Ep 31 When the Unthinkable Happens: Lynne’s Story of Faith in Estrangement

In this heart-to-heart episode, I sit down with Lynne Berry as she shares her emotional journey through estrangement. Lynne opens up about the moment she found out her son had moved out of the country—something she didn’t even know was happening—and the wave of shock, confusion, and grief that followed.

She talks honestly about the misunderstandings that were never cleared up, the ache of being separated from her son and granddaughter, and the layers of emotion that come with trying to make sense of something so heavy. But woven through all of it is Lynne’s faith. Her willingness to grow, seek counsel, and stay rooted in prayer is such a powerful reminder of God’s presence in our hardest seasons.

You’ll also hear how the community—Between Hope and Heartbreak—has held her, encouraged her, and helped her keep going when she felt alone. Lynne’s story will speak to any mom walking this road, offering comfort, encouragement, and the reminder that hope is still alive, even here.

Join us for a real, tender, faith-filled conversation about navigating estrangement while still choosing love, healing, and forgiveness.

00:00 A Shocking Revelation
00:20 Introducing Lynne Barry
01:34 Lynne's Estrangement Journey Begins
03:16 The Impact on Family Dynamics
04:42 Navigating Faith and Relationships
07:30 Coping with the Pain of Estrangement
10:28 A Mother's Resilience
14:48 Reflections on Misunderstandings
16:26 A Letter and Counseling
17:33 Navigating Communication Challenges
19:57 The Emotional Toll of Estrangement
22:35 Finding Hope and Faith
27:03 Community Support and Prayer
30:13 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

I found out that my son was moving out of the country with his family, and I had absolutely no idea. I found out the day before they were leaving, and I texted him and I was like, please, can, I just found this out? Can I please just see you and say goodbye? And I didn't get a response, so I didn't, there was no goodbye.

Nicole: 0:20

Okay guys, we're back. We're with Lynn. I'm so excited. Lynn and I met, she was the first person who ever joined when I started my online community between Hope and Heartbreak. She was the first person who ever joined and I cried when she joined because I was super nervous to start the community and it felt so uncomfortable. When she joined, I was like, oh my gosh. Here we go. God asked me to step out in this way. And I did. And then she joined and I was like, okay, here we go. And I've grown to really appreciate her and her story and she offers me feedback and encouragement and perspective, and she's very vulnerable in our Zoom calls. Her story, I feel is very impactful. I asked her to share her story with you guys today because I really do feel like it will be so encouraging and helpful for somebody else walking through this journey of estrangement, just because the way she's navigated it with such grace and how she. Has done work and how she seeks the Lord and how she honors the Lord, and how just her posture and her attitude, is inspiring. And I know you guys are gonna be encouraged. I'll also say this is the first person I've had on the podcast. I've never interviewed anyone before. It is gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. Okay. So Lynn, introduce yourself. Share a little bit about you, your family, when estrangement started for you.

Lynne: 1:40

I'm Lynn Barry, i've got three adult children. I've been divorced, and I'm now remarried for the last four years. And, estrangement affected it, it first came back into my life about two years ago. It'll be two years this month, with my oldest son. He asked, uh, to sit down and talk to me. He read me this really long letter. With a lot of interest. I, I, to me, it, at the time, it felt like there were just kinda not really big things, nothing really big that we couldn't work through. And, he read it to me, asked if I had any questions, and I was stunned. Mm-hmm. I was kinda speechless. I just, I was shocked. I was like, wait, this is, this is a bad dream. I can't believe this is happening to me. And, I think. God just kept my mouth shut for a reason and I just listened. And then I left his house and, obviously really grieved that, didn't feel real. And, he just said he needed to heal and wanted to take this break from me. Did not know how long it was gonna be. So don't ask. This was about. Six weeks before his first child was gonna be born, my first granddaughter. I think that added to the, to the, the devastation for me. Mm-hmm. I was allowed to come and see his daughter when she was born. It was about a month later, and I was there, it was very awkward. I was there for 30 minutes, held her, uh, that was it. And I left. I have not seen them since

Nicole: 3:16

Was he in, like, when he had this letter prepared, was he in therapy or counseling?

