Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 894 ｜ How COVID 'Compassion' Killed Her Father ｜ Guest： Allie Lundeen

00:00:00.000 In 2020, Allie Lundeen's dad died alone at a small Minnesota hospital after doctors refused to give him the treatment that he needed to overcome COVID.

00:00:13.520 Allie has used this story to raise awareness and to help other families actually be able to secure the treatment that their loved ones need when they are suffering from COVID.

00:00:24.160 She has courageously and sacrificially shared her story and shared the testimony of God's faithfulness in the midst of this tragedy.

00:00:32.900 And this isn't the first time she has shared this kind of story.

00:00:36.520 Her daughter died only 38 days old after doctors informed her that there was nothing that they could do to save her little life.

00:00:46.400 Allie is better known as the Proverbs 31 woman on Instagram. 1.00

00:00:50.180 And so not only is she sharing her testimony of faith, she is also helping women beautify their homes and live lives in a way that are Christ honoring.

00:01:00.520 You will be so encouraged by the stories of both tragedy and redemption and just how she conducts her life and sets an example for the rest of us Christian women.

00:01:10.040 This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:01:12.600 Go to GoodRanchers.com.

00:01:13.760 Use code Allie at checkout. 1.00

00:01:14.860 That's GoodRanchers.com.

00:01:15.960 Code Allie. 1.00

00:01:20.180 Allie, thanks so much for joining us on the White Couch.

00:01:30.240 I appreciate you making the track.

00:01:31.860 Absolutely.

00:01:32.560 Thanks for having me.

00:01:33.460 And you were saying that when you sat down that this is the couch that you guys have.

00:01:37.120 And this actually is mind-blowing.

00:01:38.960 The print behind you.

00:01:40.420 You guys, my people will know.

00:01:41.820 I'm like, that's a God wink.

00:01:42.960 He's like, just come sit in your living room.

00:01:44.860 It's your same couch.

00:01:46.020 Make it so homey.

00:01:46.840 Okay, actually, I'm just so flattered by that because you have incredible style.

00:01:51.520 That's why I love, that's why I think I originally started following you because the things you pick out for your home, like, wow, I have the same stuff as Proverbs 31, girl.

00:02:00.600 The person who designed the set who is not me.

00:02:02.900 They did good.

00:02:03.920 It's a lot of credit for that.

00:02:04.380 They did good.

00:02:05.100 Yes, yes.

00:02:05.680 Okay, so tell us who you are, what you do.

00:02:08.360 So I'm Allie Lundin, and I always hate saying what I do.

00:02:13.500 I always say content creator.

00:02:15.220 I know.

00:02:15.940 Blogger.

00:02:16.680 I don't love the word influencer, but I'm on Instagram, and that's literally what pays our bills, and we're so grateful for it.

00:02:22.620 Yes.

00:02:22.980 And what are you on Instagram for?

00:02:24.960 What do you post?

00:02:25.500 So my handle is Proverbs31, girl, and it honestly started out with blogging, and it was just trying to emulate what that Proverbs 31 woman looks like in the Bible, just a little bit of faith, a little bit of resourcefulness, a lot of motherhood, and a lot of, yeah, God.

00:02:39.740 So that's how I know.

00:02:40.720 You've got four kids and teenager down to seven years old.

00:02:46.520 Yes.

00:02:46.920 And you've been blogging and posting, influencing.

00:02:50.140 I know.

00:02:50.580 I hate that.

00:02:50.960 I know.

00:02:51.700 But for how long?

00:02:52.880 So I started blogging when my little guy was born.

00:02:55.940 I was a public school teacher, and I said, I can't go back.

00:02:59.400 So blogging was the buzzword then, 15 years ago.

00:03:03.000 Wow.

00:03:03.620 So that's when Proverbs31 began.

00:03:05.600 Okay, so when your oldest was a baby.

00:03:08.200 Yeah, before Instagram.

00:03:09.900 I am an OG.

00:03:11.280 Yeah, an OG blogger.

00:03:12.980 So then you were just posting about, like, this is how I'm going to approach motherhood from a Christian perspective.

00:03:18.480 A lot of it, honestly, like you said, had to do with home decor.

00:03:21.240 I wanted to create my house into a home on a very tight budget because we went from two incomes to one.

00:03:27.040 And then so my goal was to kind of just also share my faith along the way.

00:03:30.580 But a lot of it was based on DIY and home decor and then how being a one-income family worked into all that.

00:03:37.500 Yeah.

00:03:37.740 So that was 15 years ago.

00:03:39.320 Yeah.

00:03:39.680 And you have stayed very true to that.

00:03:41.960 That's exactly what you are today.

00:03:43.340 I only discovered you a couple years ago, but that's still what you do.

00:03:46.360 You do DIY projects.

00:03:48.280 And what's amazing to me is you have such an eye for it because you'll show the before and I'm like, oh, the before looks good.

00:03:54.820 And then you'll transform it into something even more beautiful.

00:03:57.960 That's really amazing.

00:03:59.220 Oh, I'm just so wired.

00:04:00.380 I love taking ugly things and making them beautiful.

00:04:03.020 Yeah.

00:04:03.340 Like, Lord, it's just I can't stop it.

00:04:05.260 The before and after.

00:04:05.800 So, yeah, tell me about that.

00:04:06.840 Have you always been a DIY crafty kind of person?

00:04:10.440 No.

00:04:11.720 I grew up in a family that my dad was not handy.

00:04:15.060 But so we never really had the opportunity or I never saw carpentry and crafts and all of that.

00:04:20.500 But I married my husband, Ryan, who is super handy.

00:04:23.240 And all of a sudden, this whole new world came to be because we had all the tools and all the resources.

00:04:28.160 And I was like, I can do that.

00:04:29.880 He does all of the hard behind the scenes stuff, plumbing, electrical, all of that stuff.

00:04:34.320 And I was like, OK, now I get to make it pretty.

00:04:36.280 So since he had the tools, I was like, I can work a table saw.

00:04:39.900 I can work a chop saw.

00:04:40.900 We can do this.

00:04:42.240 And that's kind of how I just YouTube taught me everything I know.

00:04:45.940 Dug in there and started making the house beautiful on a really tiny budget.

00:04:50.020 And people loved it.

00:04:50.880 They really did with it.

00:04:51.860 Yeah.

00:04:52.100 So let's talk about it a little bit.

00:04:53.780 Let's talk first about how do you interweave your faith into motherhood and making your house a home?

00:05:01.640 Obviously, for you, that's through various forms of crafting a homemaking.

00:05:05.240 Not everyone is gifted in that way.

00:05:08.200 And yet you do teach people, OK, these are the different ways that you can be a Proverbs 31 woman, whether you have two incomes or one. 0.94

00:05:14.960 So tell us what you've learned over the past 15 years about how to do that.

00:05:18.920 Oh, goodness.

00:05:19.900 Well, first of all, I just think anything can be made beautiful.

00:05:23.360 I am just like, if you have a desire to make it beautiful, a little bit of paint goes a long way.

00:05:28.620 One gallon, $30 later.

00:05:30.180 And I just feel like to create a home that, you know, your kids just love, it feels welcoming.

00:05:37.720 I mean, I always struggled with the fact of materialism, you know, obviously biblical where that runs a fine line.

00:05:45.460 But just knowing that you can be very resourceful on a very tight budget and still honor the Lord in that way and make your house beautiful with just a little bit of paint, a paintbrush, some quarter inch plywood.

00:05:56.320 Give yourself some faux shiplap and create just an environment that you and your family can enjoy. 0.98

00:06:01.120 Yeah. And beautifying can mean a variety of things.

00:06:05.240 Like, I'm not crafty.

00:06:06.800 I could not, even if I followed your step-by-step guide to make like a reading nook or your staircase or something look exactly like it does in your home.

00:06:16.380 I'm sure a lot of people could do that.

00:06:18.300 I could not.

00:06:20.260 I couldn't.

