Glad I Didn’t Know: Lessons Learned Through Life’s Challenges and Unexpected Blessings with Vonna Laue

[00:00:00] Thanks for being here this evening. My name is Kevin Conover and I’m broadcasting on Educate for Life Radio,

[00:00:05] K Praise 12:10 a.m. and also FM106.1 in North County down here in Southern

[00:00:10] California. And of course, we’re on Spotify and all the different podcast platforms as well as YouTube. We’ve got

[00:00:16] all kinds of shows up there. My website’s educateforlife.org and we’ve got tons of resources uh to encourage

[00:00:22] you and your family and your walk with the Lord. And as always, we have a lot of fantastic guests who God is working

[00:00:28] through um and has worked through. And this evening is no different. My guest

[00:00:34] is Vanna Lao, and she was raised in South Dakota. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA. And uh

[00:00:41] her claim to fame here is she’s speaks all over the country. She’s been to all 50 states, 111 airports. There’s not a

[00:00:47] lot of people that can say that. That’s pretty impressive. That’s a lot of traveling. and um she’s um talks very

[00:00:53] specifically um about finance, but she’s also recently come out with a book

[00:00:58] called Glad I Didn’t Know and uh here it is. You can buy it uh in bookstores

[00:01:03] everywhere, lessons learned through life’s challenges and unexpected blessings. She’s also the co-author of

[00:01:10] the essential guide to church finance and you can get her book at gladi.com. Vanna, thanks for being with

[00:01:16] us today. Thanks for having me. I’m excited to spend some time together. Absolutely. Um, you know, this is a

[00:01:22] really interesting book. Um, your your background is finance. It’s church finance. And, um, it’s interesting that

[00:01:28] you would choose this topic. I mean, it’s funny because it’s something I’ve felt frequently in my own life where I

[00:01:35] look at where God the twists and turns that God has taken me on and I look back and I go, you know, I’m not sure if I

[00:01:40] would have made this decision if I had known this is where it was going to go.

[00:01:46] Is that kind of where you’re um going with the book? Absolutely. Uh so it came

[00:01:51] out of a time where actually I’d lost a job and the Lord had clearly led us

[00:01:57] across the country in a move to that job and 18 months later it was gone. And I I

[00:02:05] just quite honestly said to the Lord, you’ve pulled the rug out from under me and what in the world because I

[00:02:11] definitely would not have moved um wouldn’t have followed that advice.

[00:02:17] wouldn’t have um followed the Lord’s leading if I’d have known that was going to happen and yet there was a lot of

[00:02:22] good that came out of it. So that was the initial start. That’s so interesting. Um I know so many people

[00:02:29] who have had a very similar experience to that. Uh I think it’s very common

[00:02:34] when we’re seeking the Lord um where we feel very strongly that God is uh you

[00:02:40] know pointing us in a particular direction and then when we get there all of a sudden we feel like wait what

[00:02:46] happened? Um can you speak to that? Uh what because I know I know a lot of our

[00:02:52] listeners feel have had that same experience. um what why did you write

[00:02:57] the book on that particular topic and tell us about your own life and some of the things you’ve already shared a

[00:03:03] little bit but what you’ve been through as um circumstances don’t turn out the

[00:03:08] way you thought they were going to. Happy to share more. So let me back up from that story just a little bit

[00:03:14] earlier. Uh in 2016 I actually our family was living in Southern California. Uh I had been with

[00:03:21] the CPA firm for 20 years that served Christian ministries. So I loved our

[00:03:26] clients. Uh loved what I got to do and was serving as managing partner for the entire national firm. And I told people

[00:03:34] like I’m a lifer here. If you if you want a lifer application, let me know. I’m here for my entire career. And in

[00:03:40] 2016 started to sense that the Lord was saying your your time here is coming to an end. And I don’t know about you,

[00:03:47] Kevin, or your listeners, but I argued with him. Um, it’s really kind of a fruitless u initiative to do that. I had

