Finding Strength in Sickness: An Aspiring Testimony, with Tanya Nemley

Join me for an unforgettable episode as Tanya Nemley shares her heart-wrenching yet inspiring story of overcoming unimaginable challenges. From childhood without love to struggles with domestic violence, mental health, and chronic illness, Tanya’s life has been marked by pain and hardship. Yet, in the midst of it all, she discovered the transformative power of Jesus Christ. Listen as Tanya shares how God’s love and grace have brought her from depths of depression to a place of happiness and purpose. Her story is a testament to the living power of God’s word and reminder that no matter what you’re going through, there is always hope for healing and redemption. 

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Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:15

Welcome to Living Testimony, Stories of Faith and Redemption. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope everyone that's listening is blessed and doing well today. With me today I have my sister in Christ, Tanya Nemly. And Tanya wanted to share her. Here she is, ready to do that. Tanya, give a quick introduction to everyone, please.

Tanya Nemley: 0:39

Yes, as you said my name correctly, Tanya Nemoli. I'm a wife and a mother of six children, adult children, my dad, and two grandchildren. I'm also a gospel recording artist and a Christian ventriloquist. And my passion is Winning Souls for Christ. I've written three books that express these passions: Obsessed with God, the holiness of God, and a handbook for surviving suffering. And that's pretty much what I'm all about. Um, and evangelism. I love to t tell people about our Father God. I love to share this the story of the gospel with people.

Israel Caminero: 1:22

Amen. And there's nothing wrong with that. The more that people share, the more we spread it, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. So before we get started with your testimony, I'd like to lift us up in prayer. And I'd like to say, dear God, we lift up Tanya to you right now. We ask that you give her peace, your comfort, and your strength as she prepares to share her testimony. Help her to remember that you are always with her and that you have a purpose in her story. May her words be a blessing to all who hear them and may they bring glory to your name. We pray that you anoint her with your spirit and give her the right words to say. May her testimony be a powerful witness to your love and redemption. Help her to relax in your presence and to trust that you are using her story for your glory. May all who hear be inspired and encouraged by her words. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Tanya Nemley: 2:21

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 2:22

All right, Tanya. So, like I said, you're here to share your story. So, pretty much the platform is all yours right now. Can you share the beginning of your testimony, please?

Tanya Nemley: 2:36

Sure, I sure will. Um I was born with a lot of medical problems as early as I can remember. I I had problems with uh um chronic fatigue, with uh leg pains, um, I sprained my ankle as a little girl. I I was always sick, always at the doctor's, always on antibiotics, and I just generally um grew up with a lot of physical problems. I accepted the Lord in my teenage years, which was uh really good for me, um that really helped me in my childhood with a lot of trauma that I went through in in my trial childhood. So one of the things that um I grew up with was um I suffered from depression, I suffered from headaches with learning disabilities, I was a little geekish as a kid, and so you know what that means. When you're geekish as a kid and you go to school, you're gonna get bullied. So um I was bullied a lot in school, and I think the worst heartache that I went through in the beginning of my life was both of my parents really didn't like me at all and didn't show me any love and affection. So that has been a great heartache in my in my life, and that's how I started my my life out. Um by the time I was 12 years old, I decided that um God made a mistake, and um that he uh babies are born blind and people with no arms and legs, so I figured that God made a mistake with me, and um I tried to commit suicide by 12 years old. And um it was very traumatic for me, and when I the day that I was going to do it, I took a bunch of my allergy pills and I was crying and I went downstairs to my parents and they told me to um go back upstairs and um that it was between me and God. So I I never got any any help. And I have forgiven my parents for that. Uh years later I asked my mom why she didn't take me to the to get any help, and she said she didn't want to be want it to be on my record. But you have to realize that um back in those days, back in the 60s, it was very taboo for anybody to try to get mental health care. And you know, now it's much different, you know, it's very positive now. But um, yeah, so that's that's how I I grew up. I I did thank my parents for one thing that they did for me. My earthly father uh took me to church when I was a toddler, and so I was introduced to God at a very, very early age, and that helped me to get through my difficult childhood. And one of the scripture verses that I want to say here that's very important is um God gave me this one day as as a teenager, as a gift, and it said that um in Psalms 27, 10, it says, When my father and my my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. And so that's how I got through my childhood with the Lord taking me up. And he didn't let me die, he let me live, and um and I went on and crippled through the rest of my life. Um some of the things that have happened to me in my life after I uh became an adult was um, you know, when you don't have love in your home from your usually you get some from your mother, but I didn't even get any from that. And my father I got I had no relationship with at all. I I didn't know anything about the man growing up, nothing. He just addressed me in the morning, hello, and the evening was good night, and there was no relationship at all. And for a young girl to go out into the world at um 18 years old, it wasn't a good thing because we go around looking for love. And I uh decided to get married at the age of 19 just to get out of the house, and I got myself into a domestic violence situation, and um so I got a divorce and I'm married a second time, and um my present husband was an alcoholic when I first met him, but thank the Lord, uh four years into the marriage, he gave up the alcohol and uh was a minister or I became an ordained minister, and so I'm very grateful for that and for his love and affection and patience with me because I came to this marriage with a lot of baggage. Because let me tell you, when you grow up without uh the love of your mother and your father, and you're just confused about your life, you need a mate that's gonna be supportive of you and patient, and that is what my husband is, um, very patient. So that's that was my beginning.

