Alexis Hunter Alexis Hunter

Episode 366- Navigating the Winter Seasons in Marriage with Cubbie Fink and Rebecca St. James

How do we make it through the difficult seasons that every marriage encounters? What does contentment look like when our circumstances aren't changing?

For musicians Cubbie Fink and Rebecca St. James, they could not have predicted the many twists and turns life would take on after they said, "I do." Through the personal pain of miscarriage and fertility struggles, the ups and downs of two successful music careers, and the revelation of Cubbie's childhood trauma that needed healing, Cubbie and Rebecca have experienced difficult winter seasons that tested their marriage and their faith. But it was through those seasons that they found an invitation to grow and trust God in their lives together. They wrote about it in their new book, Lasting Ever: Faith, Music, Family and Being Found by True Love, which shares the heartaches and triumphs that shaped their story as a couple.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Cubbie and Rebecca to discuss the different seasons that marriages often encounter, how to hold space for one another in pain, and why contentment is so important in the winters of our lives.

If you're walking through a difficult season in your marriage or in life, this conversation will encourage you that even when it feels dark, God is always there beside you and that every winter season is a reminder that spring is coming.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 363- Finding the Fix for our Addiction, Pain, and Trauma with Ian Morgan Cron

How can we deal with our addictions in a way that brings true healing? What does the Twelve Steps Program offer all of us when it comes to getting to the root of what keeps us bound by poor coping strategies?

Ian Morgan Cron is a well-known author and podcastor around the Enneagram, a personality typing system, but his story didn't start there. After a difficult and traumatic childhood, Ian found himself entangled in addiction. It was through the Twelve Steps Program and his own recovery that Ian realized that we all look to things outside of God when it comes to fixing our pain, trauma, and past. But a tool like the Twelve Steps can help lead us back into surrender, forgiveness, and union with God and help us learn to cope with the difficulties and challenges of life.

In his latest book, The Fix: How the Twelve Steps Offer a Surprising Path of Transformation for the Well-Adjusted, the Down and Out, and Everyone in Between!, Ian shares practical ways that the Twelve Steps can help anyone deal with what leads them towards the unhealthy patterns of addiction and coping and into a new perspective of looking at life, relationships, and our experiences.

In this deep conversation, Davey and Ian talk about how the Twelve Steps can be helpful no matter what you're facing, the way in which prayer can get rid of our mental garbage, and why surrender and forgiveness are so pivotal in our healing.

If you have found yourself constantly looking for a "fix" when it comes to your pain, this episode will encourage you that God is inviting you to experience healing and wholeness through Him alone that pain, addiction, and trauma try to keep you from.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 361- Helping Teens Navigate Hard Things with Amy Betters-Midtvedt

How do we help our kids navigate the most difficult parts of life? What role does connection play in making sure that we are who our kids come to when they are facing hard things?

Amy Betters-Midtvedt knows how hard it can be to help kids through the tough stuff. As a parent of five and an educator, Amy has worked with kids and adolescents for over twenty-five years and has seen the pain, the struggles, and the triumphs that kids and teens go through as they grow up. Navigating her own children's difficulties like mental health issues and an eating disorder taught her what kids need most from us as adults: connection and relationship. In her book, You’ll Make It (and they will too): Everything No One Talks About When You’re Parenting Teens, she shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about raising teens, especially with the challenges that can come in the digital age.

In this conversation, Aubrey and Amy talk about how to give teens what they need, the ways we can help kids navigate this digital world, and why it is important to learn the art of letting go.

If you are raising a teenager or love one, this episode will give you permission to take a deep breath and focus on what matters the most when it comes to helping kids grow and flourish.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 356- Learning to Surrender Our Path for a New Purpose with Natalie Buchoz

How do you find purpose when your life as you knew it is permanently changed? How can you learn to surrender the plans and path you once saw for yourself?