Lynne: 3:21

No, not that I'm aware of. Okay. Uh, when, kind of backtrack, when we went, when I went through the divorce with their dad, I really encouraged my kids to get into counseling. They were teenagers, they were absolutely, Nope, I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna talk to a stranger. So I didn't push it. And, and where I live, they have to give consent by the age of 13. They can make the decision. Mm-hmm. I couldn't, I couldn't make them go. Mm-hmm. So, as far as I know, he hasn't even to this day, I did, at the end of our conversation when we read the letter, I offered to go with him.

Nicole: 3:54

Mm-hmm. Like,

Lynne: 3:55

I'll go to you with you to counseling, like whatever, counselor you pick, it doesn't have to be mine. And I'll go and let's, you know, work through this. And he just said, okay, thanks. And that was it. But no follow through on that.

Nicole: 4:08

Had he, shared any of these things that he shared in the letter prior to that experience over that conversation with you before?

Lynne: 4:16

No, he hadn't. It just felt like a bunch of things that if they were. Discussed in the moment or when they happened? We really could have worked through'em. I would've been aware. But no, um, a lot of it, a lot of'em were misunderstandings in my opinion. Yeah. Maybe they were bigger to him. I don't know. They were just, I think my intent was misunderstood.

Nicole: 4:39

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 4:40

And he thought, I think it was different. I mean, another piece added to this that, before he asked for this break from me, he, he was raised in a Christian home. His dad was a pastor as well. And he kind went through this journey. It was back in like October of 2021. So, I guess a couple of years before. Mm-hmm. He asked for this break. Yeah, he wrote me this big long letter again, like 30 pages, and he ba he basically decided to change, uh, his faith and beliefs, and, decided to become a, a Muslim.

Nicole: 5:17

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 5:18

And I was like, okay. That was shocking, but um, I was like, it doesn't change anything. You're my son. I love you. Mm-hmm. We can disagree on our beliefs. It didn't change anything, but I. Looking back, I feel like that's when he started to slowly kind of distance himself from me.

Nicole: 5:35

Did he distance him distance himself from anybody else in the family?

Lynne: 5:39

No.

Nicole: 5:40

Okay. And his dad either.

Lynne: 5:42

His dad. That was, that's a, that's a whole long story. He initially didn't talk to his dad for about, I wanna say close to 10 years. Okay. So he was 16 when we divorced and he didn't want anything to do with him, didn't wanna talk to him. And then he eventually, I think around the time of his changing his beliefs, religious beliefs, he started to have some contact with his dad, talking with him, seeing him a little bit here and there, holidays., But before that, no, it was a good 10 years. Okay. And he was in contact with his brother and his sister? So that was, yeah, as far as I know, yeah. He didn't distance himself from anyone else in the immediate family.

Nicole: 6:28

Can you share a little bit about how your other kids responded to,'cause it's something we hear a lot like in our community and other moms just walking through estrangement of, you know, how the siblings responded and how, like, do they agree, do they disagree? And just the posture in which they took. And I think that there's a lot of, there's a lot of moms w. Who I hear, I ask, I get asked the question a lot, like, how do other siblings handle it? And I feel like I can't always speak to that because my kids are so much younger than my daughter. I feel like most kids that most sibling relationships are talking about are adults. And I feel like I. Sometimes I, I don't know if I have enough to add to that because my boys are 16, 13, and 12. So their response to not seeing their sister is far different. And for our situation, she cut, she cut the siblings out as well. She cut everybody out. Mm-hmm. And so I'm just curious, like what's your take on how the siblings have responded and what you've experienced with that dynamic?

Lynne: 7:30

Right. Yeah. So actually when he asked me to come in to his house and read this letter to me, both my, my daughter and my other son were there as well. Mm-hmm. He wanted them to be there. I had asked him, I was like, look, I, if this is between you and I, I would rather it be between you and I. And he said, no, I want them there. So they were there for everything. My daughter. Pretty much I felt like sided with him and was like, yeah, you just need to go work on yourself mom, and take the time and, hear what we're saying. And, and then my youngest son was more middle of the road. He didn't say a whole lot. There was just like one thing that he shared with me and I was like, fair enough. After the conversation there at my oldest son's house. My youngest son and I then eventually, he came over and we talked through everything like a couple days later and I was like, I don't want this, you know, what's happening here to happen with us. And, um, we worked through things and everything was fine. And you know, to this day I have a, I have a good relationship with him.