Israel Caminero: 7:52

Okay.

Tanya Nemley: 7:53

But what I would like to really talk about is um a part of my life that has been a real battle, and that's um suffering with a chronic illness. And let me tell you, it is extremely difficult growing up with a I mean uh being an adult with a uh chronic illness, especially in trying to um just make your way in this world with that.

Israel Caminero: 8:22

Yes, it is. I I believe you. And um can you elaborate a little bit of what this chronic illness is?

Tanya Nemley: 8:30

Well, I I gave you some uh, you know, I I did mention about growing up being sick, but um so what happened to me was um the medical things affected my life greatly. So I had five pregnancies, and out of those five pregnancies, four of the babies had to be uh put into the NICU intensive care unit when they were born. So I have um a couple of children that have disabilities. I have a son that has cerebral palsy, so the medical things affected my life that way.

Israel Caminero: 9:06

Oh, okay.

Tanya Nemley: 9:06

And um and then how what what happened was this is is I have such a long story, it's it's so hard to get it all out because I've been through so much, and I don't usually talk about the medical things. I usually talk about the childhood traumas and the depression. Um, about the depression and the suicide, it I just want to say that it followed me through to my adult life, and I miraculously got healed of the depression and the suicide uh ideations. And I I want to tell anybody who's listening that suffering from depression is to please get help for yourself. If you're suffering from suicidal ideations right now, please pick up your cell phone, dial 988, talk to somebody, get yourself some help, find a Christian counselor, do anything to um you know to help yourself mentally. So getting back to my physical problems, um I became a committed Christian in 1984, and um during that time, um my husband and I uh we we were Christians, but we were not committed Christians. So once we became uh committed Christians, we uh just dedicated ourselves to the Lord. But I had something life-changing that happened to me in 1984. I'm sorry, 1989, I was watching TV with my kids one day, and all of a sudden um I got very dizzy and I felt like I was gonna black out. Um, I lost my speech and the whole nine yards. So my family called the ambulance for me, and um, they took me to the hospital, and they said I was having an allergic reaction. They gave me some benadryl and sent me home. Well, a couple of days later I had another one of those attacks. And then I went to the hospital again, and they just didn't know what to do with me or what it was, so they sent me back home. And I continued to have these stroke-like episodes every single day, sometimes up to four times a day. And I just kept going from emergency room to emergency room, hospital to hospital. I had all kinds of tests and biopsies and very painful spinal taps and just all all kinds of things. And people, the doctors just couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. So they basically said that they they couldn't find out what was wrong with me. And so for uh, yeah, so oh I've had these episodes now for 34 years. I've had over 12,000 episodes, and it is still a mystery to doctors. And um still to this day? Still to this day, still to this day, and then on top of it, I had cancer, and on top of that, I I've had three strokes, and I recently had a stroke in February. But what I want to talk about is the the loss in having all these medical problems. I I lost many friends, I've lost family, family, just couldn't deal with it. And what happened to me in church people church is not really set up for people with chronic illness. I don't want to say all churches, but I've been a member of maybe five different churches over the years, and the compassion for you when you miss a Sunday, or you miss two Sundays, or you miss three Sundays because you're out, it's been for me pretty much out of sight, out of mind. It's been extremely lonely being sick and being a Christian. I've had extremely hurtful things said to me that I didn't have enough faith, I wasn't standing on the word. And, you know, I I have no idea why. Well, I know now why God has allowed me to go through this, but back then I just I just couldn't hardly make heads or tails of it. The first three years of this going on with me, I I thought, well, I was gonna pray and everything was gonna go away because I had become a committed Christian and everybody's talking about faith and reading the Bible and what God can do.

Israel Caminero: 13:36

Right.

Tanya Nemley: 13:36

But actually that didn't happen for me, so I continued to be sick, and then I've had a lot of hurtful, hurtful things, like I said, said to me. So we moved on to another church, and that church kind of believed once we pray for you and we pray for that thing, that's it. So um I kind of had to hide my um medical problems from people, and and I had just got left out the days that I was too sick to come to church, you know, sometimes it would be for a whole month, and then I became a member of another church, and um and I also was doing my music ministry at this time because I'm also a soloist, and I would go to a church with my husband who was a minister and sing before he preached, and then um people assumed that I wasn't saved and came and prayed over me, you know, miss mistaking me being physically weak for not even being saved. I've had oil poured over all over me, um just very negative things said to me, and and it's been a a very, very lonely place. And you know, it it's already difficult when you have a chronic illness that's not going away, and you asking God to heal you, and the healing isn't manifest as fast as we want.

