More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story

Weakness Becomes Strength with Bri

• Lily • Season 1 • Episode 50

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Through Christ everyone can overcome or develop their weaknesses into strengths. In this heartfelt episode of "More Than Coincidence" Bri describes her early spiritual encounters and how her life has been blessed by her Asperger’s diagnosis.

We discuss the importance of good intentions and self-forgiveness and as someone who has navigated the social world with autism, Bri shares her own experiences of finding connection and understanding through positive intentions. We discuss how empathy and self-awareness can lead to personal growth, and how crucial support from loved ones can be in overcoming challenges. Together, we reflect on the power of intentions to counter negativity and foster a sense of worthiness in both spiritual and social realms.

Finally, we dive into the crossroads of faith, family, and career, examining how life's choices are often guided by divine connections. Bri candidly discusses her transition from medical laboratory science to nursing, driven by a calling to provide hands-on patient care. Her story is a reminder of the importance of aligning personal aspirations with spiritual guidance. Through these narratives of faith and resilience, we invite listeners to consider how trusting in the Lord’s plan can illuminate the path toward fulfilling one's calling in life.

Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)

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**Transcripts available on website!

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome to, more Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. As the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior writes personal experiences into each of our lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace upon reflection. This podcast is dedicated to sharing these anchoring memories from everyone's unique stories in order to collectively remember and testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and his presence in our lives. I'm your host, lily, and I'm very excited to share these experiences together.

Speaker 2:

Good evening everybody. Today we have Brie on the podcast. How are you, Brie? Good Thanks for coming today. Do you mind introducing yourself for everybody.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so my name is Brie. I've been in Utah for a lot of my life and I've had the pleasure to meet Lily when we moved close around them, and my husband and I have been married for seven years and just had a little baby. He's so cute and he is eight months now and I'm I've been trying to do some nursing school and kind of a as a second degree. I got my first degree in medical laboratory science, so I guess I'm a medical laboratory scientist trying to be a nurse, that actually sounds really legit.

Speaker 3:

It is legit. It was hard, um and uh. Yeah, I just have a passion for nutrition, helping people heal and also just I've come up with this phrase recently but I like to take a big bite out of life. I just love learning and taking everything in as much as I can.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're definitely a Ravenclaw If we were in Harry Potter. Oh yeah, you're so smart, you're just always learning something new. It's cool because you apply a lot of what you learn too, which I think is really.

Speaker 1:

I don't know, you're just really awesome.

Speaker 2:

So I feel very honored to have you today. So I'll just ask you the question then, bree, what memories do you have in your life that you reflect on, that prick your heart in remembrance of Jesus Christ and anchor you to him?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So I guess we can just start from the beginning of my life and kind of go from there. So I would say, since I was born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it kind of was apparent to me early on that Jesus was always with me. And kind of the first time that I actually recognized it was around eight years old. I don't know if it was before or after I got baptized, but I decided to get baptized and around there I started noticing the Spirit and I was trying to figure out the chronological order of this. But my mom told me a story that when my brother he's eight years younger than me, so when she was pregnant with him, right before she went to the delivery room, she saw me crying and she's like you know, brianna, what's going on? And I was crying. I said what if the cord was wrapped around his neck? And she's like that came out of nowhere, like nobody told yeah, her that that happens right right.

Speaker 3:

So that actually kind of you know, made my mom a little nervous and, uh, because you know your kid just says saying something yeah right and um, so that actually it actually did happen. Yeah, and when my brother was born, the doctor had to unwrap the cord three times.

Speaker 3:

No way, yeah, so it was actually, uh, that was enough times that it was restricting his blood flow yeah and it was an issue, but because I told my mom and the way she reacted, it actually kind of saved him because, there was like, since she was stressed, she had high blood pressure, so the the blood was able to get to his brain a little easier, even though it was wrapped, and then they, you know, had to kind of control it and stuff and just what the nurses were doing and what she was doing, and just kind of all like wow it worked out, worked out, and my aunt was like brie called it.

Speaker 3:

Oh my, oh my gosh, she called it and you know, I do kind of feel like a special connection to my brother. We're kind of similar in a lot of ways. Yeah, and so you were looking out for him even before he got there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

I don't remember him, like you know, coming to me or anything, but just that thought came and that was really cool to hear from my mom afterwards. I had no idea, yeah, but the the experience that I do remember that I had a clear idea of that it was. The spirit was have you ever watched the movie Prince of Egypt? I love that movie.

