Episode 51

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Published on:

17th Feb 2025

WISDOM OF MOTHERS EVE & TERESA

Hey friends! You are exceptional- women in their wisdom years! So, I'm curious, how do you move through the changing seasons of your life? This episode, I am sharing the wisdom of Mother Eve and Mother Teresa and even a little nugget of Stevie Nicks wisdom. Come join me on the trail!

Transcript
Yeti X:

Welcome Franz to a journey.

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The creative spiritual journey life is

calling you each day, calling you to step

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out your front door and onto the path.

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that leads through the wilderness.

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Beyond the horizon to

stand on mountain tops.

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My name is Judy Cooley, along

with my sister-in-law Ghia Cooley.

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We are your host for the creative

spiritual journey podcast.

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But we'd rather you consider us

more like your high-key buddies.

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Together for a brief moment

as we walk this path.

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We will share what's in our hearts.

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Our love for the savior.

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And his beautiful creations.

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As well as the joys and the lessons

where you're discovering along the way.

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So will you shake the dust off

those hiking boots, pick up your

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backpacks and join us on the trail

and incredible journey awaits us.

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Let's go.

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Sonny Bunani from the

motherland of South Africa.

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It's here that my husband and I are

serving a mission for the church of

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Jesus Christ of latter day saints.

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Today is day 413.

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I've been numbering the days

nd,:

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When we embarked on this mission

to go and serve with all our

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heart, might mind and strength.

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Okay.

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My sisters.

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I'm going to approach this

episode a little differently.

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Yeti X-1: You see, I had.

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A whole episode written out about

conversation hearts But I'm just

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going to speak from my heart.

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I'm not even going to write a script.

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So it might sound a little rough.

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But stay with me.

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Yeti X-4: I hope to share with you.

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Some of the feelings of my heart and soul.

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As I.

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Work here amongst the people of South

Africa, the women, especially that.

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I see.

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As we drive through the townships and.

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I see little vignettes.

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Yeti X-2: It's a very common

scene the older women.

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Carrying heavy loads.

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balancing on their head.

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While they in their arms, they have.

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Maybe a bag.

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And on their backs.

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Is strapped a baby.

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And they're holding the

hand of another child.

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Yeti X-1: It's hard to hold onto hope.

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There's a lot that are Gogos.

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That's the word for grandmas?

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That are raising.

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Their grandchildren and even some

of their great grandchildren and.

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They're tired.

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The women amaze me they.

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Are very strong, beautiful souls.

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Yeti X: back when G and I.

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We're.

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Trying to decide whether to do.

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creative coaching.

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A podcast and how to.

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teach And bring expression to the

things that are important to our hearts.

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We recognize the need for the women.

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Our age.

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In our wisdom years.

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And we send out a survey.

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To everyone we knew.

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To understand.

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To understand your needs and the

number one need that came back to us.

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Was.

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A lot of women dealing with.

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Entering this wisdom, years,

this age, where our children.

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Are growing up and leaving home.

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And we are struggling with our identity.

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Our purpose.

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And so we created the

creative, spiritual journey.

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For you.

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For those that fit into this.

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Over what should we say?

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50.

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Category.

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Um, I have been thinking about

this, but like the first 20, 25

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years of our life, we spanned.

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Growing and developing and creating

I, our identity of who we are.

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As daughters of God.

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And, you know, we were a lot of

different hats during that time and

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we're just experimenting and trying

to figure out where we fit in life.

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Then.

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The next 20, 25 years to.

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You know, 20 to 50.

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We are.

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growing and developing

and creating a marriage.

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Searching out that, help meet.

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That eternal companion.

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And, you know, That can be tricky.

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And then we are bringing children into the

world and creating and growing a family.

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And what happens if you get the

beautiful blessing of being a mother,

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all of a sudden this little life.

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This little soul depends.

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Completely.

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Completely on you.

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And you do your very best because this

little soul did not come with a manual.

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Okay.

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How to operate.

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And I don't know how many times I

would say who said I could be the

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mother because I was just figuring

it out, doing the best I could.

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So you spend those next years,

growing the nucleus of your family.

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And your heart expands, You become more

and you also become more vulnerable.

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And of course mortality.

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Things hit.

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Challenges.

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And how you expected this journey to go.

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Starts turning out a little

different than you anticipated.

