PODCAST EPISODE 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR A SASTISFYING LIFE

KIMBERLY FAITH: Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast with your host, Kimberly Faith. We seek to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love. Welcome to the very first truth in love podcast, and this is the opportunity for us to present the very foundation for living a satisfying life. And in in doing that, I have invited the 2 most important people in my life here to, help me with this presentation, and that is my parents, John and Lynn McLarty. So welcome to the podcast you 2.

LYNN MCLARTY: Thank you. Thank you.

KIMBERLY FAITH: We are, we’re going to start, this podcast, which is which is titled truth in love because everything that we talk about, we want to have measured against the truth of God’s word, and we want it presented in his remarkable love. So, you know, to give the truth without love is just cruel. Right? To say, for example, you’re going to hell, but have no solution for that is is just cruel. And to and to just present love without truth is also cruel because you’re saying, well, god loves you, but you don’t tell anybody how to reconcile to him and have that relationship with him.

Well, that’s cruel too. So what we’re going to do today is, we’re going to start this podcast with the very foundations of what it takes to have a satisfying life because God wants us to be satisfied and he wants us to be satisfied by reconciling to him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the father but by me. And so the best the best way, I think, to present the gospel is what Jesus taught us, and that’s through our our own testimony. And so today, we’re going to, to hear the, just the interesting testimonies of both of my parents who were the reason that I came to where I am in my relationship with God today.

So let’s just kinda start off with kind of a universal question, and, and we’ll start with you, mom. What is it can you tell us what your state of mind was and where you were when right before you came to know Jesus Christ as your lord and savior?

LYNN MCLARTY: Yes. I had kinda come to the end of searching for satisfaction in the things of this world. And, I had been just been married to my soulmate, and I was very happy and wanted to make that work. But the things that I had tried in my life in the past were just there there was just an it did it didn’t get me any satisfaction. It just was empty.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Was it like, you were perpetually having to have more of the of and something even better to be satisfied and that satisfaction didn’t last?

LYNN MCLARTY: That’s right. The satisfaction of the things of the world just didn’t last in my life and didn’t feel that deep needed fulfillment in the inner part of me, and I just felt like I just was at the end of the search.

KIMBERLY FAITH: So what happened? So we

LYNN MCLARTY: met this family, and they were gonna put a well in for us because we had no water on our property. So we went to their house and was gonna talk about water. And the lady, her name’s Eva, met me on the front porch, and she just started telling me about Jesus Christ.

KIMBERLY FAITH: What did she say?

LYNN MCLARTY: She started telling me that he died on the cross to pay for my sins. Well, I had no problem realizing I was a sinner. I was not in denial in that area, but I’d had no idea the relationship with the cross and Jesus Christ.

KIMBERLY FAITH: So had you been exposed to religion in the past that presented you with the opportunity to have a relationship with God?

LYNN MCLARTY: No. My experience as far as religion went was you just went to church. The whole thing was in Latin. There was crosses in the church. They were empty, and I had no idea what they represented or anything to do with Jesus Christ.

KIMBERLY FAITH: So what happened that morning or that day when you were on Eva’s front porch?

LYNN MCLARTY: She just told me the simple truth about the cross and what the cross had to do with me. And she just said that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and that I needed to just accept that and trust in him. And I remember just yielding my heart to him. Just it was the first it was real. I mean, it was just like a real experience to just yield.

There wasn’t words. There was just a total yielding of my life to him, and it was just a transformation in my life. I mean, I just felt like, wow. This is I had no words, actually.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Wow. That’s remarkable. You know, it’s funny you you say that you don’t even remember the words you said, or if you didn’t say any words. It was just a yielding, which was my experience. Mhmm.

And, you know, there’s a lot of people to emphasize. You have to say this prayer or that prayer. And, so what was the next thing that you did immediately with that?

LYNN MCLARTY: That’s interesting. You said that people tell you have to say a prayer. So Eva asked me if I wanted to go in the house and pray with her. And I said, sure. I followed her in, and we got in a room.