[00:03:54] some very well-reasoned arguments, I might add. Um, and every one of those well-reasoned arguments he had a

[00:04:00] response for. And ultimately, you know, we prayed about it as a family, but

[00:04:06] ultimately it really became clear that it was a matter of obedience and that if I didn’t step away from that, it was it

[00:04:12] was going to be detrimental. So, I went to the partners. I was supposed to give 12 months notice. I went the 1st of

[00:04:19] September and said, “I think that it’s a matter of obedience and if I don’t do

[00:04:24] this, it could be detrimental to the firm and to our family.” They agreed to allow me to step away with just four

[00:04:31] months notice. But that actually was the first um of many cascading events that

[00:04:36] fall. the first chapter in the book, that’s where it kind of starts. Uh because that happened, which was a major

[00:04:43] event. Um my husband was a stay-at-home dad, so I was stepping away from our sole income. Um and as people asked me

[00:04:51] what I was going to be doing, I had to honestly look him in the eye, and this leftrain analytical person had to say,

[00:04:57] “I have no idea.” So that was the start, but it went from there. Um just a couple

[00:05:04] of days after that, our uh oldest daughter was starting her senior season

[00:05:09] of volleyball and was being recruited to play college volleyball. Um and she

[00:05:14] sustained a pretty significant injury which uh I let her tell her own story in

[00:05:20] the book and so she’s got a chapter on that. uh while she was on a recruiting

[00:05:25] trip two weeks later on crutches and a knee brace waiting for surgery and meeting with the coaches that were still

[00:05:30] recruiting her, uh my daughter, youngest daughter and I left the house while my

[00:05:36] husband was on this recruiting trip with her. We went away for the weekend and we came back Sunday morning before church

[00:05:41] to change clothes and go to church and there was this really weird sound coming from our house and as I opened the door,

[00:05:48] it’s because a really small $2.20 20 cent gasket had broke on the toilet Friday night after we left and had

[00:05:55] poured thousands of gallons of water into our house over the course of 36 hours. Oh no. Uh so we were out of the

[00:06:03] main part of our home for four months while I was looking while I was finishing work while our daughter was

[00:06:09] rehabbing from surgery and then it culminated a month later with um my stepdad suddenly passing away. And so

[00:06:15] that just was a time I think of some significant turmoil. It was also what

[00:06:21] led to us then accepting this position in Virginia, which the Lord again made very clear. I again argued with him. Um,

[00:06:28] I can tell you which freeway I was on and where I was when I told him why I didn’t want to leave our church and our

[00:06:34] home and our neighbors and our school and the weather and all of that. Um, but

[00:06:39] the Lord made that clear. And so, fast forward to when I I lost that job and

[00:06:45] was really processing through this with the Lord. And as I was upset about it

[00:06:50] and trying to figure out what he was doing, he started to recall all those difficult things in life that had

[00:06:56] happened. Um, we lost my brother-in-law to cancer that’s in there. We had a miscarriage that’s in there. Our

[00:07:02] youngest daughter was born three months early. I mean, we’d been through a lot of life. And in every one of those

[00:07:08] circumstances, when I could look back on it, I could see where God’s hand was in there and there were lessons that came

[00:07:15] out of it. But if I had known in advance, I probably would have messed it

[00:07:20] up. I’d have walked away from it and not done those things. And so that’s how the book started after I looked at all those

[00:07:27] difficult things. Then it was like I got I just spewed all of that out. And when I was done with that, I started to look

[00:07:33] at the blessings that had happened in life and how if I’d have known about those, I’d have probably tried to

[00:07:39] orchestrate it. I need to network with this person and have that experience and

[00:07:45] and all of that and I’ve messed that up too. So that’s where the principle initially came in. I’m glad I didn’t

[00:07:50] know. So that’s uh really powerful. You know, it’s interesting you you mentioned that

