How to Develop a Faith That Actually Lasts, with Brad Church

Many believers start strong in their faith, but struggle to endure through failure, loss, doubt, and long seasons of hardship. What does it take to develop a faith that actually lasts?

In this episode of Living Testimonies, Brad Church shares his journey of walking with Jesus for over 60 years. From childhood faith and seasons of rebellion to addiction, career loss, and deep spiritual struggle, Brad reveals how God preserved his faith and formed endurance through every season of life.

Brad also discusses the message behind his book, The Stranger’s Conflict, and the ongoing battle every believer faces between the sin nature and the spirit’s desire for intimacy with God. This conversation is for anyone who feels spiritually worn out, discouraged, or hungry for a deeper, more resilient walk with Jesus.

If you’re looking to move beyond surface-level belief and build a faith that endures, this episode will encourage and strengthen you.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Links to Connect with Brad Church:

Website

Facebook

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Transcript

Israel Caminero 0:05

Before we jump into today's episode, I just want to take a moment to thank all of you who've been listening, sharing, and supporting the Living Testimonies podcast. Your love, your prayers, and your encouragement truly keep this ministry moving forward. If you haven't already, make sure you like, share, and subscribe so you don't miss any of the powerful stories God is using to touch lives. And if the podcast has blessed you, I want to encourage you this year to share it with just one person who might need hope or encouragement. You never know how God could use that simple step to change a life. My goal for 2026 is simple. To reach hard simple places we haven't reached yet. New communities, new listeners, new people who desperately need to move. With your help, with every year, we can go with ministry for being up with any of what's gonna be. Before we begin, I want to speak quick lesson. Philippines chapter 4. In Christ Jesus. I pray this episode brings you hope, strength, and a fresh reminder of God's faithfulness. Now with heart open and expectations high, let's step into today's story. Welcome back to Living Testimonies. I'm your host, Israel Caminero, and I hope everyone listening is blessed and doing well. If you're walking through death, hard to scroll for healing. My prayer is that today's episode reminds you that God is not finished with your story. Today's guest has walked with Christ over six decades, and his journey includes faith, failure, restoration, endurance, and deep spiritual wisdom. I'm honored to have him here. My guest today is Brad Church, a longtime follower of Jesus and a man passionate about helping believers grow in a deeper, more enduring relationship with Christ. Brad, I'll let you introduce yourself and share your story in your own words.

Brad Church 2:20

Well, thank you, Israel. It's great to be here. I appreciate uh being on today. And uh I've been a believer for a long time. I'm currently married and have adult kids, but no grandkids yet. Our kids are kind of scattered all over the country. And uh, we have three adult kids, and we attend a small church here in the wine country of Oregon and really love where we live and we love what God's doing in our lives and in our church.

Israel Caminero 2:49

Praise God. And he's here to share his testimony. But before we do that, I'd like to pray and say, Father God, thank you for this moment, for this conversation, and for every person listening right now. Lord, we invite your Holy Spirit into this face. Speak through Brad's testimony. Let every word bring encouragement, conviction, healing, wisdom, and hope. May this episode strengthen faith, draw hearts closer to Jesus, and remind listeners that no season is wasted in your hands. We give you all the glory in Jesus' name. Amen. So, Brad, take us back to the beginning. How did your faith in Jesus first start as a child?

Brad Church 3:30

Well, I was about six years old at the time, and it started in the upstairs room in the Methodist church in Jackson City, Oregon, where my mother was teaching a Sunday school class. And back in those days, they used the flannel graph things, you know, characters cut out in flannel and stuck to a board. And she was telling the story about Jesus and how he came to earth and was born of the virgin and was God and he died on the cross for our sins. And and I remember really clearly just at some point during her sharing here is this spark of faith that um was evident in my heart, and that's when I first came to faith in Jesus. Um took me, you know, it's it's interesting that that that that decision point was lost in my memory for many, many years, and and uh it was decades later where I was trying to really think about when did I first come to faith in Jesus? Because looking back over my life at that time, that it it had definite downs and definite ups. And it was just really through reflection that I that I remembered that moment of coming to faith in Christ. And as I look back over the years, I I can see how God's hand has been evident in my life, even though I wasn't always living in obedience and I wasn't always actively pursuing God. I can see from a very, very young age how uh God was shaping my heart and uh turning my heart towards Him to love Him for eternity. And so it's interesting to look back over 60 plus years of faith, and uh, even in those times when I felt like I was condemned and I wasn't walking with God, uh, God was still watching over my life and very much influencing me and moving me and protecting me and and uh growing me into a deeper person.

