Okay. This is Ellen. We are talking about Titus 2 verses 3 through 5. And specifically today, we are talking about wives being subject to their own husbands. So we're discussing this whole area today. And we just talked about the fact that the word in the Greek is hupotasso, which was a military term meaning to rank under. And so that's the basis for the word subject that's used in the New Testament. That's the literal translation of it. So let's look at some of this scripture. Okay, like we have done before, I will call on people. I know that a lot of you do need to stay muted because you are taking care of children. or your household is functioning around you, and so that's fine. But if anyone would like to read, let me know, and I'll call on you. Pat, can I call on you to read Ephesians 5.22, please? Yes. Wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. Okay. Should we underline own? Yes, we're going to talk about that later too. And go on and read 23 and 24, Pat, that would be a help. Okay. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church. And verse 24, but as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Great. And the Colossians 3.18 echoes this same thing. Wives, be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. So this is pretty clear, especially when we know the Greek definition of the word subject and submissive and obedient. Because we are to live under the authority of our husbands, it's God's plan for order in the family. It doesn't have anything to do with our value or our worth or our abilities, even leadership abilities. Because women are equipped to be leaders, but it needs to be done in the context of God's plan. And in marriage, God's plan is for us to be subject to our husbands, to be living under their authority. Now, God describes his great love for all people in scripture. If you looked at Galatians 3, 27 and 28, the very end of 28 says, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So there is no difference in value. God makes no distinction between race or nationality or gender. So there is no distinction between men and women in God's value system. But there is a difference in the function for married people. So, and this is all things that we have talked about before, but like I said at the very beginning, I wanted to, um, what is that? Something's popped. I don't know if y'all are seeing it. Something popped up on my screen. Let me see if I can get rid of it. There it is. Oops. my uh... okay and that's not what I want so let me, as we're going to talk about that later let me go back to our notes okay okay Okay, here we go. Sorry, I'm okay with Zoom as long as everything goes well, but as soon as there's a glitch, I have to just slow down and breathe and think about the solution. So that's what we're doing. Okay, so none of this means that we cannot have input into our husband's decisions or that we cannot make decisions on our own. But it does mean that we have made the choice to freely submit ourselves to be under the authority of our husbands, to support them and reinforce our decisions, their decisions. It means that we will not fight or rebel or argue or manipulate to get our own way. We are committed to the same goals. This is a gift which we give our husbands. And it just means that when we become married, we give up our total independence where we are able to decide exactly what we want to do and when we want to do it without reference to other people. As wives, we have united our lives, our goals, just the general direction of everything that we are doing with our husbands. And we are, in God's eyes, We are putting ourselves under his authority and trusting that God is going to work through him to accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish in our family. We are doing it in obedience to God and we are trusting God to work. So that's the whole purpose and the whole definition of what submission is. It's actually pretty clear. Excuse me. Sometimes we wind up making decisions, not out of an independent spirit, but sometimes we see our husbands suffering under the things that they have to put up with when they are out in the world making the salary for us to, you know, And I made the mistake a couple of times of taking up a fence for my husband because I loved him and I didn't want to see him coming home all battered from bosses that were not kind. And I would step up and I would make some decisions without telling him what I had to handle in the neighborhood or something. And I got in more trouble or anything because he said, you will not do this. He said, you will not try to spare me anything that's happening in the home. I am in charge of this. And so even though we might love our husbands and want to do things for them, we still have to do it under their headship. Yes, that's good. That's really good, Pat. Thank you for sharing. That's really true. Yes, and it's totally different making a decision because he has asked for your input or because he has turned things over to you. Like when John had to leave town for a conference or some kind of a trip, he would say, you know, I know that, especially in the early days, because we did not have overseas phone service that we could use, at the very beginning we didn't even have email. So we would sometimes not be able to communicate with each other until he was able to get to a hotel or someplace where he could call me. So, in those situations, he would always tell me now, you know, while I'm gone, you have to be the one in charge. And I didn't especially like it, but it was just necessary. And when something broke, I had to handle getting it repaired. But you know, even for that small time period, and even though he had asked me to do it, and I was helping him, and still under his authority in doing it, when he would come home and it was time for