Finding Peace in Marriage, Surviving a Tornado’s Wake-Up Call, The Power of Biblical Community – w/ Chris & Jessica Speas

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Marriage is a journey, filled with seasons of joy, trials, and growth, and true peace in marriage isn’t about avoiding challenges, but about staying rooted in faith, love, and commitment. Our friends Chris and Jessica Speas know this well and shared some of their journey in our most recent podcast.

Solid Foundation: A Christ-Centered Marriage​

From the very beginning, Chris and Jessica knew that their relationship needed to be grounded in Christ. As John 14:4 reminds us, “Abide in me, and I in you.” Their story is a testament to the power of keeping Christ at the center. They didn’t have perfect examples of marriage growing up, so they sought wisdom through pre-marital counseling and community. They committed to learning and growing together, not just in love, but in faith. Like many couples, Chris and Jessica faced their share of struggles. One of their greatest challenges came when they moved to Tennessee. For a season, they felt disconnected, spiritually stagnant, and isolated. Without a church community, they struggled in their faith. Then came the night that changed everything—a tornado tore through their neighborhood. In those terrifying moments, as the wind howled and their home shook, Jessica did the only thing she could: she sang and worshiped. The tornado shifted just before hitting their house, and in that moment, they knew that God had spared them. This experience awakened a deep desire in them to live fully for the Lord, to stop waiting, and to step into their calling. Marriage is the steady commitment to love, honor, and serve one another. As Ephesians 5:25 reminds husbands, “Love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Love is a choice we must make daily, even when our feelings fluctuate. Chris and Jessica did share moments where they simply felt like roommates, when they failed to prioritize each other. But they learned to be intentional—dating each other again, praying together, and choosing to abide in their vows. Psalm 139:23 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Checking their hearts before God allowed them to realign with His purpose for their marriage.

The Power of Biblical Community​

One of the most valuable lessons Chris and Jessica have learned is the necessity of surrounding themselves with fellow believers. Community encourages, holds accountable, and strengthens your walk with Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Through faith, trials, and unwavering commitment, Chris and Jessica have found peace in their marriage—not because life is perfect, but because they’ve chosen to stand firm in Christ. Whether you are newly married or years into your journey, their story is a reminder that God is faithful. Remember to abide in Him, fight for each other, and surround yourself with a strong biblical community.

READ TRANSCRIPT​

A

Aaron Smith (01:45.324)

cool. All right. Everyone welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God Podcast. I’m here with some really good friends of mine, Chris and Jessica Speas. Welcome to the show.



Speas (01:55.078)

Hey, thanks for having us. Hey.



Aaron Smith (01:57.364)

So, no one, I don’t know how many of my audience knows you guys. I’m sure some of the women that follow our show probably follow you, Jessica, but why don’t we just start with who you guys are? How do we know each other? Because we’ve known each other for what, over, gosh, probably 15 years.



Speas (02:14.16)

Yeah, close to.



Aaron Smith (02:16.241)

Yeah,



Aaron Smith (02:16.461)

so why don’t we just start with some of your story background testimony.



Speas (02:21.696)

yeah, I mean, depends on how far we want to go back, but yeah, when, yeah. Well, when Jessica and I, were dating, well, we were engaged at this point. we decided to start to go into a marriage ministry, at our church and, Jen and Aaron were the, the table leaders at our, at our marriage group. And, you know, a couple of months later, we got married after starting that and, just been.



Aaron Smith (02:26.75)

As far as you want.



Speas (02:50.204)

close friends ever since. So. Yeah, met. Yeah. Well, that’s the funny thing. Because so Erin and I worked at the same company at this point. And yeah, just it was it was really cool that we both had connections up to Oregon, but didn’t didn’t realize we were putting in notice on the same day at work for 30 days notice. And then



Aaron Smith (02:53.001)

That’s been a while. We did move to Oregon together. You guys moved first though, right?



Aaron Smith (03:14.078)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (03:20.714)

Well, and we had kind of, mean, we used to go over to your house all the time to have dinner and play games and stuff. And I remember we like, we would talk about it like one day we’re to get out of California and Jennifer and I separately had thought about moving to Oregon because her brother and sister-in-law moved here with their baby. you guys, Chris, you had lived here. And so you guys were kind of considering moving up to Oregon. And yeah, the same day at Sevenley, we put in our



Aaron Smith (03:51.06)

our notice to quit because we were moving, which was really crazy. then, you guys moved a month before we did, and then we moved to after, but, and we’ve known, we’ve been friends ever since, even though you guys don’t live in Oregon anymore, where’d you guys, where’d you guys end up moving to? Just everyone knows where to find you.



Speas (03:52.668)

Yep.



Speas (04:04.549)

Yeah



Speas (04:09.946)

Yeah, so we’re just we’re in Tennessee, about a half hour ish south of Nashville. So middle Tennessee. And we’ve been here a little over five years now.



Aaron Smith (04:21.046)

And you guys love it still? Yeah. One thing that’s awesome is just a big part of our story with you guys is not only did we know you in California, but then we knew you in Oregon. And then we still get to keep in touch with you guys because we’ve come and visited and stayed with you in Tennessee because we love traveling. so in this conversation, I’d love to get into some of your guys’ story because I



Speas (04:22.352)

Love it. Love it here.



Aaron Smith (04:50.867)

It’s



Aaron Smith (04:51.057)

very encouraging and it’s amazing to see where you were, where God has brought you and just seeing the faithfulness of God in your lives. Again, because I’ve been able to see the various seasons of your life, just like you guys have been able to see the seasons of ours. Why don’t you go back? I love some of your marriage story. Why don’t you go back to you said you were engaged and got married. Why don’t you share just a little bit about that journey and then we’ll go on from there because I love how that started.



Speas (05:19.132)

Yeah, we served together at the church that we met Jen and Aaron at and we kind of knew each other for a bit but weren’t really that close and started hanging out in group settings with the church and different activities and stuff. Yeah, because we came into the same ministry.



Speas (05:47.316)

and started serving there together. And the first time I met him, he was straight up cold. I don’t remember that. But I’ll just, I mean, she’s always right. Yeah, so we were hanging out like line dancing in group settings, doing, you know, other activities.



Aaron Smith (05:57.527)

for.



Speas (06:12.784)

And then kind of caught my eye one day and I was just like, I’m going to ask her if she wants to dance. And we did. I’d bought tickets to like a country concert and I bought an extra one. I don’t know why, bought an extra ticket. So was just like, Hey, what are you doing? You know, on this date. And she’s like, that’s my birthday. I was like, you want to go to a concert with me? And so I had an extra ticket for her and that was kind of our first, you maybe kind of date. And we hung out for about a month.



Aaron Smith (06:31.824)

that’s crazy.