[00:07:56] you’re a very analytical person um not as much an emotional person and everybody’s, you know, different on that

[00:08:01] spectrum and it affects the way we think. It affects the way um we relate to what God is telling us to do. Um, do

[00:08:10] you think that these sorts of situations, um, where you kind of feel

[00:08:15] like the rug has been pulled out from under you, do you think that that is harder for somebody who’s more emotional

[00:08:21] to deal with or somebody who’s more analytical to deal with? I’m just curious um, you know, how how people

[00:08:27] respond to those situations. Well, I think it’s difficult for both. It’s just that the response or the

[00:08:34] reaction to it is different based on those things. Um, you know, those of us who are analytical are probably a little

[00:08:40] more control freaks than some of the rest are. And so, we had a plan, right? I tell people, I go to the Lord every

[00:08:47] once in a while. I’m like, here’s my plan. Just sign here and I’ll be on my way. I I won’t bother you for long. And

[00:08:52] he’s working on that. Um, and so when those things happen, then some of us go,

[00:08:59] number one, we try to analyze why and make sure it doesn’t happen again. But then we go into kind of firefighting

[00:09:06] mode of how do we deal with this? How do we move on? Those that are emotional have the um

[00:09:13] the need to process through that, right? They they take that a lot more personal.

[00:09:19] Um they understand the feelings and emotions they’re encountering, but often

[00:09:24] are far better at being attuned to those around them. Um I struggle with that.

[00:09:30] I’m like, what’s the problem? you like we just buckle down and do it, right? Um, but they understand and sometimes

[00:09:37] that’s helpful and I know sometimes that’s difficult for them as well because then they take on some of that emotion and that feeling, but I think it

[00:09:44] really does affect both. Uh, there’s just a different response. Yeah. And you

[00:09:50] said that you are um starting to change in that regard. You are maybe more in

[00:09:55] tune emotionally um as life moves forward. What what has caused that? What

[00:10:00] caused that to change? Sure. Well, some of it is just having gracious people around me that call it out when when I’m

[00:10:07] not and we all need that. Um, and I have had that blessing in my life. But, you

[00:10:13] know, one of the things when my brother-in-law passed away of cancer, we

[00:10:18] were young in our marriage. We had a not quite two-year-old. We were living in Colorado. He was living in California.

[00:10:25] And he was divorced and had nine, 11, and 13year-old children. So we were trying to commute between the two states

[00:10:31] and kind of take care of him as he went through the final stages. And um I

[00:10:37] remember one day in the midst of that I happened to be at an Graham Lot’s ministry and was doing some work for

[00:10:45] them and went to dinner with their CFO and she was very gracious and she just

[00:10:52] asked some really insightful questions at dinner and I told her what was going on and she looked at me and she kind of

[00:10:58] smiled and she said, “You know, Vana, I was in my 50s before I I learned some of those lessons.” And I looked at her and

[00:11:04] I said, “I’ll wait.” like please, I’ll just wait. Um, but I realized that that

[00:11:09] God did give that to me as a gift. And then ultimately when my brother-in-law passed away again, that left brain came

[00:11:17] out in me and I was like, “Okay, we cared for him, but now it’s time to get something done, right? We’ve we’ve got

[00:11:22] to wrap this up, get back to our lives. We’ve kind of put those on hold.” And so, uh, I said to my husband, “We’re

[00:11:28] going to do this three-day trip out there. We’re going to get the house packed. We’re going to get stuff given away. We’re going to get it put on the

[00:11:33] market.” And he just looked me in the eyes and he said, “Vana,” he said, “you know there’s going to be emotion involved in this.” And I was like,

[00:11:40] “What? No, we just have to get stuff done.” And he’s like, “The kids need to process through the stuff that was their

[00:11:46] dad’s. That was my brother’s stuff. Like I need to process through that.” And I was like, “So what you’re saying is this

