. That's a very profound thing for you to say. I mean, it's a 16-year-old. That's a real astute comment to me. I mean, yeah. Yeah, suppose it is. I never really thought about it that way. Absolutely. Yeah. So yeah, it was just, it was in the church and I still remember walking in and I didn't really figure that we'd get the two blessings, but through it, I realized with people going before me that we'd get two blessings. Double whammy. And yeah. And we went through the whole session. I can't even remember really what happened. It was so long ago and so much happened. But I remember getting the blessing from the priest and I was like, "Okay, well, this is great, you know, wonderful stuff." And then I went to the bishop and as the bishop placed his hands on me and he blessed me, I just, I didn't actually say anything to myself. I think I just, I took it on completely. And then as I walked away from the bishop, I just heard this screaming in my head of, "No!" Like, that's really horrific screaming of, "No!" And then I went and I sat down and I just burst into tears and the girl who was sitting next to me, she looked at me and she said, "Sindy, are you okay?" And I said, "Actually, yes, I am. I'm okay." Yes, wow. So, I mean, with hindsight, presumably now, because fast-forward several years, you know, you know, Jesus, for yourself fully, you are born again, you know, you've also been baptized, subsequently as an adult. And the point is that you carry the Holy Spirit within you, you know. But let's look back with hindsight at that point and say, "Okay, pause a moment. What was going on there?" Pretty sure that you would agree that that was evidence of the enemy, presumably of satanic, something going on there. Yeah, yeah. And did you know that at the time? I had inklings of it, but it was only subsequently after I became reborn, that in conversations that I had with God, that he was like, "Actually, that was me trying to help you." And they've been quite a few instances throughout my life that I've seen that the devil has really tried to stop me coming back to God. So, I don't know what my purpose is. I leave that up to God. But clearly, I've got a purpose that the devil does not want me to have. Absolutely, I'm sure. Yeah, because, yeah, I mean, for the sake of listeners and for ourselves here, you know, it's amazing, as I said, to hear your clarity as a 16-year-old saying, "There's a spiritual battle going on here." But even for those of us who have known God for years, I think sometimes we almost skirt over the sense of saying, "Oh, it's a spiritual battle, but I'm covered by God and it's okay." But I think, actually, we need to be women of authority. We need to be standing on the Word of God and we need to be saying, "Do you know what? We are in a spiritual battle. The Bible isn't quiet on that subject. Is it?" You know, it talks in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God and the importance of arming ourselves daily. And I think that's something that we often underestimate. So, I'm really glad that you have brought that aspect of the story out because, yeah, I think it is vital for all of us as listeners to really learn from that sense of that clarity that is needed in detecting when something is a word and when something isn't, you know. But also the need for us to arm ourselves and protect ourselves and keep submitting ourselves to God, basically. Let's fast forward then to now. You are no longer in South Africa, obviously. You are still a beautiful South African/Belden lady. You're married, you're with your son. And it was in 2018 that you made the decision to leave South Africa. So obviously that's a massive change for you, probably a very different culture as well. Can you tell us about your decision to leave South Africa and, you know, what prompted it and then what happened next? Yes, absolutely. So my husband and I, before we got married, had been talking about moving from South Africa. My husband's in broadcasting. So the broadcasting industry in South Africa is tiny and very difficult to get into. Okay. And difficult to stay in as some people will understand. And we had just been talking about moving and when my cousins came over for my our wedding, I spoke to my cousin and we said, you know, we think you have a moving to Belgium. And my eldest cousin said Cindy, seriously, don't even bother. The rules to get a job in Belgium are so strict. Even Belgians are struggling. Foreigners are not going to get a job in South Africa. And on top of that, your husband doesn't speak French. He's not going to manage. Yes. Okay. Faraday, for reality check. Massive reality check. And then I think it was actually just after our wedding, my sister-in-law came over for a dinner. And while we were chatting to her about wanting to leave South Africa, she said, well, why don't you come to the UK? She had already been in the UK about 10 years by then. Okay. And she's like, why don't you come to the UK? And we're like, no, we don't want to, you know, we've got two cats. We don't want to put them through the quarantine that the UK has. And she's like, there's no quarantine. And I said, okay, fine, let's go check. And I went and checked. And the quarantine had been abolished in the December the year before. It was unbelievable. And I just looked at that. I looked at my husband. I was like, babe, this is a possibility. And then when she left, I looked at my husband and I remember the same time, are we doing this? He said, damn straight, we are. We are doing this. We are going to start doing what we need to do. And we then started the process of putting some paperwork together. And he started looking at jobs in the UK. And then we went on honeymoon. And while we were on honeymoon, he got a call back for an interview in the UK in the UK. And he was like, I remember we were in Cape Town. And he's like, babe, babe, babe, look at this. I've got an interview. And he got so excited. So when we got back home after our honeymoon, we started the process. And anyone who's been through that process knows that that process can take anything from three months to a year. