What If You’re Asked to Compromise Your Christian Faith at Work?, with Valerie Kloosterman

What would you do if your employer asked you to sign something that violated your Christian faith? It happened to Valerie Kloosterman, a physician’s assistant who lost her job for refusing to agree that gender is fluid. You’ll be inspired and equipped by her story in this episode of Grounded. 

Website: https://firstliberty.org/ 

Episode Notes

“Americans Who Read the Bible Are Better Able to Forgive Others” article

Valerie’s story at FirstLiberty.org

“Prayer Is Our Most Powerful Weapon, with Karen Ellis” video 

Revive '21 messages

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Erin Davis: Imagine this, you are at a mandatory training at work. Are you picturing it? And then you're handed a piece of paper, and you're asked to affirm in writing that gender is fluid rather than a fixed biological sex created by God. What would you do? I'm Erin Davis, and this is Grounded. 

Portia Collins: I'm Portia Collins. Erin, you made my palms a little sweaty.

Erin: I get it.

Portia: Yes, I know that if I was in that situation, I could not in good conscience find something that doesn't line up with God's Word. And yet, there are Christians who are teaching in university settings, who are asked repeatedly to identify their pronouns in solidarity with those who don't conform to binary sexuality. 

There are Christians working at top levels of publicly held companies who are in situations meant to force them to show support for abortion. 

Every day, more and more of us are being asked to stand up for truth. But saying that you believe truth and actually taking a stand are two very different things. 

Erin: Man, that’s true. Those examples you gave, I can think of people in my own friendship orbit that have had to do those very things. And then, a friend of mine, who's a university president that's been asked to make those kinds of statements. A friend of mine who is in leadership at his company has been asked to make those kinds of statements. 

So, for our guests today, that scenario I gave us at the top of the episode, it's not hypothetical. Valerie Kloosterman faced some serious consequences at her job as a physician's assistant. And the reason why was that she stood firm in her faith. 

We want you to know from the outset that this didn't happen in the Middle East. It wasn't in Communist China or in some other parts of the world, where we might expect a woman or a Christian’s rights to be openly violated. Valerie lives in Michigan, and her story is a warning that we need to be ready, we need to be ready to stand for Christ today wherever we live.

Portia: Amen. And you know, Grounded family, I can always count on you to do one thing, and that is to pray, we are sisters. 

Erin: That is true. 

Portia: We are going to intercede together for this woman. She is our sister too. A follower of Jesus. And we need like a lot of us praying. Okay, so I'm going to ask you right now to share this episode, because we need to get other women praying. We need to be equipped to stand firm ourselves when discrimination and marginalization and cancel culture come to our place of employment.

Erin: Yeah, I mean, it's on the way. Don't think it's not. As we think about Grounded more and more, I just feel this urgency to make sure that you are equipped, that I am equipped to stand for Jesus in really gracious, winsome, God-honoring ways. 

I expect that there are going to be some parts of this conversation in this episode that feel heavy, and frankly, they should. But it's hard to face that we're at this point as a society. But even on the hard episode days, our mission here on Grounded never changes. The reason we're here is to give you hope and perspective and, in this case, that doesn't just mean we're going to slap some lipstick on this pig. We're not going to pretend that this isn't a challenging situation. But there is always hope for us as followers of Jesus, even as the darkness seems to be getting darker. The Light of Christ, of course, can never be snuffed out, and we remain the salt of the world. 

So, that's why we start every episode with good news. I know you wouldn't let us get away with not giving you good news. So, take it away. P, what's our good news today?

09:18 – Good News

Portia: Well, you know, I'm always happy to do it. And, you know, it's hard to have a conversation about how we as Christians can stand for Christ in our workplaces without touching on the topic of forgiveness. It's like the Lord has just been pushing that message toward me in the sermons that I've been hearing, in my readings, everything. 

It might be that a coworker excludes or has openly ridiculed you because you don't participate in gossip during lunch. Can you forgive her? It might be one day, one of your bosses passes you over for a raise, because you don't look the other way when funds are misreported. Can you forgive him? 

You can, if you read your Bible, and how's that for some good news? A recent study made this amazing discovery, that there is actually a connection between how often we read our Bibles, and how willing and able we are to forgive those who hurt us. 

The American Bible Society found that 94% of people who consider themselves Bible engaged agree with this statement: I am able to sincerely forgive whatever someone has done to me, regardless of whether they ask for forgiveness or not. 

If you read your Bible regularly, that might not exactly feel like earth shattering news, particularly because the call to forgive is repeated so often in Scripture. 