Speaker 2:

I ball almost every time.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it, so good and um, it was the scene of the burning bush and just the music is just, it's amazing, it's just yeah sublime, it's just so. I don't even know how, how to explain it.

Speaker 2:

All the music in that movie just really brings the spirit. In a lot of ways I feel like, yeah, yeah, it's an inspired movie. You hit it on the head. Yeah, no, he's amazing so good.

Speaker 3:

But just after seeing that scene like I started crying, and even after the whole movie too, um, and my mom again like what's wrong?

Speaker 1:

you know why are you crying?

Speaker 3:

and she's like did your sister hit you? Yeah?

Speaker 3:

yeah and she's, you know, and I was like I wasn't sure why I was crying, and she's like, do you feel, you know, like peace or yeah, happiness, or I was like, yeah, and, and I it was that's kind of the first time I ever felt felt like a burning in my chest from right, the Holy Spirit, you know, burning in your heart, yeah, and um, that's. After that I remembered that feeling and that's kind of how I identify the spirit is, if I have a burning in my chest, I know for sure. Yeah, it's like you can get thoughts in your head, right, and you can't always tell if it's you or the holy spirit, right, right, but you, I don't know how you can affect your chest your heart, you know, and you as a medical person like that is definitely not yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3:

So that's kind of always been like.

Speaker 3:

That's been the foundation that I kind of built on from there right, I always kind of felt like I had a special connection with God compared to a lot of people, and I kind of observed the differences throughout my life, like how easy I am, I'm able to like connect to him and the Holy Spirit and I'm not like bagging on anyone else. But I do feel like I can tell you the reason why. Most likely is that a little bit later, actually around that time, I got diagnosed with Asperger's, which is a type of autism. With Asperger's, which is a type of autism, it's now classified as level one autism because now it's a, it's a spectrum and it kind of, you know, makes it so you can't socialize as well, you can't catch cues, you kind of get focused on something and you keep going on it and, um, sometimes you get stuck on things that other people can move on from you know, and I think that I feel like autism kind of is like maybe a little bit of a of a parting of the veil.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you know you like especially the people who are farther down the spectrum. You just know that they're perfect. Yeah, you just know that they are close to God yeah even though they're not. They can't function here. You just know that they're. They're more in heaven. Thankfully mine isn't. Hasn't affected my life too too much. Um, I've been able to socialize and a lot of people don't know right that I have it, but as soon as when you get closer to you can kind of see like signs of it.

Speaker 1:

The medical obsession. Yeah, exactly, yep.

Speaker 3:

Yep, I was one of them.

Speaker 3:

Yep for sure. So, yeah, so around third grade. And another thing is that I was kind of a rougher child. I would wrestle and I would get a little too like rough with my sisters, cause them to cry and stuff. And it was never in my intention to hurt them, it was just kind of a impulse. And you know, now I kind of feel a little bit of regret, which is it's kind of weird, but I I feel like I wasn't ever in the wrong because I never intended right to hurt them right and that's kind of a huge theme that's been throughout my life is always just, did you intend harm?

Speaker 3:

did you intend to hurt somebody? And it's always harm. Did you intend to hurt somebody? And it's always.

Speaker 3:

Even though I don't I misspeak, yeah, even though I'm I don't catch social cues or or maybe I'm a little too blunt to somebody and hurt their feelings, you know it's, I never had a bad intention and that kind of like helps me forgive myself and, you know, is helps me kind of feel closer and kind of a little bit safe from you know the temptations of the devil, saying that you are not good enough you're, you know you're being bad. So that's maybe why I never felt super separated from Jesus and Heavenly Fathers, because I've always had good intentions and therefore I've always felt worthy of their presence.

Speaker 2:

And that's how I feel about everybody is that everyone's a good person on the inside and sometimes that can get a little twisted or, you know, some people are more aware of what they're doing and therefore it's not so innocent anymore yeah but I I believe that everyone has that same right inside right, the same core but that's what we learn in the temple, right like if you, if you try and follow the gospel and keep, keep your covenants with a true and honest heart like it's about your intention, right Are you really trying to you know, like be on team Jesus or are you, you know, are you not?

Speaker 2:

And I love how you bring that up, because I do think a lot of us, myself included, are really too hard on ourselves, because we let the devil get in our head and say, well, you're not good enough, or you're not trying hard enough, or whatever, but it's like no, my intent is, I have the best intentions, I truly am trying to be better.

