🔥 "COVID tested relationships like never before—but God’s love still wins. 🌪️ Whether you’re battling loneliness, family tension, or marital strain, this video is your toolkit to thrive in love during chaos. Discover how to:**
✅ Strengthen Bonds in Isolation: Biblical strategies to deepen connection when distance or stress pulls you apart.
✅ Turn Conflict into Growth: Replace frustration with forgiveness, using Jesus’ example of grace. ✨
✅ Pray Through the Storm: Powerful Scriptures to anchor your heart and relationships in uncertain times. 📖
🌟 Real Talk for Real Struggles:
How to support loved ones battling anxiety or grief.
Balancing virtual fatigue with intentional connection.
Why this season is your chance to build unshakable, Christ-centered relationships. 👭
📖 Key Verse: “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7
👉 Hit ‘Subscribe’ 🔔 and join a sisterhood learning to love like Jesus—even when the world feels upside down.
#LoveInLockdown 💞
#FaithOverFear 🙌
#PandemicRelationships 🌍
#ChristianCoupleGoals 💑
#EmotionalResilience 💪
#PrayThroughCOVID 🙏
#UnveiledConnections ✨
#GraceUnderPressure 🌱
✅ Strengthen Bonds in Isolation: Biblical strategies to deepen connection when distance or stress pulls you apart.
✅ Turn Conflict into Growth: Replace frustration with forgiveness, using Jesus’ example of grace. ✨
✅ Pray Through the Storm: Powerful Scriptures to anchor your heart and relationships in uncertain times. 📖
🌟 Real Talk for Real Struggles:
How to support loved ones battling anxiety or grief.
Balancing virtual fatigue with intentional connection.
Why this season is your chance to build unshakable, Christ-centered relationships. 👭
📖 Key Verse: “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7
👉 Hit ‘Subscribe’ 🔔 and join a sisterhood learning to love like Jesus—even when the world feels upside down.
#LoveInLockdown 💞
#FaithOverFear 🙌
#PandemicRelationships 🌍
#ChristianCoupleGoals 💑
#EmotionalResilience 💪
#PrayThroughCOVID 🙏
#UnveiledConnections ✨
#GraceUnderPressure 🌱
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00hey everyone we were having some difficulties getting on here but we are back on and we are
00:10outside today because it's just absolutely gorgeous here in Austin Texas sunny and so
00:16breezy and I wanted to do something a little different and I asked my husband to join me who
00:23speaks a lot and he's hello he's involved in his name's Asbel for you most of you don't know my
00:34husband Asbel he usually travels 24-7 he's gone all the time but he's been home for going on six
00:42weeks so it's been very interesting and we're gonna talk about relationships but I wanted him
00:48to go ahead and he can lead this and we have been together 24-7 24-7 since this COVID really
00:54this COVID thing and I used to travel a lot he was gone four to five days a week so if you can get a
01:01picture of that and now he's like I said he's been home 24-7 and it's been quite it's been but I will
01:09tell you we've actually quite enjoyed ourselves yeah and really you just hello folks some people
01:16from Louisiana oh hey from our old stomping grounds we miss Louisiana but I will tell you this being
01:24home has been wonderful it's been resetting we've been able to reconnect we've also learned that we
01:38probably have different nuances we were always a little we we have a lot of likes but we have
01:46um a lot of differences well differences when it comes to I probably am a little pickier
01:53than my lovely wife is OCD very type a very meticulous he compartmentalizes everything and I'm more of the
02:02the home what's the bohemian she has a more bohemian free spirit free spirit person which is wonderful
02:10that's why we're yin and yang um but we do we are a lot more alike than we are not so we have the same
02:18likes in a lot of things aspirations yeah and so when we're together a lot there's some commonalities
02:26that we have and so we can sit we're all fine with sitting and just being quiet and reading and
02:32doing different things where if you're so opposite while that attracts and it's fun boy that gets old
02:40fast um and so you do want to have light commonalities but we've been talking through just what we've
02:48noticed and one of our really good friends and we call him Dr. O um but Octavius Bishop who is a doc
02:54has a doctor in psychology we've just really been engaging with him a lot lately just simply
02:59because um there has been an upswing in the amount of divorces that have been filed through this
03:08process and just understanding um domestic violence is on the uprise which is very concerning to us as
03:19well um depression yeah um and you're really seeing a strain on relationship during this time
03:26and so um it's just it's practical opinion and usually what I used to like to say is rational
03:35thought produces rational results um and so you have to kind of talk through it and figure out
03:41hey um what do we need to do um to be
03:45to get along we don't always get along and a lot of times people think hey I need my space and I
03:52definitely need my space so there's sometimes I'll go off and just walk on my own we don't
03:57always have to be around each other sometimes too much of something