For Natalie Buchoz, Director of Media for world renowned author and psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen, she could have never imagined the new path her life would follow after a skiing accident left her with a permanent spinal cord injury as a teenager. Once an active, athletic teen, Natalie's new life would be filled with doctors and a wheelchair. Now 15 years later, Natalie can see the ways in which God has used this new life and path to grow her spiritually in her relationship with Him. But it only came when she was willing to open her hands and let go of the life she expected.

In this episode, Aubrey talks with Natalie about how Jesus can show up in our most isolating experiences, the importance of post-traumatic growth, and how to find your true identity and worth after a life-altering change.

If you've ever struggled to let go of the life you thought you should have, this conversation will encourage you that surrender will give you a way forward that is beyond what you could ever imagine and that God is in the business of transformation.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 340- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Kristi Blackburn

What does redemption look like in our stories of pain and suffering? How do we step into the story of someone we love and hold space for them?

For Nothing is Wasted co-founder, Kristi Blackburn, learning to be a place of refuge and healing for her husband, Davey, and son, Weston, years after they lost their first wife and mom, Amanda, has been no simple task. In the messiness of grief, blending families, and navigating the impact of trauma, Kristi has had to step into the call of being a wife and mother without a manual but only the grace of God to guide her. She has had to learn how to do it all from a place of faith and not fear, while also tending to her own story of shame, loss and grief. While it hasn't been easy, she has found that in the midst of it all, God has given her the strength and wisdom she has needed to be a source of healing and help to both Davey and Weston as they continue to put the pieces together of their shattered hearts.

In this heartwarming episode, Davey and Kristi have the opportunity to share candidly about what it has been like to step into each other's pain, the difference between redemption and restoration, and how to parent kids who have faced the unimaginable.

If you've ever struggled to see God's redemption plan play out in your story, this conversation will show you that perhaps it already has and you just haven't recognized it yet.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 339- Nothing is Wasted Book: More to the Story with Mack Brock

How can music help us heal? What role does worship play in our most difficult seasons?

Songwriter, worship leader and singer Mack Brock has written countless songs that have helped people connect with God. But there is one song that became a rally cry for Davey Blackburn after losing his wife, Amanda and their unborn child in a home invasion. It was the song Nothing is Wasted by Elevation Worship. Mack was one of the songwriters and the singer on the release of that song. Mack could never have known that the words he penned years ago, would become a glimmer of hope to Davey in his darkest moment and a living reminder on which he would later build a ministry.

In this full circle conversation, Davey and Mack talk about the impact of the song Nothing is Wasted had on Davey personally, how God can use worship and music in our healing and why it is so important to take small steps of faith into a bigger, unforeseen purpose.

If you've ever been impacted by a song in your journey towards healing, this episode will teach you that God will use even the music that we hear to speak to us in our pain and remind us that nothing is wasted.

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Jenell Shields Jenell Shields

Episode 330 - Helping Our Kids and Teens Navigate Anxiety with Dr. Chinwé Williams

WARNING: This episode discusses teen suicide and may not be suitable for all audiences.

How do we begin to understand the staggering increase in mental health issues amongst teens? Why are the suicide rates moving in an upward trend, especially amongst younger children?

Our world has undoubtedly changed because of the advent of smart phones and social media, but no one could have predicted the impact these devices have had on our kids. Dr. Chinwé Williams, an author, speaker and teen and child mental health counselor, has seen the ways our current culture has effected youth in this country. Because of what she has seen clinically, she has been on a mission to help resource parents through her books and trainings with the tools they need to handle the challenges that many kids and teens are facing, including anxiety.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Dr. Williams to discuss the role empathy should play in helping our kids through difficulty, why we must first address our own issues with anxiety and the value in teaching our kids to develop grit in order to face whatever may come.

If you are a parent or if you are someone who has kids and teens in your life, this conversation will give you the tools you need to begin to recognize the signs and symptoms of anxiety and how you can help the kids you love through it.