Israel Caminero 5:36

Amen. So you said your faith sparked at age six, and you're 60 years young. Can you tell us how you saw God's hand and preserving your faith over all these years?

Brad Church 5:52

Yeah, you know, growing up, we didn't really have any strong discipleship programs, you know. My parents, especially my mother, uh, were always diligent of getting us to church on Sunday mornings and during the holidays, you know, we do the advent during Christmas and always talk about Jesus during those special times of year. So there is testimony about the Lord throughout my growing up years, but there wasn't a real discipleship mentoring type of program like we see in many churches today. So when I got into my teen years, we I grew up on a farm, and my brother and sister are both quite a bit older than I am. So by about the age of 12 or 13, I was an only child at home. So during those formative years, not only was I an only child, but we lived out in the country, and it was really difficult for me to get together with friends on a regular basis. You know, a lot of my classmates would walk over to a friend's house after school and hang out. But I usually went home and was home alone for a few hours before my mother got home. And so I really grew up not being socialized very much. And I looking back, I can see where I spent a lot of time. The only person I had to talk to, well, there was two, there was an Irish setter that we had growing up, and then there was God. And there was a lot of times I I recall just talking to God and sharing my heart with God. And it was it was more out of a spiritual prompting than um an intellectual seeking, I guess. It's it's just something that was natural, that's always been natural to me just to talk with God and to be open with God and to just open my life to Him. And I remember putting on popular rock and roll right at the time and and uh singing those love songs to the Lord because I didn't have anybody else to sing them to. And I I really feel like that was that was something that the Holy Spirit used to work into me a spiritual awareness that I wouldn't have otherwise have had growing up. And um just beyond that, you know, like many of us have probably seen the the picture of a beach that has footprints in it, and there's uh there's a few sets of footprints, and then all of a sudden there's one set, and it talks about um why there's only one set of footprints, is because when things got cast, it's it was the Lord that was carrying us. And um, you know, one thing I've learned about the love of God is that God's love is not dependent upon our goodness or even our obedience. He loves us even when we are disobedient.

Israel Caminero 8:52

Right.

