If my husband is going to leave me, and if it is your will, I cannot stop him. But I'm not also going to stop my relationship with you, Lord. Welcome to Connections with Rich and Bobbi. Hi, this is Rich, Rich Homeris. And I'm Bobbie, Bobbie Hamlin. We're continuing our phone conversation with a dear sister in the Lord, Evangeline Rodriguez, who lives in the New York City area. Now she's been telling us about working on Wall Street, living what she thought was the good life, until the Word of God, the Bible, completely changed her. Did others see a change in you? Oh yeah. And comment? My husband, my husband is the first one. People will say what's going on with you. I stopped drinking. I stopped going out dancing. And before, to be honest with you, I used to dress up really, you know, because I was working in Wall Street and, you know, all this kind of thing. You know, you make money and you got it. You got it all going on. Yes. It's not that. When you start reading the word of God, God gives you a new heart. You become a totally different person. You're not the same. It's like the party girl that used to party and prepare parties is now the boring one. I've lost some good friends because when we used to go, we'd go for drinks, we'd go for this. It's totally transformation. Just like the Bible says, When we're born again, we are a new creature. Old things are passed away and all things are new. Absolutely. And like, like also he said, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And you know what's so beautiful? My transformation is just directly from God's doing. Because, you know, like some of the words in the Bible are hard to understand. But when I'm reading it, It's like he's talking to me, talking to me. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And then I learned how to read, comparing scriptures with scriptures. As this new change was going on and your friends were starting to pull back and move away from you, did you feel hurt? Did you feel like this new walk was really difficult for you? Rich, my first one that I was so worried was my husband. I thought he was going to leave me because, you know, he's not used to seeing me the way I am. And being with him for a long time has been such a beautiful witness. So I said, Lord, so if my husband is going to leave me, and if he still will, I cannot stop him. But I'm not also going to stop my relationship with you, Lord. So every Saturday when I'm by myself, you know, because my husband is a mailman, I'm by myself. I start, you know, crying, Lord, what I'm doing now? You know, everything's in your head, whatever you decide. This life is better than the life before, although just this part thing, you know what I mean? Oh, yes. And then my husband says, I don't know. I don't know if this is working. And I'm like, you see that, Lord? You heard him. Well, how did he change that situation with Mike? What happened is we're still going to Catholic Church. Something really happened. I didn't get saved inside the church. I got saved outside. Let me just say, if I can jump in here for a second, I would just say that if anybody doesn't understand that, it's because what it's all about in the rebirth is our relationship with the Lord, right? It's not connected with the church necessarily. He could use the church, but it has to do with our own personal relationship with the Lord. And I think that's just a beautiful illustration of that. And not only that, that's how I learned that we are the church and we go to the building. Yes, the people. Right. God's children are the church. Yes. Yes. So all this thing is happening. And I said to my husband, listen, if you still want to go to the church, I'm not going, but I'm going to start reading the Bible every Sunday. I guess the Lord put it in his heart. It's like, listen, you don't touch my anointing. I'm going to start the Bible reading. If you are willing, we'll read Bible together. So we start reading the Bible together Sunday. And then the first year, like we were having a controversy because listen, you know, I'm reading it. And of course, I always give him the right to read because he's the head of the family. He will be the one to read and I will be the one to listen. Yeah, I probably appreciated that, too. And then it also exposes him to God's word. Absolutely, absolutely. And of course, I've learned from the Bible that the husband will always be the head of the family. And I know where my place is. But at the same time, in learning in the eyes of God, we are all equal. Do you understand? So my knowledge of the Bible is like really, really day by day. I read my Bible, I study, I do this. I go so late to bed that once I write things, I have to go back and see what's going on. Then I go to the Old Testament and make sure that this is what it's saying. Diligently studying the scriptures, as 2 Timothy 2 verse 15 says, presenting ourselves to prove to God a person who does not need to be ashamed, rightly studying, and seeking understanding from God's Word, the Bible. And we'll return to our telephone talk with Evangeline in just a moment, so stay with us. You're listening to Connections with Rich and Bobbi, and we'd love to connect with you. Just go to our website, Connections with Rich and Bobbi, and Bobbi is spelled B-O-B-B-I dot com. That's all one word, Connections with Rich and Bobbi dot com. And there you'll see all of our podcasts, along with all of our contact information. You can also connect with us on social media by friending us on Facebook, post on Instagram, or tweet us on Twitter. Now, let's return to our phone conversation with Evangeline as she continues talking