But only half of people who are Bible disengaged . . . In other words, those not reading their Bibles on a regular basis, half agreed with this statement. This wasn't a survey about whether or not forgiveness is important, almost everyone agrees that it is. But forgiveness can also be very difficult to put into practice, especially when someone has hurt you and they show no remorse. But it is possible through His Word, and by His Spirit. God equips His people to walk out forgiveness. 

As we talk about how to stand for Christ in a culture that is increasingly wanting to marginalize us and even cancel our Christian beliefs, the fact that God's Word equips us to stand firm and forgiveness is something we must remember. It is very, very good news. We want you to keep your Bible handy because we're going to open them up together soon. But first, Erin is going to help us get grounded with God's people.

12:26 – Grounded with God's People (Valerie Kloosterman)

Erin: That is good news, that being Bible engaged, reading my Bible, actually matters in my real life. It actually helps me forgive and probably a million other things that God calls me to do. So, I love it when data backs up what God's Word already teaches us. That data backs up the, “Yep, God's Word changes your life.” 

Well, Valerie Kloosterman is a wife. She's a mom of four. In fact, she's a mom of triplets, which I would love to just do a whole episode on that. That's fascinating to me. She's also dedicated her career to being a physician's assistant. She's a follower of Jesus. Recently, those two descriptors, physician's assistant and follower of Jesus came into a clash, and Valerie chose Jesus. I can't wait for you to hear her story in her own words. She's joined by her attorney, Kayla Toney, welcome to Grounded, Valerie.

Valerie Kloosterman: Hello, thank you.

Erin: We're thrilled to have you. Hey, take us back to when you were deciding what career path to choose. Why did you choose medicine?

Valerie: Sure. Initially, I thought I wanted to be a teacher and kind of all through grade school and middle school high school. Then in our senior year, we were given a day or two to kind of just go out into the world and figure out what we wanted to do. And to be honest with you, I took those days because it meant I didn't have to be at school. 

So, I'm like, I'm gonna get off school and do something different. Somebody has suggested that I follow a PA, and I loved it. It was kind of one of those things where I was teaching about the body; I was teaching about science. Ultimately, I was teaching about God, but just doing that with a medical hat on instead of just in a classroom with kids. 

So, from there, I kind of dove into what does it take and where can I go to school? My mom and grandma were both in healthcare, my dad is a fireman, my brother's a fireman. So, medicine was something we always had just naturally as a conversation. And yeah, to kind of keep their legacy . . . And to be honest with you, I worked at the same hospital that they did. So, it was really special. It was kind of just a natural place to fall, and to get into teaching—but really teaching patients about how God had created them and how their health had to kind of fall into who they were.

Erin: I asked that question because it is one of those fields that people go into because they want to help people. That's the baseline assumption. In college, I lived in a whole apartment full of nursing students. I was the one communication major, and maybe watching eyeball surgeries in their free time. They all had the same heart, which was they wanted to help people be well. I assumed that was your heart and that you wanted to teach. 

Also in that career, I know you served as a PA, a physician's assistant, for Michigan Health for 17 years, up until the incident that we're gonna get into in a moment. But before we talk about that, how would you describe your career, those 17 years, when you were seeing patients and serving? What was it like?

Valerie: So I had worked with a staff to write. Sometimes you spend more time with them than you do with your own family. So getting to know them and watching their kids grow up. Ultimately, creating friendships at work. God really had bonded us together with that, but then getting to know families, getting to know children of people that I had seen. I had kids who were going to graduate from high school the year that this happened. So being part of that with them and being excited for them. Spending that much time with them, to be honest with you, was a blessing to me to be able to be a part of. You get to choose somebody to take care of you, to give you medical advice. That is a big role to fill. So part of that was going to work when I did, and to think, “God, this is a privilege to come to work today.” And that part probably shattered my heart the most, having that taken away.

Erin: I can just hear it in your voice, you love people. You love loving people, people are important to you. They'll feel that love come up into your throat as you thought about those people. So, let's explain where the emotion comes in. Take us back to 2021, you were asked to participate in a mandatory diversity training, which is something that is happening in seemingly every sector, it’s very widespread right now. And as part of that training, you encountered some things that violated your Christian conscience. Tell us about that training and what unfolded there?

Valerie: Sure. So, it really had been a mandatory training. Most of the questions were related to what fire extinguisher to use, what to do in case of a tornado. We had DOs and MDs that worked at the facility. So, what was the difference between that. The last couple years, when the hospital was affiliated with University of Michigan, some of that changed, and there was some education in regards to the LGBT community. And the education piece, I understood that. 