Brad Church 8:53

A lot of times when we are in a place of knowing that we're not right with God, we tend to do what Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3 after they sinned. They went and hid in the bushes. And it's interesting if you read that episode, while they're hiding in the bushes, what is God doing? God is calling for them, he's looking for them. And I can see that evident in my life when I've been um in rebellion, God was there. And I I wanna I wanna emphasize a little a little bit or take a second to to talk about my teen years because as I grew up kind of being an outcast in my own mind, I I people knew me because my mother was a as a secretary in the school system, so people knew who I was, but I wasn't one of the popular kids, I wasn't athletic, I wasn't, you know, getting straight A's all the time. And I I felt like a weirdo, right? Which is pretty common for that that age group. So when I became a senior, I started getting involved in drugs. And for the first time, I I felt like I was part of the cool group, right? I found that acceptance that so many people in in that age group, you know, make bad choices, join gangs, you know, get into drugs, do whatever, just for that sense of okay, I'm accepted now, people like me for who I am. And uh I spent about two years partying real hard, the last six months of my senior year in high school, and for a couple of years after that, I parted real hard. And then one morning, uh, I started to feel like my life wasn't really going in a positive direction. Uh and uh one morning in that time between being awake and being asleep, I had this vision that uh I was falling down this what I knew was a bottomless pit. I don't know how I knew, I just knew that I was falling in this bottomless pit and there was no end to it. And every once in a while I'd see a root sticking out of the edges of this dirt wall of this pit, and I'd grab to the root and it would break away and I'd keep falling. And I just the Holy Spirit, I believe in that moment spoke to me and said, You're falling down this bottomless pit, and I'm the only way out. And it was a real turning point in in my life. I was 19 at the time, 18, 19. And uh I started reading in Proverbs and and started praying more. And it wasn't too long after that that God moved me from Eugene, where I was living, up to Portland. I got my first full-time job. Uh, stayed with my brother and sister-in-law for a few months and then got my own apartment and was on my own. And through the influence of some friends, started going to uh Foursquare Church in Portland. And um on August 22nd of 1977, I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the basement of that church with the pastor. And somewhere between then and um probably within a year after that, I had another vision. And in that vision, I was up above the ground and I was looking down, and there was this hole in the ground, you know, about the size of a good-sized well, and all around the top of this hole were were decaying bodies and and masks that you'd see in demon worship and just all kinds of corruption and decay. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me and he said, That's the pit you are following in, and I pulled you out. And that season of my life was a real turning point. And from there I felt called to go to Bible college. So I moved from uh in 1980, I moved from Portland to Los Angeles and attended Bible college. Uh took me five years to get my degree, but I finished. And uh one of the things that led up to Bible college is um in April of 1980, I went uh down to Los Angeles. The Force Work Adventure had what they called a uh Congress on Destiny. It was a focus on young people that year. And um I was standing on the on the roof of Life Bible College down there looking out over Los Angeles one night, and just really sensed that God was calling me to come down there and go to school. So from April to September, I prepared to go to school and and went down there and and uh just it was really uh a leap of faith. I I spent a lot of time in prayer about it because I was leaving a really good full-time job in electronics to move down to Los Angeles where I didn't have a job and I didn't even know where I was going to live. But every time I questioned God about that, he just said trust me. And so I did. And I showed up at the the student union or the office of the dean of students down there, the student services office, and uh I said, Well, here I am. And uh within 24 hours, I had an apartment with two roommates and a job at the school in the A V department. Um so God just, you know, it was definitely God. It's one of those, you know, sometimes God gives us these experiences in our lives that that we can look back to and we can say, yeah, I God moved in my life at that time, and you know, might now might be pretty tough, but I know God moved in my life at that time, and I know who He is, and you know, I can move forward from there.

Israel Caminero 15:06

That's right. So I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. You said you drifted into drugs back like when you were 18 and 19 and alcohol and all that lifestyle. Even while you were in that lifestyle, did you feel God pursuing you even then? I think there was always an awareness of it, of God.

Brad Church 15:28

And I kept running into these people who loved God. You know, there was one young woman who was a neighbor of mine and a classmate of mine in high school. And you know, I ran into her at a party one time. She wasn't drinking or anything, but uh, you know, it's still just seeing her and knowing what her orientation was. And then there was uh another young woman uh named Mary. I think she was going through some confusing times. I think she was a year or so younger than me, and she's actually the one that encouraged me to start going to the Four Square Church once I moved up to Portland. Her aunt and uncle went there. Don't know where she is today, but if she happens to hear this, thank you, Mary. You were instrumental in getting me on the right path. Um so it's, you know, God kept bringing these people into my life that pointed me in a different direction. And really, I I I think I I turned to drugs for the acceptance part, and just because I was directionless. I didn't know what else to do. And having a good time seemed like a good thing to do at the time.

Israel Caminero 16:33

Okay. Because uh I'm sure during those moments it made you understand God's power, right? Mm-hmm.

Brad Church 16:43

Yeah, and you know, it was it was the time in my life where I I think for the most part my faith was the faith of my parents and not really based as much on my own personal experience with God. Yes, I had the experience when I was six, and I'd had those times where I had experienced something what I now understand was the presence of God when I was worshiping and you know, growing up. But as far as seeing God deliver me out of trouble, I had seen that life was actually fairly easy growing up in those ways. There wasn't a lot of need. And it's interesting, I think when when anyone gets comfortable, it's really hard to see our need for the for the Lord. And what's the first thing that Jesus said in the Beatitudes? Is blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who recognize their spiritual poverty. And until we recognize our spiritual poverty, we really don't have much of a felt need for God.