00:06:21.340 I physically could not.

00:06:23.280 And yet I do think like there is something inherently godly and biblical about women beautifying spaces for their family.

00:06:32.020 So you don't have to be crafty or artistic.

00:06:34.480 I hope.

00:06:35.200 Gosh, I am out of luck if so.

00:06:38.120 But there's a way to make spaces beautiful, right?

00:06:40.700 Even if you're not artistic.

00:06:42.520 Oh, absolutely.

00:06:43.580 And honestly, I mean, I say the outward appearance, but it totally all starts in the heart.

00:06:48.560 Just making your kids feel loved and honored and cherished and, you know, just creating the environment that they feel safe and secure.

00:06:55.000 So I think that what we've done is created this family culture inside of our walls that is just really secure for our kids.

00:07:01.780 And of course, I would love to like put the finishing touches on it with the beauty of decor.

00:07:05.720 But no, it is all starting with the heart and how you want your family to be raised, how you want your kids to feel.

00:07:11.660 And obviously, that's a strong foundation in Jesus for sure.

00:07:15.600 But it is for you.

00:07:16.760 It is a gift.

00:07:17.540 It's a talent.

00:07:18.540 Like you have a vision for spaces that other people don't have.

00:07:22.920 And I think a lot of times when we have those gifts, we think the only way to utilize them is outside of the home, outside of the family.

00:07:30.120 Like we have to be paid by an employer in order to say, I'm using my gifts.

00:07:34.900 And I guess you do in a way because you get paid, you know, for influencing other people.

00:07:39.820 But for you, you decided to do the work of your hands and the talent that God gave you to primarily serve your family, right?

00:07:45.680 Yeah. And honestly, when I'd hear stories like yours of like, I just, it's not my thing.

00:07:50.520 I don't know.

00:07:51.100 I would be like, that's so crazy.

00:07:53.000 I didn't know people could think like that and didn't know how to pull a look together, you know, necessarily.

00:07:57.720 And so that's when I kind of realized the Lord did give me this gift.

00:08:01.240 Sometimes I wish I did not have it and I didn't care because I do.

00:08:05.540 And I love, you know, I had just loved that before and after and I love designing.

00:08:09.320 So when I accepted that I really, truly feel like this gift is from the Lord, how am I going to use it to honor and glorify Him?

00:08:15.920 Because I can't shake it.

00:08:17.700 I think that's when it took on the whole new meaning of Proverbs 31, girl.

00:08:21.160 And it's just been really cool to see because actually the first eight years, well, I should maybe say 13 years of blogging and Instagram came later, but not a dime was made on it.

00:08:32.980 So it really was just me sharing because I just loved it so much.

00:08:37.580 And within the last three, four years, it's been amazing to see how God has transformed that into an income for our family.

00:08:43.720 It's been mind-blowing to me and watching Him weave throughout the whole story has been just a really cool testimony to His goodness and His faithfulness when we use our gifts to glorify and honor Him.

00:08:53.540 Yeah, and it is really a gift.

00:08:54.940 I'm so glad that you did realize that.

00:08:57.380 You saying, like, I didn't realize that was a thing that people do.

00:09:00.220 I'm like, oh, it is a thing.

00:09:01.780 It is a thing that we cannot do it.

00:09:04.260 But at the same time, I think that there are some people, not me, but there are some people out there who think that they can't.

00:09:10.560 But after they read your blog or they watch your page, they realize, oh, I can.

00:09:15.080 And I don't have to have that much artistic ability to do that.

00:09:18.300 So I will say sometimes I have surprised myself with the ability to put together a shelf or whatever it is.

00:09:26.280 It's usually not that I don't have the vision for it.

00:09:29.460 It's that I don't, I can't execute it.

00:09:32.320 That also is a talent, like the ability to bridge the gap between what you see and what you can put on paper.

00:09:39.000 And that really is an artist.

00:09:40.200 I remember I had a classmate growing up who was an incredible artist.

00:09:46.560 And I remember he drew this awesome picture.

00:09:48.520 And I just asked him, how do you do that?

00:09:50.280 He was like, I literally just see it in my mind and I do it.

00:09:52.840 OK, well, I could see something in my mind and I could try and my hand would not do that.

00:09:57.840 But you can.

00:09:58.800 And you're teaching other people how to do that, which I think is empowering.

00:10:02.540 Yes.

00:10:02.840 Our moms kind of looked at us like sideways when we bought two of our homes because I had the vision of what it's going to turn into.

00:10:09.480 And they're like, you are buying this.

00:10:12.280 So like a fixer upper.

00:10:13.480 Very much so fixer uppers.

00:10:15.220 Yeah.

00:10:15.380 But I must say, like, I envy how you can do that with words.

00:10:18.620 So it is so interesting to see how the Lord gifts us in different ways.

00:10:21.840 In totally different ways.

00:10:22.940 Yeah.

00:10:23.520 Yeah.

00:10:23.680 And how do you balance because you look at something like, oh, I can make that better.

00:10:28.400 How do you balance that gift and drive with contentment with like, when do you know, OK, you know what?

00:10:35.400 Not everything has to be fixed.

00:10:38.480 Like, how do you how do you balance that in your life?

00:10:40.980 Yeah.

00:10:41.580 I mean, that's a daily dying to self when Studio McGee keeps dropping lines that are amazing.

00:10:46.480 Yeah.

00:10:46.720 Target.

00:10:47.260 I'm like, I just heard about this for the first time.

00:10:49.460 I had never heard that.

00:10:51.240 We were trying to fix our kitchen and I've never done anything like that.

00:10:55.680 Honestly, my husband's like, look, I know you would be content with this 1999 countertop and decor forever.

00:11:00.800 I really would.

00:11:01.360 I don't care.

00:11:02.400 But like, let's, you know, let's fix some stuff up.

00:11:04.960 And my friend is like, oh, have you heard of this place, this place?

00:11:07.380 I'm like, no, I thought there was like, I don't know, weirs and wayfair.

00:11:11.940 I'll come over.

00:11:13.240 Please.

00:11:13.820 OK, so sorry.

00:11:14.740 I interrupted you, but keep going.

00:11:16.320 So no.

00:11:16.740 So I mean, and it's so interesting because I think, again, it's one of those things that we all find contentment in different areas.

00:11:22.700 And like, for me, I could drive the ugliest, oldest vehicle, but I want my house to look pretty.

00:11:27.540 So there's just different ways.

00:11:29.500 And I think what we have learned is it goes outside of, you know, is this getting into our tithing money?

00:11:35.560 Is this allowing us not to bless others?

00:11:37.000 Is this, you know, something that is interfering with my family life?

00:11:40.460 Am I not losing my joy because I don't have stuff?

00:11:44.380 Like then it's obviously check yourself and bring yourself back because that is not wholesome and glorifying to God at all.

00:11:50.800 So it is hard, though.

00:11:52.340 I constantly struggle being in this space where obviously as a content creator, you're marketing products and you're selling products, right?

00:11:59.540 That's how we make our income.

00:12:00.620 And so trying to also allow people to see how our life has been blessed by living obedient to God first and foremost.

00:12:07.620 So that's the balance of trying to show them that part of our life first and then also make their lives beautiful.

00:12:14.620 And I'm sure it's been difficult for you as a Christian content creator kind of navigating the algorithms and all of that of Instagram.

00:12:34.720 I mean, that's something that I know what we do is different, but I often rely on these major companies who I understand my values are diametrically opposed to theirs.

00:12:45.180 And I'm like talking about that every day.

00:12:47.200 I'm like, yeah, OK, I depend on them to get my message out.

00:12:50.360 At any given moment, all of this could just go away.

00:12:55.320 Do you deal with that fear that sometimes think things are kind of precarious when you're a Christian, quote unquote, influencer?

00:13:02.520 Oh, absolutely.

00:13:03.540 I've walked that line many times.