me to relinquish that authority to him, sometimes it was hard for me to do it. Sometimes I was very grateful to say, here are the reins, they are yours. But sometimes my own little nature would have started liking to do things my way. So it's a learning process. It's something that God wants us to do and he will help us to do because he wants us to do it. But it definitely is a learning process. But before we do it, we have to understand what it is and what God requires of us and what he wants it to look like. And then we work through how to do it in our own relationship. So let's go on and then we should have time at the end If anyone has questions or something that's not clear that you want to ask about, feel free to ask. But let's go back to talking about Ephesians 5.22, which says, wives be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. Like Pat mentioned at the very beginning, A key word in that phrase is being subject to your own husband. God instructs me to submit to my own husband. Any other working relationship is superseded by my husband's authority. And this is sometimes a hard lesson for us to learn, or it's not necessarily hard, it's just different. But we have to apply the area of submission in terms of my husband's authority being above any other authority in my life. And these areas would include a boss-employee relationship, a ministry relationship, a family member, another man or woman, or even any person who had authority over you when you were single. All requests, new responsibilities, or commitments all need to be discussed with my husband before I accept them. This would include a job transfer or reassignment, a new opportunity at church, taking on a new responsibility in the ministry, or even just a request for help. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't necessarily do the things that are being requested of me, but the proper way to go through it was to first talk to my husband about it before I agreed to anything. For instance, I was teaching school and the principal of another school called and asked me if I would be interested in working for him. It was going to be a brand new building with a lot of new equipment I was teaching Spanish and French. So they had a lot of special things that related to teaching that, that I did not have available in my current school. And so I said, yes, I'd be very interested in that. Then I got home and realized that I had not talked to John about it at all. And when we looked at the ramifications, it was going to be a lot farther from our home. So more travel involved. We still had kids in school. It was going to be a lot more required of me in terms of extra activities. And it was going to have longer working hours. So as we talked through and evaluated it, it really wasn't a good situation for us at that time. We still had four children in school. Well, I think maybe our oldest daughter was at the university by then. So we had three children at school. I was balancing home and work environment and John was very supportive of me teaching but I was still learning how to teach but keep my home and family a priority. So it was a good lesson in that because I had to call the principal back and say I'm very sorry but after talking it through with my husband we've decided this is not just a good situation for me. Well, he was disappointed. My principal was disappointed because he was the one who had kind of set this up, thinking it would be a good opportunity for me. You know, it just became a lot bigger deal than if I had just told the principal when he first called me, thank you very much for the opportunity. Let me think about it and talk to my husband, which would have been the right way to handle it. But there is a danger. of allowing other relationships where you are in an authority situation of letting that supersede your husband's authority. No one should be telling you what you should be doing in a way that eclipses your own husband's authority. There are situations where a woman has been asked to do something by her church And even if it is a need, and even if her heart responds to that need, it's something that we need to deal with in terms of talking it through with our husbands and figuring out, will this work for our family? Very important to do that. And the times when I've done it right, God has really blessed the situation. And the times when I've done it wrong, like the example I shared earlier, it's not worked out right. Because this is God's plan for order in the home. He's not doing anything in order to restrict us. He wants to have the very best atmosphere in our homes to produce what he wants to produce in our relationship with our husband and in our family. It undermines my husband's, not just his authority, but his confidence if I am choosing other situations and operating as an independent person without considering how it affects him. Plus, I need his input because he sees things that I don't see. And God's put my husband over me also for my protection, not to restrict me, but to allow us to work together. And God gives him, because of that situation, because of the position he's put him in, God gives him the ability to see things that I might not see, so that he can protect me from things that would be harmful to our relationship. subject to your own husband and Subject to your own husband when I was single and in the college ministry There were some other single guys in the ministry who felt like they could Make requests of the other single girls to do things for them that weren't really requests Well, if he's not your husband, you don't need to submit to him That's basically what this verse is talking about here. And if you were in a relationship, if you were a very respectful, positive relationship with someone who is ministering to you, or had authority over you when