And she said, well, do you wanna pray? And I said, well, Eva, I have no idea what you what that means exactly. And I said, the only thing I’ve ever experienced was praying the Lord’s prayer or repeating things that I heard that you were supposed to pray on the rosaries. I said, I never really had anything personal. She says, well, you’re talking to me right now.

She said, you just talk to God like you’re talking to me. You’re talking to him. So good. And so it’s kind of funny. My husband was in the other room, with Eva’s husband, and I said, well, I know what I need to pray.

So I just said, Lord my first prayer was, Lord, I pray that my husband would come to know you as a savior. Mhmm. Because I knew that’s what

KIMBERLY FAITH: we both needed. And so, dad, what was going on the other room?

JOHN MCLARTY: Well, I can say this. I needed that prayer. So I’m glad you prayed for me. In the other room, Abe, which is the husband’s name is Abe and Eva Abers, had shared the gospel with me, And it just made me mad to hear I was a sinner. So I’ve got to back up just a little bit.

So I was raised in this kind of idealistic, the fifties in a neighborhood where kids just ran around, but I didn’t have a, you know, Christian background. So just then the child of the sixties, the whole hippie thing hit, and I was just searching for actually, not searching for. I thought I had found freedom. And freedom was just whatever pops into your head, do it. So I described my life as just a June bug.

I just I’ll go here. I’ll go there. And, of course, it turns out being totally self-centered, I was just going about being selfish, but I thought I was pursuing freedom. So I ended up, in Arkansas married to Lynn and living, I say, the hippie lifestyle, but it wasn’t we weren’t searching for the next party. We were searching for truth.

So I had books on American Indians and Buddhist and Zen and anything but Christianity. Interesting. We had we had rejected that kind of the hippie culture, at least part of that the part I was a part of, that couldn’t be the answer.

LYNN MCLARTY: Mhmm. And

JOHN MCLARTY: that’d be something different. So but my experience wasn’t quite like Lynn’s. I wasn’t just living in desperation. I thought I had life figured out. We had 40 acres, and, all we had to do is have a shelter and keep ourselves fed, and everything would be great.

And, but turns out we needed water on this particular piece of land. So we’d gone to this neighbor’s house. We had a backhoe, and we just wanted to have a well dug. And this guy just hit me between the eyes with the gospel. Wow.

I was a sinner, that Jesus had died for my sins on the cross, paid the price, and that I needed to accept him, or I would be eternally separated from God. Wow. And that just totally offended me. And I thought that was, you know, okay. So we left, and I had seen Lynn go to the back room with this with Eva.

And I said, what were y’all doing in the back room? Of course, she just become a Christian and couldn’t lie. So she said, we were praying for you. So, boy, she could probably see the steam coming out of my head. So we got we had a little rent house in West Fork.

So Lynn wisely took, the kids and thought, we just need to leave him alone. He needs to stew a little bit.

LYNN MCLARTY: So I

JOHN MCLARTY: was in the living room, and all of a sudden I started thinking about all the selfish things I had done in my life, just how my selfishness had impacted others. And then I thought to myself, why am I thinking bad things about me? I never sit around and think bad things about me. And then I went, oh my, this is what Abe was telling me. This is this is God showing me I am a sinner.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Mhmm.

JOHN MCLARTY: And sin is just selfishness played out

KIMBERLY FAITH: Right.

JOHN MCLARTY: Regardless of how that affects others. And then it wasn’t like this vision, like a mysterious vision, but I had this sense that Jesus Himself was in the room saying, John, you are a sinner, but we can take care of that problem. You’re separated from me. And even though you have admitted I even exist all your life, I do exist. And then it was just this revelation that this person that I had rejected all my life was there and had, as Abe said, had gone to the cross and died for my sins.

I had this kind of vision. It’s just mental of Jesus having his hand reached out to me. Kindly see the pictures of, you know, Peter in the water reaching out to Jesus. And I thought I can have a relationship with God right now if I just ask for forgiveness for my sins and accept Jesus as my savior. And the interesting thing for me, I wasn’t even like I was gaining heaven or escaping hell.

I just was agreeing and establishing a relationship with God.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Wow.

