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When faced with life's profound challenges, where do you turn for strength? Sister Leslie Topps sits down with us and opens up about her remarkable journey through a daunting medical diagnosis, offering a beacon of hope to anyone in search of a guiding light during their darkest moments. Her heartening testimony is not just a story of personal resilience but a lesson in finding our place within God's larger plan, drawing from the deep wells of childhood teachings on self-esteem and the unshakable bedrock of faith in Jesus.
To wrap up we discuss the importance of living with intention and serving with fervor, leaving listeners with an invitation to ponder their spiritual journey and embrace the transformative gift of salvation. We hope Leslie's story resonates with you.
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YT:https://www.youtube.com/@LeslieInspiresU
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A Call to Salvation
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00:00 - Finding Strength, Overcoming Challenges
12:35 - Navigating Challenges and Building Spiritual Strength
22:39 - Community and Serving Christ's Importance
35:48 - Thanking Leslie for an Enjoyable Episode
Welcome to the Call by God podcast with Adne Godin and myself, nixon Sylvain. This show is about dialogues of biblical characters and testimonies of Christians who submitted to the will of God. Each week we bring on one guest so that they can share their story of how they were called by God. I hope this show inspires you. Enjoy. Hello and welcome world to the Call by God podcast. I'm yours truly, brother, nick. Again, we want to thank you guys for joining us for part two of Sister Leslie Topps testimonial conversion story. Now, if you haven't listened to part one, we highly, highly encourage you to go back and listen to part one. But for those who listen to part one, stay tuned and enjoy part two. Be blessed.
I want you to share with us about your diagnosis. You just shared about it with Ecclesiastes three. There's a time to laugh, a time to cry and a time to plant and a time to pluck up. I want you to share who in the Bible inspired you when you got your diagnosis and how do you, did you use them to help strengthen you through this journey. When brother Nick asked you the question, I just wanted to reiterate, if you're comfortable to share about your diagnosis, who in the Bible gave you encouragement, like when you read their account and you meditated on it? How did their story help strengthen you through this challenge or this diagnosis that you received in your life?
Well, honestly, adne the experience with the diagnosis. This happened to me in 2019 and it was a period of having these small symptoms, but nothing I didn't really know was going on. So it was years I would say maybe 10, 11 years of stuff happening and it kind of led up to like, okay, you got to go to the doctor and see what's going on. So, hearing something like that and my diagnosis wasn't necessarily, I don't, you know, from my understanding it wasn't life-threatening, but it was definitely life-changing because it impacted my mobility and so most of us the majority of people, you know, because there's a lot of people in the world, young and old, that have disabilities, but most of us walking around the real thing twice about it we learn how to walk when you're a kid, you're a baby and you keep walking and you don't even think too much more of it unless something happens or you know that you can do physical therapy and get over it. But when you're dealing with something where the doctors are like, we just going to try to stop the progression, but we definitely can't help you, wow, I had a couple of times that I emotionally broke down and when I say broke down so overwhelmed, like, what are you going to do?
Ironically, you know, and I'll say it like this, I remember in elementary school we used to go have these teachings about self-esteem and I feel like being young and learning about self-esteem and having this type of mindset about yourself. When you anything you talk young, it's hard to break, whether it's a bad habit or a good habit as you get older. And learning about Jesus again has been my foundation when I meet people or have met people in the past who have tried to break me mentally. Whatever the case may be, it was very hard. You know, I've even been in a situation where I've been in relationships that were not physically abusive but mentally like very challenging, and I've never experienced anything like that and I feel like going back to that self-esteem and just that foundation. As a child I didn't grow up in abusive situations and so it was very challenging and so, with that and something like the diagnosis, the mental piece of it is what affects us and I feel like that could go with any challenge, really, but just mentally. Where you at and ironically, Adne, to answer your question Jesus, and I think also because Jesus is the first person that I was taught about, with the faith more than anybody. I mean even when we get baptized.