[00:11:53] is going to take more time.” But you know those things. Um, another

[00:11:58] another opportunity that I alluded to earlier just to understand the emotional side of things was when we had a

[00:12:04] miscarriage. Um, I’m super leftrained about stuff and all of a sudden I was like, whoa, that’s emotion. Where did

[00:12:11] that come from? But one of the things that I would say, Kevin, is I’m sure that there are listeners today that are

[00:12:16] at some stage of processing through a really difficult time in life. And I

[00:12:24] remember vividly um as we were caring for my brother-in-law one day I went to

[00:12:29] run an errand and I remember sitting at the stoplight and looking around at the

[00:12:34] other cars and thinking everybody else is having a normal day and life is

[00:12:40] anything but normal for me right now. And so one of the ways you asked how that’s kind of impacted one of the ways

[00:12:47] is that I try to be mindful of that. I mean, it sounds silly and it sounds small, but there are times where I’m at

[00:12:52] a stoplight and I just pray for the people around me. I’m like, there’s somebody here that right now is not having a normal day and God just be with

[00:12:59] them. And um I’m not always as sensitive as I should be, but I I try hard to

[00:13:06] understand that when people react differently than I expect that maybe life’s just not normal for them right

[00:13:13] now. and to be gracious about that and and where appropriate to ask those

[00:13:19] questions of people and how I can come alongside and support them if there is something. So that’s that’s some of the

[00:13:25] work that God’s done over the last number of years. And that’s certainly I mean that’s Christlike uh um you know

[00:13:31] mourn with those who mourn, rejoice with those who rejoice. And it’s so important um that we do our best to be able to um

[00:13:39] just like you said I I have the same thing. I’m a teacher and so I have students that come into the classroom and I try to be mindful of where they’re

[00:13:46] at. They’re each going through different things in their lives and some are having a great day and some are having a

[00:13:51] horrible day and and um you know the their families are going through different things and uh whether that’s

[00:13:57] divorce or um you know the death of a loved one. There’s so many different things uh that people are going through.

[00:14:04] Um you know you write a little bit about divorce. Um you say that divorce follows

[00:14:09] kids through the rest of their lives. Um as far as that’s concerned, uh what do

[00:14:15] you mean by that? Sure. Well, for those people I kind of I laugh that for those

[00:14:20] people that assess personality by birth order, I’m kind of an anomaly that really throws them because I was an only

[00:14:26] child. So they already pegged me a certain way. And then um at eight my

[00:14:32] parents divorced and within two years both remarried and I became a middle child in two families. So you just got a

[00:14:39] lot to work with there. Yeah. How are you gonna how are you going to be analyzed now? Exactly. Go figure that

[00:14:45] one out. And if you do, let me know. It’ll probably help me. But um the point about that following is so many times

[00:14:53] over the years I’ve you know I’ve heard families talk about the impact of divorce on kids or people that even

[00:15:01] actually chose to stay together until the kids were out of the house and and then got divorced. But as an only child

[00:15:08] to my actual parents um I found that when I number one you get married. Okay.

[00:15:14] Well, now you have you have a dad and a stepdad. Who walks you down the aisle?

[00:15:21] Um, are your parents going to behave themselves at your wedding reception? I mean, just things like that are so

[00:15:27] basic. Um, and then go further into life. And I got to a point where I had aging parents. And all of a sudden, I

[00:15:34] have aging parents that are in two different states, both of them separate from where I live. And so now I’ve got

[00:15:40] to care for them in these different states. And at one point in time, um

[00:15:46] actually moved my my father to an assisted living closer to where we lived in the state we were. And then my mom

[00:15:53] was um seriously injured and was in the hospital for about a month. And I’ve got a dad that I’ve got to take care of that

[00:15:59] the assisted living is calling me every day saying he’s trying to escape. And you know, he had this medical situation

[00:16:05] and I’m sitting with my mom in ICU in another state. And so it’s one of those that I you I’ve just said if your