Speaker 3:

I'm just mortal and I'm failing so sorry yeah yeah, I feel like having the best intention is the best way of thwarting the devil. It's always having a good intention and I love the scripture that came from Isaiah. It's repeated, actually, a couple times, and it says for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. I just love that Even though I may up I, you know, was maybe a little bit rough back then and I might, I might, not speak as well that his hand is stretched out still and it's always been there and then um to kind of continue.

Speaker 3:

That was kind of a big time for me. The spirit came, I got my diagnosis. I also started getting some friends and actually I still have those friends, no way yeah and I think really my friends are kind of who got me out of my. I could have been a lot worse socially if it wasn't for them Right and like my family, my friends all treated me like I was their equal, like they didn't cater to me, like I was, like I had a disability.

Speaker 3:

Right, they didn't let your diagnosis define you yeah exactly, and I think that's what made a big difference is that, since you kind of, when you're autistic and you're like a little higher functioning, you can mirror, yeah and kind of mask. And I just had great friends that just you know to mirror, and also I never felt, I never felt out of place when I was around them. So and actually like one of them I was playing with, they were playing over at my house and I was kind of wrestling my sisters a little bit and she said you know, if you don't stop doing that, I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna call my mom and and have her pick me up. And I was like that was when, like I finally made the connection that was a huge being too rough yeah, like what I'm doing affects others, like I just didn't make that connection before.

Speaker 3:

I thought kind of like, oh, it's fun they. You know, I kind of knew that they didn't like wrestling. But I just like this affects more than just what I thought, I guess, and it just it kind of snapped me out of it and ever since then I like the thought of hurting somebody is just not's out of my mind, yeah, exactly right, like hitting with with bad intention.

Speaker 3:

It's just abhorrent to me and uh, yeah, so, and I guess hitting in general too a little bit right. But yeah, that was like a super cool change and that was probably when I was like around 12, 10 or 12. I also, and I think you know, god sent these friends to me too. I was literally about to say that, like it seems like that's very divine.

Speaker 2:

Like he's like these people will help Bree and he sent them right into your life, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And like we're still into each other's lives and it's just super cool and you know I'm glad that I have stayed in the same place, and that's another thing is like I feel bad for people who move around and kind of lose those friends right.

Speaker 3:

So I got really lucky on that on that part too I'm grateful for, like my dad and in that way, because he just worked so hard to keep us in the place we were at, yeah, his job just wasn't the greatest um at times and yeah, and I also feel really grateful about that too, you know how your relationship with your dad is kind of like your relationship with God. Yes, just like grateful for all the work he did, same with like Heavenly Father. Yeah. Another thing that kind of was a big defining thing that solidified my testimony in prayer specifically was I just love cats, yeah, like dogs. I had a great dog. His name was Tater Tot and he was like he was such a cutie.

Speaker 3:

He was a pug in a boxer mix Shut up, that's so cute. He was like he had the coloration and the curly tail, uh-huh, um, and then the longer snout and he was kind of like stubby. Yeah, um, he was. He was such a great dog, but I don't know why cats are just your thing, they're my thing.

Speaker 3:

I love their independence and, yeah, and how they're not all over you all the time right right but, um, my cat was having kittens and I was lucky enough to be able to hang out with my mom and my grandma while she was having the kittens and one of the kittens wasn't breathing. And this is where I, you know, knew that Heavenly Father even though maybe this is not important to other people, what's important to you is important to him. I prayed that that kitten would live and when I finished that prayer, that kitten started breathing, like immediately, really yeah. And I was like, yeah, heavenly father answers your prayers. I mean, yeah, there's some prayers he can't answer, right, but you know, that's when I knew that he answers your prayers, whether that's yeah, in heaven or or now yeah, and that actually kind of translated into you know, like young women's and EFY, which is for now.

Speaker 2:

What, what was it? He's FSY, now FSY, yeah when I went to EFY.

Speaker 3:

By then I felt like my testimony was just like super solid, I know, and that's uh again with how I could notice the difference between other people me and other people spiritually was just I, was I by then. I knew you knew, yeah, I knew that God was real and he answers prayers. He there's a spirit. He brings angels into your life.

Speaker 3:

You know, and people to help you right. And in EFY I also kind of found out that, like how I could tap in to things kind of easily and I remember we were kind of workshopping how you could use the Spirit to find just a random scripture that you needed to question. Like you would have the scriptures closed and you don't the scriptures.

Speaker 2:

Yeah I'm closed.