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Episode 324 - Lessons from The Basement with Tim Ross

How do you begin to experience freedom from the sin that grips you? What does it look like to walk in purpose while still struggling with that which holds you back?

For author, pastor and podcaster, Tim Ross, finding his way towards healing after childhood sexual abuse led to his own patterns of pornography addiction, took some time. Through Jesus and therapy, Tim was able to learn how to get to the root of the bad fruit in his life. It was because of his own journey that he wanted to take others to a place of authenticity and vulnerability in the parts of their lives they often kept hidden. Through his podcast, The Basement, and latest book, Welcome to the Basement: An Upside Down Guide to Greatness, Tim explores how being real with our struggles can help us discover our true identity and experience the greatness God has for us.

In this conversation, Davey chats with Tim about how to mentor people in the way of Jesus, the ways in which our journeys toward freedom may differ, and how God will build purpose into our lives from our pain and struggles.

If you've ever wondered where you can lead with the truth of what you're walking through, this episode will remind you that true greatness can be found when we are willing to go low and be honest about our struggles and hurt.

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Episode 314 - Grace and Suffering with Philip Yancey

What does grace have to do with our suffering? How do we experience the fullness of who God is when life is full of pain?

Author and journalist Philip Yancey has long sought out to understood the role grace plays in life and in our hurt. Having walked through a difficult childhood and untangling his understanding of God from church legalism steeped in racism and sin, Philip has offered what he has learned along the way to his readers through his many books, including his latest, Where the Light Fell: A Memoir. Philip is no stranger to the hard questions that can plague a lifelong pursuit of Jesus and his words have been a guide for so many in their own journeys.

In this conversation, Davey and Philip talk about the importance of grace and how it is tested, how those who are most desperate for Jesus find Him, and why pain redeemed can do more than pain removed.

If you've ever struggled to reconcile the God you know through misguided teachings from others with the true nature of God, this episode will help you find your way to the offer of grace that Jesus extends.

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Episode 299 - Healing Gently After Childhood Trauma with Dr. Mark McNear

What do you do when your past keeps showing up in your present? How do you address the pain from childhood as it presents itself in your adult life?

For Dr. Mark McNear, a childhood of every kind of abuse and trauma left him completely broken. From sexual abuse as a small boy and the harsh emotional abuse of his father to several traumatic events of violence and being hit by a drunk driver, Mark's entire life was marked by extreme pain. The wounds o f his past begin to manifest in his adult life through addiction, anxiety and depression. As a therapist, Mark had helped walk others through their pain and yet he needed to receive the same care he so often gave away. It was through the gentle compassion of his wife and others and the grace of God that Mark began the difficult journey towards healing. Mark would go on to share his personal journey to help others in theirs in his book, Finding My Words, A Ruthless Commitment To Healing Gently After Trauma.

In this vulnerable conversation, Eric and Mark discuss how to love people well in the midst of their addiction, finding hope in the process of healing, and seeing God's grace move when you are struggling with the grips of shame.

If healing has been a difficult journey and one that feels incomplete, this episode will show you that while you may not be instantaneously "fixed" this side of heaven, you can experience the richness of God's love and mercy in every new day through His gentle process of tending to your wounds.

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Episode 296 - Stumbling Toward Eternity with Josh White

How do we move towards the cross when our journey is full of detours, distractions and divergence from the abundance and freedom Christ offers us?

For author, musician and pastor Josh White, learning to navigate the terrain of his past wounds while pastoring wasn't a linear course. When the hurt from growing up with an alcoholic father began to bleed into his life and ultimately his ministry, Josh went down the difficult road of examining himself and his story. Through his own personal reflection upon his life and upon the crucifixion of Christ, Josh wrote Stumbling Toward Eternity: Losing & Finding Ourselves in the Cross of Jesus, as a way to better understand the freedom that the cross offers to each of us.

In this episode, Davey talks to Josh about why we are seeing leaders fall to scandal, how to notice pinpoints of God's grace, and where to even begin in the mess of learning to forgive those who have deeply wounded us.