[00:16:12] parents were married, you don’t have that situation. You might you might have your own problems, but at least they’re in the same location. And so there are

[00:16:19] just again those logistical things that follow you, not to mention, you know, any of the emotional or um relational

[00:16:28] issues that exist as well. Yeah, absolutely. And uh for those of you just

[00:16:33] tuning in, my guest today is Vana Laauo and she just recently wrote a book, Glad I Didn’t Know: Lessons Learned Through

[00:16:40] Life’s Challenges and Unexpected Blessings. Um so from the perspective of the divorce question, um Vanna, how how

[00:16:48] does that fit into the book, Glad I Didn’t Know, um when it pertains to a a

[00:16:53] difficult thing like divorce? Sure. Well, I didn’t have much control of that

[00:16:59] situation certainly. Right. So, it wasn’t like I could have changed the circumstances when I was eight, but I

[00:17:06] look back on it and I see how the Lord worked. And Kevin, the biggest thing

[00:17:11] that came out of that is that we were in a family that um went to church and belonged to a denomination because of

[00:17:17] our heritage. Um not because of a relationship with Christ. Uh and over the course of time,

[00:17:24] one of the things that was a blessing was that my parents wanted me to have a good education even as a little kid. And

[00:17:31] so they at that time and in that location felt like it was better for me to go to a local Christian school than

[00:17:37] the local public school. And so my kindergarten through 2 grade years, the Lord allowed me to be there, which

[00:17:43] looking back on it was a safe haven. Um and I was loved and cared for when everything was absolute turmoil at home.

[00:17:51] But then fast forward, you know, parents divorced. My mom and I moved 16 times in one summer. We never were more than 35

[00:17:58] miles away, but we just kept moving around. And I wanted to go back to the Christian school so bad. And there was

[00:18:05] no money for it for about four years. And then I got to go back. And ultimately, I came to Christ through my

[00:18:12] teacher and his family and some others at the school. And um long, you know,

[00:18:19] fast forward several years and my family came to Christ. And I look at that and it’s like, well, God redeemed that

[00:18:27] situation. Whereas had everything gone according to what we would have wanted and expected. Um that wouldn’t have been

[00:18:35] the case. The church that we were in didn’t preach the gospel. Um and so there was something sweet that came out

[00:18:42] of even that time. So a lot of times what uh in in our lives a lot of times what looks like

[00:18:48] there’s no way there could be anything good that would come from this particular situation um we just have to

[00:18:53] trust the Lord that um he has a greater perspective than we do ultimately down the road. Yeah, I would I would say and

[00:19:00] that’s where maybe I’ll transition and talk a little bit. Um, one of the things in the book that ultimately I had

[00:19:06] written every chapter and when I got it done, I was visiting with a mentor and realized, you

[00:19:13] know, if I published the book with just my stories in it, people will read it and say, “Oh, that’s nice. That’s how

[00:19:19] God worked in her life.” But the point is, no, that’s how God works. And I want

[00:19:24] them to clearly see that so that they can apply that to their own life. And so I sidelined half the chapters that I had

[00:19:32] and invited 16 other people in. And those people ranged from 22 to 88, male,

[00:19:41] female, Americans, non-Americans. Um, and they all tell their own

[00:19:47] stories of what they were glad they didn’t know. And some of those um one of

[00:19:52] them a two-star general retired from the military and went on to run one of the country’s largest ministries and their

[00:19:59] son was murdered. Wow. And he talks through that in his

[00:20:04] chapter. Um there’s a cancer story where the person was told, “Go home, make your

[00:20:10] will. You’re not going to make it.” He goes through the cancer treatment and and ultimately survives and is

[00:20:15] cancer-free. There’s another where a husband loses his wife to cancer and talks about her journey and her

[00:20:22] testimony. Um, so I say all of that to say number one, there are some amazing stories in here that I’m so blessed to

[00:20:28] have been able to include, but number two that um the stories don’t always

