From Brokenness to Breakthrough: How God Gave a New Beginning, with Bambi Lynn

In this episode, Bambi Lynn shares how God’s love transformed her life and gave her a new beginning. Once weighed down by struggles and searching for hope, she found freedom, healing, and purpose through Jesus Christ.

Her testimony is a powerful reminder that no matter where we’ve been, God can restore, redeem, and write a greater story. This is an episode filled with encouragement, faith, and the assurance that His grace is always enough.

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Links to connect with Bambi Lynn:

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Transcript

Israel Caminero: 0:04

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. I'm grateful for your support and for being part of this community. If you've been enjoying the podcast so far, I'd love it if you could take a minute to leave a review. Your feedback helps me reach more people and share these inspiring stories with others. Let's spread the word. Please share this podcast with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, be sure to like and subscribe for new episodes. To stay connected and up to date on all the latest news, updates, and exclusive content, head over to my Facebook page, Living Testimonies. While you're there, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. The link is on the page. Thanks again for listening, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Welcome to Living Testimony, Stories of Faith and Redemption. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope everyone that's listening today is blessed and doing well. With me today, I have my sister in Christ. Her name is Bambi Lynn, and she's here as always as all my guest star to share her testimony. Could you introduce and say a little bit about yourself to everyone, Bambi?

Bambi Lynn: 1:31

Absolutely. I'd love your name. So is your name really Israel or is it Jacob?

Israel Caminero: 1:36

No, it's Israel.

Bambi Lynn: 1:38

It's really Israel. Well, that is awesome that your parents vogly named you Israel. So that's so yes, I'm excited to finally be on here. Um, you know, it's been a while since we've tried to connect back and forth for a couple months now. Yes. So yes, my name is Bambi. I am a mother of six adult children. In 2026, I will have 15 grandchildren. Um, I am a life coach. A year ago in October, I actually lost my job with the Nielsen TV ratings, and I decided to pursue my dream of being a life coach. I'm also an author of three um published books that I have written. And I am, let's see, I am a transplant from the western New York to the Golden Isles of Georgia. And I have been a Christian and I've known Christ as my savior since 1986.

Israel Caminero: 2:38

That's a long time to know Christ, and that's a good thing.

Bambi Lynn: 2:42

Yes.

Israel Caminero: 2:43

Well, I'm glad you're here. Like she said, we've been going back and forth trying to get this podcast recorded for a while, but obstacles got in the way. And I say, the enemy didn't want this testimony out, but here we are, ready to record. Absolutely. But before we do that, I'd like to pray, and I'd like to say, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and for the privilege of hearing how you've worked in Bambi's life. Lord, fill her with peace and boldness as she speaks, and lets every word be guided by your spirit. May her testimony stir hope, awaken faith, and point every listener towards the love of Jesus. Use this moment to encourage the brokenhearted, strengthen the weary, and draw the lost to yourself. And Lord, above all, may you be glorified in everything said here today. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Bambi Lynn: 3:34

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 3:35

All right, friends. So I'm excited that she's here to share her testimony. You've heard me say it before. Every testimony is a display of God's grace, mercy, and power. And today we get to hear how he's worked in Bambi's life in a way that will inspire and encourage you. So let's jump right in. Bambi, what was it like for you before you came to know the Lord?