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. I remember going to my manager and I remember saying to him, okay, just to let you know we are starting the process to now move to the UK. And I remember he jumped up from his table and he shook my hand and he said, I'm so proud of you. Congratulations. Let me know if you need anything. I love you. And then we started putting everything together. And it just, it was so scary how everything fell into place because we handed in the paperwork for my husband to get his visa at the beginning of October, middle of November, he got his visa back. Oh, wow. That was that. It was so quick. And as soon as he got his visa back, I then gave my one month's notice and I finished my notice at Porto South Africa. Okay. I had my last Christmas in South Africa in 2017 and then I was on the plane on the 2nd of January 2018 from the time of starting the whole process to landing in the UK was three months. Wow. It was insane. That's incredible. And I still remember back then, I was not a religious person at all. And I would say to everyone, look, I'm not the type of person to say this, but this move was blessed. I said, anyone who knows me was, no, I do not say this, but this move was blessed. Wow. So just to clarify then, so you'd moved, you'd obviously, you'd had your confirmation at 16, you'd had that experience of receiving the blessing from the bishop, but in the interim between that and then this point moving over to South Africa, actually you hadn't drawn closer to God. Not at all. Okay. Okay. Not at all. I was the type of person that if you started having a religious conversation around me, I would make haste to move away very quickly. Okay. Okay. Interesting. But you were drawn towards the supernatural, weren't you? Because I remember you saying to me that actually at that point in your life, you began to really research different world religions, actually. Is that right? Yes. Actually, up until just before my son, well, before he was even conceived, really, I was always interested in the different religions. So, you know, I looked into Islam just to understand what were the similarities between Islam and Judaism, Christianity. I've since learned about other religions that I didn't even know existed back then. But, you know, I looked into Buddhism and Hinduism, I really liked Hinduism and I went so far as to looking into Wicker as well and paganism. Okay. Which of course is linked directly to the occult. Which I didn't realise. Okay. Yes. Wicker is definitely linked to the occult and satanic practices, which a Wicker will say to you, no, it's not satanism, but well. Okay. Okay. So, you were clearly still searching. Very much. Still searching. Looking for answers, wanting to connect with the spiritual world that you'd already experienced, actually at a very young age and clearly continuing to look. So, that's amazing. Well done on making your move to the UK from South Africa. I have to say there is a massive contingent of South Africans in the southeast of England. It's incredible. I love it. The number of South Africans I meet and gosh it seems like they're all leaving South Africa. So you throw a stone you're going to hit to South African. My goodness yes but so many of them know and love Jesus as well which is so inspiring and wonderful. So there you are. So we're all the richer for more South Africans coming to join us. So you're now a member of our church down the road and we do have a lot of lovely South Africans there don't we who know Jesus. What made you start coming to church then Cindy because obviously you've been enormously resistant you know to God before you came over to the UK. What was the change? What happened? My son. It's amazing what the power of a mother's love can do to a person to get to the beginning of the story of how I actually landed up at RBC that it was during COVID that we had the victory in Europe celebrations. Yes of course. And we landed up with a massive street party and all of us came out and we all started meeting each other people that you just you know you seen passing which you never actually speak to we actually landed up having conversations and one of them was my neighbour. Lovely. A lovely lovely couple which they might land up listening to this. I'm not going to name names but they know who they are. Sure. And the one day she said to me yes if you ever have family over please know that we have a room for them. And I thought okay this was just an in-passing you know being nice type of conversation. And then it was a couple months later she said to me again please that was not an idle invitation if you ever have family coming over we've got a room for them. Amazing. And I remember saying to my parents look you know there's a room next door if you guys want to come over you know we really want you to come visit after this whole COVID nonsense is over and done with. Sure. And then so long story short cutting to my parents coming over and while my parents were here we started this whole thing with you know what's going on in the world started escalating. And I just started getting more and more worried about you know what does this mean for my son. Real climate and fear. And how am I going to instill proper morals into my son by myself. And then one day my parents came in after they had woken up next door and they said oh no they they off to church and I was like oh I didn't realise there were churchgoers you know. And so I was like okay cool you know anyways. And then when they when my parents went back to South Africa as that for a moment in our thinking I just got this feeling just got this feeling message your neighbour. And it was really strong and I learned long ago that when you have a feeling to message someone you message them. I learned that's a hot hard way you message them. And so I messaged she and I said hey um apparently you go to church I'd just be interested to find out if I can come with you. And she messaged back oh my word I should have invited you. I just replied didn't what if you