Israel Caminero 17:47

That's right. Beatitudes, you gotta love them. Yeah, definitely.

Brad Church 17:53

So, you know, I think I think when we're wavered like that, I I think God gives us some leeway to get to that point of desperation. I mean, you see that in the story of the prodigal son, right? I mean, he felt like he had an inheritance coming and everything was hunky-dory and rosy until his friends helped him spend all of his money and he ended up slopping pigs and realized how far he had fallen. And um, he recognized that that he was in the wrong and that he was destitute and needed his father. I'm sure it grieves the heart of God at times, but he allows us that room to get to that point of spiritual desperation.

Israel Caminero 18:35

That's right. He allows us free will, you know, he doesn't stop us, but but he is waiting for us with open arms. Absolutely.

Brad Church 18:44

Yeah. So I got a pastor friend who says we can take a thousand steps away from God, but it only takes one step to turn around to find him.

Israel Caminero 18:52

Amen. That's so true. Because he never leaves us. We, you know, sometimes we backslide and leave him. And then it's that condemnation that falls on us that we feel horrible and convicted, but he's not the one convicting us, it's the devil that's convicting us. Right. Trying to keep us at bay. He's like waiting for us with open arms, like I said. Absolutely. So your marriage journey included deep challenges. How did God use those painful seasons to humble and shape you?

Brad Church 19:30

I'm divorced, and uh, the first marriage started out really well, you know, young, um, naive, uh, in love. And uh we were married for 19 years. My wife had some mental health issues, which I think contributed to it. But after Bible college, I I went into a trade. I didn't go into full-time ministry. I just felt like I wasn't, I wasn't prepared, I wasn't in the right place for it. And uh so I went into secular work and ended up uh in a machinist industry for about 10 years. And the last two years of that, a friend of mine from college and I uh started our own business. And I poured myself into that business. Anyone who's out there who's who's ever been self-employed understands that you know it can become your identity. And even what what we, especially men, what we do for work can become our identity. And I poured myself into that business. And after about two years, two and a half years, all of the work in that industry transitioned to Taiwan in the period of about six months, and we lost our business. We not only lost our business, but we lost everything financially. And um, for me, it was uh I lost who I was because that business had become my identity and and my hope for the future and my source, actually. I I think, you know, in in some ways that it had become an idol, right? Right. So it put me in a tailspin for uh way too long. It was probably about seven or eight years. So that was definitely a contributing factor to the end of our marriage. And I I don't think my wife with her mental health issues, which which weren't really actively evident, but they were kind of under the surface. So that when she experienced the the trauma of losing her business, and then a a close mentor of hers passed away, and then her father passed away, uh, it just exacerbated her mental health issues, and we ended up getting divorced. Anyone who's ever been through a divorce can probably relate to this, but it's really, especially for a believer, it it's really an experience, it's a death experience, you know. There's there's this this spiritual connection that dies, and it was really painful, and it was really hard. And my ex-wife's mental health uh had deteriorated to a point that she would not let me see our daughter. That's a huge long story that probably doesn't need to be told here, but there was just some deep, deep times of crying out to God, asking why is all of this happening? What am I supposed to do? I learned in that process that God can handle our anger, God can handle our frustration, God can handle our lack of understanding. Because in those moments I would be praying and asking those questions, and what I would hear in my spirit was just a very simple, I love you. And when I let that sink in and understand that I'm going through this chaos that I never expected, that I that I never thought could happen, let alone would happen. What God is saying is, I love you. And knowing that the God of the universe who created everything says I love you in times like that, can you you can respond, I think I guess in two ways. You can you can say that's it, that's all you're gonna do, that's all you're gonna say, or you can let that reality sink in and realize that because he loves you, he's got you. And whatever you're going through, it's all stuff that God can fix. There's nothing that that he is too big for him, you know, there's nothing that surprises him. And I I experienced that in those moments, and about a year and a few months, you know, sorry, about six months uh after my wife and I got divorced. Um, I had not been to church for several years just because of the pain. And um just to kind of let you know where my head was during those times. I I would one of the phrases that would frequently run through my head is I feel about as useful as decaying worm dung in the forest. And that's just my sense of worth, my sense of value at that time was just a rock bottom. And it was there for for several years. But about six months after my wife and I got divorced, I saw an ad on late-night TV for a church that was starting up in a in a town not far from me. And by this time I was back in in the Portland, Oregon area, in southwest of Portland. The the it was starting in a local movie theater on Sunday mornings, and the pastors were pastors that I had met about 30 years before, back in uh northeast Portland when I was going to church there, or I guess it was 25 years before. And um they wouldn't have known me from Adam, but I remembered them, and so that kind of stuck in my head, and a few weeks later I got up on a Sunday morning and I said, Lord, I I would really like to just go to church and worship you because I I miss being in your presence and I miss worshiping you. And I I just I want to go, but I don't want to go to church and have some zealous evangelist come up to me and say, Hey, you're living in sin, you need to get right with God, you need to come to church. And I said to God, I'd love to go to church and worship you, but I don't want to get nailed by somebody like that. So I ended up going to church that morning, and the pastor was talking about just some basic concepts of what we believe as followers of Jesus, right? He says, I want I want to I want to send you home with something today as a reminder of what we talked about this morning. And he had the ashers pass around in these baskets, and he said, I want everybody here to take one of the items out of that basket that's in there. And I had to smile when I looked down into the basket because what I pulled out was a six-inch nail. So I had told God I didn't want to go to church and get nailed, but God made sure I came home with a nail, and that nail hangs up on the wall above my desk, and I see it every day, and it's a reminder for me of how God was with me through all of those challenges and trials and failures and sinful times and wrong attitudes, he was with me while I slopped around in the pig's lab. He was waiting. And when I decided it was time to turn, he was there.