Speaker 3:

And you don't you know, no scriptures memorized or anything yeah, no peeking, and we were partnered with another person and they would have a question and then you were going to like look it up and answer it and I I don't memorize scriptures very well, so I I totally depended on the spirit and you know, I flipped to a scripture and I just bore my testimony that and I don't remember the exact scripture, unfortunately, but you remember the feeling yeah exactly, and that God will never let you down and he'll always answer your prayer, even if and again it might be in heaven.

Speaker 3:

But he will never forget you, and you know that. That made my partner cry and that was just a special moment. It was like wow, like that was for, that was the right answer for for them and, yeah, I can do this yeah, it was just kind of cool that God can use too.

Speaker 3:

Yeah and you just you don't always know if you have affected somebody, because a lot of people keep things secret, so that was just kind of cool to see it on his face yeah to know, wow, like I can do this. And that's when I kind of knew that it's like a um, a next level, when, when you can align your will with the father's, whatever you're going to do next is what he's going to choose anyways, and I think that's kind of the level where the prophets are at right, they're so they're so in tune with him with, but they don't have to ask anymore, they're just in line.

Speaker 3:

And that's kind of where I made that connection and and kind of pledged myself that I would get there, yeah, someday, yeah, so I was just like a cool experience. I remember my counselors saying the, the FY counselor over our group saying to each you know, teach person. It was something around the lines of I know you believe in in God, you know, and you know, just keep keep going. And then they came to me and you say they said something like I know that you know God is real, you know just, just the, just the difference there. And I was like yeah, no, yeah, that's right, yeah, exactly, yeah.

Speaker 3:

So that was, that was just something that kind of. It was a cool little camp experience for that. I was kind of going there for the cute guys, but it was kind of like a little workshop and that was special. And then into high school I knew that I wanted to do something more than just become a mom, yeah, and so kind of figuring out what that was my grandma, the same one that was with the, with the kittens yeah with the kittens.

Speaker 3:

She was living with us and she actually was living with us because she wasn't taking care of herself. Well, she had a lot of health issues, including like diabetes, which I think probably led into her pancreatic cancer, and I can't remember how old I was. Pancreatic cancer is just, it's really hard to cure apparently. So it was pretty much we kind of knew that that was it and she. She had a another form of cancer before and they were able to take it out, but you can't take your pancreas out yeah nope I guess you, maybe you can't.

Speaker 3:

I don't think there's any medications that can replace everything, though, and kind of around that 10th grade point I kind of declared war against cancer. Yeah. I will cure cancer, yeah and I, you know so I'm going to go after this because it was just cancer was, I think, the second leading cause of death at that time, and I think it still is.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, heart disease is it's still number one yeah, and I just but heart disease versus cancer. I feel like a lot of innocent people get hurt with cancer and, um, I just felt like that was an injustice and and my grandma, yeah, and it was, you know, people were looking into the cure anyways and.

Speaker 3:

I just wanted to hop on that. So I worked hard and got my associates in high school and and I also at that time was thinking about going on a mission, and I said you know, heavenly Father, if you want me to go on a mission, tell me and I will turn on a dime yeah but if you want me to do something else, and you want cancer cured.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's where I'm going next. Yeah, and that's you know.

Speaker 3:

I never got the impression to go on a mission yeah, I would have happily gone, but yeah, I, I. That's when I kind of understood I had a different mission and that's how I also feel about when other people, like other ladies I guess, don't go on missions. They had another mission to do and mine was getting into school and getting that done as early as possible, because I think Heavenly Father knew that I loved school and you will be, there for a long time.

Speaker 3:

Yes, exactly, so might as well get it done early. Yeah, so that was just kind of cool. And with the again, with that prayer, that I knew that Heavenly Father would answer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and he did by just saying you know, continue. And I also prayed about like what school to go to, right, because I had BYU and the U as options. But you know, heavenly Father said the U, I'm sorry, byu, but it was it was the? U and it was actually good because the U is it has that hospital. Right, exactly, and it's just, it's very medically focused. Yeah, it's, they're very good, right, and it's kind of cool because now that I'm married and stuff, my husband went to BYU.

Speaker 3:

I went to the? U and, like people, tease us about that.

Speaker 2:

House divided.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, but he went to BYU for business.

Speaker 2:

And they're really good at business so like we both went to our universities that you know were suited for what you wanted.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly and um, yeah, so I you know I didn't consider nursing. I I wish I did. I at the time didn't think that I wanted to be with people because, again, like that Asperger's that autism thing, time didn't think that I wanted to be with people Because, again, like that Asperger's that autism thing, like I didn't think I would mesh well with people.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 3:

I was a little bit of an introvert. I kind of flipped around.