you were single, and now you are married, that relationship changes. It doesn't mean you don't appreciate them and respect them, but your husband is the one who is in Authority over you now not them So consider these things sometimes this kind of thing can slip up slip up Excuse me slip up on us And we don't realize what's happening until we were in In an awkward situation after one of my daughters had been married a short time and she called us to ask us for our counsel on a decision that they were facing. And my husband answered the phone and he said, well, what does your husband say about this? And she said, oh, dad, I haven't asked him. And she was not doing that because she didn't trust her husband or because she didn't respect him. She just forgot that she was in a different situation now and she wasn't coming to her dad for advice that she needed to first go to her husband. So John told her, we'll talk it through with him and see what he thinks. And then if he wants to ask my advice, he can call me. That was the exact right thing to do because what we wanted was for their relationship to develop centered around each other. and for them to figure out how to work their relationship in terms of her husband being the one in authority over her. Because now that she was married, that was the new order that God had put into her life. So, consider these areas. Make sure that in these different areas that you are still allowing your husbands to be the one your husband's authority to be the one that's guiding your decisions, not other people. Okay? This next area was actually kind of hard for me to write because I felt like I was being either disrespectful to my husband or to God. But it really is a true idea that I need to remember that my husband is not God. He is wonderful. He does a great job. I respect him. He is very equipped, but he is not God because God is perfect and infinite. He is omniscient. He knows the outcome of any decision before it's made and the consequence of every action. He never makes a mistake. He never sleeps. That's not true of any human being. It's not true of me, but it's also not true of my husband. So God's design is for my submission to first be to God and then to the husband he has given me. Be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. As a single girl, I once asked the lady who was leading my Bible study, what is the best preparation for marriage? And I thought she would give me some practical advice. learn how to keep a house, learn how to cook, maybe even learn how to relate to men in a healthy way, something like that. But what she told me is walk with God. Develop your relationship with God. That will be the thing that will best prepare you for marriage. And that's true, and that's borne out in scripture. I am able to submit to my husband only to the extent to which I can submit to God because God is ultimately the one in control. My husband is under his authority and God is going to work through my husband to accomplish what he wants. My submission is first to God, then to the husband he's given me. We have to remember that God is the one who desires to meet my every need. Because a lot of times, as women, we marry to have our needs met. We want companionship. We want a close relationship. We want protection. We want to share our lives with someone. These are all needs that are legitimate needs and we want to have our needs met. But it's an unfair burden to put on my husband that I expect him to do all of these things completely on his own because he cannot read my mind. He doesn't know exactly what I want. He is a finite person. God is the only one that can meet our needs. We want to make sure that we are putting God first and that we are trusting that our husbands are submitting to God and we are submitting to our husbands. It's that chain of relationship and of authority. So, what I wanted to offer was just some thought questions. How can I evaluate how I am doing in the area of submitting to my husband? And these are some questions to think about. Can he freely share a new idea with me without wondering how I will react? Maybe a change he wants to make in his vocation, maybe a move. Maybe just a decision about something he's considering purchasing. Can he freely share a new idea without wondering how I will react? Am I going to be fearful? Am I going to doubt his ability? Am I going to be angry? Am I going to burst into tears? Am I going to give him the silent treatment and just shut down where I don't talk to him? Those are not good responses, but if my husband is not able to talk to me in this way, then there's something in the way I submit to him that needs attention. Okay. Can he ask for my help or does he have to wonder if it will fit with my agenda? If my schedule is so full and my attention is so focused on my own activities that I'm not available to help him, then that needs to change. There's something wrong. If he doesn't feel the freedom to ask for my help and know that I will stop what I'm doing and see what I can do to help him, then that's something that needs to change. It means I have too many of my own things going on and I need to go back and revise and make room for him. He should always be able to ask for my help and not worry about me being upset that it will upset my schedule. Can he confide in me or does he consider me too fragile or volatile? If he wants to talk to me about problems at work or problems in his family or concerns he has about finances? Does he know he can do that without me responding with hysterics or fussing at him or telling him, well, I told you this would happen. None of those responses allow him to truly confide what's on his heart. without just feeling like he's restricted in that. Does he have confidence in my support and trust? Does he know that whatever happens, if he loses his