Living the Yes: Spiritual Battles, Healing Prayers, and a Stronger Faith with Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins (Pt. 2) — Episode 1032

Hi, friends. Welcome to a special episode of That Sounds Fun, Spiritually Stronger. Happy Thursday. I'm your host, Annie F. Downs, and I'm really happy to be here with you today for part two of our episodes with Lauren and Thomas Rhett Akins. If you haven't had a chance to listen to part one, you really want to go back and do that first before you listen to this episode. We are literally picking up right where we left off, and I want you to get the full story of what God's been doing in their lives over the last year and their journey of faith and prayer. You are going to want to hear that part first. As we continue our exclusive conversation with Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins today, I hope you'll listen for this thread of God's nearness through it all. You may not be sent to Africa for six weeks. Maybe you will. But where do you see God continuing to speak to you in your prayer life as you trust Him, even when it doesn't make sense? Where have you experienced His nearness when everything around you felt really challenging? Don't miss the conversation on prayer and perseverance and processing all that with us that we are doing over on Substack this week. I think the questions we're asking each day will really help you look for the places where God is maybe inviting you to listen in your prayer life and what obedience might look like for you. You can find all of that at spirituallystronger.com. And now here is part two of my conversation with my friends, Lauren and Thomas Rhett Akins. So we get there and this is so funny, but I think Lauren got her days wrong because like her, Her birthday, Willow Gray's birthday, and Lily's birthday were all while we were over there. Oh, wow. 50% of your family birthday. I remember asking Lauren, I was like, what do you want for your birthday? And she was like, all I want for my birthday is I want to go spend the night in the bush. Oh, wow. And I was like. In a mud hut. That's like number 89 on my list of things I want for my birthday. Totally. And so I kind of thought, I was like, okay, cool. Like, you can do that. As long as people that we know are going, whatever. I went with Jen, who is our director. Yeah, for sure. I felt decent about it. But I kind of thought we would have a few days to acclimate. This was like day one. Oh, you left as soon as. Well, because our trip got pushed. Yeah. So this is day one. We move our kids into a two-bedroom apartment. Oh, my gosh. Unloading all the homeschooling books that we have and trying to figure out where everybody's going to sleep. I thought we were going to have one night together in the apartment. Oh, you didn't even have a night. No. No, but I, that's where my days were wrong. And Jennifer was like, we show up to the center that we get the biggest welcome ever. And we're seeing all of our people and it kind of calms down. And we've said our hellos to everybody. And we're sitting down with Jennifer. And she's like, so I'm assuming the answer is no. And that's okay. But it's still on the agenda if you want to go tonight. And I was like, tonight? she was like tonight is the night we were going to go out to the village and i remember thinking oh no because tom's dread is going to be like you're kidding me you're about to go we just landed we're all jet lagged and i'm about to be totally solo with the four girls first night in Africa and you're pretty pregnant and you're still going to go. I looked at him and he knew. All I had to do was look at him and he's like, I know that you still want to go. I know you want to be there. I don't want you to go and I also don't want to be alone with our kids tonight for the first night here. But he was like, happy birthday. Go on. Good husband. So I finally get them to sleep. This was like 8 o'clock. I'm getting in the bed. I'm going to start reading something, probably the Bible, because I'm terrified. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same. I know that feeling. This is not a joke. I look down at my foot, and a mosquito is just sucking the blood out of my ankle. No. And it was two years ago, but I quit taking the malarone stuff, like the anti-malaria, because I'm like, this gives me the weirdest dreams, blah, blah, blah. So I was like, screw it. I'm just going to take my chances over here. Yeah. So I get bit first night one one. I watched it happen. It was almost like I didn't even swat it because I was like, this is hilarious. So anyway, get bit, whatever. Mesquita is gone. Wake up next morning. Foot's itching, you know, from bite, whatever. And then a couple of days ago and she was safe, by the way, she did it. She crushed it. I've got some amazing pictures and videos. It was maybe three or four days later. And I was like, hey, I don't I don't feel good. And a lot of a lot of people call it being guy sick. like yeah women are just like you're not you're you ain't so like we're jet lagged you're good um you know we got what are we doing here and i can i can be dramatic when i start to feel remotely off i'm like something's wrong seriously but i'm feeling his head i'm like you're good you don't have a fever so then like my body kind of starts shaking and then and then i then they did take my temperature and she's like you yeah i felt him later and i was like oh you're a little warm and i was like he goes you think it's malaria i was like no you do not have malaria And so then one of the head doctors at level one comes over and gives me the rapid and the smear. And he was like, you have malaria. And I was like, okay. And you saw him. You saw the malaria mosquito. It was like the one demon mosquito that made its way into my room. And so anyway, it was pretty rough for like a day. But once I started taking the medication, it was like – and so anyway, at this point, we had spent about eight days in Uganda. And then we were going down to Botswana. We'd never been there. We love going on a safari. And so we were going to take our kids down there. We're going to celebrate Willow Grace's birthday down there. So we get there. I'm on my fourth day of malaria medication, and I'm starting to feel super normal. So we do the safari. We're in Botswana for like eight days. And the very last night of Botswana, I woke up at like two in the morning just like shaking. And while we're in Botswana, they didn't have rooms big enough for our family. And so Lauren is sleeping in one tent, you know, with Lily and Lennon, and I'm sleeping in another tent with Willow Gray and Ada James. And so I'm texting her. I'm like, do you have any Advil? You know, because you can't leave your tent at night. Oh, right. You get mauled or whatever. And so I just get into the shower, and as hot as it can go, just standing there, just like shaking. And then I wake up, and I'm like, hey, something's weird again. And so they had like an on-call nurse that could connect you with like a WhatsApp doctor that lived in like South Africa. So you're able to contact a doctor and kind of give – but we're like out. You're out. You're 300 miles from civilization. Where you are. I mean, you're rural. Oh, my gosh. And so anyway – Not near a hospital. So I'm Googling, can malaria come back? Yeah. You know what I mean? And so I'm asking my doctor here in America who's like, it's rare, but it can come back if you didn't hit it heavily. And then I guess there's some new strain of malaria that normal malaria medication doesn't knock out. So you've got to get a whole separate thing. And I'm just sitting there going, what the frick? And so that morning we had to fly back to the city, which is a little town called Maun in Botswana. And so my doctor was like, just go get your blood work done in town. So I went and go get blood work done, but they said it was going to take seven hours to get the results. But he handed me three antibiotics, and I was like, you mean to take all these? And he was like, yeah. And I texted my American doctor. He was like, absolutely not. Oh, my gosh. Like, you don't take three antibiotics at the same time. Right, right. But I'm just, like, progressively getting sicker and sicker. Does it feel like the flu? Does it feel like an antibody? It felt like the flu. Okay. But worse. Oh, wow. So anyway, we're getting on the plane. It's a seven-hour flight back to Uganda. And about three hours, four hours into the flight, all my Advil and Tylenol is, like, done. And my fever hasn't broke yet. We didn't have a thermometer on the plane, but she swears it was 104. Ada James has been 105. 