Saved From, not Out: How Knowing Jesus Has Made a Difference, with Hannah Cowden

Join me on this episode as I talk with Hannah Cowden, a remarkable woman of faith who has been following Jesus from a young age.

Hannah shares her inspiring story of growing up in a Christian home, accepting Jesus as her Savior at age 6, and deepening her relationship with God through the years.

She talks about the challenges and joys of homeschooling her four children, ministering to kids in her church, and balancing family life with her husband of 25 years.

Hannah's story is a testament to God's faithfulness and grace, and her warmth and humility make her a delightful guest. Tune in to be encouraged and inspired by her journey!

Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:16

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. With me today I have my friend Hannah, which I met at my other friend Michelle's daughter's wedding a couple weeks ago. And as always, I asked her if she wanted to share her testimony, and she agreed to do it, so here we are. And it's kind of an experiment because she's not here face to face with me. This is the first time I've done this. We're doing this through the phone, and we'll see how the Lord works for this. We'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. But Hannah, could you introduce yourself to everyone, please?

Hannah Cowden: 0:58

Yes, I'd love to. My name is Hannah Cowden. I live outside of the Kansas City area in Kansas, and I have been married now for almost 26 years. I have four children. One is married. I have two grandsons. And I have homeschooled my kids through the years. I am now the children's minister at our church. And I'm just excited today to be here and just glorify God and his name and let you all know how great he is.

Israel Caminero: 1:33

Praise the Lord for that. And I'm glad you're here also to share your story. But before we get started, I'd like to start us out in prayer. And I just want to say, dear Lord, we thank you for Hannah's willingness to share her story with us today. We ask that you guide her words and fill her heart with courage and confidence. May her testimony be a blessing to all who hear it, and may it bring glory to your name. Help us to listen with open hearts and minds, and may we be inspired to deepen our own relationship with you because of her testimony. And that's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I didn't know Hannah. I ran into her at the wedding. And she recognized my voice. And I like I said, I asked her to be on the podcast, and here she is. So, Hannah, the platform is all yours. Can you just let all the listeners know, you know, from when you were a child how everything began with you and the Lord?

Hannah Cowden: 2:31

Yes, I can. I um I grew up mostly in a Christian home. I am one of five children. My parents have been married now for 50-some years. And they my mom grew up as a good Catholic girl. And um once she had, well, I guess all five of us is when she got born again. And she actually got saved in the basement of the Catholic Church. Um, she began a relationship with Jesus through some um charismatic um Bible studies that were happening at the Catholic Church. Um, her parents actually got saved first, and then um my mom did, and then my dad, and through um, they stayed in the Catholic Church for a couple years, and then once my mom started really reading the Bible for herself for the first time, she realized that she wanted to be somewhere that was just preaching the word, more true to the word. So we found ourselves, our family found ourselves at a local Christian church in the Kansas City area, and I was in children's church at the time, and I remember responding to an altar call one Sunday. The children's pastor asked if anybody wanted to be best friends with Jesus, and um I responded to that. I was probably around the age of six, I don't remember the exact day, to be honest with you, but um I do remember the action. I remember asking Jesus into my heart and making him my savior, and then uh yeah.

Israel Caminero: 4:09

How great is when I was a I'm sorry to interrupt. I was just gonna say, how great is that? Six years old. Yes, you're already giving your life to Jesus. Most six-year-olds don't think like that these days.

Hannah Cowden: 4:20

No, that is um, I count it as a blessing for sure, for sure. And when I became a young teenager, I was attending a traveling youth conference at the time. It was called Acquire the Fire, long time ago. Um, that traveled around the country back then, and it was nearby. So I went with my youth group at the time, and I remember responding to another altar call at that time, and I even remember the words we said. It was an altar call where we were supposed to um stand up and say, I want the cross, like as loudly as we could, if we wanted to be serious about God. And I just remember that making such an impact in my life where I felt like for the first time I was making my relationship known for myself. My relationship with God was mine, and I wasn't doing it just because my parents did, or just because I was going to church every week. And soon after that, I got um filled with the Holy Ghost. I remember I got water baptized and have really been following the Lord ever since. I am 44 years old now, so quite a long time.

Israel Caminero: 5:31

Yeah.

Hannah Cowden: 5:31

And yeah, God has been very faithful through the years for sure.

Israel Caminero: 5:37

Well, just so everyone knows they can't see you, but you don't look a year over 30.

Hannah Cowden: 5:41

So I will take that compliment. Thank you.

Israel Caminero: 5:47

Yes. So that's good. I mean, six to when you were a teenager, most kids aren't doing that, but you were all in ever since you were young.

Hannah Cowden: 5:57

I was all in. I was all in, and I yeah, never really had a, I have to say, and I'm not to toot my horn, but I never really had those quote unquote rebellious years. I have just been following the Lord ever since, wanting to do what he has for me. Um, hopefully leaving that to my children as well. My husband and I have a saying, we want to go four for four. We want, right? Hopefully, all four of our kids as of now, they know the Lord, they love the Lord, following him. Um, so yeah, that's that's kind of my young years. And then I ended up getting married when I was 18. My husband and I um met each other at church. He started coming to um the church I grew up in when we were young teenagers. I was about 14 when I met him, and um we then got married when I was 18 and he was 20.