Speaker 3:

I was going to say it was like oh wait, I do get my energy from people Like, shoot, I guess I'm an extrovert, but yeah, so I think Heavenly Father kind of knew that I would do that flip, yeah, and I wonder if Heavenly Father was like you know, you, you need, you know, a bigger like view of the medical field, because if I did nursing I would have just done nursing and gone up. But because I have medical laboratory science right, there's just another realm of possibility for me and even though I kind of regret it, it's not, I think it will pay, pay back later. Yeah, I think I haven't, you know, seen the end of that.

Speaker 1:

So the chronicle or whatever, yeah, the story continues exactly.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, and, and I went to medical laboratory science because I thought that was the closest to cancer and I actually did cancer research at the Huntsman.

Speaker 1:

Whoa, that's a big deal.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and it was, it was cool. I just I wasn't. I had the opportunity of having my own project underneath a idea that was already made by a principal investigator, right, but I, I just didn't really have enough time. And, yeah, I was commuting from Lehigh, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2:

So it was commute.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so it was like an hour each way on the train because I wanted to save money anyways it was just a lot into that decision, but I just didn't feel right in that researching cancer there. It just felt and I know this kind of sounds bad, but it was just too slow for me. It was just I kind of felt like I wasn't on the bleeding edge, even though I, you know, was the Huntsman is just they're researching new stuff, yeah, but it takes time.

Speaker 2:

Research takes a lot of time. It does, yeah.

Speaker 3:

But it takes time. Research takes a lot of time. It does, yeah, and I kind of got a little bit frustrated because I didn't. I wanted to see this, what we were researching, applied to patients. Yeah, but it wasn't entirely that way. It was more like adding a sentence to a textbook for at least the stuff that I was around, and I was like this isn't, this isn't for me.

Speaker 2:

I kind of wanted to see patients, patients, more people oriented, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I wanted to see people's tumors shrink from this research and yeah, yeah, it wasn't that way, right, and so I just kind of shrunk back into my degree and, just you know, finished it and then I worked in a hospital lab for a little bit and it was, you know, I learned a lot and it was super cool.

Speaker 1:

I loved it.

Speaker 3:

I loved the people I was with and but then I realized that because I would go on some codes, so they call like a trauma or something right, and the lab is there to test. Do a quick test like at the bedside, yeah and. I realized I love going to those like I would get a little buzz.

Speaker 1:

I guess I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.

Speaker 3:

But, um, I was like, oh, wow, yeah, like, and I felt like I kind of hit the ceiling at my job too and I didn't want to. I realized I didn't want to do it for forever yeah and that's kind of where that transition came, naturally to go into. It's like I want to be the nurses that I see in the ER that are helping, Because I just I felt like I went to the lab because I thought that research would help the most people. Right, because you know it kind of it does.

Speaker 2:

It can Right. Yeah, but you really wanted the more hands-on, like I'm seeing the patients, I'm caring for the patients, yeah, and seeing and helping them with their treatment, yeah exactly, yeah, and I think perhaps in the future, if finances and time, and that I can still take care of my family and put them first yeah if that allows this, I would probably become a nurse practitioner and maybe start some research, who knows?

Speaker 3:

I?

Speaker 2:

could see you doing that.

Speaker 3:

That would be pretty sweet, but I know that it can take a lot from your family. So we'll just see how it goes, and I've kind of come to terms that if it doesn't work out, I'll just follow what the Lord wants me to do, right?

Speaker 2:

But it's cool that you can really like, with all the things that you've shared, you really can look back on your life and see where the Lord has literally taken you and it was like with each thing it had a purpose.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right this. You know. You needed your friends to teach you these things and to be your awesome buddies.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You had this experience specifically to help you with the spirit you know and know that your prayers are answered, and even going up to the you like now you know, like I really enjoyed this. It's a resume builder, but that maybe isn't what I want. Like literally every single thing you've done in hindsight has been something to kind of guide you and direct you in that way to help give you further clarity for later. Yeah, or just like even experience, like the fact that you were able to go in when you're working as the lab tech, like you can already say that, yeah, I've gone in and I've helped patients already.

Speaker 2:

Like so when you're now that you're going to be a nurse, you're not completely a greenie, because you've already had the experience of going in with patients right During intense situations or whatever like I think that's already going to prepare you to do that job right and to do it well, because you've already been in that environment, you know the protocol, you know how to like act and stuff around that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I think that you, the Lord really has prepared you really well for your next step. So it'd be cool. You'll like become a nurse and then you'll go cure cancer, right?