Israel Caminero 27:02

Amen. So looking back now, after you've said all this, what do you believe God was forming in you during those years?

Brad Church 27:12

Well, he broke me. I was kind of a smart aleck and not very empathetic, not very compassionate, very self-focused. He broke all that. Maybe not all of it, but a little bit of it, right? None of us are perfect yet. So I've still got some of that.

Israel Caminero 27:29

If we were perfect, we wouldn't need God, right? Right, yeah, yeah.

Brad Church 27:34

But he broke a lot of that. And and I think, you know, he's he's really brought me to a point where now, perhaps in these latter years of my life, he can use me to minister to people. Um, whereas before it wouldn't have been about ministering to people, you know, and and I I've got a lot more empathy for people. You know, I shared before we got on here about um where Paul talks about because we've received the comfort of Christ, we're able to comfort others who are currently suffering. And I really see that. And I've seen it in the lives of other people that have gone through really challenging times, is that God brings us through those times. And one of the blessings of having endured those times is that when we encounter people in our lives that are that that need that encouragement that we've gotten from the Lord, then we can help them too. That's right. And I see that has been a real blessing. I would not want to go through any of those trials again, but it's kind of like the silver lining on a dark cloud that God allows us to participate with Him and encouraging other people and building them up.

Israel Caminero 28:47

Yeah. I mean, when people go through trials and other people see them the way they react. I mean, we're walking, living testimonies.

Brad Church 28:58

Absolutely.

Israel Caminero 28:59

Yeah. I want to touch base on your book and what inspired you to write The Stranger's Conflict?