Israel Caminero: 6:58

So you guys met at the church?

Hannah Cowden: 7:00

We met at the church, yes. His family started attending um yeah, I started attending that church when I was probably around seven, and then his family started coming when I was about 14, and then we um yeah, we got married there, and then he was in the Air Force at the time. So as soon as I got married, I moved away um from Kansas, followed, followed him to Oklahoma. We lived in Oklahoma for a while and had our first daughter, and then um we had we had plans, and I say we, meaning my husband and I, we had plans to come back to Kansas as soon as we could because I wanted to be near family, of course, and raise my children, and I had this whole idea of what it was gonna look like. And we uh through some circumstances that were beyond our control, my husband actually got a job as an air traffic controller in the FAA back home in Kansas. And so we were making plans to move back home, start this job, but through circumstances out of our control, that fell through. And we were really at a crossroads where we had to decide are you going, is he, is my husband going to continue down this path of wanting to be an air traffic controller, or should he start a new career so that we can be close to family? I was devastated. I thought this was where I was gonna live, raise my kids. I didn't want to move away again. And um, I was the kid I out of my five children, out of the five children, I was the kid that would always tell my parents, like, I'll never move away, I'm gonna live by you forever, I'm never moving. And um we were really at a crossroads. I was I struggled a lot with the idea of moving, and God made it very clear to us that my husband should continue with air traffic control. And so my husband reapplied all through the country, and he got picked up uh at in Ohio, and so we started the process and we ended up in Ohio. And I have to tell you that before we made it to Ohio, my husband had to do some training in Oklahoma City to prepare. And while we were there, we tried everything we could to try to switch with someone that was supposed to come to Kansas and work as an air traffic controller. So we tried all sorts of deals, we tried making deals, these people, and no one wanted to take our deal. And so I was like, I guess I'm going to Ohio, Ohio. And lo and behold, God knew what he was doing. So we ended up in Ohio in 2002, and I struggled for quite a few years making it my home.

Israel Caminero: 9:49

How could you not love Ohio?

Hannah Cowden: 9:51

How could I not love Ohio?

Israel Caminero: 9:53

How could you not love it here?

Hannah Cowden: 9:55

Um, there were certain things I did love about Ohio. I did like being like uh by the lake. I did enjoy that because here in Kansas we don't have anything like that, obviously. So that was lovely. And I did like the people I ended up knowing, but um, I missed home and it was a struggle of mine for years.

Israel Caminero: 10:13

We now did you miss home? I'm sorry, did you miss home because of family or just because of something else?

Hannah Cowden: 10:23

I missed home because of family, yes. I I was like, this wasn't my picture, you know, this wasn't the dream that I had. I'm supposed to be home where everybody else is. And my husband and I both come from very big families, and everybody, almost everybody, is here. And so it was, you know, I moved there and I didn't know anyone. So I just, you know, I it was just my dream. I'm gonna raise my kids, I'm gonna homeschool them. We're gonna be by my mom and dad and my husband's family, it's gonna be great. My kids will grow up with their cousins, you know, just like I got to do. So it was just this dream I had.

Israel Caminero: 10:56

Gotcha.

Hannah Cowden: 10:57

Um, so I really struggled with giving it to God, and my and my husband would challenge me throughout those years. He's like, I know you haven't really surrendered it to God. You're just trying to make do here. You really just gotta just gotta give him that dream and just gotta be willing to do anything he wants you to do. Because again, I knew that we were doing what God wanted us to do. That wasn't like I knew that. I had peace about that. And it even got to the point where there were on two different occasions, we had the opportunity to come to Kansas as an air traffic controller, just like he was doing in Ohio. Um, we had a couple of people that were interested in trading, and each time it came up, I literally physically got sick to my stomach. And it was like I ended up turning it down, going, We're not supposed to do this. This isn't right. We are supposed to be here. Um, so my and and at the time when my husband, how to say this?

Israel Caminero: 11:58

You were being obedient to the Lord, is what you were doing.

