Episode 13:
For the Longest Time & The Hidden Chambers of the Heart
With Mariana Yepes
Mariana Yepes is a married mother of two children under 5 years old. Originally from Colombia, she comes from a Catholic background but is the first in her immediate family to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A driven, career woman and high achiever, Mariana never believed that it would take her 7 years to conceive. After she and her husband were finally blessed with two children in 18 months, she was even more surprised to find that she was not only compelled to become a stay-at-home mother but is also contemplating home-schooling long-term.
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In part 1 of this episode, Mariana shares her testimony of coming to faith out of a health crisis brought on by an unsustainable work schedule. As she and her husband endured a subsequent 7 years of unexplained infertility, Mariana shares how Jesus re-worked the priorities of her heart to prepare her for the calling of her motherhood.
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In part 2, Mariana and I discuss how in our exuberance of new faith we pray bold prayers and make big promises to God. And then, as we become mothers, we realise the length and breadth of all we hold back from the Lord. We discuss how moralising to our children reveals our unconscious hypocrisy even further as they see all that we do and say. Even so, the great patience and love of our Lord is made evident as He walks through it all with us, gently helping us to learn and grow.
Scriptural References
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All of the scriptures discussed are referenced below using the World English Bible version unless otherwise stated.
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Colossians 2:10
and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.
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Matthew 7:9
Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
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Psalm 37:4
Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
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Genesis 22:1 - 19
After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”
3 Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?”
He said, “Here I am, my son.”
He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together. 9 They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
11 Yahweh’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
12 He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”.[a] As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
15 Yahweh’s angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky, 16 and said, “‘I have sworn by myself,’ says Yahweh, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies. 18 All the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my voice.’”
19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. Abraham lived at Beersheba.
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Additional Scriptures
Though not quoted directly in the episode, Mariana provided the following scriptures which have been important to her through her experience. (All WEB).
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Psalm 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.
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Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.
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Resources
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Spiritual Intelligence: The Art of Thinking like God by Kris Vallotton
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Links
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