JOHN MCLARTY: And it’s just instantaneous. Wow. And it was just I was I didn’t know the terms at the time. Right. But I I’ve asked Jesus to forgive my sins, forgive me for my sins.

I believed just the simple faith of a child, and I’ve been born again. So I’m on the floor crying because I’ve accepted Jesus my as my savior and Len walks back in. So you might describe what you saw.

LYNN MCLARTY: I walked in the door, and there he was on his knees just crying. And I thought, this is a miracle.

KIMBERLY FAITH: You you got me. I didn’t pray more often. Right? I know.

LYNN MCLARTY: Like, God answered my prayer, my first prayer that I ever prayed in my whole life. He pray he answered that because he knew that we needed to be in one accord as husband and wife. And And he knew what life has been amazing ever since.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Well, you know, I love I love the fact that God speaks to us in exactly the way we need to hear. You know, your testimonies are so different, yet they were God met you exactly where you were. You know? Mhmm. Dad, I like the way you describe sin as just selfishness.

It’s it’s and and and God’s law and his greatest commandment, you know, the bible says, John John first John 4 says he is love. Right? So to violate love is selflessness. So God is selflessness. When we have and then we reconcile to him, we reconcile with love.

JOHN MCLARTY: Right.

KIMBERLY FAITH: And then we’re

JOHN MCLARTY: heard the truth.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Exactly. And so, so I I, again, I appreciate your testimony of salvation, and I kinda camp out on this salvation experience for a minute because other podcasts that we’ll do, that I’m hoping that y’all will be my guest on, here and there We

JOHN MCLARTY: would love to.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Will also go into Christian growth. Because when wyou say you’re born again, you are now what the bible calls a newborn babe. And newborn babies, you guys have raised many, need what?

JOHN MCLARTY: They need milk. Yeah. They need, protection, nourishment, milk, shelter.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Protection. Yeah. Growth. You need to grow.

JOHN MCLARTY: And exercise.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Right. And so all those things, is is kind of where this podcast is gonna go is the truth and love is giving us the found that salvation gives us a foundation to grow into all that God created us to be for his glory. And that’s where we wanna go with this podcast, but this first podcast, because there’s so many people who do not know what you both experienced, the that they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I really wanna kind of dig into some of the, hey, do you use the word mechanics? Because it wasn’t mechanical with you, but the hang ups would probably be a better way to put it.

You know, I don’t know if either of you experienced, or had ever heard anyone say, hey, You know, your anxiety can be solved through a relationship in Jesus Christ until you were told that. You were well, you weren’t told in so many words, but that was your experience. Is that right?

JOHN MCLARTY: That was the experience. Mhmm.

KIMBERLY FAITH: And so when we, you know, one of the one of the the concepts that it dad, you’ve taught me for years and we both teach these concepts is the anxiety mechanism, which means that you, at that moment, that you have received Jesus, you were relieved of the greatest anxiety in your life, which was you didn’t have relationship with with, with Jesus Christ. Yeah. And and so do either of you have any comments about that, your experience in that and make what that means.

JOHN MCLARTY: I can speak to that a little bit because at that point in time, I would have said I was happy and I’d found kind of my little niche. You know? So you know? Because we had I had to achieve these goals of having land and a little shelter even at the time we were renting a house in West Fork, but we also had a teepee up, and we were building this little joke of a house.

LYNN MCLARTY: I remember that.

JOHN MCLARTY: Long timbers. Oh,

KIMBERLY FAITH: was it the size of your living room right now?

JOHN MCLARTY: The size. Yeah. It’s about 15 by 20. We were just gonna live there. So I just thought, boy, I’ve got life rolling here.

And we had, you know, our £50 of wheat and £50 of corn and a grinder to grind it all up. And so but looking back, especially thinking thinking about when you start feeling these social anxieties, my junior high, and I was you’re driven by anxiety and to be accepted. And, you know, so this was just my lifestyle at the time was just another way of trying to fill that hole.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Well, it sounds like that

JOHN MCLARTY: The the anxiety.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Right. The freedom quest was getting away from all the things that caused you anxiety. Right.

JOHN MCLARTY: Yeah. So it it it’s all anxiety. It’s just something we don’t have God we have in us. So some people were pursuing the hippie lifestyle. Some people might have been pursuing sports.