[00:20:34] turn out like we want, but in the midst of there, God redeems that. And so it’s it’s fun. The chapters

[00:20:41] are really short, which people seem to like. Uh, and so it’s the story and then

[00:20:46] there’s a recap of what the writer is glad they didn’t know and then the lessons that they learned having gone

[00:20:53] through that situation and then it culminates with three questions for the reader to apply. And so some people are

[00:20:59] using it for personal devotions or family devotions or small group or whatever um because it it allows you to

[00:21:07] think about how God’s working in your own life. Yeah, that’s fantastic. A lot of times we don’t see it unless we take

[00:21:13] the time to reflect. Um I wanted to kind of circle back a little bit to the beginning of our discussion where you

[00:21:19] mentioned that um several times that God was clearly communicating to you, you

[00:21:25] know, where you needed to go or there was a season of your life that was coming to an end and you kind of had a

[00:21:31] discussion with God back and forth about, hey, I really don’t want this to be the case. Um, what are some of the

[00:21:37] ways in which you uh hear from the Lord or you would say if somebody’s

[00:21:43] struggling with, well, how do I know if this is the decision God wants me to make? And how are you how are you so

[00:21:48] confident that that’s a decision God wants you to make? Uh, what would you say to somebody who’s dealing with a difficult decision like that?

[00:21:55] Well, let me give you the practical answer and then let me give the scriptural answer that God’s really impressed on my heart in the last few

[00:22:01] months as I’ve been speaking on this book. So the practical answer is is personal to me and I know that people

[00:22:07] are different but to answer that question Kevin for me is to say God’s just given me a sense of uneasiness. Um

[00:22:13] and I would say that’s true of my husband and I um together that’s just how God’s moved. Um we have moved I

[00:22:22] think now to four states um in our 33 years of marriage. And each time we’ve loved where we lived and then at some

[00:22:30] point in time we just got uncomfortable there and things that never bothered us before suddenly we’re like h there’s no

[00:22:37] good east west route across this town or there’s no good this or you know nothing that bothered us before but all of a

[00:22:43] sudden there was just this restlessness um about it. Even when I left the CPA

[00:22:49] firm like I said I loved my job. I loved the clients. Um, but there became a

[00:22:55] restlessness and I’m like, “Oh, I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Um, and it was almost

[00:23:02] like, “Where’d that come from?” Like, I’ve done it for 20 years. I love this. Uh, and so that’s been, I guess, what

[00:23:08] has started it. And then, um, to explore that further and see how God is moving.

[00:23:15] I’ve just allowed him I I’ve given my space myself some space and some quiet

[00:23:20] time. Um I find that it’s really hard for the Lord for me to show up in the

[00:23:27] busyiness of my life because I can be really content being really busy. Um and

[00:23:34] so when I set aside time like like I said I was on the 210 freeway. I didn’t

[00:23:40] have the radio on. you know, it was just a quiet time of being able to to cry out

[00:23:47] and say, “I don’t like this.” And just in the stillness of the moment, you know, the the thoughts that God placed

[00:23:53] on my heart um were very clear. So, I think those are two things that restlessness for me and then allowing

[00:24:00] space and some peace and quiet. the scriptural piece of this which has been a challenge to me and I’ll pass it on

[00:24:08] and I’m sorry for whoever I’m gonna make uncomfortable now but as I’ve been speaking about this

[00:24:17] uh for the last several months the scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 came to mind and it’s really

[00:24:26] simple rejoice always pray continually give thanks thanks in all

[00:24:34] circumstances. So, first of all, I don’t rejoice always and I don’t give thanks

[00:24:41] in all circumstances. Um, and I I don’t think I’m alone there. I think there are other

[00:24:47] people struggle with that, right? I I think almost all of us, right? Like, oh,

[00:24:53] I can rejoice when things go the way I want. Yeah. But that’s not what it says. Like, it’s very clear. He doesn’t even