Nicole: 8:36

Yeah.

Lynne: 8:37

But, but they, how my, how, how they kind of responded to the whole thing. They didn't. I felt like they really kinda leaned towards taking their brother's side. They didn't wanna really betray him.

Nicole: 8:51

Yeah.

Lynne: 8:51

So to kind of add to the story, even though it's, it's gonna be about two years, about what, what, four, four or five months ago, this past July, kind of to put a little wrinkle into the whole estrangement thing. I found out that, completely by mistake. It's kind of crazy. It was a God thing, that someone came to me that was aware of the fact that, that my son was moving out of the country

Nicole: 9:18

mm-hmm. With

Lynne: 9:19

his family and I had absolutely no idea. However, my two other kids knew and never told me. So I found out the day before they were leaving and I texted him and I was like, please, can I just found this out, can I please, can I please just see you and say goodbye? And I didn't get a response, so I didn't, there was no goodbye. Yeah. Um, I was, I was pretty devastated. It kind of, I had come, you know, a year and a half into it. I had, you know, done a lot of work and I was like, really at peace about it. And that kind of like set me back a little bit.

Nicole: 9:53

Yeah, for sure.

Lynne: 9:54

The anxiety was just overwhelming for me. Uh, I don't know, for like a couple days I was like, I was a mess. Yeah. I was like, how am I gonna function? Yeah. Yeah. And so, uh, it was just so real. But, I called my youngest son to ask him about all this and he said, yeah, they're, they're moving. And I, had a conversation with my daughter too, and you know, initially I was kind of hurt. Hmm. By that I was like, man, but, and my daughter outright said, well, I didn't wanna betray my, my brother Yeah. And ruin my relationship with him. And really, after I got through that,, for several days, I was like, God just really spoke to me. And he's like, look, it's so important, and it is so important to me that my children have a good relationship.

Nicole: 10:43

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 10:44

And if it meant that they had to do that. I'm okay. I'm, I, initially it was hard, but I'm, I'm okay with it now because, I think that my son, oldest son put them both in a really, really difficult situation.

Nicole: 11:00

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 11:00

I don't want, like I said, I don't want their relationship to be damaged.

Nicole: 11:06

I just admire this part of, there's so many different aspects of your story that I really admire, but. I'm not gonna lie, the first time that you told me that or told our group that I, I was, I, I was shocked. I'm, I applaud you and I think it really is a testament to your relationship with the Lord and how you handled that. It would be so easy to be so bitter and to be so angry and. You didn't take that posture. I mean, yes, you're saying you had a hard couple days and like you had to, you're a human being like you had to go through. Yeah. But the posture that you've continued to take in it and not allowing bitterness and anger and frustration to continue to divide your family is so incredible. Lynn, like I thank you. It truly is such an example to me.'cause I don't, I don't know how I would respond. And you have responded so kindly and so Christ-like, I feel like, I feel like that's how everyone, all of us would hope to respond, but I don't know that I would. Thank you. Thank you, Nicole. For me, it's

Lynne: 12:07

like, it's, it's literally a daily thing.

Nicole: 12:10

Mm-hmm. For

Lynne: 12:10

me, I have to day, I just, I daily as my prayer, God, don't let any bitterness

Nicole: 12:15

mm-hmm.

Lynne: 12:16

Or anger get a root in my heart and mm-hmm. I, it's daily, it's a daily surrender. Mm-hmm. I'm not, I would be lying if I didn't say like, it's, it can be a battle. I know that say he just is like, you know, shooting stuff at me. I can't believe he did that to you. Like, aren't you mad about, you know, and I'm like, no, no, I'm not gonna let, let that get a root in my heart. I'm, I, I choose to forgive. It's hard. It, it, it's a daily battle.