Speas (06:42.662)

We did like rock climbing together and going to Disneyland. We had Disneyland passes back then. As you do in Southern California. Yeah. Didn’t like we hung out. We didn’t even hold hands or anything. We were just like, you know, getting to know each other. And about a month in, you know, I kind of hit her up like, hey, here’s kind of my past, you know, because I’ve at that time I was 29 and I was just like, here’s here’s kind of who I am laid it out.



Aaron Smith (06:51.756)

Yeah.



Speas (07:10.712)

And I was like, you know, basically asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend. and then we were hanging out and I, I let her know, like I’m dating with the intention for this, like to eventually be married, right? Just letting her know it’s not, you know, I’m not dating for fun or anything. I was starting to feel older. So, yeah. So she agreed, you know, agreed to that too. So we, we actually met up with a couple at our church that,



Speas (07:40.134)

we knew and started doing like pre-marriage counseling, like, you know, setting ourselves up properly, trying to understand, you know. Well, we both come from families that we didn’t have the best examples of what a healthy, true marriage, lasting marriage was. And we were both like, if that’s where this is going, we need some help.



Aaron Smith (07:44.219)

Pre-pre.



Aaron Smith (08:02.948)

Yeah.



Speas (08:03.226)

Yeah.



Speas (08:03.736)

And, you know, when I was in my twenties, I’d got married, I was married for about a year and, kind of destroyed that, demolished it just because I wanted to be single and go out fun again. full responsibility for that. Just, you know, that’s before I really knew, Jesus in a way that was transformative in the way that I approached, relationships and stuff.



Aaron Smith (08:25.06)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (08:30.298)

Yeah, so we did that. We were boyfriend girlfriend for two months and then I proposed to her and.



Speas (08:38.79)

didn’t feel like waiting around. And so two months later, we got married. So was a total of like five months. I remember my mom was like, I think a year’s a good engagement period. And I was like, where do you get that from? And I, you know, my understanding was, is like, biblically, you know, once you propose that that was the commitment. So some arbitrary number after that, it’s like, I had already committed at that point. So I’m like, why wait, you know, I felt like we had confirmation like



Aaron Smith (08:51.651)

Yeah, why?



Speas (09:06.95)

there was kind of a cool story behind that and the confirmation. we just felt like it was right and we jumped in and we’ve been married 13 plus years now. So that was an interesting one. When I first started going to the church, we went to…



Aaron Smith (09:16.439)

Amazing. What was the confirmation?



Speas (09:25.414)

There was, I met a lady, Carol Duarte, I don’t know if you remember the Duarte, yeah. And she was just really sweet. And that was Palm Sunday. I was helping to set up for Palm Sunday, the service that we were having. And a year later at Palm Sunday, here we are just, you know, in that hangout, that month we were just hanging out. And, you know, I was praying like, God, if this is something you want me to pursue, whatever.



Aaron Smith (09:30.574)

I do.



Speas (09:52.136)

And we were like, the pastor led us to write down a name for baptisms the following week. And he said, when you’re walking up to the baptisms to drop the name in, just kind of pray over that person, if you’re with someone, he said, just kind of go by yourself or whatever. And so we had like walk different ways. And here comes Carol walking towards me a year later after I had met her.



Speas (10:19.948)

And she gives me a hug. She’s like, good to see you. She’s like, been praying for that girl for you. And just, was like, kind of taking it back and I didn’t respond and just kind of smiled. And after service, I started walking in the parking lot. I was like, Carol, what, like, why, why’d you say that? Cause I hadn’t told her that I was like,



Aaron Smith (10:37.053)

What are you saying, Carol?



Aaron Smith (10:39.082)




Speas (10:39.106)

Yeah, like



Speas (10:39.706)

there was no indication that I was, you know, hanging out with anyone. she’s like, she kind of giggled and said, I don’t know, sometimes God, sometimes God tells me to say stuff. And so just, I obey. And that was kind of a cool little just like nudge. Like, yeah, this is something I should be doing. And one of the things for me was I kind of had just like this roller coaster view of relationships and



Aaron Smith (10:51.421)

That’s really funny.



Speas (11:07.516)

You know, even just my childhood, it was just very up and down and chaotic, I guess. And one of my friends had said advice that just really stuck with me before I even met Chris. I was in another crazy relationship, but she said, what you need to go and seek out is the calm.



Speas (11:32.144)

this boring, relationship where there’s no like these big ups and downs. And I thought it was so silly for her to say that. And I kind of scoffed at it. And that is all this has been with him. It was like what drew me was that he was calm and steady. And he’s the guy that’s like you hear throw up from a



Aaron Smith (11:36.232)

Hmm.



Speas (11:57.284)

kid in a room, we’re just going to calmly go deal with it and go back on the couch to our show. You want that steady calm. Not the emotional ups and downs, but I feel like our culture kind of idolizes really and sees us what relationships should be.



Aaron Smith (12:09.171)

Yeah, no chaos.



Aaron Smith (12:21.266)

Yeah, the extremes on



Aaron Smith (12:22.768)

all ends. Which is exhausting, by the way.



Speas (12:23.034)

Yes, yes, extreme. Sensationalism. Yeah. Yeah. So I always say



Speas (12:28.545)

that he’s my calm and my chaos.



Aaron Smith (12:31.676)

And Chris, you are. Now that she says that, like, I was just thinking, was like, Chris is very calm all the time. Where I could be, Jennifer and I both, we could have like emotional swings. Not that, yeah, actually I’m just gonna leave it at that. We can have emotional swings for sure. That’s good.



Speas (12:43.995)

Mm.



Speas (12:47.228)

I mean, I definitely and



Speas (12:50.888)

I tell her because sometimes, you know, she’d be like, why don’t you have any emotions towards this? Do you even care and stuff like that? And like inside, I can still be having, you know, my emotions, but how I respond is usually, you know, pretty steady. So I don’t know. This is exactly what I needed and God knew that.



Speas (13:08.7)

That’s, mean, talking about advice, that’s one thing that I tell all young people looking for relationships. You’re not looking for these highs and these lows, you know, these up and downs and where you’re like finding these breadcrumbs and like living off of that for a relationship. Like you want someone to be steady, the diapers, cleaning up the throw up kind of thing.



Aaron Smith (13:29.506)

Mm-hmm.



Aaron Smith (13:34.242)

I saw



Aaron Smith (13:35.082)

a meme about this. It was talking about passion and it showed this like graph of like, you know, really fast up and then it just like goes really fast down. And then it showed one that was like dedication. It was like just a consistent, you know, moving, you know, no, no extreme high, no extreme low, just a consistency. And that’s a really good bit of advice just for all of us is, is finding that like what, can we be consistent in our



Aaron Smith (14:03.043)

thought process, not that we’re not going to have hard days, not that we’re going to have amazing days because we’re going to have things that externally affect both those directions. But that consistency is so key, you know, being an even-killed person, of being someone who’s steady and not being thrown to… I mean, James talks about that, not being thrown to and fro, like believing the Lord and not doubting.