Hannah Cowden: 12:01

I was being obedient to the Lord, yes. But my husband didn't want to force me. So he would say, you know, this is the opportunity we have. And so I was the one that had to go to him and say, I'm physically ill. It's making me ill to think about moving back home. Like this, it's not what we're supposed to do, which was so contrary because I'm like, but that's my dream, you know. But it was that so finally it got to the point after a few years where I really did give it to God and I made Ohio my home. And it was just like even my husband could just tell. I carried myself different. He's like, You did it. You know, he could just tell, you did it, you gave it to God. And um through that time, it was a really sweet time in my life. And I met my dear friend, Michelle, whom you know. Um, I met her soon after I moved there. Uh I guess it was maybe about five months. I had my second daughter by then. And I kept putting myself out there. We kept visiting churches. I was trying to meet people. I wanted community. I I love community, friends, family, right? I just love people. So um I craved that. I showed up at a Mops group one day, which is a mothers of preschoolers group that is nationwide grouped, and I found one in the area, and I thought I'm just gonna go. I'm gonna go there and try to meet some women. So I sat down at a table with my friend, now friend Michelle, and and a couple of other women that have become dear friends, and we started talking. We found out that our husbands worked together, and I was like so overjoyed. I'm like, oh great. She's like, Oh, yes, maybe our husbands will try to get our husbands to find each other at work. And I remember leaving that day from that mops group thinking, boy, that lady was really nice. But she's it sounds like she's got a full life, she probably doesn't have any room for any more friends. So, um, and then she just has become my dearest friend, my best friend. So God's surely blessed me through that. And through her, um, a few months, I guess it was probably that following summer that same year, she um approached me about hosting a Bible study, having a Bible study. And I have to tell you, I had been, the Holy Spirit had been revealing to me for a few months Bible studies. I was writing my own Bible studies, and I just kept going, God, I don't know anyone, but I'm writing these Bible studies, but who are they for? Because I don't know anybody here. And I was just being obedient. I was just writing them out. And she approached me one day and she said, I really feel like God wants me to host a Bible study, but I could never lead it. And she goes, I know people, I can invite them, but I could never lead it. And I said, Well, gosh, God's been giving me Bible studies, but I don't know anybody. I'm like, I know Michelle, you know, I I have a starting to know her and a couple other people, but I didn't know anybody. And so she's like, Well, if you'll lead it, I'll host it. So she, if you know Michelle, which you do, she's a she's a little evangelist. That's why I always say she she is, she has that gift. So she got people to come, and I came and I led a Bible study, which span ended up spanning years, um, as my time in Ohio. I was in Ohio for 11 years, and I gave birth to three of my children there. So three of my four are Buckeyes, and I formed this great relationship with so many women that are still still dear friends to this day. We raised our children together. Um, some of us homeschooled together. We started a little homeschool group where our kids could get together and and play. We would have gym days, and then I would host Bible study. And um I loved, loved our Bible study because it was such an organic thing. It wasn't a quote unquote church thing. It was just women from all different churches, all different religious backgrounds, and we all could just get together and be real together. And um, it was a I mean, it has been a tremendous, tremendous blessing in my life. And like I said, I still hold these friendships, you know, to this day, even though I don't live there anymore.

Israel Caminero: 16:18

So that's good because a lot some people come into people's life and they're there for a season, but they're still in your life, which is good. You know, some people stay and some people don't. And I also like to hear these stories because of just how God orchestrates these things, you know, like you you didn't want to come to Ohio, and then you came to Ohio, and then you didn't you got a chance to go back and you didn't want to go back, and then you were writing these Bible studies, and Michelle's like, hey, you know, you know, I love how God just orchestrates all this.

Hannah Cowden: 16:50

Isn't that cool? Because I look back now and I go, God, you knew something I didn't, you know, you knew what I needed, even though I thought I knew what I wanted, right? God knew what we needed, and um, and God knew what we needed for our family too. You know, it was a great sweet time for our family where it was just my husband and me and the four kids, um, where we just got, I think, to grow so close knit and a great bond with them through that time we spent in Ohio and found friends that became like family. I mean, to the point where we were, you know, invited over on Easter and the family birthday parties and you know, just we we found that community. It just didn't look the way I thought it was gonna look.

Israel Caminero: 17:37

Right.

Hannah Cowden: 17:38

But God's plans are always better because I see now how in a in such a humbly way I say, you know, God used my obedience to to bring people to Jesus to tell people about the gift of the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit and see people get plugged in in churches. And I was just I had to be obedient to God, right?

Israel Caminero: 18:04

And that's what it's about, right? The Great Commission.

Hannah Cowden: 18:07

Yeah, the Great Commission. The Great Commission. So um, Ohio was a ended up being such a great, great place for us and our family. And we um as our family grew, we started homeschooling our kids, like I said, had um, and then it was probably gosh, I if I can get this right. It was probably we've lived in Kansas again. We moved in Kansas to Kansas back in 2013. We moved back home, and it was probably in 2011, late 2011. Again, I don't know the exact date, but the Holy Spirit started to reveal to me some things. And and again, at this time, remember, I have Ohio is my home, right? This is I'm not moving. My husband doesn't want to move, he likes his job, we like our church, right? Our community, like we are here. We built a house in Ohio, like we're here. And in 2011, the Holy Spirit started to reveal to me you are gonna help your brother with his church. Now, my oldest brother was always in ministry, and he was a youth pastor at the time. And I knew that someday he'd like to be the pastor of a church, but you know, it wasn't happening anytime soon. He he he and his wife, they both just have ministers' hearts. And so the Holy Spirit just kind of slowly tells me, like, you're gonna help your brother with his church someday. And I go, first of all, I live in Ohio, and second of all, my brother doesn't have a church, but okay, you know, I'm just like, okay, I don't know what that looks like. And I didn't say anything to my husband, I just was letting it simmer. And um, as time went on, God just kept going, You're gonna help him with his church. And I thought, huh, maybe I'll I'll send money, right? Someday my brother might start a church and I'll probably send some money to help him out. You know, like that, that's kind of what I was thinking. And it was maybe six, nine months go by, and my husband kind of starts saying, I think God might be moving us somewhere different. It's like, I don't know if that means a different house. We had kind of wanted land at the time. He started talking about wanting land. So he's like, I don't know if it's just a different house or if it's a different city, a different state. I don't know. God just like starts, you know, telling him. And then I go, Yeah, I kind of been feeling like I don't know what what's coming, but something's gonna be different.

Israel Caminero: 20:37

Okay.