But in 2021, there were two very specific questions that I had to state that gender was fluid, there was not an option for me to not do that. If I put no, that's not true, I couldn't finish the test, and it was a mandatory test to do. There wasn't a place for me to say, “Hey, this is why I disagree.” So, I had talked to my supervisory provider and office manager. Then I had to bring these concerns to the Department of Diversity Equity Inclusion to just explain to them where you're coming from, where your hesitation is. That should have been welcoming. I should have been able to do that, to be able to say, “Hey, this is where my concern is.” But unfortunately, that is not what happened. 

Erin: Yeah. You ended up asking for a religious accommodation. There was protocol in place at your place of work to do that. Help us understand what that is, what it meant to you, and what you were hoping would happen when you filed for that accommodation.

Valerie: Sure. So, it really should have just been initially just a conversation of stating I'm a Christian, which means I'm a Christian physician assistant, which means what I do and how I do it is ultimately to glorify God. I had said that in one of the meetings. We are made in the image of God. 

And in a field of medicine, that is first and foremost. How we care for our bodies and what we do in health for ourselves, and answering that, didn't align with us being able to say, “No, gender is not fluid.” God in His perfection has designed you. There is no mistake; there isn't something that is wrong in wanting to do that compassionately, wanting to see that patient and say, “Okay, I will walk with you in this journey.” But no, I can't affirm that for you. And again, it should have been right in the department of inclusion. That should have been obvious that they should have said, “What are your concerns? What can we do?” That is not what happened. 

Ultimately, it took a significant turn in the opposite direction, to being hostile toward my Christian faith, and putting that forefront, and not and how we could have had an accommodation, or how I could have been able to see patients without any concerns or issues, because it had never happened. This is all hypothetical. It was just based on the survey. I had seen patients who identified as lesbian, gay, or had identified as transgender, and there hadn't been an issue. So, this to me, was definitely something that could have been handled very differently.

Erin: Yeah. Kayla, I'm so thrilled to have an attorney specializing in religious freedom on Grounded. What a treat for us. Help us understand: do we have the right to ask for accommodations at our place of work? It sounds like she followed the protocol for her work. But give us some idea of what our basic rights are as followers of Jesus?

Kayla Toney: Yes, absolutely. Well, we are very fortunate to live in the United States of America, many of us listening now. Here we do have federal law and the Constitution that protects our religious liberty. 

So, Title VII is the federal law which applies to all American employees. It outlaws religious discrimination. It also requires every employer to provide religious accommodations as long as they are reasonable. 

So, for Valerie, what that could have meant was using patient's first name instead of pronouns, or if a patient was asking for a referral for sex transition drugs or procedures, another provider at Valerie's office could have seen that patient instead. Those types of accommodations happened all the time for people in Valerie's office who had personal preferences. They just didn't want to prescribe opioids or a male doctor didn't want to examine a woman. And so, they would just cover for each other, and the providers would sort of make those accommodations. 

So, there were certainly accommodations here that could have been made. And that's just Title VII. The First Amendment of the Constitution that protects Valerie's religious exercise, which means she is free to speak about her beliefs and to live them out, and she cannot be forced to violate her conscience, and it also protects her free speech. It means that she can't be forced to speak pronouns or messages that, again, violate her religious beliefs. 

She does have a lot of legal protections. I'm just really honored to represent her. I applaud her for seeking justice, not just for herself, but for other believers who are encountering similar situations.

Erin: Yeah, I mean, I'm not an attorney, obviously. But even I understand the importance of precedents. We are certainly in a precedent-setting era for all of these issues. So, I want to take a moment and applaud you, Kayla, and your firm for taking on these tough cases. Valerie, take us back to that moment. You were called into that meeting. You filed for the accommodation, and instead of an accommodation, which I love that Kayla mentioned, some that had already been approved things like, “I don't feel good about prescribing opioids.” Instead of that, they send some pretty hostile things toward you. I've been reading about your story. They called you evil. They called you a liar. They blamed you for gender dysphoria related suicide. 

Take us in that room with you as much as you can. I really do have goosebumps as I've been describing that, because I can't imagine. I can almost feel the blood draining from my face. I want to know both what you were feeling, but here's where I really want to get us if you can. How did God meet you in that moment?