Nicole: 12:42

Yeah. I think that you, the way you handled it with the siblings is very admirable. I agree with your perspective. He put them in a really unfortunate situation. And if, again, the fact that you, you can see that and empathize with them and also focus on your end goal, I want them to be close. Mm-hmm. And that, that, if, that means that I have. To take the hit or take the sacrifice. I'll do that.'cause I want that for them in the end. Um, and he put them in a hard situation, but that's okay. I'll take the hit. And I just, I really, yeah, it's really amazing. So I assume they're still all, they still all have relationship with him to, to the, well, I guess you don't probably don't know currently if they do. Um,

Lynne: 13:20

I, I don't ask a lot for the various reason. Like, I don't want to put them in a bad. Position at all. A hundred percent at all. Yeah. And, so, you know, I hear bits and pieces. Like I know they had a big Zoom call like in the last week mm-hmm. And their dad was involved in it. You know, and I was, and I was the only one that wasn't, but that's okay. Mm-hmm. Ultimately, I know like for them to figure out, like with their dad how to have a healthy relationship with him, that's, that's more important to me. And

Nicole: 13:53

I feel like there's so many times in estrangement when we're walking it well that our pride is like, oh no, we're just gonna swallow that. And the Lord, like, really? There's so much humility

Lynne: 14:06

in it. Yeah. It was definitely a, a pride swallow. Man, you feel left out. Like, what's, what's so wrong with me? Yeah. I'm the one that was here with you when your dad took off. Right. You know, but Yeah. Yeah. But it's, yeah. It's definitely the whole estrangement thing has been very, humbling. Mm-hmm. Very humbling. Um, I never thought this would be something that would touch my life, ever. Right. I, I'm, you know, I'm not an addict. I'm not abusive, like Right. I was like, I think, I think I was a pretty good mom. I mean, I, I made mistakes. Lots of mistakes.

Nicole: 14:42

Yeah.

Lynne: 14:43

I wasn't perfect, but I, I don't think it was horrible. So yeah, very humble. It's interesting

Nicole: 14:48

when you were talking about in his letter and the things that he shared with you about how you were saying like they could have just been squashed or they could have just been resolved at the time if they'd been brought up, and a lot of it was probably misunderstandings or your intention was misunderstood. I relate to that so much. I feel like. My like final text message or email to my daughter. I, I said I was, you should know my heart is for you.

Lynne: 15:15

Yeah. Yeah. And if

Nicole: 15:16

you know that my heart is for you, then how was this so misinterpreted? How could it even have been blown into something that it was far from? Because so I often wonder that. Of how does it get mis and there's no answer. Not like we have the answer to this, right? Because you and I are not the only ones who were aren't. We were not abusive. We were not toxic. And we were good moms who are not perfect moms. Right? And we made mistakes. Of course we did. But where did the breakdown happen that we couldn't? The heart, my heart for you is lost. Right? Where, where is my, how did the intention get so lost. I, I wonder that all of the time.

Lynne: 15:58

Yeah. And you think that they know us so well, like Right. With their mom?

Nicole: 16:02

Yeah. Yeah. Like, yeah. I, I, I don't, I don't know. I, and I don't know what I could have done differently to, so. It was more known. Right. I don't know how it could have been missed. I resonate a lot with When you say that,'cause it, some of the things Yeah. They just seem like how did, yeah. How, and it, and it feels like there has, for me, it feels like there has to be more, surely there has to be more. Right. But for you, he wrote a whole letter. There was more, I mean, I surely he wrote everything down, but, but he

Lynne: 16:33

wrote me a letter and then when I asked for a copy of it to take with me to counseling, to therapy. He refused to gimme a copy of it.'cause it was a lot of things. So I wanted to take it with me to, you know, talk through with my counselor to work through whatever I needed to. But he, that's interesting. He wouldn't let me. So,

Nicole: 16:54

um, you, you were the person. I made a reel about it and you were the person I got it from. When you were talking about it feels like, I don't know the rules of the game.

Lynne: 17:03

Yes.

Nicole: 17:04

It feels because you, so let's, if you're comfortable, let's talk about, so you've done the work, you, you heard what he had to say. Yes. And you started therapy. You started counseling. You've been putting in the work you heard, you listened to your other kids, you had conversations with them. You're not just saying, this is a you problem, I'm fine. Right. Go on with your life. Enjoy it. You're not letting bitterness and anger take root. You're doing the work like clinically and spiritually, all of the things. You had said that it feels like there's these rules to the game that I don't know. Then also something we've discussed is how do you now show him that you've done the work? Right?