Hannah Cowden: 20:38

And so then without talking to each other, the Holy Spirit's telling both of us, your brother, like you're you're gonna help your brother. My brother's name is Chris too, so it gets a little confusing. My husband's name is Chris as well. But um, so he my the my husband starts saying kind of the same thing. He's like, I just keep getting this thing, like, we're gonna help your brother with a church someday. My gosh, God's been telling me that too. And so we don't know what that looks like. We just kind of prey on it for probably a good year or so. And then as time goes on, we both come to each other with going, I think we're supposed to move back home. I I think that's what's supposed to happen. So we start tentatively seeing if if he could transfer to Kansas City, if he can get here, you know, even if it's a possibility. So he is told that he can. Sort of like, oh, okay, you can transfer. Now that can be a process, we don't know how long it'll take, but we start um making plans, maybe you know, testing it. It's like seeing, do we have peace about it? That's something we do a lot. Like, you know, start making your plan. Do you have peace about it? Do you have peace about this decision? And so we are like, yeah, we do, we do. Well, through because the government is what the government is, they're like, we're not gonna let you transfer after all. Oh, okay, well, did we hear him wrong? You know, did we hear wrong, or we're not, did we hear wrong? Um, so at this time, we're like, we have had our house up for sale, right? We're making plans, we're we're thinking we're moving. We're like, did we not hear right? So we took a good few days, and we of course had good intentioned people telling us, like, this must be God, telling you, you know, this must be God telling you, you're not supposed to move.

Israel Caminero: 22:29

Right.

Hannah Cowden: 22:29

And we're just like, no, we both know. Like, we know. I mean, he told us separately without us even telling each other. Like, we know the Holy Spirit told us this is what we're supposed to do. And again, mind you, my husband had been in the mindset of he's not moving, he was comfortable, right? Quote unquote comfortable. He didn't, if if he moved here, he was gonna have to retrain in his job. He didn't know, you know, like you get comfortable in your job, you know what to expect. So he he was like, but at this point, he's like, but I know that's what God's telling us to do. It's not about being comfortable, it's about doing what the Holy Spirit revealed to us. So we sold our house anyway, and it was at a hard time to sell a house, I have to say, but it sold in about a month, which back then was not easy to do. But it sold, and then in the meantime, he found someone to switch places with him. We found someone that would move from Kansas City to Ohio, and then from Ohio to Kansas City, you know, so then we were able to come from Ohio to Kansas City. So that was amazing, and God was just like, I was like, I know God told us this is what we're doing, right? So we make we come home in August. I say home, Kansas. Um, I always say I have two homes, Ohio and Kansas. We come home in Kansas in 2013. So we've been here um quite a while now, and we still had that, you know, my brother doesn't have a church, but we just we found some land here, found a house on some land, love it, it's great. God just um, I always say God was saving this for us. If you could see it, it's beautiful. Um, God was saving this for us, and we got here in 2013. My brother's church started in 2018, I believe it was January 2018. And I have always had a dream of being a children's minister, and um here I am. So when my brother started his church, we were with him a couple years prior. I mean, obviously, well, we've known him the whole time, but a couple years prior, we could see, we could see the dream forming, and we were telling him, you know, like we're beside you, we're right with you, we'll help you. So we helped plant this church in 2018. I'm the children's minister. My husband does like what I like to call kind of anything and everything. Anything and everything. He's he's the he's the man behind the scenes a lot.

Israel Caminero: 25:12

Okay.

Hannah Cowden: 25:12

And so I've been doing that since then. Um my oldest have got has gotten married since we've been here. They have two boys now, and my youngest is gonna graduate next year, so I'll be done homeschooling. Um that's next, yeah, next year.

Israel Caminero: 25:33

So that's a full plate.

Hannah Cowden: 25:35

That's a full plate. Yeah, that's a full plate.

Israel Caminero: 25:38

How did how did you uh balance, you know, like family life, ministering, and homeschooling all at once? How did you do all that? Like, how did you balance it?

Hannah Cowden: 25:47

I will tell you, Israel, the biggest thing we've had to balance since moving back is being surrounded by family again. So it's so interesting because it's what I always wanted, right? It's like this is the dream. And we just had a huge Fourth of July party, which we have every year, and I love it because it's a one-time a year, a lot of different sides of our family get together.

Israel Caminero: 26:11

Oh, thanks for the invite.

Hannah Cowden: 26:12

And um I just love it because I'm like God did not, I think it was my husband who said it first when we moved back home. It's like, God did not bless you twofold or tenfold. Hannah, God bless you a hundredfold. Like we are surrounded by family. And um, from like my grandsons have great great-grandparents still. So we've got great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents and parents, oh, great cousins, aunts and uncles everywhere. So um when when we moved back home, it was a it was a transition for us from becoming, okay, it was just the six of us, and we had that figured out. Now, what does it look like? Because now we're with family again. Who are we now? You know, how do we balance that? Like you were saying, how do you balance it? The biggest thing we had to learn was balancing, like, okay, who are we in the family now that we're back? So um that took us probably a good two to three years. It took us to to kind of find our rhythm. Um it's it's it's rare a day goes by that someone from like that someone from our family, my husband or me or our kids, that we don't see someone else in our family. Like because we work with them, we minister with them, we my daughter goes to her homeschool enrichment with them. I sub there. So like your your family is everywhere. My son works for his grandpa. Um, my husband now works with two of his brothers. They're both air traffic controllers, too. So we are um yeah, surrounded.