04:00we need a break sometimes it's like I need a break I need a break from you and she probably says I need
04:08a break from you get out of here I've been hearing you in your office because I'm Puerto Rican so I get
04:12loud very loud yesterday she told me she said I just heard you all over the house yesterday
04:17I should record it one day it's all through the house but no the other thing that I have noticed since
04:24we've been quarantined together for six weeks now like this is he will pick up after me and it drives
04:31me because I don't mind leaving things on the counter I don't have a lot of things but I I leave
04:39and he will put them all in the sink and they're clean so that's but it's all over the countertop like
04:45literally that and then paper towels she'll leave like she'll wash something we have a dishwasher but
04:53she likes to wash it and then she spreads a paper towel and puts
04:56and I'm like um there's a there's a dishwasher right there but I don't say anything because
05:05I just move it and the next thing I know she's like did you do something with my water glass and
05:11I'm like uh yeah it was just and I just thought I would put it up but these but I was using it
05:16but these are little things but they they in other relationships they can be big things yeah like
05:22this isn't going to cause us to file for divorce but for other people it can be a big thing but
05:28also but it's a trigger to something that's a trigger to something else deeper oh yeah that's
05:33that's exactly it you don't leave somebody over a glass sitting on top of a counter there's some
05:39other deeper issues going on but that's the thing I I think um I was telling him when everyone was
05:47working and whether it be the wife or the um husband who was traveling non-stop and um someone
05:55was staying home or both are working non-stop well now you're quarantined together when you were
06:00traveling and busy busy busy everyone has issues that we all have to deal with from time to time and a
06:08lot of times when we're so busy we're not facing those issues that could be going on in a relationship
06:14um a marriage and now that we're home together all the time those issues are being exasperated
06:20they're being revealed more but are we really dealing with it or are we busy in ourselves with
06:26other things even inside this quarantine well and what I think we've done as well is we've tried to
06:31maintain a routine so literally during this time it's not been because we are around each other all the
06:39time it's I'm getting up in the morning acting like I'm going to work I'm going to my office I'm
06:44actually shutting my doors he gets dressed and everything and get I get dressed like normal
06:48going in there because I do know that sometimes like like we said earlier too much of something is
06:54usually too much yeah and so usually what you need to do is work through and and may act like you're in
07:03your office I mean whether it's whether it's your husband your wife your partner your whoever it is
07:10that roommate roommates whatever it is is you've got to do something it's not normal behavior to
07:16always be around each other too much of something you're going to fight I mean hello think about
07:20that's what animals do they get around each other you could be the best of friends and you're going to
07:24fight yeah or dogs they love on each other and then they're fighting they're like little babies
07:29and so sometimes it's just like even I mean we've noticed that because I traveled almost 200 days
07:34last last year and I had a system going with him not being home so that's what I've been used to for
07:40the last for a long time and now overnight he's home for six weeks now straight straight so that's
07:48something we're not used to and thankfully we are getting along pretty well I mean I'm sure
07:53well you know and I think what we did but but creating that routine was important yes if I don't
07:58think if we would have done that routine we'd probably be fighting like cats and dogs or ignoring
08:02each other or yeah or ignore because yeah because that's how she does it yeah she would if she gets
08:10upset about something what it's not like I'm a vocal part I want to talk about it she also she gets
08:16quiet or whatever and she just disappears and I'm like uh this is mr. communicator over over over
08:22over communicator I like to communicate but I have to be ready in my mind and thankfully he has a minor
08:30in psychology so I think he sometimes gets that piece that's a good or a bad thing yeah yeah don't
08:35say because he can psychoanalyze me he watches my body behaviors because he's very good at reading body
08:40behaviors so I know sometimes but that's I feel like a lot of things that are going on like we were
08:46talking about the rise in divorces people are filing for divorce right now a lot it's very high right
08:51now in America and what was the other thing oh abuse domestic domestic abuse is huge right now
08:57in America in both men and women so not just men against women but actually women women can be women
09:03can be verbally abusive as well their husband and put them down and and and trying to focus on the