job, if our finances, we have an unexpected expense, any kind of a situation, does he know that my support and trust are going to be behind him? Or does he have to wonder about that? And then how do I react when he makes a decision which later turns out to be a mistake? We already talked about the fact that he's not God, so he will make mistakes. As talented as he is at thinking about the ramifications of what a decision is, there will be situations where he cannot know what is going to happen and he'll make a decision and then realize later that it was a mistake. we learn a lot from our mistakes. And it's also true that a lot of times what looks like a mistake can turn out to be something that we really profit from. I think I've shared with you before that early in our marriage, we decided to, actually my husband decided to sell A car, when we got married we each had a car, we were both working, decided to sell one car, or sell both cars and buy only one car. And he responded to an ad and went out and bought the car and it ended up being a real dud of a car. It had all kinds of mechanical problems. When it rained it gushed water down through the ceiling. There were parts where the person who was selling it had replaced the real part with a part that didn't fit. It wasn't a good car. It ended up having to be basically junked. But my husband's response, graciously from the Lord, I was able to keep my mouth shut. and commiserate with him because he felt really bad, but not berate him for making a hasty decision. But his response was, you know, you're the one that thinks in terms of details. You're the one that asks questions. I will never make a major decision again without getting your input first. And that's been true for the 48 years that we've been married. So even though it was painful to lose all that money on a car, and even though it was frustrating to have to go through the whole process of buying another car and figuring out how to pay for it and all that stuff. So it was a decision which was a mistake. I benefited from it much more than anything we lost. because of the confidence and the trust it built in our relationship and the way we've learned how to work together on making decisions. That has been a true blessing. People are put together to fit together. And so this is not, every husband-wife relationship doesn't look like ours in terms of your talents and your abilities, but God does match you up. And in our situation, He is the long range, the forward thinker, the one who can see on down the road, whereas I tend to be the one who sees the details and asks questions and figures out all the possible options. And then between the two of us, we can make a pretty good decision. We need to be able to support him and he knows that we will support him because it gives him the freedom to not be afraid of making a decision because he knows that we don't consider him a failure when he makes a decision that you later figure out should have been made differently, if that makes sense. So these are questions that can help you think about how you are responding to your husband. And in the areas where you see, yes, I am doing well in this, you can be grateful for how God has worked. In the areas where you see, oh, I do this, which is actually what I've thought as I've been writing this lesson for today. I see areas that I need to strengthen in. So let it be a help. Let it be kind of a tool for evaluation. That's my intention with it. Okay, so I want to kind of give a summary statement to this, and then I want to show you a worksheet that I sent you that I think will be helpful in terms of just dealing with this whole area. So choosing to submit to my husband's leadership, and it is a choice, ensures that God's order is established in our home. Remember, it has nothing to do with my ability or my worth or my value or anything other than God's order, God's system of order that he has set up, which is blessed by him. and when we are willing to cooperate with it, we'll produce great works. It indicates that I trust God to work through my husband to accomplish his plan for our family. My trust in God allows me to trust my husband. It is a healthy functioning relationship. Living in this relationship with your husband is healthy and it works. God will honor my commitment to my husband's spiritual leadership when I freely give it to him. So, I pray that this will be a word of encouragement and a help. Let me show the other sheet. Okay, good. I'm excited, I actually pulled it up. Okay, one thing I wanted to mention, and this isn't in your notes, so I'll just say it, is that sometimes we need to do a little damage repair in this whole area of submitting to our husbands. If our husband knows that anytime he says something that we may not like, that our response is going to be negative, then that really breaks down his self-confidence because God has designed men with the ability to lead. Now, your husband may be a quiet man and he may lead in a quiet way, but God has still given him the ability to lead and God will grow that in him in terms of how God wants to use him as a leader in your family. But if we have berated him in public, if we have argued, if we have used our words to cut him down, then our husbands are more vulnerable to us than to any other person in the world because of our relationship. So sometimes we realize that we've been doing something and we see the repercussions to it And we realize we need to do a little damage control. So one of the things that is good, this is good to do anytime, but especially if you are wanting to just build up your husband, is this is a good exercise from this verse in Ephesians 5. Showing respect is the positive side of submitting to him. It takes submission to a whole new level. because it is not just enduring or responding out of duty, but