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We should have figured that out the day

you gave birth, because I don't know

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if you, but I went to birthing classes.

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And when the actual day

came and delivery, it was.

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So different than what I

had planned and expected.

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So then the next 20 to 25 years.

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Where you hit the 50 plus

years, these women of wisdom

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years, we're talking about.

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You've had this experience

where your children.

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Have.

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Left and it is called emancipation.

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Hey, do you know what the

definition of emancipation is?

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Emancipation is the

process of being freed.

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And that's what it is.

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It's liberation for our children.

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And they all go through it.

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And.

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And it's rough on a

mother's heart and a dad's.

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I have to say it's been

hard on Eric's as well.

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But as part of the process, it is.

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The journey of becoming for them.

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As well as you, so there's

emancipation happens.

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And those children fly.

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They take wings.

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And you hope that you gave him

enough roots to come back home.

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And appreciate.

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Or even, maybe be a little bit

interested in your influence.

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So this.

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New.

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Stage of trying to find our purpose.

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This journey of becoming.

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And trying to have an influence

steel in these souls and

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then the grandchildren come.

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That's what I mean by the

nucleolus begins to expand and

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more souls, more vulnerability.

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And it's just so much joy.

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When I turned 50 children getting

married and going on missions

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and joining the Navy and.

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And I could see the things that I had

been spending the last 20, 25 years,

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my whole heart and soul put into

growing and developing these children

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and their family and this nucleus.

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And, and all of it changes.

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I would hear the song from Fleetwood Mac.

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Landslide and it would.

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Break me down into tears.

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It describes exactly.

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What we've gone through as

women in our wisdom years.

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I took my love, took it down.

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I climbed a mountain and I turned around.

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I saw my reflection in

the snow covered Hills.

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To the landslide brought me down.

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Oh, mirror in the sky.

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What is love?

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Can a child within my heart rise above.

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Can I sell through the

changing ocean tides?

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Can I handle the seasons of my life?

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Well, I've been afraid of changing.

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Because I've built my life around you.

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But time makes me bolder.

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Even children get older

and I'm getting older.

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Two.

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I love that part.

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I been afraid of changing.

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Cause I built my life around you.

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That's the part that

always brought me to tears.

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Now I understand that Stevie Nicks.

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I got curious of why she wrote this on.

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And let me.

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Find my notes here.

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She wrote it while she

was in Aspen, Colorado.

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she was inspired while

looking at the mountains.

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By the thought that

everything in her life.

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She had been building could

come crashing down at any time.

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this snowy mountain avalanche.

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It's not that my life comes crashing

down It's just that it changes.

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Everything changes.

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And we get older.

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And children get older too.

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I love the story.

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Of Adam and Eve.

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And.

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Thinking of her.

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As a mother.

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We read in Moses five.

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verse 10.

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And Adam bless God and was field

and began to prophesied concerning

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all the families of the earth

saying blessed, be the name of God.

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For because of my transgression,

my eyes are opened.

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And in this life, I shall have joy.

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and again, in the flesh, I shall see God.

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And Eve, his wife heard all these

things and she too was glad saying.

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Were it not for our transgressions.

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We never should have had seed and never

should have known good and evil and the

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joy of our redemption and the eternal

life, which God given to all the obedient.

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And Adam and Eve blessed

the name of God and

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They made all these things known

unto their sons and daughters.

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So they raised their children.

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Knowing about God.

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And this joy.

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Of the savior and the plan of salvation.

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That mortality works.

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But we go over to verse 27 after.

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The whole drama and

trauma of Cain and Abel.

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And we come to verse 27.

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And Adam and his wife

mourned before the Lord.

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And that right there, I

think describes what happens.

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We have this emancipation and

sometimes our children choose.

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Different paths than

what they were raised on.

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And it kind of confuses us.

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That use different lifestyles,

maybe even different faiths.

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And we began questioning,

whoa, what did I do wrong?

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And we take upon ourselves, this

burden, this unnecessary burden

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that it's all because I messed up.

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It's all my fault.

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When.

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Why not.

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I've had this thought,

why not have the attitude?

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Of Adam and Eve.

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That.

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Had we not have this mortal journey,

this beautiful agency, this ability to

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choose for ourselves, even our children.

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Have this beautiful gift to choose for

themselves to know the good and the evil.

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And to find out for themselves the joy.

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Of redemption.