105, yeah. And I know what heat feels like. Because, like, even before he tested positive for malaria, I felt his head that last time. And I was like, oh, you might have a little fever. Maybe we should actually test you now. And he did. It wasn't a crazy high fever, but he did have fever. So then we tested him positive for malaria. Later in Botswana, which actually, we skipped this part, but I got really sick in Botswana. Like a bacterial infection. Oh, my gosh, you guys. I couldn't keep anything down. And you're halfway through your pregnancy. Yes, very pregnant. and so I started to get I'm sickness nothing really phases me I'm like it's going to be fine we're going to pull through you know she is so tough that when she is like even really sick I'm like I can't even help like she is so self sufficient whereas I'm like hell you know I think I'm just like we'll get through it's going to be fine it's going to be over this is not going to last forever it's going to be fine and And mine was horrible. It was awful. And at that point, I'm like, it's time to go home. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. At this point, are y'all like, what have we done? 100%. I'm like, okay, great. We were in Uganda for eight days. Like, we celebrated our birthday. Let's go home. Like, I'm done with this crap. Yeah. We started getting a, we contacted an airplane to come get me the next day. Like a med jet. To fly me to Johannesburg because I started to get nervous. which your body, when you're pregnant, your body will take every hit possible before it even touches the baby. I mean, that's just part of God's design. Protect the life that's in your womb. And so I was like, I think the baby's okay now. But like, if I continue to not be able to get anything down, I mean, I need to not be. Like, I just need to go to the hospital. and um i remember in the middle of the night thomas dratt we loaded we had a bunch of our kids in the room with us because we kind of all piled in because he was like i'm not going to leave you alone tonight because we did have to split because the the tents were smaller and um i remember thinking i think i scared you half to death what are y'all praying at this point I'm texting every friend that I know that is more in tune with Jesus than me. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm like, whatever prayer you know how to pray, like, do it consistently, please, for the next however long until I text you back. And so he rolls over. I'm, like, in and out of sleep because I'm taking meds to try to just help me to get even just two drops of water down. And Thomas Drett leaned over, and he put his hand on me, and he started praying and prayed boldly. very boldly out loud was just like, Lord, you can handle this. You can take care of her. Like, we've got all this medicine, all these doctors, all these things, but I'm asking you to come in here and heal her. And a couple hours later, in the middle of the night, it like all of a sudden lifted. And I woke up the next morning, still really weak, but I was like, I'm able to get a little bit of water down and then it was a little bit more and then I was starting to get electrolytes and and so it ended up being fine really scary for a second I think truthfully Thomas Red thought that I wasn't gonna make it yeah I think he was like I you can't you can't leave me like this over here I was like honey I'm not it is not my time to go I really don't that that's not where my mind is at his mind was there fast forward four days later I'm over it he starts shaking and we're you know we finally leave botswana and on the flight it was like a six and a half hour total flight on this little plane african small bush plane and we i touched him in the back of the airplane i'd given him all the medicine the well it was actually all the medicine we had left but it was also like maximum dosing. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to get his fever to break or just to come. And you have all the nurse training from being a nurse. So I'm like, we've given you a lot of medicine. And he, I bet we had five or six blankets and coats piled on him. He was like, I cannot get warm. I cannot get warm. And he's shaking uncontrollably, like unable to get words out. I couldn't form sentences. I was like hallucinating a little bit. I touched his head and I remember looking up at Sal, a guy who was with us, and I touched his head and then I put my hand on his back. And I looked up at the front of the airplane and looked at kind of signal to him like we need a hospital now. like this is really i did not let him know how worried i was but i was like this is really bad like i'm afraid he's gonna start seizing here in a second like it was so so gnarly what are the girls doing just reading their books or well the older ones the older ones knew yeah and they were they kept asking me is daddy gonna be okay is daddy gonna be okay and i'm like it's okay it's okay. And I would kind of distract and be like, you do this and you help your sister do that. Then I'll go back to the back of the airplane and help him some more. And finally I was like, okay, we have two and a half hours left. And so we're talking about going to Nairobi at that point. Oh my gosh. We were going back to Uganda, but I was like, maybe we go to Nairobi than get to a hospital there. And so we're talking to the pilot. We're trying to make contact with people on the ground with the satellite phone that we had, I think. Or maybe the pilots were talking to a doctor on the ground. And so we're making arrangements. And all of a sudden, I was like, I need to put hands on him and pray. So I look at my older two. I don't think Lennon. Lennon was a little, she heard me talking about a hospital and it really freaked her out. And so I don't think she came back. So my older two girls come back and I'm like, okay, put your hands on your daddy. I said, we are praying boldly. I said, we need Jesus to get up in here. And medicine is not working. Doctors and nurses don't have answers. We could emergency land somewhere. Either way, we have to divert to get to a good hospital. And that's going to be a minute. And so we all put our hands on him and we all started praying. And this is not an exaggeration. We finished praying. And seven minutes later, his fever completely broke. And my girls were like, Daddy's fever is breaking. What's amazing to me is that my girls expect it. they're like of course we prayed yeah they're like because god took care of him like jesus jesus listening to us and of course i know he's listening to us but for me i'm like oh my gosh like that was a bit of that's in in one week that's happening both times also side tangent we've been traveling to africa for 10 years not one time ever other than me being pregnant over there, which is a lot. We are never, you've never been sick. I've never been sick in Africa, other than being pregnant. Like, throwing up because of pregnancy. Yes, yes, yes. And this is two really serious facts. This is malaria. Did you think you were dying? Yeah. And then Thomas Trott. And I don't want that to sound dramatic, because I can be decently a dramatic human being. But I looked at her. What did I say to you? I