it is moving ahead to appreciation. And that's what we're talking about now. Okay? Ephesians 5.33 and the Amplified says at the end of the verse, and the wife must see to it that she respects and delights in her husband, that she notices him, prefers him, and treats him with loving concern. treasuring Him, honoring Him, and holding Him dear. Now, the Amplified Version, I can't remember if we've talked about this before, is not a good study Bible, because what it does is it amplifies the words that are there that have been translated word for word in the scripture. It takes those words and it expands on them. And this part of this verse that is in parentheses, is not a literal translation, but it is expanding on the ideas that are expressed in the literal translation. So, I don't recommend the Amplified Bible as a study Bible, because it's hard to do word studies in it, but it is helpful as an addition to your study Bible, and it is good for a reading Bible, and a lot of times it just helps me think different things. in conjunction with these verses. I guess the whole idea expands on the idea that's there. So let's look. When we take these things that are underlined, that are mentioned in this verse, let's see how we can make practical application of them. We'll do a couple and then you have got this sheet. You can Go through this and do it on your own in your quiet time, if you want. This is something I've done, actually, with my husband and have shared it with other wives. But it really, it opened my eyes to appreciate him more and to express that appreciation. So that's our goal in working through this today. Temitope, I see you. Welcome. We are glad that you are here today. Thank you for joining us. And, um, a manual blessing. Is that you? Okay, good. I was, I knew that you weren't a manual, but I was trying to figure out which half you were. So your blessing. Well, good. We are welcome. We are, you are welcome. We are glad you're with us. Okay. Sure. Okay, so let's talk about this. The first one, respect is underlined, and we kind of talked about what that means. Let's talk about delights in him. So how would you define what it means to delight in your husband? What does it mean to take delight in him? And then take it a step further. How can I enact this in my relationship? How can I communicate that I delight in him, to him? Any thoughts? Chioma, can you answer to that? Kedi, I see that you are here too. Welcome. I just hadn't scrolled down far enough. No problem. Hi, Eleanor. Hi. Okay. How can you take delight in your husband? Or first of all, let's talk about what it means. Let me lead the discussion and then people can join in as you would like to. Okay. Hello? Yes. Sorry. Keep talking. Sorry. No, no. You're fine. I apologize. I skipped down to the chat section because I was afraid I was missing things, which I was. Yes. What does it mean to delight in him? When you delight in someone, I think you're happy. Uh-huh. You're excited about the person. yes yes so um by delighting my husband i i think i'm just happy to be with him and to just know that we're together yes it brings me joy yes yes that's great that's excellent that's excellent so how can you show him that you delight in him what can you do um Well, I think just doing those things that make him happy. And what is something that makes him happy? I know, we're talking about sex, aren't we? We all know what you mean. And in addition to... You're not far from the kingdom. Well, that and then he's very big on words of affirmation. So, yeah, so that as well. Now, do you naturally tend to be someone who expresses themselves verbally easily, or do you tend to be quieter? I don't think, no, I'm not very good at expressing my emotions. So it's a bit difficult. So I'd probably do something for you. I'd probably, I wouldn't say it, but I would act. I'll do something, yes. So it's a bit difficult trying to work that out. Learning to say nice things, yes. And I mean, my own default would be to help you organize your things, put things away, just those things, make sure things are working. But I have to learn to say those words, oh, well done, oh, how are you, or drop notes here and there. Yes, that's really good. That's really good, especially since you know. I'm not good at it, but I have to learn to do that. Yeah, well, that's okay. You learn by just starting. You know, I'm the same way. John is more verbally expressive than I am. And I, you know, I benefit from that. But, but that is something that I have to consciously do. And that doesn't mean it is any less sincere. It's just learning how to think a different way and just learning how to do it. Learning how to, Make sure I send him out the door with a kiss and greet him the same way when he comes back. But especially like you're saying, just telling him how much I appreciate him and enjoy being with him. The things that you just told us, telling that to him can really mean a difference to him. Okay, that's good. Okay, what about noticing him? What does it mean to notice someone? Sharon, welcome. Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am. How about if you answer that, Sharon? What does it mean to notice your husband? OK. Any ideas? When you notice someone, you are kind of picking them out of the crowd. You know, maybe giving them a little special attention. Well, maybe when he does some things. Things like that. Well, I can tell you something that John and I do. When we are in a crowd, like maybe at church, something where we are not standing right together, sometimes I will deliberately catch his eye and wink at him. He loves it. I give him a big wink and he knows that it is just for him and he loves it. So your husband might not respond. He might think you had something in your eye. But you can figure out a way to notice him. Maybe there's something that, maybe there's something that you wear or something that communicates to him that you think he's special. So that's what it means to notice him. So good. Yeah. How about preferring him? What does preferring him mean? Salome, welcome. We are glad you are here. Salome, how can you, you know, I know I'm putting you on the spot because you may not be able to talk because of children, but what is some way that you can show Bishan that you prefer him? Wow. Okay Okay Just can't think of anything right now, okay Okay, somebody else chime in. How would you prefer him means has the idea of a precedent that you have chosen him over anyone else and that you hold him in higher esteem than anyone else that has the idea of selection, of special treatment. So what is a way that we can show our husbands that we prefer him? Okay, sometimes words of affirmation. Yes. Like when he does something, I say you're the best. That's great. I think you are the best. That is great. Can you repeat the question one more time? Yes. What does it mean to prefer your husband? How can you show him that you prefer him? That if there were... If there were, out of ten different men lined up, you would choose him over anyone else? You prefer him? I would say I give him priority. Okay. That's good. And how specifically do you do that? Or would you do that? I can change my schedules to see that if maybe if I had planned something and something comes up on his own end which necessitates my changing my schedule so he could go do something like and do that for him. Oh that is excellent. That is excellent. Even something simple like a preparing dinner You know, changing your plans so that you are home from the market or home from a meeting so that you are able to have dinner available to him when he comes home from work or soon after that. Yeah, all of those things, that's great. When you change your schedule and he knows you were doing it for him, that's exactly what preferring him means. And that's also a way of submitting to Him, because instead of just following your own plans, you are subjecting your plans to His, which is a real blessing to Him. A real blessing. Okay, good. Well, there are some other things listed on here, treating Him with loving concern, treasuring Him, honoring Him, holding Him dear. Think about what these things mean. And then think about how you can put that into effect in your life, in your relationship with your husband. What we are doing is showing respect for him, but we are also showing him that he is special for us. We are building him up. And we are treating him as a very special person and giving him precedence over anything else in our lives, whether it's other people, whether it's other activities. It's something that we are doing to honor him and he will respond to it. He will respond to it. And, you know, I've had ladies ask me before things like, well, I really want my husband to lead our family devotions, but he doesn't want to do it. But sometimes, sometimes, I can't speak to every situation, but sometimes the reason why he is reluctant to do that is that he feels like he can't do it well. Or he's just lacking confidence. And by building him up, you are, and not nagging him to do something that he's not doing. it really encourages him to grow in that area. So what we've talked about, we've talked about a lot of things in terms of submitting to our husbands, but submitting to them not out of duty, but out of respect and out of trust and out of confidence that we are ultimately obeying God. And we are obeying and responding positively to the order God has ordained for our family. And God will honor our desires to put him first and to give our husbands this kind of special treatment. And he will use different situations where we show respect and especially respect for our husband's authority Regardless of the outcome of decisions he makes, he will use those things to enhance our husband in terms of his abilities and his confidence in the things that he can do. You know, and let me find this real quickly, but in Proverbs 31, where it's talking about the focuses on the godly woman, but it also mentions, in a couple of places, her husband. For instance, in verse 12, she does him good and not evil all the days of her life. And in verse 11, right before that, the heart of her husband trusts in her and he will have no lack of gain. then farther down I Can't find the other verse I am looking for but the idea is that her husband trusts in her because he knows that that she is looking out for his best interests. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. He will have no lack of gain. And there's a, I can't find it right now, I'm not sure why, but it talks about, oh, here it is, verse 23. Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. So she has actually enhanced her husband's reputation in the community. because of the way she shows respect for him and the way she treats him and seeks to do him good. So that's what we can accomplish for our husbands in a way that no one else can by the way we treat him publicly and privately. And the example that we set for our children and for anyone else who sees us. So when it's no mistake that God has included the idea of being subject to their own husbands in these short verses in Titus 2 as something that's important for us to learn and something that's important for us to teach. So I hope that our discussion today has been helpful to you and I hope that God will use it to further your own relationship with your husband. And with that, let me close in prayer. And then if anyone, some I know need to leave, if any of you would like to ask any questions, you are welcome to. Sarah, I apologize. I'm just seeing your name. I don't always scroll down to see people. So I'm so glad that you are here. I'm glad that you joined us. So let's pray.