Valerie: So, it was one of those things where God gives you what you need in the moment. He knew what I needed more than I did. That was different than what I am doing now. It was for me to be content, to be able to speak clearly. But the biggest piece was to speak truth in love. And that was, in that moment, what I felt God gave me. He gave much grace and ability to do in just stating, “No, we are made in the image of God.” This is something that is more to affect these patients out of compassion and love that I have for them than the words that they were throwing at me. Saying that it was evil, that I was wanting to have some power over them. I said, “God is love, love is patient, love is kind. Those are the things that I want my patients to know when they come into the room with me.” 

It was shocking. I was called evil. I was called a liar. That I didn't rebut in the moment, just knowing I was saying what God had wanted me to say. And in that moment, I'm really nervous. What do I say? When God just gives you those words, in those moments, and I had known that, that in your mind, in your heart, when God fulfills that. I had some people praying for me, just in the situation that was rising up. 

God answered their prayers, not that I got to keep my job. But that God gave me words that I believe Christ was proclaimed in that meeting, even with those couple of people that were there, that truth was spoken. It was spoken in love. But it was God's truth. 

Erin: I hoped that was exactly what you're gonna say, because scripture promises us that we don't have to be worried about what we're gonna say. But in the moment, when called upon, the Holy Spirit's gonna give us the words. And if God says that, I believe it, and you lived it out. So that is just so beautiful. Ultimately, you were fired. Were you fired in that meeting?

Valerie: No, there was a second meeting. They had given me that the discussion would continue. And so, I had wanted to continue to explain how this could happen, how I did not have to abandon my faith. I was not given that. Ultimately, yes, I was given a termination letter, without even a discussion. There was really never a discussion how this could be accommodated. And with that came significant emotions, but God is our strength in that part of it. Yeah, when you see God had given me strength.

Erin: It's hard to imagine, I mean, I know that you had a near perfect record. You'd just had a wonderful evaluation. Your coworkers loved you; your patients loved you. And this was based on that decision not to affirm that gender is fluid. I can't imagine the gut punch. That was for you and your husband, your children, your community. 

But part of the reason we wanted to have you on is because we know that people need to be equipped to stand for Christ at work. As much as I would love to say what happened to you, Valerie, is an outlier, that it never happened before, it'll never happen again, that's probably not true. I have a friend who was asked to sign some paperwork recently that affirmed these kinds of gender issues. I have another friend who's a leader in his company. He was asked to adopt a minority in a way that was just paperwork and not genuine, and he was really wrestling with that. I know of teachers being asked to affirm transgender among very, very young kids. So, your story is important, but I don't think it's the last of its kind. 

So, looking back, I'd love to know, were there ways that you can, in hindsight, see that God was preparing you or even some ways you wished you'd been better prepared?

Valerie: Yeah, definitely. You know, there are hymns that we sing in church and even Bible passages that I'll read that I think: what I read, how many times I have sung this song, how many times and God was just building that seed in me to have the strength. 

You know, there was that reassurance to, “Hold true to My Word, and I will give you what you need.” I had one of the things I had said, literally, as I drove home and pulled in the driveway, to my kids who came out. I said, “God is my God. It is not my job. It is not our finances. It's not even our health. God is our God, and we are called to serve Him. And ultimately we need to glorify Him in what we do.” 

Having that verse, “May the words in my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you.” And that next portion, which I know when I've read how many times, “My Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.” He is the solid. He is the unchanging. And that piece for me to be honest with you, even now on a daily basis, “Okay, God, you are my Rock. You know when I feel weak.” 

As a mom, you're trying to say, “Okay, I gotta pack lunches,” but there are so many things going through my mind. God says, “Okay, I'm gonna give you peace. I am in control, not you. I am in control.” I need to just repeat that my husband literally texted that to me before we did this. He's like, “Valerie, God is in control.” Just those reminders through spouses or through friends. Even being part of First Liberty, who has this absolute shining of wanting to have truth come out. That is so comforting in moments where it can get stressful and hard. But having that reassurance that God is unchanging. He is my God. That is where I need to find strength.

Erin: You know it's a good Grounded episode when my mascara starts running, because you are just a beautiful, gracious testimony of what Jesus does in our lives. When you mentioned your kids, that's the lump in my throat. You're a mom of four. I'm a mom of four. At the end of the day, what do you hope your kids take away from watching you walk through this? 

Valerie: That they know faith. Our belief in God is ultimately what I need to teach them. We're studying math, and we're studying physics, and we're studying grammar, and we're studying all of those things as a mom that you do. But at the end of the day and around the dinner table teaching them who God is. Teaching them that God loves them. But also, that God has a plan for their life nd that plan is perfect, even though in momentCit doesn't seem that way. 