invited me I would have never come. So don't feel bad. Reverse so qualitative. There it is again. You haven't changed. So I said to her please gonna come and she said yes we'll pick you up we'll take you we'll introduce you to everyone and lo and behold we really we landed up at Rigate Baptist that I landed up being a church that I knew because I had done toddlers with Dante there when you know when we had off days together that I wasn't working. I love you. And I landed up meeting a lot of people and then the sermon is what grabbed me and it was one of the ladies from the church she did this sermon of teachability. And I just sat there was blown away because the week before my manager and I had been talking about teachability. Okay. It was like okay this is interesting and I quite like the vibe of the church. I was like yeah I can I can I can deal with this you know this is this is cool. Can roll with that word. Yeah I can roll with this. And then I decided to come the second week and the second week it was our woman's pastor who did the teaching and it was the same thing that the teaching she gave was on the same thing that my manager and I had been talking about the week before and I was like no no no no no no no this is this can't be a coincident and I just I landed almost becoming addicted to church because every time I went I would hear something I'd be like whoa hang on a minute whoa what's going on yeah how is this happening. I do all these amazing coincidences. Yes so I just like one thing later another and I just kept going back and yeah haven't stopped going. Amazing yes yes and actually somewhere along the way you also made the decision to get baptized. Yes let's just say the decision to get baptized was based on a non-decision to become a Christian. Can you expand on that? That sounds very very cryptic Cindy. I'm not sure the listeners are with us. I know where I'm not. So I went to church to thinking I needed a community I needed to make friends and you know I needed to make sure that Dante was raised with the correct morals. I never planned on becoming a Christian. That's not fair. It was never part of the plan. I didn't ask for it. I didn't choose it. It was something that just happened to me. I mean that you wanted to compartmentalize that you know good morals. Good community for my son but now we'll keep God out of that. That's fine you know God you can stay over there but I do want the community in the morals. How can you have church without God in the midst of it? I don't care that. But God knows. So yeah the whole process of me becoming a Christian is an interesting one. Suppose you can put it that way. Is that in the beginning of 2022 I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Okay and it all started because I was constantly exhausted. I was constantly getting sick. It just like nothing was going well medically and I keep going to the doctor and they tested me for everything from my thyroid to cancer and everything came back clear and then the doctor said to me I'm going to refer you to psychiatrist. Okay. And that was when they did diagnosis on me and they realized I had severe anxiety and depression. Okay. Okay. And I went through this was before I started attending church that I was diagnosed and so I went through the group counseling which I was like okay yeah you're not really doing anything for me. And then it was I started doing the normal one-to-one counseling and at the same time I started coming to church and the one-to-one counseling it went on for a couple weeks and I just never felt like it was doing anything you know yeah there was a few good tools here and there but I never felt really that I was doing much. There was one day in a church in a sermon that it was also done once again by this lovely lady who had done that first sermon that it brought me and it was in November and she did the sermon on if it's God's will. Okay. And something clicked in me and I just I remember sitting there and thinking okay fine let's do this and I went Lord if it is your will rid me of the anxiety and depression. And I broke down in tears I collapsed on the floor. I was in tears and I felt this warmth flow through me and over me and I got up I must have had blood shot eyes because I got a few weird stays and I went to go and fetch my son carried on as normal and the next I was like hang on a minute. I feel great and that's when I realized that I had been healed. Wow. I had been completely healed in that moment in the church. It was then that I thought okay this isn't just you know it's not someone coming and preaching at you and trying to rub the Bible in your face that this is real. This is as real as the occult was but it's so much better because you know the occult wasn't warm and warm and comforting you know this was warm it was comforting was just the most amazing feeling I'd ever experienced and it was about two weeks after that I went back to our woman's post and I said I want to get baptized I want to do it properly. Amazing so clearly you had a beautiful and powerful life giving touch of the Holy Spirit in that moment which is just fantastic and the fact that he used that healing to draw you to himself you know I think that's what he loves to do best isn't it you know God God wants to do beautiful things for us to show us that he is the reality you know so so I love that that was the clincher for you you know that you say well hang on you know when I experienced the occult it was it was cold and it was unpleasant and it was powerful but actually this is power but this is beautiful power this is holy power this is you know warmth and I love that you've experienced the Holy Spirit as warmth you know because even just just to interject very quickly with that it was wonderful to see you get baptized and hear your story and I guess our listeners are very curious and I'd love to ask to have you experienced any anxiety any depression in the wake of that since I have but not to the extent that I had previously experienced. So, you know, I work in a bit of a difficult environment with, it's