Israel Caminero: 14:59

Right.

Tanya Nemley: 15:00

You know, this has been a real struggle, and this is what led me to write a book recently that I wrote, and it's called A Handbook for Surviving Suffering, and and it says the second line is in the midst of trouble you can still have peace. And you know, I have learned a lot along the way dealing with illness. I I couldn't believe how much that I've uh accumulated in the scriptures, knowing the scriptures, knowing God's grace, knowing what he can do for me. I've learned so much. I've learned about his grace, I've learned about the sovereignty of God, I've learned about having peace while you're suffering. And this is a a topic that a lot of Christians don't want to deal with because they feel that God is gonna heal you, and that's that. But sometimes he allows you to go through suffering, and I find that um this is not acceptable with a lot of people. In this book has been very special to me because I'm 72 years old now, and I don't know what how I could have gotten through all of this with raising my kids. Now you have to realize that when these episodes started for me, I was in the midst of raising six kids. Oh wow. Six kids. And there were days when I would drive with them in the on the uh in the car that I would have one of these uh episodes, I would have to pull over in the side of the car. I didn't have anybody to help me with my six kids. I didn't have anybody to help me to make food or wash their clothes or anything. And there was times when I was so sick that to clean my house, I would just crawl around on my knees because I was just too weak to even clean up. And and I I I cried out to the Lord. One day I was so tired and I I was trying to sweep my house and I I was so exhausted I I couldn't even sweep. And I and I laid on my daughter's bed because I was trying to sweep her room, and I just took the broom and I just beat the bed with the broom, and I was like, you know, God, why, why, why? And then I got so tired I just laid and and cried. And through it all, I I never lost my faith. It was like what Job said, though he slayed me, yet will I praise him. I still continue to praise him, I still have hope in my heart, and I I I had to deal with all of this stuff. Now, one thing about going through a medical trial like this or any kind of trial, whether it's you lost your loved one, you lost your job, you lost your house, God prepared me for this by having me when I became a committed Christian of having a great relationship with God. I had a tremendous relationship with the Lord. I I used to pray for up to eight hours a day. I did that for like 15 years, just praying all the time. When my kids went to school, I would just pray and pray and pray and praying for the world, praying for everybody. And and during that prayer, I established a tremendous relationship with God. If I didn't have that solid relationship with him, I don't think I could have gotten through these 34 years of constantly being sick. I couldn't have gotten through it.