Lynne: 17:45

Yeah, exactly. Like my, I think the next day, my first like text was to my counselor. I had been in counseling. Previous to him asking for this break and, just working on some stuff, like an abusive relationship that I was in and had not really worked on, you know, the effects of the divorce, I had just kind of pushed through. So that was literally the day after he asked for the break. That was the first like text. I, I was like, I got an appointment. I literally got in right away. It was God was good. And I, yeah, I, I started that work. Yeah, I did, I did all this. I learned a lot. There are things that I realized that, I really am really eager to share with him and, I feel like I don't, like, I don't know the rules to the game because, he, he just doesn't respond to me. He has not always been the best of communicators. Even before the estrangement.

Nicole: 18:43

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 18:43

He, he holds, he just holds a lot in, he's very to himself. But I think now, like now that he's out of the country, the only way I can communicate with him, he told me after he was there, was through this app, the WhatsApp app, and mm-hmm. I can't even get. Any responses through that to try and have a relationship. He says, yes, you can reach me through this, but then when I do reach out, I don't really get anything back. I'm just mm-hmm. There's nothing. And so I'm, yeah, I'm left kind of going, I don't, yeah. I don't really know what the rules to this game are. I don't have an address. I reached out, my counselor really encouraged me to say, Hey, ask him if, do you feel comfortable giving me your new address? Which is what I did. And I got this big excuse of we really don't have addresses like in the United States. And I was like, well, how, how would I get go about getting something to you instead of just saying, I don't wanna give you my address. I don't feel comfortable. It's nothing. Like, I'm ghosted. Yeah. That's been hard. But maybe, maybe that's, as I've been working in counseling, like it's okay maybe that if I just step back

Nicole: 20:06

mm-hmm.

Lynne: 20:06

He knows how to get ahold of me, he knows where I am and maybe this is just, getting in the way of what God needs to do in the situation. So. I'm trying to do that. It's hard. You know, you're, you're a mom and the mom in you is like, well, I wanna wish'em a happy birthday. I don't want'em to think I forgot their birthday,

Nicole: 20:25

or, well, that's the hard thing with estrangement.'cause you Yeah. We've talked about this before where it's like, it's not even, it becomes a, not even like, I don't want them to. No to think that I didn't think about them on their birthday, but is this gonna be used against me? If I reach out? Is it gonna be used against me as I shouldn't have reached out? If I don't reach out, is it used against me that I didn't reach out? And it becomes almost paralyzing of all of these scenarios that your mind run wild with because there is no rules to the game. There's invisible boundaries, so you don't know what boundaries you're operating in between. Right. You don't, you can't understand where they're coming from because it feels so foreign and it's the spiral of what do I do?

Lynne: 21:06

Yeah. I mean, even the, I found out that my son's birthday, he was upset because I had sent his wife a birthday card and gift and he didn't get one. But here's the reality. This is where the rules, like, I don't know what they are. They had actually sold their home and moved in with her family before they left the country, almost like nine months prior. And I wasn't aware. Right. I did send him a birthday card and a gift, but apparently it didn't get there. But he's upset with me that I supposedly didn't send anything, but yet there was no communication that Oh, he doesn't even live at this address. Right, right, right, right. And they don't forward mail after. Right. Six months. So I don't know what happened, but it was like,

Nicole: 21:52

yeah, it feels like, it feels like a game that, yeah, you'll never win. I

Lynne: 21:56

can't win for losing, like, yeah.

Nicole: 21:57

Yeah, that's where I appreciate so much about your story is that your story is it's what the world doesn't wanna believe exists and happens it ev to make it make sense to the world. We're all toxic. We're abusive, right? And of course, our kids are estranged from us. And then there's stories like yours and it's like. We don't wanna accept that it's actually happening because then it, it would be admitting that it could happen to any of us because yeah, it could happen to any of us. Mm-hmm. And that's the story you and I have learned is that it, it doesn't discriminate against anybody, any type of mother. Right. Um, and there's all sorts of factors, but. I, and again, I just, the way that you have a loud, I don't, you have not become bitter is such a testament to your relationship with the Lord and how, again, you've walked it clinically with your counselor, but you've also walked it with the Lord. And like you said, like maybe this is my time to just step back. Maybe the Lord's working on something that I don't know. And so I, I don't know the rules to his game, your son's game, but you know the rules, what the Lord's asking you to do so I don't know the rules to this game. I can follow the word of the Holy Spirit's working. And that becomes your guardrails when there is no guardrails for the relationship with your son. Right. And I, I don't know how people walk through estrangement without the Lord, because me either he is my guardrail, like he's my guiding light. And that it all becomes painful and confusing and bitter and angry without him. Yeah.