Speaker 3:

Yep, that's the next, that's the next jump.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

It might take a few more steps, but yeah, that's, I would love that if that happens, it's the direction. Yeah, but I think Heavenly Father also knew of my nature, because I've noticed rather recently that Heavenly Father gives me things slowly, yeah, like he gives me trials slowly.

Speaker 3:

I guess, and I think that probably has something to do with my autism, because you have, it's a little bit harder for people with autism to adapt to changes. Yeah, not that like I feel like I'm pretty adaptable, but it's probably because Heavenly Father, like, gives me things a little more slowly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So I guess an example of that is like when I had Wesley. Yeah, I felt like all the things that you have to learn with the baby and stuff, right, and the troubles Like they could have all came at once, you know, like feeding troubles, sleeping troubles. Yeah, all of it, all of it but they kind of came one by one, I guess, so they came like one at a time, yeah, and I've heard some people have it all at once.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

And I was just like, wow, I'm really lucky. And just yeah, I'm, and maybe I can think of a better, better examples. But yeah, I just noticed that it's just slower and I just know that Heavenly Father is just being gracious with me and that's just. You know. I really appreciate it. I don't want my child to come down like no one wants that Right.

Speaker 2:

Or maybe one day it will, but you've been prepared enough to be able to handle it when it does come.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, maybe I'll think of a better example again too. Is that it just? I feel like it's a blessing in a way, because I in my patriarchal blessing it said that I was a valiant. I was valiant during that that fight between Satan and and the people who supported God's plan, the people you know just that whole thing in the premortal life and I think maybe that valiance has something to do with my autism. You know, like that that I came to earth still fighting a little bit or you need to handicap you so you wouldn't rule the world.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, just kidding, it's not handy. That's funny, I like that, but yeah it's like it.

Speaker 3:

It's just I think it has you know I I think what how you were in the premortal life is kind of how you came here, and I being blunt too, I I feel like it is in respect to people, because I don't want to ever lie to anybody yeah and there's just a lot of things to autism that I feel like it's just so pure.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, in a way it's without guile and it's um even though it can be hurtful to people who aren't ready to hear. You know harsh words, but yeah, I don't think of autism as as a burden. I'm actually quite proud of it and you know it's. I feel like it's my main trial in life, like pretty much all the trials that I have experienced stems from it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but I feel like it also has brought me to where I am now because with the autism, with the focus, I think, the intelligence that I have been able to to handle I guess is's because of yeah it's just and the memory apparently people with Asperger's their memory is is really good, like I, I think it was like the 95 percentile around there and that memory has helped me a lot in anatomy. And you know it came with pluses and minuses but I feel like it's just more pluses and I'm grateful that I, that I'm kind of in this in between of not having to rely on others to help me and then still having the good things that autism has brought me, it's like a superpower, yeah yeah it, and you know I just always kind of been grateful and self-assured about who I am and that you know again that I'm a good person on the inside and there's nothing that will change that, and also that I know that God lives, and there's nothing that can change that either.

Speaker 3:

Honestly, and I am, I'm grateful for all the things that the Lord has given me, and I mean there's probably a lot more other things I could say. My sweet boy too, he's just, he's just such a. He's different too. I can tell yeah and I think he uh, when he was a in the womb, I could just feel his sweetness.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I just could feel his spirit and yeah, that sweetness, I think is that same sweetness that I have and that Ben fell in love with too yeah he just tells me, like you're so tender you are, you really are though and you know I uh, I know that I was giving him a tender spirit like mine for a reason and I'm really excited to see how, you know, he grows and I feel so much better equipped if he did have autism how I can help him through it. And yeah, at first that was kind of a worry for me because it's genetic yeah but it can't be genetic anyways, but I just know that that's.

Speaker 3:

You know this, and more people are having autism or realizing that they have autism, and I think that's the mark of the strong children, perhaps or not, not the only mark, right, but of the of the strong children of god. And I, yeah, I'm just I, even though autism is the negative thing, I think it's a blessing and and I, uh, yeah, just wanted to bear my testimony that, because of all these things that I have experienced in in my life, that I know God never, will never leave me and therefore I will never leave him, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Speaker 2:

Amen. Thank you for coming to me, you're the best.

Speaker 3:

Oh, you too.

Speaker 1:

Thanks again for tuning in to More Than Coincidence, Remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. Please follow us on social media or share us with a friend. If you have an experience you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to morethancoincidencerememberhim at gmailcom. I can't wait to hear all of the amazing memories you all have of our Savior. See you next time.