Speas (14:14.182)

Yeah.



Speas (14:17.756)

you



Speas (14:22.289)

Yeah.



Speas (14:29.572)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (14:29.921)

you know,



Aaron Smith (14:30.532)

otherwise we’re just being tossed back and forth and being controlled by all the whims of life. So that’s really encouraging.



Speas (14:37.178)

And that’s what really what Christ is for us. Like, he’s the steady. Like you said, like we can be tossed by the waves, but he’s the steady and all of that. And I just, it’s beautiful. love it. His whole, he’s got a motto since the day I met him is we’ll figure it out. so.



Aaron Smith (14:51.616)

So it sounds good. Sorry.



Aaron Smith (14:59.402)

That and that’s your story too. We’ll figure it out because



Speas (14:59.625)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (15:03.194)

you guys have had a journey of figuring things out and I love that. First of all, just getting engaged five months in, you know, getting married like a whirlwind almost to most people. I actually admire that because I see nowadays it’s like six years engaged and I’m like three years engaged. I’m like, what are you doing? Yeah.



Speas (15:22.524)

Just making sure she’s the right one. You know, like,



Speas (15:27.516)

why’d you get engaged then?



Aaron Smith (15:28.884)

Yeah,



Aaron Smith (15:30.445)

no, no, you better pull that trigger. Yeah. But let’s just let’s talk about your your faith walks for a second, because it sounds like prior to you guys coming together, you guys have your your your past history of, you know, faith and then you get married and your faith is in one place. And then over the journey of your marriage, you know, there’s been there’s been a lot of different things going on. And so I’d love to.



Aaron Smith (15:57.905)

Where were you guys at in your faith like you said Jesus is your foundation. Jesus is your is your what was the word you said. Jesus is your steady. Was it like that. Was it like that when you guys first got married. Was that was Jesus in that place in your in your lives.



Speas (16:06.108)

steady, consistent. That’s the baseline.



Speas (16:18.556)

Yeah, I think we always held them front and center. think our relationship personally had a lot of adjusting to do as far as habits and, you know, just kind of like, I remember Jessica having a lot of doubts because she’d only seen, you know, her parents going through multiple divorces and stuff like that. Me coming, you know, I was divorced and so…



Aaron Smith (16:25.806)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (16:46.832)

there was, there was some apprehension on her side as to, you know, how much she could trust in it. Right. And so our first, you know, couple fights or disagreements, she thought, okay, this is where the bottom falls out. You know, this is it. And I’m like, no, no, no, we’re not. That’s, not what I’m saying here. we can have a disagreement without it being over, you know? And so it, you know, took some cycles of, of going through, you know, conflict and stuff like that.



Aaron Smith (17:03.077)

That’s not how it works.



Speas (17:15.068)

to understand that I was still there. And so I know that’s that’s kind one of the places that took some growing and it took years and there was always like she would bring up like, you know, there’s after this date, that’s when, you know, things go wrong and statistically in marriages and seven years, seven years. And then there’s this 10 year thing. And, know, we just hit lucky number 13 or whatever. But as those



Aaron Smith (17:35.577)

Yeah.



Speas (17:41.872)

come and go and she’s like, okay, you’re still here. We’re still in it together. It’s just only strengthened the marriage because we’ve blown all the statistics away and proven that we’re committed even though it’s uncomfortable times and not fun, not butterflies and stuff like that where everyone thinks once they get married, it’s just gonna be.



Aaron Smith (18:05.21)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (18:07.408)

butterflies and everything. it’s like, no, love is love is being consistent and being there and serving one another. It’s a choice. Yeah, it’s not I’m not doing this so that I just feel good all the time. yeah, I remember early on, like, you guys gifted us to go to that love and respect conference.



Aaron Smith (18:31.707)

yeah.



Speas (18:31.714)

No,



Speas (18:32.105)

actually, that was the Mark Driscoll one. But we did Love and Respect later. But just the foundations, it’s really like dying to yourself for the sake of my bride, you know. so, yeah, when there’s times…



Aaron Smith (18:45.979)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (18:51.142)

what I want, it’s like, okay, I gotta set aside what I want because I’m not here for me. And if, you know, it reciprocates, it’s not like, I’m just always, you know, the one being walked on or whatever. And that’s, mean, it’s truly like from the start of our marriage, we were both in like really good, zealous places for the Lord. I had just like.



Speas (19:17.052)

went through like a year of therapy and I was living it up being single. I was, I loved ministry. I loved, I was in college, like full time college and I had like no, like I had no desire to be in a relationship. I was loving this life serving the Lord and it would have, it had to take someone just in that place as well.



Aaron Smith (19:38.216)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (19:45.884)

for me to even consider that.



Speas (19:48.268)

And he was constantly, he’d be texting me like, I’m in the chapel praying, what do need to be prayed for? And it was like a, it feels fast, five months, right? But the first month was really like, we’re just hanging out serving the Lord together and there’s always other people around. it didn’t, was like this, it felt like a warmup for me, for what God had had for us. But in all of that, was like the most, you wonder growing up,



Aaron Smith (20:00.295)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (20:08.072)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (20:18.104)

will



Speas (20:18.304)

you know when it’s the one or you know. And I just had to just a complete, it was so different than my whole life that I knew it was right because it was just complete peace and confidence like, this is it. And it was just, there was no doubt going into that. Like it was just, when you’re that, I just.



Aaron Smith (20:22.141)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (20:43.324)

We were both close to the Lord and when you’re close to the Lord, you know your next steps. And I don’t know, we were just in a really good place, faith-wise, going into it.



Aaron Smith (20:56.701)

Well, I love what you guys were talking about, this idea of… Jessica, I don’t think what your concerns and fears were unique to you about not knowing, like, well, how is this going to work? I’ve only ever seen it fail. is it, know, when’s that going to be that thing that triggers the failing? I mean, I had this, my wife and I, early on when we were married, we went and visited someone



Aaron Smith (21:25.918)

And after like 25 years of marriage, we’re getting a divorce. And I remember sitting in the car and Jennifer’s like, she’s like, what’s wrong? And I’m like, I don’t understand how this, how that’s possible. And I was like, what, what hope do we have if someone could be married, you know, quote unquote happily for 25 years and then it fail like 20. So everything could be great right now, babe. But you know, in 20 years, are we not going to be great in 25 years? Is it going to fall apart in 30 years? it? And I think what.



Aaron Smith (21:55.222)

Chris, what you were saying is the key is not, as long as everything is peachy and perfect and I feel good and she feels good, then we stay married. No, we stay married because that’s what we promised to do. And I’ve seen so many videos of people interviewing old married couples and they say like, you know, what’s the key to staying married? And they’re like, you stay married. You don’t give up when it’s hard, you don’t quit. And it reminds me of…



Speas (22:18.566)

Thank



Aaron Smith (22:25.345)

What Jesus calls us to do, says in John 14, abide in me. Abiding, and I was just teaching my kids about this, abiding is to continue to walk with. You’re remaining side by side. You’re still here. To stop abiding is like, I’m not here anymore. I’m out, peace out. so I love that encouragement for all the marriages listening is even when things are hard and good, for better or for worse, the promise is that we abide.