Some people might have pursuing some fancy career, you know, fast cars Mhmm. Skydiving, whatever.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Right.

JOHN MCLARTY: But it’s all kinda we were just doing it in the back to the land way. Right. But it was trying to fill a hole, and Lynn kinda spoke to that. Mhmm. She had tried, you know, see some Connecticut.

I’m from Texas, but we’re both bouncing around the country trying to fulfill this anxiety that we really didn’t even know was there. I mean, it hadn’t been explained to us, but it was God missing. But when God filled the hole, it’s like, oh, that’s the satisfaction.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Right. And that, of course, you know, in in the concepts studies we in that are on our website, we talk about human design, body, soul, and spirit, and how we try to satisfy the god shaped hole in our soul and the deadness of our spirit with the things of the world, the body, and the body which is gonna die can’t ever do that because it’s not supernatural. So after this supernatural change where you your soul and spirit were, were brought into a relationship with God, I I I’m very interested to hear what was there a change, and if so, how radical was that change?

LYNN MCLARTY: Well, I remember thinking, wow. God heard my first prayer and answered that just immediately that same day. I mean, that’s a miracle that we were both set saved this very same day. And so just that relationship of being able to talk to God, like I’m talking to you, is just it just took hold of my heart, and it changed my whole life. Not only that relationship, being able to talk to God, but his word.

I started reading his word. And together, between God showing me things from his word and how real his word started to become to me, it just made me want to clear myself. There was a clearing of myself. Mhmm. I want to make things right in my life.

Like, if I hurt somebody or if I did something that I shouldn’t have, I wanted to get those things right.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Now that that I wanna pause on that just a minute because I think there’s a lot of religions who who who, encourage people do that out of guilt. But it sounds to me like you were actually doing that because you wanted to have the clearest, purest relationship with God.

LYNN MCLARTY: That’s right. I wanted it I wanted my relationship to be unhindered, My relationship with God unhindered and going forth, I was just excited. Yeah. I mean, there was things in our house. I just that were, like, old records that stuff we used to listen to.

I just wanted it out of the house.

KIMBERLY FAITH: You know, it’s interesting. One of the things I think about is what Jesus said, and he said, if you love me, you’re going to keep my commandments. Yeah. You know, I think there’s a lot of mistaken belief that we are somehow going to by our good works and by obedience to his word, appease God. Well, that’d be like y’all being married and saying, well, I’m gonna make him dinner because he’s a grump if I don’t.

You know? Or, you know, that’s and that’s not the relationship you’re describing. It was

LYNN MCLARTY: a transformational, relationship out of your thankfulness

KIMBERLY FAITH: for God rescuing you. I was definitely rescued, and I definitely

LYNN MCLARTY: fell in love with God. Mhmm. And I wanted to just please him and serve him. And I knew there was a greater purpose now in my life, to share that with others. Because there I knew there was so many people out there that just were in the same place I was, empty, dissatisfied, knowing there was more to life than just being born, living life, having problems, and then dying.

Yeah. And I didn’t know what it was, and God gave me that. And so it gave me a desire. So prayer became a very important part of my life because I experienced the power of prayer the first prayer I prayed.

KIMBERLY FAITH: That’s so remarkable. And, mom, you know, I mean, for those of you who don’t know my mother, you, you are, probably not in her black book because you don’t know her, but I am in her black book. I’ve been in her black book for decades, and actually because she prayed for me. It’s the reason we’re sitting here at this table today making this podcast because she prayed me back from a life of destruction.

LYNN MCLARTY: And It wasn’t a black book. It’s a golden book.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Oh. Well, black book just sounds so much cooler.

LYNN MCLARTY: Well, that’s that’s where we came from, and we’re going going the other way.

KIMBERLY FAITH: So so, dad, what about you? What was the transformation? Or did did you have a great transformation in what it Well,

JOHN MCLARTY: and I’ll say this. Yes. Our lifestyle, we did a 180. We were into this. Oh, yeah.