said, you're going to be fine without me. Thomas Trott was like, you know, if roles were reversed, I don't think I could survive without you. And he was like, I think you're going to be just fine. I was like, what are you talking about? Right. But I think he was like, this is the worst I've ever felt. Nobody has answers. And I'm in the sky in Africa. I'm in the sky. Yeah. I was like, this is it. Yeah. And so then you go to what should be your first line of defense, but ends up being, I think a lot of us, our last line of defense in America is we're like, let's bring it to the foot of the cross. And that's what we ended up having to do with so many things in Uganda, especially. But just at our time in Africa. And we were in three different countries total while we were there. But there was so much that we cannot unpack on this podcast. But over there, when the sickness hit, both times, I believe it was Jesus. That's right. Who rescued you. Yes. It was not medicine. It was not, although the doctors were amazing. It was Jesus. What did you think when your fever broke? Well, it broke, but I still felt like crap. Yeah. But I was just like, I can deal with this. Where did y'all end up going? Back to Uganda? We ended up landing back in Uganda. But to get to Love One you have to still then get on a different flight to go north And so instead of doing that we just stayed near the airport um landed late at night we landed late at night and i felt decent i felt decent that night but i was just weak at that point and still have these three antibiotics right so we finally land and i finally get my blood work back and they're like hey based on this and based on this and based on these elevated levels like we do think that it is bacterial oh my gosh and so was it the same thing so that's when i started taking doxycycline or whatever, which is kind of just to kill all of bacterial infection, whatever. So I started my dose of that that night and then still woke up around four again with not as bad of a fever, still like 101, 102. He went out of the woods yet. Wasn't out of the woods yet. And then so we stay there for a day and we're like, okay, cool. Well, if we feel okay in the morning, we'll travel out in the morning. Then I woke up the next day and I think it had gotten back to just as bad as it was. Oh my gosh. On the plane. And it was that night. And I remember laying there and I'm just looking at her like, can I just shove all of this down my throat? Like, I don't even care. Right. Right. Give me. My American doctor is like, it's going to shred your gut. Yeah. South African doctor is like, this is what we do here. Yeah. And I'm just like, well, somebody make a choice. Yeah. Because I'm about to just swallow all three at the same time. I'm about to take them. So she's like texting her friends to pray. I'm packing to get us ready to go to you. Go on to the next. Because also I'm like, if we can just get to our doctors at Love One, I think I'll just feel we'll all feel more. If we can just get back to our apartment, get back with our people, get back with our doctors at Love One and our nurses and our nutritionist, everybody. It's also just like, you know, when you're sick, you just want to be at home. Yes. And Love One is our home away from home. Yes. So I'm packing because I'm like, we're going to get on this plane. Let's just get to Love One. and um and so then i'm sitting there packing i hear behind me it sounds like someone's praying and i turn around and it was it was ada james and she was back there he was in and out of sleep again and she's back there with her hands on him praying over him and i watched my girls do this a lot while we were there and now they do it now that we're here and that's one of the ways i have seen like the Lord just shift shape and change and grow our kids and especially us. But my kids are like, let's just pray about it. And, and so Ada James, as I'm packing, she's back there and she's like, well, daddy doesn't look good. I'm just going to go pray over him. So she's back there praying over Tom Stratt. And I'm just going, Lord, I see you like in these valleys where it feels like, what are we doing here? I see how you're growing my kids faith and that they're seeing you in ways that I believe they wouldn't be seeing you if we were in America. Because we still had 20-ish, 25 days left in our trip at this point. Oh, my gosh. And a lot of our – That's, again, when I was just like – I mean, every time I wake up, I'm like, flight to America. That's what I'd be doing. At this point, this was for real the straw for me. I was like, we really – we need to go home. We had people at home saying, y'all need to just come. Why are you there? This is strike number three. You lost your dog. Yeah. Now you're – this is strike number three of sickness. Please come home before something happens to someone else. Wow. And I felt so strongly in my spirit, like this is the enemy trying to discourage us. And to do what would have been a lot easier just to book a flight back home to America. And I looked at him and I was like, I feel like that would be us not trusting that the Lord has us where we're supposed to be. Like, I believe he has more for us here. He's given us a very specific timeline. And I believe that we are supposed to say, and this feels like one of those moments that the world goes, this is stupid. Just come home. And we both were like, but we feel like he's not released us to come back yet. So I'm sitting there folding laundry and I'm praying about it. Ada James is back there praying over Thomas Charette. and at the same time a woman who mentors me from church and Suzanne Maronick yes one of my very best friends also mentors both at the same time texted me as I prayed in that moment Lord just give me a piece about giving I'm about to give him the second antibiotic I don't want it to take us down a path where that makes it worse yeah but I feel like this is what I want I want to give him this other antibiotic and so i'm literally about to pull the antibiotic out of my bag and both women stacy and suzanne texted me at the same time and said i'm praying for you right now and just like sent me a message of like the lord's put you on my heart in this moment so to me when they texted me that like as i'm saying lord give me something like let me know that i'm okay it's gonna be fine if i give him this i get that both those texts from both of them at the same time and i'm like wow that was a quick answer i felt like it was a very like affirming yeah go give him that medicine and gave it to him the next morning he was like i feel so much better and um and so we got rid of whatever the bacteria was happening then and it ended up being bacterial infection that turned into pneumonia well it just it kept progressing yeah and is this all while you're still in that other city in Uganda? Have you gotten back to Love One? Well, then we got back. We flew the next morning because we woke up and he was like, I feel like I can walk down and get breakfast. I feel like I can. Like, I'm definitely getting better. So we. The next day, he started feeling better. We get on a plane, go to Love One, where they came in like the angels that they are. Oh, yeah. They started pumping that antibiotic through IV. He was like getting IV antibiotics, getting IV. Yeah, right. I mean, they were making this special juice. They were absolutely incredible. I mean, we rolled in. The whole team comes in and prays over our whole thing. Yeah, I'm picturing the Santa Claus when the elves come to rescue Santa from jail. That's what I'm picturing, the run through. Yes, that's exactly. I mean, I was like, we are better taken care of here than I think we would have if we were in America and our whole family showed up at our house. I mean, it was an entourage. Wow. Some nutritionists, nurses, doctors, Jen, who runs Club One. I mean, and they're all like, let's pray. And so they're all they're praying over our family. They're praying protection over our family. And and so my birthday is a couple of days away. I'd already spent the night in the bush the the previous time we were in Uganda, like a week and a half before. And but I'm actually getting to celebrate my actual birthday with all the staff in love one in Uganda. This time of year feels like a fresh start, doesn't it? And sometimes families need one too. That's where Capstone Wellness comes in. For young men struggling with trauma, mental health, or addiction, Capstone Treatment Center provides residential care that rebuilds trust and responsibility in a Christ-centered environment. Their program blends proven therapy with real-life application, including their unique puppy program. 