[00:25:01] bury it like in these long verses. I mean verse 16 is rejoice always in two

[00:25:07] words, you know, it’s pretty straight pretty straightforward. It’s pretty straightforward and give thanks in all

[00:25:13] circumstances. But that verse, that’s the first half of it. The second half of

[00:25:19] it is for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

[00:25:24] And that just hit me that most of us at some point in life, if not multiple

[00:25:30] points in life, say, “I want God’s will for my life. I’m seeking God’s will. I want to know what God’s will is.” And

[00:25:37] it’s like the Lord says, “It’s right here. Rejoice always. Pray continually

[00:25:43] because if we’re praying, praying is a two-way street, right? We’re not just talking. We’re listening. We’re being

[00:25:48] still. And we’re giving thanks in all circumstances.” And so even as it relates to the concept of glad I didn’t

[00:25:53] know, what can we be glad for? What can we rejoice in? Uh and that has just

[00:26:00] really struck me. And I’ll tell you, it has changed the way that I’m beginning to look at things. Um I’m not good at

[00:26:06] it. I am the first to admit like I am not good at it. But it’s so true in just

[00:26:12] everyday life. I mean, we were in Florida last month. Uh I had a speaking

[00:26:17] engagement in Houston um a day and a half later. And so piece of cake, we were visiting some friends. We were

[00:26:23] going to leave that evening, fly to Houston. I had the next day, so I had a day buffer. And when we woke up that

[00:26:29] morning, you know, you can tell like my you can tell when your spouse is awake. You haven’t communicated yet. And I I

[00:26:36] could tell he was awake and he grabbed his phone and I heard, “Oh.” And I was like, “What?” And he said, “Our flight

[00:26:42] is delayed tonight.” Well, we were already supposed to get in at like midnight. And so now it’s delayed 2 hours. And of course, I go into

[00:26:48] logistics mode. And I was like, “Oh, no. I’ll take care of that.” You know, and I grabbed my phone to change the flight

[00:26:54] and I was like, “What is going on?” I’m like, “Every flight is canceled or delayed.” And so we looked it up and

[00:27:01] there was a big storm in the east. And I mean, long story short, we I changed

[00:27:06] where I was going to drop off the rental car four times. And at one point in time, we actually headed towards Tampa

[00:27:14] so that we could take a flight that we had changed to, but with the idea that if that flight was still that delayed,

[00:27:20] we were just going to keep driving and drive the 16 hours to Houston. And in the midst of that, about four different

[00:27:27] times, it was like the Lord said, “Rejoice always.” And I was like, “Not cool. I’m not about that right now.”

[00:27:34] Like, “What am I supposed to rejoice in?” But he said, I mean, what came to my mind was like, it doesn’t say when

[00:27:42] you’re happy about it. You know, when you got bumped to first class and you’re going an hour early. Like that’s not

[00:27:47] what it says. Um, and so even in that, I really tried to remember that. Um, and

[00:27:54] then I tried so hard to be gracious to everybody I encountered because they

[00:28:00] didn’t create the snowstorm, right? the gate agent doesn’t want to have to do all of this booking and rebooking any

[00:28:07] more than we want it to happen. So, it did change my outlook a little bit, but it’s just I would say that’s the lessons

[00:28:13] that I’ve been working on. So, as people are saying, “What’s God’s will?” That’s my scriptural response is he’s laid it

[00:28:19] out. It’s pretty clear. Yeah. I I love that. That’s so uh simple. You know, a

[00:28:24] lot of times I think we make things a lot more difficult and complex than they actually need to be. I have students

[00:28:30] that are because they’re they’re seniors, they’re on the cusp of, you know, graduating and they’re like, “What is God’s will for me? What is God’s will

[00:28:36] for me?” It’s their constant question. And, you know, it’s it’s really simple, you know, like you said, um, and I love

[00:28:42] that. Um, and so that we’re to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as oursel when it comes down to it in