Israel Caminero: 27:55

Sounds like it's a family affair.

Hannah Cowden: 27:57

Oh, good thing. And then church obviously is a family affair, which is such a blessing. So, yes, learning to juggle my um, I I say quote unquote job because to me, being a children's minister is like I just get to play all the time and minister, which is awesome that they go hand in hand because it was always such a dream of mine. I just enjoy being with children so much. And I just I love those psalms that talk about where David talks about proclaiming God's goodness from generation to generation. We just I just take that so seriously. Like they're they're never too young, right? I was six when I got born again, so they're never too young to preach the glory of God to the next generation. Don't don't stop. So um, luckily my job is flexible. I can do a lot of it from home, so that is easy. So the that with homeschooling tends to, you know, it worked out fine. Now that I just have one kid left, you know, that part's pretty easy. I did um another thing we did, which goes back to just following what God wants you to do, is my oldest daughter and my second daughter both ended up going to the local public high school for a while.

Israel Caminero: 29:14

Okay.

Hannah Cowden: 29:15

And to some people, probably not a big deal. To me, it was a huge deal. I was homeschooled. I was homeschooled from fifth grade until I graduated. And I just always thought, well, obviously, this is what I'm going to do with my children. Like, why wouldn't I? Um, I love being with my kids. I, you know, they're not, I I want to teach them, you know, I I don't mind having them around. It's great. So when it came to it, this was we had moved back to Kansas City um maybe a year or so before, I guess. Yeah, about a year before my um oldest daughter was going to be in 10th grade. And again, Chris and I could just sense the Holy Spirit's just kind of telling us something's gonna look different next year. And I sensed it too. And of course, or I should say, not of course, my husband is the one who first came to me and said, What if we visited the local public high school? We live in a small town, the local public high school is literally a minute up the road from our house. And I thought, um, I don't know about that, right? I I don't know. This is not what I always thought. In Ohio, we never really thought about sending our kids to school because we just we didn't like any of the options around us. So it was really easy to just be like, we're homeschooling our kids. That's the option. And again, we love it. And with our my husband's schedule, it just made the most sense to homeschool. So he brings this to me, and I thought, oh, surely not. So we go, but I go to visit, and I thought, I'm gonna hate it, right? I'm gonna hate it. I'm not gonna like the feel, I'm not gonna like the atmosphere. So we go visit with our oldest daughter, Clara, and we I come out of there, and my husband looks at me, and Clara kind of looks at me and like, what did you think? And I said, I have to be honest with you, I didn't hate it. And I thought, but that's not the plan, right? The plan is I'm gonna homeschool them till they're done because that's what I did, and that's it, just makes sense. It just it works for us.

Israel Caminero: 31:26

Right.

Hannah Cowden: 31:26

But um, it ended up being what our daughter needed. So I that through the summer, the Lord just kept working on me. He brought the song Oceans to my mind a lot about going deeper than ever before and being willing to do whatever God asks of us. And I thought, yes, but God, it's just, you know, it's not what I it's not what I envisioned. And God's like, again, again, just remember, Hannah, it's about what I'm envisioning, right? Right? What I envision. I was just gonna say, yeah. And and it's about what Clara needs. What it what is it that Clara needs? And so I know sometimes people like I I just remember, I remember thinking some people have a hard time going to their parents and telling them, I think we're gonna homeschool our kids. And I had a hard time going to my parents saying, I think I'm gonna put my kid in school. I thought, oh gosh, what are they gonna think? But they were so supportive, of course, because they know I wouldn't do anything, you know, just flippantly, but they were very supportive and understanding. And so Clara actually went to a public school, 10th to 12th grade, and then Gracie, my second daughter, she ended up going in high school as well. And then um the other two have been home with me throughout the whole time. So they're um we uh just things changed, circumstances changed. We always said we would take it, you know, we we would it depends on the kid and the time where we're at in life. Um and so the other two have stayed home. So that's kind of how I guess I've juggled, just I take it year by year. What does the family need? What does everybody need? I don't always juggle it correctly, I'll be honest with you. That's for sure.

Israel Caminero: 33:09

Yeah. You just the the wrestling with what you want to do and God, that's about it, huh?

Hannah Cowden: 33:15

Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. I remember that was Israel, to be honest with you, that was one of the hardest things was was wrestling with about putting my daughters in school. That was that was really hard for me. Um, that and obviously, yes, moving. Those were the two big ones.

Israel Caminero: 33:34

No, I was just gonna ask, like, have have those only been the challenges that you faced, you know, like throughout these years? Gosh. Or have you had any that have helped you through with?

Hannah Cowden: 33:47

I'm sure there have been more le I don't know if I can No.

Israel Caminero: 33:52

I mean it's fine.