I was so young we did the New Comfort class, but I just really remember in Bible school and what my mother talked about it was always Jesus. So there was no other Bible figure or personality that I could really think about to help me get through anything like this except Him. And I know that may sound like that would be the obvious one to say, but that's just the reality of it. And it was more so about trusting Him even in the midst of what's going on and then not losing hope. So maybe the I remember one time specifically, but maybe one or two times, when I did emotionally just have felt so overwhelmed. My mind went back to you can get through this, and just because the doctor said this doesn't mean that's your end or that's what's going to happen because you have Jesus. He's the one that's going to be the last thing. You hear that a lot too, but then if the day goes back to what you said about Him being Lord Now, even if he wants me to be in a situation that I don't want to be in, whether this doesn't get better.
You know some people are dealing with terminally ill situations. You got people that, like you said earlier, that's leaving out their house and not coming back home. We have to find the blessing and there is something positive out of every situation and it's not about comparing yourself to other people, but you got to realize like you're still blessed, you're here A person who may have never experienced whatever you're going through, and they're not here anymore. What can they do? And to me that makes it even more of a challenge to make sure that I'm serving God while I have the time. Cause time is up and I was thinking this just today.
I feel so honored to be such a small part in God's humongous plan Like that just makes me so emotional, because I'm not me by myself. I'm nothing. It's Christ who is the reason why I'm here, the reason why I'm even able to be speaking to you today, the reason why I feel blessed, the reason why I can be connected to God, the Father. I mean, it's all about him and I don't deserve that. Who does? But I know I don't, so it's just to be able to serve him. It takes me back.
It made me think about the prodigal son and how he went back home and all of that, and he just wanted to be the servant of all he had done, and I'm just a servant for the kingdom. And then, on top of that, he loves me, god loves me, and I don't even deserve that. And it's just to wrap your mind around that sometimes it could be overwhelming. And so, yeah, for me, just having that foundation in Christ and then having that relationship, I think is the best word to put, because you can hear about somebody and talk about somebody and read about somebody all day long, but when you have a relationship with a person, it takes it to a different level. And so, going back to when I prayed that prayer and got all the puppies, that was building a relationship of trust in a young child in my world. And so I think that would be it has to be as I remember and reflect on how I felt and who did I go to? What did I do? It was all about Christ.
Thank you for sharing that, sis, because many of us, once we get a diagnosis or something, we go to panic. We don't go straight to God. You get an eviction notice you panic. You never once run to Jesus. You get a you behind on your car note you never run to Jesus. You actually go and hide the car so that they won't be able to find the vehicle. One thing I am so amazed to see is to see you on the scooter after your diagnosis. Your diagnosis actually messes with your mobility, but you got you a scooter where you can move from one side of the building to the next. That, to me, is just so amazingly powerful. It is not just commendable, it is just amazing to see how much you love Christ.
Sometimes we call ourselves Christians Everybody's a Christian nowadays but when you understand that you are a child of God, you move and operate differently. Being a child of God gives us a different piece than most, because we literally can say my daddy has chosen me for this. So I have a question for you. It's a two-part question and it is how do you find the balance between being in the world and not being in the world? Because you know, scripture tells us that we are in the world but we're not of this world. And the second part is if Satan went to God and asked to, and would God say to Satan to have you try my servant Leslie, will he have access to try you or will he need God's permission to try you?
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to say something really quickly based on what you said. I remember being in my early 20s and having car trouble and I'm having a panic attack like because I guess I just never experienced that before. I didn't know what to do and just thinking about just different things. That throughout my life as a young adult and leading up to getting something like a medical diagnosis, it's almost like all those things prepared me because naturally, like you said, people we panic, we don't know what to do, we're trying to figure it out and we always don't first think about God all the time, depending on what it is, because, again, it's a human reaction, but I do believe that where we go through it helps us to prepare us for the challenges that we face. I wanted to mention that. So I definitely understand. I think that when you talk about a balance again I like to define things, especially for people who are listening to what I'm saying a balance, making sure that one is not too high, too tilted above the other. You wanna make it kinda even. It's tough, it's very tough.