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Helixsleep.com slash that sounds fun. okay now back to our conversation with tr and lauren so i'm really excited i'm like we're on the up and up we're everybody we've survived these things and um i my mom facetimes me and she had been talking to michael who was staying at our house and he had been in contact with our vet and they were like something is wrong with Kona and my mom FaceTimed me we were about to put the girls down and I just was like you know what I'm normally I would answer and be like hey hang out with the kids for a bit I'm gonna run do something in the kitchen um and for whatever reason I was like no I'm gonna wait to call her back let me get the girls down first. So we put the kids down. We called mom back after the girls were asleep and she is teary. Like I can see it. And I know she said, she said Kona is really sick. And I was like, Oh my gosh, we cannot be doing round two of this. Right. Long story short, I'd talked to everybody who had been with Kona that day and talked to our vet again. And she's on FaceTime with me, my family comes over to my house to be with Kona. And everyone was just like, she's not breathing normal. It was also one of those, like, she was okay the day before, the night before she started acting a little weird, the next morning, like, went down hard. and I'm looking at Josie our doctor the the um our vet and she's just I can see it in her face she's like how is this happening again and but I knew I saw her and I'm talking to her and I'm talking to my mom and my dad and my sister's over there and they're laying on the ground with Conan talking to her and I'm on FaceTime and I'm looking at Thomas Rett and he's looking at me like surely This is not what we're about to do. And I looked at him and said, yeah, I think we're about to do this again. This is the fourth time now that I looked at her and I was like, I even asked the vet, I said, if we flew home in the morning, could she make it? Like, this is the fourth time that I'm like, let's go the frick home. Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. I just felt like we were punching bags. Yes. For 15 days at that point. And she was like, I just don't think Kona will make it even if you came back now. Also the suffering. She was like, we don't have to go into detail of it. She was not able to breathe. So then you watch your dog be put down on FaceTime. You guys, I'm so sorry. And like, again, I know that there's probably a lot of people watching this be like, it's just a dog. And I think I've thought about that a lot. I just don't think that they are just dogs. I really don't. They actually live more life with you than everyone else in your life. That's right. even though they can't speak, they just sort of they just become another being in your home. And yeah, that night sucked so bad because it was like the first day that I felt like I'm going to go run. I'm going to go for a run. You know what I mean? And then like to go to bed to that. And then and then having to wake up the next morning and be like, hey girls, like Kona's gone too. And it's just like at this point And I'm just like, what have we even learned here? Yeah. Because you've got to be blinking back to that day you're sitting at the church and being like, all I had to do was keep my mouth shut. Yeah, and just going, Lord, why? Yeah. That's what I'd have been doing, so I can't put that on you, but that's what I'd have been doing. I will say, like the day after that Kona passed away, I was praying and I was just thinking about all the sickness that we had dealt with. And then I immediately like I think I was just kind of I did feel that a smidge of just kind of like, man, when I'm at home, there's not many things that I can't fix with a phone call. You know what I'm saying? Like on a lot of levels. You know what I mean? And not even just because of being a country. Just but there's just so much like she's talking about. There's so much access to fix stuff. And there were just one thing after another that I could not fix. and God was just like take how sick you were and think about how many people were working for you you had a guy in South Africa you had your guy in America you had the whole loved one team think about all the kids not just in Africa most of the world that get malaria and have no one to call nowhere to go and have no access don't have the funds or the resources to even help you. For sure. That's right. Like, I remember we get to Botswana and they're like, hey, not many rules. Just, you can brush your teeth with the water. Just don't swallow it. And think, you think about that. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. Like, let's just compare the waters real quick from the water that's in your tap here in this office to the water that's there. And it's just like, man, how often it happens. And I think like, I've said this before, but like, in third world countries, death is just another, it's just a part of it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's tough. But when they wake up and when they pray, when they lead prayers, almost every single time they lead with, Lord, thank you for another day of life. Those are how their prayers serve. And they mean it. Yeah. Yeah. I've never seen it meant like that. Yeah. Like where we every night, like, dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for this food. Let it bless and nourish our bodies. In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah. Chicken. Right. You know what I'm saying? Right. And like, I've done that my whole life. I've watched my grandparents pray that way. My parents pray that way. And I don't think it's disingenuine. It's just like, yeah, like we have food always and we have water always. It's just a different blessing there. And I think that's what he taught me a little bit through both of us getting sick. It's just like, hey, dude, that was just a minor hiccup compared to what so many people deal with on a daily basis. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I got humbled really, really fast. Well, also, I think Tom Stratton was like, I don't, you know, we've said yes to him. We brought our kids over here. That's what I meant by your entitlement thing. He was like, I've done everything you've asked me to do. People told us to come home and tap out. We didn't. Right. We persevered. And now we're losing our second dog. Three more weeks or something in Uganda. Yeah. We're still, yeah, a couple weeks in. Three more weeks. And I'm one of those type of people that after the 14-day mark of not working, I go insane. I go absolutely insane. like even my management they were like hey don't call us yeah and i'm like but i will even if you don't have anything for me i bet i got something for you yeah i've got an idea let's just come up with something so i can i get so i can whatever i need to feel progress yeah yeah you know what i'm saying and i'm getting really homesick at this point and i'm like 20 days a long time yes to be homesick already yes and uh and so anyway i had some vocals that i had to sing uh while i was over there. And so I brought my whole computer rig and stuff. And like, I remember it, this took my mind off of it for a little bit. I remember some of the loved ones staff helping me build a studio. Yeah. Like soundproofing. In one of the conference rooms, because every conference room you speak and you hear your name back to you about 12 different times. And so I'm like, you know, trying to, it was basically all at one time. God was saying, you can't just be bro. Just be. You know what I I mean, like in the midst of all of your thinking about work and you're thinking about how bad you want to be home and all this kind of stuff is like beat. Like, look at your kids right now, sprinting on this grass, playing chase for the fifth hour. And this is this is why this is one of the reasons I brought you here. You know what I'm saying? Because you you are nobody. You are nobody. You know what I mean? And from 15 years of being a somebody in America, it's like it did. It was really hard for me, but it did such good things to my soul to be like, hey, your name means nothing. You know what I'm saying? Over there. Over there. We're not. I mean, we're walking down the street. People are looking at us because we're white. Exactly. Yes. But they're not looking at us going, I know who that is. That's right. Nobody knows who any of us are. Yes. And so it was honestly just a reset, I think, for him to be him with our staff, with our friends, with the people we met over in all three countries in Africa that we went to. And it was it was really hard and good. Yeah. What do you do with that? When that when you're the days are still clicking away and you're getting closer to coming home and you're like, we know that we know we obeyed. We know what God said And this was not easy It was not easy I will say so my mentor I mentioned earlier she walks and prays a lot She has this trail that she walks on, and she'll pray. And she sent me something right before we left. As we were going over, I was sharing, you know, we're going a few days late. Something happened with our dog, and we were staying. And we're spending one more night with him. And then we're going to let him go home and we're going to go on to Africa. And so she's like, I'm so sorry. That's so tough. And so on the flight over there, she's like, hey, I've been praying. I'm walking and praying. And she said, and I had a very clear vision of your family in Uganda. And I was like, amazing. She was like, okay. So she said, if you can picture like the movie Tombstone. Yeah. And the guys all walking in a line, like going into this town. She said, that's kind of like, that's kind of like, imagine your family all walking in a line, like going in to get business done. Yes. In this town. And she said, I can see all six of you walking in a line. and she said, I feel like y'all are walking onto enemy territory, recovering ground that the enemy has taken and you're taking it back for the kingdom. Wow. And this was before, this was right after Cash. I think we were on our way to Africa. And I'm like, wow, what a powerful vision. Like, what a sweet, like something for me to hold on to if we hit any more speed bumps along the way. And so every time something would happen, I would see that and be like, we are in the middle of enemy territory. And when you're in the middle of enemy territory, he is going to take aim. I mean, we have a target on our back. And to be clear, you're not talking about Uganda as enemy territory. You just mean spiritually you're moving into a spiritual environment. I felt like it was such a spirit. The whole journey was spiritual. God gave him a vision. We had all this stuff. And, you know, leading up to now, I'm like, this has been such a spiritual walk. Yes. And so even being over there was like, this is just continuing the spiritual journey that the Lord has prepared us for and told us is coming and we need to be there and obey. and um i won't go into detail of some of the things that did happen fully but when i say there were a handful of women different women that over the time we were there and i've already talked about how our kids are different in a lot of ways and i think it taught us i mean there's so much that we could talk about that i feel like the lord showed us and grew us and our faith grew and just like our confidence in him and him in the details even in the valleys of life him caring for you and him being in control I think was one of the main ones it's like he's in control not what you think you're in control especially living in America how you think you can feel in control but I would have I would go back to that vision and see it and there was a handful of women over the time of us being over there that I was able to pray over and um we we are a praying family we pray a lot sometimes it's that quick the quick prayer before we eat and sometimes it's the ones where your kids are already asleep because you've prayed so long over them while they're going to bed at night because you feel like the lord is i truly think that's that's how i get my kids to sleep is i just pray and pray and pray and they just put some right to sleep i like to think it's because they feel the peace of the lord that's right presence uh-huh um but when i prayed over these different women all at different times different days um and we both spoke at loved one and both times we spoke the first time we spoke or you spoke like our all of our big staff we have 120 something staff they all came around for like a devotional and they asked if we would be willing to share what the lord's been teaching us and share something from god thomas tratt spoke first he got malaria that night oh my gosh i spoke the our second time being in uganda after we went to botswana for those few days in Kona passed away that night. And then in the midst of all that, I'm praying over these women. I'm watching my children's faith change. I'm seeing all this stuff. And as I'm praying over these women, when I say the Holy Spirit was feeding me exactly what to speak and pray over them, it was like, that's happened to me before. I definitely feel that at times, especially when I feel like I'm in tune with the spirit. I feel like sometimes I'm like in the throne room and the Lord is like, pray this, pray this, pray this. And the spirit is telling me what to pray. Yes. Now that doesn't happen daily by any means, but when I say it was every time I prayed over one of these women, the things he was revealing to me about them or what he wanted to say to what he wanted them to hear and know about how he sees them about who they are wow i watched chains come off of them in the spiritual realm yeah i believe that and and a few of them we would get up and we would end up like i was on the floor on the ground like on my knees holding on to these women and they are weeping and we get up from the ground and there's a puddle of just tears where they the spirit has come in and just healed and and just released them like the lord truly rescued these women yeah and some of the stories that they shared with me i don't know if they've shared with anyone else. And I've shared some of it with him because I'm like, we have no clue. We have no clue. I feel like especially our life here, we are so comfortable here. and that is such a gift and such a blessing in so many ways and some of the people that we are close to in Uganda the lives that they have lived the things they have gone through and a lot of them are younger than me in their short life is truly beyond unthinkable that a human could walk. And, you know, you hear some of these stories of extreme trauma, extreme abuse, extreme warfare. You know, some of it, some of it was spiritual. Like some, one woman came in and was talking about all the witchcraft that was in her husband's side of the family. and how the Lord, like the spirit is like, this is how the Lord wants to rescue your family from this witchcraft. Like this is how you battle