Bambi Lynn: 3:57

Oh my goodness. Well, I actually was a broken little girl that had lived in a home full of trauma. You know, there was uh my mother was a single parent because until the age of 10 years old, my mom and my dad would go back and forth to with each other. Every time my dad got sober, he would come back, and then he was a brutal alcoholic, and then he would leave and back and forth, back and forth. And as a young little girl, I had a grandfather that thought it was thought it was a good idea to come into my room whenever I went into, whenever I got to stay at my grandmother's house to come into my room with a bathrobe. There was a lot of trauma, you know, in my life. I tried to commit suicide three different times because of some sexual abuse that I was going through. And I wasn't living a life of peace. When I was a young girl, we used to go to church on a church bus. And every Sunday the church bus would pick us up, would go around the neighborhood and pick and pick up all the misfits, you know, within the neighborhood, the the children that the parents wanted to get rid of their kids for a few hours so they can have some peace and quiet of themselves. And so I grew up on this church bus. I grew up knowing who Jesus was, but I never believed that Jesus was for me because I was just a misfit. I was just a church bus kid and I wasn't a name in the church. So I would sit up front in the church and I would just listen to them tell about Jesus and hoping that someday maybe I could be part of the church and have and have a name in the church that Jesus would accept me. And so that's kind of like how I lived my life until about 14 years old. The church had a girl that actually had a teenage pregnancy, and we were told, we were told all the kids that were at the church, the teenagers at the church, we were told that we could not have a relationship with her and that we could not speak to her or anything because she chose to have make an adult decision and take on adult responsibility. So we were not to have any kind of relationship with her. And so I ended up leaving that church and I went to this one other church in our town, and I only went there a couple times because it was, you know, the guy wore a robe and it was so formal and things like that. And I continued my wayward life. You know, I thought that I was a girl that nobody was ever going to love unless I was in the backseat of their cars, and I didn't know what love was. I thought that's what love was. And I moved out of my mom's house the day after my 16th birthday because my life was tough at my home. And then my life was also tough at school because I was bullied a lot. We are a very poor family. Plus, as you've noticed, I have a different name, and so that I was made fun of all the time over my name. And I went and I moved in with an uncle that sexually assaulted me over and over again. I finally left there and I moved in with a guy that was in our was in the town of where I grew up. He was a drug dealer in our town. I had no place to go though, so I moved in to his apartment with a friend of mine, and there was a lot of partying going on. I didn't get myself too involved in a lot of drugs. I did for a little while, but nothing really major that made me become addicted because I just didn't like the feel of it. But I remember one night on December 28th, 1986, that my life came crashing down, and I went to the police station, walked across the street to the police station, and the police officers knew who I was because I had family that lived in our town. And he said, What's going on with you, Bambi? And I said, I don't know. And I remember walking out of the out of that um police office, and I walked down to our the bridge in our hometown. And I looked down into the water, and I felt like nobody was ever going to care that I was even alive. I felt like my life was coming to an end. And if I jumped today, it probably would take them weeks and weeks to even notice if I was gone. I felt like I was just a second-class citizen, this, you know, nighttime girlfriend that I had no value in myself. So I went to jump off the bridge to end my life. And that police officer had gotten into his car and fouled me, which I didn't know because I was so out of it. And he grabbed me and threw me into the back of the police car and drove me to a psychiatric center. And that psychiatrist that psychiatric center was actually for adults, and they realized that I was only 16 years of age. And so they drove me to another um, it was a children's psychiatric center, took me there, did some blood work, did a physical, let me go to bed. The next morning the doctor um called me into the office. He had his clipboard, his legs crossed, and he looked at me and he said, Did you know that you were pregnant? Oh wow. And I said, I had no idea. And he said, People like you don't have babies, and we'll make arrangements and we'll give you your options tomorrow. I asked him if I can go into my room and just to have some time to myself, and they usually didn't do that. They didn't allow you that. Once you were out of your room for the day, they locked the the door so that you know they could see who was in the center. But they allowed me to go into my room. And on December 28th, 1986, I fell down to the floor and I surrendered my life to Christ. It wasn't this cutesy thing. I just said, God, I don't know whether you accept people like me. And I don't know whether you would even want me in your family, but I need you and I need you to save me and my baby. And if you do that, I will honor you and I will obey you all the days of my life if you just save me and my baby. So that was my that was my moment of surrender, that was my moment of total despair, of feeling like I didn't know where I was going. But if God was true, then he was going to save me and my baby. And, you know, 28 days after that, I had the pastor that had gone to his church on a couple times, the one that was in a robe, he actually came to the psychiatric center. The police officer went to his house when I went in, and he said, Hey, I just wanted you to know that you know, B is in here, she's gonna need a place to stay. And he said, Well, we'll take her. And so they came 28 days later at that center. They came and they picked me up, and I lived at their house, rented a room in their home for $50 a week, and live there until I actually, you know, marry. I wish I could tell you that, you know, I think that once that people think that once you accept Jesus that everything is going to be perfect, that everything is going to work out. I wish I could tell you that that's what it is. But you know, the Bible's pretty clear that we're going to we're going to deal with suffering in our lives, and we're going to deal with things that are going to take our breath away because it's, you know, the Bible does tell us that seven times we fall, but it's not the falling that really matters. It's the getting back up. It's realizing that God did save me and He did wrap me in the palm of His hands and He did call me His child. And no matter what has happened in my life, no matter what I've been through in my life, I have always surrendered to that. And there were times that it would take me, you know, there would be times that I would want to give up, but I remembered that, I remembered that agreement that I made with God. So some of the times that I chose not to give up wasn't because I was this super, you know, wonderful Christian and I could just hang on to faith and I could just go, praise you, Jesus, praise you, Jesus. I just remembered the vow that I made, the decision that I made, that God, if you save me, you know, I'll I will honor you. So some of the some of the times that I have fallen and and the times that I have cried, you know, there's a song that says, if my pillow could talk, that a girl wrote, and the times that, you know, if my pillow could talk, they would know my my desperation and my despair and and how much I just wanted to serve God, but all of this was all too hard. But it is by the word of our testimony. And I think that when we become saved, so many times we put God in this box, and God says, Don't put me in this box. And sometimes when we get saved, we want to stop sharing what we've been through because you know, we that was already us, you know, once before. But the Bible's pretty clear that it's with the word of our testimony, it's us sharing where we have been, it's us sharing the the depth of the surrender that we've had to go through in our lives, you know, for others to see, you know, that that God is the King of Kings, and all we had to do is call upon Him and to fall, you know, at the at the feet of the cross and hang on for dear life to the hem of His garment.