I remember when I used to work in radio. I was working for a hip hop radio station, I remember who it was. But they were challenging me. They were like, well, how are you a Christian? You're working at this hip hop radio station and so this is the round the town. When I was really starting to study my Bible and stuff, and I asked my preacher, I asked him what his thoughts were about that, because at that time y'all, I would have been left my job. I was really how can I put it? I was kind of too forceful with it when I was first learning because I was very aggressive, put it like that. So if he had told me, well, you probably need to leave that job, I probably would have left. But you know what the preacher told me? He said sometimes God puts his people in the place of darkness to be the light. That makes sense to me and I have a problem with that. And if you notice, like when you are among people and they don't want to cuss in front of you or they just kind of modify their behavior because you're there, and it's similar to that. And I think that the challenge that we face is making sure that we're ready to go out in the world, we're ready to meet people and to talk, and we can't do that without communicating with God. We can't do that without digging deep into his word every day and as we grow as Christians, we need to understand that daily dose.
Now for me, I'm going to tell you what y'all, what I do. It may help somebody. I turn on that Bible app in the morning. There's plans I listen to and, of course, you know the whole Bible is there in different versions and whatnot. One of my favorite versions today is the message Bible. I love the way it speaks and it's just very clear and kind of you know, to the language that I'm used to hearing and I love how deep it is, and I compare that with New Living Translation. That's another one of my favorites.
But even just listening to God's word and hearing, it's like the enforcers. We hear it all the time on YouTube, motivational speakers. I was like, well, say this and you know, speak these things. Listen to the Bible, because there is nothing realer that's going to affect us and help us to grow in the Lord and help our spiritual building. More than the word. I don't even there's my manifesto and all that.
No, the Bible. Listening to it, reading it, getting that, soaking that up into your spirit, that's the best thing that you can do to get your mindset right. So when you do go out in the world, or you are tempted, or you're dealing with people, it could be in your household, it could be on the job, at school. Whatever the case may be, you have prepared yourself, like Ephesians 6A, to put on a full armor of God. And so as we learn those things, it's about putting it into practice, and so for me, that is my biggest go to when it comes to being able to be in this world and not of the world. I've got it instilling me God's word. If I don't have that, I don't care if it's your preacher, your elder, your grandma, your daddy, the deacon, if he ain't got that word in him, because this is another thing.
Like I was telling Brother Nick earlier and that, while I was trying to explain earlier about how I think about humans, this is one of the points. We all have flesh and we all can falter. The only one and we hear this a lot, but really think about it the only one who came to earth and put on flesh and who was perfect was God. That's it. And sometimes we get disappointed because we put people on the pedestal and sometimes we put ourselves on a pedestal and we don't need to be there. We need to accept the fact. Yes, I messed up. Accept the fact, yes, I'm struggling with this, but God is the one who can help me.
I can't do it by myself. I need my sister and my brother to pray for me. I need to be in the assembly on Sunday to soak up all of those songs and the prayers and the fellowship and the hugs. We need that. That virtual stuff is cool too, but it's a whole different. I can't even imagine. I remember, especially when we first after the pandemic and everything, and you kind of feel like, oh, I don't feel like going to see doctors do virtual or it's easier if I just whatever the case may be. But when I started going back and then more members started coming back and the preacher was encouraging us to come back, it is definitely a difference. I just encourage everybody to do that too. Again. But to the question that helps our spiritual walk. We need each other. This is not a solo workload. We were a community together and if you're going to say something, I thought no, I'm just shaking my head.
We can't do a solo walk. We need community. Iron sharpens iron.
Yeah, yes, how can you grow spiritually if you don't surround yourself with other people with the same goal? Now, if you surround yourself with people who don't care about God or love God, or even to the fact where they're trying to live a lifestyle for God and that you're in there with the old saying, the bird is the same feather flock together. So if we're going to balance ourselves with being in the world but not of the world, like Ange said, it's about community. It's about us coming together. Now, the book of Joe is so powerful. I love how Brother Hayward he's done a study on that book before really really good. We're really really deep within the book. But when you talk about Satan, I really believe this and I'm talking about me too. So what I say is I'm talking about me too.