Israel Caminero: 18:31

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 18:31

And so um my relationship with God has been very, very tight. And I I never accused him of um allowing me to continue to be um sick. I I I never let that affect my relationship with God. Uh, God is God and I love him and he loves me, and that's been solid. I've had to adjust to that, which has been difficult, but I I adjust to it by what? I adjust it by knowing what the word says. And that's what's in my the book that I wrote, a handbook for suffering. I have so much scripture verse that everything that I've been through, God's word backs up everything that he said, how he would get you through it. His grace, I didn't even understand what grace was. I understand what grace is now. Back in the early days when I got sick and I and I was reading about grace, and Paul asked three times, God, can you heal me of this thorn? And and God said no. And then he asked them again, and God said no. And then he said, God said, My grace is sufficient. Well, being that I was a newly committed Christian, I didn't and I didn't know the word enough to really understand it. I didn't understand what it means that his grace is sufficient. I can tell you now, after 34 years of being sick, I understand completely about God's grace. And I want to tell you about my husband. He he um preached a um a sermon of About a year or so ago, and the title of it was shocking to me. And it was When God's Grace Is Not Enough. And I was like, When my husband told me the title of it, I said, What are you when God's grace is not enough? How are you gonna give a teaching on that? That don't even sound right. And he says, You'll have to wait until I teach this, and then you will see what I'm talking about. So I couldn't wait because I'm like, What is this man talking about? But when he gave this teaching, I completely understood. And he said, He says, I'm gonna let you know the answer that day. And this is what he said, when God's grace is not enough, is when you don't reach out to receive it. And it was like life-changing because God's grace is ever flowing off for us, ever flowing, it never ever stops. But when we get into our pity party and we don't reach out and say, God, strengthen me with your right grace, please give me your grace, please pour your grace, it's amazing grace, it is amazing grace, and it allowed me to get through breast cancer, all of my kids being in the NICU. I mean, can you imagine that I have four kids in it on life support that the doctor said wouldn't even live? And God's grace got me through all of that, it's gotten me through all of this sickness. It's like I really can't explain it except for to say that God's word comes alive in you when you're sick. That's right. And it secures you, it gives you strength, it gives you peace of mind. The word says that he will give you perfect peace if your mind is stayed on him. And so all these scriptures I have lived over these 34 years in my life and held on to them to the point where I can still at this point say, I love God, I I serve him, he is everything to me. Though he slay me, I yet will I praise him. So that is one of the things you have to know is to know the word. You have to pray very, very often because I'm sick a lot. I have to pray basically around the clock all day. I have to seek God for for my very next breath because all day long I'm having different dizziness and different things going on. Sometimes I have to go to the ER, sometimes I have to go to my doctor, sometimes, most of the times I have to stay in my bed and um until I feel better, which is about one or two o'clock in the afternoon when I finally can get up and and do some things. And this is every day, so I stay in prayer. Another clue is to be very thankful for God for everything that He does for you in the bad times and the good times. You know, don't take God for granted. I I have to thank God for my next breath, for my next sanity, that I'm not having a stroke, that my husband and he has a disability also, so I gotta pray for him. We have to pray for our finances all day long. We gotta pray if we go out to take a drive now. I mean, it's so dangerous out there. We pray and thank God for everything all day long. I've never been so thankful in all my life. Every day, and for every day that goes by that God gives me, I go, thank you, God, thank you, thank you for the food, thank you for my strength, thank you that I could walk to the bathroom today, thank you. I I never thank God so much in my life. I know he says, girl, you know, I appreciate it, but you're thanking me like every five minutes. But I'm grateful, I'm so grateful to God, and my husband is the same way. Both of us at the end of the day are thanking God for getting us through another day. And another clue how I'm getting through my illness is that I find some way to serve God. I have not stopped serving God. If I I um make cookies for people, my neighbors, I send people cards, I send people gifts, I still minister. Um, I have to pray a lot before I minister, but I minister once a month, my husband husband ministers once a month, and I sing for him. Sometimes I'm so sick that I I barely can even sing, but I tell, I just we just pray before we leave, and I say, God, this is you. This is you, I'm your servant. And right before um I get ready to sing, people pray for me, and I go out there and I sing my song. And so you have to continue to serve God because when you are serving him, you you're getting strength back. You don't do it to get back, but I get back when I serve the Lord. And I I just haven't stopped. I give out my tracks of my own personal testimony. Right now, I can't, I don't get out a lot, so the only place I'm ever at is the drugstore, uh the pharmacy, and my doctor. So anybody in the doctor's office gets a pamphlet of my personal story. The doctors get a pamphlet. Sometimes they're Jewish, and I I just give it to them anyway, and try to witness to them. I try to let God use me no matter what my physical state is. And um, and when I can't get out, I just be praying for others and interceding for others because that's still working for God. So you got to continue to serve God in some way. Another important thing when you have a chronic illness, you have to be forgiving. You have to forgive everybody who has said a hurtful thing to you, done anything to you. I've been hurt in my life a lot, and I make sure that my spirit is clean. So the people that have done hurtful things, said hurtful things, I automatically make sure that I'm for very forgiving of other people. And this is the biggest thing about having a chronic illness, is you have got to praise and worship the Lord any way, no matter how sick you are, you've got to praise the Lord because He is with you when you are praising Him. Your mind is not on yourself, your mind is on the Lord, and that's this is what Job did, and this is what a lot of the Bible figures have done is to praise the Lord through their circumstances. David did it, and if you read the Psalms, it's all about praising the Lord, and he had a whole bunch of problems, but he continued to praise the Lord, so that is how I have gotten through a lot of things that I've gone through. And sometimes music will heal you when you're going through really hard times, and I'm telling you, sometimes I get down in the valley, I'm not always up there, sometimes I get down, and sometimes I gotta sing some songs to myself. So I want to just give you a little taste of one of my songs, my down in the valley songs. Okay, precious Lord, take my hand and leave me on, let me stand. I am tired, I am we the stone through the night lead me all to the light. Take my hand, precious love and lead lead me home. Wow, amen. Sometimes I just gotta sing a song, sometimes it may be precious Lord, sometimes it's his eyes on the sparrow, and I just sing these songs, and they just fill my heart with joy and strength. I just worship the Lord, and that is what helps me to get through my really, really hard times.

Israel Caminero: 28:21

I can see that.

Tanya Nemley: 28:22

Hallelujah. Praise Jesus.

Israel Caminero: 28:24

You've experienced both joy and hardships in your life, you know, and your your faith and your joy that you have just now when you sang, I could feel it, and I can tell you got a little emotional there that I did you cultivated your faith in the Lord, you know.