Israel Caminero: 13:45

Amen. I love that. You're absolutely correct, Bambi. I love the fact that that you were partying and and lost and you went to that police station, and how that police officer actually followed you without you knowing. And you could see where where God's hand was with you even before you knew him personally. You know what I mean?

Bambi Lynn: 14:07

Absolutely. Absolutely. He calls us. You know, he the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 19, he, when Jesus formed us in the palm of his hands and he put destiny, he put purpose, even from the foundations of time, you know, that God called us forth in those moments. You know, our our parents, you know, were they were the incubator for what God had already created, and he had already marked us and he had already called us. And I, you know, I just believe, you know, the Bible's really clear that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God wants none of us to perish, he wants none of us, you know. I think that we, when you think about this whole thing that has happened within, you know, the last week to 10 days into in our country, if it has done anything, it has brought the lion to roar, it is brought forth us to open up our mouths even stronger and to know what where we have been in our faith. And I want I want to lead others to him. I want to be when I get to heaven that he does say, You well and good and faithful servant, and I get to see the people that I don't even know, that I get to see those people, and they say it's because of you, it's because of your life, it's because of your testimony, it's because of your lifestyle, it's because I heard you speak, it's because I listened to a podcast and you were there and I heard the plan of salvation. That's what we should be doing as Christians is that we should be surrendering our lives to Christ and to his mission and to his desires to bring others to Christ. Let's stop, especially as Christians, let's stop dividing each other and let's move over. I did a message, um, I went and I did a revival in Buffalo and I talked about the 99. You know, we always listen to the, you know, the parable of that one, right? You know, that Jesus saw that one. But my question was, how did Jesus see that one and those 99 didn't? You know, how did Jesus see that there was somebody lost, but the 99 didn't? It's because the 99 is not moving over because they have forgotten how they've even got there. They have forgotten what God did in their lives, and they're rejecting that one that Jesus is going after to find. Jesus will go after those and he will bring them in, but we as the 99 have to move over to bring in the ones that people have rejected. That's our responsibility, and that is that should be the calling of each one of our lives. We know what it was to be lost, right? We know what it was like to be blinded, and it's so our responsibility to use our testimony to bring like what Isaiah 61 says that open up the prison gates and let the captive free. When the captive is set free, there's got to be a place for that captive to go. And so, as Christians, we should be bold enough to say, come here, I'll move over for you.

Israel Caminero: 17:23

Wow, that's good for sure. I totally agree with you as far as the 99 and the one. That that's a good analogy that you have there, and I love it.

Bambi Lynn: 17:36

Yeah, we never talk about that. We never talk about the bummer lamb, you know, where does the where if the when the shepherd, you know, heals the bummer lamb, when the shepherd heals the rejected, you know, where do we go? You know, last year I thought about, you know, the movie that came out about the Christmas pageant. And it was all about how these misfits were coming into the church, but the church body didn't want them. The church mother said, wait a minute, I want my child to, you know, be married. I want my child to play this. When the misfits walked in, they felt like, oh, what are they doing? But at the end of the movie, they realized it's the misfits that brought life back into the church because they knew what it was like to be lost. They understood what it was like to be poor and dirty and homeless and drug-infected and prostitutes. And but we as a sometimes as a church body, we forget where we came from. And so we turn away from those misfits. When God is bringing them by by loads, He's bringing them into the kingdom, but there just has to be a place that's right for us to open up our hearts to them.

Israel Caminero: 19:00

Yeah, totally. I mean, you know, people judge people on their looks, on what they wear, and just get this visual of them. I remember one time, I don't know whether I should bring this up or not. I'll I try and keep it as anonymous as I can, but I was at the church and we were doing a function, and someone was asked to go get something from the store, and then another church member kind of looked at me and was like, Is he okay to do that? Just because he looked a little different, you know, he was new to his faith, and I just in my head I'm just thinking, like, what kind of question was that? You know? Like, I could have let my flesh take over, but and and let her know a piece of my mind, but at the same time, it's like we're all God's people here, no matter what you look like, you know.