Speas (22:53.424)

cup.



Aaron Smith (22:53.549)

We



Aaron Smith (22:53.789)

remain together and we work through it together and we fight for each other and that’s what you guys have been doing for 13 plus years now.



Speas (23:00.06)

Yeah,



Speas (23:01.354)

it’s the digging in of the heels. Maybe you want to ride.



Aaron Smith (23:04.36)

Mm-hmm. And



Aaron Smith (23:06.739)

your 13 years has been pretty easy, right? Like you haven’t had any major issues and…



Speas (23:09.992)

It’s



Speas (23:12.474)

simple. Yep. Yep. Super easy. No, there’s been times when, you know, I failed at, you know, investing in our relationship. And there’s times when we had discussions where she’s like, I feel like we’re kind of just roommates right now. And at that point you can go, yep, I guess we just grown like we grew apart or whatever. think that’s a common, you know,



Aaron Smith (23:13.868)

C’est bon.



Speas (23:40.856)

easy way out is to just be like, yeah, we just, we grow apart. And it’s like, no, we just stopped being intentional. And so in those times it’s like, okay, let’s, let’s get a date night. Let’s let me date my wife again. Let me pursue her. And even if I like, don’t have that like emotional, like, yeah, feeling this and so lovey-dovey and I just, you know, want to, you know, take her on a romantic date and stuff, but just in action, putting forward effort.



Aaron Smith (23:52.716)

Yeah.



Speas (24:10.01)

All that comes back and it’s crazy because it’s just like you’re, it’s like this act as if mentality, you know, act as if you’re married and in love and then watch like it’s there still. It’s just you.



Aaron Smith (24:23.151)

Do you



Aaron Smith (24:24.191)

remember that it’s like the most memorable message that I ever heard from Chuck at our church? Do you remember what it was about this very concept? There was a Hebrew word.



Speas (24:32.892)

I don’t know if it’s…



Speas (24:36.137)

the Assamese. Yeah.



Aaron Smith (24:37.486)

Yeah, see, I knew you were going to do it. It’s like the most,



Aaron Smith (24:40.486)

it’s the literally the only message I ever remembered is Asashima from the Old Testament. Yeah, where God. Essentially, he’s telling his people, he’s like, by doing you’ll understand, like obey me, you know, follow my commands and you will be blessed. And the whole whole premise of the message was like, well, we don’t have to understand before we obey. And also we don’t have to have what we’re promised before we obey. It’s exactly what you’re talking about.



Speas (24:43.224)

Exodus 24-7.



Speas (24:59.728)

Right here.



Aaron Smith (25:07.074)

Do act as if you are in love. Do the things that you did at first. Walk in this way and you will benefit from it. You will produce the fruits of it. You will be blessed by it. And it’s so true.



Speas (25:20.432)

There’s



Speas (25:22.954)

that love and respect book we started. We did that in our marriage ministry early on. don’t remember.



Aaron Smith (25:27.342)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (25:33.308)

We all did it together. Like, marriage ministry has stuck with us, and it’s something that we love to serve in. And we’ve gone through with the group, with two different groups now, that book, and just what has always stuck with me. And I’m so glad that that happened at the beginning of our marriage, this little lesson of the circle. Like, I’m only doing this if you’re doing this. But if you break that circle, like, I’m doing this because.



Speas (26:00.684)

answer to God. Like I can’t, you get to God, you can’t point the finger and say, well he was doing this, you know. And so how scripture tells you to be a wife, just obey that. And he’s got this. Like God’s got your husband. You do what you, the next right thing for you, what scripture says. And for me, it’s like…



Aaron Smith (26:02.095)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (26:26.224)

biting your tongue, not nagging. Like that’s one of the biggest things that I see in marriages that are crumbling around us is the constant nagging. The dripping to make me want to go sit in the corner of the room or whatever. And instead of like, and there’s been decisions that I don’t agree with and I’ll put my input in. I’m not saying not to say anything in, but, to put your input in it, step back.



Aaron Smith (26:40.525)

on the rooftop.



Aaron Smith (26:51.024)

Yeah.



Speas (26:55.118)

and let him lead. that’s like counter-cultural. it’s not something… Yeah, yeah, definitely.



Aaron Smith (27:01.397)

It’s currently anti-cultural.



Aaron Smith (27:05.385)

you’re anti-women for saying that.



Speas (27:07.034)

right.



Speas (27:08.486)

And it’s always just trusting in God that he’s got, like God is more powerful than me, like he’s got Chris and he will lead him and you know.



Speas (27:21.308)

prayer is powerful. Like, I’ll say my piece and then there’s gonna be a lot of nights where I’m praying. And it’s incredible too to see that though. Like you can reflect and there’s been things like I’ll quietly be praying for and you know days or weeks or months go by and there’s something.



Aaron Smith (27:25.521)

pray.



Speas (27:42.092)

answered in that through his actions. And it’s just incredible to see God’s hand in that, like that he’s got this and it’s like you can be, you don’t have to have that control because anytime we try to control anything anyway it doesn’t really end up well. And so to see God’s powerful hand in the fact that he listens and he loves and he’s hearing these details that you’re concerned about, you know?



Aaron Smith (27:57.959)

Mm-hmm.



Aaron Smith (28:10.311)

Yeah.



Speas (28:11.1)

There was times when I was, you know, she may not have agreed. I went down, you know, did my thing. And then later on I came back and was like, Hey, so this isn’t working out. We’re going to try that. It’s like what she told me to do originally. But you know, part of that growth in me wasn’t just like, I better do it. Cause my wife says so like, you know, God had to work me through it. So I believed it and you know, would act that way because I understood why, not just because I’m like trying to appease my wife. So.



Aaron Smith (28:38.291)

Well,



Aaron Smith (28:38.871)

and I always say, I mean, it’s hard to walk these things out. It’s easy to say, like, yeah, just like let him lead. And, you you take a step and go pray for him. Like those are easy things to say. Way harder to do, but there’s something that’s good to remember is like we, like you said, God’s more powerful than you. And this goes for husbands and wives because there’s times when us as husbands desire our wives to walk a certain way and we can’t control them.



Speas (28:47.228)

You



Speas (28:50.672)

Right.



Aaron Smith (29:06.375)

It



Aaron Smith (29:06.475)

would be wrong for us to try to control them, but we could pray for them. And I just always have to remember that I make a terrible Holy Spirit and my wife makes a terrible Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is very good at what his mission is in this world, which is the convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And just being able to trust the Holy Spirit with our spouse and running to him and saying, Lord, here’s my husband, here’s my wife, here’s my heart on this matter.