about her new changed life in Christ. And that was the beginning of where I'm at right now, these nine years that I use me, I bought Bible by the I've shared materials to friends, family, everywhere. I go travel. I don't even pay for my travel because the Lord put someone else's to pay for my travel. And I can share the Bible. I share, you know, like I work in the hospital and if somebody comes to me with a long face, they'll say, ah, another day, another dollar. And I would say, listen, aren't you blessed? You have a job. You know, how many people don't have it? And, you know, And, you know, you're working for a good hospital, good job, you know, don't you think about thanking God?" He said, oh yeah, you're right. So I try to encourage people because the Lord said that's what our job is, to encourage people, to lead them to Him. Because it's a lot of people, even I've met a lot of Christian friends, and they've been there before I do. And sometimes they want to say, I want to be where you are. And I said, where? I didn't ask for it. It was given to me as a gift. You know what I mean, Bobbie? Yes, yes, absolutely. Well, praise God. He really had a wonderful effect on your life and also on Mike's as his eyes were opened. Not only mine, Bible has been part of the family, my children, my grandchildren too, and family. Every time we have to eat or to celebrate, We start in the Word of God, and my daughter-in-law, who is my reader, because she is a teacher. So I tell her, listen, that you know what? You've got to read the Word of God. And I'm just delighted to really grateful to be used of the Lord, because you see, in my family, I'm like the center of good times. My siblings, they're more old-fashioned, they're more religious. But the Lord opened my heart, opened my eyes. And some of them, they don't have that yet. And I think it's kind of like jealousy, or I know Him through it. I'm not fighting that you don't know. I just hope that you do. But, you know, if you're saying that and you're telling me that I have a wrong religion, then you're just judging me as a child of God. I didn't even ask. I didn't even know that I have to get saved. I didn't even know that. I thought just doing the work, like going to church, this and that. I didn't know that all the things that I've done in the past is really, really sin and all these things. You know what I'm saying? So that's what had become of me. And these nine years, I'm just ready and until He comes to really serve Him faithfully. It's a lot of work sometimes. you know, heartache, but I don't listen to my heartache because I know that the final day, it'll be a celebration. Absolutely. Well, Evangeline, he's had such an impact on your life, and then he's used you to share the gospel with others. And especially important even now, because right now we're living in such an unusual time with a pandemic. with protests for civil and human rights going on and so much crime in the streets and natural disasters. It's just unbelievable what's going on right now. But you live right in New York City metropolitan area. When COVID-19 first came and hit our nation, it was the epicenter of the pandemic. So how was life for you right then? Can you tell us? What happened? How did it seem when you were right there in the middle of it in New York, and how was it hitting you and your family? Well, that's what I'm saying. The Lord had prepared me, Bobby Rich. If he did not prepare me, nine years, I would have been lost, because I get nervous. I worry about every little thing. I have become like the backbone of the family. Like I tell my husband, listen, this is God-given. No man bring this. He is the center of everything. And of course, we have to still be careful. You know, you wash your hands, you're covered. But if this is God's given, we cannot stop it. So we just have to come to God to be more closer to Him. And actually, that's been my life, even to all of my friends. I, you know, I'm always telling them that, listen, that the Lord knows everything. In the midst of this thing, He is in control and everything. And we better just trust and do, you know, what He expected us to do. Come closer. And, you know, in my church, since I attend Living Hope Church, and, you know, I've shared a lot of materials, a lot of books with them, and I've been more open to them, you know, letting them know that all of these, of course, even with our pastor, I will get in contact with him. And part of our testing and trials, the Lord knows Our heart truly belongs to Him and we have nothing to worry about every single day. Absent from the body is present with the Lord. How do we fear that? We have to just concentrate on what He wants us to do, to do His work while there's still life. Letting our light so shine as Matthew 5 verse 16 says, giving glory to God as we do his work in pointing people to Christ. And we'll be continuing our telephone conversation with Evangeline on our next podcast, so be sure to join us then and invite others to listen as well. Also, if you'd like to find out more about our guest Evangeline Rodriguez, her life and her journey, just go to our website at ConnectionsWithRichAndBobbie.com and click on Program Insights. That's Program Insights on ConnectionsWithRichAndBobbie.com. And we'd love to have you subscribe to our podcast on this platform or any of the others like iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify. It's free. Then, if you have a smart speaker, you can also listen to us there by simply saying, Alexa, Siri, or Hey Google, play the podcast Connections with Rich and Bobby. 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