This conversation is an encouragement to anyone who has ever felt like their spiritual walk was more of a stumble than a climb upward as they heal and grow in greater understanding of the work Jesus did upon the cross for each of us.

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Episode 294 - Helping Men Find Strength and Tenderness After Trauma with Chris Bruno

When it comes to addressing trauma in our stories, it can seem as though cultural expectations and the messages received as young boys can keep men from engaging in their pain and ultimately, experiencing true healing. How can men better address their stories of hurt and heartache in a way that helps them to move forward with both strength and tenderness?

Counselor and author Chris Bruno began to see a pattern emerge in his own story and in the countless others of those he counseled. Men who didn't receive a clear path in terms of their journey from boyhood to manhood and who didn't address their wounds, often struggled with maladaptive behavior patterns that hurt themselves and others. When there wasn't intentional attunement to their stories of pain, their lives and the ones around them were deeply impacted. It was through this realization that Chris based the work in his practice and his books in order to help men find a way through the terrain of their own hearts and lives into the healing and redemption that God intended. His latest book, Sage: A Man's Guide into his Second Passage, helps men navigate midlife and beyond.

In this deep conversation, Davey sits down with Chris to talk about how there is always a story behind our behaviors, the impact of how boys are raised in their emotional health as men, and the stages of every man's journey.

This episode is a reminder that God longs to enter into the painful parts of our story and help us find a way to turn that pain into tender strength for those around us.

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Episode 283 - Walking with Kids through the Unimaginable with Jessye and Ryan Wilden

WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicide and suicide ideation and may not be suitable for all listeners/viewers.

How do you help a child in your life walk through an unimaginable trauma? How can you begin to navigate their emotions as well as your own when life turns upside down?

For Jessye and Ryan Wilden figuring out how to walk through their own pain of losing Ryan's sister, Rena, in a homicide/suicide that took her life and the life of her husband, Danny, has been difficult enough. Taking in their niece and nephew and navigating their grief and loss in losing both their parents has required wisdom and discernment from God for a circumstance that doesn't have a manual. Add to it the collective grief that people felt after losing two beloved members of their community, it could feel impossible to ever get out from under the depths of suffering. And yet, Jessye and Ryan found a way through as they relied on the Lord each step of the way. In her book, We Wrote Your Name In Color, Jessye shares the messy process of healing, redemption, and grace found in their story.

Davey sits down with Jessye and Ryan to talk about what you even do in the aftermath of the unimaginable, how to walk kids through their own pain and healing, and the value of having a community in the midst of tragedy.

You may never walk through something as painful as the Wilden's have, but the way they've seen God in the middle of their heartbreak will encourage you as you navigate your own valley.

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Episode 282 - Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward with Passion and Purpose with Christine Caine

How often have you found yourself stuck in the past? How is looking back keeping you from moving forward?

Best-selling author, speaker, and founder of A21, a worldwide anti-trafficking organization, Christine Caine knows how pain, trauma, and tragedy can keep a person stuck. Having experienced abandonment, being adopted, abuse and trauma as a child, Christine is well acquainted with the schemes of the enemy to hold her back from the purposes of God. In her latest book, Don't Look Back: Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward with Passion and Purpose, Christine explores Jesus' words in Luke 17:32, "remember Lot's wife," and how looking back kept her and how it keeps us from experiencing the fullness of God's promises, especially in our most painful moments. When our eyes get stuck on our circumstances, past or present, we can miss the invitation from Christ to look forward to a future full of hope.

In this episode, Aubrey has the privilege to sit with Christine to talk about what can get us stuck in the first place, what can happen when we constantly look backwards, and why it is so important to know the promises of God so that we can begin to move forward in faith.

Whatever is keeping you stuck, don't miss the opportunity Jesus is inviting you into as you trust Him when everything around you changes. Let this conversation be a guide for you as you turn towards Him and His promises.