09:11positive I guess that's there's always something good in someone if you're looking for it yes and so
09:18and we're not advocating because if if there is a if there if you're in an abusive situation or
09:23whatever that you need to get help help from professionals there is so much yes there is so
09:28much help out there you need to do that as soon as possible but if you're not in an abusive situation
09:34and it is just you're figuring out hey there are some things that I don't really like about them
09:39um focus on what you do you want to tell you no oh I'm sure yeah enlighten me they might want to hear
09:47too uh but I'm just saying focus on those things that that drew you to them in the first place yeah
09:55yes and reignite that and don't find the easy way out because it is the easiest way out now to break
10:02covenant very easy um it's an it's easy but when you are focused on what God has created there is a
10:10covenant that we've made and it's not going to be easy and it's finding those simple things um music
10:17music cooking um we love we love cooking and so we we have to do a few little things on his personal
10:26page a lot of people love it about what we're cooking because he's a chef pretty much we like
10:31uh music we're both I love classical opera jazz a lot of worship music he loves natalie grant a lot
10:39we love a lot of gospel and then we like hallmark movies so which well I love him and so he loves
10:46him with me but we like you know wholesome stuff we like so you got to find those likes because
10:51you're not going to have everything you're not and I like spice too yeah she just wants to act like
10:58she's all up in the clouds and floating around I can live on the earth sometimes she will sometimes
11:03live up in the heavenlies the whole time and I'm like hey you got to come on down to earth here a
11:08little bit and have fun with me here on earth I definitely have that I can be very intense when it
11:15comes to the spiritual things he can be very intense when it comes to his he works a lot with the
11:20government um he's working a lot with the health care industry right now there's a lot of stuff going on
11:24so he's been very intense in that way and then I'm and not to spiritualize me or anything but
11:29I'm up in my office a lot oh I'm gonna talk for her she didn't have to but I will yeah but but that's
11:35just the kind of person I am it's it's just me it's in me so I can definitely get up there and I
11:40get I feel these burdens and talk about intercession you know I do it's it's in me so sometimes I have to
11:47so today that's what we're doing sometimes I have to pop the balloon and say can you like float down
11:53here just a little bit we gonna be we gonna be carnal for just a little while I want to do the
11:58cha-cha and salsa and I'm tired of praying I'm just being real I mean you don't want to pray 24 hours a
12:10day either especially in a marriage you have to gotta have some fun sometimes yeah that's true do the
12:15you know Jesus I think Jesus you know he he had a well I mean he was the perfect human being too
12:22but you know he did feel sometimes I don't know if he did the cha-cha and the salsa a lot but he
12:28definitely did you know so I like I like she said the kite the kelsey car the kite and the anchor
12:36that's a good analogy so am I the kite
12:39someone said the kite and the anchor but you gotta have fun you gotta laugh yes laugh together
12:48yes have fun with each other because we both are very intense individuals though we really are babe
12:53I mean you have to we are extremely intense I mean you guys see me on my devotions I can be very intense
12:59but I do need to find that balance too especially during this quarantine because I
13:04you know with many friends who have had the COVID some have died I felt burn I felt sad I have I've
13:09had some very sad sorrow feelings and then anxiety as we've talked about with some of you before
13:15all those feelings are very normal but yes we do have to create like he was talking about the normal
13:21the routine it's very important for our mental health to create that um routine like he like
13:28some of you joining us now he gets dressed every day goes into his office as if he's going to work
13:33like outside the home and I think that helps create a safe space in our home too and helps us not be at
13:40each other's throats that's correct because sometimes I mean I'll go all day without seeing her or I'll come
13:45out of my office for lunch yeah and then go back in as well so keep creating that normalcy space if
13:53your spouse is getting on your nerves figure out is there a routine that you've established or maybe
13:57it's out of routine and so you're seeing each other all the time and you normally didn't do that
14:02create a routine right um it's not anything it's not a rejection of the spouse it's not a rejection
14:07of the love for each other it's just saying you know what we probably need to have some boundaries
14:11and space here that's probably why you're getting on my nerves um and and that is important I mean
14:18you know because anybody around each other all the time you're gonna get on somebody's nerves
14:23exactly and so it's creating that space and we've been cognizant to do that yes we definitely have