Hannah Cowden: 33:53

I was just asking off the top of my head. Um, hmm, we've struggled with um we went through a really hard time physically with my second daughter, Gracie. She went through some health issues that had us wondering. She was, she had a um, I say had because she has been whole now for uh about a year, but she had a bleeding disorder that kind of just uh went undiagnosed. We couldn't really ever figure out, get to the bottom of what was wrong with her. And we um ended up through the course of years, we ended up taking her down a more natural route because the answer from the doctors was just to was to put her on birth control, which we didn't want to do. And so she was on that for a while and we didn't like it. We didn't like what it did to her. So we went a more natural route and um was able to keep it in check. But it was a real trying time because we again never have never really gotten to the bottom of it. We did we don't know exactly what it was, um, but she was um it was pretty scary there for a little bit. She was bleeding out. So we um about a year ago, she ended Gracie ended up leaving home. She lives about three and a half hours away, she attends Bible school, and she decided in August when she went there, she just said, you know what, I am just believing. I am gonna believe for healing for this. I really feel like now is the time. I'm gonna quit taking these supplements and these natural um things that are helping me and just see what happens. And she has been, she has been doing fine. She has been doing fine for that was in August, so we're coming up on a year now. Amen is right. I give God the glory for that, leading us first of all to the natural path who helped us get on a more um just a better system for Gracie for us, you know, what worked better. And then when Gracie just had, you know, she just felt like the Holy Spirit revealed that to her. This is what I need to do. We all see what happens. And um, she has been well since then. So that is I give God the glory, He deserves it.

Israel Caminero: 36:21

Amen, hallelujah. And hallelujah. And your faith, your faith has been great from what I hear, and I bet that's just strengthened it even more. You know?

Hannah Cowden: 36:32

I hope so. I hope so. I hope so, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's that's my um my passion is yeah, my passion is that my kids grasp how great God is, that that my husband and I hopefully are relaying that to them. That um, you know, our our I guess parents' mission has always been capture their heart, capture our children's hearts. Capture their hearts first for the Lord, and then you know, for life, just for each other, for this family, you know, just the hopefully we're we are living testimonies, hopefully we are, that we are showing that to them first and foremost. I never want to lose sight of the fact I I I try to encourage moms in this whenever I can. I have such a heart and a passion for moms and kids to minister to them. And I just try to to instill that in moms to encourage them. Like, don't forget your kids are the first people you can disciple. If you feel like you can't, you don't have the gift to disciple people, your children are right in front of you all day, every day. Like, don't overlook that. Don't don't think it's not, you're not doing enough for the Lord. Discipling your children is so important.

Israel Caminero: 37:55

It is.

Hannah Cowden: 37:56

Um, it counts for the kingdom. You know, I think sometimes, right, we get these grandiose ideas of like, am I doing enough? And especially in those years, that's why I enjoyed our Bible study so much, is that we women could get together and encourage one another and remind one another, like we're doing God's work by teaching our children and training our children and being moms for them and and being present and teaching them the word and being diligent, like all those things, like we're discipling them. And to not lose sight of that and to think, oh, but does it count because it's not you know in front of a crowd, or I'm not uh, you know, I'm not ministering to a lot of people or whatever it looks like. Moms can sometimes get discouraged in that. And then I just I just always try to point them to, you know, but who knows what your kids are gonna go on to do, right? Because like, look at my kids now, right? My my my Gracie or my Gracie, my daughter Gracie, she's on a missions trip right now, right? She she's in Argentina spreading the word of God. Wow. And my daughter is discipling her two young children, and my son is able to be a light and a witness at his at the mechanic shop where he works, you know, like the because you know, my youngest daughter, my youngest daughter McLean, she's plays the violin. She's on the praise and worship band at church, and she uses her violin to to minister, right? To and it's it was all those weeks of me taking her to violin practice, right? Those mundane things that a mom does, those or that we think is mundane, is actually work for the kingdom, right? We and we just have to remember to look at it through those eyes.

Israel Caminero: 39:33

That's right. It's all those seeds that you were placing in them. And like you said, look at them now.

Hannah Cowden: 39:43

Yes, yes, yeah, she yes. She is um there my other my oldest daughter, she's been to Thailand and to France on missions trips for for months. Um, Clara, and then you know, who knows what the other two are gonna do? I mean, just But but it it took it takes time and and but again those kids they count. You know, you disciple your children for the Lord and and um that's precious in God's sight. That's but it's precious, precious work.

Israel Caminero: 40:14

It's precious work. It is precious work, you know. And and that y your story's great. Like uh, you know, like sometimes I struggle with my children because I try to lead them in the right path, and of course, you know, you know, sometimes they don't always want to follow that path. That's right. That's right. But I know like at the same time, I'm I'm planting seeds in them. Like my seven-year-old daughter, she wants to praise and worship all the time now, and she actually just stepped up and wants to sing a song at church, you know, and she's been practicing and it just fills my heart that she wants to do this, and then you know, like she tells me, Daddy, daddy, you know, I'm singing and I'm throwing my hands up in the air, praising the Lord, and it makes me proud. And my son, and he's 13, and he's being a 13-year-old, and yes, he still loves God, but I struggle with him sometimes. You know, there's a lot to it too. I as you know, I haven't shared with everyone else part of my story, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with with what's happening with him.

Hannah Cowden: 41:23

That's what I was just thinking. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Grace. We need to have grace for our kids too, that's for sure.

Israel Caminero: 41:31

Yeah. Yeah. But it I have grace, but sometimes, you know, it's Oh, I know, it can get hard. Right. But yeah, but with God's guidance, all that can change. You know, and I might not see it, but he might be somewhere else spreading the word where I don't see it. You know, he might be at school telling kids about God that I don't know about. That's right. And then when he comes home, he just tries to be a knucklehead in front of me.