Lynne: 23:23

Yeah. And there's just no hope for me without Jesus like, I said, when I found out he was leaving the country in those couple days, like I was just like, I can't function. I'm a mess. I just reached out to my family, you know, my close friends, and I was like, I need you to pray for me right now. I, I can't literally function right now. Yeah. And school's starting soon and I have to, you know, as a teacher, like there's all these emotional needs of, of kids that I'm handling every day and I'm like. I am not even okay. God was so good. After two days I just woke up and I just, this peace just was over me. Like I knew, like people were praying and God had just given me this peace. I'm like, okay, you're gonna be okay. He is gonna get you through this. Yeah. So,

Nicole: 24:06

The way he's worked in your stories. Very evident. We've recently talked about, you're reading a book by Dr. Joshua Coleman, and we've also watched the podcast of Oprah Winfrey and they talked about the statistics one and three. It one in three people or kids? One. One. I guess it doesn't matter. One in three, but one in three. Yeah, I think one in three. Is it one in one in three? It's gonna affect one in three people. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what, how they worded it, one in three people. You and I had talked about how statistically it feels intimidating and like the chances are low Yes. Of us being able to reconcile or our kids reconciling with us. How do you work that out emotionally when you think about the future?

Lynne: 24:58

That's such a good question. I have finished, Joshua Coleman's book. It was really good but hard. I also read. That book previously, I think we did the book study on mm-hmm. I believe was from the perspective of, a gal who asked, or she, what she chose to be estranged from her family. So after reading like both of those, honestly, like, yeah, I, there's just like a sinking feeling in me, like in both books they said look like either one, it's just not gonna be the same if you do reconcile, it's just not gonna be the same as it was. And two, Doc, Dr. Coleman was like, yeah, you, you may not reconcile. It just may not happen. You know, it's hard for me, but my hope, my hope is in Jesus.

Nicole: 25:42

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 25:43

There's so many things on social media that are like, like bombarded at you. Oh, join my plan. Pay this amount. Just message me plan. I'll give you the tools to make your kid talk to you again, basically. Yeah. And I, you know, and I'm, I'm not gonna lie, I'm like, gosh, you know, I wonder if it works. Um, yeah. But I've just really, God really is like Lynn look like, do you not believe that I am powerful enough to heal your relationship with your son? I love him more than you. And so I, I just have to, I have to refocus myself back in and just go, yes. I, I, I do believe, like I have hope that, that Jesus is gonna heal my relationship with him, restore our family. Mm-hmm. Um, it's just the patience, peace for me in waiting. Mm-hmm. That's, you know, but so I just hold onto that hope. Like I, like you said earlier, if I didn't have that hope. I don't know how it'd function in, in life, you know, going through this every day. So JI just hold onto that. I just, I lean into, God's word, just, scripture. Like I've got, like on my phone, my screensaver is like. A couple of different verses that like are just a reminder to me every day. Being a part of your community has been so healing for me and given me hope.'cause I feel like I, I'm not alone. Like literally. It's funny that you said that like I was one of the first people to join your community. Like literally I found your community the next day after my son said. Or, or I found out he was leaving and leaving the country. So like God's timing, like how cool is that? I've been praying and praying and then when this really just even more devastating thing happened the next day, God boom, he provides this, this your community. And I'm so grateful for it. But now, just focusing on the community and I have, I think like close to 20. Names of kids that are estranged from the moms.

Nicole: 27:49

Mm-hmm.