14:30because we knew that would probably happen um especially because I've got personality and
14:36tendencies that can be a little OCD um and she's not that way and so I know that and when you know
14:43that about someone and you do it anyway in my opinion you're just being selfish um me for me like
14:49I'm talking about me like it'd be selfish for me if I expect her to be like me I didn't marry her to
14:53be like me right we're not trying to change her no trust me we done been there done that have the
14:59t-shirt we ain't gonna do that again on 11 years and we tried changing way back in the day and we
15:04met came out of blended families uh we have blended family in second marriages so you you cannot change
15:11someone ladies if men are watching it stop trying to change your spouse you can't stop it it's not
15:17gonna work in fact you're gonna exasperate the issue even more pray for them yeah pray for them
15:21it it does it worked it worked for me we almost ended up in divorce a year into our marriage yeah
15:27and we thank god for a mama that told you to get into the prayer closet some you don't know that story
15:32but yeah my mom long story short because most of them don't know about it long story short uh first
15:39year in the marriage um I was we were just going through it we were we were both very independent
15:45um I was being selfish really and and so I was going to go back to DC get back into politics I
15:50was done I called my mom and I just said mom I'm done with him he's a jerk I said a few other
15:55choice words and she wasn't Christian then she had to pray through for that and my mom said she heard
16:02me vent and I'll never forget she said Stephanie and her little preacher voice you go into that apartment
16:09we were living in a little little two-bedroom apartment she said you go into that little
16:13apartment you get into your prayer closet and you don't come out until God speaks to you and I
16:19remember getting so upset with her for that I may have even hung up on her and but I did do as she
16:25said and I went in there and you prayed for three long years three long years honey it took three long
16:32years for God it's almost like we were just living as friends in the home yeah because I was checked out
16:38she wanted to do ministry I wanted to have fun I was being carnal like I didn't want to have anything
16:42to do with the Lord yeah I was just like no my career is taking off I want to have fun we were
16:47going to soiree we were doing gay and I'm like she didn't want to do anything she just wanted to pray
16:51we can laugh about it now but it really was I mean it was intense and then I was stressed and I was
17:00angry and I was like this isn't going to work and we're just he we're just two different people and
17:06he's a jerk and yadda he can have that you know take this job and you know and um but God was dealing
17:13with me through that too that's how unfailed ministries was how started yeah through all the mess
17:18unfailed ministries would not be here most likely had I not persevered and stayed in that prayer
17:24closet and just held on to my husband through my prayers and that's the one thing too that when
17:29it goes back to psalms at all right when we talk about psalms 23 and you talk about that what in
17:33verse 4 when it talks about when you're going through the valley of the shadow of death
17:38that you walk through it right you don't stay in it right because eventually you come to the other
17:46side and had we stopped in the middle of that valley we probably would not be talking here today
17:51no we wouldn't at all we would not be here today we would not be together today
17:55um it shows God's mercy right and grace and you keep walking even when you cannot see right right
18:04and finding those things and one just sometimes she never nagged me I will tell you that never
18:10I felt like it but the Lord would always put a guard on me he would literally and I'm not angelic
18:17at all but I promise every time I was going to go after him and tell him what I thought of him and
18:24the Lord would shut me up shut me up and had I nagged him we definitely wouldn't he hates nagging
18:31it we would not well most men do yeah and a lot of times that's the problem in relationships is women
18:37are nags they just are I'm not trying to be mean but what I mean in nagging is we you didn't do this
18:42you didn't we focus on the bad stuff and we think we can fix the man or you think you can fix the woman
18:48yeah you you can't only God can now there's ways we can communicate and do things that can help
18:54soften the man or the woman right yeah absolutely because I remember when we go through and I would
19:00hear her praying but something in my heart would start because I knew what she was praying about
19:05like I ain't change I'm telling you I'm not doing ministry and I would sit there whatever I don't
19:08want to do this anyway but my parents had taught me you can't leave you know it's a coming whatever
19:12and like thinking she doesn't want to leave I already I promised to give whatever she just said no
19:16and so but eventually what happened it just kept chipping away chipping away and eventually it just