against that. This is like you have a say in your family and not aligning your family with his family's history and what they've chosen to do. And so I'm speaking these things over these women. And some of this stuff, it's just coming out of my mouth. I mean, it's like straight and I'm like, what, like where it was so powerful and so beautiful and so hard, but just, just like tangibly where the spirit is like, yes, you are my vessel and I'm just using you so that I can love on these women and, and free them from these chains. and that happened a lot it happened a lot there there were i mean there's there's so many things we could talk about and even just things that thomas rat went through and watching our girls pray and and the conversations we had with our kids you know when they were like how can this how can so much happen to us at one time like how how do you and daddy get so sick and how how does a family lose both of their dogs and how like these are the questions our girls were asking. I'm sure. I'm sure the question you're asking for sure. But, but looking at them, I'm like, okay, what Lord, like, what is this teaching moment? And I basically was like, we're in the middle of a spiritual battle and we are in America too, but we are just the veil. I feel like was just so much thinner while we were there in that time leading up to it and being there and I was able to like very easily explain the spiritual war that we were in and I said the Lord asked us to come because my kids fought it for a bit they're very social when we decided we were moving over there for a short season that got shorter my older ones were like how long are we not going to see our friends I can't do the dance team because of what like you know and I'm going but the Lord has asked us to do it and And I remember Willa Gray saying, well, why do we have to? It doesn't feel like we don't even have a reason. I don't want to go. Like, I don't want to miss all of this life here. She's 10. She's got the best friends in the world. And dance is a huge deal to her. And I looked at her and I said, baby, the same way that when in our house, when mommy and daddy tell you to do something, asks you to do something, needs you to do something, and we tell you, you just need to obey the first time you obey right away. That is, we are training you so that when you are older and the Lord gives you an assignment or tells you to do something, you just obey. Even if you don't understand why there's a lot of times me and daddy say no to something or yes to something, or we have to do this and you don't understand why in the moment. And you may not understand, But the rule in our house is you obey the first time and that's how we do it, whether you understand it or not. And I said, it is no different when you're a mommy or a daddy. When you're older, as you grow and you're able to make your own decisions and you don't have mommy and daddy telling you what to do, the Lord's going to tell you to do things and you need to know what it feels like to just say, OK, I will obey the first time. or the second or the third. And so she understood it. She didn't like it, but she understood it. And then we're over there and all this stuff starts happening. And she's like, why? Why is all this happening? I said, because I believe it is because we as a family chose to obey. And I said, and the enemy is such a tool that he like, he's angry. He's angry. He hates what we are doing. He hates that we're obeying. He hates that we're sitting over here in this mess and that we're still choosing to wait on the Lord. And we feel like he's not released us to go home yet, but we're still choosing to wait over here. And the enemy hates it. Anything that the Lord wants, the enemy wants to destroy. That's right. And so he is trying to destroy our joy. He is to try. He's trying to root all of us in fear. He's trying to discourage. and they're all looking at me going like, but what's going to happen next? And I said, well, he's angry. We can just go ahead and say that. And he's also not to be feared because the Lord has a final say, no matter what comes, even though we've lost our puppies, even though we went through some scary things, even though we've had all these hard things happen, the Lord is still in control. And if he says something is not going to happen, it's not going to happen. If he says something is going to happen, it is going to happen. And you have to trust that no matter where he takes you, he is the safest place, even when it's hard, even when you're in the valley. He's who you want to be near to and obeying and walking in step with because the enemy is going to be this way for the rest of your life. And he's always going to try to steal your joy. And it was so good for them to walk through that hard and go, we feel like we are in a spiritual battle and we see that. But also, like, it's because we're saying yes to Jesus. And they're just like seeing that conflict, like for real for the first time. You know, did y'all stay till the end to the start of the third trimester? Did you stay till the end of this trip? Yeah, we stayed. Yeah. And I feel like the last week. And please, let's not discount, there were so many amazing things that happened while we were there. I know that we've kind of stayed on some of the more dark, not so fun things, but there were so many sweet moments. Yeah. And we don't have to go into them. But yeah, I think the thing that we keep saying back to each other is like, yeah, maybe it was just a dose of what the world can feel. I felt like it was God sort of just like toughening our family up a little bit. And it was like we just keep saying I feel like we've learned how to do hard things better. Wow. You know. Wow. Learned how to do hard things better. And I think, you know, coming back, I mean, we landed and then three days later it was Thanksgiving. Wow. Hosted 50 people at our house. Oh, my gosh. You guys. Just kind of trying to keep your eyes open at 4 p.m. You know, what do you think? Tell me what you thought about God or what you said to God when you got on the plane to come home. It's strange because I really I think we all were like really ready to come home. But like there's there's this one moment where we were when we were coming back to Uganda on the second time and we had driven to some hospital that was like three hours away to visit some kids that loved one helps take care of. and uh lily kept going i want to go home she's four i want to go home and i was like baby i know i know but we we can't we can't get to nashville quickly she's like no not not that home i was like what she's like the apartment she's like you know what i'm saying she's like i want to go back to love one yeah so like in a way when you're when you're anywhere honestly for longer than two weeks you kind of you're i don't know if it's like by design but you kind of just figure out how to get rhythms make it your spot yeah and your people you know um and so there was a little bit of um it wasn't culture shock coming back to america because i've lived here for 35 years but it but i think what hit me the hardest was the pace you know what i mean coming back in who's doing potatoes who's doing the ham who's doing the turkey do we have enough wine do we have enough whatever and then straight into we got to go up in and see the lights we got to do this game night because we do it every year and we got to do this we got to do this we got to do that and we're not doing presents this year, but we're also doing presents this year. And it's just like. Y'all seriously sent the Christmas party invite two days before the day before. Yeah. And then we have 100 people at our house for a Christmas party. And I think when we were in Uganda, I think the biggest takeaway was just like, man, the agenda is whatever the day brings. Does that make sense? Like we had plans, but like most of it was like, you want to cook chicken