Now we have Jesus, but we just keep on going the same way. We did a 180 in our lifestyle. The music we listened to, the any entertainment, you know, recreation just completely changed. And I really wanna emphasize this. It wasn’t to get saved or try to stay saved.

It was because we were saved. We’ve now had this relationship that had happened instantaneously when we accepted Jesus as our savior, and we just wanted to please Him. And there there was no sense that, oh, now there’s now there’s these rules to get to heaven or keep your salvation is all because we now have this relationship. We just wanted to serve him. And part of that was getting right and, you know, in the sense of, apologizing to people, trying to I remember we had, taken we had agreed to buy a fire to build a fireplace, for some people.

I had no idea how to build a fireplace, but I told these people we could do it. So they’ve given us is $50 up front, and we’d spend it, of course. And I went and gathered up $50 and and took it to him. And I said, I’m I can’t build your fireplace. I’m sorry, but here’s your $50 back.

There’s this making things right. You know? And then just Which is a

KIMBERLY FAITH: which is a sign of repentance. Yes. Yes. Is a 180. Yeah.

And and and if you are if you claim to be born again, but there is no evidence that anything has changed Right. Then how can you be calling yourself a Christian? This is like the beatitude study we just did. You know, Jesus was teaching us that a a kingdom citizen looks different than a world citizen. And it’s and it’s in your attitude, and your attitude is manifest your lifestyle.

Right? What comes out of your mouth, what you think about, what you, what you do, and and that’s the proof. Jesus said people will know that you are my disciples by your love. Right?

LYNN MCLARTY: Go ahead.

KIMBERLY FAITH: I’m sorry.

JOHN MCLARTY: And then we had this great example. The family that led us to the Lord, we didn’t mention this earlier, but it’s quite fascinating. They were, from, they were Lotfins. So they they were such a big influence in our life, but they they were just passing through. They didn’t stay in Arkansas.

They had they were there maybe 2 or 3 years. But, what an amazing thing that a family from Latvia came through. And I probably would not have if a Baptist preacher had knocked on my door and wanted to share Christianity with me, I wouldn’t have listened. But this family, they had kids. They’re kinda dressed in the European dress.

LYNN MCLARTY: You know?

KIMBERLY FAITH: Farmer style?

JOHN MCLARTY: Yeah. Farmer, agrarian. The girls wearing long dresses, and the boys kind of in knickers. And they’re out working a garden with hoes and, you know, just we could relate to their lifestyle. But, anyway, they they woke up every morning and had prayer and a song service.

So their Christianity was every day. It wasn’t just go to church on Sunday, and that was our influence. So just read the Bible, sing hymns, everyday Christianity really influenced us in a good way.

KIMBERLY FAITH: What what gives you all the, security in knowing who you belong, that you belong to God, and that nothing will change that.

LYNN MCLARTY: That happened immediately that I knew I belong to God.

JOHN MCLARTY: Amen.

LYNN MCLARTY: And nothing nothing would ever change that. It’s like when you have a child. Even if they go astray, they’re still your child.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Isn’t it interesting how a baby instinctively knows who their parents are? A baby that is born, is carried in the womb, and born knows the voice and just that’s what you’re describing.

LYNN MCLARTY: Yeah. Yes. But even the child that you take in

KIMBERLY FAITH: Mhmm.

LYNN MCLARTY: As your own, That’s just, a lifetime commitment, and that child is always your child. You know, your even if they go astray, they’re still your child. Once they become your child, they’re always your child.

JOHN MCLARTY: Mhmm. And I think thinking of the a baby, children, you know, need feeding, and I think we experienced this is part how what changed and how did we know we were now of God. Mhmm. We could pray and feel like we were talking to God, and he was listening and responding back. And we could reading the Bible meant something now, which before to me, reading the Bible would have just been, oh, this is interesting.

LYNN MCLARTY: Right.

JOHN MCLARTY: It was interesting as a book on Zen Buddhism.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Intellectual. But now

JOHN MCLARTY: the word of God was alive. Mhmm. And we were amazed. I remember hearing my first Christmas carols. I’d heard them all my life.

Mhmm. Hark, the Herald Angels thing. Right. And after becoming a Christian and just being in a mall or somewhere listening to Christmas carols, I thought, oh my word. Those are amazing.