19:21it was like gradual it just it gradually changed well and be when we first got married which I
19:28briefly talked about um on last Tuesday's a week ago this past Tuesday's devotion um when we first
19:35got married though I was more of the wild preacher's child I wasn't really in church we were we had fun boy
19:40we had he's a preacher's kid so we were just having fun we got each other but and we both
19:45made it like a deal together like we will never go on ministry I want nothing to do with I've been
19:51in an abusive relationship I was jaded by ministry I was jaded by church people you know the whole if
19:56you had been where we are you get it but so I had no plans to ever do ministry ever again I mean there's
20:03there's a lot of critical people judgmental self-righteous people there's a lot of good people too but a lot
20:08of times we get our eyes focused on that certain segment of the people the Pharisees in the church
20:13so long so short what happened within a year of us being married God started dealing with me about
20:19ministry and that's what shook us all that's what shook our marriage and rattled us and turn
20:24yeah because one day she told me she said babe I feel the call to minister I said oh that's not what
20:27I agreed to and he said that and I was like well babe the Lord's calling we were in Las Vegas I
20:33remember that yeah sitting eating sushi and he was ready to walk away yeah I said here's what I'll do
20:39we hadn't been married long so we'll do this if you will just went and she's like I was not a good
20:46person back then that was not nice of me he was just I could say him because she's a wonderful
20:51because I'm sanctified thank you Jesus for thank you God for grace for mercy yes thank you for a praying
20:58mother-in-law and if you're not in those situations right now every single one here can
21:03pray yes it is amazing to me what prayer will do right amazing what it will do in a relationship
21:11amazing what it will do in any relationship that you're having we're talking about marital relationships
21:19and relationships of love but in relationships that work in relationships with family yes it is
21:26amazing what prayer will do and it doesn't mean that you have to have relationship horizontally at
21:36that point I'm guessing those you have to have boundaries because sometimes people have violated
21:39your boundaries like if read safe people yeah but you can pray and eventually God can do things where
21:46those boundaries are yes where their boundaries are respected and you can go into relationship with
21:53people but if people understood the power of prayer I believe in the power like I've never believed in
21:59it like I believe it it is back to the basic it is what the Bible taught people think that they can do
22:04it on their own your own intellect your own wisdom power well that's all you're gonna get but when you go
22:11into prayer you get the power of God she keeps telling me to do that harm my arm starting to hurt a little
22:17bit we should have put it on something or whatever maybe but well just let it hurt a little longer see
22:23what I'm talking about right there see I'm being more light today because we have both been so intense
22:30lately and I just told him I want I want to introduce the unveiled ladies to you because they most of you
22:36some of you have been to the workshops but majority of you who never have and I wanted you to meet my
22:41husband and he's incredible with his communication and his words and God's just using him in a great
22:50way and I thought I want to bring Asbel my husband into my unveiled world that he's not a huge part of
22:56from day to day so that's why well we're just going to be real so one thing is we're both real people learn
23:03we learn from stories that's what I learned best from is who we are as people and people would just stop
23:10trying to be what they're not or trying to put some image on some social media and people begin to
23:17think that that is not the truth most of the time when people are doing that you probably should mark
23:21them and there's probably something wrong going on with them because they got to make everything look
23:25perfect typically when you have to make something externally look perfect it's because you feel
23:30imperfect inside and until you get inside and dig that out insecurity just dig it out that's the first
23:38thing of anything that is my key indicator that something is wrong when people try to create
23:44perfection about them because nothing no one's perfect nothing and we all learn remember we all
23:50learn from what others do and sometimes learning by example or things that you've been through that
23:56is sometimes the best teaching tool right um it's like I say in the workplace sometimes on the job
24:01training is the best training you can sit in a class all day long and learn it and learn and learn and learn and learn
24:06but unless I'm practically applying it and I can learn from what somebody else did and learn from their
24:11mistakes that sometimes is the best that is the best training tool so we've got to be more open and
24:16sharing and really talking through the process and to be honest with you um I look to please the Lord