here? or you want to go try to get some other food at the hotel down the street? Those were your options. Those were your decisions. And then it's just like you get back and it's just like, good Lord. I think when you start to slow down for that long, I think you actually start to, you know, when you've been eating like crap over the holidays and then, you know, what is it, January 6th, we're all on a cool diet now. But when you haven't drank alcohol for like five days and you haven't put sugar in your body and you wake up and you're like, So this is what normal feels like. You know what I mean? It's like you've been operating at 40% your whole life, but that starts to feel normal. Yeah. And I think when your soul finally starts to do that, you kind of go, how do I feel like that all the time? You know what I'm saying? It's like a detox of the soul. And then you come back into, you know, we're just a fast-paced place. Yeah. And I do love fast. I love jumping from one thing to the other, but it wasn't a culture shock. It was just like a pace shock. It was like jogging for a long time, and then it's like, all right, now sprint three miles. Do you feel better? Are both of your bodies healthy? You know, it's funny. We actually were very healthy coming back because nothing is processed there. You don't go to the grocery and get a pack of chicken. Yeah. Chicken was walking around. Right. Yeah. And when we started eating the food here and we we eat pretty clean. I try to. I didn't realize about a weekend. All of our kids started having like stomach issues and then he started having stomach issues. And I was like, are we catching something? And then it hit me. He was like, no, we're eating food here when we had been used to having nothing processed for six weeks. Yeah. And so that was, that was also a little bit of a shift. And, and I think just the pace, the pace of life even for our kids Lily still Lily still hasn I feel like regulated Yeah Wow She sleeping crazy hours And I just think to your point the pace is so different here that her body got so used to the pace there And it's still hard for her. 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I was like, it's just weird. you know but I but I remember like on the way back I was just sitting there thinking about because we have we have always been since day one just like super open and transparent about our lives and I feel like over the last couple years we have just not shared a lot and I don't for no in particular reason and I remember thinking about you know we should definitely post about our trip you know and I'm and I'm texting some of my team I'm like here's some pictures you know and it just felt like then tom stratt goes this is ridiculous there's we cannot what did you say madeline you're like i feel very weird just handing you a pile of pictures and saying had a good time in uganda right like you know what i mean right and so yeah i did i didn't want i definitely didn't want anything to feel like forced or awkward but i do feel like god sort of put it on my heart while we were there to like hey you can why don't you tell the story Like because I was telling you yesterday, I think that testimony is so powerful. You know what I mean? Like you could not believe in anything, but you hear somebody else's story and you're like, wow, that rocked me. You know, I mean, and we've already said it in this podcast. I think, you know, I hope people take what they will with it. I just think like I've made not made fun of Lauren, but I've given her a hard time over the last decade of our marriage. I'm just like, what do I say to you? Like, if there is a hard route to go, that's the route she wants to take, period. And I'm just like, but there's a straight path. That's wide. Right here. And I'm not saying that God only chooses hard paths for your life. Obviously, every day that is a normal day, in my opinion, is an easy path. And I'm not grateful for it enough. I am now. I'm grateful for a slow day. But I don't know. I would just encourage people who, I don't know, who either don't believe in anything or who are searching and or people that read their Bibles 12 hours a day. It's just like I think that the believer's life, the Christian life, whatever you want to call it, is so much more adventurous than than anyone can ever imagine. I just think that maybe a lot, me included, have spent my entire life being like, but why would I do that? Why would I do that? Right. That's stupid. Why would I do that? Why would I go there? Why would I have that conversation with this person? And as many things as I wish had not happened to us over there, it's like I look back at it now and I'm like, man, he was literally in every single bit of it. And we might not ever know the exact reason that we went over there. But I don't know. I just think that if you feel a little knocking on your heart of like, you know, whether you've been in the same job for 10 years and God's kind of going, hey, but I have something different for you. I would just encourage you to listen to it. It is not easy. Yeah, that's it. What a great story of reminding people that obedience to God, if you suffer when you're obedient, it doesn't mean you didn't hear God. Right. That's right. And it might be the other side of heaven before you see what your obedience really was for. Yeah, that's right. When you think about half of the most famous Christian authors, even, C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors of all time, had no clue. Yeah. That 50 years after his death, it would still be one of the most sold books of all time. Yeah. Screw tape letters or mere Christianity or whatever it was. And so anyway, I don't even know. I'm rambling at this point, but I appreciate you very much. Oh, my gosh. Well, I just think it's such a gift that y'all shared all this. It's so easy to think when you pray and you obey God, then you're going to get what you want. And it's going to go easy. And y'all are saying we prayed, we obeyed God, and it was harder than we could have ever dreamed. And we don't know why. We didn't tie. There is no bow on the end of this. There is no here's the reason. And it is like, no, the journey with God is we obey. We move forward. We understand the parts we understand. We don't. The other is the mystery of God. Yeah. And then we do it again. Right. And we do it again. And we do it again. But having people in your life, I think, is crucial. I mean, there were times where I feel like he and I had to be full on like each other's partner helper the way God designed it to be. But we have such a sweet, strong community around us here, which I think is so helpful when you have people also praying for you. Like I'll be praying for that for you just to help give you clarity, praying for clear open doors, praying for clear closed doors. but when you're both getting the open door and the family around you, the friends around you are going, I'm not getting that same open door, but trusting like, okay, it's you and I and the Lord and the three of us are on the same page, even though nobody else is. Yeah. And we're going to do it, even though the world would say that's not very wise. But to your point, when I'm crying in the closet, wanting another baby, not understanding why a lot of times, God's reasoning doesn't look like the most wise choice. It just doesn't make sense to our 2026. Right. The world's going, that's not smart. That's not a good idea. That's dangerous. Or that's dumb. Like there's no reason for you to be doing it. And I think just knowing the voice of God is like, I hope like that is one of my big prayers for my children is that they walk so closely with him that they know his voice without a shadow of a doubt. Just like he says in John 10, like him being the shepherd and the sheep know my voice. And that is one of my favorite over the last big, biggest seasons of our lives is like your only role is to be a