You know, God has designed our life and knew the moments of our life before we were even conceived. If my kids know that, I cannot abandon my faith when things get tough. I cannot abandon my faith moving forward with my employer, with a significant other, with a friend. If they can stay grounded in that, that is what my job is to teach them around the dinner table. And really, for the rest of life, as they go out of the house. That's something that's still my job as a mom to do. 

Erin: Make it so, Lord, that is so beautiful. Well, there is an army of Grounded women who love to pray. We want to serve you both Valerie and Kayla by praying for you. You're in a battle, and the battle is not over. You've got a lot of fight left to go. The stakes are really, really high. We're with you. So, if it's okay with you, I'd just love to close this interview by praying for you. Often we ask Grounded ladies to reach their hands towards the screen. It's just a show of solidarity. So, I'm going to pray for you if that's okay. 

Valerie: Absolutely. Thank you. 

Erin: All right. 

Jesus, we love You. And you keep Your Word. We've seen it. We've seen it in Valerie's life. When she was put up against the ropes for her faith, which You promised us would happen. Your Holy Spirit to control you've given her everything she needs to walk this path. 

You've called Kayla into a field where she stands for truth. She uses the gifts you've given her to do that. So, I pray for both of them. We pray for the outcome in this legal case that is most glorifying to You. We don't necessarily know what that is, but we want You to be glorified. I just pray that this story would go far and wide, because ultimately, it's not Valerie story. It's not Kayla's story. It's Your story God, and You're the one that gives us rights. You're the one that gives us value. We want people to know that, so we pray that You will be so glorified through all of this. 

Kayla, where can we find about this case and show their support.

Kayla: Our website is FirstLiberty.org. There you can find more about Valerie’s story and also our other courageous clients. We represent clients free of charge, clients from all faith backgrounds. We are a Christian ministry, and it's our privilege to serve in that way. We also have an intake form. So if you ever are experiencing an issue like this and you would like legal advice, please feel free to reach out, that will be confidential with us. We'd be honored to help if we can.

Erin: So grateful. We need followers of Jesus in every sector. I'm grateful to know that you're serving him in the legal sector. Thanks both for being with us. You've been a huge blessing to both of us. 

Valerie: Thank you, God bless you. 

Kayla: Thanks.

Erin: Portia. Were you tearing up during that P?

Portia: Yes. 

Erin: I thought I heard you sniffling. 

Portia: I knew at the beginning of this episode that this was going to be a prayer saturated episode. The invitation is still there, sisters, keep praying. Let's keep praying for Valerie. She gave us some good specifics on what to pray about. But beyond that, we need to pray for revival, okay, revival of this land. I think it's fitting that we watch this short clip of our cohost, Dannah Gresh, interviewing Karen Ellis on why prayer is such a powerful weapon. Let's watch.

Karen Ellis: When you hear war and rumors of war, you hear a lot of talk about ammunition, you hear a lot of talk about weapons and weaponry. We are a different culture as the kingdom of God. His people have been given our own set of weapons and our own ammunition. Our weapons are not the weapons of the world. 

It's interesting to me as an advocate, when I see people, when these world events happen, and unseen things become unsettled. There's always people, even some Christians, who rise up and say, “Why are you praying for those people? Why are you praying even, why bother? Why do you need to?” I'm, like, don't allow people to disarm you. This is the weapon that we've been given. That distinguishes us from everybody else. It is powerful, and it does move. It moves people, it moves presidents, it moves politics, it moves borders, it moves hearts, and it changes things. And when we start to believe in that, oh Dannah, to be anti-prayer is to be anti-Christ. To be anti-prayer is to be against God's people. This is our spiritual weapon.

34:20 – Grounded in God's Word (Acts 5:27–32)

Portia: That gave me goosebumps, like my heart is just fluttering. Well, now it's time to keep praying and to keep getting in our Bibles. We're gonna get grounded in God's Word. I want to ask you this, have you ever refused to submit to a person of authority? Now, you don't have to answer that aloud. But I do want you to think about it. Once you've got that instance in your head, I want you to reflect on specifically why you refuse to submit. 

Now, to be clear, I am not suggesting that we be defiant to those in authority. The Bible actually speaks very strongly about submission to authority. But the Bible also provides clear and justifiable reasons to defy a boss's demand. 