Bambi Lynn: 20:00

you're new to your faith or if I don't know is you just made me think of that and that happened like years ago many years ago and I think that there's an awakening happen you know now I you know I don't like to talk about and I don't like to talk about politics and things like that because it su so divides us yes but if we could look at what has happened in the last nine days and look at ourselves within the mirror and say hmm could I surrender my life that way like that person did have I given my all is my when somebody asks the question what do I want to be remembered by do I say that I had the cur that I have the courage to serve Jesus Christ those should be the questions that we should be asking and I hope that these past nine days that that is what Christians are are asking you know we're asking those questions we're not wondering how this happened what this happened what what people say about here what people say about here but we're looking in the mirror and we're wondering are we taking people with us that should be our goal as Christians to get to get rid of the politics of everything to get and get down to the nitty gritty what do you want what legacy do you want to lay at the altar of the cross of Jesus what legacy do you want to leave when people think of you what are the first things that they think about you when people think about me what are the first things that people say oh Bambi was this oh Israel was this those are the things that we should be transforming and to becoming more like Christ that way and have a hunger to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ he didn't give us our testimony for us to sit on the sidelines and watch other people do the work he didn't give us he didn't take us from the Maori clay and put us on the potter's wheel for us to sit and do nothing. That's right he didn't take our lives and have our lives be from ashes to beauty for nothing he didn't do it for us to hide our testimonies in a box or hide our voice with within a room of silence he wants us to raise our voices and say I once was lost but now I'm found I once was blind but now I see and I want you to come to heaven with me. You know it's funny today is supposed to be I just read just before I got on here I'm it's supposed to be rapture day or something. I didn't know what that meant and I'm thinking rapture day guys there needs to be a revival of the 99 that are sitting within the church you know we need to if there's a rapture day we need to make sure that we brought enough people and we've shared enough of the gospel for the rapture to take place and our friends and our family and everybody around us that we touch that we were Jesus with skin on that we touch them that they are coming up into the air with us. It's not I think that people are forgetting that the rapture what if that's your theology that you believe the rapture he's coming back for the ones that have surrendered their life to him. So we better be in business we better be in places that we are sharing the gospel to bring others during the rapture let's not get caught up in the rapture let's get caught up in the testimony that we are leaving for people that when they lay their head on their pillow at night that they want to know and they want to have what you have that's what we should be worried about. I read about that today too today's supposed to be rapture day but yeah I didn't know what that meant I'm like okay and then I didn't know what you know I don't I I guess I didn't even understand what um conservative Christians were like people keep throwing in the last nine days people have been throwing around the word you know Christian conservatives you know oh these Christian conservatives these Christian conservatives like it's a bad thing and I didn't understand what that meant I didn't understand that that actually to the world is a negative thing to me I should be a conservative Christian. I should be able to I should be looking at the word of God and and having the word of God direct my path it should be it should be my GPS for my life I should be wanting what Christ wants within the word of God. I should be loving the way that Christ loves I shouldn't be ashamed that I'm a Christian conservative a conservative Christian because conservative just means that I'm I'm just conservat to me conservative means that I'm just I'm just not doing the things of this world. I'm just I'm just a little conservative in what I believe because I I want to line up to the word of God and that they're using it as a negative thing you know today. We need to use it as a positive thing to say thank you thank you and they've gotten a you know I think the world has a distaste of what because they've come up with an idea I I love all people I love all people but that doesn't mean and people love me but that doesn't mean that they agree with everything that I do and that's okay that's what love is that's what family is so we should be rejoicing you know if somebody calls us a a a conservative Christian or Christian conservative yeah I don't I don't participate in you know things in my life because not because I'm perfect but because I just want to shine with Jesus Christ. I just want people to see me with with skin on and I don't want them to have to think hmm is Bambi representing Christ oh Bambi did that she must not be a Christian I don't want to get caught up in that. I just want to get caught up in Jesus and I think that that's what we all should be able to do is to get caught up in Jesus and what Jesus wants in our lives.

Israel Caminero: 26:29

I'm convinced that those who are setting rapture dates are tools of Satan to be honest with you. I mean no man knows the day or the hour that it's going to happen.