sheep. All you're supposed to do. You don't have to have some crazy doctorate. You don't have to be all this successful, whatever. You don't have to have all the Bible knowledge. I just need you to know my voice. That is the one thing. It's the one job I have for you is to know it and obey it. Yeah. And we do not always hear his voice clearly. And we have definitely not obeyed the first time before a lot of times. Or let the world or just your logical brain talk you out of something. Man, I can logic my way out of obeying every time. Yeah, for sure. Sure. And and so I think it's so important to have a to know the voice of God. Shout out John Eldridge. Yeah, right. Those two books changed my life. Me too. But also having somebody in your corner who is going. I'm going to also pursue his voice and I'm going to do my best to lay down my desires and wants, my comforts and my fears so that we can hear him clearly. And I'm just thankful that we get to do that. I'm just thankful that we're on the same page, at least in that. We have not been on the same page this past week and other things in life. Shout out real life marriage. but I'm just I'm thankful that we get to do this together and that we were able to do this with our girls and I can't say enough just having the person next to you saying I'm praying for this too and and and having us feeling alone in that was tough and felt like we were letting people down but on the other side of it we're like but he held our hand the whole way that's right and And I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change it for the world just for the way that I feel like it shaped us in our faith, in our family's faith. And the experiences that we had over there also just life changing for our children to see the children that loved ones serves. And I think since you shouted out a couple of books, because I feel like when people reference quotes on podcasts, I look them up. And so there was a link to them. There was a book that one of my dear friends, Mike Maronick, gave me to read. And I don't know Mike at all if you're listening to this, but he's a dear friend of mine, a mentor who's been battling ALS for four-ish years. And so when he gave me this book, I was like, OK, well, if this spoke to you, I definitely want to read it. And it was called Living Life Backwards. Have you heard of this book? Don't know the author's name. We'll find it. But reading that book over there. Oh, you took it with you. Oh, yeah. My gosh. I mean, I read it twice. I underlined, I think, every line in the book. It's red now. Yeah. But basically, the premise of the book is about the book of Ecclesiastes, which has always been my favorite book of the Bible. Wow. And people have made fun of me for that. They're like, of course, you would love the most depressing book of the Bible. But I think when you read it in the right context, it really is such a beautiful depiction of life and death. And I think the moral of the book is basically, if the only thing for certain in your life is your death, and it doesn't change the way that you live today, then it actually means that you sort of in the back of your mind think that you are immortal. Wow. And that got me. Yeah. Because I have always been one of those people. It would have been so easy for me to be like, babe, when we're 50, let's just go do that. Yeah. When we're 65, and it's just like we do it in every aspect of our life. I'll get in shape at 35. I'll do this when I'm whatever. I'll reconcile with my family at this date. Yeah. And it's like, but you, it sounds so cliche to say you never know when. Yeah, that's right. But in reality, the truth is that you can't 100% guarantee that anything else is going to happen in your life except for the fact that you are going to die. Like at some point, like either the world is going to end or you're going to die. And if that's the only guarantee, how can it not, if you believe that, how can it not shape you just being a present human being today? And so I would just say for anyone struggling with contentment or being present or anything, that book will put your socks back on. Living Life Backwards, we'll link to it. Thank you all for doing this. Yeah, thank you, Annie. Oh my gosh, I love doing this. But that is a beautiful, helpful story of so many of us who want to obey God and want to hear Him and want prayer to be an important part of our life. It helps so much when we hear stories that aren't perfect. So that's very brave and kind of y'all to share this. Yeah, thank you very much. Well done. Okay, you guys, how do you feel at the end of these two episodes? I know. I know. I was blown away. I had not heard this story in real life. I mean, I had heard pieces of it just in friendship, but I had not heard it from start to finish. And as you heard us say in the show, when I ran into them at the beach the week before we recorded, I was like, wait, what? Wait, what? Like, okay, we got to get all this down. We are hoping with as we go through spiritually stronger over the next year and a half that we will keep having testimonies like this. And what I love is how complicated their testimony is in some ways. You know what I mean? Like how complicated the things they were praying for and asking for and believing God and listening for did not pan out perfectly the way they thought it would. I think that's really important for us. I'm having that happen in my life, too. The story doesn't look exactly like I thought it would. and yet it feels like obedience. What do you do with that? So I hope that we continue to process this together at spirituallystronger.com. Continue to talk about this with your friends and online. I just hope this story encourages you in your own prayer life that it is possible to hear God. It is complicated to hear God. It is a gift to have our prayer lives grow and be challenged. I hope it helps you in your parenting if you're parenting and we can all be fathering or mothering And whether that's in our home or not, and sharing your story is part of that. So anyway, I just am so moved by TR and Lauren and their faithfulness and their desire to share this with us. Make sure you head over to social media. Tell them thank you for choosing That Sounds Fun as the place to tell this story. That means so much to me. They could have gone anywhere, and they wanted y'all to be the ones who got to hear this first, and that meant a whole lot to me. Also make sure you check out Thomas Rhett and Lauren's social because now here come all the pictures from Africa. Here come all these background that you know the story. You're about to see the pictures. So head over there and make sure you head over to spirituallystronger.com. Join the conversation there. Let's talk more about what obedience has looked like for you lately. If you have any questions, there's a lot of places to bring them to us. We've got a Spotify app, Q&A box. We've got Instagram, That Sounds Fun podcast, and we've got spirituallystronger.com. If you need anything else from me, I am embarrassingly easy to find. Annie F. Downs on Instagram, Twitter, X, Facebook, TikTok, Substack. Truly, anywhere you need me, that's where you can find me. I think that's it for me today, friends. Go out or stay home. Do something that sounds fun to you, and I will do the same. Today, what sounds fun to me, listen, we are putting things up on the AFD Closet Instagram account. If you're looking for some clothes or some puzzles or some purses, we're just trying to meet some financial goals in my life and trying to share some things i don't need anymore so i'm having fun adding to that afd closet is the account y'all have a great weekend we'll see you back here on monday with one of my friends a leader in conversations about prayer and someone who prays praise the house down y'all are gonna love her monday we'll be chatting with Lauren Tomlin. We'll see y'all then. Spirit is stronger Spirit is stronger