Brad Church 29:07

Well, I first wanted to write a book when I was 19 and read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. And uh I thought, boy, I would love to be able to write like that someday. And and I don't claim to be anywhere near that level of you know essence in the craft of writing. Um, but that's where the the desire to write a book was birthed back when I was 19. Um, and then about 13 years ago, so many years I've had that desire has popped up from time to time, and I've always thought, well, what do I know enough about to write about? Right. And I've been in business, and I thought, well, maybe I could write a business book. But about 12 or 13 years ago, 13 years ago, I guess now was talking with some friends and and just uh was at a point where I was asking questions about faith, and and uh just really felt inspired that you know, hey, maybe this is something that I can write about. And as I was studying scripture and and just you know looking at what Paul says, how we're to deal with our sinful nature, he says we're to we're to crucify the sinful nature, we're to put to death the deeds of the body. And the question arose, well, well, in practical terms, how do we do that? And so it was really out of finding an answer to that question that I I realized there's this inner conflict going on. Even though we're saved, positionally, we're we are as saved as we'll ever be. We are joined with Christ, we are united with Christ. When this body passes away, our our salvation will be complete and we'll have a body like Jesus had after his resurrection, but we live in this in-between time that the Bible refers to as us being sanctified or being changed from glory to glory. And it's in this in-between time that we have this inner conflict between a sin nature that remains embedded in our physical being and the working of God who has come into our lives through faith in Jesus and is working to conform us to the image of Christ. And scripture says that the sin nature desires everything that's contrary to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives, and so you and I are stuck in this in this pull between our sin nature and the working of the Holy Spirit, and it's our choices that determine which way we're gonna go in any given circumstance, right? And so it was really just wanting to understand that conflict and how we can live victoriously in Christ in despite the conflict, right? Because that that sin nature pulled is always going to be there until our physical body dies, and then we'll be free of it. Right. But and the and the Holy Spirit is not going to give up on us. And even when we're in our worst moments, he's working to draw us to the Father. And so, you know, we've given a lot of studying the Bible and contemplating on it, praying about it, and just really going into in the book. I go into why that conflict exists in the first place. Uh, it started with how God created us. It's that's the foundation of why that conflict exists, because he created us to to relate to a physical world and to relate with him on a spiritual basis. And when Adam Eve sinned, you know, that that spiritual union with God was was broken. And sin nature became corrupt. You know, and that corruption entered the human race. And now through faith in Jesus, we have the opportunity to be redeemed and filled with his spirit, and eventually uh we see the fullness of the salvation that he has for every human being who makes the choice to follow Christ.

Israel Caminero 33:02

Amen. I like that. And I'll have links to that book on the description of this episode and any other link that he might want me to share. There will be links on the description of this episode for everyone listening. If you want to go read that book and show him some support, I always try to support my guest. So if someone listening feels like they're losing the internal battle, what encouragement would you give them?

Brad Church 33:33

Well, I would say, you know, whenever we feel that way, I I think we tend to do what Adam and Eve did. We hide because we feel like we're not good enough to bring those things to God. We feel like we have to fix ourselves. Right? It's it's like if I'm gonna go to church, I've got to put on my Sunday vest. That's how I grew up. And so there's this sense that in order to go to God, I've got to be okay, right? I can't come to God with my dirty laundry, so to speak. And yet that's what God wants us to do. He wants to take care of our dirty laundry because he knows it's too big for us. He knows we don't have a washing machine that's good enough to clean it. So if you're in a point where you're struggling with feeling like God can't accept you the way you are, or you're just not good enough, or you've messed up too much in life. I gotta say, I believe that's a lie from Satan. He's trying to keep you from your inheritance. What you can do with confidence is you can bring your worst self to God in humility and just lay it before him because he loves you enough to have died on the cross for you. And if you're a believer out there and you're feeling shame and you're feeling guilt and you're feeling like an outcast, Jesus already died for you. And if while you were a sinner, Romans 5 says this, while you are a sinner, Christ died for you. How much more is God willing to do for you now that you are a person of faith in him? That's right. There's nothing in your life that God cannot handle. There's nothing in your life that God will condemn you for. He might convict you, but Satan condemns.

Israel Caminero 35:22

Yep.

Brad Church 35:23

God convicts because the goal of conviction is repentance and change and glorification.

Israel Caminero 35:30

Amen. Amen.

Brad Church 35:32

The point of condemnation is to keep us separated from God.

Israel Caminero 35:36

And people sometimes forget, he already knows.

Brad Church 35:40

Absolutely.

Israel Caminero 35:41

You know, they try and hide and all this stuff, but he already knows what you're going through. Yep. Absolutely. So, Brad, I I've heard you say a lot of scripture. And when you're having a difficult day, or even not having a difficult day, is there a life verse or a scripture that carries you or brings you peace? Tell us what what that verse is and what it means to you.