Bambi Lynn: 26:40

Absolutely they're they're so concerned about that instead of doing what we're asked to do, which was go and make disciples yeah a 31 year old male died nine days ago I'm sure he thought he was going to live forever and and be on a rocking chair at the end at you know towards the end of his life talking about all that God had done sure he didn't think at 31 years old that his life would be over. Right you know he probably thought you know he was going to live to be a Billy Graham or whatever but our life is but a vapor we do not know the hour nor the time but are you ready? That's right. That's what we should be asking are you ready if Jesus was to come back today as a thief in the night prowling around wondering if he was to look into your house would he see Jesus being represented you know years ago and I think about that so much years ago I you know when I was married I had been married a couple times and my first husband um was a man that I married from the church um but our relationship and our marriage was full of infidelity and I just kept taking him back and taking him back and then finally the marriage had ended and then I married again to somebody that was in the church and two weeks after we got married the hitting started and for eight years our home was a home of domestic violence. And I remember the day that he finally that it was finally over and we had a huge big bay window and I took down those curtains in that bay window because to me those curtains represent bondage and I took down the curtains so when people walked by our house they could see a house that served Christ because for so long I had to hide because there was so much hurt and damage that was happening in our lives. And I just remember that verse in Revelation you know that he is he's like a thief in the night he's looking he's looking around to see who's going to serve him and who's going to reject him and who's going to lift up their hands to him and surrender. And to me that was such a bold thing and I had my curtain I had those curtains off of my that window for two years because it was a sign of freedom to me and it was a sign that Jesus was welcome at all times and I wasn't going to hide from him the bruises and how I felt like our home was was being hypocritical because we would be in church three days a week but yet he would be hitting me you know all the rest of the days.

Israel Caminero: 29:19

I'm sorry to hear that.

Bambi Lynn: 29:21

But God used it.

Israel Caminero: 29:22

He did because look at you now I also want to piggyback from before when you first started your testimony before I forget you know you kept saying that you you were sent to church on Sundays because uh you know obviously you said your parents didn't want you around and all the kids would go. My question is obviously your parents weren't saved back then or maybe they were who or what influenced you the most you know in your early spiritual journey.

Bambi Lynn: 29:56

I would say that there was a family that took me in um well took me because I was a church bus kid and I was one of the kids that would that really that sat up front and wanted to have you know conversation and wanted to hear the word of God and there was a family that took me under their wing and it her and we are such dear friends today. I realize we're only 15 years apart which is you know as a young kid you don't realize that they were they were somebody that took me under their wing you know and different people within that church took me under their wing and then the um the bolsters that I stayed at their house they took me under their wing and I just always felt that that God had that God had a purpose for my life. I didn't understand what that meant and and one thing that I want to tell people you know when you have ministries like that make sure that they're just not ministries. You know make sure that if you're taking on a bus ministry and you're going around the neighborhood you know to pick up these kids that are broken and they've been, you know, they're in poverty they're in homes that are dysfunctional and things like that. And make sure that they're just not a notch in the church's belt to say oh we do this. Make sure it becomes something that is your heart and that you are taking them on even on their birthdays and Christmas and and times in their lives and and checking in on them that it's just not a ministry that you can say oh our church has a bus ministry because I did feel I felt you know that that Jesus that he was picking me up and that they were picking me up and that I could that I could go to church to learn about Jesus but I never felt that Jesus was ever going to accept me because I was a church bus kid. And and some of that is because we were just a ministry we were just a quote unquote ministry. So if I can give any advice to people out there that have that they call these ministries or you know they're doing widow ministries or they're doing unwed um mother ministries turn it not into a ministry but turn it into a calling and a passion that you have for people because you go farther with that because then you meet people for where they're at and you just don't look at them as a ministry if that makes any sense and I don't even know why I said that. So yeah I did have people and throughout my life I've had people you know Titus two women you know in my life that taught me how when I was a young mom, you know I had four children by the age of 22 years old. I had married at 18. My husband adopted my my daughter that was a teenage pregnancy and they you know I had women come into my home to teach me how to keep a house because a home was to represent the wife in Christianity so my your house had to be in order you know the can't your house had to smell really nice we I have a little cupboard where there's always snacks and tea that somebody can stop at my house of the spare of a moment. So I've had people that have poured into me you know that way you know into my life and throughout my life.

Israel Caminero: 33:15

So you gave your life to Christ and how has your relationship with God changed the way you face life challenges today?