Speas (29:14.236)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (29:35.716)

And God’s always faithful and He always answers our prayers, whether we like the way He answers it or not. So I think that’s a very… that what you’re saying you do and you desire to do and try to do is a good example for not just our wives but husbands as well, that we do trust the Holy Spirit with our spouse and we make a practice of going to God for them and with them. And it’s something that we all need to be doing. It’s so much…



Speas (29:39.579)

you



Aaron Smith (30:04.884)

better than what you guys were talking about nagging. much better than trying to manipulate and control and coerce, which is not love. None of that is love.



Speas (30:13.892)

And then it, know, in Proverbs, it says every man’s right in his own mind, right? And so when you’re going in prayer for your spouse, make sure that you’re checking me like, hey, Lord, if I’m wrong here, like show me. And if you can be humble enough to be like, okay with being wrong and maybe something needs to change there too. Like I’ve been there. Just, know, in prayer, just, hey, God.



Aaron Smith (30:18.418)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (30:26.228)

Mm.



Aaron Smith (30:37.856)

Yeah.



Speas (30:38.268)

I feel this way, I’m praying for her, but if I’m wrong, show me, kind of thing. The goal is for resolution and togetherness to walk through things together, right? So it doesn’t have to be a battle. It’s just trying to align, figure out how to align. I love that. And one of my favorite verses is the last one of one’s Psalm 139. I search my heart and know my thoughts.



Aaron Smith (31:05.547)

Yeah.



Speas (31:05.872)

Like if we can make a daily practice out of that, like not that I’m perfect, but it’s real helpful to have that humility and like, where am I going wrong in this moment?



Aaron Smith (31:20.864)

That’s awesome. Everything you guys are saying is exactly an encouragement that I need because I need to be reminded of these things. has there ever been a time in your marriage, in your own personal life that you guys have had a struggle in your faith? how have you guys how did you walk through it? What was the story behind that? And how did God how do you how do you see God in that?



Speas (31:46.96)

I



Speas (31:47.07)

think throughout our whole marriage, it’s kind of been a back and forth really. There’s been times where I’m not the strongest in my faith and he is and he pulls me and then back and forth kind of thing. I’d say one of our seasons where we were both kind of just stagnant was when we moved to Tennessee.



Speas (32:11.216)

because we did not have community and we were in the wrong place. Like, I mean, not wrong place, but that wasn’t where we were settling in in Tennessee and we knew it. so it was like hard to know who to connect to neck with, like what to be intentional about. And so we kind of just did the wrong thing and didn’t really connect with people. So we were both just stagnant, stagnant in our faith.



Speas (32:39.964)

I remember



Speas (32:40.274)

that was something that I reached out to you about was, hey, we’re here. like, we don’t know. We don’t know where we’re landing. We’re not going to be in this spot for long. We don’t want to, you know.



Speas (32:53.456)

get involved in a community here and then end up moving, you know, at this point we’re an hour and 10 minutes away from that other spot, even though they’re both Nashville, middle Tennessee area, it’s, was a long way. And so was like, I didn’t want to commit to that. And then you encouraged like, just, you need to dive in where you’re at, right? Cause bottom line is we need to be living in like community. It’s not, I don’t think there’s such thing as being a Christian without community and, you know,



Aaron Smith (33:03.479)

Yeah.



Speas (33:22.992)

being part of church, whether it’s.



Speas (33:26.64)

You know that can kind of go different ways and people, you got to be in communion with other people, with other believers for encouragement and fellowship and stuff like that. And so, yeah, that was, you know, that’s 2020. We moved out here in 2019. 2020 was a crazy year for us. And that’s what like we, I feel like, and this isn’t good advice for anybody to wait on God to like smack your, your heads to get back with this.



Aaron Smith (33:29.306)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.



Aaron Smith (33:42.839)

Yay, COVID.



Aaron Smith (33:55.193)




Speas (33:56.574)

We



Aaron Smith (33:56.647)

But he will.



Speas (33:57.584)

got into, yeah, we will. It’s a, I call it severe mercies. We got into a tornado six months into living here. And that’s one of my big story of my ministry is it just woke me up to like, wait, like this could end at any moment. And like, what are we doing for the Lord? And then, so when we realized we weren’t going to die that night in the tornado, was literally like a week later, two weeks later that COVID happened.



Speas (34:26.506)

everything shut down and we just had this like we need community and nobody’s allowed to meet up or whatever and so that was even harder. So it like forced us to be like we need people and this is important and like we need to tell people they need people that we can’t be hiding in fear right now and so that what that’s kind of what forced us.



Speas (34:49.188)

down to the area we’re at right now because we were in search of a basement, the rental that had a basement because we did not have one and my goodness. we went to the first church that was open. There was an open church and it was nearby. We’re going there. Yeah.



Aaron Smith (35:07.191)

It was



Aaron Smith (35:07.481)

probably a right on church if it stayed open during COVID, just on some levels. Yeah.



Speas (35:10.716)

There yeah, there was some good parts about it. Later



Speas (35:14.299)

on theologically we had some things, some challenges there that eventually led us to, you know, finding a new place to go. I mean. Exactly where we needed to be in that season and have community. And it was a lesson of just how important that was for sure, because we were both failing in our faith without that.



Aaron Smith (35:16.985)

Okay.



Aaron Smith (35:37.232)

Could you guys, I remember the story and I remember getting the phone call afterwards and Jennifer’s like, my gosh, there was a tornado and I’m like, what? Not that I was surprised that there was a tornado, I was surprised that my friends were literally in one. Would you share that little story, not little, but share that story of that night?



Speas (35:55.068)

Yeah,



Speas (35:55.368)

so for me, I had fallen asleep. We actually were going through a period of time where…



Speas (36:02.394)

Like we were turning off Wi-Fi at night and everything, kind of like getting it completely silent in the house and just, you know, that sort of thing. And this specific night, I had just gotten back from going to Memphis with Justin Owens actually. And so we were rushed back from him and I doing a little guy weekend down there watching a basketball game. And so we like, we just didn’t shut off and do our normal thing, but my phone, I keep it on silent at nighttime if it’s important.



Aaron Smith (36:16.924)

yeah.



Speas (36:29.818)

I can wait till the morning, I guess. But she wakes me up. I’d fall asleep first. And she’s just like, hey, I don’t remember is tornado warning or watch the bad one. I said, warning. Why? What’s going on? She showed me her phone and said, tornado warning. And I was like, get the kids, right? That was my initial reaction coming out of dead sleep. I say, get the kids and not put a few seconds later, we hear the sirens going off at the middle school down the street. And so like hair on the back of my neck raises. I’m running. I scared the crap out of.



Aaron Smith (36:53.468)

my gosh.