I do believe that there are situations in our lives that God allows for us to grow our faith. I believe right now I am inexperienced, and not even just with the diagnosis. I'm going to tell you just now, right before this call, this person called me asking for money. Now, that's not the thing. This person goes weeks without talking to me and every time they do call, they start real cool, and then, an hour later or maybe next day, they're like I need the money. And it's like how do I explain this and navigate to this person? This person is a new convert, somebody that I introduced to the church and everything, and it's just I don't really know. I'm kind of boggled because I don't want to offend the person but at the same time I don't want to be used in whatever the case may be. So even with that situation, it's like we're getting ready to get on this podcast, encourage somebody, give the testimony and all of that. And then here's this phone call. I didn't have to figure out the phone when I told you hold on, brother Nick. I didn't have to figure out the phone, but I just talked to the person like let me make sure they good, because I'm not even going to say I don't think like this anymore. I don't say, well, I shouldn't have done this, shouldn't have done that.
I believe everything happens for a reason and so, no matter what it is, I try to find the beauty in it, or what am I supposed to learn or what the case may be. So I pitted that phone for a reason, but I also feel that the challenges help us to be stronger people. The question is the Satan, go to God and ask to try you, or will he have access to try you? And I do believe, like the Bible says, when one evil spirit has left and the house has swept clean, a whole lot more come. And you can feel that because the challenges that we face, it feels like it's more than the last time, and that's what we have to remember what God brought us through the last time we faced the challenge. He's still right there. He's very, very consistent.
So I do feel that I could definitely have been, and maybe even at this time been, in situations where Satan has to take that away from her. I bet you she don't follow you no more or she's going to lose her faith. I actually absolutely do. And to that point, though, for us on the call and those who are listening, and even if he doesn't, even if you have times where you don't pass that test, if you have breath in your body, you're still alive. God has blessed you to see a new day. God has blessed you to repent. God has blessed you to turn around. God has blessed you to be able to go through that and be able to share with somebody else and let them know that they can do it too, because you did it. It was very, very important to understand that. I hope I answered that question about Satan asking God. Okay, she gave me two thumbs up.
No, yeah, you did. Man, I'm speechless. I'm sitting back here listening to you how you articulate and share your testimony, just answering these questions, and I mean what you shared is not only resonating with me, but I'm sure it's going to resonate with even our listeners out there. And you said so much. I don't even know where to begin because I know we're wrapping things up or we're going to end up having another hour podcast. But I like how you shared the importance of community and the importance of coming together. And we know that's what the First Century Church when in the book of Acts, the First Century Church, they came together, people were being baptized, they were added, being added to the church. There was a sense of community because, you're right, during the pandemic it was a lot of virtual, virtual worship and it's different. It's different when you're in person.
So I wanted to talk about that and even the balance that you talk about, because I know I'm pretty much all over the place because you talked about so much, that was so good and I was just trying to hold on to it. But even the balance, even what I thought about, like God wants our time and Satan wants our time, and you're right, it is a very difficult task, especially like for myself that is married and have children, and even for singles I'm not going to exclude the singles, because singles go through their own stuff as well but it is a very difficult thing because God, he wants our time, to have that devotion time with him, and not only so God feeds us, because he wants to feed others. See, the issue is sometimes we feed ourselves and we don't want to feed others. We just want it all to ourselves. And also Satan wants our time. So we know we're bombarded by marketing, by this watch, this look on social media. So we are like being hammered by so many things on a constant basis and, as I got to say, like you rather spend countless hours on social media, you might as well go on Amazon. I like Amazon, not the bad y'all you might as well just go on Amazon Prime and just shop and not spend time.
With your word, there's nothing wrong with those things. I think we just got to put all of those things in their proper place. So, with that being said, when your assignment is complete because I know we're here on assignment Adne and I had a conversation the other day Adne is like like, adne is like no, we don't have a ministry, nick, we have an assignment, and I like how she laid that out. So God has his children on an assignment on earth. So when your assignment is complete, what do you want to be remembered for?
Wow, that is amazing and it goes back to some of the things I was saying earlier. Just how experiencing. I don't know if I've shared this, if I'm gonna share it with you all, in your audience. There are times I'm not gonna say too recently now here, but there are times that I will go on YouTube and I will look at funerals. These people I don't know, but a lot of times it's younger people and I'm curious to know what happened.