Tanya Nemley: 28:43

Amen. Amen. And and you know, all of this has made me a better vocalist because I have been singing for most of my life. Um in choirs and choruses and different churches and just all over the place. And uh when I sing, I I sing from the depths of my so my soul. I I sing songs that I can minister to people. I I'm not the greatest singer, but I'm a very emotional singer. And I like to sing songs that just uh get into people's spirit. I pray for the anointing. So I'm not out here to perform for anybody, but what I've gone through has made me a a stronger person as far as my music ministry is concerned.

Israel Caminero: 29:36

Well, you're performing for the Lord.

Tanya Nemley: 29:40

And I'm I'm just not up there to entertain. You know, the the anointing is is stronger because the the word of God says that it it gives you more strength, it gives you more anointing. And when I give my testimony, people they really take it personally because uh, you know, a lot of people have given me a little bit of fussing about, oh well, God doesn't allow you to be sick, you know, you just pray you don't have enough faith. But guess what? When they get sick, who do they call? People call me all the time that have talked about me for not having enough faith. And then when they get sick, they call me because you know why? They know I understand what they are going through. I understand what people are going through, and you really don't understand it. Like when people come up to me and say, Well, you don't have enough faith. I I'm like, you haven't been through cancer like I have been through cancer. You haven't been through what I have been through, and I have had to keep my faith and my strength in God. I have hope too. I have hope right now that God can heal me any any minute that He wants to heal me of this mystery illness. He healed me of cancer because I had it like 20 years ago, and I'm still here talking to you. So there's things, times that he has healed me, he's healed my children amazingly. I mean, I want to give you a testimony about my son Noah, okay, who was born with cerebral palsy. He was born and he had a massive brain hemorrhage. And I didn't know that his brain was bleeding that bad. The hospital lied to me and didn't tell me that the bleeding was that bad in his brain. And I had three other premature children, but he wasn't able at two years old, he wasn't able to hold his head up, to sit up, to um speak, to do anything. He wasn't able to do anything. So I took him back to the hospital that told me he didn't have anything wrong with his brain, and I took him to a clinic there, and the clinic doctor got his records and says, Oh, your son had a not did only did he have a brain bleed, but he had a massive brain bleed. And then when the doctor showed me the the um the scan of his brain, half of his brain was black. It was a whole spot that had no nothing there.

Israel Caminero: 31:59

Wow.

Tanya Nemley: 32:00

And while when the doctor told me that my son will never walk and talk, I am telling you, the Lord spoke to me right there while I was sitting in that doctor's office and said, I don't want you to shed a tear, I don't want you to pursue a lawsuit. He says, if you listen to me, I'm gonna give you a miracle. And I didn't pursue the lawsuit. And let me tell you about my son Noah. Yes, he had to go to a school for the handicap, yes, he couldn't hardly hold his head up and walk. But little by little God began to uh to heal my son, and they put braces on his legs, and he started uh talking, and he got so smart in the school for the handicapped kids that they kicked him out and said he's too smart for this school, we have to send him to public school. He went to public school, he had to have uh an aid to go from classroom to classroom, but he went to public school by the time he was in the fifth grade, he graduated with so many awards and certificates for brilliance, and he even got a gym award. And let me tell you, when he got that gym award, the teacher came up and said, This kid, I I have we already give out our two gym awards, but he says, I have to give a special award out. We have a little boy here who who never said no. He they wanted to put him in adaptive class or gym, and he said he wanted to be in the gym class with the other kids, and he said, This kid tried everything that he could try, and I want to award this child for you know strength. And he said no and nimbly. And when he called my son up, my husband and I was crying so hard because never would we think that he would get a gym award. Let me tell you, when my son had field day, he would run the races with the other kids, and my son was last on the relay, and he it would take him an extra five minutes to get to the end of the aisle. But you know what? The entire school was screaming and yelling, go Noah, go Noah. And he he made it to the end. It is amazing what my son what the Lord did to my son. And let me tell you what happened to my son, who they said would never walk and talk. He graduated from college and he walked with no braces across that stage and got his certificate. I'm telling you, God is a good God. And let me tell you one more other story that's amazing. My one of my daughters was born, and when she was born, she was not breathing. She was born a stillborn. And for over it seemed like it was an hour, but it was only like about five or ten minutes. They were pumping on her and pumping on her, and they were holding me down so I wouldn't look. And I prayed to God in prayer, and I said, God, please, please don't let my baby die. Please, God. And as I was laying there, all of a sudden I saw that the the look on the nurse's face looked like relief. And then finally they brought my my little girl over, and she was solid blue, but she was breathing, and she lived and she's an adult too. So when people say that, when I tell you that God is a miracle worker, he is a miracle worker. And I've seen a lot of miracles in my own family, in my own life to know that God is a good God. And he allowed my four children that was in intensive care to live. He allowed me to live when I tried to kill myself. He allowed me to get through domestic violence when my ex-husband tried to kill me and smothered me, and I woke up the next morning still alive. I am telling you, God is a good God, and He is a healer. And why He has allowed me to suffer, I know my purpose now. I just wrote this book, a handbook for surviving suffering. In the midst of trouble, you can still have peace. And I am telling you that God is real and He has given me peace to go through all of these things. I have been through so much. I didn't even, I couldn't even tell you all the stuff that I've been through. I've been raped two times. I I mean, I've gone through the gamut of the worst of trials, but I'm still praising God and I'm still saying God is good. He is good, He is good, He is a promise keeper, and He promised that He would never leave us and forsake us. And He has never forsaken me. And I have hope in my heart. I cannot wait to see God. I cannot wait to see Him. Amen. I told my kids, I told my kids, don't be having no sad funeral for me. I already wrote my obituary, and my obituary has like just a little bit about who I am, like what I explain here, but most of it is about all the good stuff like God, because I'm here to give God the glory with my life. I want to give God God the glory. I want to be a living sacrifice and to promote Him, promote His kingdom, promote everything that would people would listen to my testimony testimony will say, Oh my goodness, God is amazing. He is amazing.