Yeah. They’re they’re speaking truth.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Well, you know, the the the Bible talks about our we become in Christ, and we know God is spirit. And when our when we are born again, our soul and our spirit are made alive in Christ so we can hear and understand and comprehend the things of God. And what’s amazing is that God’s word in John chapter 1, it talks about Jesus is the word. So he is the word and Jesus are are inexplicably 1, and it’s, in in in Roman Hebrews talks about the the word of God being alive, quick, and powerful. Right?

And so you combine you’re born again soul and spirit now are alive in Christ, and you’re reading God’s word or you’re hearing truth like in the Christmas carols. And and suddenly, it’s like a great beautiful storm that comes together and says, this is right. This is true. I’m gonna transform myself to follow this because it’s the only truth I’ve ever heard. And it’s amazing.

LYNN MCLARTY: We’re alive in Christ. Our spirit’s been made alive, and the word of God is alive. So you put those two things together, and it just woah. It changes you. It changes you.

Yes. And Whole direction.

KIMBERLY FAITH: And so and so the the transformed life is is really one of the best evidences that the truth of God’s word is actually the truth. Mhmm. And, I mean, of course, you know, we’ll we’ll we’re gonna dig into God’s word and the proofs of God’s word at some point in this podcast, but for today, you know, it it’s it’s so important that we, as born again believers, understand how to present the gospel. And there’s more no more powerful gospel really than our own testimony. So as we end today’s podcast, we have been talking about the foundation for a satisfying life, and you both shared your testimonies.

And I guess I’d like to end by you’re just you’re in your own words. What would you say is the most satisfying part of your life in Christ now that you’ve become a born again believer?

LYNN MCLARTY: Well, I would say that my relationship my continuing relationship with God, staying in his word, having a good prayer time, but, basically, continuing that prayer time through the day, that walk with the Lord. It’s foundational to everything we do, whether we’re reaching out to somebody, having a great relationship with our husband. That I mean, if you don’t have a great relationship with God, you’re not gonna have a great ministry or relationship with anybody.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Or even with yourself.

LYNN MCLARTY: Or even or even that satisfaction that comes from that relationship with God Wow. In your own life.

KIMBERLY FAITH: That’s that’s good, mom. That’s really good.

JOHN MCLARTY: I agree with that completely. My testimony including included finding that relationship with with Jesus. So that relationship has fulfilled my life. It ended all those vain pursuits of worldly satisfaction. Mhmm.

And I just that stopped. It came to an end, which is so that’s freedom, really. Freedom from pursuing the worldly satisfactions, and my satisfaction became in that relationship with Christ and it’s so fulfilling.

KIMBERLY FAITH: Isn’t it interesting how God is love, which is selflessness? When we have a relationship with him, we empty ourself of self, which is our greatest enslavement is our self.

JOHN MCLARTY: Right.

KIMBERLY FAITH: And so when we’re emptied of our self and God gives us the fruits of his spirit and his love, his joy, his peace, his goodness, his kindness, his gentleness, his meekness, all the things that there’s no laws against. Right? Nobody’s gonna argue if you love them too much, then we’re free. Then we’re free. And like you said, mom, we have this foundation for everything in life.

And, you know, your testimonies today, are just the embodiment of the experience based on Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, which say, for by grace, you’ve been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You know, we are created for the glory of God. And when we enter into this relationship with him through salvation, which is what you have described today, It lays the foundation for the satisfaction that we were created to enjoy through Christ Jesus. You know, he made this promise to us in John 316 that whosoever believes on me, whoever believes on the son shall have, present tense, everlasting life.

At the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our lord and savior, we begin our everlasting life, life that we can never lose, And that is the foundation for the most satisfying life. If any of you would like to hear the full testimony of my parents and their journey to finding Christ, that’s our website, gofaystrong.com. Their story will absolutely delight you. Thanks for joining us today. Hallelujah.

You have been listening to the Truth in Love podcast with your host, Kimberly Faith. To discover more answers to the big questions in life, visit us atgofaithstrong.com. Hallelujah. He rescued me.