And I'm the type of person who likes to look at 2020 and the mystery is about the people and stuff like that. And when you see people like either physically or, for instance, what I was talking about, and you see people's photos and they're happy and all of a sudden then you look in that casket and they're just still. It's so interesting to me and sometimes I imagine I don't know if this is morbid or not, but sometimes I even imagine what my funeral would look like and that I'm a believer, at least at this point where I don't believe that when people die, that their soul is concerned about what's going on on the earth. I think that chapter is gone and that funeral is more so for the family, but it's so interesting that I am very intentionally and I know I can grow in this too, though I'm very intentionally about I want to make sure that while I'm here, I'm doing all I can for the kingdom, because I don't wanna meet God face to face and then have a feeling of I should have done this, I could have done this better and what it could be, knowing that we're not perfect. I'm not saying that, but just, like you said earlier, what I'm using my time for right now, because when I leave here, I want you all to remember because, listen, if I die today, I'm sure they're adding them cause of the funeral and they'd be sad or whatever, and they say, well, she was this and she had this, but I know what I struggle with and I know what I deal with and I don't feel that I deserve any accolade at the end of the day, but if y'all just remember that she tried her best to serve the Lord and, with all that she could, to tell people about Jesus, to get Bible studies going, to invite people to church, that's one thing people that know me know.
I have these little cards, these little cards for the church, and I'll pass them out cause it's got the church information on it and just well, why don't you go to church? If you were a stranger and you meet me, don't smile, cause if you smile it's gonna trigger something in me to say you know what? Where you going to church? This is what I say to. I say you got a church home and most people. Recently I've run into a lot of people that are saying I'm looking, I know that's the Holy Spirit girl, annie. They say I'm looking. I'm saying oh well, you know what? And I still say this, even though we've been over there about four years now. I'll say you know, we just built a new church building over there off of Camp Creek and I'll hand them this. I'm still old school now. They got the QR codes and everything, but I'll hand them that. They'll have something in their hand and even if they set it down, they may look at it on down the road. But to invite them, I want y'all to know that and to like she really cause.
Again, it goes back to the childhood. I watched my dad invite people to church. I watched my mother invite people to church. I watched him hand out his business cards to his nonprofit organization all the time, and so for me growing up, seeing that now this is what I believe in. I want to invite other people too.
It's almost natural, but it does take a will and a desire and a passion. There has to be a passion there to whatever you're passionate about, whether that's what you do on your job. A lot of people are passionate I'm talking about the world now. A lot of people are passionate about making money. A lot of people are passionate about their relationships and all of that. How much passion do we have for people and them knowing who Christ is? And you in the world will know that by how you talk about them, by how you interact with other people.
Yeah, you're gonna have situations where you're gonna have to fight the flesh, cause I asked you, what's just? The other day the girl got into my skin. I didn't hired her to help me and I feel like she's being combative. You just got hired. Why are we arguing Like I don't need this, but that's my flesh? The spirit says be patient, cause this may be somebody you can. What Talk to about Christ, that you just let her go, cause you got the power to be like girl. This my company. I ain't gotta talk to you. Bye, I really wasn't about to send that email and block that password. See what I'm saying. I'm just being real.
But I prayed about it. I prayed about it and I started looking back at some of the emails she had wrote me to get the job, like now, this is who I wanted to hire, all this hello and thank you and all this other stuff. I'm trying to figure it out, so, and I'm not. I'm gonna stop in a minute, but I'm not the type, if there's an issue I don't like to whether it's relationship or business or whatever it can't seem to be. I don't like to be sending long texts and stuff that gives me anxiety. I would just pick up the phone. So this person was texting me and I'm like listen, I'm the boss, I don't have to be texting you back. I don't do all that listing, I'm having a death and what I ended up doing putting myself to the side because I'm a writer and I can go there Like I got away with words, honey, but I did it very professionally.
I told her how I felt and what I'm expecting, you know, as our senior publicist, and how we have to learn how to communicate, and the next thing she said was well, thank you. Have a good evening. You know what I'm saying. Like, have a great night and that's what it needed to be, because, like let's talk about this on Monday over the phone, like let's have a conversation. So I'm saying all that to say is to your question that I just really want to be remembered, whether that's at this age or 50 years from now, if I'm 100 years old. That's just the right there. She did all she could for Christ, if y'all remember that hey, hey man.