Bambi Lynn: 33:23

Well I mean that's why I wrote my first book The Journey of Josephine and this is how God took a broken little girl and he mended my heart you know becoming uh becoming saved takes you on a journey because now you have somebody that loves you unconditionally and you build a relationship with him. And I when I think about salvation you know the Bible tells us that if we we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ thou shalt be saved. And believing is the first step and the rest is relationship. It's kind of like you stand at the altar when you get married and you promise these you promise this person you know your love you promise that you're going to be with them through you know sickness and then health and you promise all of this and then you continue to build the relationship and you do things for that person because you love that person. And that person does things for you because they love you. It's kind of like a yo-yo it's a back and forth and that's our relationship with Christ I my belief and this is just my belief and I believe that scripture um you know does say that but believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is your salvation. The rest is your relationship where he comes in and he wants you to re renew your mind daily he wants you to understand the finished work at the cross he wants you to understand that you're in relationship with him. So he would like he'll begin to start peeling you like an onion you know hey Bambi let's deal with this hey Bambi let's deal with this and that's what my book was The Journey of Josephine was my memoir and my testimony and how God did that and how God took my life and he said hey let's let's work this through let's work this through and and I was willing to do that because I felt safe with him because I had a relationship with Jesus. I didn't just believe which is the first step of salvation but I had a relationship and he took me on a journey and and that was my very first book The Journey of Josephine and then I wrote my second book The Treasures of my heart which was my gift you know to God in the fact that in the midst of all of our storms in our lives there good and bad run on the same track. And when we look at our lives and only look at our lives through the lens of disappointment we only see disappointment. But if we look at our lives that God has had a plan and a purpose for our lives we begin to see treasures that He has placed within the path of our lives and life is like a roller coaster for every single one of us. You know when we are in the valley the valley is where we find rest as the valley is where we find nourishment the valley is where we find the still waters the creeks the streams the lush grass the trees that bring us shade and give us food and nourishment to prepare us to be climbing up the mountain. And as we're climbing up that mountain we are getting bitten alive where our nails are getting dirty our knees are starting to get bruised because we're climbing up this mountain but then we reach the horizon and we see how far God has brought us but what people don't understand that is a cycle over and over again for all of us whether we're saved or we're not we now get to see the horizon but now we have to come back down again and then go through the valley again and then go back up to the mountain but in those in those times in our lives there's so many treasures it's like this the story of um the oyster the oyster has no pearl right in it until it's gone through some pain and still the parasites have come after it until the hurricanes have crashed over it and at the end of life when you open up an oyster you see a beautiful pearl and that's what God's doing for us is that every single storm that we have gone through every single hurricane that we had endured everything single tear that we have cried every single pain that we have endured and and that we brought us into a fetal position he is creating a beautiful pearl that at the end of life we will be able to see what all of this has done for us because he works all things out for good to those who are called according to his purpose. So that was my book The Treasures of my heart was finding the treasures in the midst of the storm and then I wrote I just published in July 4th of this year I just published the book of The God Who sees which is uh which is a book it can be used as a devotional and an inspirational time and it's 33 different women of the Bible that I took their stories and I looked deeper into their stories and I realized that God had a lesson for us as women in in our lives that he had these women tell their stories of tell their stories of their pain and their agony but yet now tell their stories redemption because he knew that women today would need those stories. So I told stories about women that had been sexually assaulted I told a story of women that were in dem were in homes of domestic violence which was Abigail I told the story of a girl that was raped in a blended family which was Tamar you know I told the story of a woman that lost a child but had a rainbow baby you know which was Bathsheba I told the story of a of a mom that had to deal with murder and and a death of a child but yet she still continued and that was Eve you know so I told the stories in a way that I didn't just write them the way that the scripture said it and here's some verses and blah blah blah but I I wrote them in a way that I saw who they were and who we needed how women needed of today I talked about poverty you know I talked about sisters you know I talked about um in-laws you know I talked about military women you know that because Peter was the only disciple that was married and I could imagine I have I have child I have daughters and that have to be on the front line taking care of their their children while their husbands are gone you know in the military and I use the story of Peter And to encourage the women that are standing in the front line taking care of the household while the men are gone. So that is my the book, The God Who Sees. And I could write that book because I had written The Journey of Josephine and I let it all out. And when I got my book, The Journey of Josephine, my very first book, I remember reading it that night, crying like a baby and having God peel me even more. And I closed the book and I looked up to heaven and I said, God, this isn't me anymore. You have done such a work in my life. You have healed me so miraculously. But now I want to find that woman. I want to find that girl. I want to find that person that needs to tell her story. And I want to give her the courage to be able to say that she can share her stories because there is healing through stories. So that is my mission. That is my ministry, is ministering to women and to young girls that there is healing to your story, and your story was not meant to be your death sentence. Your story was not meant to strangle out your life, but your story was meant to be a first aid kit for the people behind you.

Israel Caminero: 41:14

That's right. Your story is your testimony, and it's all for his glory.

Bambi Lynn: 41:21

Amen.

Israel Caminero: 41:22

So the book she just mentioned, The Journey of Josephine, The Treasures of My Heart, and The Book of the God Who Sees. I'll have links to all those in the description of this podcast. If anyone wants to go check those out and support Bambi and read them because I'm sure they're probably good books.

Bambi Lynn: 41:46

Oh, wow. Okay. And I said you didn't have to share them to me beforehand. So your audience, this is a surprise to me too.

Israel Caminero: 41:56

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure the audience already knows the questions, but you don't. You chose not to know.