00:13:05.520 And honestly, it's one that you need to decide of if this is worth it.

00:13:10.920 Where do you want social media to lie in your life?

00:13:12.740 Because I know of some people that will stay far away from that line of wanting to get too bold or too, you know, honest and truthful because they want to play it safe.

00:13:23.180 Because they do realize that, you know, Instagram, social media, meta holds all of our little fingers in their hands and they can take it away.

00:13:32.100 And they have.

00:13:33.040 But honestly, at the end of the day, I had to say, what do you want your platform to be?

00:13:38.160 And I want my platform to be obedient.

00:13:40.080 And that is my first and foremost.

00:13:42.260 That's my heart.

00:13:42.840 That's where it is.

00:13:43.520 And so we definitely have crossed over that line.

00:13:46.040 And Instagram has shut us down a couple of times.

00:13:48.560 And we've just dealt with it.

00:13:49.640 And God has been so faithful.

00:13:50.820 So it was a conscious decision, though, to say, all right, God, I'm going to do what you want me to do.

00:13:58.260 I feel like social media is a two-headed beast.

00:14:01.960 Everyone says to build your own platform.

00:14:04.560 And we've done that with our website.

00:14:06.060 But we need social media to link it, to present it from.

00:14:10.440 Otherwise, they don't go on their own.

00:14:12.040 So trying to, you know, just stay true to who we are while we're on this platform and shining a light in a very dark place.

00:14:18.360 And people need it.

00:14:19.920 And what does it mean?

00:14:21.220 This is something that you're sharing on Instagram that maybe it was the reason your page has gotten shut down twice.

00:14:26.440 What does it mean to be a Proverbs 31 woman? 0.99

00:14:28.800 Oh, you know, for me, well, it's someone that wakes up early, that works hard, that's taking care of her household, that's loving her babies well.

00:14:39.180 We homeschool our four kids.

00:14:40.960 So that went from public school teacher to homeschooling, something I never thought I would do.

00:14:45.840 But to just raise them on such a solid foundation was really important for us, even 15 years ago.

00:14:52.980 And so we chose to do that.

00:14:55.140 And to, like I said, for me to just cut off one whole income was really hard to do at that point in our lives, just starting a family.

00:15:02.620 So to, I think a Proverbs 31 girl woman has to be resourceful, which is the thrifty and the budgeting. 1.00

00:15:09.980 And yeah, so, so many of those things that I try to incorporate into my feed of loving your family well, loving God well, and being really resourceful and doing what you can to help your family.

00:15:21.160 So that's, yeah.

00:15:22.220 I think that's a really, I think it's a really good summary.

00:15:25.520 Being resourceful, making, and what you said kind of at the beginning of how you're making your house into a home.

00:15:30.620 It's not necessarily for everyone, decor and craftiness and things like that.

00:15:36.680 It is making your family feel safe and secure.

00:15:40.220 That could just mean maybe you have a total minimalist home, but it's clean.

00:15:43.700 Absolutely.

00:15:44.300 And they know that they're safe there.

00:15:45.940 They know that they're secure there.

00:15:47.000 They know that there's going to at least be a warm blanket and a hot meal where they can cozy up next to mom and talk about their day, whatever it is.

00:15:55.140 So it doesn't necessarily look the same for anyone, but the principles are the same.

00:16:00.620 And that it is resourcefulness.

00:16:02.760 It is stewardship.

00:16:03.880 It is honoring God.

00:16:05.160 It is loving your family.

00:16:06.960 And in that way, like creating honor for your husband, creating honor for yourself.

00:16:13.020 I don't know.

00:16:13.760 I guess that's a message that maybe Instagram was like, we don't like that.

00:16:17.840 I know.

00:16:18.300 I mean, it makes sense, right?

00:16:19.680 In the culture we live in, it's very countercultural.

00:16:22.060 That's for sure.

00:16:23.020 Yeah, definitely.

00:16:24.420 And what does it look like?

00:16:25.560 I'm just curious because my job doesn't work exactly like this.

00:16:29.660 I mean, how does this, maybe for other people, this will be helpful who are trying to do the same thing.

00:16:34.120 Like, how does this generate income?

00:16:35.980 Do you mind answering that?

00:16:37.180 No, not at all.

00:16:37.900 I try to be an open book.

00:16:38.960 So there's companies that will reach out to you because they want to work with you.

00:16:44.020 I know.

00:16:44.820 And this is when Instagram shifted because I started 10 years ago when it was not monetized at all.

00:16:50.460 So in the last three years, it's just been insane to see the shift of marketing.

00:16:54.540 And they even said that now more money is being poured into social media marketing than TV marketing, which makes sense because everyone's on their phone.

00:17:01.060 So companies reach out, you try their product, and if you love their product, they'll either pay you a flat rate to share a story about their product or they will give you a commission on what you sell of their product.

00:17:12.440 So for us, and then obviously anytime you link up a piece from Target or a piece from Walmart, you can earn a 5% to 10% commission on that because you are marketing their product for them and they give you a kickback on that.

00:17:24.840 Yeah, and how do you decide?

00:17:27.060 Because I'm sure you don't say yes to everything.

00:17:29.200 You would never promote a product that you don't genuinely believe in or like.

00:17:33.960 So how do you sit through all those?

00:17:36.720 It's really hard, and you definitely need to know how much to say yes to and how much to say no to.

00:17:43.220 But there's always opportunity, and so it is trying things.

00:17:46.460 And hopefully the best partnerships are the ones that you've already been using, and you reach out and they say, yes, we would love to work with you.

00:17:52.720 Or they find you, and you're like, yes, I love them so much.

00:17:55.100 I get to work with them.

00:17:56.060 So that is for sure.

00:17:57.780 It's definitely picking and choosing.

00:17:59.580 And as it goes on, it's trying to find ones that align with my beliefs and morals more so because you definitely want that to line up as well.

00:18:06.840 Yeah, and there is.

00:18:08.240 I feel like there's growing opportunity for those kind of partnerships.

00:18:11.500 And I've just noticed that on my show is that the kinds of advertisements that I read versus what podcasters, even conservative podcasters, were reading several years ago,

00:18:21.980 they're like these family-owned Christian conservative businesses more than, oh, I just happen to be reading for this clothing company or watch company that is kind of okay with conservatives but doesn't align.

00:18:36.320 Now I would say most of my sponsors are sponsors that align with my show, which there's a lot of comfort to that because we know what people will do who oppose your message.

00:18:49.680 They'll go after your sponsors and say, can you believe that this person said this?

00:18:54.580 You should cut ties with them.

00:18:55.880 And all my sponsors can be like, yep, and I agree with her.

00:18:58.500 So I love the parallel economy that is cropping up that conservatives and Christians are creating because there's a lot of security there.

00:19:09.100 Yeah, and they're so supportive.

00:19:10.880 Yes.

00:19:11.140 I mean, we've seen them rally us many times, and it's so cool to see that.

00:19:15.620 So yeah, ideally, that would be the only people in the companies I'd love to work with.

00:19:19.420 So that's the shift we're trying to make.

00:19:21.580 But yeah, so it is really cool to see that rise up and for people to get on board and to support and back that.

00:19:27.500 Yeah, and keep going.

00:19:29.160 Like if you're a Christian business owner and you're thinking like you're starting that product, you're starting that company, like there's a lot of people out there who will support you and help get the word out.

00:19:38.820 Like even I'm sure you've done this too.

00:19:41.020 If there's something that I believe in and I'm not getting paid for it, but I just want to help this person get started, I'll share because I think it's so important for Christians to be industrious.

00:19:51.320 Absolutely.

00:19:52.320 And it can really change their, alter their course of their life.

00:19:55.380 And we've had people say that to us, and it's such an easy thing that we can do.

00:19:59.060 So it's really cool to be able to support each other in the body of Christ.

00:20:01.980 Absolutely.