Speas (36:59.42)

She got, we had a plan actually. And so she was to go get Rhett, our youngest one, who was only, you know, what, year and a half at the time. Yeah. And, and then I grabbed the older two and we ran into like, it was a single story house, but we had a bathroom that was like kind of encapsulated because you could shut off where the toilet was. And then the hallway was on the other side. So we closed the doors, got in the closet and,



Aaron Smith (37:20.359)

Yeah.



Speas (37:26.972)

Yeah, we, was talking to her mom on the phone who she lived down the street and I was just like, Hey, are you okay? And it was kind of like 15 more minutes. So had a waiting period of like 15 minutes and I’m just watching news on my phone. brought my phone into the closet and it’s just like talking about starting in East Nashville or Germantown. it, you know, went to Donaldson and Hermitage and it’s heading towards, you know, Mount Juliet. And I’m like, that’s it. I’m, I’m knowing myself, it’s a direct line to us. And you were reading it too. And you, and then you realized you shouldn’t be reading this out loud.



Aaron Smith (37:56.413)

Out



Aaron Smith (37:56.655)

loud. yeah.



Speas (37:56.996)

You said,



Speas (37:57.776)

disastrous. And then his voice trailed off and like, what? So, yeah. So we’re talking to her mom. I’ve got her on speakerphone and then, we start hearing like thunder and lightning kind of rumbling and coming closer and we’re just kind of like listening and stuff. and then all of sudden I heard this like loud.



Speas (38:21.36)

They say it sounds like a freight train. It’s a freight train. was like, and so I asked her mom, I was like, can you hear that? And she goes, hear what? And right then the lights flickered, the phone call dropped and it just started getting louder and louder. We heard stuff pelting the house. She… At the moment the windows broke. know. Was it the…



Speas (38:44.41)

I’m trying to remember the time I started to sing my heart out. I dove over, not that it’s going to help much, but my instinct was to just kind of huddle over the whole family. And she starts singing Hosanna. That’s all I could. It was this really weird moment where it’s like…



Speas (39:03.952)

Like the worst pain of your life like flooded my body because I’m just like you want to run so bad and you can’t run anywhere. And I’m feeling this with the glass breaking and the wind coming up from underneath.



Aaron Smith (39:11.935)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (39:18.498)

our door that we were in our closet. So I’m already realizing this is going through a door, through a door, through a door to get to us and we’re feeling the wind. And kids are freaking out. My daughter’s saying her last words. And so I just started like worshiping the Lord because I’m like, what else can we do? There’s nothing else we can do here.



Speas (39:43.16)

It’s just a little snippet of that story where, mean, take for what it was, but we saw the map of the tornado afterwards. And that’s what I started singing after the lights turned off.



Speas (39:55.74)

because on the map it said where the tornado hit the light box, it shifted right after that and it didn’t go down. It was going down our street and it went down the next took a slight right and just went south us a little bit. I was just just worshipping that tornado away from us. But yeah, when that glass exploded, so it was like 145 mile an hour.



Aaron Smith (40:11.702)

Wow.



Speas (40:20.108)

at this time. And so when that that was all the way in the kitchen, so air came through the kitchen window, took a right hand turn, went through the living room, down the hallway, under the door into the bathroom, and then under the door into the closet, and I felt my hair like blowing up. Like the amount of wind was, it was crazy. Yeah, ton of, ton of it.



Aaron Smith (40:21.419)

Wow.



Speas (40:43.098)

Yeah, we, and then it kind of rumbled and went away. And then I’m just like, I don’t know how tornadoes work. And we’re just like, can we go outside now? Like, can it turn around? You know, how does this work? Do we just stay in here? So I finally, yeah, I finally went out and yeah.



Aaron Smith (40:51.167)

Yeah, is it gone? It’s coming back!



Speas (41:00.56)

neighborhood was just going like across the street 100 foot tall trees as big around as you know.



Speas (41:08.336)

like probably like six, seven foot wide just toppled over, you know. Like eight foot planks just sticking up like toothpicks in our yard. Yeah, housing. And through our windows, was wild. yeah, there’s that song that like, this is kind of what spurred on a ministry for me after this was that Sweet Ever After song by, is that Holcomb?



Aaron Smith (41:09.251)

Wow.



Aaron Smith (41:31.841)

Ellie,



Aaron Smith (41:32.657)

Ellie Holcomb. It’s a good song.



Speas (41:33.242)

Yeah, and there’s a whole snippet



Speas (41:35.325)

of that song and I don’t know when that song came out but I was listening at that point that I like I’ve never heard that part before where it’s like she literally explains a tornado in that song and it just became like



Aaron Smith (41:48.156)

interesting. I didn’t realize that. I’m going to look



Aaron Smith (41:51.217)

that up after this.



Speas (41:51.834)

Yeah, it’s



Speas (41:52.614)

like waking up terrified in the middle of the night in the storm and there’s glass shattered everywhere. anyway, so that kind of just launched me into just, I need to get back to Jesus.



Aaron Smith (42:05.026)

Yeah,



Aaron Smith (42:05.746)

so this moment, mean, not everyone gets a moment like this. That’s something that’s traumatic in a sense of, as you said, was it? Extreme grace? Severe mercies, that’s what it was. I made up a new one. Severe mercies where God was getting your guys’ attention because prior to this, like you said, there was just stagnant and distance and not really…



Speas (42:17.148)

of your mercies.



Aaron Smith (42:35.663)

fully aligned with the Lord. But that all changed after that night, didn’t it? How did that, you know, what changed in your guys’s hearts in that moment and how did it lead to your current now online ministry?



Speas (42:50.94)

I



Speas (42:52.96)

think it kind of went a little different for each of us. I actually didn’t come out of it in the same mindset as she did, like a wake up call. With that and COVID, I actually kind of went into some pretty bad anxiety and panic attacks and stuff at night.



Speas (43:13.904)

That kind of lasted a little bit. And then, you know, I was able to, you know, get past that. Whereas, you know, she took off with her story. I’ll let her… Well, I think that’s where it comes in for you is that what we were just talking about is that her his motto is, we’ll figure it out. And for the first time, probably in our marriage, you didn’t have it out.



Aaron Smith (43:37.701)

couldn’t figure it out.



Speas (43:38.62)

like you didn’t



Speas (43:39.29)

have control over this. didn’t have like that instinct of protecting your family. If that tornado went over our house, there was no protecting us. he went into like, I’ve had a series of my whole life of dealing with anxiety, panic attacks and depression. And he’s like on the couch sweating.



Aaron Smith (43:48.165)

It’s done.



Speas (44:00.356)

like crazy and having these like heart issues and stuff. just like, this is, this is anxiety, hun. And he’s just like, I’m dying. You know, I really thought, I thought I was sick. Like I’m, I’ve got cancer or something. Like something’s wrong with me because I’m waking up in the middle of night, just drenched in sweat. And she’s like, yeah, you’re having a panic attack. I’m like, it’s, it’s, it’s something bad. And I’m like,



Aaron Smith (44:08.174)

I’ve never had this before.