Hannah Cowden: 42:01

Yeah, that's what they tend to do. Yes.

Israel Caminero: 42:04

Right.

Hannah Cowden: 42:04

Yes.

Israel Caminero: 42:05

Out of sight, out of mind. You know, like I'll be tough for daddy and I'll do this up behind his back. But but I know the Lord has him in the palm of his hand.

Hannah Cowden: 42:15

That's right. And that's right.

Israel Caminero: 42:16

The Lord will lead him where he wants him.

Hannah Cowden: 42:19

And all we can do as parents is be faithful, right? To be faithful to God and then pray that yeah, that's true. That that they catch it. Yeah. Yeah. Because they have to decide for themselves, that's for sure. They have to decide.

Israel Caminero: 42:33

Yeah.

Hannah Cowden: 42:34

Right? Their relationship with God.

Israel Caminero: 42:37

Yeah, but I I love your story where God has been in your life the whole time. So that's a testimony all on its own. You know, and that's that's so great because a lot of people in this world don't have it like that. A lot of people struggle, you know, and for you to have God guiding you throughout your life, even at six years old to where you're at now, I just want to say, Amen and hallelujah to that. You know, because that's a big testimony to just have God guiding you throughout your life and and following his lead.

Hannah Cowden: 43:11

And and yes, and it may our children have that. That's like yes, that's my prayer. Obviously, I mean that's why I'm a children's minister, right? I mean, it's such my heart is just hopefully they get it young and then don't turn, don't turn to the right or left. Just keep following the voice that says this is the way, walk you in it. Like, may they, may they have that. I know when I was in Ohio, we attended a church called House of Praise, International Church, and Pastor Gilbert, the pastor there, was at our uh small group one night, and I remember him saying, because we all were kind of sharing our testimony, and again, you know, some people like me do feel like they don't have a quote unquote testimony, they don't have you know the big story.

Israel Caminero: 43:58

Oh, but you do.

Hannah Cowden: 43:59

I remember Pastor Gilbert saying, God didn't save you out of anything, he saved you from it. And I just that's always stuck with me is like what a beautiful way to put it. He saved me from it. And I praise God for my father and mother that have been so diligent, right? Diligent to raise us, and then it just keeps right from generation to generation. That's um my grandparents obviously got saved when they were um uh saved later in life, and then it just went from generation to generation, right? It went from them to my to my parents and my aunts and uncles, and now to my siblings, and then on down. And so um I didn't I didn't say enough about my mom and dad. They were such great examples of uh just living a godly life, you know. So um, yeah, being an example for us, just there for us. Yeah, they were um they still are, they still are. They're great. They're great.

Israel Caminero: 45:02

That's great to hear. And your story's great also, Hannah. I thank you for taking this time to share it. And you haven't shared any scripture, but I'm gonna ask you, like when you're when you're having a bad day, which you don't seem to have, just kidding. No, no, just I'm I'm only kidding, I'm only teasing up, of course. Everyone has bad days. Yes, you know, but what's that one scripture that you can always go to when you're having a bad day, or you're one of your favorite scriptures that you like? Well, I'm sure there's there's many for everyone, but can you just name just one and why and why you like it so much?

Hannah Cowden: 45:44

Oh my goodness. Okay, well, I'm gonna cheat first before I give you one verse, and I'm gonna say Psalm 16.

Israel Caminero: 45:50

Okay.

Hannah Cowden: 45:51

Psalm 16 got me through a lot when I was questioning, when I was questioning, um, should when we were questioning if Chris should continue to be an air traffic controller when we were living here and his job fell through, and then we ended up in Ohio, all that. Um, Psalm 16 got me through a lot. And then so I I turn to that often, but one verse that it's gonna be maybe silly, um, it's found in Psalms as well. And I don't even I can't even tell you the reference, I just know the words. It says, As for me, I will always have hope, I will praise you more and more. And even when we feel helpless, we're not hopeless, we're not a hopeless people. And that's what that verse reminds me of. As for me, I can choose this. I'm going to choose to have hope, right? To have this weighted expectation that God's got it, that God's gonna reveal to me what he wants, that God's gonna make a way when there seems to be no way. I'm going to have hope and I will praise you through it, right? I will praise you no matter what. There were there's been hard days to praise God, but praise him anyway, right? Come the end of the day. I might be crying in the morning and by the end of the night, reminding me praise God anyway.

Israel Caminero: 47:07

Praise him through the good and the bad.

Hannah Cowden: 47:09

Praise him, yeah. Praise him. He is he is so worthy, he's worthy of it. So, as for me, I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. Um right now, I'm actually I am um I'm actually uh memorizing the book of Philippians because our dear friend Michelle thought it would be fun for us to memorize the book of the Bible. So Michelle and I have been making our way through Philippians, and that is just talk full now of verses that I love. But one especially Paul talks about forgetting what is behind, straining towards what is ahead, right? Reaching out for that goal to win the prize for that which God has called me heavenward, and so that that passage lately I've been going back to a lot. Um to keep our eyes focused and set on what's coming. God's got right every day, his mercies are new, and to press on, to keep pressing on, to not to to not give up. Yeah. So there's another one. So I kind of cheated. There's three for you.