00:20:02.340 Okay, so before we started this conversation and we were talking about you getting shut down, I think that's maybe that's how I originally found you is someone had sent your handle to me saying this person is getting a lot of pushback or she's getting her account taken down.

00:20:29.820 And I actually remember seeing the video on your new account that you had to create of you talking about your dad.

00:20:38.860 Yeah.

00:20:39.480 And so I think maybe that's how I'm trying to, it's always so hard to remember how you originally found someone, but maybe that was the first thing that I saw.

00:20:46.680 And you told your story of how your dad died ostensibly of COVID, but the story is a lot more complicated than that.

00:20:54.300 But so can you tell us what happened?

00:20:57.160 I know it's a big story, but just go from the beginning and let us know.

00:21:00.800 Yeah.

00:21:01.120 And I will say this was a time, like I was talking to you before, where it was the mark in the sand of, are you willing to risk it all to share your dad's story?

00:21:09.840 Because I knew that it could potentially devastate my Instagram career, but it...

00:21:14.660 Because this was when, just to give context, this was 2020?

00:21:17.840 2020.

00:21:18.160 2020.

00:21:18.620 So this was when people were still, and the sensors were highly sensitive.

00:21:22.820 Highly sensitive, which is the reason I had the backup account that you found.

00:21:26.240 So I created a backup account.

00:21:27.840 So my dad got sick with COVID.

00:21:29.260 Yes.

00:21:29.500 And prior to that, we had actually been following the frontline doctors and seeing a different narrative than the one that, you know, the media was pushing and really feeling like we wanted to be prepared with COVID and not necessarily believing everything that we were seeing from necessarily the, you know, the hospitals and the government, what they were saying.

00:21:53.600 So we felt like we were very prepared and my dad got COVID and we got, and unfortunately my mom had COVID at the same time.

00:22:02.180 So they were trying to take care of each other and they were very sick.

00:22:05.340 And so...

00:22:05.960 Did they live close to you?

00:22:06.740 They live four hours away.

00:22:08.120 Okay.

00:22:08.400 So not that close.

00:22:09.120 Not that close.

00:22:10.020 So at the beginning, we didn't realize how bad it was, but then my mom's like, I can't keep his oxygen up.

00:22:15.100 We got him actually on ivermectin.

00:22:17.780 Okay.

00:22:18.000 He had two days of ivermectin and then we got all of the vitamins and all of the supplements that he needed.

00:22:22.740 But within those two days, his oxygen couldn't stay up.

00:22:25.500 So she called the ambulance and we're like, yes, mom, just have him go to the hospital, give him some oxygen.

00:22:29.700 And how old are your parents?

00:22:31.120 So my dad was 71.

00:22:32.780 Okay.

00:22:33.100 And my mom at that time was 57. 0.96

00:22:35.680 Oh, okay.

00:22:36.600 So, I mean, sorry, 67.

00:22:38.080 Oh, okay.

00:22:38.520 She's not 67, but they're like so young.

00:22:40.940 You realize at this point that that's so young.

00:22:42.960 Yeah.

00:22:43.300 When you're 40, it used to seem old.

00:22:45.280 So he was very young, 71.

00:22:47.800 Yeah.

00:22:48.000 Went to the hospital and like looking back, I am just so sad how it all went down, but we were never able to go in and be with my dad or be an advocate for my dad.

00:22:59.340 So my mom had COVID as well.

00:23:01.400 So she actually passed off all of the responsibilities for me to talk to the doctor because she had such fog that she couldn't do it. 0.55

00:23:08.140 And not necessarily what I wanted to do, but knew that we needed to advocate for my dad as best as possible.

00:23:14.240 So you drove, okay.

00:23:16.080 So she brought him to the hospital.

00:23:19.220 They realized, okay, his oxygen levels are low.

00:23:23.060 Your mom couldn't stay at all.

00:23:25.180 So did they immediately move him to ICU?

00:23:28.060 They did not immediately move him to ICU.

00:23:30.160 Okay.

00:23:30.520 And he really, we actually didn't even go home.

00:23:32.540 He was fine.

00:23:33.000 He was FaceTiming us.

00:23:33.940 He was talking to us.

00:23:34.840 So it wasn't like he was deathly sick.

00:23:36.980 He just needed probably some hydration and oxygen.

00:23:40.300 Yeah.

00:23:40.860 And so you're thinking it's, sorry to interrupt.

00:23:43.020 I just want to make sure that we get all the details in there.

00:23:44.960 But at this point, you're still at home and you're thinking he's going to be fine.

00:23:48.940 Absolutely.

00:23:49.300 They're just giving him a little bit of oxygen and we'll be, we'll be good to go.

00:23:53.820 Your mom is talking to you.

00:23:55.820 Okay.

00:23:56.340 And then at what point did she say, I need you to handle this and come here?

00:24:00.580 So a couple days in, we realized we had said, we took all of his medication that he had gotten

00:24:06.900 because he had the telehealth conference and had the ivermectin from a doctor prescribed.

00:24:10.600 Yes.

00:24:10.880 So we took the medication to the hospital and we didn't realize, but they said, oh,

00:24:14.960 we sent all of your medication back home.

00:24:17.120 And so honestly, you only got to speak to a doctor maybe once a day if you were lucky.

00:24:22.660 So right there, that was terrible because every, every second mattered.

00:24:26.640 So I think it was the second day or the third day that I talked to the doctor and I said,

00:24:30.600 we want him to have his ivermectin.

00:24:32.360 It was prescribed by a doctor.

00:24:33.840 We want him to finish his doses.

00:24:35.080 And as soon as I said that word, it was just like, I don't think we can do that.

00:24:40.420 Let me check with people.

00:24:41.480 I don't think that that's possible.

00:24:42.980 So you're still at home at this point?

00:24:44.180 So at this point, I'm still at home.

00:24:45.400 Yeah.

00:24:45.640 You're just trying to call all day.

00:24:47.300 And they called me directly because it's all you get to do.

00:24:49.500 No one gets to go to the hospital.

00:24:50.840 So even my mom was just sitting at home the whole time.

00:24:52.780 She sent him off in an ambulance and she never saw him again.

00:24:56.240 So I'm on the phone with the doctor and the first doctor really acted like he wanted to help us,

00:25:01.800 but his hands were tied.

00:25:02.900 And that was when at first I started to get really nervous.

00:25:06.740 I'm like, why aren't they allowing us to advocate for my dad?

00:25:09.000 We chose what health care, what plan we wanted him to be on.

00:25:12.500 And they were denying it.

00:25:14.080 So they said no to the ivermectin.

00:25:17.060 He called back and said, I'm sorry.

00:25:18.460 The hospital will not allow me to give this to him.

00:25:21.520 So at that point...

00:25:22.300 What were they doing for him?

00:25:24.000 So the way the Lord laid this story out for us, we weren't really 100%.

00:25:28.300 We asked if he could get the antibodies and they said he wasn't sick enough for the antibodies to start with.

00:25:33.600 And so they denied that.

00:25:34.960 So they started him on remdesivir.

00:25:37.780 And at this point, we did not know anything about remdesivir.

00:25:40.680 And now we know that it's deadly.

00:25:42.460 Now we know.

00:25:43.000 And actually, we found out on day 10, which now we know, like the death cocktail takes 10 days of remdesivir.

00:25:51.380 And absolutely everything that they discovered that it does happened to my dad.

00:25:55.560 His kidney shut down.

00:25:56.420 He was on dialysis.

00:25:57.880 It literally killed him.

00:26:00.020 And I wish we would have found that information out 10 days later.

00:26:03.140 But knowing God is sovereign, we know that he allowed us to figure it out when we did to save so many other people.

00:26:09.180 So anyhow, as soon as we figured out that ivermectin wasn't going to be able to be used, we got nervous and we called our lawyer friend.

00:26:17.100 And we had him contact the hospital because we had seen cases where lawyers were involved.

00:26:22.020 Ivermectin was administered even on the vent.