Aaron Smith (44:20.613)

I’m dying.



Aaron Smith (44:21.274)

That’s what that feels like.



Speas (44:21.308)

So, but yeah. But I



Speas (44:25.368)

think that it challenged you in a way you needed to be challenged to cling to the Lord. And for me it was, you know, waking up to like what my grandparents of holy always taught me. were



Speas (44:41.018)

gone by then but their voices started ringing in my mind again. Like all the things, like they were the believers in my life. These are the people that told me about Jesus and like it all came rushing back to me and the truth is that and that’s what a legacy that they left. Like you don’t know the seeds you’re planting and they didn’t know.



Speas (45:09.85)

that and how this would apply to my life much later on past when they’re gone, you know, and like their words were coming up and I just had this not this I know that works don’t get us to heaven and that’s not what this was. was a we don’t we have such little time left and I want to do all I can to tell people



Speas (45:38.638)

about him and that he’s coming and like in what an honor and just incredible way we can be used here until we get to heaven because this isn’t our this isn’t the end for us like we have eternity and I have that moment of like we have eternity to relax you know like I can I’ve got work to do now and that’s it just woke me up.



Speas (46:08.24)

and I’ve just been going ever since, really.



Aaron Smith (46:08.584)

That’s awesome.



Aaron Smith (46:11.432)

What



Aaron Smith (46:11.933)

is it you’re doing now? It’s you have a social media account and you and you encourage women in what?



Speas (46:18.204)

I have been teaching eschatology to women ever since then now. I started off slowly. I had to figure out where we’re at and what was true because you get on YouTube and there is so much out there. But just clinging into scripture and like I had the Bible out on our dining



Aaron Smith (46:34.726)

Yep.



Speas (46:41.102)

table and I just had it like like all the voices off and I would just in every moment I would come back to my Bible and and it was like this



Speas (46:51.192)

It was a work to be like, want to be dedicated to be reading this and having this be what’s coming into my mind and my heart constantly. in those moments I was going through Daniel and it was just blowing my mind. so anyway, so there was a lot of me like learning things and like, okay, I’m sharing this on Instagram because this is amazing. Like this is what God has taught me and I’m such a visual



Aaron Smith (47:00.703)

Yeah.



Speas (47:21.186)

person that I put it on a timeline, all the prophecy events, the Bible events really, and just to see it all laid out and so I can see what’s happening and where we’re at.



Speas (47:34.767)

I just was sharing it on Instagram, like I’ve shared my life on Instagram before and it just kind of took hold of some people and they wanted a Bible timeline too and that’s kind of where it just all started for me and I just kept going with it and I’ve done.



Speas (47:52.804)

retreats and I’ve done Zooms, I’ve done podcasts, just telling everybody like kind of what you told me, wake up, he’s coming soon. what I love about her approach with it too was in a world full of like so much noise and so many influencers and people online. think a lot of people just become repeaters and



Aaron Smith (48:04.657)

Wait



Speas (48:17.336)

she’s always encouraged people like, here’s what I’m reading in the Bible. Here’s where you can find it in the Word. if you want to know more, like it’s in the Word. And she’s always directing people to the Word, not like, take my word for it. It’s like, it’s right. Like you can go read it, pray to God, ask him for understanding. And that’s, I’ve always really loved that she’s approaching it from that point because it’s not, you know.



Aaron Smith (48:30.409)

Yeah.



Speas (48:42.108)

hey, I figured something out and I got to tell you, like, trust me. It’s not like, just, I’m going to, I’m going to tell you something and you just go and repeat it. It’s like, here’s how you can actually, you know, understand and be sure of it. And, you know, go, go check it out yourself. So I think that’s what probably helped too. Cause it’s not this like, she’s not trying to be a figure. She’s just sharing.



Aaron Smith (48:48.169)

Trust me. I have secret knowledge. I know things that you don’t know.



Aaron Smith (49:06.934)

Yeah. Well, what I love



Aaron Smith (49:09.395)

about your approach, Jessica, is there’s a lot of influencers out there that talk about things that are going on in the world and they point out the mysteries of it. They point out the controversies of it. They point out the conspiracies of it and they try and pinpoint them to spiritual things. And there’s a lot of people doing that and it always leads to fear and anxiety.



Aaron Smith (49:35.372)

Like it’s like, look at this thing. the end’s coming or look at this thing. this is how they’re going to take over this. You know, these fear mongering and causing anxiety and fear and confusion and doubt. But what you do is you kind of talk about similar things, like things that are going on in the world. But you always end with, but we don’t need to be afraid because this is this is our end. This is what God has promised us. And so you point out things and you try and



Speas (49:41.82)

sensational.



Speas (49:53.584)

Right.



Speas (49:58.716)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (50:03.95)

You try and connect them to eschatological things in the Bible, but at the end of it, you’re always encouraging a right thinking in that this is not the thing that we hang our hat on, but it’s good to know what’s going on. But what we hang a on is Christ. And so you’re always coming back to turn your heart to Jesus because he is coming. I just saw a tweet from, my gosh, I’m going to forget his name, Russell Brand, who



Speas (50:12.273)

you



Speas (50:16.988)

Yeah.



Speas (50:20.902)

Yes.



Aaron Smith (50:33.965)

has had a miraculous conversion to Christ. And I loved watching his journey. But he just tweeted, he’s like, how many of you all think Jesus is coming soon? That was all he asked. And I was like, that’s awesome, because he is coming soon. And he’s genuinely curious, like, where’s everyone’s heart on this? But I’ve never heard a celebrity that’s converted to Christianity ask that and say, OK, when’s Jesus coming?



Aaron Smith (51:02.703)

What’s everyone’s thoughts on this? Do we think his return is imminent? But like I said, your heart in ministering to women about eschatology is not to bring fear and anxiety or conspiracy about the future, but it’s to remind us that the truth is that we need Jesus because



Speas (51:16.262)

Yeah.



Speas (51:21.756)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (51:22.118)

He is coming back. And all of these things that we see in the world, whether they perfectly connect to this or that prophecy, it points us to the reality that it’s true and Jesus is coming back.



Speas (51:29.562)

Yeah, yeah. Yeah,



Speas (51:31.813)

and just watching out for it. Like, could be like, like, we knowing the next events in scripture and watching out for it. And like that’s, and I’ve got, Maranatha is something. Yeah, it’s, this is our new shirts. About to launch. Yeah. Thanks.



Aaron Smith (51:45.293)

I was looking at that on your shirt.



Aaron Smith (51:49.409)

Yeah, cool. That’s your shirt? I like it. Cool. If you have



Aaron Smith (51:56.134)

a guys one in large you can send it to me.



Speas (51:58.564)

Okay.