very toxic and there's definitely a hold of the enemy over that environment. And so, there have been moments where I would feel that anxiety coming back or a bit of that depression coming back. And then I just reach out to my connect group, which is my little family within the church family. And I say, "This is happening again, please help." And they all pray for me and it just goes away. And it just, you know, just because you healed doesn't mean you're not going to feel it again. Yes. But it's just so much easier to get rid of those feelings. And yes. You know, you've got the power now. I've got that power now over those feelings of anxiety and depression because I've got the tools because the Holy Spirit is in you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's not in our own strength at all. It's in his. That's really interesting what you say about that sense that you felt the feelings coming back but actually as soon as you prayed, you know, then you saw them received and disappear again. And I think that, that's so important to talk about that, isn't it? The sense of, you know, all of us, as believers, saying, you know, we are in a spiritual battle, God. And there are times when the enemy will deliberately seek to come at us because ultimately if we're pointing towards Jesus or he doesn't want us to be doing that because he doesn't want the world to see the truth about who Jesus is. So let's ask then a big question to throw out there for both of us. You know, how do you think we as believers can actively protect ourselves from any influence of the enemy, any strongholds of Satan? Remembering different pieces of scripture and every time we get that feeling, say it out loud. Yeah. Jesus did it in the wilderness. Jesus did it in the garden of Githesemony. Yes. It is what we need to do. You know, if Jesus needed to do it, we need to do it even more. We needed to, we need to learn those scriptures that that help us. And it is one of one of my mantras is actually Romans 828 that all things work together for good for those who believe. And it is always something that I keep repeating to myself when I feel that things are going really bad. I just go, all things work together for good for those who believe. And you know, since I got baptized in the Holy Spirit in that November and then got actually baptized in the water after that, so many things have been revealed to me. And I just know that Jesus is standing right next to me. Yes. And he is holding my hand. And you know, he is, I am not perfect by any way, shape or form. Who ever sees it. I am, you know, people think, Christian, just because you're Christian you're supposed to be perfect. No, I'm not perfect. I'm a perfect mess. So that Jesus picked me up off that ground in that church in November 2022 and said, come on my child, come on home. Come home. Amazing. That's really beautiful. And also just taking you back to that moment when you whisper that prayer to God, you know, if it's your will, then rid me of this anxiety and this depression, you know, you stood in a place at faith, you know. And thinking about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, you know, it says, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one of Satan. And I just think that's so powerful. That is actually my favorite piece of the armor of God. I'm like, yes, hold up the shield of faith. Those flaming arrows cannot penetrate, you know. And they will try. And they will keep coming at us from all angles, you know, but as soon as we hold up that shield of faith, my goodness, we are invincible in Jesus. So I just love that. And yes, it's been really exciting hearing your stories, Cindy. Thank you so much for sharing it, being so vulnerable and open with us. I want to say a huge thank you to you. Can we finish by praying together? Yes, absolutely. Would you like to pray as well? No. I'm not that audacious. Love it. Frank Honesty there. Love it. Okay. Oh, Holy Spirit, thank you so much for being present in our conversation together here today. Holy Spirit, thank you that you are real that you are at work in our lives that you're at work in the lives of the listeners too. Father, we want to pray for real insight to be able to discern, to be able to detect what is of you and what is not of you. And Father, I pray that if there's any areas in our lives, where actually we've given some foothold to demonic influence or something of the enemy that isn't of you, that you'd reveal it to us individually and that you'd break it off in the authority and the beautiful name of Jesus. Father, we've touched on some really big issues today. We've talked about the occult. We've talked about anxiety. We've talked about depression. We've talked about a sense of feeling like a misfit and not fitting in with society and those around us. God, if any of those things resonate with our listeners today, I just pray that you would draw so close to them that you would minister to them and that you would break those things off them, just refreshing them and reminding them who they are in you, the Lord Jesus. So I pray for protection over all of us and I pray that you would teach us to stand on the authority that you've given us and hold up that shield of faith with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Commit this to you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you so much for listening in to Carry Shells today with me, your host, Catherine Grimes, and our beautiful guest and a big thank you to all the women who make Carry Shells podcast possible for your generous support. You know who you are and we are eternally grateful. A big thank you goes out to David Campion of Open Sky Media for editing and producing this episode and this is where you come in. If you have enjoyed listening to this episode, please help us by growing the Carry Shells community of women of faith. You can leave a review or a rating, pass the stories on and look for the stories in your own life as well. Thank you and look forward to talking with you next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]