Israel Caminero: 37:16

Yes, he is, sister.

Tanya Nemley: 37:18

And I pray that your listeners will just reach out for God. If they don't know God, I hope after my testimony they will want to know God. If you don't know God and you listen to the story, go on you go on Google, Google the book of John from the Bible and start reading. Google Psalms and start reading. You don't even have to go to a Christian bookstore and buy a Bible. It's right there on your phone. And if you do know Christ, I want to tell you put God first in your life. Put him first, get a prayer life going. Talk to God, praise Him, worship Him. And you know, going to church is good, but you got to do way more than just go to church. You gotta study God's word and have a relationship with Him on your own for yourself.

Israel Caminero: 38:14

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 38:14

You cannot just say, Well, I go to church and that's that's the end all. It is not the end all. This is about relationship with our Father God. We call him our Father, and you you you wouldn't want your your part your home father, your earth father, to not talk to you and not have a relationship. You wouldn't even know him. You wouldn't know anybody. You wouldn't, you have friends, you know them. You call them on the phone, you call everybody, and you talk to everybody, but you don't hardly spend no time with God. Then how do you know him?

Israel Caminero: 38:44

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 38:44

And you can't you can't know God unless you study about him. So I wrote three books. I want to talk about these three books. Go ahead. My first book is called Obsessed with God. And the reason why it's called Obsessed with God, because my granddaughter told her mother, Grandma is obsessed with God. Because I am. And I said, a little child gets me. I am obsessed with God because of what all the stuff that I told you just now, what God has done for me, I became obsessed with God. I was like, oh my goodness, He loves me. I love Him. He's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life to know God. And I said, I will serve you and honor you forever and ever and ever. And I am proud to be obsessed with God. It's not a great word, it kind of has a negative connotation to it, but you know what? I'm obsessed with God. I am.

Israel Caminero: 39:38

That's not a bad thing.

Tanya Nemley: 39:40

And then my second book is called A Layman's View of the Holiness of God. Now that is a very hard subject. And I said, why in the world would I want to write a book on this really hard subject? And I wrote a layman's view because I'm no theologian. But you know what? In order to know God, you've got to study. About him. And he has a lot of characteristics to his personality. Yes, he is a God of love. And he's a God of love and care and everything. But he's also a God of justice. And you cannot just mess around with God. One of my favorite sayings about God is God don't play. God don't play. So you need to know about him. You need to know about the good side, his tough side, his corrective side. He corrects his children. And you got to know all that stuff. So I wrote a book, and it's a very thick book, surprisingly, about um the holiness of God. There's so much to him. And if you don't know him, then how can you get close to him?

Israel Caminero: 40:44

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 40:45

So then how did I survive what I'm going through? That's the third book. A handbook for surviving suffering. Because I have survived because what? I know God. I know him. I know him. I know him in a deep and personal way. I know God and I know he loves me. So why he allows me to go through things is not a mystery. People used to say what's a mystery why you go through things, but he said in his word that you will have trials and all different kinds of trials, but don't be surprised at it. That's what he said. And one of my famous, my favorite sayings that I made up myself is this is God's way and God's world. He created us. So this is the way that he plans on doing it and to give us salvation to be with him forever. Why should we get a free ride to go to heaven? Why should he create people and then think you're going to get a free ride to be his child? The angels can never be God's child. But God thought of us and he decided to create us and not only create us, but to adopt us into his family so that we will be with him forever. We don't get a free ride up there. We're going to have to go through suffering because he demands a sacrifice and he demands a blood sacrifice. And that's why we have Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't allow me to have to go through a blood sacrifice and to do different things. So we have a way to get to our be reconnected with our Father God because when we were born, we were separated from God. And Jesus died so that we can get this relationship stored. So when you ask Jesus to come into your life, the connection is made. So why waste the connection? Talk to God all the time. Talk to him. You don't even have to bow your head or anything. God is all around us, he's everywhere at all times. He knows how many hairs we have on our head. So all we have to do is just to talk to him and talk to him like you want a relationship with him.