24:24so my standpoint is if if individuals think hey um their story I can't believe that or I can't believe that
24:32they said that you know what that's their problem that's not my I'm not owning other people in their comments
24:36that anybody you're always gonna have critics um but if if if your life can touch someone else
24:42um share encourage encourage people they need encouragement right now to know that there's always hope no matter where you are
24:50and some of you let let me interject this some of you may be divorced or separated and you're in a very
24:58vulnerable place and you're hurting we both have been there oh yeah we're divorced before we got
25:04married everybody's remarried yes so we understand so I'm very cognizant of what people are going through
25:11the pain the loneliness the grief because you grieved a lot most people unless you went through abuse
25:17through a hard you may not grieve as hard but most people who go through a divorce it's like grieving
25:22a loss you're having to start a whole new life and it's very hard so my goal is to always show
25:28compassion and to be kind to people and so that's why I want to tell you like we may it may look like
25:34we have this great marriage and we talk to people about a few things but we've gone through the fire
25:38and we were we went through the fire before we were married in other past relationships so it hasn't
25:44always been perfect we have we've had to work it's still not perfect oh it will never be married to
25:49her are you kidding me my mr. ocd husband I'll tell you one thing that's really cute is we have two dogs
25:58the cutest dogs um and I feed them these bones and they get fat because of that no that's not what I'm
26:05gonna talk about so so they will eat the meat off of it but they'll leave the bone sometimes on the in
26:10the carpet in our around on the wood floor step on that and he gets so mad like he is very that
26:16bothers him where it doesn't bother me as much if there's a few yeah it doesn't bother you when you
26:20step on it and it kills your toes man that's what I'm talking about we could make that a huge issue but
26:27we don't we just no I just bend over pick them up and say there's other things to argue about this is
26:33not when I'm gonna choose your battles yeah I gotta choose my battles on that one because that I'm not
26:37gonna win that I'm just like I just pick them up pick them up and so when I see the dog with one in
26:42their mouth as soon as they drop it down I go pick it up real quick and throw it in the garden I am
26:45picking him up more especially since he's been home for six weeks straight so but that's what we wanted
26:51to talk about just about relationships through this quarantine the kovid you really are getting you may
26:58have kind of group grown apart but relearn each other it's okay relearn each other through this time
27:04maybe that's what God's creating we're relearning family we're relearning our relationships we're
27:10relearning our relationship with God and who he is that's right you're beginning to really see now how
27:15many people have depth in Christ and those that don't have depth in Christ because in this crisis
27:20it's like a tube of toothpaste what they had inside is coming out good and bad and it's in every relationship
27:28it doesn't matter whether it's your relationship with Christ your relationship with each other your
27:33relationship with family relationship with everything it is being revealed for all to see
27:39through this and so you got to figure out do I want with squeezing out to be good or do I want it
27:46to be bad and I can change that I have the ability to change right but a lot of individuals sometimes when
27:53that happens we always want to deflect instead of looking inside and a lot of times in the aloneness
27:59is when God is trying to speak and he's speaking to you in the aloneness not anyone else but we don't
28:06sometimes we don't like to hear what he's saying to us and so it's easier to start what we call
28:12sweeping around everybody else's door regardless of what it is regardless of what relationship it is
28:18help us Lord trust me we've been going through it and it's a process for myself we always say don't
28:25make things personal but during this I am because I I'm like I feel like I got everything out of my
28:31heart but every day I'm like God if there's something that's in me that I'm not seeing or
28:35that maybe has entered without me notice it that become acclimated to it's very unhealthy for me show me
28:41and I just want to be ready for whatever's to come next the rapture pestilence perilous times the closer
28:50we get to all of the end times as we hear about I just want to be ready but your heart ultimately
28:57and it's a heart issue we have to keep our hearts pure well y'all enjoy we're enjoying the birds twerping
29:04right now yes we had a red cardinal right near us just about 30 minutes ago it's so beautiful and we
29:10have butterflies all over the springtime is in the air and with spring comes hope yes you know which
29:17you love hope is in Jesus Christ amen all right we're done ladies have a good Saturday nice to meet
29:24all y'all as well all right bye bye bye