One of those examples is found in the book of Acts, chapter 5, verses 27 through 32. Before I jump into today's passage, I do want to give us a quick backdrop to kind of set the stage for what is happening. Now, the apostles had been faithfully teaching and preaching in Jesus's name. And unfortunately, the chief priests of the Jewish Council, they were not happy about this. In fact, they were so angry that they had the apostles arrested and thrown in jail. But the apostles didn't remain in jail for very long. An angel of the Lord released them and told them to go back to the temple and to continue teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where we pick up in our Bibles today. 

So, start reading with me in Acts, the fifth chapter, verse 27. It says, 

After they brought them in, they had them stand before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest asked, “Didn’t we strictly order you not to teach in this name? Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had murdered by hanging him on a tree. God exalted this man to his right hand as ruler and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

So, as we see here, the apostles’ defiance to the Sanhedrin was not mere rebelliousness. Know, the apostles’ defiance to human authority was rooted in their obedience to the divine authority of God. When the apostles were commanded to sin by ignoring the commands of Jesus, they made it clear that their ultimate allegiance lay with God, not man. And they were willing to accept the earthly consequences of their actions, because they knew that the eternal reward of being with Jesus forever was far greater. Jesus had prepared the apostles for this level of persecution, and guess what, sisters? Jesus is preparing us to. 

I'd like to leave you with just a few words from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, or as Erin says, the greatest sermon ever, from Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12. Most of us are familiar with this, it says, 

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven.

May this truth, this everlasting truth, be a comforting and lasting encouragement for each of us today. 

Erin: I'm so glad that's where you took us Portia, because I always hear Christians saying that we need to be like that church in Acts, which we do. But they certainly faced their share of challenges, pushback, persecution. They were equipped, and we're equipped. So, you took us to the exact right spot. Thank you so much. 

We always want to give you some tools to walk away from Grounded with, really grounded as a conversation starter, not a conversation finisher. We know this is an important conversation with lots of layers. We want you to be equipped to have this conversation with others. So, forgive me while I toot my own horn here. One resource I want to recommend to you is Grounded. 

And the reason I'm saying that is because I've noticed in the comments that several of you are new here. I can't tell you how much that thrills me. Maybe you just stumbled on to Grounded. So let me tell you, our mission is every week to give a dose of hope and perspective so that you can stay grounded in God's Word. We want to be women that you turn to week after week after week to help you figure out what it looks like to walk this Christian life, and we're figuring it out ourselves. 

So, we want to point you to Grounded. It's every Monday at 9 Eastern live. Then you can catch the podcast version on Wednesdays. I also wanted to point you to a past Revive Our Hearts event, the title of that event was, well, Grounded. It was Revive ’21: Grounded. That actually comes straight from Scripture where we’re to be rooted and grounded in God's Word, and we need to be grounded for what's to come. 

So, there's some messages from that event about being grounded in Christ, grounded in the presence of God, grounded in community. That's a message from our girl Dannah Gresh. Grounded in hope, so you can watch all those episodes. Watch all those. What are they called? Events, messages, listen to them. And we're gonna drop the link to make that easy for you to do. 

Portia my brain is getting tired. I'm gonna have to you help me land the plane here. I knew that was gonna be a powerful episode, but it exceeded my expectations. You got any takeaways? 

Portia: Honestly, just prayer. Because I know. You know, it's not going to get any easier for believers, and the Lord speaks clearly about the persecution that we'll face, and it will get increasingly worse. And so, we have to pray. I'm reminded of what my pastor said this past Sunday in talking about the sixth petition in the Lord's Prayer. Specifically, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The deliverance that we need in the protection that we need comes from God.

Erin: Yeah, that's good. I also just felt that encouragement to pray. So, we're gonna just again ask you to pray for Valerie, ask you to pray for Kayla and others like them that are facing those hard choices at work. 

Typically, we start a Grounded episode with the headlines. I'm going to end with some these that I just grabbed from the past couple weeks:

• California Teacher fired for refusing to promote same sex marriage to kids. 
• Next month, Arkansas will vote on controversial religious freedom amendment sparked by COVID-19 closures. 
• A student and coach take school to court over trans locker room rule. 

This is happening, not just happening in Michigan, in one hospital. It's not just happening here in the States. It's happening everywhere, and we need to be grounded. So, we'll be here with you through that journey always pointing you to God's Word.

Portia: Amen. Well, let's wake up with hope together next week on Grounded.

Erin: Grounded audio is powered by Skype. Grounded is a production of Revive Our Hearts calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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