Israel Caminero: 42:56

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 42:56

And then when you need him, when you're going through a trial, you don't have to try to go to church or to get somebody to pray for you there. You can ask God right where you're sitting, if you're in your car, if you're in your house, and have this ongoing, constant relationship with the creator of the entire world. I mean, can you imagine that? He's the creator of the world. And we are his children. That's right. We are his creations. And you know what? Satan was jealous of us because he was an angel and Satan knew that he could never be God's child. So when he found out that God was going to make us, he got jealous and said, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come into that plan and wreck it. But you know what? Jesus already won the battle over Satan. So all we have to do is to honor God, to worship him, praise him, make, you know, make him our Lord and Savior and the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and worship him and honor him with our lives and live a holy life because God is holy and God is the spirit. We worship him in spirit and truth, and we have this ongoing relationship with him. We don't have to take all of the bad stuff down here.

Israel Caminero: 44:08

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 44:08

All we have to do is to be close to God, to be close to him. I I'm just so happy about being saved. I'm just so happy.

Israel Caminero: 44:17

Christ is our strength, you know, when we're weak, like you said. He is we should not fear or stress over the weakness because Christ will sustain us, and also what you were saying about praying to him, that's so true. You know, I I heard something that said it's easier to talk to God than it is to talk to someone about God. So why wouldn't you talk to God at all? Like you said, he knows everything that we we do, and he knows everything when you sin and everything, but it's our job to surrender and pray to him and repent. And man, your your story is so incredible.

Tanya Nemley: 44:57

We have to submit ourselves to the Lord, and when we submit ourselves to the Lord, what does the devil do? He got to flee, he got to high tail it out of here.

Israel Caminero: 45:08

That's right.

Tanya Nemley: 45:09

And so I in in my book, one of my favorite chapters in my book is about when we have a pity party. That um when we we all have pity parties, oh, woe is me, woe is me. But you know, it's the devil who um will pull up on you, and he and this is what I say in my book. I hate to tell something that I got in my book, but I'm just gonna tell this because I think it's appropriate. But I used to have pity parties all the time when I before I got saved. Even when I first got saved, I used to have a pity party. Oh, why woe is me? Oh, my problems are so bad. And see, this is a trick of the enemy, and he he used to, this is how I I envisioned it in my mind, that he would come um to to invite me to the pity party. And he knew that um i I call it the devil's pity party. He would pull up in the limousine and he would pull up in front of my door and he would wave me in. Come on in, come on in, and I'm taking you to the pity party. And many times in the early years, I would get in the car and he would drive me around, and then I would be suffering with depression and you know, and just all kind of negative things. Oh, woe is me. But then one day God just strengthened me with his word, and then when the when the um he came around in his car to bring me to the pity party, I told him, I said, just keep on driving and get out of here. So in my book, I have the invitation that the pity par that the devil sent invites you to the pity party, but the trick is do not get in the car and let him drive you around and do that to you. Do not do not go there. And you know, the word of God says that you submit yourself to God, that the devil will flee. He has to flee from you, he cannot, he doesn't have that power over you. That's right. So people have to understand about spiritual warfare that we have the advantage here and we win. We don't win in the end. The battle already was won by Jesus, so bam, there you are. Drop the mic. I like that.

Israel Caminero: 47:15

That's so awesome. And your story, what a powerful testimony you have. I'm glad that you were able to share it with everyone. How are you and your family doing today?

Tanya Nemley: 47:26

Well, um, my husband is doing okay. He has um his share of, I call it the DNA um illness, because you know, because of Adam and Eve and Adam doing what he did, that's why we all have these physical problems that we inherited from our family. So, you know, he has diabetes and he has another um genetic disorder that he got from his dad. And but you know, God is good and we we live on our own, both of us, and um we're we have our own apartment, we're making it. Um, we have great neighbors who look in on us, and we by the grace of God, we are making it every day because both of us are still serving him once a month. We um minister, he teaches, and I sing. We still go out, we still witness, and God he God takes care of his children. That's all I can say. God takes care of his children.

Israel Caminero: 48:26

Amen. For everyone listening out there that just heard your testimony. I'm I'm hoping that they just follow suit and just keep that faith alive like you've been throughout all these hardships that you've gone through. Wow, like your story is amazing, and the way that God has been in your life all throughout it, and you kept your faith strong is very inspiring. It's very inspiring. But um thank you. I know, like you said, you've had hardships, and I'm coming to the section in my podcast right now where I usually ask, when you're going through a hard day or a hard time, or even if it's your favorite Bible verse, what is your Bible verse that you go to when you don't have bad days anymore, right, Tanya? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. We all have bad days, but what's that one Bible verse that you always go to that sticks out to you, and what does that mean to you?