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Episode 272 -The Power of Discipleship with Preston Perry

What does it look like to grow in your faith when you came from an environment that contradicted so many of the things of God? How do you become a follower of Jesus after experiencing a childhood riddled with so much trauma and pain?

For Preston Perry, growing up in the inner city and facing so many challenges from being fatherless and the collective pain of a community in crisis, Preston struggled to truly know God. As a young person, he found himself entrenched in street life, dealing drugs and watching so many around him succumb to the ills of gangs and crime. It was through being discipled by a friend who grew up in a similar environment and yet was so different from the life they both knew, that God became real to him. The power of that relationship was pivotal in changing Preston's life and leading him to Christ. Since then, Preston and his wife, Jackie, have devoted their lives to ministry. Preston is a speaker and apologist who has been able to take his experiences and speak to people who grew up in a similar context as he did as well as widen the Evangelical Christian perspective on topics like justice.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Preston to discuss how our environment can shape our worldview, the way to reach those in communities that are different than our own, the power of discipleship in leading others to Jesus and how to fight for holiness in marriage after stories of trauma.

Even if your life experiences are different, Preston's story is such a profound reminder of God's power in all of our pain and mess and how redemption can come after our trauma.

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Episode 271 - Experiencing the Comfort of God after Loss and Trauma with Rachel Faulkner Brown

How do you continue on in faith when pain and tragedy seems to plague your life? How can you keep going towards healing and wholeness when heartache relentlessly comes into your life?

Those were the questions Rachel Faulkner Brown had to wrestle with after losing not one, but two husbands: one in an unexpected medical trauma and the other in a military plane crash. As a young widow twice, Rachel knew what it meant to experience pain, but learning to experience God's comfort took some time. It took her truly understanding God's abundant love for her, even when her circumstances felt quite the opposite. Since experiencing those losses, she has since remarried again and has walked with her husband through depression and anxiety and started a ministry for widows, encouraging them to hope in their pain to purpose journey. Through it all, Rachel has found a rich faith that is rooted in trusting Jesus in every season of life. While it has never been easy, it has been what has carried her through the valleys she has encountered.

In this episode, Davey sits down with Rachel to discuss the importance of knowing our identity and God's love for us before we can ever begin to heal, how our worship can become a weapon against the enemy, and the power of encountering God's comfort in our pain.

Chances are you haven't experienced the level of loss and pain that Rachel has, but this conversation will spur you on in your journey towards faith and hope in whatever hurt you are enduring.

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Catherine Fitzgerald Catherine Fitzgerald

Episode 265-Engaging in Emotional Health in Our Home with Dr. Josh and Christi Straub

How do we create safe environments for our children when it comes to emotions? How do we allow those within our home to feel like they can share their feelings and find healing when there is disconnection?

Dr. Josh and Christi Straub have been on a mission to teach families what emotional health looks like and how to prioritize it in the home. Having worked with many ministry and business leaders who have experienced moral failures, they have seen first hand how emotional unhealth can destroy a family. It is why they started Famous At Home, to provide resources and coaching to families struggling with how to deal with emotions. Their work has led them to help families through books, their podcast and coaching not only name what they are feeling, but know how to navigate the uncomfortable emotions. It was also through their own personal story that they learned what can truly help in the emotional chaos of life. When Christi found herself on what she describes as "the bottom rung of life" after difficult pregnancies and exhaustion from parenthood, Josh and Christi leaned into the pain and found a way through. It wasn't just one thing, but a plethora of practices, communication and support that led them through that season.

In this conversation, Davey, Josh and Christi talk about why we need to be known in order to be emotionally healthy, what are kids need most (and it's not perfection!), and how to get curious about our emotional responses in order to gain insight into what is truly happening within us.

Families need to know how to talk about and handle the different emotions that come on ordinary days and in the days when facing a trauma or crisis. This episode will give you the tools to start the conversations that will lead to greater freedom and healing in your home.