Bambi Lynn: 42:02

Not to I did choose not to know.

Israel Caminero: 42:04

So my first uh question is simple. It's just what scripture or truth carried you through your turning point? You know, like a life verse that you had while while you were young that carried you through the fire, that you can still look at today and what that scripture is and you know what it means to you.

Bambi Lynn: 42:24

I would say it would have to be Joshua 1 9. Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. And then, you know, the other one, I will walk by faith even though I cannot see, you know, 2 Corinthians 5, 7. So those would be probably my two.

Israel Caminero: 42:46

All right.

Bambi Lynn: 42:46

And what do what exactly comes in seasons, those two, you know, like some really hits you in different seasons of your life.

Israel Caminero: 42:55

Okay. Can you explain to what those scriptures mean to you? I mean, it can mean something totally different to whoever reads it. As you know, the Bible can, you know, you read a scripture one day and it can mean what one thing to you and then read it the next day, and it could be a totally different meaning to you. What do those scriptures completely mean to you?

Bambi Lynn: 43:17

I would say that, you know, Joshua 1.9 to be strong and courageous and don't be afraid or discouraged, is that no matter what you're doing in your life, and no matter what if you think that God has forgotten about you, He hasn't. He is working all things out for good. And he is preparing you to receive that blessing that he has for you. So don't be discouraged in the time of darkness because the light is there. To walk by faith is kind of like the same thing. You know, walking for Jesus is a faith walk. Even when you explain Jesus, you know, to people, you can't ex, you can't tangibly touch him. Like my sons can can tell you who Christ is through history, science, math. I can tell you who Christ is through what he did in me and the passion that he has given to me. So I have you walk by faith that he's got it all taken care of. The Bible tells us that he orders the steps of the righteous and that he goes before us. And we need to believe that he has gone before us. And sometimes that is so difficult. As I see in my own life, you know, this year has been a year, it will be a year, October 14th, that I had lost my job for the Nielsen TV ratings. And I've been on a faith walk ever since. I've been on a walk of wondering, okay, God, do you, you know, are you how are you going to provide that I gone from being plenty to now praying and asking God for my daily bread? But I know that I know that I know that He put a passion and a call into my life to minister to people around me, to go and and speak the truth and to do workshops and things like that. So I have to walk by faith. I have to walk by faith and believe that he hasn't left me, he hasn't forsaken me, he hasn't turned his back on me, and that he does have a plan for me and not to be discouraged.

Israel Caminero: 45:22

Amen. And it's his timing, not ours.

Bambi Lynn: 45:25

Yeah.

Israel Caminero: 45:26

Because we can get fairly impatient sometimes, right?

Bambi Lynn: 45:31

Absolutely.

Israel Caminero: 45:33

All right, that's thank you for those uh verses and answering, you know, what it means to you. Now we're going to my back to the past section of the podcast. And what my back to the past section is, Bambi, if the Bambi of today can travel, well, can go back in time, not travel, and talk to the younger Bambi that was lost, knowing the things you know now, what would you say to her and why?

Bambi Lynn: 45:58

It's funny. Um, on a podcast that I was on, the lady, uh, the woman asks that question.

Israel Caminero: 46:06

Oh, really?

Bambi Lynn: 46:07

She asks you to write a letter to your younger self. She asks you to um to take your younger self, I'm trying to see if I can find it, to take your younger self and to write a letter to her. And I actually wrote a letter to my younger self of saying, thank you for never giving up the sparkle. When everybody in the room wanted you to be quiet, you still came into the room and sparkled the room because that 55-year-old person that I am today needed you so much to never give up. And so I would say that to my younger self, thank you so much that even though your world was upside down, and even though you were hurt as a little girl, and there's so much trauma that was happening around you, I want to thank you for always dancing in a room. I want to thank her for never giving up her sparkle. Because now, as a 55-year-old woman, I am bold when I walk into a room and I not only sparkle, but I leave glitter, you know, everywhere around. And that is because that little girl never gave up.

Israel Caminero: 47:21

That's awesome. That's interesting that uh, you know, another podcast asked you to write a letter and then now I'm asking you to go back in time.

Bambi Lynn: 47:32

You know, yeah, and because some people ask me if I can go back in time and change something, and I and I just I don't like that question. Um, because no, I wouldn't go back in time to change something because that's a it's like a metamorphos. It's you know, like if you go back to change anything, then new new doors open, new roads you've got to climb, you've got to go down, new mountains you have to climb. So there's no sense going back and thinking that I can change something, because if I change something, then some then it's going to be a domino effect that other things are going to change.

Israel Caminero: 48:03

That's right.