[00:28:48] whatever the situation is. And, and that’s another great verse for just summarizing God’s will for us. It’s

[00:28:54] wonderful. I would agree. So, I’ll throw in a freebie for your students because as our girls went through that Yeah. and

[00:29:01] stressed about it, I said, “Okay, girls, there are three things that are permanent.” I said, “You accept Christ,

[00:29:06] that’s permanent. You’re sealed.” I said, “You get married, that’s a permanent relationship. You get a tattoo, that’s permanent. It’s not going

[00:29:13] in here. Other than that, where you’re going to college and what you’re going to study, make a good decision, but it’s

[00:29:18] not permanent. You’re okay. Just go with it.” Yeah. I love that. I love that. I tell my students all the time, Psalm

[00:29:24] 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” You know, that’s um he loves to

[00:29:30] give his children what they want because he’s impressing upon them uh you know,

[00:29:35] his will because if they delight them themselves in him, then there’s that wonderful partnership with the Lord. Um

[00:29:42] that’s awesome. Well, Vana, I just want to thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. For those of you listening, um her book is Glad I Didn’t

[00:29:49] Know and you can pick that up at any bookstore wherever uh books are sold. You can also go to the website

[00:29:55] gladiant.com. And Ivana, you you give um uh proceeds to World Vision. Is that

[00:30:01] correct? Yeah. 100% of the royalties go to World Vision and Team, which is a mission sending organization. Can you

[00:30:07] tell us real quick about World Vision so our our listeners know um where their where their money is going to go to if

[00:30:13] they buy your book? I’d love to. World Vision is an international development organization um that’s holistic. So they

[00:30:20] do education, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection um and a

[00:30:27] number of other things and they go into a community with the idea that they will make themselic within about 15 years. So

[00:30:34] they’re not dependent on World Vision and the donations. Um, so I love the

[00:30:39] holistic approach and the 15-year. They serve in about a hundred countries around the world with really a focus on

[00:30:46] um, a couple of things. One, the most vulnerable people, which means they’re in some of the most dangerous parts of

[00:30:52] the world. Um, but their focus is um, their founder said, “Lord, break my

[00:30:59] heart for the things that break your heart.” And so they really care for kids and communities. Um and then team is an

[00:31:06] international mission sending organization that focuses on evangelism and disciplehip around the world. So

[00:31:13] appreciate the support of those ministries. That’s fantastic. Well uh like I said,

[00:31:19] thank you so much for being with us today. Um it’s been a big blessing and uh I pray that God uh continues to

[00:31:25] minister through your book. I know that he will. So thank you for everything you’re doing. Thanks for having me,

[00:31:30] Kevin. It’s been a pleasure. Absolutely. For those of you listening, my website is educateforlife.org. You can check

[00:31:36] that out. All kinds of resources there to strengthen your uh children’s faith and your faith. Uh the goal is to raise

[00:31:42] confident Christian kids. And so um and then Vanna’s website again is gladi.com. And you can check out um more

[00:31:49] of her resources there, the book, and also if you’re interested in having her speak, she speaks all over the country.

[00:31:55] So um that’d be a wonderful opportunity to to take advantage of. Uh we’ll see you next week. God bless you. I hope you

[00:32:02] have a wonderful Easter uh celebrating the resurrection of Christ. Uh we have so much to be thankful for. God bless

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[00:33:41] 619-988924. Hi, this is Jason Hall, president of Team Homeloans, a branch of Synergy1 Lending. I just want to take

[00:33:47] this opportunity to thank Kevin Conover for the profound impact he’s had on mine and my wife’s spiritual life as well as

[00:33:54] being an incredible teacher while our kids were his students. His knowledge and passion have taught us all how

[00:33:59] important it is to be defenders of our faith. It’s our honor and privilege to support Kevin and his show. It is our

[00:34:05] sincere hope and prayer that you will continue to learn to be defenders of your faith through Kevin’s radio show

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