Brad Church 36:08

Yeah, there's there's a lot of psalms that help. I've got this habit recently of just reading one psalm every day, except for Psalm 119. I broke that one up into 25 days. But uh I try to read one psalm every day, and and while they're not all comforting, they all point to the Lord, and many of them, about almost half of them, were written by by David. And you know, David was uh a man who was real. You know, he he went through suffering, he went through sin, he went through unjust persecution, and he wrote psalms about it, calling on God for help, just laying his life bare before God and praising and worshiping God. So the Psalms of David helped me a lot. I guess if I have a life verse, it would be Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 that says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, know him, and he will direct your paths. And along with that, you know, there's some really good worship songs out there. I know one of the more recent challenging times that I've gone through, I heard Chris Tonlin's uh song Sovereign that talks about no matter no matter what comes my way, I I know I can trust God in the deepest depths of my pain, you're there. In the highest heights of my joy, you're there. Um, it's just it was a song that that really gave me a lot of encouragement in some down high. So if anybody's experiencing those kinds of times, I I would suggest just finding a half a dozen of those kind of songs out there. And uh I I had about 15 of them on a loop, and I plan on going back and forth to work and just sitting in a car. So along with that, I guess I'd say worshiping the Lord in those times, despite you know, circumstances maybe not being what you expect or really hard times. God is unchanged. Um, regardless of our circumstances, he is worthy of our praise. And just living a life of gratitude and and sincere praise to him might not change our circumstances right away, but it will give us the strength to persevere and to walk through those times.

Israel Caminero 38:25

Amen. You know, that proverbs that you said, I've learned that trusting God isn't about understanding the whole plan, it's about knowing the one who holds it. That's right. Yeah. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah. But now we're going to my back to the past segment of the podcast. And what my back to the past segment is if you could go back and speak to your younger self, the young man who felt like an outsider, who struggled with identity, addiction, fear, and uncertainty, what would you tell him that you know now that you didn't know then?

Brad Church 39:01

Oh, you know, I'd probably tell him the verse in Proverbs I just quoted. You know, um, you're gonna come into some times where you don't understand what's going on, but trust God. He's got a plan. You're gonna come into times where you feel utterly like a failure, but don't despair because God is with you. And God will use everything you experience the good, the bad, the ugly, to benefit you ultimately. And remember that your life is not just about the 60, 70, 80, 90 years that you live on this planet, but God has a plan for your eternity, not just here.

Israel Caminero 39:47

Amen. So, Brad, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to be here and sharing your testimony again to all the listeners. I will have links of his book and every other social media or website, whatever he needs me to share on the description of the podcast. I urge you to go show him some love. But before we close, Brad, would you pray over us and the listeners? Absolutely.

Brad Church 40:13

Yep. Father God, we come to you in Jesus' name and just thank you for the marvel of technology where we can reach people from across the country and around the world and with your message and the hope of relationship with you. And I just pray for each one listening today, Lord God, that that you would just fill them with your spirit, fill them with your comfort, uh, encourage their hearts today for the things that they they are walking through. If they're walking through joyful times, Lord, then help them to praise you and glorify you and just enjoy those times. And if they're in the depths of how dark this life can be, Lord, then I pray, God, that you would bring light into their situation, that you would bring a peace that they cannot understand intellectually, that doesn't make sense to them, but that they experience it anyway, and that wherever each of our listener is today, God, help them to know your presence. Help them to know that that you love them right where they are, and regardless of whether in hard times or good times, Lord, that they can turn to you and you will be with them. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Israel Caminero 41:26

Amen. Amen. Brad, thank you so much for sharing your journey, your wisdom, and your testimony. Your story is a reminder that God is faithful across generations and that a lifelong walk with Jesus truly matters. We appreciate you, and we're grateful for your obedience and your heart for God's people.

Brad Church 41:44

Well, thank you for having me on your space. Appreciate that.

Israel Caminero 41:49

And to all the listeners, if this episode blessed you, share it with someone who needs encouragement. Make sure to like, subscribe, and leave a review and help us spread the stories that point people to Jesus. And remember, your story matters, your pain has purpose, and your testimony can bring hope. This is Israel Camonero, and you're listening to Living Testimonies. Your story is glory. Until next time, stay faithful, stay encouraged, and stay close to Jesus.