00:26:23.800 My dad was not on the vent.

00:26:24.660 He was still talking to us.

00:26:27.060 His oxygen was just low.

00:26:28.860 His oxygen was low.

00:26:30.200 So he was on oxygen.

00:26:31.320 He was on a BiPAP.

00:26:32.200 He put him on remdesivir right away.

00:26:34.780 Right away.

00:26:35.480 So he wasn't sick enough, they said, for the antibodies.

00:26:38.500 But he was, according to them, sick enough for remdesivir.

00:26:42.680 And I think that, well, we know now that's just the drug they want everyone to be on the second they walk through the door.

00:26:48.520 Yeah.

00:26:48.880 And we didn't know this.

00:26:50.140 Which was supposed to, what did they say remdesivir was supposed to do?

00:26:55.900 I don't even know.

00:26:57.500 It's supposed to help them get their oxygen back up.

00:27:00.100 Yeah.

00:27:00.260 But what we know now, and you just alluded to that, is that it is terrible for the kidneys.

00:27:05.520 It's terrible.

00:27:06.280 The benefits do not outweigh the risk.

00:27:08.000 This is something that is very widely accepted.

00:27:10.520 And no, now this is not me spreading some conspiracy or something that I cooked up.

00:27:14.860 Like, this is something that is now being admitted even by people who used to advocate for it.

00:27:19.720 Yes.

00:27:19.940 So you, at this point, just didn't know that it was dangerous, but you did know that they weren't giving the ivermectin.

00:27:25.980 So your lawyer then...

00:27:27.680 So he contacted the hospital and the hospital said, basically, absolutely, we cannot administer that drug.

00:27:33.520 So it was at that point that we got...

00:27:36.320 They give them a reason?

00:27:36.800 No.

00:27:37.460 No reason.

00:27:37.820 They just said no.

00:27:38.620 No reason.

00:27:39.180 And I tried talking to two other doctors.

00:27:41.700 And Allie, when I tell you, when I looked into their eyes and they were soulless, I can tell you the heaviness and the darkness that I felt in that hospital.

00:27:49.700 So we did end up going there and we got to talk.

00:27:53.500 We got to go into a waiting room twice and talk to the doctors face to face.

00:27:59.180 And we, I mean, four girls with their dad in the hospital, we begged, we cried, we pleaded.

00:28:04.880 We said, please give him this drug.

00:28:07.140 It is less dangerous than Tylenol.

00:28:08.560 We want him to finish this drug.

00:28:10.540 And they basically said, I'm sorry, we can't.

00:28:13.700 So you saw no compassion in their eyes.

00:28:17.080 No compassion.

00:28:17.700 No tears, no words of, I know that this is hard, but here's why.

00:28:24.060 All we heard was, we are doing everything we can to help your dad.

00:28:27.460 We are doing everything we can.

00:28:28.600 And we said, but you're not doing what we are advocating for.

00:28:31.720 You are not doing everything you can.

00:28:33.880 You're telling us he has 3% chance to live and you are still not willing.

00:28:37.540 Wow, that's what they were saying?

00:28:38.900 Well, so it went with the remdesivir.

00:28:41.900 He went from his regular room.

00:28:44.080 Five days later, he was in the ICU.

00:28:45.700 A day after the ICU, they vented him.

00:28:48.600 And two days after that, he was gone.

00:28:51.040 Wow.

00:28:51.420 So it was not a tear.

00:28:54.160 And everyone in those waiting rooms were getting the exact same story.

00:28:58.020 And it was heartbreaking to see because you realize like this jail, this hospital had become a jail for these people that entered the front door.

00:29:05.820 We couldn't advocate for them.

00:29:07.280 We couldn't see them.

00:29:08.720 We couldn't be with them.

00:29:09.960 We couldn't talk to doctors.

00:29:11.360 It was insane.

00:29:13.000 It was walking a nightmare.

00:29:15.420 And I think the hardest part was we were all in that waiting room, all four of us girls and my mom.

00:29:22.440 And the doctor looked at us and said, I can get you all in there to see your dad if you just decide to turn the vent off.

00:29:29.200 And we said, what?

00:29:30.980 He actually, we're like, oh, yeah, we'd love to go see you.

00:29:33.360 He goes, you just have to turn the vent off.

00:29:35.020 Oh, my gosh.

00:29:35.780 That's so evil.

00:29:36.700 So evil.

00:29:37.780 It was so inherently evil.

00:29:40.280 Incentivizing you, basically, to let your dad die.

00:29:45.080 Yep.

00:29:45.480 Wow.

00:29:46.260 And do you know what?

00:29:46.680 We said, no, we're not going to turn the vent off.

00:29:48.660 And they said, all right, see you later.

00:29:50.380 And we never, none of us got to see my dad.

00:29:53.740 My mom got to go back in there for about two minutes while he was vented, but not while he was alive.

00:30:00.700 And none of us got to see him or say goodbye.

00:30:02.540 So it was so crazy.

00:30:04.160 Like, you're so close.

00:30:05.520 And now looking back, I'm just like, how could they do that?

00:30:07.920 How can they tell us we can't be with our loved ones?

00:30:09.800 Like, it's insane, right?

00:30:11.440 But everyone, no one knew what was going on.

00:30:13.580 No one would speak up.

00:30:14.620 I just, I told my husband now, if it were all over again, I'd bust through those doors and I'd go be with my dad.

00:30:21.180 Like, so take us to jail.

00:30:23.020 I don't know.

00:30:23.580 It's just like incomprehensible to me that that happened to so many people.

00:30:28.480 Yes.

00:30:28.960 So, yeah.

00:30:29.660 My goodness that your dad, who was a healthy 70-year-old, he died alone.

00:30:35.740 Yep.

00:30:36.020 And you believe it's because of Remdesivir, that it wasn't from COVID, that he would have been fine.

00:30:42.520 A hundred percent believe that.

00:30:44.520 So that's the story I shared.

00:30:46.020 And I will say, like, God showed up in a mighty way in two ways.

00:30:49.140 One, my dad was never afraid.

00:30:51.280 And he was well-taking.

00:30:52.400 And two, he was well-taking care of by nurses.

00:30:54.900 There were some nurses that were Christians that loved Jesus, that shared, that would just go in there and sit with him and talk with him. 0.97

00:31:02.780 That would allow us to FaceTime him.

00:31:04.900 And so we were so grateful and so thankful for those nurses.

00:31:09.900 And also that we just truly believe God was in that room and giving my dad peace because he never seemed afraid.

00:31:15.340 And we're so grateful because we've heard some really terrible stories.

00:31:17.820 So was this a result of hospital policies or was it state policies that said you cannot go in and see your loved ones?

00:31:30.240 You cannot administer ivermectin.

00:31:32.280 I believe it was hospital policies.

00:31:35.200 What we got back is it was the hospital policies.

00:31:38.480 And also after I shared my dad's story and it had gotten a lot of traction, I think it has over a million views on my Instagram page, obviously.

00:31:51.840 So we took him to a hospital where we were all born.

00:31:54.220 It was a small town hospital.

00:31:55.480 This town has less than 20,000 people in it.

00:31:57.380 And we took him there because we thought the hometown feel, the family, you know, based around family dynamics and all of that, like we thought we would be at a good spot.

00:32:06.500 And we realized that it really didn't matter.

00:32:09.440 At this point, it was all about hospital policy, the donors that were giving to the hospital and money incentivized.

00:32:16.280 Because after we shared a story, since it was small town and where we all grew up, we knew people who worked at the hospital.

00:32:22.480 And they had told us that from the top people at the hospital, if they were to share our story or talk about our story, they could face termination.

00:32:31.580 Wow.

00:32:31.940 Yeah.

00:32:32.560 I don't even know how that is legal.

00:32:35.200 I don't know either.

00:32:36.640 I don't know either.

00:32:37.600 And it's really sad.

00:32:51.580 And these hospitals will never be held liable.