Israel Caminero: 48:22

Never give up. Yeah, you you did give me three, by the way. I say I say one, you give me three.

Hannah Cowden: 48:28

You said one. My one is as for me, I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. That's my one. The other two were just extra.

Israel Caminero: 48:34

I know, I know. I'm only teasing, I'm totally teasing with you.

Hannah Cowden: 48:39

But now Okay.

Israel Caminero: 48:41

Yes. But now I'm going to my back to the past section. If you heard my back to the past section, which might not apply to you, to be honest with you.

Hannah Cowden: 48:51

Uh-oh.

Israel Caminero: 48:52

But what would you, as the Hannah of today, go back in time and tell the younger version of Hannah?

Hannah Cowden: 49:03

Oh man. Which old version? I'm trying to think about where I would go back in time. If I go back to 2001, that's when the job got all messed up. My husband's job. And it got all messed up due to 9-11, actually. That's what that's what happened with all that. But if I went back to that time, I would say God has more for you than you could have even asked or imagined.

Israel Caminero: 49:41

Amen.

Hannah Cowden: 49:43

Um because I couldn't, it would have been really hard for me to hear it then. Luckily, my mother-in-law, we were actually staying with them at the time before we moved into her house when the job fell through, and my mother-in-law kept reminding me of that. She would say, Hannah, you know, God, this just means God has something better for you. God has something better for you. She's such a woman of faith, she's awesome too. Um, so she would remind me of that. But like now, Hannah can would tell that Hannah, yes, it's true. God has more than you could ask or imagine. Yes.

Israel Caminero: 50:17

That's good.

Hannah Cowden: 50:18

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, I don't other than that, yeah, that's probably that's probably about it.

Israel Caminero: 50:26

That's good. That's that's all you had to say. I just I always ask that at the end of the podcast.

Hannah Cowden: 50:32

I like that.

Israel Caminero: 50:33

You know, so I like that one.

Hannah Cowden: 50:35

That made me think though. Yeah. That's good.

Israel Caminero: 50:38

Sometimes it's good to think, you know. I'm totally messing with you. But I I like I said before, Hannah, I appreciate you being here. And don't think your testimony is not a testimony because it is. That's right. It definitely is. And I like that. I actually enjoyed your testimony and and how God was in your life this whole time.

Hannah Cowden: 50:59

Yes.

Israel Caminero: 51:00

Because people struggle, you know, and God's God was there for you. Even though sometimes you thought he was doing something different, but yes, yes.

Hannah Cowden: 51:10

Or those times we have struggled where we look at each other, you know, we look at our kids, or my husband, or whatever, we might go, how do people do it without God? Can you imagine if we were going through this without the Lord? I say all the time.

Israel Caminero: 51:24

I say that all the time.

Hannah Cowden: 51:26

Yeah, like yes, and I'm sure you know it. You have uh, yes. Hopefully you're getting a front row seat to that right now, that you are feeling his comfort and his peace in the midst of right, yes, crazy, in the midst of of tragedy. Like God is so faithful to meet us where we're at. So through the years, that's what he has been. That's he has met us where we're at, and yeah, I can't imagine going through the struggles without him, or just even making decisions, like how many times the Lord has just so clearly led us. Like, how do people do it without the Holy Spirit guiding them?

Israel Caminero: 51:59

I don't know. Yeah, I honestly don't know. I say that all the time. You know, there's I that's why people fail and fall, you know. That's a lot of the reason.

Hannah Cowden: 52:12

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 52:13

So but again, Hannah, thank you for being here.

Hannah Cowden: 52:16

Well, thank you. I appreciate you reaching out and asking me to do this and getting me out of my comfort zone.

Israel Caminero: 52:22

Oh no. Don't thank me. I thank you. I thank you for taking the time to be here and to share your story. Because a lot of people, you know, some people are scared to share their story. And that's what you have to do, is be bold for the Lord and just share it. You know, someone might hear it and it might change them.

Hannah Cowden: 52:40

That's right.

Israel Caminero: 52:41

Before we leave, I just want to ask you if you could close us out in prayer.

Hannah Cowden: 52:45

Sure. All right, sure. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your mercies that are new every day. Thank you, Lord, that we are not a hopeless people, but we always have hope in you. I pray, Lord, that the words that were uttered today would bring you glory, would minister to those that need it, that you would have your hand on Mr. Israel as he goes about his days and his weeks, as he makes decisions, Lord, guide his hand, give him favor as he continues to do the things you called him to do. And Lord, we may we as your people be faithful to do what you've called us to do, knowing that you are right by our side the whole time. Amen.

Israel Caminero: 53:28

Amen. I appreciate you being here and just taking time out of your day to just do this. You didn't have to, but you chose to and you did, and I'm grateful for it. To all my listeners out there that have been nothing but supportive on this podcast, just the love that I've received, the reviews and the likes and the compliments, I just want to say thank you. But like I always say, it's not about me, it's about the Lord, it's about him, and everyone's story is to glorify him, not me or the person that's being interviewed. It's all about glorifying God. And if you haven't subscribed and it's your first time listening, just subscribe to the channel, like it, leave a review, share it. It's greatly appreciated. And I just want to say to everyone that's still here with me, thank you and have a blessed day.