Bambi Lynn: 48:03

Um, so I never think about changing anything in my life because everything in my life has brought me to the moment of where I am today that I get to share my testimony, I get to share my story. You know, if I had the privilege and the honor of sharing my stories on over 250 podcasts and sharing them on radio stations and sharing them on live um virtual summits and you know, in front of churches and things like that, that this this life that God gave to me, He prepared me for it. And he prepared me through the pain and the fire and the mountain climbing and the deep dark, darkest times in my life has brought me, you know, to who I am today and what I get to share for the kingdom.

Israel Caminero: 48:57

That's true. I've had people that have answered that way, that they wouldn't change a thing. I think maybe a couple people, more than more than a couple, have answered that way, were exactly what you just said. Like, yeah, I wouldn't change, I wouldn't tell her anything. Or them, you know, them anything, because they they would change the course of you know the the trials and stuff they had to go through.

Bambi Lynn: 49:20

And that's why I look at that question so differently. It's not I'm changing anything, I'm thanking her.

Israel Caminero: 49:27

Yeah. But I just want to say thank you for sharing your testimony and everything you shared with the listeners today, Bambi, and and for taking the time for being here. This is our what fourth, fifth time trying to schedule this.

Bambi Lynn: 49:40

And I just schedule it, yeah.

Israel Caminero: 49:42

Obstacles kept coming in the way for some reason. And like I said, I'll have links to all her books and whatever else she wants to share on the description of the podcast. If you want to go show her some love and some support. Before we close, do you think you could pray for us?

Bambi Lynn: 50:00

Oh my goodness, absolutely. Absolutely. Father God, what an awesome God you are. That we get to serve you, we get to glorify you, we get to lay down our lives before you. I want to thank you, Father God, for choosing me. I want to thank you, Father God, from the foundations of time, that you wrapped all of us and you formed each one of us. You gave us each different DNA and characteristics because you knew the gifts that we would need for the people that we would be ministering to within our fold. I want to pray for each person that listens to this podcast. I want to pray that no weapon formed against them shall prosper. I want to pray for open doors of possibilities in their lives. I want to pray that, Father God, that they believe without a shadow of a doubt that you have ordered their steps and that you have already gone before them, and that when the enemy comes in like a flood, you come in, Father God, and you raise the standard. I just pray that that Israel's audience, Father God, that they would never put the enemy in the driver's seat because he never wants to be a passenger. I just pray that they will surrender their lives, that they would hang on to the hem of your garment, Father God, because you knew the woman and you already, you did not call her by her sickness, but you called her daughter and that you knew the touch. And I just pray that, Father God, that everybody that listens to Israel's um podcast, that they would feel the touch and that Jesus would turn around and say, Who touched me? Because they would know that that touch of desperation and that they would know that touch that of salvation, and that they would know that touch that today is the day of their salvation. I just pray that, Father God, if there is anybody that is listening today that does not know you, I pray that they would reach out. I pray that they would know and believe that you came to set the captive free. That Father God, you promised in your word that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but would have everlasting life, and they would have everlasting life to you. I pray that you would open up favor to Israel's audience, Father God. I pray that they would see and know that it was you, and that you would give them aha moments or God wings in their lives. I pray that, Father God, that they that doors would be open, provision would be there, and that, Father God, that you would supply their daily bread. I pray that, Lord, that if there is ones that do not know you as their savior, I pray that today would be the day of their salvation and that they would surrender their life to you and they would begin the healing journey of building that relationship with you, and that they could trust in you with all their heart, lean not into their own understanding, but in all their ways acknowledge you. And you, Father God, will direct their path. I pray for direction. I pray that, Father God, that that direction will lead to the foot of the cross and that they will lift up their hands and they will surrender, and that as we would lay our head down for the last moment of our lives, that you would welcome us and say, You well and good and faithful servants, because we have served you and we have glorified your name. I pray for this day. I pray that, Lord Jesus, that today that Israel's audience would have aha moments with you, and that they that you would pour out your love and your blessings to them, pressed down, shaken, and running over. In Jesus' name, amen.

Israel Caminero: 53:44

Amen. Amen. Thank you for that powerful prayer, Bambi. And uh once again, thank you for being here and sharing your story.

Bambi Lynn: 53:53

You are so welcome.

Israel Caminero: 53:55

I'm sure there's someone out there that it's gonna impact. And I also want to thank all the listeners for joining me and listening to Bambi's powerful testimony. I pray that her story encourages your faith and it reminds you that no one is too far gone for God's love. Amen. I also want you, you know, if you enjoyed the episode, I'd love for you to follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a review. It not only helps others find these stories, but more importantly, it helps us spread the hope of Jesus and bring glory to God. So until next time, remember, it's your story, but it's also all his glory.