00:32:55.980 They'll never be held liable for the use of remdesivir.

00:32:59.300 They'll never be held liable for not administering ivermectin.

00:33:03.340 I mean, we've talked about that.

00:33:04.800 You're not supposed to talk about that.

00:33:06.280 We've had doctors on this podcast to have talked about using ivermectin and some other medications, too, completely effectively.

00:33:15.400 At the very least, even if you're someone who's like, you know what, the data on ivermectin, whatever.

00:33:20.240 It's not as good as we want it to be.

00:33:22.660 I've seen some people that I trust saying that.

00:33:25.340 But what we do know is that it is not dangerous.

00:33:28.880 Exactly.

00:33:29.180 It is not horse dewormer.

00:33:30.680 It is not a horse tranquilizer.

00:33:32.780 And honestly, I blame a lot of this and a lot of stories like yours.

00:33:38.400 Yes, of course, the hospitals are making these policies.

00:33:41.460 In some cases, the politicians are making these policies.

00:33:44.340 But also on the media.

00:33:45.780 The media whipping up the fear and just outright lying about ivermectin.

00:33:51.380 Yeah.

00:33:51.460 Lying for what?

00:33:53.780 Some cynical ploy to be anti-Republican, to be pro-medical establishment.

00:33:58.380 And people died because of that propaganda.

00:34:01.380 I mean, they straight up lied.

00:34:03.260 So many people died.

00:34:04.520 Yes.

00:34:05.080 I know.

00:34:05.740 It is heartbreaking.

00:34:07.040 And it's heartbreaking to hear everyone else's story.

00:34:09.480 And they said, how do we how are these hospitals not held accountable?

00:34:13.780 Like, it's so hard for me going to bed at night knowing what they did to my family member.

00:34:18.160 That's what they'll tell me.

00:34:19.120 And that's what, you know, as a Christian, as where we just found all of our peace, is that, you know, Jesus is coming back and he's judging the world and their actions.

00:34:30.260 And so we do not need to seek vengeance, even though everything in us selfishly so wants to see that happen.

00:34:37.000 But we just lay that at his feet and to know that he is sovereign and my dad's days were numbered and his story was used to save so many lives.

00:34:45.420 And we're so grateful that we can find peace in that as well.

00:34:48.420 Yeah.

00:34:48.900 Yeah, definitely.

00:34:50.080 And I do think that even though vengeance is not ours, legal accountability and policy change that enforces justice is righteous.

00:35:03.840 Yes.

00:35:04.020 And that is right.

00:35:04.820 And I think I just want to and I know you agree with this.

00:35:07.700 I'm just saying there is a distinction between that and selfish vengeance.

00:35:11.660 Vengeance could be, you know, going out and trying to ruin the lives of those doctors or get them back in some way or pay them back.

00:35:18.140 But that would be different than fighting for policy change and transparency because like places in, you know, Florida, they have now written into the law that you cannot stop someone's family member from coming in to see them.

00:35:32.960 So that's good.

00:35:33.980 That's why part of why you share your story.

00:35:36.960 Absolutely.

00:35:37.360 Yes, because to talk about the Lord's faithfulness, but also because things should change.

00:35:41.280 If God forbid we go through something like this again, no family should be barred from advocating for their family.

00:35:47.380 Yes.

00:35:47.860 And I wanted people to see like a real family that had to walk through this because so many people did and they didn't understand how heartbreaking that was.

00:35:55.840 They saw it's for the safety of others and, you know, what the news told them about why they're not allowing loved ones in.

00:36:02.540 But once you truly understand when your loved one gets sick and what that actually looks like, it is criminal to keep you away from your loved one.

00:36:10.880 And I did share over and over after that, too.

00:36:14.720 How can this policy still be intact anywhere?

00:36:18.240 Yeah.

00:36:18.720 It is.

00:36:19.200 It is not OK.

00:36:20.220 Absolutely not OK.

00:36:21.700 Yeah.

00:36:21.900 And just to reiterate, ivermectin has been used by millions of people for different things, sometimes for river blindness, like in the continent of Africa.

00:36:31.020 But it's been used as scabies.

00:36:33.100 Yes.

00:36:33.700 And antiviral.

00:36:34.740 So even if you don't believe that it's the best, most effective thing for for covid, still, again, the side effects are so minimal that it would have caused no harm.

00:36:47.320 Certainly, certainly fewer side effects than remdesivir.

00:36:51.920 But as you said, even fewer side effects than Tylenol.

00:36:54.540 Yeah.

00:36:54.700 And we were lied to.

00:36:55.580 Oh, and and the reality of it was when they said my dad had no chance of survival and they still would not administer it.

00:37:03.760 Yeah.

00:37:04.160 I mean, so that right there was a huge red flag as to this isn't about ivermectin and the safety use of it.

00:37:10.860 This is very political.

00:37:12.440 This is very driven by a different force.

00:37:14.620 And it was very evil and it was very evident.

00:37:17.200 Yeah.

00:37:17.540 Tell me a little bit more about that.

00:37:19.660 Talking about just like the feeling of darkness.

00:37:22.000 At what point was it when you looked into the doctor's eyes and you realized this is something spiritual, actually.

00:37:30.780 Something demonic is going on here.

00:37:33.760 I mean, first of all, from the get go, like everything is you believe as a Christian to be close to the sick, to help the sick, to, you know, take care of each other, the community, the fellowship.

00:37:44.460 Right there and then with covid, what it did was just try to cut that all off.

00:37:48.500 And that was very dark.

00:37:49.580 But walking into that hospital, you could sense a presence of darkness.

00:37:54.400 It was the rule.

00:37:56.960 There was so much hypocrisy.

00:37:58.600 The rules were so different.

00:38:00.520 My mom at one point went in and they made her garb all up and then into the what?

00:38:05.360 Sorry.

00:38:05.720 Put all on the medical gear on from head to toe.

00:38:08.160 And then my sister went in after my dad had passed away and she got to go in with her flip flops on and a gown on.

00:38:15.860 So it just there was so much hypocrisy even within that hospital, just knowing this isn't about the health and safety of others.

00:38:24.440 This is about something so much darker.

00:38:27.240 And this is I mean, looking from our side, it's very politically driven and money driven and power driven.

00:38:32.620 And it was not about the health and safety of those patients and of those family members.

00:38:39.380 So, yeah, looking into those doctors eyes, they were empty.

00:38:42.800 There was no empathy at all.

00:38:45.560 There was they were not advocating for the interests of their patients.

00:38:49.400 It was like they were given a protocol.

00:38:51.680 They could not sway from it.

00:38:52.760 My mom said over and over again, their doctors were not allowed to be their doctors.

00:38:57.560 It was like they could not look at the situation, say this isn't working.

00:39:01.340 We need to try something else.

00:39:02.840 It was this isn't working, but this is the only thing we can do.

00:39:06.780 And we have to stick with it even when it makes no sense.

00:39:09.980 And that was really hard to watch.

00:39:13.100 And your story, unfortunately, you're not the only one.

00:39:16.420 I mean, there are thousands and thousands of families who have been through the same thing.

00:39:21.180 And I think in a way, COVID just kind of exposed what already exists in a lot of ways within the medical industry.

00:39:27.420 There are a lot of parents out there who have had kids have to go to the hospital.

00:39:32.520 They haven't been able to advocate for them.

00:39:35.500 People who have had cancer or have a loved one who has had cancer, they sometimes go through similar situations where you're just kind of pushed to the side as a patient or the family member is.

00:39:46.660 You don't know what you're talking about because you didn't go to medical school or you don't know the policies.

00:39:50.880 And I'm not speaking about all doctors and nurses at all.

00:39:53.840 But almost everyone I know has had at least one experience.

00:39:57.640 If you've ever given birth in a hospital, you know what it's like to be belittled, to be diminished, for a doctor to say, sorry, I just got to do this.

00:40:05.660 You know, I'm about to go on vacation tomorrow.