Speas (52:01.045)

Just encouraging people to, I mean, in scripture it says encourage each other with these words. Thessalonians, when he’s talking about Christ returning, like we’re supposed to encourage each other and prophecy is arguably one fourth to one third of the Bible. And first chapter of Revelation talks about all those who study this will be, it’s a blessing to you.



Aaron Smith (52:10.169)

The end times.



Speas (52:25.08)

This was our, prophecy is our blessing. It is our tool to be able to learn and spread the gospel. Jesus said when he was saying stuff about prophecy, he said, I tell you these things so that when they come, when they are fulfilled, you will believe. Because this is, other religion has this completed literal prophecy fulfilled perfectly.



Speas (52:51.08)

and we get to use that to spread the gospel. So it’s something that a lot of churches will shy away from. But if we dig in and know these things, know what scripture says, and not ignore these parts of the scriptures that make us uncomfortable or might make us fearful, if you lean into that, God gives you complete peace, and it’s truly our victory.



Aaron Smith (53:15.875)

Yeah, I was just talking to someone about prophecy the other day about how Paul explains that prophecy is meant to encourage the believer in what we believe, not to… it’s not something that we look for like, we need to figure out what’s happening because we need to prepare. No, it’s to encourage us as believers that what we believe is true, but it’s to convict and convert unbelievers. That’s what prophecy is intended for, is to…



Speas (53:26.694)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (53:40.774)

Yes.



Aaron Smith (53:43.939)

draw unbelievers to belief and to encourage believers in what they believe. Were you into eschatology before this tornado?



Speas (53:45.724)

Mm-hmm.



Speas (53:52.636)

She



Speas (53:55.948)

just had what her, what her, you know, kind of her grandma was putting in her head. Cause she was like total Baptist, just, you know, fire and brimstone kind of, you know, person. And yeah. So she, she looked back on that and was like, I’m starting to see things that my grandma talked about. And that was one of the things that kind of triggered her to dig deeper in it. Cause she’s like, I’m seeing things in the world that grandma was talking about. So what is this now? Yeah.



Aaron Smith (54:18.159)

Yeah, and COVID era was



Aaron Smith (54:21.245)

a big, big spark for like a lot of people of wait a minute, what’s happening in the world?



Speas (54:24.625)

Yeah.



Speas (54:27.108)

I think like, I mean, I’ve always, I’ve had curiosity about eschatology, like any other, I’d have talks with my auntie about it, like, but it wasn’t anything real or studied, you know. So, definitely woke me up to study it.



Aaron Smith (54:44.809)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (54:48.584)

Well, I love that not only have you guys a story was just steeped in the Lord directing and using and then throughout your marriage, God, not just he was using in your ministry during the marriage and then even in that season where you guys were stagnant, God was still moving in and around you guys. There was people praying for you guys. You guys were being contained.



Aaron Smith (55:16.36)

by God and even, I mean, I don’t want to say he sent the tornado specifically for you, but I’m sure there’s lots of people’s stories about that tornado, but your guys’ story specifically just him drawing you back to him and opening your eyes. And also, I love that you pointed out that Chris was kind of an opposite experience where he’s being confronted for the first time and his lack of control, his lack of ability, which then brought him to a different place with the Lord. And I’ve had the privilege of



Speas (55:24.284)

you



Aaron Smith (55:44.358)

Experiencing all of that with you guys not from the very very beginning because I wasn’t there when you guys met but very close I was like there within the month of you guys getting married And so I’ve had the privilege of being a part of that I Was yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I met you guys right before you got married But not right when you met



Speas (55:49.692)

Yeah, with Emma. Y’all, you were at our wedding. You’re like, why are you… Yeah. You’re like, wait just a minute.



Speas (56:01.542)

So why are you inviting us to your wedding? I’m like, come on.



Aaron Smith (56:03.937)

Yeah.



Aaron Smith (56:05.968)

But I just love that. also love that the response to your guys’s hearts being drawn closer to God is more ministry, is more, like you said, works, but it’s not, again, not for salvation sake, but because of it. And that’s exactly what God does to us when we follow, when we abide in Him, we produce fruit. And I just…



Aaron Smith (56:28.479)

I love that. I want to encourage all of my listeners to just look at your own marriage, look at your own life, and look at those moments that God has reached out to you and that you know what they are. And how have you responded? And if you didn’t respond the way you feel like you should have, if you don’t feel like you’ve drawn closer to Him, then draw close today and allow God to use you in mighty ways because that’s what He does. He uses us. He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need to use us, but He absolutely does use us. And not because we’re perfect, not because we have it figured out.



Aaron Smith (56:57.962)

but because we’re hosts, we’re willing vessels that he can pour into and that’s what I want for my life.



Speas (57:04.092)

We



Speas (57:04.763)

had a pastor that would say, don’t just sit on your blessed assurance. I like just sitting around, you’re like, I’m good, I’m safe. I’ve been promised.



Aaron Smith (57:09.878)

That’s true, don’t just sit on it.



Aaron Smith (57:16.32)

Yeah.



Speas (57:18.684)

I’m just like, sit with that though.



Aaron Smith (57:18.934)

Yeah, I always like the



Aaron Smith (57:21.754)

picture of, know, when you’re in the boat, if you’re not paddling upstream, then you’re just going downstream. And the moment you stop, again, not that going upstream is the salvation, it’s that moving and abiding with Christ, if he’s moving one direction, the moment we stop, he doesn’t stop moving. We stop and we’re only making distance with God. But, you know, God’s good also and he runs back for us.



Aaron Smith (57:48.694)

and he draws us out of our Muck and Meyer and brings us to new places with him. so you guys are a testimony to that.



Speas (57:58.748)

Thank you.



Aaron Smith (57:59.838)

Yeah, well, I love you guys. We’ve I think we’ve had enough time and I loved hearing your story and I just what Jessica, what’s your Instagram so people can go check you out and get some eschatological encouragement?



Speas (58:11.142)

This



Speas (58:12.004)

is Jessica underscore Spies on Instagram.



Aaron Smith (58:15.19)

Jessica underscore Spies.



Aaron Smith (58:17.01)

Well, I love you guys. Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like to share with my audience before we sign off?



Speas (58:23.772)

I think that’s about it. It’s good. Good for now. It’s good talking to you. We miss you guys. We could keep going for a while. Yeah, I know.



Aaron Smith (58:25.11)

Cool.



Aaron Smith (58:28.992)

I know,



Aaron Smith (58:29.663)

just because I miss you guys too. We’re always trying to plan another road trip or some way of getting out to you guys or trying to get you guys to come here.



Speas (58:38.426)

Yeah, we’d that



Speas (58:39.234)

too.



Aaron Smith (58:41.273)

So, well I love you guys and hope to have you guys on again sometime, okay? All right, God bless, guys.



Speas (58:45.284)

Alright, sounds good.



Speas (58:47.672)

Bye.





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