Lynne: 27:50

And for me, and I have'em written down in a journal and I, and I literally do, like, I pray over them every single day by name. And I pray for the moms and for me, that's been like, I get, I kind of get emotional about it. That's just been an honor for me to be able to be involved in praying for these kids and these other moms, that get what I'm going through. Yeah. So focusing. On that. Just kind of changing my focus and um, hopefully being an encouragement to others, that are going through the same thing has, has also helped me. You know, there's one person in the community that I'm actually, we exchanged phone numbers and we text. And so yeah, that, that is what has really helped me.

Nicole: 28:35

That's

Lynne: 28:35

so

Nicole: 28:35

powerful. I got emotional in like multiple chills when you were talking about praying over the kids because, there's sometimes that I think like, Lord, why am I doing this? Like, what is Yeah. Sometimes, because sometimes it's a lot. It's a lot and it's heavy and it's, it's a lot of sadness. Mm-hmm. And I wanna be able to fix it. I wanna be able to say, I have a guide.

Lynne: 28:54

Yeah. You've just follow the

Nicole: 28:55

steps and it'll fix it. Yeah. But that's not what the Lord's called me to do. He's called me to show that we can have hope in Jesus in the waiting. Yes. And so sometimes I get stuck between trying to want to do more to offer a fix it, but then I have to go back to what God's called me to. Yes. So when I hear you talking about, we're praying for each of these kids mm-hmm. That's so powerful. That's worth all of it. There's so much shame around estrangement, but when we're in our community, there's not, because we all get it. No. And we just share. And it's a safe space to have a hard day and to not be like, not that we're negative, but it's a safe. So you can let the defense walls down I think a little bit. Yes. And um, and just that power of that knowing someone else is praying for you and someone else will check in on you and mm-hmm. They're praying for each of our kids because. Yeah. It's just, it's, it was such a good, powerful reminder. So,

Lynne: 29:49

and I think we learn so much from each other too. I've learned like other people's perspective on things and thinking about it. Yeah, you're right. Or I needed to read that today. You just refocus me on Jesus. Mm-hmm. The devotionals, like the verses, the, you know, everything, songs, sometimes they're just, they're so cool. They're such an encouragement.

Nicole: 30:12

It's a cool space. I am so honored that you, it's not comfortable to share your story and I'm so honored that you, you said yes to my ask and that you share just your insight and wisdom and perspective with all the women in the community. And now this podcast, this is more virtual community, I guess, wider. Um, so thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your heart. Is there any last minute things that you were like, wait, I wanted to get that in. And I didn't ask the right question maybe, or.

Lynne: 30:43

No, I just wanna thank you for giving me the opportunity. I don't like to be up front front and it's kind of uncomfortable, but, but God, oh, I have to share

Nicole: 30:51

this, I have to share this story really quick because when I asked, when I asked Lynn to, to be on the podcast, she, she said, let me pray about it. And then she came back and she's like, I think I'm ready. I feel a little bit, did you say nauseous about it? I feel like her, I think I was

Lynne: 31:03

gonna, I was gonna throw up. Yeah, throw up. You wanted throw up? Yes. Yeah. And I said, well, that's

Nicole: 31:06

my motto, Lynn. Like, if it makes you think you're gonna throw up, then the answer is yes. Like we just keep, because when God calls us to it, there's nothing comfortable about it. So here we go. Buckle up from

Lynne: 31:16

feeling nauseous

Nicole: 31:17

like we're gonna

Lynne: 31:17

throw up all the way. Yeah. When you ask God to use your story, you're like, well, not that way, but Okay. Okay. Yeah. Here we go.

Nicole: 31:26

Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, sorry. So I just had to share that story because I thought it was funny. So that's exactly how I felt. And so I was like, oh, you, you feel the same way? Yeah, yeah.

Lynne: 31:35

No, and I just wanna thank you again. I know I've prob I've told you a million times for this group, and if anyone's listening and you're not a part of it, join it. Like it's an amazing community. Um,

Nicole: 31:47

thank you. You'll be

Lynne: 31:48

encouraged.

Nicole: 31:49

Thank you. I'm glad. It's God. God asked me to do it and I just said yes. So nauseous all the way. All

Lynne: 31:55

the way.

Nicole: 31:55

Yay. Uh, okay. Well thank you Lynn. And um, we'll talk to you guys later. Bye.

32:01

Bye.