Tanya Nemley: 49:27

Um, well, it's 1 Peter 5.7, it says, Cast all your care on him, for he cares for you. And that has been like the verse that my go-to verse that just keeps me stable. And um, I also like the 23rd Psalms um also that that really helps me a lot. But first Peter 5.7, cast all your care, all your care, just cast it on him, throw it on him because God can handle it.

Israel Caminero: 49:54

That's right. He can.

Tanya Nemley: 49:55

And um, in my book for a handbook for suffering, I have a story in there about my Aunt May. And my Aunt May had one scripture verse, and she she lived to be 96 years old, and she's home with the Lord a long time now. But the reason why she's in my book is because she had that one scripture verse that, like you said, we all have a scripture verse that we get the Rhema word from that just help us in the time of trouble. And Aunt May had her scripture verse, and she always repeated the same scripture verse. She was a pastor of a church, but and she said had other um scripture verses and things too. But as a little girl, I always remember the scripture verse that she had. So you'll have to buy my book for that one.

Israel Caminero: 50:39

And I and I'll and I'll have links to all her books in the podcast description if you're interested to go and find her books and read them. She has three of them, like she said, and I'll have those links to all three of her books in the description if you're interested. But now I'm going to my back to the past section. If the Tanya from today could travel back to talk to the younger Tanya, what would you say to her?

Tanya Nemley: 51:09

Oh wow. What would I say to her?

Israel Caminero: 51:14

Knowing knowing what you know now that you didn't know back then, what would you say to the Tanya of the past?

Tanya Nemley: 51:22

I just would tell her first of all, I would tell her um to not think that she was a mistake. Um, because that's the recording that I heard in in my mind. That's what I would tell her to to know that God doesn't make mistakes. I would just tell her just to keep to ha keep having that relationship with God, to just keep loving him. And you know, I had a really close relationship with him early on. So um I used to write him um little notes as a as a child because I didn't have anybody else in my life. I didn't have the closeness from my parents, so I um wrote him letters all the time. And I my my mother found a lot of the letters and she wasn't real happy because it was about her. But um but um yeah, I used to write God a lot, and so I think because I had that early introduction to him, you know, he was in your life so most of your life, so yes.

Israel Caminero: 52:27

Well, once again, Tanya, I'd like to thank you for just taking the time for sharing this powerful testimony that you have. I'm sure the listeners out there that are gonna be listening to it. I hope it inspires them to just keep their faith like you have throughout all these hardships. But before we close, can you close us out in prayer, please?

Tanya Nemley: 52:50

Oh, sure. Sure. Praise you, Jesus. Hallelujah, Lord. Heavenly Father, I just thank you, Lord, for this special time. I I thank you that you allowed me to talk because I was struggling a little bit, Lord, because you know I just had that stroke, but God, you just got me going and flowing, and I thank you for that. I pray for the for my brother Israel who you placed on his heart to have these podcasts. I thank you for his faithfulness in doing this, and I just pray for his life and his family and his ministry, Heavenly Father. But I especially pray for everyone who's listening to this podcast. I just pray, Lord, that they will just receive your love. Because I know a lot of people don't think that you love them. I pray they receive your love and let let them know how much you love them and how special they are and how you created them with the love and creativity from your mind and your heart that you made them, dear Lord. Anything that anybody is going through, if you're going through a physical problem, illness, if you're going through a loss of a loved one, if you're going through financial problems, if you're what whatever it is, you're not close to your children, you're you're lonely, you're sick in your body, you have cancer, whatever the problem is, Lord, I ask you to touch them right now in the name of Jesus. Lord, extend your healing hand out to them. And Lord, if there's those who don't know Christ at all, I pray that you will just touch them to cry out to you and just to seek, to seek this the truth of who you are. And I know that you will answer them. And Lord, I thank you again for this ministry, and I just ask these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 54:53

Amen. Amen. Thank you for that prayer. Thank you for that prayer. Thank you for just taking the time out of your busy day and schedule to be here and share your testimony, hoping it touches someone, like you said, and them to reach out to Google, like you had said. It's easy to get to the Bible, Google John, and just start reading the Bible. Yes. I'd also like to thank everyone that supported me throughout this time with the love and the reviews. And it's all for the glory of God, it's not for me. If you want to share your testimony or someone that's listening that might know someone that wants to share their testimony, you can reach me at living testimonies at hotmail.com. I'd like to thank Tanya Nemley again for taking the time to be here. I will post her links to the books that she has in my description if you want to look those up and read about them. I'm sure they're very good. I'm gonna read them myself. And also, I'd like to just thank the Lord for just giving us another day here on this earth. Amen. And that being said, we are all done. Until next time, my blessings to everyone.