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To me that has been the greatest lesson

in these wisdom years is allowing.

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Others.

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Their journey of becoming

they're growing and developing

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and creating for themselves.

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So in preach my gospel, it's

been so fun to be a missionary.

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Because oh, Talk about growing,

developing, and creating

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and becoming all over again.

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In a.

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Different environment.

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But yet one that I feel so.

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Nourished.

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By the spirit.

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There's a section in preach my gospel.

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To rely on the spirit.

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And I'm going to read it from a.

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Parenting, uh, mothers Point of view.

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Some.

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Mothers.

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Feel confident in themselves.

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Others lack such confidence.

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Humbly put your confidence

and faith in Jesus Christ.

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Not in yourself.

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Relay on the spirit.

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Rather than your own talents.

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And abilities.

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The holy ghost will magnify your efforts.

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Uh, far beyond what you can do.

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On your own.

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So many times I find mothers who, are

having a hard time letting go and, relying

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on the redeeming love of the savior.

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And they think that it has to be

them who helps and corrects and

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Saves their children from whatever.

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Bad choices or stupid.

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Thinks they're doing.

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We are not through savior.

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And we need to rely on the savior

and the holy ghost, the spirit,

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rather than our own talents.

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You can be the most brilliant.

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Mother in the world.

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But you can't rely upon

your own brilliance.

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You need to allow the savior

work through that child.

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And the holy ghost will

magnify your efforts.

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Uh, far beyond what you can do.

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On your own.

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Yeti X-5: we just recently had

the opportunity to have our

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first visitors to South Africa.

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our friend.

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David melody web.

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And we were talking about this.

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stage of our life and being

grandmothers and mothers and.

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That.

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Hard expanding more

souls, more vulnerability.

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And the loads.

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Like the African women

carrying on their heads.

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The useless loads sometimes

that we carry around.

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And.

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She shared with me an insight from a.

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Poem written by.

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Mother Teresa and how she applied it.

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Too.

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Being a mother and a grandmother.

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And I thought it was such a beautiful

analogy that I want to share with you.

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Yeti X: People are often

unreasonable and self-centered.

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Forgive them anyway.

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If you are kind, people may

accuse you of all-terrain motives.

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Be kind.

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Anyway.

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If you were honest.

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People may cheat you.

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Be honest.

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Anyway.

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If you find happiness.

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People may be jealous.

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Be happy anyway.

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The good you do today, maybe forgotten.

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Tomorrow.

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Do good anyway.

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Give the world the best you have.

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And it may never.

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Be enough.

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Give your best.

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Anyway.

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For you see in the end,

it's between you and God.

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It has never been between you.

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And them.

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Anyway.

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Isn't that beautiful mother.

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Teresa was a very wise woman.

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And I believe she was.

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In her wisdom years.

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So my sisters, my friends.

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We're in this together.

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We're in these wisdom years.

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This journey of becoming.

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So that's it.

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That's the sweet little hope that I

want to give you today on your path.

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That.

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This mortality works.

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Eve was right.

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Joy.

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Comes.

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And we get older.

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And children get older too.

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And Give your best anyway.

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Because it's between you and God.

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I hope you can find joy in the journey.

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The joy in rediscovering yourself at

this age, rediscovering your purpose.

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And relying on the spirit.

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Rely on the spirit as you step out

the door each day and ask yourself.

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Where should I go?

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Who needs me?

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What can I do today?

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What can I say today?

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That can bring the light

of Christ to someone else.

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How can I take.

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The knowledge, the scriptures,

the things that are in my heart.

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And in my head.

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And lift.

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Another.

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How can I be more like my savior?

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Thanks.

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My friends for joining me for just

a moment on our journey together.

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You are amazing.

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You are exceptional.

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You are women in your wisdom

years, and I want you to.

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Own that and wear that proudly.

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Because you've done your best.

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I know you.

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You've done your very best.

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And now it's time.

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To just keep on.

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Keep on keeping on.

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DNI are so grateful that you spend

some time with us here on the

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creative, spiritual journey podcast.

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And if you know someone that's in her

wisdom years and could use a little.

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Light on her path.

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Please share this.

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Podcast.

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And.

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I testify.

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These things always in

the name of our savior.

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And Redeemer Jesus Christ.

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And I will see you on the trail.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

Join us!

About your host

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Ghia Cooley