00:40:07.440 Let's just do the C-section, whatever it is.

00:40:10.600 I mean, I'm not saying it's everyone, but if every single person that you know has had that kind of interaction with a doctor at a hospital, there's something bigger that is going on that our health industry must not really be, at least from the top, about health.

00:40:26.660 It's about power.

00:40:27.720 I think that's the important thing from the top because there is still so many people that are so passionate about helping others within the health industry, but a lot of them don't have a choice now.

00:40:36.880 And that's what was hard to see because it's coming from the very top.

00:40:40.180 Yes.

00:40:40.540 And our eyes were opened, honestly, to something we never wanted to see.

00:40:44.100 And you can't unsee once you see it.

00:40:47.140 And I think a lot of people probably lost loved ones and still don't even fully understand that a lot of them were unnecessary deaths, which is so sad.

00:40:56.220 And that's the hardest thing.

00:40:58.480 It would already be difficult to lose your dad.

00:41:02.140 Even if you had done everything, it would have been difficult.

00:41:05.520 But I think, I'm guessing, probably what hurts even more is that you weren't allowed to do everything and it probably was preventable.

00:41:14.700 So how have you worked through that?

00:41:18.100 Literally, it's only by God's sovereignty that we've worked through that.

00:41:22.620 It is.

00:41:23.020 And my mom would say every time, like what gets her is, I wish I would have never put him on that ambulance.

00:41:30.160 And it's like, that's so backwards.

00:41:32.260 We didn't know.

00:41:32.920 And that's why I said, Mom, you didn't know.

00:41:34.320 I said, like, we encouraged you to, we were taught from the beginning that hospitals are a safe place, that hospitals are good, that hospitals will help you.

00:41:42.820 And so for us to literally hand dad over and not be able to, you know, have a voice, it was the hardest thing that we've ever walked through.

00:41:53.060 But God was so faithful because the way he laid out the information that we figured out and the remdesivir, when we found out and saw the article of what that can do to the body, and we saw exactly it play out in my dad, we still were believing for a miracle.

00:42:07.420 We really thought that he was going to pull through.

00:42:09.500 He was going to get his ivermectin.

00:42:10.880 We're going to fight for it.

00:42:11.660 And he was going to come walking out alive.

00:42:13.200 He didn't, but we shared his story, and so many others did.

00:42:18.280 And so I think we know he's with Jesus now, and we have that security, and that is what allows us to sleep at night.

00:42:26.500 We get to see him again.

00:42:27.780 We're so grateful for that and that his life was not taken in vain, and we truly believe that.

00:42:33.400 And you've been able to use your story to help other people.

00:42:37.980 Like, have you gotten feedback from people who are like, because I heard your story?

00:42:42.440 Oh, my gosh, so many.

00:42:43.360 You know, this went differently for my family.

00:42:45.640 Can you tell us about that?

00:42:46.760 Oh, my mom got all these food baskets at Christmas.

00:42:50.480 She got thousands of letters, thousands of letters from people.

00:42:55.000 And all the stories of you saved, I know you saved my family member's life.

00:43:00.700 And the crazy part is, is they said, because there was no early intervention that was being given to us as an option,

00:43:08.380 and I would share, this is what you need to have on hand.

00:43:10.720 This is how you can treat it at home before it gets bad enough to go in.

00:43:15.320 People would say, we didn't go to the hospital because of your story, and we know that he's, our dad is alive because we were prepared.

00:43:24.260 Wow.

00:43:24.520 And so, of course, that is like such redemption, and that's the sweet Godwinks that the Lord gives us to see, you know, his life was not in vain.

00:43:32.920 And for my mom especially, I mean, for her to see that his life has saved so many others and has helped so many others and has prepared them.

00:43:41.620 Like, it was just truly, yeah, such a sweet, sweet moment.

00:43:46.180 Yeah, and what Satan means for evil, God uses for good.

00:43:50.520 Like, I always think of the story in Genesis of Joseph being thrown into the pit by his brothers, and obviously, horrible.

00:44:00.240 You're sold into slavery by your brothers?

00:44:02.300 You're left to die.

00:44:03.440 But then the caravan of Egypt, or going to Egypt, saves Joseph, or not really saves him, but takes Joseph, and then he ends up being able to work his way up and have this leadership position, and then he saves his people from a famine.

00:44:20.600 And the thing about that story is that the caravan was already on its way even before Joseph was thrown into the pit.

00:44:28.480 So God is not a God who comes in later and cleans up the mess and says, how did this happen?

00:44:33.420 Okay, let me try to fix this in ways that we don't understand and don't necessarily always comfort us in the moment because it's still hard to lose a family member.

00:44:42.700 He sovereignly orchestrates things for the good of those who love him and his own glory.

00:44:49.660 And that's, I mean, what he's allowed to happen.

00:44:51.120 Oh, it's so crazy you say that because it's my favorite Bible story, and that's literally what I share.

00:44:56.220 Like, God is up here, and we see this much of what he's doing.

00:45:01.200 And to know that he is sovereign over it all, that he was before, that he's in, and that he's after, and that he can see the full picture, we can just completely lay it down and trust him.

00:45:11.620 And it's what brings me, yeah, that's what brings all of us hope, and that's where our faith lies, right?

00:45:16.680 Yeah.

00:45:17.120 I love that story.

00:45:18.160 Yes.

00:45:18.460 My grandmother, she died a very untimely death when she was in her 40s.

00:45:23.800 This was early 80s, so it was before I was born.

00:45:26.320 But she suffered from an aneurysm, and she had this terrible headache.

00:45:31.700 She went to the hospital, and my grandfather tried to tell them, like, hey, we think something is, like, really wrong.

00:45:39.740 And they didn't, there were a few things that happened before this, but they just didn't believe him.

00:45:45.860 They just didn't believe that something was as wrong as he thought.

00:45:49.060 They ended up putting her in a different ward, not the ward that she should have gone to, and she died from a brain aneurysm that night.

00:45:56.220 She easily could have been saved.

00:45:58.960 They could have caught what she had, and they could have saved her.

00:46:03.120 But, you know, they didn't, and I think, you know, my mom and her family, God, why would you let this happen?

00:46:09.760 I think she was 42 years old.

00:46:11.780 She was way too young.

00:46:13.160 She had so much life left to live, and yet God did.

00:46:16.960 And it was not until later that a family actually came up to my mom and said, because of your mom's story, we knew that this was a brain aneurysm in my mom.

00:46:29.160 And so there's a, I could keep going about how everything kind of orchestrated together, but it doesn't make the tragedies that happen in our lives not tragic, but it does just remind us that God is always doing something.

00:46:43.620 Yes, absolutely.

00:46:45.060 Yeah.

00:46:45.480 And I don't think that we'll know, you know, the extent to all of these things.

00:46:49.600 We won't see the full constellation of our lives and how they connect to other people's testimonies until the other side of glory.

00:46:57.160 And that will be a glorious day.

00:46:59.740 Yes, it will.

00:47:00.460 And we'll be like, oh, Lord, we knew you had it.

00:47:03.540 We knew you had it.

00:47:04.200 Like, how cool, that's what you were doing.

00:47:05.560 Mm-hmm.

00:47:06.120 Yep.

00:47:06.680 Yep.

00:47:06.940 And I think that's, like, part of what the passage means when it talks about, like, all of these trials that none of them compare to the glory.

00:47:15.100 Yes.

00:47:15.660 That God is storing up for us.

00:47:17.160 And this is also part of what it means to be a Proverbs 31 woman, is having this faith when it's really hard.

00:47:22.740 Yeah.

00:47:23.520 And to know that, like, eternity is at hand, like, this life is so meaningless.

00:47:28.300 I think living intentional, knowing that at any moment, like you said with your grandma, too, like, every day could be the last.

00:47:35.220 And what are we doing?

00:47:36.800 What are we doing with our lives to bring God glory?