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Catherine Fitzgerald Catherine Fitzgerald

Episode 258-Finding God’s Freedom from Trauma with Dr. Elizabeth Stevens

Sometimes, we can try to cover up our past pain with that which we can control—achievement, performance, productivity. But at some point, those coping mechanisms cannot mask the hurt we are feeling deep inside anymore. What do you do when what you've done to run from your past no longer works to hide what you're truly feeling?

For Dr. Elizabeth (Ellie) Stevens, there came a point when what she did to keep the pain from her childhood sexual abuse at bay, no longer worked. She found that she could no longer hide behind performance and her achievements and instead had to face what was below the surface. It took another string of traumas including a sexual assault and traumatic brain injury to bring up the ache she had been ignoring, but when she did, she found that God invited her towards something new— freedom. Even when her poor decisions heaped shame on top of all she was enduring, she was able to start to experience the depth of God's love in the middle of the mess of emotions she was enduring. Now, as a psychiatrist, trauma survivor and veteran, Dr. Stevens has taken what she has learned in her own journey to help veterans and first responders in theirs.

In this conversation, Davey talks with Dr. Stevens about how we often use achievement and performance to cope with our past, the power of God shown through our weakness, and how trauma can help us move from conditional to unconditional love.

If you find yourself trying to hide your past pain through achievement and performance and you are ready to experience the freedom God has for you, this episode will encourage you that God wants to release you from that which threatens to hold you back from

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Catherine Fitzgerald Catherine Fitzgerald

Episode 257-Embracing the Messy and Complicated Journey of Adoption and Fostering with Jillana Goble

Parenting is complicated whichever way you come into it. When grief and trauma are part of the equation, it can add even more layers to navigate. How do you sit in the messiness of adoption and fostering while learning to see the joys and the wins in the midst of it?

For Jillana Goble, it has been through the challenges of parenting via birth, foster care, and adoption that she has learned to welcome the invitations the Lord offers in the tensions of it all. As she said yes to the difficulties and joys, she has seen her own understanding of God and family widen in an unimaginable way. She has learned that parenting of any kind does not come with a road map or a formula with a promise, but rather it is the small, daily obediences to say yes to loving our children well in all circumstances. It is there that we begin to see God show up in places that were once thought to be irrevocably broken.

In this conversation, Davey sits down with Jillana to discuss the often complicated nature of adoption and fostering that we don't always see as well as how understanding how integrated we are-mind, body and soul-can help us love kids who have gone through unfathomable loss and trauma and how in it all, Jesus shows up in the mess.

Whether you have adopted or fostered or know someone who has, this episode will help you see that God invites us to know Him more through the imperfect and often difficult stories we all walk through.

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Catherine Fitzgerald Catherine Fitzgerald

Episode 256-Parenting Our Kids through Trauma and Everyday Challenges with David Thomas

Perhaps one of the greatest questions that comes after trauma or tragedy is how do we help our kids navigate pain? What do we as parents need to look for after loss or in the everyday struggles that kids are facing? When do we need to bring in an expert to help and what can we do in the in between?

David Thomas knows all too well the questions that emerge when families encounter crisis and the everyday difficulties plaguing our children. As a licensed counselor at Daystar Counseling in Nashville, TN, he has met with hundreds of kids and has walked with them through all sorts of challenges from trauma, grief and loss to anxiety and depression. What he has noticed in his clinical experience is that above all else, kids need parents willing to do the same emotional work of healing that they are wanting for their children. When we as parents start to look at our own stories, we can better help our children through theirs.

In this practical and timely conversation, Davey sits down with David to discuss why we need to do our own work as parents, the importance of following our child's lead after pain, understanding behavior as communication as well as how to help kids navigate anxiety and technology.

If you are struggling to know what to do with the pain or challenges your child is experiencing, this episode is full of helpful wisdom to help you parent well in the midst of it.

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