I done left my mark.
Yeah, I love it. I mean it's not to compare some of the ones in the New Testament, like Peter, paul, jesus, because we all have our own given assignment, because, regardless of what we do here on earth, it's going to give God the glory. So, although because we're just vessels, god is just using us, so it don't matter what they did. Yeah, although some of the ones in the New Testament, they got martyred for what they believed in, but still we still believe that we can have a greater impact. Even if it's not martyred, if we're not being martyred, we still could have impact whenever the Lord call us back home, and we don't know what that is. That could be 30, 40, 50 years from now, we don't know. But I thank you again for sharing that. And, like you said, sometimes the flesh get in the way of things. But this is why we thank God for the Holy Spirit. We thank God, god, the Holy Spirit, which definitely nudge you. You know you got to have a little more patience, right? Know you got to love him, all right, father. So I thank God for the Holy Spirit and again, I thank you again for sharing. But you're such a powerful sister we wouldn't definitely give our listeners an opportunity to be able to find you.
So look, I know you got your evangelism card because I'm old school too, because you just brought me back to when I was a new convert. I went on I don't know if it was on eBay or Amazon I went on there and I bought some tracks. I'm not your over-witness and not to bash them, but I bought some tracks like where would you go when you die? And then I was just so packed and I was a new convert. I was like probably like one or two months in and I bought tracks and I would hand it out to people while I was in college and hand that to my neighbors. You just brought me back to that. I haven't done that in a long time because typically I run into people and we just talk. I get to know them before I share the gospel with them and that's how usually the gospel come out. But again, thank you again for sharing all that information with us. Where can our listeners find you? What's all your platforms, what you got going on?
Absolutely. But I used to collect tracks when I would go to different churches I would take them and I had so many of them and I recently moved and my sister in Christ she made me throw a map. She said you can find us on the internet and she threw a map out because we had to move anyway. So that's amazing. So people can find me really under my name, lesley Topps. It should come up. I got some videos. I shouldn't even say it. I got some videos on YouTube I cannot take down. So if you Google my name, these videos can be dancing in the department to one of my songs I wrote, just not just dancing, but you know, just kind of playing around the house. I can't take them off, but that's really the way to find me is just Googling my name, lesley Topps. And then I'm on the social media platforms Instagram and there's an underscore behind my name on Instagram, and then Facebook and Twitter.
Amen, amen. Now, if any of y'all are in the Atlanta, atlanta Georgia area, what's the name of the church you go to? I know you mentioned that at the top of this episode. Name it again.
Yeah, it's Renaissance Church of Christ.
Renaissance Church of Christ.
With Dr Orpheus J Hayward.
OK, I love it. So, yeah. So if you're in the Atlanta Georgia area, please visit Renaissance Church of Christ. Dr Hayward, he is the truth, he is definitely.
God's in.
That's on my bucket list. I am going to go to Georgia and I will be going to Renaissance one day. That's on my bucket list. He was down here in South Florida last month I believe that was. They had an event down here.
Precision of the bars retreat.
Yeah, yeah, and he did a phenomenal job that he shared with the preachers. But, man, it showed up, resonated with me, it touched my heart, I was encouraged. So again, leslie, we want to thank you. I mean, the time is well spent, it was all well worth it. I really, really enjoyed this episode and if I enjoyed it, I know Adne enjoyed it, and if Adne enjoyed it, I know our listeners definitely will enjoy it. So again, we want to thank you again for answering the call.
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Amen. All right, sis, be blessed. Thank you for tuning in to the Call by God podcast today. We hope that you have been inspired by Sister Topps testimony and that it helped to deepen your understanding of salvation. We want to remind you that salvation is a gift from God offered to all through faith in Jesus Christ. If you haven't yet accepted this gift, we encourage you to take some time to reflect on your relationship with God and consider and I mean consider what it would mean to make Jesus the Lord of your life. That's it for now, but before we go, please continue to listen, subscribe, share our podcast. Also, if you want to support our show, please scroll down to the bottom of the show notes and click on the link that says buy me a coffee. We were greatly appreciated. Thank you for listening and remember God is good all the time and all the time God is good and also Jesus Christ loves you. Thank you.