00:47:39.080 Yeah.

00:47:39.560 Yeah.

00:47:39.800 And don't be afraid to use the tragic and scary stories in your life and tell them, because you have no idea how God is going to redeem that just with your small, seemingly small step of obedience and courage.

00:47:53.040 And that's what you did.

00:47:54.080 Yeah.

00:47:54.400 That's what we have a little catchphrase in our house, because we've got a few of those stories.

00:47:57.480 But it's our story for His glory, because it's just, like, He obviously gives us these for a reason, and we need to use everything to glorify Him through it.

00:48:06.100 Because, like you said, we don't know the whole picture that He's painting, but He's just using a part of our lives for His big picture.

00:48:12.640 And I think an encouraging note to end on would be, like, how did you use, how do you use these hard things as a mom to encourage your kids in the Lord and to show them kind of what the gospel is and how the Lord works?

00:48:26.760 I'm sure there's a lot of people out there wondering how they would navigate something like this as mothers.

00:48:31.560 Yeah.

00:48:31.860 You know, I think it's so interesting.

00:48:33.000 I think so often we want to shield our kids from the hard.

00:48:36.240 And honestly, I think that's one of the worst things that we can do.

00:48:39.520 I mean, there's definitely using discernment as to what you do shield them from, but we've walked some really hard paths in our life.

00:48:47.340 And one of those being our 38-day-old baby girl died at home, and my two kids got to experience loving on her, being with her, enjoying her, and then they understood that she got taken away.

00:49:01.980 And just much like my dad, like, death is so interesting and hard for kids to understand.

00:49:06.260 And so for us, an open conversation all the time to just say, like, this life is so short, we aren't guaranteed tomorrow, to bring it back to the verse of don't worry about tomorrow, for we don't even know what tomorrow holds.

00:49:19.080 And to just know and to continually try to keep their mindset in the eternal as well, right?

00:49:25.500 God is so much bigger.

00:49:27.840 Heaven is waiting for us.

00:49:29.460 What are we going to do here to make sure that we get to get up there?

00:49:33.640 So I think we've had really hard conversations with our kids.

00:49:37.040 They've seen the hard, but it's only grown their faith deeper.

00:49:40.380 Because if we shield them from too much of the easy, God never promises an easy life.

00:49:44.560 It's how we respond to the trials that He's given us that really speak to our kids and our community.

00:49:50.200 And so we want them to see the hard roads we're walking through, and we want them to see God being faithful.

00:49:56.820 Because if we shield them from too much, a lot of times they miss seeing God working in those situations.

00:50:01.600 So I think for us, that's what we've chosen to do is to show them, look at what God did with this.

00:50:06.560 Look at how God has proven faithful.

00:50:08.460 Look at, you know, the lives that He has touched through this life.

00:50:11.840 And so that's just been really a great way for us to make that foundation a lot stronger for our kids.

00:50:20.140 Like, they're excited to get to heaven.

00:50:21.400 They're excited to see their baby sister.

00:50:22.640 They're excited to see their papa.

00:50:23.880 Like, they know that this isn't it.

00:50:25.840 And I know I said that we were going to end, but I kind of, I skipped over that important part of your story, which is you had a month old baby that died.

00:50:48.820 Can you just tell us a little bit about that?

00:50:51.160 I know I could extend this for another hour talking about that, and I don't want it, I'm not trying to abbreviate it at all.

00:50:57.040 But since you mentioned it, if you could just talk a little bit about that.

00:50:59.920 Yeah, and my pin story is Juliet Faith on my Instagram page.

00:51:03.440 So if they wanted a deeper look, because she is a huge part of our story, and that's where our Instagram began.

00:51:08.320 So it kind of brings it full circle, is we started Instagram because we were remodeling our 100-year-old farmhouse and didn't have Wi-Fi.

00:51:16.620 So we couldn't blog, so we started Instagram 10 years ago to share Juliet Faith, who was born with trisomy 18, which is a genetic disorder.

00:51:25.260 So she was born, and talk about a 180 of the hospital saying, we have all the answers.

00:51:31.200 We can only do this to, we have no answers.

00:51:33.500 What do you want us to do with this girl because she is not deemed incompatible with life and no direction for us.

00:51:40.520 So we actually ended up bringing Juliet home like 11 hours after she was born.

00:51:45.660 We had no special medical equipment, but we just knew that we wanted to love on her, and we wanted to surround her with those who loved her while she was here.

00:51:53.800 And we, again, talk about trusting the Lord so much uncertainty of how long she was going to be with us, what that was going to look like as a mother.

00:52:01.860 Oh my goodness, I was so happy she was born alive.

00:52:03.960 But then I was thinking, the reality is she's going to die in my arms.

00:52:08.760 Can I handle that?

00:52:10.180 And so, yeah, 38 days of just trusting him with that story.

00:52:14.740 Which is kind of a long time for trisomy 18, right?

00:52:16.620 It is a long time.

00:52:18.080 I think the percentage of them even being born alive is less than 10%.

00:52:23.680 And very often they die immediately after birth.

00:52:26.320 Yes.

00:52:26.640 Yeah, so 38 days that she granted.

00:52:29.660 And honestly, like looking back and 10 years later, that's what we were talking about, the Joseph story, you know, to see how God used that in our lives as a catalyst to launch this platform, to shine a light into this dark world, and to share a different way of living out your faith.

00:52:45.860 It all started because of her, and that Instagram started because of her, and it's like, God, you are so cool and so amazing of how you use everything for our good and for his glory.

00:52:58.940 So a lot of people will, you know, forget that it's for our own good.

00:53:02.360 Like he knows and takes better care of us than we do, and it's just hard to trust that blindly, but it is the reality.

00:53:10.720 Like he is looking out for our good too.

00:53:12.260 Yes, and even the testing of our faith is for our good and for his glory, and that's what trials do.

00:53:20.240 It also just makes eternity so much sweeter.

00:53:23.160 Yes, absolutely.

00:53:24.360 One foot out the door, one foot in heaven.

00:53:26.800 Yes, oh my goodness.

00:53:28.400 And being a Proverbs 31 woman, I think sometimes we only think about like the practical sides of it or like the earthly, tangible sides of it, because that's really what the chapter focuses on.

00:53:39.260 And you're talking about being industrious, being entrepreneurial, taking care of your home, preparing for the winter, and all these things.

00:53:45.940 But there's an eternal aspect, because even more than preparing your home here on earth, like God is preparing our home in heaven, and that's really what all of that is for.

00:53:55.660 Absolutely.

00:53:56.700 We can get our house in order, but if less our souls are going with us, yeah, it doesn't matter.

00:54:01.160 So, I mean, this is the house, truly, that we need to make sure is in order, our hearts right before the Lord.

00:54:07.700 And that is when you're bringing back to how do you make your house a home?

00:54:12.800 Steward it well, steward those people well, steward that house well.

00:54:16.300 Yep.

00:54:16.520 Yeah.

00:54:16.900 Well, thank you so much.

00:54:17.820 Thanks for what you do.

00:54:18.680 Thank you for allowing God to use you.

00:54:20.400 And thanks for making the way all the way here to share your story.

00:54:24.580 Absolutely.

00:54:24.940 This is, I think, just another way that God brings Christians together to support one another for His glory.

00:54:33.980 And so I'm so grateful for you to share that story with our audience.

00:54:39.320 I know it's going to encourage them so much.

00:54:40.840 So people can follow you on Instagram, Proverbs31girl.

00:54:44.560 And then what's your website?

00:54:46.900 Proverbs31girl.com.

00:54:48.240 Perfect.

00:54:48.940 Well, I hope everyone goes, everyone follows and subscribes and all that good stuff.

00:54:52.760 Thank you so much, Allie.

00:54:53.600 Thanks so much for having me, Allie.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - October 23, 2023

Ep 894 ｜ How COVID 'Compassion' Killed Her Father ｜ Guest： Allie Lundeen

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